Mark Bell's Power Project - Develop A Winning Mindset || MBPP Ep. 981

Episode Date: September 11, 2023

In episode 981, Mark Bell, Nsima Inyang, and Andrew Zaragoza talk about how to set yourself up better to win more.   Official Power Project Website: https://powerproject.live Join The Power Project Discord: https://discord.gg/yYzthQX5qN Subscribe to the Power Project Clips Channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UC5Df31rlDXm0EJAcKsq1SUw   Special perks for our listeners below! ➢ https://Peluva.com/PowerProject Code POWERPROJECT15 to save 15% off Peluva Shoes!   ➢https://drinkag1.com/powerproject Receive a year supply of Vitamin D3+K2 & 5 Travel Packs!   ➢ https://withinyoubrand.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save 15% off supplements!   ➢ https://markbellslingshot.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save 15% off all gear and apparel!   ➢ https://mindbullet.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save 15% off Mind Bullet!   ➢ https://goodlifeproteins.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save up to 25% off your Build a Box   ➢ Better Fed Beef: https://betterfedbeef.com/pages/powerproject   ➢ https://hostagetape.com/powerproject to receive a year supply of Hostage Tape and Nose Strips for less than $1 a night!   ➢ https://thecoldplunge.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save $150!!   ➢ Enlarging Pumps (This really works): https://bit.ly/powerproject1 Pumps explained: https://youtu.be/qPG9JXjlhpM   ➢ https://www.vivobarefoot.com/us/powerproject to save 15% off Vivo Barefoot shoes!   ➢ https://vuoriclothing.com/powerproject to automatically save 20% off your first order at Vuori!   ➢ https://www.eightsleep.com/powerproject to automatically save $150 off the Pod Pro at 8 Sleep!   ➢ https://marekhealth.com/PowerProject to receive 10% off our Panel, Check Up Panel or any custom panel!   ➢ Piedmontese Beef: https://www.CPBeef.com/ Use Code POWER at checkout for 25% off your order plus FREE 2-Day Shipping on orders of $150   Follow Mark Bell's Power Project Podcast ➢ https://www.PowerProject.live ➢ https://lnk.to/PowerProjectPodcast ➢ Insta: https://www.instagram.com/markbellspowerproject ➢ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/markbellspowerproject   FOLLOW Mark Bell ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marksmellybell ➢https://www.tiktok.com/@marksmellybell ➢ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkBellSuperTraining ➢ Twitter: https://twitter.com/marksmellybell   Follow Nsima Inyang ➢ https://www.breakthebar.com/learn-more ➢YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/NsimaInyang ➢Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nsimainyang/?hl=en ➢TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nsimayinyang?lang=en   Follow Andrew Zaragoza on all platforms ➢ https://direct.me/iamandrewz   #PowerProject #Podcast #MarkBell #FitnessPodcast #markbellspowerproject

When I thought about the actual competition in training, every once in a while I'd get some butterflies and go, whoa, that was a little weird. And then it would pass. And then the night before, I'd be thinking about it a little bit. But nothing too crazy. I could usually sleep OK and all that. And then when I compete, it didn't really feel like anything.

It felt exactly like a training session, really. No one thinks that we have some loser talk going over here by saying we should take our time with stuff. People probably have heard us saying, you know, you should pull back a bit. And there's people that are on the other side of that. We're like,

Oh man, what's happening? Like, why are you guys talking this way? You got to be like, get bro. And you got to go all in. We do believe in some of that.

Sometimes I do think that that's important. And all, all three of us have trained that way before, but we're also looking for something that's sustainable. I was with my nephews this weekend. And I was like, I'm going to go out on a run. They're like, who's going to carry the boats? And then the other one goes, you don't know me, son.

You don't know me, son. And they both love YouTube. So obviously they've stumbled across some David Goggins. And I started laughing. I'm like, yeah, what boats is he talking about? I was like, those talks get me fired up, but I don't know what he's talking about. Boats from where? I don't know how to carry a boat.

And if I did, it sounds like it would be too heavy. Where am I supposed to go for these boats? Man, there really are some people that would be running out here just on the tracks or on the trails with Goggins voice just going to their head. Who's going to carry the boats? Just like, stay hard, stay hard. It's great, man. It's also hard to run at a casual pace with that kind of yelling and screaming going on. Gets you too hype.

He's too fired up. But something I found, i found a lot of his content to be really interesting and uh i've been listening to david goggins stuff for a pretty long time we had him on the show at one point um and i think sometimes it just sounds like yelling you know sometimes it just sounds like i mean he is yelling he's like yelling at you you know um? Um, but once I kind of got past that, even beyond, even before I started running, I started listening closer to the dialogue that he was saying. Cause I really liked a lot of the stuff that he said on Joe

Rogan. And I'm like, I like what he's saying on Joe Rogan. But sometimes when I listen to these like motivational speeches that are put to music, I kind of feel like he's yelling at me. And then I heard one of his talks one time where he was saying like, if you don't dig what I'm saying, like you're probably not there yet. Like you're probably not. And I thought that was really interesting. I was like, you know what? I probably do need to be more open-minded to this. Like not everyone's going to like content from a particular person. Like that's just the way it is, right? Not everyone's going to, it's not always going to be everyone's cup of tea. For some people, they absolutely love what David Goggins says. Other people could leave it and just be like, I don't, I don't dig it that much. But as I gave it more of a chance, I started to like it more

and more and just started listening to like the context of what it is that he's saying. And something I heard just the other day on a run is I heard him saying that, you know, going into the Navy SEALs and going into Navy SEAL training is so difficult and so demanding that you better already have it together before you get there. And I think he meant from a mental standpoint, not necessarily just physical, although there's obviously like a physical demand that could be pretty crazy with Bud's training and all those things. But he's a person that failed many times. You know, I think he's he went through Bud's three times.

He went through the training three times and then finally made it through. three times and then finally made it through. So I thought like, who better than this guy to know what your mindset needs to be going into it? Because I think the first time, you know, he lost, he had to lose weight. And there was like an officer that was telling him like, look, man, you got to be this weight to get in here. And then he finally did like he lost weight, but he was just doing too many things at one time. And it just kind of reminded me of the journeys that we hear people go on. People like they're trying to lose weight and they want to do like a powerlifting meet. They're like, I'm going to get down to this, you know, 220 pound weight class and compete. It's like, there's a lot of things going on.

Like you're trying to lose body fat, augment your body, look leaner, look better and enter this competition that you've never entered before. And then we hear the same dialogue sometimes with not just bodybuilding, but sometimes with like jujitsu, powerlifting competitions, all kinds of things. And so I thought it'd be kind of a good topic today of like, almost like what should you try to get in order? And should you try to get anything in order or should you just say like roll the dice sometimes and just say F it and go for it? I feel what you're saying. There's like the bodybuilding show thing I think is kind of the funniest. It's close to my heart because when I used to work with people, I'd get a lot of inquiries.

And it'd be like a guy or a woman and let's say they just started training, right? Let's say they've been training for a year and I want to do a bodybuilding show. I want to do a men's physique show. I think that's a good goal. Or I want to do a bikini show. And you've literally only been training for a little bit. Well, that is, I guess the, the big goal, right? But have you built the habits of your nutrition? Because when you start prepping, you can't fuck up your food. When you start prepping, you have to be on point with the way you're eating. You have to be on point with all your workouts. So you need to be pretty familiar with how to train.

