Mark Bell's Power Project - MBPP EP. 649 - Loss is Inevitable, This Is How You Handle It

Episode Date: December 30, 2021

Nsima Inyang didn't come back with a title from IBJJF Worlds. Today we ask him about his experience, what we can learn from losing, and what he needs to do to get back on course. Special perks for our listeners below! ➢Vertical Diet Meals: https://verticaldiet.com/ Use code POWERPROJECT for free shipping and two free meals + a Kooler Sport when you order 16 meals or more! ➢Vuori Performance Apparel: Visit https://vuoriclothing.com/powerproject to automatically save 20% off your first order! ➢Magic Spoon Cereal: Visit https://www.magicspoon.com/powerproject to automatically save $5 off a variety pack! ➢8 Sleep: Visit https://www.eightsleep.com/powerproject to automatically save $150 off the Pod Pro! ➢Marek Health: https://marekhealth.com Use code POWERPROJECT10 for 10% off ALL LABS! Also check out the Power Project Panel: https://marekhealth.com/powerproject Use code POWERPROJECT for $101 off! ➢LMNT Electrolytes: http://drinklmnt.com/powerproject ➢Piedmontese Beef: https://www.piedmontese.com/ Use Code "POWERPROJECT" at checkout for 25% off your order plus FREE 2-Day Shipping on orders of $150 Subscribe to the Podcast on on Platforms! ➢ https://lnk.to/PowerProjectPodcast Subscribe to the Power Project Newsletter! ➢ https://bit.ly/2JvmXMb Follow Mark Bell's Power Project Podcast ➢ Insta: https://www.instagram.com/markbellspowerproject ➢ https://www.facebook.com/markbellspowerproject ➢ Twitter: https://twitter.com/mbpowerproject ➢ LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/powerproject/ ➢ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/markbellspowerproject ➢TikTok: http://bit.ly/pptiktok FOLLOW Mark Bell ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marksmellybell ➢ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkBellSuperTraining ➢ Twitter: https://twitter.com/marksmellybell ➢ Snapchat: marksmellybell ➢Mark Bell's Daily Workouts, Nutrition and More: https://www.markbell.com/ Follow Nsima Inyang ➢ https://www.breakthebar.com/learn-more ➢YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/NsimaInyang ➢Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nsimainyang/?hl=en ➢TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nsimayinyang?lang=en Follow Andrew Zaragoza on all platforms ➢ https://direct.me/iamandrewz #PowerProject #Podcast #MarkBell

Power Project Familia, how is it going? Now, working with a lot of different clients and also talking to so many different coaches that have come onto this show, I've seen that and I understand that people have cravings. We all have cravings. And the crazy thing and the rough thing is that when you're dieting,

you can't just eat as many donuts or eat all the cereal you wanna eat, but that's why we have good, healthy treats. And our new sponsor, Magic Spoon, has amazing cereal. Now, number one, a lot of cereals have a lot of carbohydrates and a lot of sugar. Let me tell you the macros on this. Zero grams of sugar, four grams of net carbs, 14 grams of protein per serving, and 140 calories per serving. might be good a lot of times these healthy snacks taste like cardboard and crap but when you eat magic spoon when you take your first bite you're going to be reminded of the childhood cereal used to eat i'm serious bro when i had that peanut butter man i was like oh my god is this reese's pieces like damn man it's good yeah so you guys need to check him out andrew how can people learn more absolutely there's one more thing i wanted to add. So like my wife, she has a gluten intolerance.

I believe she has celiac disease. So cereal in general is just sometimes it's hard to find. Most cereals are gluten free, but like all the fun ones aren't. So another amazing thing about Magic Spoon is it is gluten free. So if you do have a sensitive stomach, you have no issues here. So head over to magicspoon.com slash power project. You guys will see the variety pack. That's really the best way to kind of dip your foot into this bowl of cereal because you're going to be able to try different flavors and figure out which one you like

the most. So again, that's at magicspoon.com slash power project. You'll receive $5 off that variety pack. Links to them down in the description as well as the podcast show notes. Head over there right now. Are we on? Yeah, whenever you guys are ready i'm ready all right cool yeah we're rolling i gotta kind of adjust this a little bit there you go it's all right oh yeah what is this what is this button oh there you go we got some sort of YouTube prize. Oh, wow. Yeah. Crack that open.

Oh, hey now. What's going on over there? A letter. We just got a letter. We just got a letter. We just got a letter. Let's find out who it's from. Ding.

Blue's Clues, nobody? Oh. Yeah. Yeah. Never seen it. Oh. Yeah. Never seen it. Oh. Wow. That looks fancy.

Whoa. Giant YouTube button. Mark Bell's Pammer Project. Uh-huh. For passing 100,000 subscribers. Whoa. Thank you, guys. Hey, is this the most handsome button you've ever seen before in your life?

You got to hold it up towards his face. That button's pretty. I'd give that a little. I'd suck that button's nose. That button's button? You'd tap that? I'd tap that button. Yeah, this is sick, man.

Is there a scratch? Oh, no, that's just fingerprints. This is a fingerprint magnet, bro. Took just a couple months to have it really skyrocket, but we've had the channel for a little while. Wow. Appreciate y'all. Appreciate everybody. Thank you for subscribing.

We got to hang that up and stuff. And listen up, guys. There's a high percentage of you guys who are watching the videos who literally aren't subscribed. So, yo, you liking this stuff? Yeah. Just hit that red button. It doesn't take much. We're always bringing you good shit.

It helps us. Hit the button. It makes us look better. We're on the looks. That's it. It does make us look better. We just got a pump. We just jumped in the gym because we're kind of cold.

And rather than sitting here being cold and crying about it we just went and worked out for a little bit got a little pump going yeah i'm really digging those uh i was doing the grip bell on the lower back extension and i liked because dumbbells kind of awkward to hold but the grip bell it has multiple uses you can use them for kettlebell swings and grip work. But when holding it towards your chest on the lower back extension, it feels fucking amazing. It's a unique product. It's got a handle in the middle.

And then it has kind of almost like what I would say like two kettlebell handles on both ends that are on the outside of this kind of like circle. And, yeah, it's a great product. I've been using it for swings and farmer's carries and all kinds of stuff. I think it's really practical. Yeah, and like what Nseem was talking about with the back extension, oh yeah, you can grab a 25-pound plate. You can grab a 45-pound plate if you want.

