Interview With Professor Danny Alvarez - 5 Time Jiu-Jitsu NoGi World Champion

- What's going on. Good morning. And this is Coach David here with kind of a virtual version of our podcast. I'm the only one in the Eastern time zone on this podcast this time. Coach Moe is still in Texas, of course. We have Professor Alvarez. How you coaches doing today?

- Good morning.

- Good morning. Doing great. Glad to be on with you guys.

- Absolutely. I appreciate your time, man. So we are, I'm really, I mean, we talk about you a lot on our podcast of course, in class. And so it's nice to kind of be able to pick your brain, especially after seeing you at the world tournament this weekend. So how are you feeling after worlds, coach Alvarez?

- Well, relieved, relaxed, huge weight off my chest and shoulders man. It's intense, you know, it's a lot of stress leading up to it and it's all gone away. It just feels good to be back to kinda normal, a normal day. And just kind of back to the, I mean it's pretty much same routine. It's just, you don't have something as big as that, that you're kind of leading up to it. So it's just way more relaxed, you know what I mean? So yeah. Feeling, feeling good.

- You still need rest?

- When you say--

- Go ahead. We should have a hand raising thing.

- Yeah. So when you say normal, what'd you have for breakfast? Let's hear the morning routine of Coach Alvarez.

- Well, I got the black dark roast coffee with the MCT powder and the coconut oil and a little bit of cinnamon in there. And then I just had my shake that I have every morning. So it's 11 ounces of coconut water. I use this stuff called green vibrance. It's like a hundred bucks for the canister. And it has like all your wheat grasses and all that stuff in it. So a scoop of that, and then a scoop of the beet root powder. And then the protein. I use this protein called Ascent, and I use that because it doesn't have that many ingredients in it, it's really, really clean. And it just, that's how I start the morning then of course, all the vitamins, zinc, vitamin D, vitamin C, krill oil, the collagen, the, I don't know, there's quite a bit more there, turmeric and the list goes on. I just took all that stuff right before I hopped on. So, oh. And I had a, so I make oatmeal, a big pot of oatmeal, and then I'll put it in a container and I'll kind of just eat that throughout the day. And it'll last me a couple of days. So that just consists of like the whole oats, raisin, cinnamon, flax seed, Stevia packets that I sprinkle in there to sweeten it up a little bit, and a little bit of oat milk to kind of just put on top of it. And so, yeah, that was, that's the routine, and that's what I just had right before I hopped on here, you know.

- Are we guaranteed world titles if we take that same formula and have it every morning?

- I don't know if it's a guarantee, but it definitely will kind of lead you in the right direction for sure, you know.

- Okay.

- It'll definitely kind of help, you know, at least kind of get you closer to it, you know, at least my opinion, you know? Yeah.

- I wouldn't expect you to be still be nervous, like or stressed out to like, after you've been doing... How long you been training Jiu-Jitsu Coach?

- Probably mid 90's? You know, after the UFC came out in 93, I want to say I started training a couple of years after that, when it finally came to Michigan, to Saginaw.

- Okay, all right. So to put this in perspective--

- But it was never, again, there really was no Jiu-Jitsu schools, a TaeKwonDo guy that was a blue belt in Jiu-Jitsu and he was teaching it, but it was kind of sporadic because it wasn't, like you have a BJJ school, I have a B and A school and you don't really have any other disciplines. So the training back then was really sporadic. But somewhere in the mid-90s is where I started. But yeah, I still get the stress, the nerves and everything. And I think a lot of that just comes from, you know, the weight cutting, you know, just knowing that you have something like world's coming up. It was in my own backyard. It was here in Texas. You know, a lot more local people gonna be there. It has, it was a lot of variables, a lot of different things that kind of make each tournament what it is, you know, obviously when you go compete and I go compete out of town and I travel by myself, it's a lot more relaxing because I don't have to worry about other students or just other things. I can just go fly in, fly out and then come home and, and that's it. But it's this is No Gi Worlds. And I had an opportunity to get the fifth world title there. So I think I was kind of adding some extra pressure on myself that probably didn't need to be there, but it is what it is. I think when you compete at that level, you're just, you know, you want to win, you know.

- Of course.

- And you want to do good. And so you got these little things kind of chipping away at you, you know, mentally and physically and stuff like that. So I think it, I don't think, I mean, it gets easier as far as the more you compete, the more you understand what it takes and how to win. But I still think whoever it is, you're still gonna have those feelings, natural feelings of, of excitement and the what ifs in the back of your mind and in those kinds of things, that kinda, that everyone gets, you know, at least for me. So yeah. You know, even all these years, it's still the same.

- You know, I was talking to you this weekend at the tournament, and you mentioned something and, you know, I thought it was real interesting. You said that Coach Bruno asked you to compete.

- Yes.

- And you really didn't plan on competing. And you know, you were there to coach, you have your own students and you know, it's a different hat to be a coach and a competitor. And so he asked you, and you know, you just, the team needs some points and you wanted to step in for them.

- Yeah.

- Can you tell us a little bit about what that, like talking to other students whose coaches asked them to compete, he didn't ask you to win, he just asked you to compete and get the points. And I think a lot of coaches do that because, you know, we're, you know, when, when you compete, win or lose, you get better. You know?

- Mm-hmm. And as you know, sometimes we get the points. Sometimes they contribute. Sometimes you get the individual recognition if you win, but can you just talk to us or maybe talk to the students who get asked by their coaches, Hey, we want you to compete. What exactly are they saying? Like when a coach asks a student to compete, what is he saying to someone who's not .