Have you ever really dieted? Because now if you're new to training and then you're now going to be new to dieting, your training is going to take a hit. So you need to be pretty decent at lifting and training because now you're going to be doing a depleted state. You're biting off way too much that you can chew right now. Yeah. And what's our, what's our option if you only been training for a year and let's just say it would be very likely that if you only been training for a year, you probably don't have like a lot of muscle mass. You need much more development. And so there are, our only option then is just to get like insanely lean. And then your only option then is to, if we're talking about a male and he's

200 pounds or something, we're talking about you probably getting into some like nasty caloric restriction type stuff that you just don't want. You're going to be biting off more, more than you can probably chew. And dog, not even a bodybuilding show, just the, the idea of wanting a six pack. Cause I think let's, let's, let let's take it up a notch, right? Most guys are just like, I want a six-pack. And I want it now. And I've barely been training. I haven't been training that long.

I haven't been doing this, but I want a six-pack. Well, you've got nothing to build on top of. You need a little bit of time to build some muscle before you try to just shred yourself down. Yeah, and make sure you really ran on their parade too and always compare yourself to them and say it took me 10 years to build this body you can't do this like this in four years yeah you little shit what do you think this is the fuck man andrew z's been it's been going hard for i don't know how long just talk about the boats yeah and then they'll be like yeah well and then but you don't want the the complete opposite right you don't want to

have somebody say like oh I have to get in shape before I start going to the gym you know like as far as like anything's in line like well maybe you can actually get started right away but right the main goal is actually further away though like that's i see it both ways for sure yeah and i think that um you know like if you're if you're trying to get into something i think the number one thing is always to start right but i think you know for larger commitments like the navy seals like something like this is something potentially if you make it through that you're, I mean, I think you're there for like four years, maybe you're there for two years.

I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about, but you're there for a couple of years, you know? And so with that big of a commitment on the line, it probably makes some sense to do some jogging. It probably makes some sense to do some rucking. Probably makes some sense to lift. What are the things, can you pull up like what they make Navy SEALs do there's probably a list

you can't just go into this shit like untrained I heard that some people have kind of gone into it fairly untrained which is pretty wild but if you're untrained I would say at the very least you have to like

be a little fit, you know, maybe, maybe have done some sports or something. Have to, you have to have some level of fitness. You can't just climb ropes and shit. Yeah.

I think there's all kinds of crazy shit you gotta do. You gotta be able to swim, you know, they'll make you do shit underwater for a hot minute. Like trying to like kick. I've heard there's a lot of guys that go in, they don't know how to swim, which is like,

that would be so scary. But I guess they figure it out when they're there. I'm trying to find out like some sort of hidden message in the show. I'm trying to find accurate information because this shit is, uh, I mean, it's legit as fuck and I don't want to like, um, uh, upset anybody by saying, yeah and i don't want to like um upset anybody by saying yeah i don't want to fuck that up of all things for me to mess up i do not want to mess up bud's training i'll find it and i'll you know whatever but you know i think also like you got to figure out like why are you doing so i think that's the big question like why are you doing it because like

you know a lot of people have been starting running and i've been seeing a lot of people in the discord like okay i want to do a marathon right because starting running is super exciting they see you run a marathon they see all these people do marathons like i want to do a marathon but okay what's the reason you want to do a marathon what's going to happen after the marathon what's the marathon going to give you after you do the marathon is there some type of fucking enlightenment that comes post-marathon probably not so like how about you know you're probably doing a marathon because you like to run so how about you maybe get decent at running not do too much too soon and then when you hit the marathon

like you have a good experience doing the marathon i know so many people that get hurt you know and it's unfortunate um and again like if you have found a purpose, if you found a reason, and it could be your own reason that you want to do a marathon, then maybe you should go for it. Because there are a lot of things that you learn along the way, especially whenever you compete in anything, you're going to learn a lot along the way. And whenever you up the ante a little bit and make the intensity of something a little harder, you're going to learn a lot along the way. And whenever you, uh, up the ante a little bit and make the intensity of something a little harder, you're going to learn a lot along the way. I certainly learned a lot just in prepping for the marathon. There's a lot of like, just there's things that are so, um, small that you never think about. Uh, just like your shorts, like you need like specific, they're like specific clothes. Uh, you don't want to like chafe, you know. Some people use Vaseline.

Some people use coconut oil. Some people have particular shorts that they wear or particular sweats that they wear or leggings or whatever it is. Like you have to have all these like little things situated. Otherwise, you're going to be screwed. And then your shoes, a lot of people get excited and they're like, I'm going to competition and so i'm gonna save these shoes for like game day and they put the shoes on they never worn them before they're not broken in and they're not broken in and uh they get like blisters and stuff i mean there's like all these like all these things that you're thinking like oh i could tough through that like that wouldn't be that bad if i if i had a little blister on my pinky toe

like it's not going to be a huge deal. But try having your pinky toe bleeding at mile six, all the way to the point where it's bleeding through your shoe and stuff like that. There's all kinds of these little things that happen that if you just trained longer or just were more organized with your thoughts and communicated with some people, you probably wouldn't have to suffer through some of those things. Although there's going to be some shit that's coming your way, almost no matter what you do, there's going to be some like heartache. Um, but I agree with what you were saying is like, why let's just, let's just learn the skill and let's just have like,

try to have a good time with it, try to get better at it. And then if you're like, well, you know, I ran six miles pretty good. I wonder what it would be like to, uh, run a half marathon, you know, and you start to work your way towards that. And maybe before you run the half marathon, maybe you ran eight miles, maybe you ran seven miles, something, something to where it's like, well, I ran eight or nine miles and it's, okay. It's like a game day thing, like where I'm going to get a little more hyped and I am going to play some David Goggins while I'm running and I'm going to be able to get fired up to get through it. I think those things are all good ideas, but again, I think sometimes people are just trying

way too many things at one time. You just picked up running and now you're competing in it. You know, you just, you just started it and now you're already, and I know that these competitions, these like races, they're not even really, for most people, they're not even considered a race. They're not even considered a, a competition, which is kind of nice. That's kind of nice to, to do it that way. It's kind of nice to, you know, if you're doing jujitsu and you're a white belt and you're like, I'm just going to go test myself. You're really not looking at it as much as a competition because you want to kind of soften what the surroundings really are. You really are competing against another person to try to choke you out or that's trying to tap you out in some way. They're trying to get you in a position where you have to quit, basically.

you out in some way. They're trying to get you in a position where you have to quit basically. But you just started something and then now you're trying to effectively be able to do it in a competition. And so it might be good just to wait a little bit until you develop the skill a little bit more so that when you're in the competition, you can have a little bit more fun with it. And the only way to like be fun or be free in any of these things is to be proficient at them is to be good at them. I remember when I was, when I was coaching people for bodybuilding shows and bikini shows, when an athlete had the goal of doing a show, I would always ask them, what is your personal expectation? Like, what are you looking to get out of this? And if the athlete told me I'm looking to win,

if I knew that they would not, or they didn't have the ability at the moment in time, I would straight up say, okay, I love that you want to win. And that's a, that's a good thing. That's a good goal. You're not at a place where you'd be able to win. Now, if you want to do it so you can get the experience and you can see what this is like so that the next time you come back, you know what you're getting yourself into. Fuck it, let's go for it. But don't expect to win because winning takes a different level of commitment and winning takes a different level of skill.

You need to be doing this for a while. You need to build more muscle. You need to build more muscle. You can't just win with the way you are. So I think doing competitions is great, but understand like if you are look, there's difference between competing to compete and the experience because that experience can teach you a lot. It doesn't matter if it's a right, if it's a fucking marathon, if it's a show, it's a jujitsu competition.