But like this grip bell is meant to be held. So there's handles. It's like a steering wheel. It's like a little steering wheel, yeah, for like a little kid's toy. And yeah, it's comfortable. Like the weight, it's like balanced a certain way that just feels really cool to hold.

Yeah, and if you want to get a discount, we don't know where to get one. But go over to their website and check out what they got because we think it's neat. It's not an advertisement of any kind. We just dig it. It's something that we're digging. Oh, look at that. We got it on neat. Yeah. It's not an advertisement of any kind. We just dig it. It's something that we're digging. Oh, look at that.

We got it on video. I just happen to have that. Right here. Hey, now. Where'd that come from? You pull it out of your pants?

Hey. You can do kettlebell swings with it. There's a grip in the middle. Again, they're not paying us to say this. I just keep two grip

bells back here so that if I'm working in the office, if I want to get a quick shoulder pump or I'm about to film a video, bam, I can just do my shit. That's awesome. It's cool.

Wait, you're not naturally always pumped up? Out of your mind. Hold on. You know what's funny? What's funny is I do always get a little bit of a pump before podcasting. It feels good. Why does he look like that? I have a pump, and it feels good.

It's a major difference when you got the pump going. Got all that blood flowing there. You look fucking huge. Yeah. So you just got back from Worlds, right? Just got back from Worlds. How many years in a row have you gone to Worlds? Well, I was going to go in 2020, but we had the flu.

I went in 2019 as a blue belt and i got second place um went in 2018 as a white belt and i didn't place i lost my first match um so i've been to three worlds three ibjjf world championships so far. How many matches have you had? Jiu-jitsu matches? Mm-hmm. A lot. Maybe like 30? Oh, yeah. More than that.

Because I've done fucking, I've done like 17, 18 tournaments now. Yeah. And you do a couple every time you do a tournament. Yeah, yeah. Usually three to four matches every tournament. Do you remember the first time that you lost? The first time I lost.

Like, did you win a handful and you're like, oh, fuck, I'm like 4-0? Or did you kind of start out with an L? No, I won my first tournament. I think I lost my, I was a blue belt and i lost this match i've never been submitted in a tournament um but i lost this tournament because i yeah he out he out pointed me as a blue belt yeah he's a wrestler wasn't able to tap him but he wasn't able to top me so yeah it was my points yeah it's uh tricky right because uh there's a way there's a way to kind of like like you mentioned you that you never been submitted right but like somebody could play that game and just try not to ever get submitted

right and kind of like hide from yeah i'm not saying that you do that i'm just saying like you can kind of do that in the sport right like people i hear people complain about kind of people hanging on and just to kind of people just i don't know trying to outpoint somebody and it's like a thing in jujitsu they talk about it right yeah so not getting submitted it's like that's a hard thing because if like some people just like don't tap but you'll get legit get choked out or you're gonna get your shit broken because your opponent if you're just just because you're not tapping your opponent's going to break your shit if you don't tap that's happened to a lot of people um i literally haven't been submitted just because like it's not i guess i'm good at escaping certain things because i've been caught in certain things but i've escaped a

lot of things too um but the point game is real. And it's strategy. So this recent Worlds, I won my first match. It was a good match. Armbarred the dude. The second match I lost because there are these positions that people can get themselves into, like 50-50 positions and maybe using your lapel, which is your key.

50-50? It's called 50 50 what's that any reference to that or it's it's a position the 50 50 it's just called 50 50 it's called 50 you don't know why no yeah actually it's because when you guys are sitting down andrew if you pull up like 50 50 jujitsu um when you guys are sitting down it's like one leg your legs are weaved into each other and you guys are in a mirror position that That's why it's called the 50-50. Got it. So we got into this 50-50 position.

I stand up and then he takes his lapel, wraps it around my leg, pulls me back down. I stand up. But the thing is, since his lapel is wrapped around the leg, it's hard to break. And the dude was already up by one advantage, right? So he knew that if he held that advantage yeah this is the 50 50 position except we usually have geese on god i just pulled the first one yeah that's fine but that's fine like we usually have geese on so they're like scissoring literally they're like scissoring but he also tickles the pell and rap it around my leg because he was up by an advantage and that's a

very hard thing to break and he legit just held that position for four minutes going back and forth holding it because he knew that if i can just hold this i can win this match and that same position in my last tournament in the absolutes i was in the final same thing happened guy got into 50 50 wrapped the lapel held and he just held for dear life because he was up for an advantage and it's a bit frustrating but it's a position that i guess that's that's a that's a hole that i need to figure out how to just not ever get caught in because i've realized and a few of my teammates have been like who look through a lot of tournament footage that's uh it's a good way to slow somebody down especially somebody who's explosive and moves if you can get that

position on them they're going to be kind of stuck. And I understand that that's a strategy that's going to be used against me because if you can't just stop me from moving, it's going to be hard to deal with. So it's frustrating, but it's something else to learn. But the good thing I'm happy about is that when I lost Worlds back when I was a white belt, and there's still holes in my game right now, but I know that I'm not being outclassed by anybody. And I know that by metrics. In my last tournament, I was able to go in the absolute division and face off against Hirin Gracie.

And Hirin Gracie, literally in this past Worlds, he won his weight class because he's a super heavyweight. And then he won the absolutes. That's when all the first and second, I think third place finishes do absolute. They all go against each other to see who's the absolute champ. Hirin Gracie won his weight class and he won the absolutes. And in my last tournament, I tapped him convincingly. I didn't feel outclassed by this kid, this not kid, this guy who's been doing jujitsu since he was five or six years old. He's been doing jujitsu for the last 15, 16 years. And my match against him, I didn't feel like he was outclassing me. I didn't feel like, whoa, his jujitsu is way better than mine. Then I also beat another guy in my last

tournament who in the heavyweights, literally Hirand was ranked first out of all purple belts. And then the second guy that I tapped in my last tournament was ranked ranked second out of all the purple belts and he's a heavyweight um so going against these guys not being outclassed by them I know that my skill level is there right if my skill level wasn't there I'd be really I'd be super annoyed I'm more so annoyed right now just because I know I could have done so much better. It's, it's not a reflection on my jujitsu, but it's a reflection upon the game.

