Built Not Born Podcast: 3.5 Ideas from Steve Hordinski On Navy Diving Brotherhood, Longevity, and Why Mental Toughness Trumps Everything (2 min read)
3 min readJun 7, 2025
“Discipline will take you a long ways, but mental toughness will take you further.” — Steve Hordinski
Steve Hordinski is a 4th degree black belt in BJJ and owner of Katharo Training Center in Littleton, Colorado.
Steve served 11 years as a US Navy diver conducting underwater archeological recoveries and salvage operations.
What makes Steve’s perspective so unique is his “brotherhood mentality” forged through high-stakes military operations where “if they didn’t do it right, someone might die.”
His approach to Jiu-Jitsu and life emphasizes mental toughness, technical efficiency, and the warrior mindset of someone who seeks training partners that will “run to the fight, not from the fight.”
3.5 Ideas from Steve Hordinski:
1) Navy Diving Taught Him Brotherhood and High-Stakes Performance
- “The people I worked with were some of the best individuals I’ve ever worked with hands down. You didn’t have to double check someone’s work because if they didn’t do it, someone might die.”
- “It was a brotherhood. That’s all Navy diving was to me — brotherhood. Blue and gold through and through.”
- “I love working with fighters because those are the guys that would go to war. You’re dealing with the caliber of person who’s going to run to the fight, not from the fight.”
2) Choose Training Partners Wisely
- “You got to tell people how to roll with you and you can say no. There’s nothing wrong with saying no to people who aren’t worth rolling with because they’ll start cranking on things.”
- “If they start going too hard, just say, ‘We’re done. I can’t roll with you, find a new partner.’ They don’t have the awareness yet — they have good intentions, but they don’t have the awareness.”
- “Is that worth me being injured again? No. If I’m injured, the Academy hurts. Don’t give them more than one chance — communicate as an older athlete and protect yourself.”
3) Training with Grandmaster Helio Gracie Changed His Entire Approach
- “Getting knee on belly, he didn’t care. Passing his guard, he didn’t care. Everything that was important inside competition didn’t matter to him — but whenever I tried to attack, he just stopped my grips.”
- “Relson said, ‘My dad says if you fight him with strength, you’ll beat him. But if you go technique versus technique, you’ll never have a chance.’ That lesson became my primary focus after I got injured.”
- “It gave me hope. I hope to be training like that at 86 — still able to roll with my students and train with people using pure technique.”
3.5) What’s ONE LESSON Everyone Should Take Away?
- “Develop mental toughness. That’s how you’re going to stay on the mat…Control and efficiency. That’s Jiu-Jitsu.”
- “The people who don’t have that, they quit right away. The people there for recognition or belts, they’re not going to last.”
- “Just be tough, be gritty. Don’t complain. Just show up. You know how many times I’ve been hurt? You know how many times I complained about it? Zero.”