The experience of competing will teach you a lot and help you get ready for your next one. But if you're looking to win a competition, that is a different level of commitment, skill, all these different intangibles needed so you can have the ability to win your competition. And how did, how was that received when you would say like, this isn't going to be the one that you win? It's always been received well because I generally ask that person what their goal is. So if they come at me and they tell me their goal is to win and I'm your coach, I'm going to tell you that, no, you can't win yet. You're just not there. You might be totally unaware how competitive it is.

You might be like, oh, I'm just going to go into classic physique and do this local show. And you might be like, hey, man, I went last year and people are in crazy shape and I don't want to dampen your goals. We can get there, but maybe we need to go like a year and a half. Let's take half the year to do this and then half the year to do that as long as like as long as the individual knows what they're getting themselves into because the fact is you can win but you can't win now you can win later if you give yourself more time just know that like

especially in these physique competitions because the people that are generally winning are the people who have been lifting for a long time. And then they cut and they do a show. Well, they won because they have 10 more years on you or they have five more years. Some handful of people probably already told this person, you should compete in bodybuilding. And they were like, really? What? OK. And then they did a 16 week prep and they kicked some ass.

But they again, they probably been training for a decade. And the same thing. You could say the same thing with running. Like it could have been a person that has a soccer background or someone has a track or cross country background. Oh, you should do a marathon. You should really do a marathon. You might not hear that right off the bat when you're first starting to, like, you're not going to, there's not going to normally be someone in the gym recommending that you do a marathon if you're 280 pounds and jacked. You're right? Like there's not going to be someone coming up to you being like, hey, you should go do a marathon. They probably would say you should do a powerlifting meet.

You should do a bodybuilding show. And so I think you have to just – it's important that you kind of take your time with like learning these skills. you have to just, it's important that you kind of take your time with like learning these skills. And for myself, getting better at the skill has made some of these things more fun. The first half marathon that I did, uh, our boy Oscar, he was working on me one day and I thought Oscar was a runner. I thought Oscar has been a runner for like forever. Cause he had all the gear. He had all the clothes and the fanny pack. And like, like i just thought i thought he had it going on for a while with running and so he's working on me one day and i'm like uh how long you been running for he's like oh i started maybe like six months before you did and i was like huh i was like well shit i said well maybe i should do

the half marathon that's coming up that you're doing and he was like like, yeah. He's like, you've been training long enough, and it'll be good just to get through it. But see, our expectations were low. It's like, let me go see if I can just get through that thing. And at that point, I think I ran like five or six miles, and I'm like, okay, there's a couple months to train for it, and I can get a couple runs in, and I can see what a seven or eight, nine mile run looks like.

And I can kind of see what I'm going to be capable of doing. And then when I got to the actual event, and this was some advice I got earlier too, but I took it more seriously when I got to the event and I got it from one of the guys that runs one of the supplement stores around here. I think his name is Chris. Is it Five Star? Is that the name of the supplement stores around here, I think his name is Chris. Is it Five Star? Is that the name of the supplement place? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, he was running in that race, and he said,

hey, man, this is your first half marathon? I said, yep. Go stop at all the aid stations. The aid stations are where you get your hydration, your water. And he said, and walk through all of them and take the drinks, or whatever's there, banana, orange, whatever it is. and he could and he said and walk through all of them and and take take the drinks you know or whatever's there banana orange whatever it is he's like just he's like just go you know do that i was like check i got like i'm gonna do that and i did that and i ran the whole thing other than like

stopping to use the bathroom once or something and and also walking through those stations and that helped a ton and it made it easier to actually get through. And I didn't have any regard for how long it took me. I don't even really know how long it took me. I want to say it took me like three hours or something like that. It took me forever. But that wasn't really a concern. The concern was like one foot in front of the other the entire time.

And, you know, they have people that hold up a sign when you're running and it has like your your times. So there's someone that will just like run like a 10 minute mile pace and they hold the sign and people follow that person because they want to get a particular time for the race. Yeah. And I think I just just because like the way that you start, you know, like eight minute mile pace, like they go past, you know, nine minute mile pace, they go, you know, nine and a half minute mile and so on. And then there's like no more pacers at that point. Cause you're just so slow that there's like no reason to, cause no one has the goal to like take forever to run the race. But, uh, you just, you just got to ignore all that. You got to block it out. I was there for me. I was there to have an experience and to learn and not try to, you know, kill myself. Yeah. How about like, um, you know, like, like for me, like with my last comp, you know, I had to, I, I, I had the mindset of like, I want to go and try my hardest

to win. And that allowed me and that allowed me, but it kind of forced me to train really, really hard. Um, it, um it I felt like I left no stone unturned you know like I I was rolling four or five times a week plus takedown practice because I had all these things that I wanted to you know get better at because I had this plan of you know going and winning if I had said oh I I just want to go see what happens, I feel like I would have lowered my training to just see what happens. Like, all right, Monday's coming up. Let me see what happens. Like, no, how about, all right, this month we're going to hit it, you know, this way and I'm going to go, you know, schedule these privates over here. Like I had everything kind of mapped out.

You did get hurt though, right? And have like a pretty good setback, right? Yes, I did. So maybe if the expectations were lower, maybe the training would have been like smoother. I don't know. That's no, I mean, I got hurt. Both times that I got hurt really bad were on extra training days. So there were days that they were on the weekends when i was already had like

a full schedule already done and i'm like oh let me go get some more training in and that's when both those injuries happen but again kind of going back to my question and which is partly already answered is like how can i have still maintained a high level of uh i guess work ethic going into a competition without having the thought of like oh i want to go in and win i think it's a little different for you i'll let nassima comment because i think i'll have better commentary than me but uh i just think that um because the expectations like of you wanting to like do well and you have somebody else that you're going against, like specifically, like in the marathon, I could ignore everybody, right? I can ignore every single other runner than myself. I could just concentrate on just me.

I don't think you can do that in jujitsu. Like you have somebody else to deal with and that person, like they're, they're trying, right? They're trying to fuck you up basically. And so you have a whole nother person to deal with. And so I think that, they're trying, right? They're trying to fuck you up, basically. And so you have a whole other person to deal with. And so I think you went about it really well. I think you put your effort in as much as you could, and you did what you felt was going to be best for you. Andrew, I have a question. So you said the end, the want to win.

So obviously you wanted to win did are you saying that that was a problem or just you you changed the way you go about training because you wanted to win what do you mean yeah it's sort of like um uh when people do these challenges or whatever it may be you know it's like oh uh like well like when i did like abs for christmas you know i put it out there that by christmas i was gonna have a physique to do a photo shoot so i put myself out there when i did that yeah it was like well fuck i i can't i can't unsay these things even though like i don't have like a huge following or anything but like i i talked about it and i put that out there and i was like man if come christmas if i'm all flabby like oh that's gonna be like going to be like, I'm going to feel bad. So I'm going to put it out there that I'm going to have abs and I'm going to go do it. So when it came to this competition, I just said that, like, I'm going to do everything it takes

to win and I'm going to go win. Um, what I'm, what I'm saying that, that if I didn't say that, and I didn't put that out there, I might have not trained as hard. I might. Oh, that, okay. So that's a you thing then. No, yes, yes. And so that's what I'm saying. So if I'm taking your guys' advice that you were talking about previously, if I just said I want to see where I match up against everyone else,