- I think they're just asking you to come out and support the team, you know, because here's the thing, it builds bonds. It makes the team stronger and it makes your Jiu-Jitsu better. Like without a doubt, if I would've lost, win or lose my Jiu-Jitsu, my no gi game's a lot better because I had to, like, I had something this important to focus on. So everything amped up, like my health got better. My cardio got better. My, you know, my strength got better from lifting and then my Jiu-Jitsu game got better. I studied, like so many matches over these last couple of weeks. I focused on specific areas of my game that I felt like needed to be improved on strategic wise, you know, game planning wise, like my Jiu-Jitsu game is better than it was two months ago. Because you know, having to sign up for something like this and when your coach asks you to do that, again, it's just to come out and support, you know, and it's important. It really is important, you know. I've been talking to my team about that as well, because we haven't really done many team tournaments. I've had students go compete, but they're out there by themselves. But as a team, as a whole, like we used to 50, 60, 70, at one Dallas open, we had 90 students, you know. 70 from my academy and then 20 from like Mexico. And then I think a couple from Coach Carl's gym came, I think came down as well. So it was like 90, little over 90 students, you know.

- Yeah I think... But like almost 70 were from just the four walls of my academy, you know? And that's huge. I mean, just imagine--

- That's deep.

- like all those people out there together, outside of the academy, when we're grappling each other, we're wrestling each other, beating each other up weekend and week out. And then now we're coming together and we're cheering each other on, because when you're in the academy, you're not cheering your teammates on. You're trying to choke them and submit them. You know what I mean? But when you go to the tournament, you're oh look, so-and-so's going, oh, look, so-and-so is going, oh, let's go over there. And then all of a sudden you got like 10 or 15 of your teammates cheering you on and clapping for you when you hit a sweep, or a pass. And ah, you know, the place erupts, and it's just a great feeling. And I just feel like all students, whether you're just, you know, just an academy grappler, a weekend warrior kind of thing, should go out there a few times a year with the team to go out and be a part of that and, and compete, you know? Yeah. Cause you got to remember for all those that are listening, they have those different divisions for everyone, right? Like your masters division, you gotta remember these other people have jobs, just like you have jobs. They have kids just like you have kids, they have responsibilities, dogs, cats, like whatever, just like you do. So they're busy like you, and they're getting two to three days of training in. And of course, whenever you're a younger 20 year old and you don't really have much responsibility and a family, then you're training more. But then those other guys are doing the same thing as well. And so it's pretty equal, you know, and these guys are stepping up for their team and going out and compete. So why can't you step up for your team and come out and compete, you know? But it definitely, that's what the coaches are asking you to do is to come out, you know, and support. And I wrestled in high school. So we competed every weekend. It was like every Thursday and Saturday you had a meet, well, that's not Jiu-Jitsu. It's every... How often do you guys compete? You know what I mean? Like it's how many times a year, you know, do you really go out as a team? And so maybe two or three tournaments a year, maybe four. I mean, that's not really much to ask from the students compared to the entire year, you know. Hey, come out a couple of times a year, let's go out there together as a team and let's go cheer each other on and man let's go see where our Jiu-Jitsu's at. And not only that, but it helps you guys as coaches understand where we need to work on, what your students need to work on. It magnifies it times a thousand, what you guys need to work on because you're like, man, this is a pattern we're getting beat with these things here. And now we can take that and go back to the school and we can go back and work on that. Versus everyday practice, you really can't see that, you know what I mean?

- Yeah. But when your students are out there competing and you're in their corner, coaching them, you can kind of see a pattern of the things that you need to work on. And that's what made us so good for so many years, was I was able to go and do that because we competed so much and it really, really helped. So that's, all of that is kind of what you're getting from your students or from a coach is when they say, hey, can you come out and, and you know, support us and be out there with us at this tournament. It's not all about them. It's everything. It's them and the team and the coaches that get the benefit from being a part of this. But I think overall it just builds more comradery and it makes the team tighter, stronger for sure.

- Oh, for sure.

- Yeah. Yeah. It was cool this weekend, jumping from mat to mat supporting and all of our affiliations and you know, it really brings people together.

- Yup.

- So, on that same topic, a lot of these are about competition and tournaments. Coach Ferris asked, he says, what does your tournament prep look like leading up to big tournaments? Do you compete at local tournaments to prep? What is your training consists of prepping for a day like? So, you're prepping for worlds, do you do like local maga's or new breeds or grappling?

- Yeah. As far as those go, I don't, I don't really do those anymore. All of my prep comes from inside the academy. Here's the thing. Every single round, whether it is a competition coming up or not. I know what the score is. Each time the bell rings when we're done every single day, every morning, every evening class. I know when I get done rolling and I shake hands or bump fist with my student, I know what the score is. And that is huge because you gotta know how to fight within that square, you gotta know where you're at with the clock. You gotta know where you're at if you're down on points, do you need to come back? Do you need to keep the lead? You know, so there's a science into all these different things. So it's, one thing to be able to be down on points and be able to come back from behind. And it's another thing to go up on points and then keep that lead. And so every practice throughout the entire year, I do that in every round. Now I don't get up after the round ends with my student and be like, well, I beat you six to four. You know what I mean? Or I beat you--

- Right.

- 10 to zero or something like that or whatever, you know, I don't do that. But in my head, I know what the score is. And my students know what the score is because we're going back and forth. You can feel like, I'm trying to get this sweep and they're not trying, they're not going down. They're not giving it to me because there's a minute left. And they know if they gave me that sweep, you know, they're going to lose. So they'll go out of bounds or they'll scramble out. And it just makes the rounds so much tougher. So the preparation for tournaments is every day. It's every day, regardless if there's a tournament coming up or not. So it's just one of those mindset things. It's a phrase that I use in the academies is, always be ready. Like, I'm just, I'm always ready. Like I'm always sharpening that tournament blade because I'm always counting the points in every single role, every role. And so that helps, but the preparation to it, it's the same all year. It doesn't matter if it's Christmas, it's a holiday. If it's a run day, it's a run day. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, I get three miles in. Tuesday, Thursday I work out. And then, you know, I do my training and that's just year round. So there's really never an off season. There's really never a break from anything. It's just, you know, it's also just a personal health. Like I just want to be at my best all the time anyways. But obviously for the tournament, I ate a little bit less, because I had to make the weight. So, you know, the portions--

- How much weight did you cut?