And that is just the game. And I got to, I gotta, I gotta figure some of that stuff out. Are all, uh, jujitsu federations like that where you can kind of, uh,

win on points? Like, I'm just thinking, you know, a lot of people hate the way Floyd Mayweather fights because he blocks everything and then hits you a couple times each round. And he doesn't do anything spectacular anymore or towards the end of his career. But he did not lose. Yeah.

So I'm just curious, like, because I'm pretty sure that's where like the non-purist would probably get pretty upset at jujitsu in that case. But are all federations like that or is there somewhere where like you can't just win on points? You have to like tap somebody. Well, there are federations, but it's they're not as well. So. So, for example, there's this there's this actually competition called Fight to Win. They pay jujitsu athletes and those are actually a lot of people watch those. But they're they're not big tournament. They're not not literal tournaments they're like super fights that are set up

right so it's like you'll find a fighter that's in your ultra heavyweight class and you guys will fight against each other and it'll be a scheduled fight um and then there's like submission only tournaments but they're not as big as the ibjjf let's say that the ibjjf if we were to compare it to powerlifting there's for example some top powerlifting federations, and then there are all these federations underneath that. IBJJF is like the jiu-jitsu federation, and then there's a bunch of jiu-jitsu federations that, you know, the key players that are at the top are trying to win worlds. They're trying to win Pan Ams. Makes sense. And then there are these other federations that are like,

okay, maybe they're submission only or whatever. What do you really love about jiu-jitsu? What do you think it is that has you showing up to practice every day and taking it very seriously and wanting to compete in worlds and stuff like that? Well, the first thing that got me into jiu-jitsu was the, I saw the first practice over at Casio jujitsu was the um i saw like the first practice over at casio's i was like damn these people are moving well right even though

even some of these old cats there's like the way they're able to move their bodies it's very athletic um it allows for some range it's not the same you know planes of movement that you see in a lot of things uh i like that because that's what i was missing from not being able to play soccer but then it's it's just a continued puzzle like that's that's like people talk about all the time like you never really master it because there are so many different positions so many different types of games for different body types you have to do different types of jujitsu against people who have different types of bodies. You know,

if somebody has a thick neck, like a lot of big guys, they're very hard to triangle because literally trying to, you know, triangle them, like me trying to triangle Chad Wesley Smith is a, not going to happen. Quite literally, you cannot triangle Chad Wesley Smith because his body types,

you have to figure out another way to try to go against an opponent that certain submissions won't work against. But it literally is. And the cool thing too, man, you mentioned this, and Jocko was talking about it on Rogan, that there's always new things that's being figured out.

Some of these young jiu-jitsu people are literally creating new form, new movements, new entries, um, new positions. Like this isn't just, there's always new shit.

And then that means that you now have to figure out a way to combat these new things. For example, there's a position called the Baron Bolo that was super popular in like mid, you know, I think 2010 to 2015, everyone was like Bolo, B Barren Bolo that was super popular in like mid, you know, I think 2010 to 2015, everyone was like Bolo, Bolo, Bolo. And then people realized how to learn how to like really nullify that. And then they built something on top of that. Right. So it's like something will

be super wild. But then once the whole community realizes this is how you deal with this. Okay. We need to either add something on top of this or figure out another entry, another counter. It literally is never-ending. It's wild. The thing I find really interesting about it is it's like mano a mano, right? It's one-on-one. That too. You get that a little bit in other sports.

What my wife always liked about swimming was that it was very black and white. There was no politics involved. There was no judging. Swimming's not like figure skating. And swimming's not like powerlifting, where you have judges judging if you did the lift properly. And then sometimes the judges all agree, and sometimes they disagree with each other and so on. And in bodybuilding, we hear people sometimes say, well, it's politics. You know, if you have this coach, you might get expedited to the kind of front of the line, get an IFBB pro card a little faster. When it comes to, you know, swimming, it's like, no, this is your time. And that means you're really effing good, right? In jujitsu, you know, having an opponent to go

against, the pieces of the puzzle become, if you're being honest with yourself, they become more apparent. It's like, I got beat this way this time, and then I went to go do this other thing, and I got beat that way again. And it's like, motherfucker. Okay, now the thing is,

what I'd like for people to keep in mind when they have a loss, and this is really difficult to do, and I'm talking about losing in anything, losing in any sport. You have to remember, it doesn't diminish all the work that you've done previously. Yeah. Everything that you're currently doing is not wrong. It doesn't mean that you have to change everything but it does mean that if you don't address it it most likely will rear its ugly head again yeah and there could be you know you could i guess like skirt your way around it and uh but like now people have tape on you you're becoming more of a known person in jujitsu and now people are

like oh i'm just gonna try to do this and hang on for dear life. And so it is something that you, uh, you must address. But I, I like the fact that it gets exposed that way. Cause in powerlifting, I'm just competing against myself.

Yeah. It's me versus the weights. It doesn't hurt anything or hurt anybody. If I don't really correct, uh, me being slightly out of position every time I deadlift. I can just choose to pretend it's not an issue. I can just keep

on going. The beauty of this sport is if you love getting choked out or you love losing, then don't advance. Don't learn anymore. I really do like how there's no excuses. When I say that I lost by an advantage, I still lost.

Like I'm not trying to – this was when I was a white belt, by the way. But I'm not trying to – like it's like when you do a bodybuilding show. The other guy beat you. Yeah, the other guy beat me, right? In bodybuilding, there's always – if you get second place or whatever, you'll have the HD pictures and you'll post up on social media. You know, I mean, look at my back, look at my back, look at my back versus his back. Look at my hamstrings versus his hamstrings, you know. And then all your friends in the comments are like, bro, you were actually so much better.

What? The judges didn't really see that. Yeah. Yeah. Like I see that shit all the time. It was his hometown. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Like I see that shit all the time. It was his hometown. Yeah. Right.

In jujitsu. Um, quite literally, like if, if you, if you lost, you lost, but Hey,

straight up 2015 WNBF Canada, bro. That's why I said it. Y'all fucking robbed me. Those motherfuckers really did rob me. Even Bob from the WNBF was like, Nsema, you got robbed.

