Body, Brain, & BJJ: 3.5 Ideas from Lucius Pomerantz, MD
3 min readJul 22, 2024
“You’re going to deal with failure. You’re going to deal with setbacks. You’re going to deal with adversity. If you reframe it and say, “Good”. You will find opportunity in becoming better.” — Lucius Pomerantz, MD
Lucius Pomerantz, MD is a board certified orthopedic surgeon and hand specialist in San Diego, CA. “Dr Luke” is a former MMA fighter and Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at Victory MMA with the legendary Dean Lister and Jocko Willink.
Dr Luke is the creative force behind, “Cut to the Bone”, the digital channel where he educates people on how to prevent and treat common orthopedic injuries.
3.5 Ideas from Lucius Pomerantz, MD:
1) How Do You Find Time for your Creative Channel, “Cut to the Bone”?:
- “I’ve had to carve out my early mornings. I’m not going to be able to complete an entire project all at once, so it’s setting a realistic goal. I’m getting up at 5am and I’m settling in at the computer at 5:30am.”
- “I try to get in a solid hour, maybe an hour and a half of writing things down, planning things and thinking of ideas.”
- “I find that the morning hours are best for me. People are still asleep and I can carve out that time. It’s a process.”
2) What’s Your Motivation for “Cut to the Bone”?:
- “If your goal is to become viral and an Instagram Influencer, that’s probably not the right motivation, because 99. 9% of us aren’t getting there. I’m definitely not.”
- “But if I can help people feel a little bit better about their injuries and even if just a few people say, ‘Hey man, thanks for putting that up. It really helped me.’ That in itself is the reward. So that is my motivation.”
- “I’m not just a surgeon. I’m not just a guy who does jiu jitsu. I’m not just a Dad. I have this desire to do other things and I’m going to try to get better at it. Hopefully I keep getting better because I’m going to keep trying.”
3) Who do you Steal Ideas from?
- “I’m fortunate in that I have many mentors in many aspects of my life. I’ve got people I look up to within the world of surgery and the world of Jiu Jitsu.”
- “I’m always trying to learn from as many people as possible. The person who kind of encompasses a lot of the values that I appreciate in hard work, leadership and mutual activities is Jocko Willink.”
- “Jocko is who he is and “Good” , we’ll find solutions and make things better. Being around him has definitely been a positive influence.”
3.5) If You Could Pass ONE LESSON on, What Would it Be?
- “In anything, there’s opportunity to become better. It’s not failure unless you stop.”
- “Having a ruptured pec was a bummer, it kept me from training. It kept me from doing things I love to do, but I got through it. I’m different and hopefully I’m better for it in understanding the process.”
- “You’re going to deal with failure. You’re going to deal with setbacks. You’re going to deal with adversity. And if you reframe it and say, “Good”, you will find opportunity in becoming better, and that’s what we all should be trying to do.”