- Huh? Ah know, it's not much, it's just being able to maintain that. It was like five or six pounds. You know, it's not much, you know, when I'm not competing, you know, on the weekend, you know, you're not training as much and you're eating a little bit more. I eat real healthy. I just eat a lot of healthy, you know. I'll get two servings, and if I'm still hungry, I'll get a third serving. Well, when you're for a tournament, you can't do that. You can't overeat, you gotta make weight. So, and you gotta be able to train at that weight that you're competing at. So for the last couple of weeks, I brought my weight down to where I should be, and I'm training like that in a more depleted state, because what happens is a lot of times people will cut weight at the last minute, and then when they go out and compete, they're not used to competing depleted like that. And so the energy's not the same. So every day in practice, I'm like, you know, 145, 146, 147. And, and you know, not a lot of food and it's more liquids, you know, hydration more than anything. And being able to get those four rounds, hard rounds in, or those, you know, whatever we're doing and, and be strong at that particular weight, versus like waiting two days prior and then cut 10 pounds. And now you go compete and you got a couple matches and your body's just not used to competing like that at that weight class. It normally doesn't work out well for you like that. So far as that goes, it's just the same regimen all the time.

- Yeah, I hear that a lot, man. I want to cut down to this weight class or that weight class to that weight class. And I think that's a good way to put it is, if you can't train at the weight you're competing at, don't drop the weight.

- Yeah. So you gotta be able to train. Cause I don't have a wrestling background, so I don't like dropping weight. If it's a couple of pounds, even that stresses me out. So I, yeah, but that's good advice. If you can't train every day at the weight you're cutting to. Then you're going to take your focus off and, you know, you might physically not be able to put your best foot forward when you compete.

- Yeah.

- Man, at one Dallas, I didn't realize, I think it was like one of my first Dallas's I did a gi and no gi, and I didn't realize there were two different weight classes. So I'm like, I'm like 195, 196, and I fight on like Friday in the gi. And then I was like, I don't know. Somehow I had to lose like seven pounds in a day. And I was just like, Duril, still makes fun of me, cause he was with me on that trip. I barely made weight, but there was no food, like, I was practically like starving, you know, I was starving. So then you're going out there and I'm like, you know, you got these guys who, they, same thing. They spent weeks, you know, cause they walked around at that weight, a lot of them.

- Right.

- Or they cut there and they've been there, and they've been training it, and they maybe they cut even lower, and then they're on the rebound a little bit, you know? I really have no desire to cut really, to cut weight. But if I was the same thing that I would absolutely like, you're there and you're training there because--

- Yeah. because you get it's like this, kind of twisty knot in your stomach when you're training.

- Yup. Like, that's the way I like to train.

- Yeah. Well, in regards to the weight cut, a lot of it for most people should just be like, just getting rid of your, kind of your little cheat, your cheat foods, your little, you know, enjoyment foods and stuff like that. And just kind of dial in a little bit better. You're naturally going to cut about five or six pounds, just getting rid of some of the extra, you know, desserts or--

- Weekend cocktails.

- Yeah, exactly. You know, the weekend kind of foods and stuff like that is an easy five pounds. You, you kind of just take a couple weekends off of that stuff, and you're going to lose naturally just lose five pounds. And that's what everyone should be doing because, you should go out and compete and you should be a little hungry, a little like, man, I can't wait to get this over with so I can get that taste back in my mouth. But if you're like still eating what you normally eat, and you're not really hungry, not really hungry in the sense of like, Hey man, my stomach hurts, I need to eat like, like that feeling of like, I haven't had this in a while. You know, you gotta have that little bit of hunger in your mind. Like, man, when I get done with this, I'm gonna get that pizza. You know what I mean? Like, and that's what I was thinking. Then that's what I did. I went to a that restaurant called BJ's and I got, we get a tavern cut pizza, but it's like really thin, and I get grilled chicken and sun dried tomatoes and spinach on it. You know, I just tell them light cheese and a heavy sauce and they hook me up. So, but yeah, that's what I was like, man, I haven't had one of these in weeks and I wanted to get one of those. So that was one of the first things I got.

- That was your prize. He was like sweet I got my metal, but now I can go get pizza. Like that.

- Yeah. Yeah.

- All right.

- Cause I haven't had it, but if I had pizza every weekend and I had, you know, I'm drinking, you know, alcohol in the week and then I'm trying to go compete like, oh, I'll give you an example. So one of the guys, this guy walks up to me when I'm going to get my metal. Right. And he's like, hey Alvarez, blah, blah, blah. And he's, I think he's from the east coast. And he's like, man, you're a legend all this other stuff. And I'm like, man, cut it out. Like, you know what I mean? Like, that's a little much, but he's asking me what you guys are asking me. Well, what, what did I do to prepare for the tournament? So I was telling him, and he's like, yeah, not me. I like just last night I had chicken and potatoes and beer. This was the day before the tournament. You see what I'm saying?

- Oh wow! You know, it's--

- I'm trying to imagine. I don't think you can really expect great results. You know, if you're eating like that still the day before the tournament or, you know what I'm saying? Like some people come out to do it, just to do it, to say they did it. And then you got other people saying like, well I want to really go see what I can do. And so I need to do the actual process and the necessary steps to go and put myself in a position to see, you know, how well I can do if I just do the right things. And it's going to take some investment in yourself, in my opinion, not really sacrificing, because you eat that stuff all the time. You eat those foods all year long and just a couple of weekends without it, you're just investing more into your health and into your training and you're just getting better. And now let's go see what happens because of that. And most of the time, I would say you get good results. You know, either way you're better because of it. Because you just, you know, you had to change those up. But I would say to the original part of the question, it's mainly the same all year long. But the difference is I really focus on each round every single day guys, every single day. I know what the score is because you gotta remember, you know, your students might say, Hey, you know, guys, I'm gonna go do this tournament and you guys can't go with them. You know, they gotta be able to compete without you guys there. It's great to have you guys there, but if they want to go fly to IVGGF Orlando Open or something, and you guys can go with them, they got to know where they're at in that match to be able to go out there and win. They can't just go out there and have no idea and be oblivious to, because you can't look at the scoreboard the whole time, you gotta focus on the person that you're competing against, you know. So making those adjustments each day will make a huge difference in your competition, for sure.