I'm going to prepare for it. But, you know, whatever happens, happens. Power Project family, if you're trying to increase your muscle mass, if you're trying to lose body fat, if you're trying to stick to a nutrition plan, if you're trying to get fit, pretty much if there's anything you're trying to do for your health, we know that sleep is the biggest determining factor to help you get from point A to point B. That's why we've been sleeping on 8C mattresses for probably more than two years now. And the main reason is the technology behind the Pod Pro. Now the Pod Pro is like the Tesla of beds. It will change its

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Yes, you guys got to head over to eightsleep.com slash powerproject. And you guys will automatically receive $150 off of your order. Again, eightsleep.com slash power project links to them down in the description, as well as the podcast show notes. So see, this is the thing that I want to stop you there because there's a verbiage thing going on here because like, yes, you, you go to a tournament to see how you're going to perform and that doesn't mean that you're now not going to work as hard because it's like you could go out there and then you you're rolling against a 10-year wrestler and a one-year white belt right you're not going to beat him at least not yet no right but you're still going to try to perform your best against

this individual that doesn't mean that you don't want to win or whatever it's just like you're you're i think that there shouldn't be such a focus of like i'm gonna get first place because we talked about this when we had john carlo badoni on the show it's like you just put too much pressure on yourself at first where that hasn't happened yet the pressure that you need to be putting on is like in this match i'm going to perform in this next match i'm going to perform in this next match i'm going to perform one match at a time versus like the first place. Cause if you do what you need to do and you play your game in each match, right. Could just happen that somebody was better than you.

But if you just focus on playing your game, then the metal will be there. Right. But if the, if you're thinking about that metal and you haven't even done match one, I don't know. I personally don't think that that, that doesn't work well for me.

I think of like, I'm going to let loose in these matches and I'm going to do what I know how to do. And if I get there, I get there. But I'm just going to I'm not going to put any pressure on myself because when you start putting pressure on yourself, you start playing a little bit more reserved, especially in a sport like jujitsu. mark there is subjective competition like bodybuilding and aspects of marathon running because if you're not running a marathon to try to beat a time or to try to beat your opponents then it's a subjective race at that point you're racing against yourself and that's fine right um it could even be for fun it could even be for fun exactly you're not normally going to hear someone use the same language around jujitsu but maybe they are kind of doing it for fun no but that's the thing though. It totally also could be, if it's like somebody's first competition for jujitsu specifically,

like it takes a lot for people to go compete. Cause now like you're gonna be doing that in front of people and there's a chance that you could get tapped in front of your loved ones. Right? So you could just be going out there to show yourself you have the courage to compete against the other people. And at the end of the day, if you lose, that's still a personal win for you even though you lost yeah

i know you're pumped to get on the mats it was yeah it was like the uh chris bell was like is that like the coolest thing you've ever done i'm like it's by far the coolest thing i've ever done yeah you know i still i look back at it and i just i smile all the time and you know you know i didn't win but like dude I lost by less than two points like like that's really freaking cool like I competed against uh seasoned competitors it's also a start felt great yeah oh yeah it's just a start just the beginning of you falling in love with a cool sport right yeah but no what you said in SEMA is freaking gold man I'm gonna clip that out and probably listen to it a bunch of times by myself because uh what what john carlos said he was just like you know between where you are now and gold there's so

many things that have to happen in order for that to happen or there's so many steps in between there and it's like yeah you can easily get lost in i want to be standing on that podium but instead it's like how about we take one match at a time one takedown at a time one pass at a time and whatever it may be i think to go to the other extreme is probably a mistake too you know it's probably a mistake to uh train for many years and you know as a white belt and just still barely be a white belt just to go into some local competition to like try to whoop up on people and you could totally be wrong because you don't know the white belt thing is such an interesting thing because you don't know who

some of the like there's there's like white belts and there's like quote-unquote white belts guys that like have been wrestling or doing other stuff for a long time or even just mega athlete you know that that no you know has good body awareness and and stuff so i think it would be a mistake to like wait too long um but i think uh i think what we're trying to explain here today is that like when i was when i was boxing years ago i learned how to box enough to be able to um put some stuff in practice into into some sparring. Like that's not that long, but it is, there is like a break-in period. Like hitting the bag and hitting a person are way different things. But I got to a point where I could be relaxed enough as if I was hitting a heavy bag in the ring with another person. And I remember

my grandfather went and watched me spar. My grandfather boxing like the golden gloves and stuff. And he just, he had a cigar in his mouth, which he just didn't give a fuck. He like lit up a cigar in the gym. They later told him to put it out. And uh so anyway he just says uh hit it like you hit the bag you know because he's seen me hit the bag before you know or hit the guy like you hit the bag and that relaxed me a bunch i was like oh yeah like why am i on so much defense what am i doing why don't i throw some shots why don't i i have my own offense you know and so i started throwing some punches and i still was getting my ass kicked but But I did a lot better once I was able to kind of calm myself down and utilize some of the skill that I have. There's something that I tell myself.

And Andrew, we'll play this video soon. That's a very good video. I saw this recently from John Donahue. But there's a mantra that I tell myself like every time I roll with, uh, who I guess I view as better than me, right. Um, or in competition. And it's the idea of just like letting loose, right. Because I found that through my years of like training in jujitsu, um, because I've always been bigger, I'd have to kind of be a bit more reserved with the way I roll with people. I have injured people when I was a blue belt because

I, you know, let a little bit of much out too much out. So I've always played in a way that I can make sure my training partner is safe, but I'm also getting in the work I need to. But what ended up happening is sometimes I'd go on, I'd roll with people that are good and I'd still roll in this reserved way. So now the thing I tell myself is like, for example, when we were training over at, at Austin, I was training Marigali, right?

My first, my first role with him, I was tense. So I just told myself to fucking loosen up. Right. And then the next roles were like, they were, he still beat me,

but I was just so much better because I wasn't thinking anymore. And I was just letting my body do what the fuck I knew how to do. And I wasn't worried about injury or anybody or whatever. I was just doing the shit I knew how to do. Right. So that's something that has helped out a lot. It's made a big difference. Yeah. You need a lot of training to be able to do that. Like hours and hours and hours of training. You know, I think that people, they kind of underestimate that. And I think that would be great for people to work on the skillset, feel comfortable enough with the skill set, and then you make the decision to compete. You want to watch this?

Yeah, play this. This is a good one. Put a plank between the two buildings, and he walked across the plank once, twice, three times. And we just couldn't believe it. To us, it was like a guy who walked between the Twin Towers, you know, put a line across and famously, it couldn't have been any better. We just were howling. We couldn't believe it.

It was incredible. But at the end, he came down with his plank, and he put the plank on the ground, and he asked us all to run across it. And we all did. And it was easy. And then he looked at us, and he said something all to run across it. And we all did. And it was easy. And then he looked at us, and he said something I never forgot.

He said, the plank is the same. I put it up higher, and so it took your breath away. But you guys just ran across the plank. The plank didn't change. Your perceptions of it did. And he's right. That's the difference between the gym and the stage. There is no difference. The plank doesn't change. Only your perceptions change. That's the emphasis that I put on my athletes.