So you know what? Hey, but anyway. That is really weird though. And it does happen in bodybuilding. I think it happened to Cena too. Cena was like, you know, and there's, I don't even, I've been around bodybuilding quite a bit,

but I don't know shit about it. I remember Cena was like 30, 40 pounds heavier than the guy that like quote unquote beat him in this contest. And I realized there's different, you know, when they're doing like the overall, I realized they're looking for maybe slightly different things, but he was like way bigger and way more. It was just like, if he showed anyone, like even just on the streets, like, Hey,

this guy beat me in a bodybuilding show. Like, here's the pictures. They would be like, what, how? Like what, what's bodybuilding require that you have less muscle now you're less defined like i'm confused that and the thing is is that is a frustrating thing that can happen in bodybuilding and does because sometimes it is legitimate like if you get a certain place but maybe there were certain judges or whatever or maybe some judges did want another individual to win that is subjective in jujitsu for the most part it is very objective like it's rare that

you're really gonna run into a ref that's going to really give things to an opponent that has happened right and you mean like points yeah yeah like like for example or or even like things like not calling certain things sometimes that'll happen but that is so rare that is so rare that it's like if you lose dude you lost is it super hard to to ref jujitsu matches if you know the rules it shouldn't be super hard but there are some refs out here who, like, they might not be super familiar with certain positions or what's going on, and they don't call something that should be called. In a match that happened with myself

and this guy Jason Shirley at Pan Ams last year, I put him in a position, and he slammed me. Slams are illegal. Slams are actually immediate DQs. So what he did was I had him in this position where he was locked. He was a big guy. He lifted me off the ground, and he came down and slammed.

And a hell of people yelled, slam! But the ref didn't. So sometimes refs, they're not cognizant about certain things. That's normally a disqualification, you said? Slams are usually immediate DQ because slams can be very dangerous. If you were to pick up somebody and just slam them on the ground, that could really fuck somebody up. And he slammed me.

It's not part of the sport. Yeah, but it can be. Because in certain positions, if somebody were to fucking be on your body and be trying to triangle you, let's say if you pull up standing triangle, Andrew, you type in standing triangle. I've seen that before.

It's pretty crazy looking. The only way to really break out of a standing triangle or to a tattoo is to slam. out of a standing triangle is to slam. And there's the organization Fight to Win. They allow slams. So you'll see in Fight to Win, there'll be a person that gets to a position and a person will just come up and just jump

and slam the person down. I've seen multiple slams before because they can't get the guy off of them. Exactly. Multiple slams. But in IBJJF, slams are illegal. And they can be very dangerous. That's why you've got to be cognizant.

If you're putting yourself in the position to be slammed, and if you're slamming, you've got to— Have you ever seen Fedor Emelianenko get slammed before? Oh, God, this is going to be good. He gets slammed. If you can look that up—fuck, I forget. Man, I forgot the guy's name he's fighting the uh guy that he was fighting unfortunately is dead but he so fedor slammed him or no he got slammed and then fedor later on came back and won but he just gets kevin randleman randleman

yep randleman was jacked jacked he was he's fucking he's he was so swole such a dangerous fighter god their eyes bro their eyes are just like i don't know when it's gonna happen in this match but it's it's uh it's pretty uh pretty wild what do you think are some things? Oh. What do you think are some actionable things? Jesus, he's picking them up so easy. Actionable things. Yeah, what are some action?

Okay, it's like, okay, a lost disappointment. Yeah. Frustration, anger, all those things, they kind of settle in. And like I said, like, you're not the kind of person that gets like overly stressed or frazzled. There are situations where some people when they lose, they're like, I'm going every day to practice. And I'm, but there's no, really no reason to change too much of your plan. So what are the actionable things that you think you're going to look into? Well, the great thing is that I have a lot of really smart guys that I roll with.

Like they might not be, like there's this guy, John Oning, and then there's Julian. And they are guys who study jujitsu. Like I may do something that I've never done before and I can't explain how I did it. It's just like that my body just knew what to do there but Julian will see it'll be like oh it's because of this and then he can even or John they can even pick out what I did and make it better right because they've

they're black belts they've been in this for a long time they're really good at analyzing jiu-jitsu so I have teammates that uh can give me the information I need to not get stuck in those positions anymore. Me and Julian already talked about the position and how I can break out. I was like, fuck, that's actually, that's not difficult. So I know how to not get myself stuck in those stalling positions where my opponent tries to stall progress. And just developing different parts of my game so I'm more dangerous, part of the leg lock game. So I don't do much stuff as far as leg locks are concerned. But when you get into higher belts, that becomes a big part of the game. So I'm just

going to be developing that aspect even though it hasn't been a weakness that showed itself. If I want to be able to compete and wreck brown belts, If I want to be able to compete and wreck brown belts, if I want to be able to compete and wreck black belts, there are certain parts of my game that just need to be stronger. Like my leg game, because that's a big part of what guys are doing nowadays. And even my back take game. That's what I've been working on a lot now too. I've been watching a lot of that.

It's funny, you mentioned a thing about mimicking to me the other day. I never really thought about that. But the other day I was just like, just watching, like there's this video that showed like 50 or 60 different back takes on YouTube. So I just watched it and watched it again and watched it again. Then when I went into class and I was sparring, I was doing a lot of those back takes that I haven't done before. So I can just like burn things in and then do them. I just need to continue to do that and then get the advice from these guys because we were talking the other day

and you were giving me some ideas for things that I can do. But one thing that I know is like Hodger Gracie mentioned and he's like the best jujitsu competitor of all time. But at the gym he trained at, he didn't have the opportunity to always train against guys that were at his level or at his size. He was like six, four ultra heavyweight.

So he was above two. He was like two 35, two 40, six, four strong guy, but he didn't always have opponents that were that strong. So he put himself into specific training situations in positions that he would typically be weak at.

And he'd let his training partners like, hey, let's start this role. Take my back and try to submit me already at my back or go mount and try to submit me for mount. I have to escape. He would do those things in his training so that he could prepare himself for if that happened in a match. Because usually his training partners wouldn't even be able to get there with him. So he had to figure out a way to train those weaknesses.

And that's the same thing that I'm going to be trying to do. I'm going to be trying to put myself in positions that aren't ideal with a lot of my training partners. And training out of war situations, I'll get tapped sometimes, but that will give me the knowledge I need to be able to figure out how to actually not get stuck in those types of positions. Since, like, you know, there are some big, like large people in the area, but it's like a lot of those types of like really competitor, big competitors are in like the SoCal area. So I need to make my training creative so that I can simulate harder situations. Pat Project Family, I know you guys are enjoying this episode, but I need to talk to you real quick about Element Electrolytes. Now, we've been taking electrolytes this past year, and they're one of the biggest supplements that's made a difference for all of our performance.