- So on that note, I spent a good portion of, I would say definitely the majority 60-70% of my tournament's coming up through the ranks were un-coached. Now either I went to one independently, like just real quick, go do it and come back. Or I just didn't have a coach at the mat, you know, whatever we didn't up. And so I would have never, once we started going to coached tournaments, I would have never believed coaching was more exhausting than competing. Like when I get done from coaching, like I've got nothing left. I get home and I'm like, oh my gosh, like I'm just, I'm hit because your doing every match you coach mentally. I was talking to a member Jordan about this last night, your brain, like you're living out that match the same as they are, you know, same as they are. And your brain doesn't really know the difference. And so like you're doing 60, 70, 80, however many matches coaching them. And that, that weighs on... That's mental stress.

- A lot of times you can't even go to the bathroom, because,

- Right. or eat because you got so many students going at one time that you can't even get a restroom break or a lunch break because you're so busy and you're going hours without eating because you're just running around everywhere. And the amount of yelling that you're doing, I don't know how many times when I would get done. I don't ever, I don't even know what a headache is, but it's gotta be what that feels like. I don't get headaches, but when I get done, there's so much pressure right here on the side of my head, from yelling, trying to, because like you said, you're in the moment, it's an emotional roller coaster. Like, that match is like, so intense and you're like, do this, do that. And then maybe they win, and you're like, ah, and then the next you go over there and coach someone else, and then you're doing that match. And then maybe it's real close, it's a nail biter, you come down and then they lose. And it's like, oh, it takes all the wind down. And then you got to go coach again. Then the energy comes back up and it's just this adrenaline rush just over and over again. And you're yelling and you're losing your voice and your head hurts because you're screaming and you're trying to give instruction. And then, if they win, you know, it's all joyful and you're hugging. Yay congrats. And they lose, you lost, man, that hurts.

- Yeah it does. Cause you can see the pain in them. Right. So you give them a hug and you're like, there might be a few tears or something that comes along with it. And you're like, that pulls from you, you know what I mean?

- Yeah. That pulls from you. And that's all day long. It's you know what I mean? Like, yeah. I would say that's definitely a lot harder to deal with because you're dealing with all these different people that take winning and losing differently, you know? And then you gotta have, some people, you need to give them the space. Like, you can tell. Well, yeah, just, I ain't even gonna, I'm not going to approach them right now because they're pissed off. Like they need some space and some people, you can go up to them and approach them and give them a hug and say, Hey, congrats. You know, good work out there. We'll get them on the next one. You know, kind of thing. And then some people are like, yeah, man, they're not even going to give you the coach hug. Cause they need to go get their space. So you let them have their 10, 15 minutes. Then you walk over and say, Hey, how you doing, you know, everything good? And that kind of thing. So yeah, it's a lot. It's not an easy thing to do for sure. It takes a lot out of you, you know.

- It does, you know, on that note, I'll just closed with this, Uri, one of our teammates at the black belt level, adult black belt, after he lost his first match and you know, he was really upset and he told me, you know, when you hear the stories about what it takes for people to, compete or to come to America and train, or even a local gym membership, a lot of people have to sacrifice a lot. And he said, six years, he's been praying and trying to get here six years. Six years it took Uri to get back to worlds. And he's been training, like the guy teaches like 30 classes a week, you know, He was so, so upset, you know? And Jabril my son, he lost his first match. He's right behind me. And they were like, you know, you can see that pain, and that takes out of you too, you know, out of a coach, it really like, it definitely sucks the wind out of you and it's emotionally taxing.

- Yeah. Because you, you want, you want them to win. You want to help them. But unfortunately like we've talked about at the tournament is you unfortunately, you gotta go through those losses. Like you have to, you have to grow. No, one's just going to go out there... There's very few people that, you know, are that can just go out there and just do that and not take a loss. You know what I mean? Those losses, that's the thing... People see me now at what I'm doing now. And they're like, oh, you never lose. And I'm like, man, I lose like everyone else loses. I just don't lose as much. But I've lost, when I first started, and I had to grow through those pains, just like everyone else did, no one was there to see those things. You know, there wasn't any Facebook and Instagram back in the early 2000's when I was competing at blue belt, purple belt, you know, brown belt, you know, there was no social media back then to see all those kinds of things, you know? So I took my licks and my hits on the chin, man, you know what I mean? And it's just those are the ones that got me to where I'm at right now. Like those experiences are what helped me learn, and like okay, this is what you do next time. This is what you don't do next time. This is how you deal with this situation next time. Because I've been there before, I lost like this before, I'm not letting that happen again. You know what I'm saying? So, and unfortunately you have to watch your students grow through these pains. Just like you've got to watch your child go through pains. You know, you don't want them to get hurt and you want to protect them. And you know, you want them to always be good, but they're going to have to mess up sometimes. And you're going to have to watch them go through that and see how they react from it. You know what I mean? So it's tough. Coaching is not a, it's hard. I mean, when you're involved into your students, like we are, you know what I'm saying? Like, it's tough. Because you want everyone to win and that's just not realistic. It's just not gonna happen. You know? Yeah.

- So Aaron's got a question here. He says, as someone who has accomplished so much, what keeps you motivated and performing at such a high level? Do you see yourself getting to a point where you won't compete anymore? Will you stop competing in Jiu-Jitsu?

- I'll start off with that second part of the question. As far as you know, there's moments where I do feel like man, I've done so much. Like why do I keep putting myself through all this stress? Because it is stressful to compete and prepare to get ready for it. But you know, I just enjoy doing it. You know, you look at guys like Tom Brady and it's like, why is he still competing at the age he's competing? He's still winning. And it's like, well, man, if he can do it, why am I not doing it? You know what I mean? Like, at least for me, like Tom Brady's like a great example of like, man, this guy is still going and his body's still treating them good. Like he's taking care of his body. He's getting after it. Why am I not getting after it? You know what I mean? Like I, I fight like this every day in the academy. So, you know, go out there and... I think I'll still compete for as long as my body will still hold up for it. So it'll probably be like Megaton Dias. If you guys know who Megaton is, you know, he's, I don't know how old that guy is. He's whatever old, but man, he's still getting after it, you know? So that's another great example for me to like, hey man, that guys still competing, man. You know, what's wrong with me? There's nothing wrong with me. I'm not hurt. I don't have a disability. I don't have a, there's nothing wrong with me. I just need to go out there and get after it. You know what I mean? So, but what was the first part of that question again?