It's the same thing you do every day. Everything else you see, the lights, the people, that's all an illusion. Andrew, did the nerves of competing, did it like take your breath away or your legs a little bit? Did you notice any of that? Yeah. In trying to warm up, because my buddy chris who just won masters worlds uh same with enzima um he was like yeah let's get a good sweat going like you don't want your you don't want to walk into your first match like cold and you don't want to get you don't want to make that be your first sweat so let's move around and let's get your you know your first sweat going and we're

doing that and i'm like dude i'm not getting any oxygen like I'm I'm breathing out and when I breathe in there's nothing there and that that felt that was very uncomfortable and thank goodness I calmed down and by the time my first match did hit I already had forgot that that even happened and so like that was cool but yeah no I had a little bit of shaky legs but nothing too bad like I had some people uh like reach down they're like hey like when you're in the bullpen there's a chance that you're not going to be able to walk and like what are you talking about like that's such bad advice to give somebody on their first comp and uh but I wasn't worried about that but however yeah like it was hard to breathe at first yeah it can be tough uh when you have competition like that um I did uh I got to wrestle a couple of times in front of like a large crowd

and I just got in the ring and like I felt like numb. Like my whole body felt numb. As soon as I like ran the ropes and did a couple – like a couple things that I did hundreds of times if not thousands of times, I was like so gassed. I was like, holy shit i was like holy shit and then the other guys were telling me dude you gotta you gotta settle down i was able to calm down but man i got like out of breath quick and it had nothing to do with the activity you know i did

the activity millions of times or so many times in training um but it was just the fact that there was you know a spotlight on you just like anything else, competing is a skill. You know what I mean? I think that's one thing that trips people out a little bit. Your first competition, maybe if you don't do too well, you might be discouraged about not competing again. But the thing is, when competing becomes something normal that you do, you don't get nearly as nervous. And you start to look at nearly as nervous, right? And you start to look at it as like, it's just another training.

It's just another day where I'm going to go roll with people because you're going to roll with people, except maybe you don't know who these people are, right? And that's it. You do this every day when you train in the gym. Do it here. Be as loose as you typically are. Try to at least. But you'll get better at being calm and being loose if you compete more often. Yeah, for me with powerlifting,

I wasn't nervous. Like I might have been nervous when I was a kid. I don't even really remember when I was doing it when I was younger, but I would get nervous thinking about the competition

every once in a while. When I thought about the actual competition in training, every once in a while I'd get some like butterflies and I'd be like, whoa, that was a little weird,

you know? And then it would pass. And then like the night before I'd be thinking about it a little bit, but nothing too crazy. I could usually sleep okay and all that. And then when I compete, just like, didn't really feel like any,

it felt exactly like a training session really. Usually had the same people around me. I always brought my, all my same stuff stuff like my same equipment that i would wear and all that stuff so things were familiar and i played it through my head a bunch of times of like uh if i knew what the venue looked like i kind of tried to play that through my head if i didn't know what the venue looked like i got to the venue early to take a look at it trying to screen capture it with my eyes a bunch, and then go to the hotel and just kind of visualize like, oh, how's that setup going to look like?

All the squat racks facing this way, the bench facing that way. There'll be a bunch of people there. There'll be a bunch of people in the warm-up room. I would walk myself through all of it like, oh, people kind of know who you are now, so there's going to be people saying what's up, and people wanting to take a picture or whatever, and that's through all of it like, oh, people kind of know who you are now. So there's going to be people saying what's up and people wanting to take a picture or whatever. And that's just part of it. You got to be, you know, you got to be cool to people. Can't be a dick just because you're lifting.

And just kind of like I would try to just have fun with it. And I did develop that mentality of let's just kind of see what happens because I competed fairly often. I was like, well, I would sign up for one meet. And if the meet, depending on how the contest went and if I put together the total that I wanted, maybe I didn't compete for a couple weeks or a couple months. But if it didn't go great, then I just viewed it as an opportunity. It was like a training session. It was a training session that just went a little south and so uh i want to try that again in another like four weeks and i already built up a good amount of strength for it it's just that timing was off or my projected

numbers were off or something was just something just wasn't exactly right and so i would go and compete again so once once i kind of had the idea of like, Oh, you can just go do this whenever there's another competition, there's another world, there's another opportunity to compete again. Then it just really calmed me down a lot. And I was like, well, I'll get that weight the next time on the platform. And then I would, and then scratch off that goal and then move on to the next one. Did anything magical ever happen when you managed to win your first powerlifting meet? Did you feel like, did anything change in your life? No, that's the kind of the cool thing is like, you know, you're, you're a world champion

now, but it doesn't really, you know, it means something like it means something, especially to the people that are in the sport and that follow the sport. And it, it's, it's meaningful in a way. But you already had it before you got there. And I think that's the point of some of what David Goggins was saying in his quote is that for him, he needed to have it already to get through Navy SEALs because he tried to get through it a couple other times by just, I think, covering up who he

really was by pretending to be a different person, by pretending to be this, pretending to be that, pretending to be a jujitsu guy, pretending to be a runner, pretending to be a power lifter when you just haven't embodied it all just yet all the way. And for me that was that was critical and then and then it got to be the point where um i was having a lot of fun with it and i think that that can be if you're competing against somebody who's like laughing and having fun it could be really like frustrating but you see like arnold like i've arnold was so good and so far ahead of everybody that he could, like, mess with everybody and kind of have a good time. Or MJ was like that at certain points in his career, like, where they can kind of, like, play with the other guys and have the whole experience be not only, like, get past the hump of being, like, afraid and scared, but to have a lot of fun with it. Casio.

Right now, I know you're looking in the mirror. You're getting ready for your nephew's quinceañera. You have a long sleeve on that looks horrible and your pants don't fit right. That's why we partnered. I don't know why you're laughing. That's why we partnered with Viore clothing. You see, this is the boulevard shirt jacket. Fits great.

Stretchy. Feels amazing. It's the best long sleeve in my closet. And one of the biggest things that we love about Viore is that they have clothes that you can wear to parties. They have clothes that you can wear in the gym. Like I said, your nephews can see it. You can look great wherever you go if you step your fashion game up. Plus, this stuff feels like baby skin on your skin, which is kind of creepy.

But at the same time, it's kind of nice and you know it. Andrew, where can they get it? Yes, you guys got to head over to Viori.com slash Power Project. That's V-U-O-R-I dot com slash Power Project to automatically receive 20% off your order. Links to them down in the description as well as the podcast show notes. He just also, he won Masters Worlds and his son Noah won Jiu-Jitsu Con. And the tournaments were taking place in the same place. So that shit, I saw that picture.

Casio gave a little tap on the head, right? He's having a good time. So Casio, guys, if you don't know, he's an instructor here in Sacramento. He won Adult Worlds in 2003, and he's a six-time Masters Worlds champion. And his son Noah has been going through and ripping people up in tournaments this past year uh but you know father son dude like that's beautiful man like that that's like a that's a that's a core memory for those guys both taking home the gold yeah yeah and it's great too because Casio like rolled up. He really just dominated these dudes.

You know, like. You got that clip where he patted the guy on the head? It was on my story, but it's not there anymore. Yeah. There's actually some confusion. I thought that he was petting the guy. It kind of looked like he was petting him because, you know, he was going to beat him. But he says, oh, I accidentally elbowed his head.

I don't really believe Casio. I think he was just showing a level of dominance. I think so too. But hey, if he wants to say he was just, you know, being nice, he was being nice. Yeah. Oh, go ahead. I was just going to say, like,

I felt like I needed to put a disclaimer on my stories because I was, you know, celebrating Chris's win, you know, so he's a world champion now. And then you won right after that. And then Casio won right after that. And so I was like, they don't just give these trophies out or you know this this title to just anybody it just so happens that all my friends kept winning like it's not my fault but i just don't want people to think they just oh everybody

wins this weekend yeah no i do got to say though like what you were saying about the mj thing especially this past weekend competing like i was fucking playing this is the first time that like literally i was just like dancing in the bullpen and i was dancing on my way to the mats i was playing some african music that i loved i was just like again it was just the aspect of just letting myself just like fucking just don't don't no no fucking pressure i was just i was just i danced right up until i stepped onto the mat in every single match i just felt so loose and everything was so chill and none of the matches i't have to, I didn't even breathe heavy, dog. It felt really fucking good.

