Mark Bell's Power Project - Power Project EP. 176 - The Mental Game

Episode Date: February 2, 2019

On today's show, the guys talk about how powerful the mental game truly is. Nsima shares how he visualizes the outcomes of BJJ matches, Andrew before he lifts and Mark talked about how you have the ability to control your thoughts to avoid being worried about the outcome. Link to sign up for the ST Classic: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/super-training-classic-2019-tickets-53251741392 ➢SHOP NOW: https://markbellslingshot.com/ Enter Discount code, "POWERPROJECT" at checkout and receive 15% off all Sling Shots Find the Podcast on all platforms: ➢Subscribe Rate & Review on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/mark-bells-power-project/id1341346059?mt=2 ➢Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4YQE02jPOboQrltVoAD8bp ➢Listen on Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/mark-bells-power-project?refid=stpr ➢Listen on Google Play: https://play.google.com/music/m/Izf6a3gudzyn66kf364qx34cctq?t=Mark_Bells_Power_Project ➢Listen on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/markbellspowerproject  FOLLOW Mark Bell ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marksmellybell ➢ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkBellSuperTraining ➢ Twitter: https://twitter.com/marksmellybell ➢ Snapchat: marksmellybell Follow The Power Project Podcast ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/MarkBellsPowerProject Podcast Produced by Andrew Zaragoza ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamandrewz

dude mark you invited him back yep he's back again i didn't even really invite him i think he kind of just eavesdropped on our text message and ended up here yeah pretty much i have access to your iCloud so he knows about the cloud we still can't figure that stuff out man yeah you guys can get me out of it i see everything you say to each other, this is how bad I am with the cloud. I made a very expensive purchase in the app store. So like expensive, you know, apps are what? Like 99 cents, they're a dollar, three bucks or whatever. Yeah.

I paid 60 bucks for an app. Oh. Only to find out I actually spent it on Chris Bell's credit card. Because we have our family sharing thing connected. Me and him, we're family. That's awesome. So I text him like, hey, dude, I'm really sorry. Can you please tell me if it came out of your account?

Because I can't find it on mine. He's like, oh, it's no big deal. I'm like, no, no, no, it was 60 bucks. Like, I owe you money. And he just like, he said, you're already off the team. How much worse can it get? Like, I'm sorry, dude.

So that's how bad I am with the cloud. That's weird. That shouldn't be able to happen. It shouldn't. You're sure it was on accident? Positive. Cause I was, cause it was,

it was right before we went on air the other day and it hit me mid podcast. I'm like, I don't have any, any card associated with my app apple whatever that can actually afford 60 dollars where did it come from i don't know about you guys but i hate like having too many things attached you know like everything starts playing like you get in your car and like your shit starts playing or everything's uh syncing up to each other all the time yeah there's a Text messages are everywhere.

One of the highest downloaded songs on iTunes is just called A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A. Because it just plays. Very good song. So it's nothing for 10 minutes, basically, because it gives you enough time to be like, okay, I don't know what I want to listen to. Let me find a podcast. Because right now, when I get into my car, Accident Murderers comes on.

So, yeah, the very first thing you have. Or Pornhub. I fucking hate that song. Pornhub, yeah. Oh, man. That's weird. All that kind of stuff is really strange to me. Yeah, it's way over my head.

I don't know what happened. Like, after. Do you know how to mess with to me. Yeah, it's way over my head. I don't know what happened. Do you know how to mess with the cloud? Yeah, I do. You guys need to delete a lot of pictures you guys have on your phones. It's not safe. Don't want any other people seeing that. You've seen all those?

Delete them. Oh, man. That is some horrifying stuff. Well, all the pictures I have are of Mark, so I think I'm okay. The scariest pictures are just pictures we've taken of you that you weren't aware of. Like when you're at jujitsu and we take a picture through the window. Those are probably the weirdest ones. Well, some of the weirdest ones. I saw a few of those.

I'm not a fan. I'm not a fan at all. Like, wow, I didn't know they saw me do that. Okay, cool. That's all right. Yeah, so what is going on over there, Andrew? How was the bench today? How was your bench?

Bench was cool. Again, though, I don't know what's going on when I miss a lift and then come back and seems like it was a walk in the park. I think it's just reprogramming. What do you think when you got a newer lifter and they're working on strength and they're, you know, kind of newish to it, it takes a long time to kind of like master, you know, how we're going to go about like recruiting these muscle fibers, right? So like today, I think, what's his name? Josh had his brother Joseph in the gym and he was squatting. So he squatted before, but he was struggling with 135 today. And it's just like, you know, when I first came to the gym, you guys helped me out with my form and stuff.

He was open to having us change just a few things and he was able to hit that today. So I think that you, your question was, what was your question again specifically? Well, it's kind of like a skill, I guess, right? Strength is kind of a skill. You know, it's, you know, with him, you know, with Andrew and with many that we've had in the gym here before, they'll warm up and we go through what we feel is proper warmup. We get them right to where they need to be. Yeah. And then they go to do the lift and they miss it. And then they come back and not only do they make it, but they make it look like they could have done three reps with it. Exactly. So it could have been like, you know, their technique was just

a little bit off or they didn't get themselves to the right, you know, mindset for that lift at that time. Take a little bit of time away from the bar. It's happened to me before too, where, you know, you just think about it, you visualize it a little bit more. You remember the things that maybe you forgot to do when you failed that lift. You go back and you hit it. Could happen the same day, could happen another day. This gets to be, you know, a little bit in the weeds and a little technical, but there's, you know, neurological efficiency. You know, that's basically somebody that's pretty good at demonstrating their strength.

That's someone that's pretty good at demonstrating maybe their one or two rep max. There, uh, but maybe, you know, somebody that would be neurologically inefficient, maybe they can perform a six rep max pretty good. And maybe they can even perform their actual one rep max for five or six reps. And when they go to do a single with even just five pounds more or 10 pounds more, sometimes they miss it. I did a lot of personal training for years and years, and I trained a lot of females. And I noticed that even on something like a curl or a tricep pushdown, they could bang out reps all day, you know, but as soon as we didn't have like incremental weights, it was just

like an extra 10 pounds that you would put on there or an extra five pounds in the case of a curl with dumbbells or something like that. And then they just couldn't move them at all. And I was like scratching my head. I'm like, how is this possible? But I forgot what it was like to be new. And I forgot how hard it was to even be coordinated enough to bench a barbell. Yeah. Much less put any weight on there. I know exactly what you mean. Um, when you, I've noticed this with a lot of bodybuilders too, just cause they're really used to, we're really used to doing a lot of high rep work.

You'll see bodybuilders doing like 225, 10s, and sometimes 12s for their squat, and maybe even heavier loads. But if you actually were to try and translate that to a one rep max, when they actually try to lift a one rep max, they're not very good at it because it's something they don't do often. So their projected one rep max, they can't handle it. Like not even anything close to it, but they can handle like loads and loads of reps that's why stan efferding is like just a just he's insane because he'll do all these reps but he's also the

strongest power bodybuilder ever yeah some of my um my best lifts it's just like kind of jumps on you know what mark was saying especially just about my inexperience with lifting some of my best lifts have happened at the end of what's not supposed to be a heavy one rep max day you know it's like uh like say we do like back work or whatever i think uh one of the first times i hit 300 like we did a shit ton of back work and it was just to be like oh we're gonna do upper back today like oh yeah we'll end with some lightish deadlifts and then it's like there's more weight like yeah i feel great i feel i feel awesome and then it's like okay mark can you explain that one to me like why is it that i just smoke that weight when i'm not even trying yeah you know is it for me i think it's more mental than anything but i don't know maybe i've never actually felt what it feels like to be truly warmed up for something i you know yeah i think the truth of it is like uh so

there's like a warm-up like your body temperature needs to be up uh your heart rate needs to be up uh your uh you know when a boxer mma guy comes to the ring it's usually a bad sign when they're totally dry yeah it's usually a little bit better sign that they were doing a lot of the movements and doing a lot of things they needed to in the in the warm-up area to get themselves prepared for the event for the match uh and i would say lifting is kind of similar like you should get figure out a way and everybody's a little different but like for me i've learned to kind of start to mentally prepare myself like the night before a lift. And a lot of times, like right now I'm mainly focused on the bench. I might prepare like a week ahead of time, four or five days ahead of time. And I talk, talk to myself about it before I go to bed every night.

And I talk to myself in the morning about, and I think about it throughout the day. Uh, I write it on my mirror, uh, all the time. Something I actually haven't even talked about in this podcast, but every morning, uh, however many showers I take for the day, 501 at two 20 is written on the mirror. And I've been doing that, you know, I've been doing that for years and years when even, you know, back when I was squatting a thousand pounds and messing around with that stuff, trying to really attach my mind to it so that when I do show up in the gym that I feel ready. But I also know as an athlete, it's not a great idea to really just trust

how you feel because we uh we lie to ourselves right like you how do you feel and say i feel great you don't really feel great necessarily but you always want to convince yourself that you feel great and maybe you do feel better than you have in the past but there's always something there's always a little elbow a little knee there's always something that's that's kind of bothering you but we're going to try to deny that. Yeah. I've been on the opposite side of that. I've had, you know, my back injury and it's been,

you know, we'll say like, it's like a six out of 10 today. It's like, how are you doing? Man, you know, this back thing, I'm still jacked up there. I won't be able to train, you know, hard today. So, you know, whatever, count me out. Yeah.

You know, so i've been on the other side for the past like i don't know how many years that's very yeah that's tough yeah and that's very common uh you know even just asking somebody how you doing like i'm hanging in there you're like yeah what kind of answer is that what do you mean you're hanging in there but at the same time i don't know what do you just totally make up something i'm doing great you know you're always doing great. And so it's kind of hard to like really evaluate and, and your true friends will know. They'll say, no, no.

How are you really doing? Yeah. Cause they know, they know when you're kind of blowing it off and you're like, oh, I'm doing pretty good. Yeah. You know, when you're full of shit. Well, let me ask this. I'm curious because like, obviously we, we all have issues every now and then even really,

really big ones. Because obviously, we all have issues every now and then, even really, really big ones. But for example, for myself, if somebody does ask me how I'm doing, even if I have something going on, I will say I'm doing good. Because whenever I wake up, I always try and think of all the things I'm grateful for. I do a lot of positive visualization and a lot of negative visualization. And I know all the things that bad that could be happening. So I'm grateful for all of the good stuff and all the shit I have going on. So do you think that like, even though you're not great, you should be like honest about it if something's happening?

I know it's situation to situation, but what do you think about that? Well, you could be really throwing a lot of weight on somebody, you know? Oh, my dad, you know, he's not doing so good. And then, you know. I was just passing by. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

You really stress somebody out, you know, but I do think that, yeah, it has to be kind of situational, you know, if it's somebody that, you know, then that maybe they really want to know how you're doing. Maybe you should kind of let, maybe you should kind of, uh, let them know. But I, I do a lot of the same things that you're talking about. A lot of positive reinforcement, sometimes a little negative talk to like, I, I'm somebody that loves to attack certain days with a chip on my shoulder. Other days I love to attack, you know, pretending everything's sunshine and rainbows.