- You kinda answered that. What keeps you motivated performing at such a high level? So like I said, you kind of answered both in with one.

- Yeah. But yeah, also it's for my it's for my students, you know, I think, I think as a coach, if I go out there and compete and I can do well, it'll kind of help motivate the students as well, you know. How, you always get that thing of leading by example. And I've done so much that I don't really think I need to prove myself anymore. That I'm that coach, that, you know, doesn't lead by example. I think I've done enough to show people, Hey man, that guy has gone out there multiple times with his team and competed and that kind of thing. But you always got new students. You always got new people coming in. You guys know that. So it's like, they haven't seen you compete or they haven't seen anything recent. And so it's like, well, if I go out there and compete and they see me in the mat area training, just like they are then, you know, maybe it'll motivate them to get out there with me. You know what I mean? Or with the team and go out and compete. You know what I mean? So there's a little bit of motivation behind that too. It was like, you know, it always feels good to go out there with your students. You know, I just think of the, it might seem lame, but you know, the movie, Troy, you know, Achilles, you know, he's out there and he's like, you see that over there, like that's, you know, they're going to storm the beach and then you got Maximus from, you know, Gladiator, you know, all these movies, you know? And it's like, yeah, man, these guys weren't in the back of the, you know, like, you know how the Kings, they're always in the back. And they just send all the troops and you know what I mean? And all the warriors and they're just like sitting back on their horses just looking and watching people die and stuff. And then they get all the glory, right? Like I just never wanted to be that guy. I wanted to be the guy, you know, in the trenches like that. And I think you get a lot of respect from your students that way. I think it kinda can persuade some students that were maybe on the fence about it. Maybe like, yeah, you know what? My coach is out there. Like he, you know, what if he loses and he's lost before, like you guys have lost before I've lost before. I tell my students, I know what you're going through. You see what I'm saying? I know what losing feels like. I know what winning feels like. I know what it takes to get to this position here. I can help you because I've been there. I know what this is like personally, you know, I'll give you an example. Chase, my student Chase, it was Wednesday night, Wednesday night, it was like the last roll or something like that. He got headbutted and he got cut right here. He had a nice little gash, and he was hot. And he went to the ER and he didn't need any stitches. They just kind of put some butterfly tape on it or whatever and just said, Hey, don't get it wet for 24 hours. But he was mentally a little distressed with that. Right. So I messaged them. I say, Hey, how's it going? How's the eye? What'd they say? And then, you know, they just told him what I just told you. And I said, look, two years ago, Coach Rainey headbutted me on accident. I think it was a less than a week before Master World's. I needed seven stitches, seven stitches, less than a week before going out to master worlds. And so after practice, I go to the ER, I made it just before they closed, they shoot a needle in that spot to numb it up. And then they gave me seven stitches and I had to go back the day that the, I was, before I had to fly out to Vegas, they took the stitches out. And then the next day I was competing, right. So I was giving my student example like, Hey, look, you just got cut, and they just gave you butterfly tape. I had seven stitches and they took the stitches out the day before I had to go and compete out there. You can do it. You know what I mean? I did it. I fought, I think I had made it all the way to the finals and I lost to a ref decision. I had like five matches that day. You're going to be all right. You can do this. You see what I'm saying? He was like, all right, coach, like, it's good. But what if I never competed. I never got cut. I never had to cut weight. I don't know what you feel like cause you're, I don't know what hungry feels like because I never cut weight. I never competed. I can go through all these stories in these scenarios with my students, because I've been there. I've done that. You know, I've cut 10-12 pounds and had to fly to Tokyo. I had 10-12 pounds in Portugal, 10-12 pounds to go to Sao Paulo. Fly, get off the plane, be hungry. You smell all the food. You see all the pastries, you know, at all these places, you know, as soon as you get off the plane, man, it's coffee and pastries, man like, and it smells so good. And you want to taste all these foods from these places and you can't, you gotta go run. You know, you gotta go run. I went to Ireland and it was in December. You get off, the plane is dark. You have no idea where you're at and it's raining. And I check the scale. I had a scale with me, a few pounds over, just took the flight there, put everything on, layer up. And then I go for a three, four mile run and just figure it out, wherever I'm at. And then the morning, next thing it's cold. Same thing, couldn't eat, you know, just small bites, a little food here and there. And then, I had to go and compete. You know what I mean? Like I know what that's like. I know what that feeling is like. So I can talk to you about that. So it's another motivation of why I compete. And because I can relate to my students better that way. If you got some kind of scenario you're going through, I bet you I've gone through it. And so you'd really can't have an excuse. You know what I mean? You can't say, well, coach, you don't know what that feels like. Well, yeah, let's talk about that. You know what I mean? Let's, let's, let's discuss that because I I've been there and done that. I know what that's like, you know? So that's, that's also a huge motivator too.

- I hate running by the way, like, I could, it's one of those things, like when you don't floss your gums bleed, and they're like your gums bleed because you don't floss, Like whenever I run, dude, I can't walk for four days, they're like my calves, they're not conditioned to it. So, and I, . You know what I mean? Like I can cycle, I can row, I can train, yeah.

- After coach told us to run, that as an immediate thing I will be adding as soon as we get back.

- Coach write that down for him please.

- Yeah.

- You can't say something in front of Coach Alvarez

- I'm not, that's why I said it.

- and expect he aint gonna call you out.

- It's live, I mean, he just spoke it into existence for the whole world.

- Yeah. Literally yeah. Like, you know.

- Center platforms.

- Yeah. It's gonna be, yeah.