It's just like everything came together. A lot of the shit that we've been working on is just like come together. And it was just, it was an awesome weekend. Yeah. And I think the training and everything that you've been doing is uh you know was probably levels above what you uh what you needed to be prepared for in competition a hundred percent yeah it seemed like in competition you did you did you did great and uh no one scored on you and um recently with the people that you've been going against in jiu-jitsu i haven't heard you

say anything close to that. So your training has been harder than the actual like fight itself sort of deal. Much harder. Yeah. I think is a critical thing. I think it was really great timing that we took that trip to Austin, Texas. I was able to do some training with Nick,

Nicholas Marigali and him and Victor Hugo competed. And I was able to do some training with Victor Hugo, got a lot of tips from those dudes. But I think like just being able to train with them for those days helped me improve drastically because I don't say this to and it's gonna sound bad but like this tournament was really easy for me like until like I didn't breathe through my mouth I didn't get tired uh I wish I didn't get disqualified for the absolute because I really want, I was five minutes late for my absolute match. So I didn't get to try to aim for double gold, but like it was legitimately easy.

And the thing is, is like if my gold is black belt adult worlds, then brown belt masters world should be easy for me to be able to deal with. And the fact that it is gives me confidence moving and continuing on. And it's been about eight years or so coming up right it'll be eight years in december yeah star jujitsu yeah yeah about yeah eight years come december i think it's just important for people to embrace the fact that it takes time i hope that uh no one thinks that we have like uh some loser talk going over here by saying like we should take our time with stuff you probably have people probably have heard us to saying you know you should pull back a bit and there's people that are on the other side of that we're like oh man what's happening like why are

you guys talking this way you got to be like fuck it bro and you got to go all in um we we do believe in some of that sometimes i do think that that that's important. And all three of us have trained that way before. But we're also looking for something that's sustainable. And again, I think, you know, looking at someone like David Goggins, when he talks, you're thinking, holy shit, like the guy's a complete madman. He's a complete maniac. in. He's a complete maniac. But to me, when I look at David Goggins and I see some of the other things he participates in, and when I hear other people talk about him, Joe Rogan and people that are close to him, I'm like, that guy's actually, that guy's actually like, it seems like he's got it going on. It seems like his life is really good. And it seems like he's, he's pretty happy.

It looks like he's figured things out. And again, going back to his quote, he needed to have it before he got to the Navy SEALs. I think if he didn't structure himself and didn't get himself prepared properly for the Navy SEALs, not just with training but his mindset because, again, he wasn't able to complete it two times as well and he was able to get it on the third. times as well and he was able to get it on the third i don't think he would have been able to transition out of the navy seals because there's a lot of people where that's their um that is their like main thing that's like the climax of their life that's like the big the big thing in their life and if you look at someone like a nick bear he's you know served in our military as well but that was like a part of his life and it looks like he's moving on and and having uh a lot more success in a bunch of different areas as well now he's you know successful in business he's actually very very fucking fast as a runner a sub three hour marathon and you're seeing other guys start to be able to do this. And I think the transition for someone like Pete Rubish was actually more

difficult, but he's doing a great job. Now he's running like nine minute or eight and a half minute miles. He's fucking flying out there. I don't know what the hell's going on with that guy, but I think it's cool to do a sport and it's cool to have that sport be a little bit part of your identity for a little while, but it's not so great when the sport is like your only thing and you're just so submerged in that. And I think, again, just kind of back to that principle, if you have it before you go in there and you get yourself organized and you get your shit together and you do so in a timely fashion, like it's got to take time. Yeah. The only way to get good at anything is it's going to take time.

Something like jujitsu, realistically, you might think, all right, you know, starting in December, I'm going to go every day, you know, from here until. Well, most of the time it doesn't work out that way to where you can even go every day in the first place. So you might have to space it out more. Same thing with like powerlifting. You've got three or four decent heavy training sessions a week. That's all you can do. That's going to take you X amount of years to do. There's no, you can't take steroids. You can eat differently.

You can do all these things and maybe you can fast track some of it, like just a little bit, but still good luck with being good at it. Much of anything in less than five years. I think this is why difficult. Yeah. I think this is why there's an extreme power to being a hybrid athlete because, and it takes time to become a hybrid athlete because if you're someone who's been lifting for a long time, that's actually, that's great. It's good that you have that skill because now you can start to do a little bit of running and you can build that skill, but you always have lifting to fall back to because as you start trying to get better at running, you're going to get fatigued. And on the days that you can't run while you have this skill of

lifting that you can then call upon to be like, okay, let me go lift in the gym. Let me go do a little bit of kettlebell stuff. Let me do this, right? So now let's say that you've gotten good at running and lifting and you want to build another skill. Let's say that you want to start getting into jujitsu. Well, look now, you can't train jujitsu seven days a week, even though you may really, really, really like it. But maybe you train jujitsu two or three times a week. And on those days that you don't train jujitsu because it's so fatiguing in terms of your body, you now have running and lifting

that you can fall back upon. So on a day that you're not doing jujitsu, you're like, let me just go take a little bit of run because you have that skill. Getting better at it. Exactly. Let me go fucking go in the gym and do some kettlebell work.

That's why I fucking love this kettlebell juggling stuff. Because on the days that like, maybe jujitsu is a little bit too fatiguing for me, or I don't want to go and I don't want to lift heavy, we just go out to the park and juggle a kettlebell. And it's legitimately a skill because you learn new movements,

you learn, you just continue getting better. And it's fun. So you're not now identifying yourself as, oh, I'm a powerlifter, I'm a bodybuilder, I'm a whatever. It's like you have an access to all of these different capacities that you can pull on when something might be taken away from you. If you get injured because you were running and you did something running, right? You injure your

ankle, go to the gym. You got something there, right? If you get injured in jujitsu, well, you can do some stuff because you have other skills. Now that one injury doesn't make you a depressed wreck because injuries have done that to me before one injury doesn't make you a depressed wreck because injuries have done that to me before it doesn't make you a depressed wreck because you've built all these capacities and it's not now the only thing you have to do for the rest of your life what if you really want to get better at jiu-jitsu though and you want to spend more mat time or time on the mats so a lot of jiu-jitsu guys get burnt out dog like you know i think we've talked about it's like i've seen a lot of jujitsu guys out like everyday bother you know what i mean like

they train all the time yeah and then at some point like something happens bad injury or whatever and they just they just get fucking burnt out of it right i think that getting better at all the things that we're talking about it should be looked at in a long-term lens because there are really the crazy – there are the awesome guys who managed to get their black belt in like four years or five years. And those are amazing stories. But the thing is it's like that's not going to be most people. Most people can 100 percent get their black belt. But maybe they lengthen out their time horizon make the training sustainable give themselves a chance to like always enjoy doing this thing right you'll still get there and

hopefully you'll get there with minimal injury minimal breakdown because you've given yourself the time to actually get good and you also still now have all these other things that you can be good at too so that again you're not like only jujitsu that's all you got in your life you're also like maturing in other ways too and growing in other ways growing outside of jujitsu which could potentially help a lot because then you're not um you're not only thinking about like being on the mats all the time like you are putting some time into your financial success as well as your, I mean, look, your home life matters a lot.