You know, I love, I love kind of the, the idea of nobody understands how I feel. I got this power lifting me, this bodybuilding show and I walk around with a chip on my shoulder and everything bad anyone's ever said about me, I'm going to turn it against them, even though who cares, who really cares? No one's really probably even paying attention. Right.

Uh, I like kind of both sides of that. And I like, uh, you know, using positive energy to create, you know, some positive habits. uh you know using positive energy to create you know some positive habits and i like using negative energy to create uh you know a kind of a firestorm of of me staying fired up and staying motivated you know i sometimes will come in here and just and and i you know i think people can kind of tell you know like kind of telling how to see it like oh okay maybe i'll just uh say hi to him for a quick second and walk away but i'm always uh i'm always excited about kind of like what's next so it's it's always still from like a positive uh positive perspective i will say this you know

what i've learned over the years is that negative thoughts in most people i think will outweigh the positive because we're gonna really take for granted the good things that are going on like even just your health like the fact that you woke up like that's that's a pretty good victory for the day uh and the fact that you have a significant other it's like holy shit like that is you know that is something we all take for granted that's that is a huge that is a huge deal to have somebody else in this fight with you that has your best interest in mind and that you can share all this stuff with because otherwise what's it all for you're just doing it by doing it by yourself kind of sucks right um but i but what i have learned is

that if you don't nourish and constantly uh water the things that are good if you don't take care of them don't give them sunlight and treat them the right way, uh, that the bad will be stronger than the good eventually. And so it might sound a little funny, a little corny, but that's like my belief. And that's some things that I've learned over the years is like, you got to really cultivate and you got to really work on good, uh, good practices, good habits, recognizing things that are good in your life. Otherwise, man, those negative thoughts, it's any of us on any given day can start really feeling sad about ourselves.

Yeah, yeah, no, I know exactly what you mean. In terms of like, whenever I think of like negative things, because I mean, when I was younger in my teens, and I'm not that old right now, obviously, but when I was a teenager, I would have a lot of negative thoughts that would outweigh those positive thoughts. And that's kind of what got me into learning how to set goals and knowing the right ways to set certain goals. And when I started

really getting better at actually achieving the goals that I set was when not just I said, okay, I want to do this, I attributed emotion towards it. So this isn't like an original thing for me or anything. But I would write out like the goals that I want to achieve. And then I'd say, okay, why do I want to achieve these goals? I would set like how do I feel when I achieve these? But then also if I don't do this, what's the opposite outcome? Like what would happen if I chose not to go towards this, you know, new field of like when I,

when I was switching from going to school to entrepreneurship, what, like what, what would happen if I didn't choose to do this? How would my life end up? How would it look five, 10, 15 years from now? Where would I be? Oh shit, that sucks. I don't want to be in stuck in this office for the rest of my life. That's if I don't make a move, it's going to happen. And I would think about that and that would get me going. Cause I'm like, that is scary. That's not the life I want to live, but it wasn't just, I want to be an entrepreneur and own a business and, you know, coach people. It wasn't just that. It's like, if I don't do this, the outcome is much worse if I don't try. And that's, that's where that negativity comes in that negative visualization of what would happen if I didn't make a move. It's it's it there was there were certain times when with certain goals that i've had that

it's gotten me emotional like it would make me almost want to cry if i wasn't it like at the thought of what would happen if i didn't achieve that specific goal and that's what really helps me with specific things i really want to do that i'm running towards the out the opposite side hurts yeah and you can also almost like uh take away the power from the negative stuff right yeah so like something i wish i had done in the past which was like i would think like oh my gosh i gotta i gotta land this big wedding gig or whatever blah blah and then i'd be like oh but what if they say no or like what if i shoot back like what if i instead of being like okay, if I mess up the shot, what's the worst that's going to happen?

Like, they'll probably still like it. Yeah. But no, I was thinking, oh my God, no, they're going to hate it. They're going to tell everybody how bad I am. And so like, I would actually build it up worse than, you know, like, you know, like I said, taking the power away from it. So I think what you were saying earlier about like how you think about the negative stuff, because I think you're kind of sucking the power away from it and being like no bitch i got it even uh what you're saying too is um you know you're just being practical you know you're being realistic and it's not necessarily just negative like uh i'm gonna go towards this but wait a

second what happens if i go towards that? Like those, those are really good. That's really good habit. You know, even just think about with your food, you know, I'm going to, my friends want to eat pizza. You know, I'm going to go toward, wait, hold on a second. Does it really go with what I want to do? Should I just enjoy some food? I mean, these are conversations you should have with yourself. You don't have to be a maniac about it.

Does it make sense? Like sometimes people want to enjoy some food with you you said sometimes somebody will invite you to breakfast and you you uh practice a lot of fasting and so you're like was it with your girlfriend you're like yeah let's it's your girlfriend yeah let's go eat i mean i'm sure she probably wouldn't care if you sat there and didn't eat but it's like it's just it, it's, you're not participating. So it's the same thing. We invite someone here to super training gym.

Really the only rule we have here is that you lift, you know, I don't want people, I don't want people just hanging out. I want people to participate. And so, you know, those are things you got to think about. My friends want to go out and it's like, we got, we went out last night and we got wrecked. Like I'm good, you know, like maybe next month, you know what I mean? And you can kind of start to, uh, be practical with it. What makes, what makes sense for you back to what you're saying about being a teenager. This ties into some things that I've been passionate about lately and some things, some

people that I want to get on this podcast to talk a little bit more about the relationship between, uh, your gut and your brain and, uh, and your foods. So when you're a teenager, everybody can agree. There's a lot of things going on with your hormones, right? And, uh, those are for a lot of different reasons. There's a lot of different things going on, but like puberty is one of them. Um, and a lot of teenagers also have like kind of crappy sleep habits, crappy food habits. Right. And so there's this kind of time in our life where I think I can't really speak from a female side cause I don't know how they feel. But for me as a guy, I was pretty angry. Uh, I didn't like getting a lot of fights or anything. I wasn't

like lashing out on anybody or anything, but I would be frustrated and I'd be like mad and stuff. And I'd imagine that the testosterone probably plays into that to some extent or just the fluctuation of hormones. So people can kind of identify that and people can say, okay, well, that makes sense. Or when women get to be in their forties, there might be a menopausal or something like that. Right. And it's all associated with these hormones.

What I think people are kind of missing is how important food can be to our, the hormones that are going on in our body. And you have a lot of people that are frustrated, anxious, depressed, and a lot, to me, a lot of it ties into your sleep and a lot of it ties into, uh, your nutrition. I don't think it, I don't think it's everything for everybody. Uh, you, you mentioned before, uh, your concerns about mental health. I've had people in my family have had mental health disorders and, uh, you know, I've seen firsthand, you know, what it can do to somebody and it's awful. But I also think that exercise, nutrition, I think they can, I really think that they can help anyone. I, I'm not going to say they can solve everybody's problems, but I think they can make whatever problem just about anybody has. Yeah. Yeah. When I was a teenager, I mean,

I told you about this. I had the worst actual, I would call it real depression when I was 13. And I remember it vividly because I had Oshkod Slaughter. I couldn't run. That's knees, right? Knees. Yeah. I was growing too fast. Ligaments could catch up. And I couldn't run. That's knees, right? Knees. Yeah. I was growing too fast. Like I'm just going to catch up. Um, and I couldn't run. Like the doctor said, you're not going to be able to run for a while. I could only walk and running was painful. I was playing soccer seven years until that point. So I mean, my, my mom noticed that I was like, I, I wasn't like going to sleep. Well, I wasn't quiet. I wasn't talking to her. I wasn't talking to anybody. I was just going to my room and I was pissed all the time. And I wasn't just pissed. Like I was just, I was quiet. It wasn't even like I was

angry. I was like a zombie. So that's when she like got me a gym membership. And then that was when I started lifting and I lifted for those three years. But like that totally changed like my, not just my habits, but like my actual mental health. I can say that I've never had a real depressive episode since that point because I've kept that habit. And every time like that, a major injury has happened for me in recent memory. I can feel myself start to almost slip in there, but then I realized, okay, figure out what I can do. What can I do? Even if I can't squat, what can I do instead to keep me active? And it's, if I didn't have physical activity, I don't know where my mental health would be. I feel like things like depression and anxiety, because I haven't dealt with that for a very long time,

would be prevalent for me. But it's because of activity, doing something that gets me sweating, gets me going. It's massive for me. It's so huge to have a parent, you know, be involved, you know, have somebody there to, we've had a Tony Semina on the podcast for real world tactical, uh, big J extreme fitness. And these are guys who have, uh, worked security and worked in some of these environments where, uh, things can get heated and out of control. And, you know, we've talked to both of them and some other people we've had on the podcast too, and said, you know, what do you think you can do about like school shootings and some of these things? And they're like, the only thing we can really think of is, and they both said the same thing was good parenting. That's about all you can really,

you know, that's about all you can really do. And so, you know, parents, people that listen to the show that have a child or even a niece or nephew or somebody i mean there's there's a lot of suggestions you can make hey you want to go to the gym with me someday hey you want to check it out you want to exercise it really can make a big difference i i'm in the same boat i i mean it's rare for me to like it's rare for me to be down i think the only time i get a little bit down is on days where i specifically like make myself not do a whole lot. And I get, I get a little bummed, but I also understand like, Hey, look, you know, you can't be a maniac 24 seven. You need to like, just don't go to the gym.

Just, just don't do anything for today. Just maybe go on like a walk. Okay. Like just don't work. Yeah. And then I'm like, don't know what to do with myself i'm all like uh okay now now what the hell do i do with myself i was again on the on the flip side when i hit that uh it was like uh whatever however you whatever age you are in 10th grade

that's when i hit like a weird super low point like 16 maybe yeah so that's when depression started with me um i didn't do any sports at all i instead closed myself off and shut the world out and kind of did nothing for it and my family i it has to run in my family because i know my sister she's she's admitted some stuff my brother won't it, but I've seen it in them. Yeah. But they're like all really like, like, oh no, no, not us. No, no, no. I don't have depression.

So here's, here's an interesting thing on that. Like, is it environmental or is it, you know, uh, genetic? It's kind of hard to tell. Like, uh, sometimes, um, you'll go to like a mall or like a county fair or something like that. And you see a family walk by and every single person walks the exact same way. Yeah.

They both, they all have their feet pointed out and their hips forward or they all have their feet pointed in like, and is that genetic or is that like, I learned how mom and dad walked from the time I was little. Yeah. I think that's more monkey see monkey do. Yeah. And then for, so, but for us, like, I learned how mom and dad walked from the time I was little. Yeah. I think that's more monkey see monkey do. Yeah.

And then for, but for us, like, I don't know, like we, we all had like awesome lives, like nothing crazy has happened, but you know, yeah. So anyway, um, like it wasn't up until like I started training here to where like, oh fuck, like I'm smiling every day. Like this is amazing. Like this is what it's supposed to feel like. You know, not thinking that around the next corner something bad's going to happen, which is what I kind of used to always think.