- Coach Alvarez, if you could go back and give yourself advice when you were still in your early, we'll call it early Jiu-Jitsu, I think he means. What would it be, mindset, technique, nutrition, et cetera, any type of advice? Like maybe someone I'll pair it like first couple years, your first couple years of, of actual, like you're training Jiu-Jitsu regularly with someone who like they do it full time. It's not the part-time TaeKwonDo thing. Like, couple years of just getting started seriously in Jiu-Jitsu. What advice would you give to yourself or somebody?

- Well, if you're talking just Jiu-Jitsu academy, grappler person.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Then I would say, I would focus on, because this is what I see, but I would focus on a specific game and stick with that for awhile and develop a specific style of Jiu-Jitsu that you like and let it develop for a little while. You know? I don't think I really did that. Like, I didn't really have a... Man, I just trained, you know, like I'm a lot smarter now, obviously, you know, like, I go to the academy with a purpose. Like, I went to the academy with a purpose back then, like, I just wanted to train, like, I wasn't just like we gonna shake hands and we gonna get after it. But there really was no, there wasn't a game plan there to like, what am I really trying to achieve with my Jiu-Jitsu? You know what I mean? Like, am I trying to work an X card game, a dela heva game or whatever game. And once you understand what those games are, you need to try to attach to one and develop it and become really good at it to where you can sweep anyone with it. You know what I mean? I would say that would probably be something I would go back and change. You know, my guard retention, you know, try not to let my guard get passed. You know, making it like a impassable guard kind of mindset. Which is impossible, your guard is going to get passed at some point, but it should be hard for someone to pass your guard. It shouldn't be easy. And how do you do that? You put yourself in that position and you keep working and developing those skills until you're just able to, you know, stop different people from passing your guard. So I would, academy grappler wise, I would focus on that or just any area that you're weak at. Like, what's the thing that you're not good at that you run from the most? They should be asking you guys, for your students that are watching, Coach David, Coach Mohammad, Coach Debril, like, how can I get better at my take downs, for instance, like, can you help me with my guard from getting passed as much? Like, where am I making these mistakes at? Or, Hey, Coach David, I see you playing this game a lot. Like, I wanna learn that game, and then spend time with it. I mean, months, months, and months, and months, and months with it. Where I think for me, I just hopped around all over the place, kind of with my Jiu-Jitsu. So I didn't really develop like a game, until later then it became, well, man he's really good at half guard. I'm like, man, I'm really good at this half guard thing. You know? Then it became dela heva, I got really good at that. but white, blue belt, man, I really can't remember like being known for a game. You know what I mean? Like I just rolled, like, I was just good at it. Like, you know what I mean? But I didn't have something that defined me. You know, that made me, Alvarez is really good at this game, man. You want to get good at that, man? Like, go talk to that guy about that, because he's been working on that stuff for years, kind of thing. As far as competition goes, I would say academy too, because even if you're an academy grappler, it's the mindset, man. Like the jocko stuff, these things that are out now, like there was no YouTube that you could listen to. Now, these podcasts that everyone, you know, you can just jump on your phone and listen to these mental things that weren't available back then, you know? So when you got beat or had a bad day, who did you go talk to? Like your wife or something like, you know, your significant other like that, they don't know what you're going through. You know, they don't do Jiu-Jitsu. They don't know what you're going through. And now there's all these things out there at your disposal to kind of help you with the mental training. So because you can run, you can work out, you can train to two, three times a day, but if your mental game is trash and you can't handle losing, you had a rough day and all of a sudden you wanna, you know, I don't know, just you can't take losing well. Jiu-Jitsu's gonna suck. It's not gonna be fun for you. You know what I mean? You know, you gotta have that mental aspect of it. I think it's definitely more mental than physical, man. You can have all the physical attributes and I've seen me as a coach and me just being a competitor train all these years. Some of the best people when they lose, that aren't used to losing, when they lose, they break. Versus how many people, especially, I'm sure you guys can attest to this. Probably one of the weakest guys or girls in the room, not athletic, not strong, has trouble with Jiu-Jitsu. Picking it up, the IQ level isn't really there and they're just getting tapped left and right. And they keep coming, and they keep showing up, and they're getting better, little by little, they're getting better. And then you get someone that doesn't lose. And isn't used to getting tapped, and when they do get tapped, man, they're pouty face, can't handle it. Like, you know what I mean? Like they make excuses, and then you got those other people that, you know, and now like I have these other things, I'm looking at my desk and just, you know, these books that I have around me and, or the stuff that's on the wall, you know, just things that can just kind of remind me, Hey, you know, get back to work. You know, you had a rough day, it sucks and you gonna be all right. You know, you just got to get back to work.

- We have a, like, we do get a lot of wrestlers that come in there. And just recently we had a guy come in that was about 220 and he's jacked. I mean, he is jacked. He actually did professional bodybuilding. Mid-twenties strong as a ox.

- He's like 180. He's 180, he's my size now, he was 220, he's 180 now. You talking about David?

- Yeah.

- Yeah, yeah. He's jacked.

- He might've been up to 220, but he's like, you could see the guy's some sort of an athlete. And he was rolling with somebody who has been there for a couple years, right? The blue belt or whatever. And you know, you know Jiu-Jitsu at that time and you know enough to like, know what you need to do when someone's coming at you. And I said, look, man, I said, you can't fight off the strength, and you just gotta like, that's the point where you got to try to just survive. That's what Jiu-Jitsu's about. You know, you just gotta survive, and you can't expect to get in there and always be the big guy, and you know, always win the matches. And there's a place for those new guys that come in, because they come in, they test you. Who knows how long they're going to be here, you know? But you gotta use those guys to build your mental strength up and not get upset at it because you put in three years, who knows if that new, big guy's going to be here next week or next month. That's your test of the month. Just make sure you stay after it.