Oh, yeah. You know, like if you have like just bad relationships and stuff, like, I don't know, maybe that'll work for a little while. But it'd probably just add to the stress. It'd probably mess with your training. Maybe it messes with your lifting or takes away from some of the things that you need to do to get better. And so I think it just sucks, you know like because no one wants to play the long game but the long game is is where it's at and a lot of people i remember anderson silva in an interview one time saying uh like they asked him how he got all this stuff you know he has this beautiful home

and you have uh this beautiful family and you have all these cars. And he's like, it just is. Like, that's just the way that it is. I've been doing this since I was six. Like, he barely even recognized that he's good at it, you know. He's just been doing it for so long that he can just take anybody out. And he was the best in the world for many years. So I think taking your time with it, I think really critical yeah there's oh god no just to say like it's it's so it is amazing because we

talk about this with like lifting and diet like you'll get to a point where it's like hard to not not do that i didn't expect for that to happen to me with jujitsu so fast but that is the argument that i'm or the the dilemma that I'm facing right now is going less because I want to go more. I want to get better, not even better, faster. Well, that's a lie. I definitely want to get better, faster, but I am, I know I'm going to be doing this forever. It's just that thing where it's like, well, if I go more then I'll acquire more skills, right? Like just by being there, it'll like happen almost accidentally. But I'm receiving what you guys are saying. But also, why aren't you going more?

You mentioned, so there's something else to the reason why you're not training more, right? Yeah. Well, yeah, because when I go four days a week, I have full intention to lift that fifth extra day that i'm free and i'm shot like i don't want to do anything i'm really really tired and then so that's usually a thursday and then come that friday instead of taking it easy or having you know skipping open mat or whatever i go just as hard and then the next day off which would be saturday i feel the same way i'm like fuck like, I'm really drained right now. And how long have you been doing jujitsu now?

Yeah, so we just started September, October. I started in November of last year. November of last year. Is that 10 months now? Yeah, 10 months. It's still new. It's still new. How has it been for you in SEMA going to some different schools,

going to some different places? That's got to feel invigorating. That's got to feel good to have different surroundings sometimes. Oh, 100%. When you train at the same place for so long, then you kind of know what everybody does. It doesn't mean that you won't be surprised, but I kind of know the style of which everybody I roll with has. And in my mind, I already kind of know how to deal with that so um like this guy smells like shit this guy has long fingernails this guy always tries to fucking cheat this guy goes way too hard this guy goes way too

soft i'm fucking out of here yeah but i mean i still train at cassio's every week but cassio has given me um he's always given me the permission. And then these other schools that I've been going to, to get training and in cross-training in, those instructors have always been super cool with me training with their students. Right. So it's been really good because now I'm, it's almost like, and I don't look at it like I'm trying to compete against these people, but it's almost like a competition experience because I'm going into a place where I don't know everybody. You get a little nervous if you've never been there before no i don't anymore um but you used to i used to i used to especially when i first started doing it

the reason i don't anymore is because like i've become confident in the instruction that casio has given me and i've become confident in my jujitsu so now it's just like i'm just gonna play my game and if this guy taps me i'm gonna going to learn from it. But I'm not. It seems like a cool stimulus, though. It's almost like an event. It feels like, yeah. Like a match. It feels like a video game. And it also does feel like a match because this isn't somebody I roll with normally.

Like I was invited to go roll over at this Half Gracie school in Berkeley. They have this great open mat on Sundays. And the first time I went there, I've never rolled with any of those guys. But this guy I met before, his name is Don. He was like, so I want you to roll with him, him, him, him, him. And he was just like setting me up to roll with all these different people who I've never rolled with before. And that was amazing because I've never rolled with them before. They've never seen my game.

I've never seen their game. Let's see who's better. Right. And let's help each other get better because now that we're training with each other we always chat post like okay what was it that you did there what was it that you did there right you're able to get all this knowledge from these different people which is why like i think this community is so fucking awesome you know some places there's some schools that like you know they they're not cool with their athletes cross training or anything or

going to other places right but cassio has been cool with me doing it and that has been something that has massively helped me get better i think a wave started getting better when i started going to trade with mason over at kyle therapy as mason's a world-class athlete and i was able to feel what world-class pressure feels like and just by training with him i was able to get better so then i was able to bring that back with me and that experience and it's helped with same thing with training with Nicholas and Victor. Like those things have helped drastically. So you're working out, you're working on nutrition, you're working on your feet, you're working on your sleep. And all these things are having benefit.

But what's going on underneath the hood? What's going on with your hormones? That question is answered by working with Merrick Health. It's owned by Derek from More Plates, More Dates. And getting your blood work done by Merrick Health will help you understand what's going on under the hood. They have different panels that you can do once every six months or every single month. So you can understand how your sleep, all these different protocols that you're adding into your routine are affecting your hormones. It's important to understand and it's also important to know if what you're doing is actually working.

Andrew, how can they get their hands on it? Yes, that's over at MerrickHealth.com slash PowerProject. And at checkout, enter promo code PowerProject to save 10% off the PowerProject panel, the checkup panel, or any individual lab that you select. Again, that's at MerrickHealth.com slash PowerProject. Promo code PowerProject at checkout. Links in the description as well as the podcast show notes. I've noticed the same thing with running is like the new stimulus makes it feel new, makes it feel exciting. Sometimes the mileage goes by quick by running with like Nick Bear or Zach Bitter or Jeremy Miller. Some of these guys are really fast.

And I'm naturally just going to go faster. But they're also like, you know, it's, it's like the different belts. Like they're not just trying to like murder me. Like we're, we're, we have a training session going, you know, they're not, they're not like, all right, Mark, we'll see you later. You know, they're going to finish their 10 miles and I ran four miles or something, you know, they, they stay with you the whole time. Uh, but it's encouraging and you just find yourself, you're like, okay, they're able to talk a little easier than me. So I'm going to shut the fuck up now and kind of concentrate on my run.

That is one thing. Okay. So when he asked if I get nervous, that is one thing that does cross my mind a little bit, just because, because I don't know where I'm going. I know that I'm going to be safe. I'll never roll with an intent or I never roll in a way that I'll injure somebody, but I don't know about that. The person I'm training with. So like, I don't know if like, since I've never trained with this guy and I'm big, is he going to try to, if he gets to a submission, is he going to give me time to tap? Or is he going to try to rip my shit? I'm going to most of the time like to believe that they're going to, people are going to be cool, but some of these motherfuckers are crazy and you don't know if you're rolling one of the crazies or not. So maybe just, if you had to, would you just

tap a little early? Oh, I mean, if I had to, if I had to, then just tap a little early oh i mean if i had to that not sure if i had to then yeah i would but like uh generally i don't necessarily get put in positions these days that cause that often you know what i mean but but yeah it's always a possibility it's always a possibility so it's something to be careful with um you think if you uh like have you experienced going less to jiu-jitsu and then having the energy to lift um well i mean yeah so like if we so the last time i rolled was last wednesday and then i got kind of sick so i didn't roll friday and then we had what was oh labor day so i didn't make it to open mat so today was my first day i rolled since last wednesday and today i felt pretty damn good yeah but guess what i did in between those what like four days what i got a really really good lifting session in i thought you said blow job i was like

damn just the way you're setting it up i got a really good and i was like just the pure silence after you said that mark i thought you're gonna say blowjob that in itself was funny just the fact that like like i'm finding out more people like in the family and close to me and start listening to the show i can't be as open as i used to be um but let's just say why can't the family handle it if you got a blowjob because then they know what's happening they'll talk about it and so we'll we'll just say that there was no lies said in the last couple minutes all right but i felt great and and then the conversation that we had over text where i was like guys i don't know what the hell i did i ate a lot of food and i woke up fucking like in the