And, you know, when I first got here, like, thinking about, like, photo shoots going bad or, like, you know, Mark hating the photos or something, you know, like, I'd wake up in the middle of the night with, like, my chest, like, pounding and, you know, Stephanie would be like, what's wrong? I'd be like, oh, fuck, I don't know. And, yeah, because I also didn't even want to tell her what was going on yeah but now it's like okay i

think if i you know start admitting some stuff it would probably be a little bit better but with training and you know lifting heavy weights it's like man i've never felt better which is crazy dude that's that's so awesome like seriously like yeah because like you you already know how you felt you start training you feel you feel a crazy amount better that to me that i don't know i can't like i can't fathom how like how insane that is right it's like such a simple answer yeah mark says it all the time it's like a cheat code yeah you know it's cheat code to life like it you know helps you be a better person it helps you better at work it helps you i know like all over you know if i see somebody like i can't i can't control myself it's gonna sound so odd but i could be like in downtown davis and i see like a guy's got like big arms or big calves or something i'm like

yo bro what's up like it's like you know like you know you see someone that does crossfit you see a girl that's got some shoulders on them or someone who's got some veins and immediately give them the, uh, the bro nod. Cause you're like, we're in it together, man. Like you're all fired up, like all excited. You know, it's, it's, uh, I do feel like it's a cheat code. I feel like a lot of other people, maybe just, they haven't experienced it. And that's what I'm kind of hoping with this podcast and with having a free gym is that people do, uh, embrace this. People do give it a try.

People do give it a shot. Try, try a carnivore diet. Try a, uh, try some intermittent fasting, try flexible dieting. Look, all these things work. And when used in combination with each other or used for periods of time can really help you, uh, stay in this for the long haul, which is what it's about. Yeah. You got to figure out how to stay with it. And that for Andrew, that's going to be a key point for you since it's already changed

so much for you. The key is just figuring out a way to stay in the game. Yeah. You know, I'm, I'm curious for you because, um, something that I used to hear a lot when I was younger, when I, you know, when I was working jobs is people would be like, Oh, you're so obsessed with your body or, or why do you work out so much? That's so like conceited or anything. But for you, you trained when you were 310, 315, 330, and you've trained when you were shredded. But both times, do you think that you were in a good mental state in terms of feeling good even when you were heavier

just because you were training? Or is it different when you look leaner in the mirror? Is it mainly just because training helps you feel better or does your look have something to do with it for you too? So looks are huge. It's hugely important to everyone. Of course. Anyone who denies that is denying it. And I don't think they're being very truthful.

When you lose weight and you, and you know, I think maybe it's, maybe it's something with our society or maybe it's just me. But when you lose weight, you tend to want to smile more. Like when your face is really fat and you're puffy and bloated, you're not, you just, you don't feel as attractive. You don't feel as good looking. So like you, you're probably not going to smile as much. You might, you might like, it might be, might explain the reason why a lot of big guys kind of look hard. You know, why a lot of big guys will look a little like tougher right you're like i don't know about this guy this guy looks like a maniac right and it could be it could be kind of uh you know because of some of those reasons but for me i always felt good i have been my brother and i were talking this morning and my brother's

like man he's like i just he's like i wish people would know like what a savage you've been here pretty much your whole life he's like from the time you're 12 he's like you I wish people would know like what a savage you've been here pretty much your whole life. He's like, from the time you're 12, he's like, you've been lifting like a maniac. He talked about this day that I did a, uh, 405 deadlift for 19 reps. And I was like, I don't know, like 18 or something. And I passed out on the floor of the gym and was just laying there in agony. Cause I was dying. Uh, and still this day, like, I, I don't know if i'd even be able to do that now like that would be really fucking hard for me to to be able to uh muster that up but even when i

was even when i was big even when i was heavy when i was 310 and 320 and ultimately 330 was the fattest that i got i always felt really good so like when i started losing weight people like you must feel so good now and i'm like well i always felt pretty good but So like when I started losing weight, people like, you must feel so good now. And I'm like, well, I always felt pretty good, but my fatness is a little different than, uh, you know,

somebody at Walmart. I was like big and fat and I was, you're right. I was training and I was, you know, there's a big difference between, uh, you know,

just, just working out and moving around and like training, you know, I was actually trying to train for something. I was training to, uh, lift these, uh, big weights. So I always felt pretty good. You're right. And I felt, you know, I was actually trying to train for something. I was training to, uh, lift these, uh, big weights. So I always felt pretty good. You're right.

And I felt, I guess on that same note, just felt accomplished. Yeah. I just felt good. You know, I always felt like I was going somewhere. And, um, the part of the reason why I invited you on this podcast, I didn't even really explain it to you, but I feel that you're in the same spot i was in uh almost like 20 years ago where there's not 20 years difference but almost 20 years difference and uh when i first met you and you first started coming around the gym i was like this guy's like this guy's pretty

interesting he like doesn't he like doesn't care and i was thinking about a little bit more i'm like well i really didn't give a shit either. Like I, you know, so not that you don't care. It's just that when I asked you, I was like, I was like, well, what do you do? And I was trying to think of like, I don't know, like maybe he's a bodybuilder, maybe he's whatever. And you're like, well, I do some online coaching and, uh, you're like, you know, I do enough to, to have the life that I want to have. And I lift and I'm starting to get into jujitsu. And I was like, cool. I was like, well. And I lift and I'm starting to get into jiu-jitsu. And I was like, cool.

I was like, well, he seems happy. I'm like, pretty good. But like, that's the way I've always been. I was the exact same way. I was like, I don't really fucking care about anything. I just want to figure out how to train and how to lift and how to feel good through that. And I want to be able to always continue to do that at some capacity and

everything else. If I'm a good person and if I just keep working, everything else is going to kind of like fall in line. Everything else is going to fall into place. I'm not going to sit here and worry about it. Yeah. And that was kind of the impression I got with you when I first met you. Yeah.

No, my main goal with like everything I do, that's what I mean. That's why I picked up jujitsu. Cause I just wanted to see if I'd enjoy it. You know, like I knew that I was getting decently strong in powerlifting, but for me it was like, okay, there's something that people think I should do. There are a lot

of people who are like, go back to bodybuilding stuff on stage that people like, you know, go back and get stronger. But at the end of the day, I want to do all of the fitness that I really enjoy doing. Cause that's, what's going to help me get out of the bed and want to do it every single day. Right. You know, do I like jujitsu? Yeah. Do I like powerlifting? Yes. I'm going to mix the two. I'm going to make, I'm going to, I'm just going to make the most out of it, you know? Yeah. You're going to make it, make it your own, uh, make it your own thing. Do you feel that you're, you're happier now than you were maybe like about a year or two ago, like kind of before, not before jujitsu, but around the time you started jujitsu?

kind of before, not before jujitsu, but around the time you started jujitsu. Am I happier? You seem like what, like at the old gym, you seem like, uh, uh, what's the word I'm looking for? Maybe not as, uh, oh man, I don't, uh, enlightened, I guess I'd say. Enlightened. Maybe it's, maybe it's maturity. Not that you were mad, but it seemed like maybe you were, um, maybe because of the bodybuilding background and maybe because you were getting into powerlifting, you were really focused on the actual weights and maybe you were more like more in tune with it or something like that. I don't know.

You seem more relaxed now somehow. Yeah. Well, when I, when I came, you know, when I first came to the gym, um, this is gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna get exactly to the point you're mentioning. came to the gym, this is going to, I'm going to, I'm going to get exactly to the point you're mentioning. It was really good training with people that were better than me because I've never, and before that I was never in a training environment other than that I used to play soccer and I got injured where literally everyone, almost everybody was absolutely stronger than me. And that's why I was able to gain so much strength because people in the gym, they changed up everything. And I went from pulling 630 to 720 in like four or five months.

Yeah, it was crazy. But that's the thing. Cause it was the environment. And for me, as I started getting strong and I started learning more here, it was great. And I loved it. And I do love powerlifting. I love lifting in general because that's something that like saved me multiple times. But you know, I was a soccer player. I was running around a field all day long and I wanted to's something that like saved me multiple times. But, you know, I was a soccer

player. I was running around a field all day long and I wanted to do something that made me feel like I was, you know, using my whole body in that sense. Athletic. Like athletic. And don't get it wrong. Powerlifting is athletic. Yo. So, so don't, don't think powerlifting is athletic. It's athletic, but I wanted to use more of my body and I couldn't figure, I didn't know, like, first off what I could do that would allow me to still, you know, do powerlifting, um, and feel good. And then when I discovered jujitsu, I dove in and it was, it gave me that feeling that I used to have when I was running around the field for most of my life. Like I was, I was, it, it, it, it's just so, it was just so enjoyable. Um, and that's why, you know, now, like you say, I look enlightened. I don't feel like I'm enlightened, but I'm just enjoying my

fitness more because everything I do from deadlifting, squatting, benching, jujitsu, I enjoy every aspect of my fitness and I really feel like I own it. I'm not doing what anybody else wants me to do in terms of my fitness. I'm doing what I feel is right. And I know it's, I know it's right for me, you know? So that's why, that's why like, maybe that's why I seem different. How did you feel, um, you know, transitioning from the soccer background and, and some other things you were doing to like bodybuilding and then from bodybuilding to powerlifting and powerlifting to jiu-jitsu.

Were these all things you just kind of like jumped into? Or are these things that you kind of like, you figured out how to lift a little bit and then you started investigating some bodybuilding and started investigating diet? And did you kind of, you know, go into these things kind of slowly or are you the kind of person that just takes a big old leap?

So the bodybuilding I mentioned happened because of injury. Like that was when I was 13, I got Osgood Slaughter. I was already playing soccer for seven years, so I couldn't run from 13 to 16. That's when I picked up bodybuilding. Went from about, when I was 13, I was probably around maybe 150, 160. And when I stepped back on the soccer field at 16, I was about 195. Everybody's like, damn. Yeah. I was about 195 when I stepped back on the field, but I kept that habit. So even though I was playing soccer and I, you know, I played in high school, I went and played at the college level. I was still trying to lift three or four

times a week. It was difficult. And I was finding it hard to stay like, stay like gain size. Um, but I was holding around, you know, two 10. So I, I kept the bodybuilding there. I kept the nutrition aspect of things there. When I got injured in college, that's when I was like, shoot, that that's like soccer was gone. And then that's what I was like, okay, let's just go deep in bodybuilding. Let's just lift. And that's when I put on a lot of weight, a lot of good weight. I gained a lot of muscle, but that's because I wasn't running around anymore. I wasn't doing a bunch of cardio. I was just lifting seven days a week, probably more than I should have, but I was lifting seven days a week. And then I found, okay, I, I I'm getting, I'm continuing to get bigger now. Cause I'm not doing all this running. I got something here and

I fell in love with it. I mean, I already loved it, you know, but I, I, I really got into it. I'm like, I want to step on stage. I want to do a show. And then after I did some of that, I'm like, I want to, I want to train people for this. So that was that. But then I also found that I didn't feel that I had much performance. So I wasn't like competing. And when I say competing, when you do bodybuilding, it's subjective for the judges. Okay. When you do powerlifting, when you're doing that, that SBD, if you get three red lights, okay. I mean, there are three white lights. It's usually a good call. It's because of your performance. So then I picked up powerlifting. I'm like, I want to, you know, I want to train to perform. So diving from bodybuilding to powerlifting, I don't think was much of a transition because it's all lifting. You know, you can lift and do bodybuilding

and you can also lift and like, you can also do bodybuilding work and get stronger and do powerlifting. And the big thing I really liked about powerlifting that I didn't feel from pure power, pure bodybuilding was the idea of progression. You could see yourself getting stronger with the, you know, the squat, the bench, the deadlift. There's this progression over time that with bodybuilding, like you're going to the gym and you're, you know, you're doing your, you know, your machine work and stuff, but it's not as satisfying. So I mixed those two and I did powerlifting and bodybuilding. and you're doing your machine work and stuff, but it's not as satisfying. So I mixed those two and I did powerlifting and bodybuilding. So I didn't think that was much of a transition. And that show right there,

I won that show, that was, I think I was maybe 22, 22 or 21. But that was like, I think my third bodybuilding show ever. And I was like probably 240 there, 238 to 240 there. So yeah. Pretty damn big on stage.