- Well, not only that, but what happens if you just you're at a restaurant or you're at some establishment and there's sports on playing and you know, and you're watching a game and someone had too much to drink and they bump into you or whatever, and you gotta defend yourself and you can't be like, Hey pal, I'm not used to this kind of aggression. I'm not used to rolling with someone that size, you know, like, can you bring it down to notch? Like, can you not go so hard with me? Like, you know what I mean? Like, no, like that's what those guys are for. Like you said, it's meant to survive, hang in there, wear down your opponent and then eventually find opportunity to finish them with a submission or can put them in a position where they can't hurt you, you know, kind of thing. So, you know, yeah. You can just use it for a lot of different ways to just kind of help you mentally. But the aggression part, I deal with that a lot with my students too. Like, you can't tell people, hey man, you're really aggressive and you're not hurting anyone, but you know, these other people are weaker than you. So can you like bring it down from like a 10 to like a six? You can't do that.

- They don't know how.

- We've got like a 260 pound purple belt that I like to just send people his way. I'm like, you know what? That's a good match for you right over there. We've got a couple of gatekeepers.

- Exactly. You got some big brothers in there man, some gatekeepers.

- I think it's important though. Like, I know we're talking primarily about adult Jiu-Jitsu, but like we get, parents bring their kids in and they're thinking it's like any other sport. And we joke about my, quote, unquote, natural athleticism or lack thereof. And this was the first real anything I did. And so like, you get these parents like, oh, he doesn't really like sports. He doesn't do this. Jiu-Jitsu's, I'm going to sound like Joe Rogan here, but you take like any of the mainstream martial arts movies, like the Spiderman's, you know, like where he liked the little Peter Parker's, the nerdy kids, the fricking Daniel La Russo's, like the, you know, like those. And then they get bullied or they get hit and then they go off on their own somewhere and learn something sweet and come back. And now they're all like tough and. Jiu-Jitsu actually works like that. Just not in that 60 second highlight speed frame they showed you. Like if you show up, because that was like, that was my mantra. I would routinely have, it was not uncommon for guys, like on their first day to, I I'll tell you, I have a personal story. I earned my purple belt and I'm, I don't even know if you've known this story. And they had some titan on the mat that day. I don't even know where this guy came from, how big he was. And like, we were, he just manhandled me, and I just earned my purple belt. It was open mat afterwards. He had manhandled me and I think I tapped, I'm not sure if I tapped, but I definitely got dusted. And frickin Evan came up to me and chewed me out. He's like, Fox, you should be ashamed of yourself. Like what the? Like, he's tore me a new one, man. He's like, coach just gave you a purple belt. You're going to let a white belt treat you like that? And I was like, what would you have me do? Like you think I'm not trying to stop him. You know? And now we get those guys regularly. Like when we opened down river, it's a, you get a huge, just huge guys that like, they haven't wrestled in 10 years, but iron workers, steel benders. And I love that you brought in the actual self-defense. Cause we talked about tournaments a lot, but I'm very focused on like the self defense thing and...

- That's why they, okay. So on that note, this is the thing that cracks me up, especially about some of my people that have left or whatever. Well, Jiu-Jitsu's supposed to be fun. Like I want to have fun. And I'm like, no one has ever came into my academy, brought their kids in or themselves in and said, Hey, I'm looking for a good time. I want to sign up for Jiu-Jitsu. No, that's not it. They're dealing with some kind of self-esteem issue. They've been bullied, even adults been bullied. They, they just, they're trying to lose some weight. They're trying to fix something that's not good in them. You know, where they're weak at. And Jiu-Jitsu seems like that's the solution. Right? And it is the solution. But you, unfortunately you have to go through those things, like what you're talking about. You're gonna deal with these aggressions these attacks on you. They're not really trying to hurt you. They're just doing Jiu-Jitsu, but at their level, at their strength, at their ability and your job is to mentally stay in there, stay in the fight and find a way to neutralize this individual with your Jiu-Jitsu and get a hold of the situation. And that's what it is. And unfortunately, some people were just given these gifts of crazy strength, crazy athleticism, like they just pick it up faster than you. Life isn't fair. Like it sucks, right? Like I wish I was smarter in Jiu-Jitsu. I wish I had this, like more athleticism, more this, more that, I don't. I'm me. Like, this is what I was given and I got to make the best of it. And that's all you can do. And you use that to kind of help you with all these different individuals that come into your academy, that want to wrestle with you and do Jiu-Jitsu with you. And you got to figure out a way to, to kind of maneuver through all these different body types and aggressions and stuff like that. So it's more of a mental thing than it is a physical. On what you just said, on the same note, you were really trying, right? It's like, I, wasn't just trying to let this guy smash me.

- Yeah, right. Like, you know what I mean? I get, I'm a purple belt and he's a white belt and I was supposed to uphold my rank and I was trying, but I recently had some students that weren't trying. And that's where I think where as a coach, you should step in and being like, Hey, you're better than that. Like what's going on today? Mentally you're just allowing, I know you can roll better than that, and you're not rolling to your potential. You need to bring the game up a little bit because you really shouldn't be letting this, whoever new guy that doesn't really know much, just smash you up like that. You know what I mean? Like, I mean, if he's just 10, 20, 30 pounds heavier than you, and he has all these athletic gifts, and you just, and you were trying, that's one thing. But if you're not trying, then you need to try harder kind of thing, you know, or ask some questions, let me help you. Let me help you figure out how we can get the solution to that problem. So we can get that fixed because, and then that's where people break. And it's like, well, I don't want to do it anymore. Well, that's when you should do it even more. Because what if you run into that kind of person outside of here, and you gotta defend yourself? You know what I mean? Everyone comes into the academy first and foremost for self defense. That's why we're there. And then, you know, later on you want to compete, but don't ever forget the core focus is you should be able to defend yourself. You know what I'm saying? I look at my size. I'm 5' 6", 145-150 pounds. On the average look at both of you guys. You guys are like, what? Six foot? Almost 200 pounds. I mean, most people are middleweights. Average person, 5'10", 180 pounds walking around. Like, what am I supposed to say, Hey man, look, don't pick on me. Look how much taller and heavier you are than me. You know what I'm saying? You know, you can, they bump into you, hey, excuse me man, I'm sorry, man, my bad. They don't want to hear that. There's some people are just looking for trouble. They're looking for someone to pick on. And if you're just a smaller individual or you look like someone they can pick on, you're going to be the victim that day. Well, you have no choice but to defend yourself, I mean, you gotta be able to use Jiu-Jitsu. It's a great way to get all these different body types and aggressions and things like that to learn how to deal with these things. Because you never know when you're going to run into that stuff outside of here.