Number one, because we don't cramp up during workouts anymore, but they allow us to be truly hydrated. Most people, when they're dehydrated, just reach for a jug of water and drink it, but you're not replenishing the electrolytes that you lose when you sweat. That's why Element has 1,000 milligrams of sodium, 200 milligrams of potassium, and 60 milligrams of magnesium per easy-to-use packet. Pour it in some water and drink it pre-workout, post-workout, or even during your workout, and trust me, you're going to feel a difference.

Andrew, can you tell them how to get it? Head over to drinklmnt.com slash powerproject. Get a value bundle because you're going to get four boxes, any flavor you want, for the price of three. That's what we do. That's what you should do. Links to them down in the YouTube description as well as the podcast show notes let's get back to the podcast um you know i find it interesting because you mentioned uh how like okay strategy number one is like don't get yourself in that position

uh strategy number two is once i'm in that position, how do I get myself out of it? And it just parallels life really easily. I know you've mentioned before with a past relationship where you recognize a pattern. These types of things would lead me to be in this position again. How do I escape that position? How do I just make sure I'm not in that position? And then if I do get in that position, how do I? And it's all just a learning process, right? It's all just like all these things are very solvable.

They're not life-threatening situations in any way. It's a sport, and it is something that you love and that you're passionate about. But the information is around. The information is out there. And I find that to be really encouraging, really, because it's like, well, I can... When I was running the other day,

I slightly tweaked something in my calf. And is there solutions to that? Yeah, I could start to, when my calf feels better, I can start to train my calves. I was just thinking the other day, I keep seeing Hapthor, I keep seeing him jumping some rope. I'm like, jumping rope, that totally mimics running. Hopping on one foot and then hopping on the other foot. It's the same thing. Basically, it's like running in place.

I was like, that would be a great exercise for me to do. Whatever issue anyone's facing out there right now, whether it's your body weight or whether you're anxious about not being this or not being that, there are solutions to it. You just got to keep playing the game. Yeah, absolutely. That's the thing. It's like this loss isn't everything. to it you just got to keep playing the game yeah absolutely and and that's that's the thing it's

like you know uh this loss isn't everything like i i think it was just a flaw was shown you know because like this happened in this tournament and it also happened in the finals of the last tournament the absolute so i'm just like okay this is going to be something that guys try to do to me so let's just figure out how to deal with it it's not that big of a deal and it's like one other thing that i thought that's like so damn helpful is i don't think i'd be able to deal with the like emotional side of it be like that motherfucker tapped me or that guy you know that guy beat me this way like i would be i would be like incensed by it and i'd be like i'm i'm gonna i'm gonna go into every tournament this guy is doing i'm gonna figure this guy out one day yeah you know You know, it was super frustrating.

It's like, damn, I spent all this money for fucking one match or like two matches, right? But at the end of the day, it's like I'm super pumped because, you know, we just had Chris Hinshaw in here, right? And Chris was talking to me about how he was working with uh some of the coaches that worked with Boucher Boucher is the ultra heavyweight like black belt champ 12 time 13 time world champ right and one of Boucher's weaknesses was you know he he lacked endurance when he was standing but he chose not to run like Chris knew that just add some running in that's going to be beneficial for you. And just adding some running in, these past few running sessions that I've done with lifting,

I've noticed some extra gas tank in terms of what I do when I'm standing. You know what I mean? And all the resources we have and the stuff that we're doing here and the people that we talk to, it's helping so much, from the breathing to the running to the strength training, because a lot of jiu-jitsu can complain about injuries as they get older i'm just like that's not gonna happen to me like i mean knock on wood but i know that if i just maintain everything that i'm doing as far as lifting stuff the mobility stuff or whatever i'm still going to

be just as strong at 35 when i have my black belt as I am right now. And I'm still going to be able to compete against the young guys or the guys that are young because you don't, I like, you don't have to age in the way that everybody else ages. It's like standard for guys to train and to, to compete in the masters, whatever, when they get to that age.

But if you take care of yourself, if you really do the lifting part of things, if you take care of yourself if you really do the lifting part of things you can fuck guys up in the open class as a you know as a 35 or 40 year old guy yeah are people like what's the as soon as people turn 30 are they like salivating trying to get into masters because i'm assuming that it's so god is competitive but is there like an average age? Do you know? Do you see normally it is like early 30s or is it later? The guys that really couldn't. And man, the guys that are in the open black belt division, they're freaks.

In terms of just their jujitsu skill, what they're doing, their speed. The speed of how they can get into positions and do jujitsu. They're freakish. So a lot of guys that maybe they did start jujitsu in their 20s and they are black belts by 30 or 31, some of them are itching to get into the Masters because it's going to be a little bit easier. You're going to be going against guys that are just like, open's not for me. But they're still black belts.

They are still black belts, so it's still good competition. like opens not for me but they're still black belts they are still black belts so it's still good competition um but some of the open guys like some of them who like are competitive i think i don't know felipe pena he just won worlds too um and i think that he's like maybe mid 30s or something but he just won worlds as a 30 something year old. Uh, but I don't think you, it's like some guys, depending on their skill level,

they're like, okay, I'm going to start competing masters. Like does Casio compete? Casio is 40 something years old. Um, yeah, Felipe,

actually Felipe just turned 30. So I think, um, he might, I don't know if he's going to, he's going to do masters yet or not, but Casio has been like, he's won masters worlds for the past for the past nine or ten years.

And he's 48, 49? He won Worlds when he was younger, though. He won Worlds in 2002. So he won middleweight Worlds. So he has a world championship as an open which is like not like that's rare um but when he got into his 30s i think he started like he started competing in masters so yeah yeah i think uh you know the age thing it it's like um you you still want to be like competitive you know like uh regardless of

like why you're in a certain category um it just wouldn't be fun to compete in something that you just get completely annihilated in yeah and so 30 is a little early to have like an open thing perhaps but uh maybe at some point maybe they'll move that back because people are like showing more youthfulness in later years nowadays. But again, like they do the same thing with powerlifting and they have different age categories. They even have like, they got teenage and they have collegiate and they have the open and then they have like master's classes and they got different variations of master's classes because again, it doesn't feel good to just go in something

and just get smoked and think that you have zero chance of winning. Absolutely not. And I mean, my whole goal when I started jiu-jitsu is because I like it so much. I not only wanted to be competitive at it, but the reason why I'm so adamant at like trying to compete and trying to win a world championship as a black belt is because I want to be world class at this. This belt is because I want to be world-class at this.