Yeah, it was a good show. The show I did after that, I lost about 10 more pounds, I think. But it was a really good season. How have you been able to kind of afford these things? Is it because of online training? It's because, yeah, when I... You did some coaching in person as well for a little while, right? I trained people in person once I left school. That's what's, that's what I literally dove into. I dove into training people in person. Um, and then from there training people in person, I was like, what's the next thing here? Because you know, everybody that trains people, you know,

that, you know, when you're sitting there and a client doesn't show up you're just like once again so i was i just had to figure out what could i do that can allow me to work with people change people's lives still make them help them progress but i'm not in this situation and that's when i just started i didn't start just saying i'm an online coach i knew some people who i was like i can help you lose some weight i can help you maybe you know you maybe step on stage or this and that. But we're not going to see each other. I'm just going to do it for you. And I worked with a lot of people for free before I dove into online coaching.

And then slowly as that built, I didn't have to train people in person anymore. I could just build that. I started by putting a lot of information on YouTube too. And then from there became my full-time job, which allowed me the time to be able to, you know, try all the fitness things that I wanted to try. There's so many people that you see, you know, on social media talking about, you know, follow your passion and follow your heart and, you know, follow the things that you truly want to do and pursue. And I agree with a lot of those things and I think it's great, but it's, it's also hard to like, where's this like jumping off point? Like, and do I, you'll hear some people say,

you know, you just jump, man, you jump and you don't have a parachute and you figure out shit on the way down. And I, I, I, I like the mindset. I understand the mindset. I've done things like that myself. Uh, however, um, you know, recently when I was on a podcast with the guys from mind pump, they said, you know, what failures have you had in business? And I, I, I, I don't, I don't have one and it's not being arrogant. I'm not trying to, uh, I don't have anything that I put a bunch of money into and then it, and then it, and then it, uh, failed. So that's kind of my definition of something being a failure and other people might have other ones. But when I came out with the invention of the slingshot, we made our money back quickly.

And just anything else I've done, it's worked. But the reason is, is because I've always taken steps. It's always been one foot after the other. I'm not skipping steps. And I'm not, there are some people that are entrepreneurs that will really roll the dice and they'll really try something big. And, and there's, you know, with a great risk, there's great reward as well, but then there can be great failure and you can really fall, you know, flat on your face. And so for myself, it's always tried to, you know, um, I guess like baby step it, like

I'm going to try to figure this out this way. Cause I don't have any business experience. I've like made it up as I'm going along. And so, uh, because of that, I've had to always be kind of savvy and crafty and, uh, rely more on like creativity since I never went to business school. I've never read a book on business. And I, I guess the only thing I know about business is like, I've, I've just rubbed elbows with people that have been in business. And then I've just been in business for a pretty long time, you know?

And so that, that was kind of like my way of, um, but I guess in the, before all that, I had to do a lot of things, um, that I didn't love. You know, I had, I was a personal trainer for a long time. I was a bouncer for a long time. I did all kinds of stuff to, I moved fitness equipment. I did all kinds of stuff I didn't love to do that I wasn't passionate about in pursuit of these other things that I wanted to do. You know, I'm curious when you say you took baby steps, because when you were, when you were starting out, did you make plans? Like some people just like go with the flow and they're like, they see things that pop up, they just go and they progress that way. And some, I think in a lot, in a lot of ways, a lot of people are lucky with how that goes when

they don't plan out or not even lucky, but maybe they just set themselves up for that success. Right. But did you like in, when you were taking steps initially, were you making plans for what's next or what we're going to try to do next? Or were you just going? Just kind of going, man. I, I never wrote a business plan. Uh, a lot of people kept telling me that I need to write one and I just never really, I never really did, but you know, super training is weird. Cause like super training, it seems successful, but from a financial standpoint, it's really, it's really, uh, it is now because everything worked out. Yeah. But I guess if there was a failure, it would be like super training just because I didn't have a business plan.

And in the beginning it was a hundred bucks a month. Um, and it made enough money to stay around. Um, but it was not, it was never going to be something I shouldn't say never. It's, uh, wasn't looking like it was going to be something that was going to really make money. Uh, but it was enough to, uh, allow me to go towards my hopes and dreams. So I made some moves that were pretty big that ended up when I look back, they ended up being huge.

that were pretty big that ended up when i look back they ended up being huge uh you know the first move was to when i so i i had the gym originally in woodland california inside somebody else's gym and that was free i just trained people in there and coached people and coached high school kids and stuff like that and we had a powerlifting team and that team was called super training stuff like that. And we had a powerlifting team and that team was called super training. And then we went to, um, Natomas, California, uh, not too far from where we are here in West Sacramento. And while I had that place, that place was like 900 bucks a month. It was like about the size of this room that we're in now. It wasn't very big. I mean, the, the place, the part where that we had the weights in was, was maybe, uh, it was probably about double the size of this room.

So there was, there's some rooms for some benches and a squat rack and stuff like that. And, uh, that's where a lot of us built up a lot of strength. Um, and the gym was still, we still had a fee associated with it, but then the next move was somebody came in and they said, Hey, there's this gym opening up, uh, in Midtown, uh, downtown Sacramento. You should check it out. Um, might be cool for you to like team up with them. And I was like, why would I team up with them?

I got my own spot. I was so happy with my own spot. You know, I was so proud of it. And then, uh, I was driving home one day from work and I was just thinking, man, like I got like 12 people, the rent's 900 bucks a month is a hundred dollars. I mean, you know,, it barely doing it, you know, it's not really working. It's, it's enough to keep the place going. Uh, but it's not really, you know, making any money. And I had another job, uh, working at a bar and, uh,

I didn't want to do that. So I, I couldn't really pursue being as strong as I wanted to be because I didn't sleep, you know, I just, I worked nights. So, um, then I just kind of thought about it. I'm like, well, that's really like, that's a really foolish of me to not like, why don't I go just go check out that gym? Yeah. The guy said, there's a gym downtown. And, and me, I was thinking in my head, I was like, maybe they don't really have a lot of equipment and maybe like, I can kind of like finagle my way in there.

Um, and, and maybe they would appreciate the amount of equipment that I have. Cause I already had a good amount of stuff. And so when I went there, uh, I checked out the gym on that drive home. Place was completely empty. All they had was some, uh, had a couple of squat racks and a couple of places do like pull-ups and didn't have any dumbbells and didn't have i already had a lot of stuff kind of crammed in yeah and so when i talked to the guy i said hey you know i have a power lifting gym and um you know here's where it is and this and that and he was like okay

i'll check it out so he checked it out we talked more and i was like well you know i'm gonna be bringing all this equipment i was like i don't know what's possible on your end but um it's like i don't really have a lot of money this is the team i got explaining the situation to him and uh he was like i'd love for you to move in right now and i was like well i can do that i said i can't pay any rent though because i'm already paying rent this other spot yeah so i said if i can be free for a while i said then i can start to pay some rent. And then, uh, he was like, all right. He's like, that works for me. So I went like six months without having to pay. Um, I went six months without having to pay any extra rent. And then I went another six months without having to pay any

rent. Cause he just loved to have us in there. And then eventually he was like, Hey, you know, it's like 600 bucks a month, but doing all that and being able to chase down my dreams and be able to, to push myself as a power lifter and being in a more predominant spot, being open-minded to the idea of like, Hey, you should check out Southern guys, gym, all those things allowed me to really pursue, uh, everything that I was, everything that I ever dreamed of. I wanted to be as strong as I could be. I wanted to be as strong as I could be. I wanted to be able to beat, uh, every power that I knew. And I ended up beating every power that I knew, but after a while it got to be really hard because I get to know more and more people. And so that never, never really truly happened. But, um, in addition to that, um, super training gym that was in Midtown, uh, was

where, well, the slingshot was, I had the idea before that, but the slingshot was i had the idea before that but the slingshot was actually physically created in that gym power magazine came from that gym and like everything you see nowadays comes from all that but it was all in kind of pursuit of it was at the same time so i wasn't like i'm gonna follow my passion you know i didn't just stop everything i was doing um because how else would you like I was doing. Um, because how else would you like, keep the lights on if you, you know, how else would you pay for your food and stuff like that? Yeah. Like when I first started personal training, I wasn't only personal training. I was also working at 24 hour fitness, selling personal training for other personal trainers. And then

when people would see me doing that, they'd be like, Oh, why don't you train people? I'm like, I do. Here's my card. Meet me here. I can say that now, but, uh, back then I couldn't, that's not. Well, and we, well, and we, we, we live in a, like, we live in some really good times too. I want to point that out to people like, and being here in America is like unbelievable. So, you know, I'm not, I didn't work on the railroad, you know what I mean? I wasn't like out, like, you know, doing crazy physical labor or doing anything wacky.

Yeah. Um, and, and with yourself, I mean, you went from training people and selling memberships to a heated and cooled facility. That's probably nice and clean. Right. And so it's not like, we're not trying to share this idea of like, Hey, we ate shit, you know, for 20 years or anything like that. It's just, you're going to have to figure out a way to be able to afford the dream that

you have. And it's going to take, it might take a long time. I think you're still in the process of chasing down a lot of things that you want to do, right? Yeah, I am. And, you know, for me, I think that the, the, not just knowing what I want, but writing out everything that I do want and not, not,

and these aren't just when I say writing out everything I want, it's not writing, you know, I want a Tesla and these cars or whatever. It's like writing out the life I want to live with the people I want to live it with writing out the way I see them living with me, writing out the way I see just like my emotions. So those are things that I've done.

I haven't, I didn't write out like a plan necessarily like for the slingshot. And I didn't write down like a plan about like business stuff, but I have written out like dreams. I have written out like, uh, desires, hopes,

things that I wanted to have happen. Exactly. And it, it gets, it gets clearer and clearer. And that's the thing. Like you, you didn't just say you want something.