just i felt dude i'm not saying that like i i wasn't shredded i i i still have you know a good amount of fat on my body but like it was almost like it was just muscle and fat and no water it was everything was just tight and i like i had no flat like it was fucking awesome like what's going on here and then mark was like oh you probably got some rest and i'm like you are probably right and so yeah and it like oh man i wish i yeah i should have took pictures and like did all kinds of cool shit but i didn't um but yeah so all that happened when i rolled less and then i went into open mat today and i had a fucking really phenomenal day so you might be on to something okay i think i've told you this before but i've also told this to like i've talked to julian about

this and i've noticed this years ago it's like i have stints where like I go to jujitsu a lot and maybe something happens and I'm like, okay, I need to take a few days off. Right. And then if I take maybe three, four days off, I go back and it's just like certain things have clicked. It's like certain things have had time to cement in. Whereas if you're going every single day, you kind of get caught in a mind loop of like, okay, we're going to go again. We're going to're gonna go again and it's like you don't give yourself the time to to have everything the progress you've made set in you know you actually mentioned it you you're mentioning in a text the best athletes know when to back off yeah right it's a it's a learning thing too like you i don't i don't i mean you guys must realize this but like there's there's so many things you're learning.

If you play baseball, you play basketball, you play football, it's like you play them for a couple years. The steps are pretty much the same. You learn a right-handed layup, a left-handed layup. Different players show you some different moves or whatever, like a fadeaway shot or there's a certain way to but you guys are learning like the it's like there's a lot of heavy learning going on and then like what do we know about learning like but through this show and through talking to other people like one of the

best ways to have learning cemented into your brain is through what sleep right sleep and rest right and so um obviously if you're away from it too long like i remember doing jujitsu a long time ago and like doing it from like one week to the next i was like i take this guy's wrist and then they're like no this and i'm like oh shit i forgot i forgot everything from last week so obviously too much time's not good but having a little space will probably you know help you to be sharper did you have a hard time uh when you were newer in jujitsu with taking off because it seems like you don't have any problem like have you noticed that andrew he's like yeah i just took like three four days off yeah right before a a world's competition yeah and we like from from my from my perspective when

i hear other people they're like yeah i think I need to take a couple of days off. I don't want to. They're real bummed. You don't seem to have any problem with just being like, yeah, I think I just need those days off. Was it hard for you in the beginning to do that? Yeah, in the beginning, it was. People shame you? Do people talk shit?

When you're like, where were you, bro? You were out? I mean, not anymore, obviously, because you can just beat the fuck out of them people people won't talk i don't think even in general people don't talk shit if you're gone for a few days people will talk shit if like you're gone for a month and you come back and it's like you weren't even injured what the fuck like something yeah but um in the beginning uh i i think i was i've dealt with the same thing as andrew because like um you know you want to go a lot, but your body's still adapting. Right. And I did, that was very frustrating for me because I'd just have little things here and there and I'd go into training sessions. They wouldn't be as good. And obviously

there's not just the fact of your body adapting. There's the fact of like, this is a totally new thing. Like this is a totally new bodily language that you're trying to learn. And it's like you go in some weeks, things make sense. You go in other weeks, things don't make learn. And it's like, you go in some weeks, things make sense. You go in other weeks, things don't make sense. So it's multifactorial fucking annoyance. But at the beginning, yes. But as my body started to adapt to jujitsu, then it wasn't as difficult going multiple days on end, even though here and there little injuries would happen. But nowadays, yeah, I did have to take, I took, you know, four days off of training the week before, uh, the week before worlds. I didn't feel like shit though, because like my knew that my back needs to recover and training more wouldn't do me any

good. Um, because I wasn't trying to do anything new. I was just doing a lot of things I've been doing. So I felt, I felt fine. And every day as my, like, as my back just started to feel better, I met her. I'm like, okay, we're going to be okay. They did. We didn't trip me out too much. So, and you were doing explosive movements in here.

You were doing stuff with like the med ball. Yeah. Um, I saw you even like, which sounds kind of funny, but you were like going pretty hard on like the tit, the tibialis raises. Like you were doing a lot of stuff where you were maybe putting a little more

vigor into some stuff that I haven't seen. You do that occasionally, but, um, probably because you weren't doing jujitsu. So you were maybe putting a little more vigor into some stuff that I haven't seen. You do that occasionally, but probably because you weren't doing jujitsu. So you were supplementing with the exercise you were doing in the gym, maybe? Exactly. Because there are certain things that even though I couldn't put my energy into the mats, there's, like we talked about earlier, there's a bunch of other things I know how to do that I put my energy into that's going to be beneficial for me. other things I know how to do that I put my energy into that's going to be beneficial for me, you know? So it's, it's, uh, that's why I think it's important to, you know, have the ability to do

other things so that when something is taken away from you for a little bit, you don't, it doesn't fuck with you too much. And also the aspect, because you mentioned home life, I know we're talking so much about fitness, but there are some nights where like, let's say like, I haven't seen my girlfriend in a minute, or it's been like a while since we've really been able to hang out. And it's usually one of the nights I'll go to jujitsu, but I'm like, okay, let me just go to the park and do some kettlebell shit for like 20, 30 minutes. So I can come back home and hang out with her because I still need something that allowed me to sweat and feel good. Right? So that's shorter. It's not as much time. It doesn't take two hours,

but at least now I can just get my sweat, hang out with my girl. Right. So it helps home life get better to having more options in terms of fitness. I dig that. Yeah. That's why I do my like I go in the mornings for my own my home life because I can't go, you know, middle of the evening. But like I do want to hit the 12th session with, with James on Thursdays. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I got you. And I understand that that could be a lighter session, you know,

but in my head I'm like, yeah, all right. I could, I could commit to three days a week. So James Pierrot guys. Plus that session. So that's four. We're back up to four again. It quickly went right back. Hey man. No, you know, over time, like with anything you do, like your body will get better at handling the stress. Like it's really awesome because now with jujitsu, I can go through a session and it's like, most of the time I don't really feel it the next day. So that's why like every day I do some form of lifting and every, like most days I'll do some jujitsu. jujitsu is at this point going to be like a it has been a six to eight times a week type of deal where i'll have six to eight sessions

right depending on the week and then some days like the week before worlds it won't be as many because i have a back thing i'm dealing with so i think we got to keep in mind too when we're pursuing new stuff that uh even though you might have been doing something for a while, a couple of months or even a year or two, that there still could be so many new stimulus within that. So like jujitsu, the little bit that I've done, it's like you're kind of just on the ground. That's the safest way to learn it. Like you're just on the ground a bunch.

But when you go and do a match, you start standing, right? And there's so many more things to still learn and if you are you know starting in standing positions and like really going at it like that's a different stimulus than working on the ground and working on getting in and out of moves right oh yeah it's a way different stimulus so i think we always have to keep that in mind and then when it comes to something like running, there's different stimulus there. You know, somebody just all of a sudden out of nowhere just starts wanting to do more intense runs, starts to want to run faster or start to do like sprints and stuff like that. It's going to have like more wear and tear on your body. So you got to really pay attention to all the different things that you're adding in.

And then there's got to be, at some point, there's got to be some sort of subtraction from that. That's kind of just the way the body works. Here right now with the heavy bag work I've been doing, I can feel like this area, there's some inflammation going on in my fist because I've been punching it so much, right? So I need to be mindful, even though this feels good, I need to slowly progress myself into doing this more and more and more. Right. It's the simple shit. Dope. Strength is never weakness. Weakness is never strength.

Catch you guys later. Bye.