This is something I literally want to be a world-class at. It's fun to do. And I truly enjoy just the training aspect of it. Even if I wasn't competing, I'd enjoy going to classes and training every day because it's so fucking fun. But I also do want to be world-class at this. Do you think you could have been world-class in soccer? If I didn't get injured, yes.

Because things were going really well for me to be able to play in the MLS. So maybe it's a little bit of a burn from some of that? Or desire from some of that? Yeah. Because you really, I mean, it sounded like you really loved soccer. I did.

I did until, yeah, until I had to get that surgery. That's why, like, it was funny, when Martin was mentioning how, like, he can't watch track anymore because of what happened, once I got injured with soccer and I couldn't play, I literally just stopped watching soccer because it was, like, it just pissed me off. Like, I don't watch soccer even to this day. I hear about stuff, and it's funny because I used to watch all fucking Barcelona games,

as many soccer games as I could back then. It was like I knew what was happening with teams. These days, I don't give a fuck because it just makes me mad. It doesn't make me as mad now, but I still wouldn't enjoy watching it because I'm just like, I don't play anymore. Yeah, you had tendinitis, but how old were you and what surgery did you get? I got a foot surgery when I was in college. I had Oshkod Slaughter when I was 13.

That's what stopped me from playing for those three years, but I had a foot surgery because the cleats were narrow. Pinky toe was coming in. They had to shave this bone off and put a screw right there. And then I was in a cast for like fucking six months and then I was limping for three months and I couldn't sprint after that because I couldn't

put weight into my right foot. So you can't play soccer. So I mean that's whatever. But it was fun to find when I was focusing on bodybuilding, the goal was also to be world class and I did become world class with it. Where did you leave off in bodybuilding?

I know you won many competitions. You competed 10, 15 times or something like that? Yeah, I think I did 14 competitions, 14 or 15 competitions. My last competition was WNBF worlds. Uh, I,

I already had my pro card, so I got fifth place as a heavyweight. Um, and that was the line of like 15 guys. So I got, I got fifth, fifth place there. Um,

and my goal was to like go back and try to win heavyweights because when I looked at that lineup, everybody says that shit, but I feel like I could have definitely wrecked quite a few of those guys. But yeah, then I started focusing on powerlifting and then shortly after I started training with powerlifting, I started doing jujitsu and I was like,

I really like this. I really fucking like this. What was the switch for powerlifting? Was it like, hey, it'd be good to get a change of pace and maybe I'll just get a little bigger for a while and then I'll come back to bodybuilding. Yeah. Powerlifting was meant to be something that was cause I wasn't planning on stepping on stage the next year I needed to grow. Right. But powerlifting is a great sport to help with growth because yeah, you're getting stronger, but I was still doing all of my bodybuilding work

as I was getting stronger. I did see a lot of growth as I was focusing on strength, even though a lot of my strength had to do with hypertrophy. Yeah, this is worlds. I'm right there. And are you in an open class? What age are you? Right here?

Mm-hmm. I'm 2015 was six years ago. I was 23 here. Or 20, yeah. All right, yeah, so you're just in a regular open class? Yeah, this is the pro heavyweight division. So, yeah. So you can see, I was middle stage here, but.

I remember one time we did some photo shoot stuff in here, and I, I don't really know if at the time, like I, I mean, I know people see you in here sometimes with your shirt off, but like I, maybe not everyone sees like a good,

a good photograph of you, especially when you're like pumped and everything. Yeah. And everyone's like, he looks like a professional bodybuilder. I go, that's weird. Cause he is a professional bodybuilder.

And they were like, Oh oh that makes sense yeah i was like he's a fucking professional bodybuilder so the guy who actually ended up taking first was to my right uh siobhan cunningham the guy who got second was to the right of him in the green trunks uh these guys these people all look fucking awesome, by the way. Yeah, they do. Like, incredible. This is a drug-tested federation, and people can think what they want. But regardless of that, these guys look awesome. Yeah, they all look great.

Damn your legs. Yes. I was the heaviest guy on the stage. Yeah, I was the heaviest guy on the stage. Yeah. I was the heaviest guy on that stage. You know, a lot of times when people have well-developed legs, they,

they, uh, kind of look short even when the guys aren't short just because the legs are so developed, maybe in certain spots or something. Yeah. But those are some nice legs, bro. Thank you.

My legs and my back are my strong point when it came to bodybuilding. Yeah. So, but it was fun. It was fun. But then the reason why, like, My legs and my back were my strong point when it came to bodybuilding. But it was fun. But the reason why I don't feel the itch to compete in bodybuilding is because it doesn't compare to the competition of jiu-jitsu. I can't compete as frequently in bodybuilding. As far as my performance is concerned, if I were to get bodybuilding lean, I can't really do much else.

Like actively, right? I'm just getting ready. You can barely make your ass over to like a movie theater or something, right? Like you can't do shit. Yeah, and sex drive goes down and then when I have to, like stepping on stage,

it's for this small period of time and then that's it. You know what I mean? And then you gain some weight back, and you get ready for the next season. But I can compete in jiu-jitsu as much as I want. I can train hard. And I like the fact that my performance is what is important, like my athletic performance, not just the way I look. but is important, like my athletic performance,

not just the way I look. And that's one thing that I think is really beneficial for individuals who are trying to, I guess, fall in love with training or an easier way to get to your goal body is honestly by not focusing on your body. It's weird because I am the best shape I've ever been in. I might not be the biggest I've ever been. I could get, I could easily gain as more muscle. Um, but I'm quite easily in the best

shape I've ever been in. My body feels the best that it's ever felt. Um, and I'm not even concentrating on my body. Like I'm not, I'm not trying to get bigger in certain areas or whatever. I'm just training. Um, and it's come because I've been focusing on the way my body feels and moves versus just the way I look. And when you focus on the way you look, some people get so stuck in it because they're like, oh, I'm not getting enough muscle here. I'm not losing enough fat here. And then they get demotivated.