You really made it clear for yourself. And then it's not like, I don't know if I can say that things came towards you, but you were, even if it was subconscious, even if it was a conscious, you were doing certain small things here and there that was leading you in that direction. You know, I'm still on that pathway every day, multiple things. Exactly. Yeah. And you also build certain habits that are going to help you get there too, because it's always on your mind. It's not like, you know, I just want to, I want to lose 10 pounds. You know, when someone says that they start to, if they really want to do that, then they'll figure out what their habits are now that's stopping them from that. And maybe what they need to stop doing and what habits they need to build to be able

to do that. It's not just, I want to do it. If you just want to do it and you think you should, you're not going to, you know, you gotta really, there has to be some, some depth to that so that you can stick to it even when it gets hard. You know, I used to have a list. I had a list of lifters, uh, in the area, you know, and, and some of my own training partners were on that list. And like, I would physically go in and I wish I still had it but i'd physically go in like you know boom knocked him out boom knocked him out and just you know even jesse burdick who's my best friend still to this day his name was on the list it didn't matter you know if we were friends or enemies or

what uh my own training partner scott cartwright uh who ended up squatting 11 55 multi-ply gear ended up squatting over nine uh single ply and like 8 50 or something raw i mean he was just an animal when it came to squatting and i always had this mindset when he and i would train together like i i don't care if i have to die but i'm gonna i just don't want to get just absolutely buried by him in every single training session that we do. And a lot of times he was a plate and sometimes a plate and a quarter ahead of whatever I was doing every single time. Yeah. And so anytime I was closer than that, he'd be pissed.

Like he just wouldn't talk to me. I mean, we had a really weird relationship in the anyway. So it was, you know, everybody was like kind of walking on, uh, uh, thumbtacks around us all the time as it was. And so, yeah, that got to be a thing for me. I was like, you know what, if I could just stay within some sort of range of him, if I could just stay within a plate, that would be good. And eventually I started staying closer and closer and closer.

And he had a bigger total than me when we met by a long shot. And then eventually I was able to surpass his total, which was kind of the whole goal. So he was able to still whip my ass in the squat. I was never able to really catch him on that, but eventually I was able to catch him in the squat. I think, I think that's a big thing about also because you're in that environment where there's so many other people that were better than you,

um, it's sped up your progress so much. Cause you were like, I see him doing this. Okay. I want, I want, I want to beat him.

That's the same thing when I was on the mats, as I was progressing, like white belt, I'm now a blue belt as a white belt. And even now I would roll with the hardest people there because. Have you gotten hurt doing that? Actually, yeah,

once there's this guy named Jack and Jack knows who he is. He's a, he's a good guy though. He's the guy who I had to get my meniscus surgery because of um yeah he put me in something my knee popped but a lot of times you get a lot of times if you are going to get hurt it's from people that are newer though right because they don't know the tension probably my stupidity it's not because of jack is my stupidity um so you're right it's because like they don't know how to move or as an i don't know how to move when that happened

but it wasn't him it's just i always say jackie i didn't even know i was in stuff a bunch of times when i've done jujitsu before i'm like oh my god or like uh with kyle kingsbury he was showing me a bunch of stuff and i'm like oh i'll have to do is like pull on his wrist and he's done i didn't even know so he was you know it was great because he's so experienced he was just telling me like hey like you know do this do this and it was very slow and very controlled experienced. He was just telling me like, Hey, like, you know, do this, do this. And it was very slow and very controlled. Yeah. And he actually went and did something for a few minutes.

He went and I don't forget what he had to do. Take a phone call or something. And he's like, don't roll with anybody else. He's like, cause they're going to see you and they're going to want to like kick your ass. And I started rolling with some other guy. And then when Kyle came back,

he was so mad at the guy. Yeah. It was so funny. He's like, what are you doing to Mark? Kyle came back, he was so mad at the guy. Yeah. It was so funny. He's like, what are you doing to Mark? He's like, he's like, I'll fuck you. Well, cause that guy like duped you into it. Yeah. You know, he was just like, Hey, like, Hey, come here.

Come here. And Mark's like, Oh, what's up? And he's like, Oh, he goes to shake his hand. And then, you know, like when you, when you touch in, you know, boom. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, fuck like Mark, you're in dude.

Like there's nothing you can't run away now. yeah that was that was pretty tough it was kind of funny though because i you know this guy was this guy was very small like body weight wise and obviously he was very very good but he was like he's like try to get me in something i'm like i have no offense dude like like i don't know what i'm doing i did jujitsu and it was like 20 years ago i'm like i don't remember like i can bend back your pinky you know I get lucky, but that might be about it. Poke your eye out. So like, I was able to like do some stuff with him, but I couldn't like get him in anything. I'm like, I'm not going to be able to figure out any holds or anything.

That's tough. It's really like that. That progression as a white belt is hard. Cause it's legit. Like you, you have to be a sponge. Just like when you start lifting, you just, you don't know anything for months and months and months on end. And then things start clicking and then you can start progressing.

What's your mindset when, when you're going into a tournament, like, or if you're going against a really fierce opponent, um, when you, when you're training, do you think like, I'm going to check this dude up or I'm going to get him in? Like, are you aggressive or are you just trying to think about your training? Like what, what's kind of the mindset? Some people really do like the kill the opponent mindset. Honestly, I can never really get into it. And initially when I did my first competition,

everybody's going to have this experience when they do their first BJJ competition. I was super spazzy. I did have that mindset of, okay, I'm going to get this guy, blah, blah. But that wasn't me. And you know that's not me. have that mindset of okay i'm gonna get this guy blah blah but that wasn't me and you know that's not me i'm not like a naturally super aggro person so i mean i did win that match but it wasn't the way i wanted to win it like i felt super tired i felt like i was using a lot of energy that i typically didn't use with my training partners um i didn't felt like i was rolling the way i was training and that wasn't because my opponent was also coming at me

aggressively it's because i wasn't you know playing the game I usually play when I, when I roll at Casio school, when I roll with everyone there, um, I want to beat them. I really want to beat them. I don't want to lose, but when I do it, I want to, uh, there's a feeling of, um, app like control without even trying. It's weird. I'm obviously trying, but I don't feel like I'm thinking. That's the big thing. When I can roll and not think, that's when everything falls in line because everything's on instinct and it clicks. So I have to be relaxed to do that.

I can't be amped up. I can't be like when I look at my opponent in tournaments now, I just kind of I don't think about them. I just think about being happy when I walk onto the mat, um, and relaxing and rolling. And that's like, that's when I've had my best roles in tournaments. That's when like, I've just like, my opponents weren't able to do anything with me because I wasn't necessarily even thinking of the outcome. Of course I wanted to win. And that's something I work on too. Not thinking of the outcome, just thinking about enjoying this match and doing my best. Um, and of course I do want to win. And that's something I work on too. Not thinking of the outcome, just thinking about enjoying this match and doing my best. And of course I do want to win.

But when I start thinking about, oh, I got to win, I got to win, I got to win. Then I've noticed certain times when I'm on the mat that I'll do certain things that I wouldn't usually do just because like, I feel like I have to win

and it ends up not being the right decision because that's in the back of my head. So now I'm relaxed. I try not to think and I try to treat it like win and it ends up not being the right decision because that's in the back of my head. So now I'm relaxed. I try not to think and I try to treat it like training and just enjoy it. This is like stress management and this is also managing your feelings, which is something we've talked about in this podcast before, which I think a lot of times you don't understand that you have control over your feelings. But if you play out all the things that you just said, then you do have control. You have quite a bit of control over your feelings. But if you, if you play out all the things that you just said, then you do have control. You have quite a bit of control over your feelings. You can really,

uh, you get yourself in a frame of mind that makes a lot more sense rather than being so amped up about something, even something as little as, uh, oh, I need to contact that person. I need to make a phone call. And then, and then you're kind of playing out in your head. Oh, you know, I wonder what that's going to be like when I reach out to them. Are they going to say yes? Are they going to say no? Or, or, or do I have time to meet up with them? Or then you, man, you really just caused yourself a lot of anxiety.

Probably the best idea is to say, okay, yeah, that did pop into my head. And, uh, if you have access to, hopefully you have access to like write something down or take some sort of note. Cause a lot of times you'll forget, uh, maybe record something on your phone or however you got to capture that, capture it and worry about it later. And, and kind of even, I'll even try to put, uh, some thought behind, uh, like a certain feeling I have about something, uh, with that. So I might write it down and then, you know, even just make like a smiley face.

Like Andrew said, in my notebook, you'll see, like, there's like a lot of pictures in there and shit. Like, just cause I like, I doodle, you know, I just like, I, I mess around and I think that that's something that's always helped me, uh, from a creative standpoint. But I think, you know, if you're in like yoga class, you're trying to like meditate or trying to relax in a hot tub, you're getting massage and you're getting all yoga class, you're trying to like meditate or trying to relax in a hot tub, you're getting massage and you're getting all worked up about, oh man, I forgot to call my dad today. I think it's his birthday. Oh man, he's going to be, you got to really try to,

that's not the time. That's not the time that, you know, hopefully you can remember later to call him, but that's not, that's not the right time. And so that's the moment when you want to, you know, in yoga, like I'm learning, they teach you how to breathe and they talk about breathing into it and all this kind of stuff. And it is when you want to relax and you want to try to breathe and you want to try to just take in the moment that you have. You and I were talking about it before the podcast. Being still is, it's like an art. Yeah. And it's really, really difficult to just be still and just try to

calm down you got trouble with that andrew you have a hard time kind of just being calm all the time yeah um it's funny i was uh in the book that i was talking to you about earlier a couple days ago it has something to do with like something in my head that has like some kind of over developed something something with like anxiety. Yeah. So if I don't shake my leg, the anxiety will build up and it'll make me like the fight or flight, like whatever chemical or whatever it is, like it'll start building up too much to where I'm like, okay, I gotta, I gotta, I don't know what's going on in this room,

but I gotta get out of here. Um, it's, it's not terrible. Like I can obviously handle myself, but yeah, like being still or, uh, like just, I have a hard time. Like, uh,

today I got a bunch of work done and I, it felt great, but I was like, Ooh, I can make the thumbnail for today's podcast. Like, no, no,

no, no. Like I have to go for a walk. Like I can't, like I've been staying here and at this computer screen for way too long. Yeah. I gotta go. I gotta,

I gotta go. Oh, but what about, like, Nope. Just get the hell out of this room right now. Um gotta go, I gotta, I gotta go, but oh, but what about, like, nope, just get the hell out of this room right now.

Yeah, I don't, I mean, I don't know where that comes from, but it's, it's like good and bad because yeah,

I got a ton of work done today. Yeah. But at the same time, like I was staring at my computer screen for way too many hours straight.

But what I was going to ask you, like, cause that, that whole like having your mindset when you're going into to match or doing this and that um do you get a lot of that from just straight up meditating or is it just something that you've been competing so long that you've kind of just learned how to deal with it yeah um i would i would say that competing and

playing sports has been, since it's been part of my life for a long time, that's probably been of some help. But I do think that meditation has played a big role because it's allowed me to kind of calm my thoughts down a little bit. You know, if you really just sit down in silence, you'll realize how many thoughts are just going through your head. Yeah. Crazy. Exactly. Yeah. Like in the standard form of meditation, you're supposed to focus on your breath, right?

You could open your eyes, you could close your eyes, but then a thought will happen. And for anybody who does it for the first time, you'll find that two minutes in, you're focusing on the donut that you're about to go eat. And then you're like, well, I got to focus back on breathing. I'm not. Exactly. And it keeps moving around. And it's almost like you're training a muscle because if you bring it, you're thinking of the donut. Okay. Back to the breath. Thinking of that cup right there. Okay. Back to the breath. You, you, you, you train yourself to focus on one

thing. And then as you get better and better at that, you don't have as many just random thoughts. So I think that has definitely helped me out in terms of going to a tournament setting and not thinking of my opponent, because like you were touching on this when you were saying, you know, going somewhere and then you're like, I didn't call my dad. Nowadays, I kind of have a, I have something that I try to follow where I don't let myself worry about things that I can't control because if, if, if I can't control it and I'm thinking about it, well, what's the point? You know, know i mean there are goals i want to have in the future but i'm not gonna let myself worry about something that hasn't happened yet and it also helps me like when i go to a tournament and i see my opponent initially like a long time ago i would have been focusing on oh wow he's really big

and oh god he looks like he knows that but now i I don't care because I can only control what I do in this match against this opponent and how I've prepared. I can't control the opponent. And then doesn't like through guided meditation kind of exactly what Mark was just saying,

like, aren't you supposed to like, okay, I'm thinking about the donut. Okay, take that thought of the donut, examine it, and then put it away and then go back to your breathing. Exactly. Don't judge it.

Don't like beat yourself up for thinking about the donut. So write it down. Okay, call dad later. Yeah. Don't judge it. Don't like beat yourself up for thinking about the donut. Yeah, so write it down. Okay, call dad later. Yeah. And then move on. Acknowledge the thought. It's okay to have the thought.

Acknowledge it. Yeah. Because it's like sometimes you'll beat yourself up for thinking something. You know what I mean? Yeah. And that's not good. It's a thought. Acknowledge it and get back to what you're doing.

This is where writing things down can be really useful because now you created a plan and you talked about control and you talked about not worrying too much about things that you can't control, which is great. But there's so many things that you can control. You can control whether you show up to jujitsu practice on time. You can control if you stay late and work on other moves in anticipation for this tournament that you have coming up. work on other moves in anticipation for this tournament that you have coming up you can control making sure that you're not at jiu-jitsu practice for too long so you can get home in time to get the calories in that you need so you get the rest that you need you can take a shower relax go to bed be with a girlfriend whatever the things are that you need to do and get a good night's

rest and not be behind the next day i think what ends up happening to all of us, we're all very guilty of this. You know, one thing kind of sets everything back by like 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 30, 30 minutes sometimes. And it's like, boom, it just keeps getting pushed back and pushed back and pushed back. And now instead of getting home at seven from jujitsu practice, it's now eight 30 and you're tired. Maybe your girl's in a bad mood it's like man this things are really sliding downhill fast shit the tournament's only like three days away now you're

now you're starting to get anxiety like man i i really need like i needed better sleep like a couple days ago in anticipation for everything that i'm doing man then you start getting in your own head like maybe my training's off Like now I really set a cascade of anxiety that would wipe out anybody. And so you do have, you have, it's not great to over-worry about really anything, but at the same time, you know, gain control over the things that you can control, um, so that you, you're not so damn anxious about it. You're so worried about it. You're not, you know, there's all these pressing things that we can control, um, so that you, you're not so damn anxious about it. You're so worried about it. You're not,

you know, there's all these pressing things that we have each day and, we keep kind of sweeping them out of the rug and eventually, eventually it's going to show up somewhere. So take care of your shit when you're supposed to. Yeah. Yeah. Speaking of being in control,

Mark, uh, you hit 485 very cleanly this morning in bench. And it was your turn to go up again. We were going to load plate or we were loading plates back on. And you were like, nope, that's it. I'm done. What happened?

Yeah. You just got to know when to call it. I got what I needed from the training for today. And then also I've been doing yoga for the last five weeks. And so I've been trying to be consistent with that. Um, I like going to like three or four times a week. I've been pretty consistent with, with about three. So I don't want to miss, I don't want to be late. Like the worst thing, it's a really great lesson to be late for yoga because you can't relax. If you're late,

you don't have like the time to like prep to, to do all the things necessary. And I'm sure it's probably like, it's probably like that for you with jujitsu. It's like, man, you get behind on class. It's like,

I feel like you let everybody down. Everybody's watching it and you're frantic and you're trying to put your shit away. You're trying to change. And it's just like, it's a mess. And it's like this 90 minute or 60 minute class you screwed it all up because you're 20 minutes behind you can't warm up i mean coming to the gym is a little different even in our environment like

we don't really care that much like you know we're trying to lift together but it's like you can warm up and catch up with everybody but you can't do that kind of shit when you're going going to yoga and the room's pitch black and everyone's like, you're all frantic coming in all loud. And especially me, I'm like breathing all out and everything. People are like, oh, great. I get to gotta be sitting next to this guy who's stiff as a board, grunting, sweating. Throwing your way off. Yeah.

Throwing everybody. Yeah. Waking everybody up. Yeah. The last time I tried to do yoga, I fell asleep and I was snoring in class it was you actually fell asleep oh i was completely out yeah 100 out story that's impressive that's great that's actually impressive i was not getting great sleep during that time of my life so it's not impressive at all it was actually really embarrassing you know what i'm liking about it is uh i'm learning how to relax so much that I can relax with my eyes open and I feel totally fine, you know?

So it doesn't really matter, you know, and, and where the, the places that I go, there's a, um, uh, a train that goes by. Like, I don't even know it. Like she kept apologizing for the train and I was like, I didn't, I didn't, I must be like hitting my Zen mode or something because I'm like, I'm not, I'm not hearing it. But yeah, today, like as I was just like lying there in one of our like poses, I was like, totally fine. I was like, I can just sit here and have my eyes open. I'm not distracted. I wasn't thinking of anything. Yeah.

Mine was nice and clear. It felt good. It's a form of meditation. clear. It felt good. It's, it's, it's a form of meditation. I'm curious to ask you like what, um, because you don't see, and you don't see a lot of lifters that stretch or do yoga or stuff like that. Uh, what kind of benefits have you seen like in here and maybe even outside to pain, all that type of stuff? Uh, recovery and just, um, I'm just feeling a little bit better, um, through kind of like my hips and stuff. My hips are always real tight. My shoulders are not down with it quite yet.

My shoulders are like, nah, we're good. Like, let's stay this tight. Yeah. But I'm working on it, you know, and what I'm obsessed with and what I'm excited about is change. You know, and I help people lose weight and help people get strong. And I've had people come up to me and say hey you helped change my life and i kind of feel like it's my obligation to continue to change my own like for the better you know we can all get better at stuff we can

all get better at something and uh who can't afford to be more relaxed who can't afford to be more mobile uh who can't afford to be in mobile, uh, who can't afford to be in better condition, a little leaner, a little strong, right. We can all afford to do that. And there'll be times and places in my life where I figure out different ways of going about doing things, but I can't really imagine not doing yoga. Like I just, I like it a lot. It's feeling really good. And, uh, my instructor today said, I need you to say that out loud publicly. So there you go. so i just said it out loud publicly but i i think that like just with lifting you know i started when i was 12 and never really looked back i think i'll keep some form of this in and part of the reason why i went to yoga was i i've asked you before about like stretching and stuff and like i'm just too lazy or whatever that word is that i'm not motivated enough or doesn't

feel good enough for me to just like do it by myself yeah so i'm just gonna go to these classes they're like 90 minutes and i'm just gonna like stretch with everybody else that's good it's it's so funny like so i saw i saw a comment before because i there's a stretch you've seen the stretching thing that i put on youtube every now and then um I saw this guy who commented and I wasn't sure if I should believe it or not but because of like this conversation right now where you mentioned that train and you weren't even thinking about the train he's like I do these types of routines every night before I go to bed and my anxiety that I have is like I don't have nearly as much anxiety as I used to it's not because you're stretching it's because you're actually just able to let yourself relax

and you're focusing on your breathing. And it just, it helps you outside of that too. So. That's huge. Yeah, it's huge. And it's crazy, but it's like, it's good that that's something that you are picking up because a lot of other people are going to be like,

okay, I'm going to start stretching now too. And then they're going to be able to see those types of benefits also. It's, it's super beneficial. You think about a kid, you know, a kid that goes to like, um, daycare or preschool type thing. They have like this time where they're like unwind. Maybe the kids were playing video games, maybe they're playing blocks and maybe they were

like learning the alphabet. Maybe they were doing all these things, but but then they they shut the lights off and they get the kids all to lay down and they probably have a blanket or something like that and they get themselves in a position where they feel like they're gonna go to sleep right like they prepare themselves for sleep and as adults i think we're just like going going going and we're shooting out that last text message or answering that last email and watching that violent movie before we go to bed. And we're like, I can't sleep, man. I can't shut it off at night. I don't know why.

It's like, well, it could have been the four or five cups of coffee that you had throughout the day. It takes like 10 hours for coffee to completely clear your system. And it could be just, you know, all the craziness that you're dealing with each and every day. So you want to start to figure out a routine and maybe even it's just like a shower or it's just what, whatever, something that breaks up, uh, like I just ate and, and now there's going to be this period of time and I'm going to go to bed. Anyone who really struggles with, uh, their sleep, uh, should try, um, messing around with their last meal and, and start to play around with that a little bit. For me, if I, uh, if I shut down eating or at least eating a big meal, I could, I could

have something small and I'd be fine. But if I shut down eating a big meal about two hours before I go to bed, it really is effective for me. So, um, in the past I just stuffed myself and go to bed and I'd wake up in the middle of the night with just a lot of energy. And I'm sure everyone's a little different on that, but that's worked really well for me. Yeah. For me, it's not like even limiting. It's like, I don't eat sugar, but I don't have a lot. I don't have sugar before I go to bed. I don't like drink a cup of juice before I go to bed. Cause I've noticed that I don't, you know, I don't sleep as well. I don't wake up as cup of juice before I go to bed. Cause I've noticed that I don't, you know, I don't sleep as well.

Yeah. I don't wake up as well, but I'm, I'm curious, like what, I'm guessing you have a morning routine. What does your, do you have a night routine that you do every single night? Yeah. So a lot of times, like I used to take a shower before I'd go to bed, but now I usually just take a shower right when I get home because like whatever I'm about to do next is not pressing anyway like i

my day is done pretty much and the only thing i'm kind of doing is hanging out with my family so i usually just take a shower and then usually i'll like eat um and then it could be going on a walk with my kids or my dad and then watching some tv and then going to bed. I watch about an hour TV. Usually my wife usually wants to watch something. So we watch something and, uh, that's usually the night, the night routine.