But if you just focus on what's training feeling like each day, what aspects of your performance in terms of the gym are you enjoying? Are you increasing your performance? Progress feels, and progress I think comes faster when that's the focus. Personally, just my opinion. I feel the same way. I mean, I just, you know, like different things pop up in your phone from like a year ago and two years ago and so on. And you kind of just end up flipping down that rabbit hole.

And I was just looking at some of the, you know, shots from like bodybuilding and around the time I was competing. That was a little sharper, a little more dried out or whatever. But I was like, you know, the amount of time and effort that went into that. And now I'm focused on running. I'm focused on having good workouts. My workouts are also also a little bit interesting because they're not nearly as long as they used to be.

A lot has changed, but I feel good in terms of my body composition. It's changed forever just from doing one bodybuilding show. I know people have varied results. Sometimes they do a bodybuilding show and then they gain like 50 pounds, but people right away, they kind of warned me of that. And I know my propensity to like want to eat a lot of food and eat a lot of

junk food and stuff like that. So I was like, let's have this be something that I utilize at least some of these principles and I carry them with me. Um, and I pretty much have. I mean, I would say like there's at least one thing that I didn't carry over right away was just doing some cardio. And I did a lot of cardio when I was doing bodybuilding because we

kind of had to shotgun the time period that I was getting prepared. And I thought like, ah, you know, I got to do like 90 minutes a day for a couple weeks or whatever. I thought like, I'm you know, I got to do like 90 minutes a day for a couple weeks or whatever. I thought like, oh, I'm going to at least take like 30 minutes and implement that. But I didn't. And I kind of wish that I did because it just helps to kind of burn more calories. I like it from a mental perspective. But now it's a huge part of my training because there's like, there's at least, at the very least, some sled dragging.

Nowadays I'm running. so that has been incorporated. But some of the stuff we got from Ben Patrick, some of the knees over toes stuff. I use the assault bike here and there. There's like a couple things that I do where I'm like, dude, get yourself breathing heavy. Just do something that makes yourself breathe hard. And I think we can confuse all this stuff as much as we like, but man, just what a good thing to just get your heartbeat

and get your breathing just a little irregular for a minute. Nothing crazy. Just whatever is going to get you to that point, whether it's walking up a hill or whether it's doing burpees, find something that challenges that a bit. Yeah. And one aspect is like, people are like, you can't call yourself a bodybuilder.

You haven't stepped on the bodybuilding stage. I don't believe that. Even though I've stepped on the bodybuilding stage, and this is coming from somebody who's a pro bodybuilder, I think there's a lot, like, you can be a bodybuilder without doing that, you know, because you can use that style of training to benefit anything else that you're doing. If you're a powerlifter, if you're a crossfitter,

I've heard fucking crossfitters say, whoa, I didn't know my biceps could feel like this, because crossfitters don't focus on that style of training, but once they do some, like, real arm training or whatever, and their arms grow, it's like, whoa, like, you can, like, bodybuilding doesn't mean you have to step on stage and i think that a lot of people can just take that and use that for their training because you know it's a different level when you have to try to get ready for stage and i think that that level is not a necessary some people say that you should like you know you know, you should maybe do one.

I honestly don't know if one has to take that there because some individual don't get out of the loop. There are bodybuilders that keep it healthy, right? And they're healthy up here too. And then there are bodybuilders that get stuck on the body that they had on stage. And then they're in this yo-yo place because they never really want to leave that zone to make more progress they get too focused on the body that's the rough thing about bodybuilding as much as like we talk about and we want to be in shape and we want to be healthy there there's a place you can take it where you are way too focused on how shredded or how lean a bikini girl bikini women bodybuilding, like it can be taken to a place where it is problematic for your mental health because you are too focused on your body. But when you're focused on your performance and not what your body looks like, but more so what

can my body do and what can, what can my like, yeah, what can my body do and what can I show that is a much better long-term healthier approach to your fitness. I, I believe. What are some main like mental things that we maybe have discovered through talking to some people on this show that helped you when you lost that match? You know, what are some things maybe where you're like some things you had to kind of

lean on to not overreact and to, I mean, not that you do that anyway, but it's like it's easy to like be pouty and just be like, I just want to get off the fucking mat. And like, I don't, I don't want to stand next to the motherfucker. Like I just, it's easy to get, it's easy to get that way. And it's easy to have everybody else see it. It's easy to like wear it see it. It's easy to wear it around your frustration.

Was there anything in particular, or maybe just even the sport of jiu-jitsu has maybe kind of taught you to, it's just win some, lose some type of thing. Everyone's going to go through a loss here or there. Yeah. You know, what was his name? Novasend.

Oh, yeah, James Smith, yeah. James Smith. Yeah, that app is dope. The app is dope. But it's also like, what's the word for the way you look at things? Perspective? Interpretation? Your interpretation.

Yeah, I think I just have my interpretation of things is generally always in my favor. I lost, which I have a big problem with. But the way I interpreted that loss, it's a loss. That's it at the end of the day. But I understand how I lost. I understand that I wasn't outclassed. Even if I was outclassed, okay, there's more I have to work on. But understand that I wasn't outclassed. Like even if I was outclassed, okay, there's more I have to work on, but I know I wasn't. You know what I mean? And I know what

I've been able to do so far and the type of people I've been able to beat convincingly. So I know where I stand in terms of the big goal that I have. And even though, uh, it'd be kind of demoralizing if you lost because you didn't have the endurance like you train hard yeah you do so much for your endurance it'd be demoralizing if you lost because you had a hold for a couple seconds and you lost your grip it's like you already deadlift 755 it's like how much fucking more weight do I need to deadlift I think in this case my opponent was my opponent that beat me was more winded by the end, even though he was holding on for dear life. He was like, I was like, fucking hell.