Um, it looks like anybody else's, I guess brushing the teeth, that kind of stuff. But I do, uh, I do shut everything down. I,

I try to, you know, I put my phone on airplane mode. I try to do that around seven. Um, I'm not always as disciplined as I need to, you know, I put my phone on airplane mode. I try to do that around seven. Um, I'm not always as disciplined as I need to be with that. Cause I should be a little bit better with that, but you just, every day you just always feel that you have to do these things. And what I'm learning is that the less that you think that way, that you have to do anything,

um, the better off that you are. I mean, there are a few things that you have to do. Uh, you have to do anything um the better off that you are i mean you there are a few things that you have to do uh you have to love yourself you have to be kind to other people i mean there's some just general like life principles that are necessary right but you don't have to text somebody at that moment you don't really have there's just it feels like you have to yeah feels like you have to but um if it didn't happen you know was it that meaningful you know like even just the text today to like come here and do the podcast it's great that it worked out right but like does it really like you know is it is it really like in the grand scheme of things. So what really matters is building some sort of consistency and,

and being able to do the things that we love to do on a regular basis. Yeah, I totally agree with that. I think that when it's funny that you would, with your nightly routine, you don't necessarily have like an absolute sex structure of everything that you must do because I've watched videos on nightly routines. I'm a bit like, I'm a big nerd for habits. Um, and like figuring out what like super high performance people like yourself and other

people do. Uh, and I think it's, it's funny when you, like, when I hear that, I'm just like, wow, I didn't expect that. I expected like a super structured, okay, when I get home, I'll take a nice warm bath. I'll go and do this. I'll shut my TV off an hour and a half before bed. I'll set my phone over here. I expected something so like structured. But I mean, that's good. Like you still do certain things, but it's not, it's nothing else that somebody else wouldn't do.

Well, he tapes his mouth shut. You know, that's, you know, stuff like that I think is what you're looking for. I can't wait to talk about that. That's fun. Yeah. And I got to start doing that too. It's helpful. I got some really good sleep from doing that.

You've been messing with that too? Taping the mouth shut? Yeah. Like I was doing the nasal breathing stuff and that helped me sleep better. I found that I wasn't like snoring as much as I used to because I used to snore. But when I taped my mouth shut, my sleep quality just got even higher. Because now my mouth isn't just falling open at certain parts of the night. It's staying closed.

I'm breathing through my nose. And last night, I usually try to get eight hours. But last night, I think I only had like five hours and 30 minutes of sleep. Typically with that, I'd wake up and I'd had like five hours and 30 minutes of sleep. Typically with that, I'd wake up and I'd feel like shit. I felt sharp this morning. Nice. And that's just because like spring through my nose the whole night,

you know, I felt rested and I don't ever feel rested off of that type of sleep ever. That's enough for me, man. Like last night was so bad. Uh, I woke up and Stephanie wasn't even there. I was like,

what happened? She's like, you're snoring was so bad last night there i was like what happened she's like your snoring was so bad last night damn really so yeah dude if it helped i mean it's just it's time for me to get that i use a i use a breathe right strip too just to kind of like pull the nose up and open a little bit more i don't you know i don't know how much it really helps but it just it clears my uh nasal passage a little bit more to get me a little bit more uh air but i've been i've been noticing a big difference from it and um you know in terms of like having like habits and real like crazy

like structures i've always been uh i haven't really responded great to ever having a lot of that i'm not like i i don't use a computer i don't um i mean just until like a couple months ago i didn't even schedule stuff it was just like day like day to day like uh just that's my i i kind of feel like i feel like i do uh enough to be able to like deflect anything that's going to kind of come my way almost a little matrix like you know i'm kind of ready and prepared for uh anything that's that's going to happen but like more recently um just because we've had so many things going on that uh had to be i had to give in to uh like having a little bit more of a set schedule. I have noticed that dedicating, um, uh, an eating schedule, dedicating time, uh, to lift and not, not making time to lift, but, but having a time to lift and having, having times

to eat, uh, specific times. I think that, I think that that alone, I think having specific times to eat and specific times to sleep could change America. I really think it could have a huge impact. Obviously you're going to have to make a little bit better choices with, with what you eat and what you drink and stuff like that. But man, I think if, if people just said, I'm every day, I'm going to eat at 10 and at uh one and at four and at seven or whatever however it works out i think that would make a huge difference for a lot of people yeah um what about just that simple discipline and obviously not engorging in like a bunch of

junk food but i think that alone would make a big difference yeah i'm just thinking like a parent listening to you say that you know you get like about an hour of tv time at night or you know you work or you're here doing everything you got to do here and then you go home and you it seems like you have a good amount of time um that didn't happen overnight obviously it doesn't happen by accident either so how did you go from you know the the madness of not having a schedule and just kind of going with the flow to, okay, like, yeah, before I go to bed, I will have an hour of TV time. I'll have dinner at a sensible hour. The kids somewhere in there, they'll have their time. You know, like, how does that even

happen? Because I mean, I'm hearing that. I'm just like, dude, I'm all over the place and I'm having a hard time trying to comprehend how I could even get all that in one day. You know, it's, it's tough. Yeah. It starts by waking up at 3 45 AM. That's kind of, that's kind of where it starts, but it all starts with, you know, getting to bed at early, at early enough time to make sure I get the sleep that I need in order to make everything, uh, happen, uh, each and every day. And everything is a priority. So, but different things get shifted around, you know, like, so let's say in SEMA was to call me and say, Hey man, like I need to talk to you. Like he calls me and like, I need, like, I want to see in person.

I need to like, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, wait a second. Like I would tell my wife, I'd say, Hey babe. I was like, I don't know what's going on, but like, I got to meet and see him at the say hey babe i was like i don't know what's going on but like i gotta meet and see him at the gym like he needs i don't know what's going on and she'd be like okay cool all right see you later and i'd go and i'd talk to him right like so different things shift at different points obviously it's always like family first but it's not family first all the time 24 7 my, if my kids need me 24 seven, then I didn't raise them right in the first place. And, uh, I don't want to even have a spouse that needs me all the time. Like my wife, like when we first were getting together and, and I would go not even getting together, but like the

first few years of our marriage, I'd go somewhere. And my, I've just remember my friends were on the phone all the time with their girlfriend or whoever, know like you don't need to call your wife i'm like i talked to her every day man like yeah like i'll call her at the end of it but i'm not we're not all like up each other's butt all day and different different things work different ways but uh you know everything is a priority and certain things will will kind of like rise up and get kicked up uh someone's birthday or something special's going on or somebody's sick. Uh, so that's kind of how that, that ends up, uh, working out, but I really don't have that much when the day is like closing out.

I don't have that much time. Like I got done with the podcast that we did the other day and I had 49 text messages and it's like, there's just really not a scenario where I, but you know, there's not a scenario where I got time to look at 49 text messages. So I'll have to look at them over the course of a few days. And, uh, you know, I'll kind of like look at the names and if it's someone I haven't talked to in a while, that person will kind of be kicked up to the front. Cause I'm like, well, I don't know why they're reaching out.

Maybe they, maybe they need something. Maybe some of the family is sick or maybe they just want to say hi. And I'm like, well, I don't know why they're reaching out. Maybe they, maybe they need something. Maybe some of the family is sick or maybe they just want to say hi. And I haven't connected with them in a long time. So the person that is like, maybe normally at the bottom, you know, towards the bottom of the priority list are now towards the top. Cause I haven't heard from them in a while.

I'm like, wait, what do they need? Yeah. So that, that's usually how I kind of like rotate those things around and try to do the best I can with them. Priorities. Prioritize. Prioritizzles.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, buddy. What you got? You did some jujitsu today? Yeah. You did some squats in the morning? Mm-hmm. We filmed that slingshot commercial.

We finished that up. That was pretty cool. That commercial looks sick. It does look really good. Yeah. I can't believe you got that time slot though. I know. Super Bowl. Yeah. It does look really good. Yeah. I can't believe you got that time slot though. I know.

Super Bowl. Yeah. It was only $5 million. 30 second commercial. And that's only because you know the guy that knows the other guy. That knows the guy. That got you a discount on Super Bowl time slot. He's the guy who said he got the hookup on the podcast crank. What is it?

Podcast crank? Yeah, dude. I got to show you. It's broken. Now that you're here maybe you can help me crank that thing over because it's it's just it sucks you gotta be really strong yeah i'll help you out this sounds uh sounds interesting you're gonna have to go underneath the table we'll get a uh we'll get a creeper so you can like slide right on under a creeper

yeah it's what's like the rolling thing yeah okay yeah if you know because you went to go get your oil changed today like you said why do you think i lie about everything i need to do no no it's not that at all just him and smoky ah smoky's the worst no because the picture you sent it looked like you drove right past your jujitsu place it's because i was taking the picture you know what okay i was taking the picture while You know what? Oh, yeah. I was taking the picture while driving. Don't do that. Like, that's not smart. That's against the law. That is against the law. I train with a cop every day almost. Oh, weekends.

We have a lot of cops at our gym. Yeah. Yeah. They wouldn't be happy me saying this. I'm going to tell them. What do you, are you, like, is there like a theme that you guys work on, like particular times and stuff? Or how does it work with some of the stuff you're doing in jujitsu?

Yeah. So Casio, he freestyles it. So he just came back from Brazil and there is some stuff because like he was rolling with all new people there. And he said, there are some things that he was doing that weren't working as well. Right. So he's like, oh, okay. So then he came back and taught us, he was teaching us all the holes in some of that stuff. So this week, I think we were going over back sequences. Um, and the week before we were going over back sequences. Um, and the week before we were going over passing sequences. Um, but he'll also look at a lot of people in the class. He'll see what certain people are maybe even doing really, really well. And then he'll look at like,

maybe if no one's really able to really deal with that person and what they're doing, he might focus on that the next week. If he sees a lot of people making errors with that. Um, so yeah, that's how he does it. And then he he'll also sometimes he'll split up the class you'll have like white belts and some some of the other belts on one side and then you have the upper belts doing their own thing and he'll teach it that way sometimes too you think jujitsu maybe in some way has maybe enhanced or opened up your mind to how you learn because i know sometimes it can be really frustrating. Like you keep trying to move or you keep trying to do something a certain way.

And, uh, sometimes it kind of turns out like you're not going to like get it in a day sometimes. And sometimes you're like, you, you kind of walk away pretty frustrated, right? Like, you're just like, damn, I, I, I was really trying, but it takes a long time for those things to be ingrained. So there was, is there anything that you learned, uh, that it's like, Hey man, I,

I just got to come back tomorrow. And you started talking about specifically or the way that I learned. Um, specifically, but I guess also, you know, with yourself, like,

have you learned about how you learn? Yeah. Specifically. I have. Um, so when, when I, when I see things in class, I'll typically go back. And if there's something I didn't Um, so when, when I, when I see things in class,

I'll typically go back. And if there's something I didn't understand, I, there, there's not videos of him doing, but I'll search YouTube for certain grapplers that are doing the same thing that are maybe bigger. Um,

and with the way that I do things, I do a big deal is that you're getting a frame of reference with someone that's the same size or bigger than you. Cause if it's guys who's five, five. Yeah. Yeah. It's not with someone that's the same size or bigger than you because if it's a guy who's five five yeah yeah it's not gonna look nearly the same yeah and especially if let's say if it's a big guy rolling with a smaller guy then there's certain things you won't be able to do against that smaller guy but i realize that uh i do very very well when i see things like cassio will do something i pick it up pretty, but if I ingrain it and I also visualize it, and I mean, we talked about this before, but it really works really, really well. I mean, there was a tournament that I did and it was, it was one of my white belt tournaments.

I think my second one I did in Southern California. And I was like, I don't know any takedowns. Like we've never drilled takedowns. I don't know takedowns i don't know takedowns so i went on youtube and i was like okay jujitsu takedowns jujitsu uchimata okay that's cool so i watched it i watched it i thought of it i thought of it i was thinking about it all day long the tournament the next day i do the uchimata twice without really drilling it but that's because i just work really like i realized that i didn't i didn't really know that visually I can learn things really well by seeing it. And now that I think about it, it also like when I see someone or, and it's also because

of like some of this stuff you guys have taught me here, but when I can see someone squatting, I can see what they're doing wrong. And see visually, I'm very in tune with seeing something and doing something or seeing something and knowing how to fix something. And that's, that's been something that I was able to learn really well from BJJ. It just, I got to see it. And then if I think about it and think about it a lot,

I can do it. There's some people that, um, and some really like high level people that think, uh, scientists that think that our brains are the way that they are for one specific thing. And it's for complex human movement and for nothing else like there's some people that really truly believe that and

you start to think about that you're like wait well what about like our feelings what about like and what about like you know all these all these other things that we we do but even um so feelings come from communication and then what's communication it's complex human movement right because it's we we have to have to learn how to speak and have to learn how to communicate with our hands and with our voice and with our so it's really it's really a a really wild thing to really think about i think uh there's a a youtube channel called what i've learned and i think that's where i saw it on there that guy's amazing if you guys haven't haven't checked some of that out some of the stuff that's

on there about exercise and about like there's one in particular that talks about why exercise isn't even that effective in terms of like just weight weight loss and weight management okay um it's not that it's not effective it's just that it's not nearly as effective as as everybody may have originally thought uh because you have to have your diet and your sleep and other things intact uh and if you don't you know it's going to take more than just one thing one small change to make a real change in your body composition but it got really good information but that's why i heard that and i was like i don't know if i agree with that that doesn't make any sense but as i thought about it more i was like, I don't know if I agree with that. That doesn't make any sense. But as I thought about it more, I was like, oh man, I guess, I guess it does make sense.

Son of a bitch. Yeah. And see, when you're talking about, you know, the way you, you learned or how you visualized it, you, you were able to pick it up. You can see it. We're all like that. Everybody can do that. It's just, we, nobody taps into that side of their brain anymore. everybody can do that it's just we nobody taps into that side of their brain anymore um there was actually like a really like complex study of uh people taking piano lessons uh a

portion of them they just did the they practiced the piano and they you know whatever like a certain part of their mind was stimulated and they you know were able to get x amount better the second group they were just told to imagine themselves playing the piano and they were able to get X amount better. The second group, they were just told to imagine themselves playing the piano. And they actually got better than the ones that practiced every day. By just visualizing and actually playing it in their head. And I was just like, whoa. That was another oh my gosh moment when reading this book. I'm just like, it doesn't even make any sense.

But when I visualize myself making a lift, it happens. And then when I go up to the bar and I'm like, Oh man, I don't know what's going to happen. It doesn't happen. So it's crazy. Dude, no, that, that, like I was saying, like even before me, you want to, you want to figure out what the weights on the bar are going to look like, you know, put it on your phone, figure out what the plates are going to look like. And like, think about the plates and think about every single command. It makes a big difference. Yeah.

We talked about a lot of different stuff on this podcast and, uh, to kind of, you know, tie everything back, uh, together from some of the stuff that we were talking about. Um, in the beginning, you know, we were talking about, you know, some of the different things that he did, some of the different things I did, uh, at a young age and then kind of progressed and moved into some other things. And almost like, uh, how do you know when to have kind of this jumping off point? You know, how do you know that you're ready to, uh, jump into a new endeavor? How do you know, you know, when you're prepared for it? We talked a lot about like mindset as well, uh, for you, um, in SEMA, like, uh, what are some things, what are some goals that you might have coming up, uh, that are things that you know, like, uh, and I guess how, how will you know to kind of like leap towards these things for yourself?

How will I know to leap? Yeah. How will you know to leap towards something that you have a goal towards? Like, I don't know, let's say you have a goal to have, you know, leap towards something that you have a goal towards? Like, I don't know. Let's say you have a goal to have, you know, that's, that's pretty big.

That's pretty lofty. Yeah. You got a goal. It's pretty like, let's just say you had a goal to be like in the UFC. Like, how do you know, you know,

when's a good jumping off point to go from, you know, what you're doing to something like that? Honestly, thinking back to like the, the things that I've done and the things that I've able to have some success with, I can never really think of a point that I knew that it was, I didn't know it was the right time, but I was just like, I've, I've prepared.

I can prepare more, but at this point I'm just preparing to continue to prepare. I just need to go for it. Like I'm going to go. Sounds like a conversation. This get me and this guy had about getting engaged. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah'm not trying to put pressure on you though but no that's the thing like i just had to i i really need to get i do get

out of my head and i just go for it so i do everything i can like i that's why i train jiu-jitsu so much because of the specific athletic goals i have there i want to be as prepared as i can but i'm gonna make the jump when i make the jump. And if I'm not ready, I'll, I'll fail at that potential thing that I did. And then I'll go for it next year. Like last year, I lost worlds in a very just like sad fashion. I lost my first match by points. I thought I was prepared, realized I wasn't, and then totally changed my game and it's working really well. I'm going to go at it again this year. I might not be ready. I might lose my first match or I might get silver or I might get gold, but I just got to go for it. I was having a conversation with a guy that I work with and he wants to be a coach. And when I started coaching, I was, I was the type of person who

would be like, okay, well, I don't know all of this about volume and all this stuff. And I don't know this and I don't know this, but then I thought to myself, I can get somebody to point A to point B without injuring them. I'm just going to try and I'm going to learn and I'm going to learn new things as I continue to get better as a coach. Like nowadays, I wish I could go back to some of the first people I worked with and be like, Hey, I'm sorry that I wasn't this good at doing this, but you know, you just got to do it. And as when you're there, you'll continue getting better. You'll find the tools you need to improve, but you just got to really do it. You got to stop. You got to get out of your head. I had to get out of my head. My, my kids have, uh, found an old Blackberry that my wife had and uh you know basically what you're doing by trying worlds you know uh in jujitsu uh you know a year and a half or two years into it is you're

you're putting a product out in the universe you know you're putting something out there and the same thing with this blackberry right this is a product that that was around for years and years but you know we evolved to having these, uh, you know, phones in our hands that are these smartphones that have 4k technology and they, they put a product out there in the world and then they make it better. They refine it, they continue to make it better. So, you know, when you're trying to think about, you know, how do you make a leap from one thing to the next? Well, you're really going to have to just do it at some point. You'll

have to kind of buckle down. But I also think it's smart to be practical about it. It's important to be pragmatic. Like what, what is actually going to work and what are the consequences of those things? If you, if you go into work tomorrow and tell your boss to go F himself and, and, uh, you got this dream that you're going to start your own business, that might not be, that might be the best way to conduct yourself. Might not be the best way of going about doing things, but maybe you're pursuing something on the weekend, or maybe you're trying some stuff. Whenever you have a little bit of spare time and maybe you are writing out a plan, maybe you're coming up with some ideas and concepts about how are you going to have a podcast or be an online coach. And maybe you're

in pursuit of multiple things at the same time. Like I'm doing yoga and I'm in here lifting and I'm still working on the business and I'm still working on stuff with my family. And, uh, it's always been that way for me. I've always been working on multiple things, but when you're thinking about trying to start something new or, or trying to kind of make a leap, that's a major leap. Like maybe you're going to move from one state to another, or you're going to leave one type of job for a completely different type of job. Just, just make sure that it's within range, make sure that it makes sense for you to at least try it. And I think in Nseema's case, yeah, you lost,

but it probably still made sense. It was a conversation you had with your coach. It was a conversation you had with other people at your school. And I'm sure a couple of people were like, man, he's pretty new to go to Worlds. A couple of people may be mumbling under their breath, you know. But for the most part, everyone kindumbling under their breath, you know, but for the most part, everyone kind of agreed,

yeah, you know what? You might not come out on top, but in the end, you'll be better off because you're putting out a product in the universe and you can work on refining it later.

Can I get an amen? Amen. Amen. Yeah. Not to be mean, but it's kind of cool that you lost at something. I'm pretty excited about it myself.

Yeah. No, I'm actually, when I look back at it, it sounds weird, but I'm happy I lost too. Because the development that I've had immediately after that, my game went from one thing to a polar opposite, and it's working great. And that'll probably happen again where my game's going to switch. But I wouldn't have been doing what I'm doing on the mats right now if I didn't have that loss. Some people even say winning is harder to deal with than losing. You know, like Jake Cutler, like he lost,

he was second like five or six times at the Mr. Olympia competition. I forget how many times he said. I know he won. I know he won multiple times, but man, like that stuff st stings but maybe it wouldn't have made him the champion that he is and then like he's one of the coolest people in all of fitness that we've ever met yeah and so sometimes sometimes it's it's good to be dealt a crappy hand yeah when we asked chad mendez the same question like what's harder winning or losing you know eventually he kind of was like uh i was like well losing sucks but then uh you know yeah no winning's way tough so i was like damn that's crazy yeah yeah did he

say like does it have anything to do with like stalling progress or is it just is there something to it there's a lot to it man there's probably a lot of yeah yeah there's like you know especially for the ufc it's like oh the whole media tour and then there's like oh the next guy up's like you know especially for the ufc it's like oh the whole media tour and then there's like oh the next guy up's gonna you know who knows then you then you're on the defense basically the whole time instead of trying to be like the hungry guy trying to take what's you know what i take what's mine but yeah it's like well shit now it's mine now what like oh how do you keep that hunger yeah that shit's got to be hard to deal with and especially like all the fans that like don't understand. What happened, man?

Dude, you got to keep your left hand up, bro. You dropped your left arm. Dude, you get tired? What happened, man? Everyone knows how to fight when they're watching it. Yeah, yeah. Oh, man, you probably need to get with a different coach. How much cardio are you doing?

Because you look like you are tired. You couldn't have been that tired, right? I don't know. That's got to be brutal. Yeah. All right, man. We're going to bring this one in for a landing. Where can people find you in SEMA?

Oh, Instagram at The Natty Professor. YouTube at The Natty Professor. Oh, God. Natty Professor, huh? Yeah. And then my website is Breakthebar.com So yeah You break it

You buy it buddy Don't go breaking The barbells in here They're expensive I've never had to Pay for anything I broke I should get away With stuff like that

Yeah I know I know It's not fair Strength is never weakness Weakness is never strength Catch you guys later