I bet. And I think just in general, anyone that has lost in anything, I just view it as an opportunity to go do more work. Absolutely. And then when it's your time, it'll be your time. And people will be like, what the fuck's up with that guy they're not gonna even understand they're gonna be like what i don't they're like i don't know how he's he's unbeatable or he's like just in this crazy position but you you kind of we need those i think you mentioned before that you got beat up when you were young right oh yeah yeah right yeah yeah we need we need shit like that yeah we do we need we need

that motherfucker like we need some of that we need uh you know we we need that um turmoil we need some of that turmoil maybe maybe need is maybe not the right word uh maybe we need it but like maybe not everyone needs it but it uh it gives you something to focus on yeah it gets it lights a fire under your butt works it does it really does yeah um what's that one guy's name again marquise that motherfucker still has my iphone headphones probably um he's sitting somewhere right now with his black belt and jiu-jitsu right if you guys don't know there's this dude in fucking high school that like i had an ipod mini or whatever and i was going into the fucking gym that we had on campus i don't understand like who would pick like you know he was bigger than me oh shit okay he was he was a wide big football

player dude what grade i was a freshman he was i think he was a junior and i was a wide, big football player dude. What grade? And I was a freshman. I think he was a junior and I was a freshman. But I was walking towards the gym. I said, hey, Encima. I'm like, hey, Encima. I'm like, hey, what's up, Marquis? He's like, hey, let me get them headphones. I'm like, I'm using them. He's like, let me get them.

I'm like, I'm going to tuck my shit in. All right. I was like, all right, here you go, man. I'll get those back for you tomorrow. Come back the next day. Hey, Marquis, can I get my headphones? What headphones? The ones I get my headphones? What headphones? The ones I gave you yesterday?

What headphones? I'm like, you're right. What headphones? Okay. That boy punked me so many times. I would love to hear you explaining that your headphones got stolen to your mom. Oh, yeah. Yeah, no, I didn't.

She would kick that kid's ass i didn't tell her yeah he punked he punked me so bad man so many times good times but um yeah man if you guys ever just like if you do lose something a competition or whatever don't uh don't wallow it doesn't make sense like just figure out what you did wrong figure out what you need to work on and get back to training. That's really all you can do. You know,

there's just like, and you know, one funny thing is that like, people, you know, there's, there's a saying, you don't,

you know, you either, you win or you lose. You don't, you don't ever lose. You only win or you learn. I don't agree. I think,

like, when you lose, you lose. if you kept winning, you'd be a world champion. Yeah. You'd agree. I think, like, when you lose, you lose. Yeah, if you kept winning, you'd be a world champion. You'd be a purple belt world champion right now. Right? Yeah, yeah. Like, you lose.

You don't. You learn in that loss, but you definitely lose. So embrace that shit and understand that you lost. Burn that in, that you lost. You didn't just learn. You fucking lost. And get back on and just keep trying to fucking train and plug those holes. But, I mean, a loss is a loss.

Just be able to come to terms with that shit and learn from it. That's all. When are you going to compete again? Oh, as soon as I possibly can. IBJJF, they put out their next year's schedule pretty soon. So I'm going to find some NorCal tournaments because they do tournaments in San Jose. They do tournaments in the Bay. So I'm going to find some NorCal tournaments. Cause they do tournaments in San Jose. They do tournament tournaments in the Bay. So I'm going to find as many of those as I can.

And just, just get back. I'm going to build up some points for next year. Cause the more points you have, like you can, you can get buys for rounds, like the higher ranked you are, you can like,

yeah. What are these points? Yeah. So like if you win certain tournaments, like if you get a gold in a tournament, you get a certain amount of points, silver, certain amount of points? Yeah, so if you win certain tournaments, like if you get a gold in a tournament, you get a certain amount of points, silver, certain amount of points. Bigger tournaments, you can get even more points.

Like if you get first or second at Pan Ams, it's like whatever. But as you rack up these points, you get ranked within your belt and ranked within your division. And the higher ranked you are, when you get into a tournament, if there's

like a lot of guys in your bracket you might not have to do your first or second match because you already have all like you're already highly seeded right um so doing more tournaments will allow you to get a better seed and does it carry over to the next year because you said you wanted to get some in for the next one like how does how do they no once this competition year is over which is the world's is the last tournament okay next one starts and everything resets um everyone still has like their rankings but now it's like everyone starts from zero still ranked wherever but everyone starts from zero the russian guy anton though anton dimitrikov we were really we were on opposite sides he got tapped man so he watched my match

and we both came off we were like what the fuck man we're going to have our own match over here in the parking lot we were supposed to come back at it we wanted to go against each other so bad in the semis or finals

but he got tapped andrew could you imagine you beat in semen like wouldn't you tell everybody like wouldn't you be the point to like i'd be like i beat that dude it would be in my ig profile yeah like the guy that tapped into oh that sounds weird but yeah the guy that tapped it yeah he's just so jacked i'd be like yeah i'll take credit for that uh-huh all day long dude when when um when we were just hitting the uh the speed bag and i did it a little bit better like i told everybody i was like hey i'm a little bit better than you know and see my like uh andrew we're in a company meeting right now but this is very important though and then of course he like thought about

it and then now he can probably beat the shit out of that bag but i did meet this guy um he he watches the show he um he he was a purple belt too i think he got second damn he got second yeah yeah yeah um wow so i wish i was able to go against him he trains at autos uh with andre galvao i think he d. But, yeah, he said he listens to the show. He enjoys the show. Oh, awesome. That's cool. Thanks, dude.

Never been able to go against him, though, which is unfortunate, but that'd be cool. He moved well. I watched his matches. He moved well. He's a good competitor. Yeah, dude, what's up? I forgot your name.

I'm sorry. Take us on out of here, Andrew. Sure thing. Thank you, everybody, for checking out today's episode. Please like and subscribe if you guys are not subscribed already. Turn on all those notifications, all of them. I don't even know how many there are these days. But drop us a comment as well so that way you guys can let us know what you guys are thinking about today's conversation.

Please follow the podcast at MarkBell'sPowerProject on Instagram, at MBPowerProject on TikTok and Twitter. My Instagram and Twitter is at IamAndrewZ and at TheAndrewZ on TikTok, even though I don't do shit over there, but just in case. Anyway, yeah. And Seema, where are you at? Oh, guys, by the way, if you do want to train jujitsu in Sacramento, come down to Casio Wearneck Jujitsu in Sacramento, California, because it's fucking dope over there. And Seema Inyang on Instagram and YouTube.

And Seema Yin Yang on TikTok and Twitter. Mark? At Mark Smelly Bell. Strength is never Twitter. Mark at Mark smelly bell. Strength is never weakness. Weakness, never strength. Catch you guys later.