- You know, I love when that happens with like, Coach David and Coach Dubril, because I'll get a pass on them. And I really like attack them. I like to like get in their head and force some reactions. And every day that I roll with them, I'm like, oh shit. Like I'm like, I could see it in their eyes. They're about to turn it up on me and for a second, I'm like, oh my God. Oh, what am I going to do? You know, I get to practice every day. Just calm down, defend, look for opening, stay safe. And I'll tell you what, like that translate off the mat at work, at home, and any where else. Cause these guys, like, they come at me hard and we tell our kids and our adults is like, you know what man, a bully in the street is not gonna help you up when you get up. A bully on a playground is not going to say, are you okay? They're not going to shake your hand. And as a team, after every match, the harder you push, the more love you show, but don't forget at the end of the match, it's like you good, man? You all right? Cool. Give each other a hug and you get back to the drawing board. So, you know, you get that training from your team, and you know, that's, you gotta have it.

- You gotta, you gotta have it.

- I got two questions and we'll try to answer them quickly. The first one is, what do you do when you feel like you've hit a plateau with your Jiu-Jitsu game or coaching, and what are some ways you find inspiration? And then the second one is, if someone wants to make a living off Jiu-Jitsu, what roadmaps should they follow? So, first one, you hit a plateau, how do you find inspiration and keep training and keep going.

- Okay. If you hit a plateau, then that's on you. Meaning there's so much Jiu-Jitsu to work on. So much. Like if you hit a plateau, that means you just got really good at something. And then it's not working anymore because your teammates have figured out a way to stop you. Now you need to add another game to your game. You need to take a different avenue and say, okay, so I'll give you an example. I got some students, they always pass to the left. Most people pass to their left. Most people don't pass to their right. Right? Would you guys say that's true? Like, when you guys pass, do you pass left or you--

- I got one good side. Yeah. I pass to the left.

- I pass predominantly dominantly to my left, my right guard passing isn't as strong. So this, this individual or individuals, they pass their left. They drop down to their knees. And I taught a lot of my students how to frame and do a good knee shield, right? High knee shield, push frames. So they can't smash the knees. They can't get past the knee shield. They used to. But now these other students on the bottom have adjusted to their guard, passing, hugging the legs, smashing their legs with the leg weave, arm between the legs. So now they're keeping their legs open. Now they're framing, and they're pushing, and they're keeping their teammates at a distance. So the guard passing student's like, oh, like, you know, how do I stop? I'm like, you can't, you need to redirect go to your right. How about you stand up? Well, I'm not good at passing, standing up. Well then get good at passing, standing up. Well, I'm not good passing to that side. Well get good passing at that side. You see what I'm saying. So if you're hitting a plateau, that's totally on you. That completely falls on the individual. Go to a different direction. You're on a knees passing, start passing standing up. You know what I mean? You like to pass, like with a double underpass and you can't pass from the outside. Start passing from the outside. You know what I mean? That, that kind of thing. You're really good at dela heva, And they're shutting down the dela heva, well go to a half butterfly. Well, I'm not good at half butterfly. Well get good at half butterfly. You're going to have to spend some time there. It's going to suck. You're going to get your guard passed. You're going to get smashed. You're gonna get beat. But over time, like you did that other game that you're really good at, you're gonna develop those, those ins and outs. You're gonna work on all these little things. You're gonna perfect them. And now you got a new game and now it's going to be hard for... Now you go from here and then now you're up here again. Then you're gonna do this again. Then you add another game to it. And then you just keep building and building and building. And I'm having a hard time with my students, with some of them right now, because they're at that plateau and they don't want to listen. You know what I mean? Like they don't wanna pass to the right. They keep passing to the left. I'm like, you're not going to pass the guard anymore. You're going to keep having these problems. You see what I'm saying? You know, so far as that goes, take a different game, do something different and develop that. And then you have no choice but to, you're not going to plateau because you're doing something that you're not good at. You got to figure it out now, you know what I mean?

- Can I ask the, let's say the converse, let's say you're beating everybody. Like, literally you just like, you don't lose. Like, in our academy, like, cause we use a lot of, I'll do a hypothetical. I beat everyone in the academy. Okay. If I beat all my white and blue belts, how does someone like, if you just feel like, well, this isn't fun anymore because no one's really a challenge. That's a different type of plateau because everything's working, so there's no quote, unquote, problems. So you go to a tournament and you're not feeling that same challenge as you are. Cause you got, you know, you just got high rank or more experience or whatever, then the people who are there, what do you do? Cause I know the person who asked this. So like, what are you doing in that case? Like, let's just say you're that much better.

- How are they, winning other matches? Are they shaking hands and pulling guards, and sweeping everyone, and passing their guard, and then tapping them? Or are they taking them down, passing their guard and tapping them? How are they doing it? You know what I'm saying? Like, let's say someone just is better on their feet and has better take downs. And they start every round taking everyone down, and then they pass their guard, and then they tap them. Okay, well, pull guard then. See how that works out for you. Well, I'm not really good at pulling guard. That's not my strong suit. Well, make it your strong suit. I bet you, you have more problems that way. You get what I'm saying? Or the other way. Well, I pull guard all the time and I sweep everyone and I tap them from off my back. Well, how good are your take downs? Well, I'm not really good at take downs. Well don't pull guard then. See what I'm saying?

- Intentionally go off your A game and work on it.

- Intentionally, go off your game. If every round you're doing is A game stuff and you're beating everyone. Well, then you need to fix that. You need to do some B and C game stuff. There's so much, Jiu-Jitsu to get good at, like so much guys. There's no reason why like, my take downs aren't as good is the rest of my game. So there's days where like, I'm gonna wrestle today. I'm just gonna just try and stay on my feet as best as possible and wrestle. And I got some students that will wrestle with me, you know what I'm saying? And will help me develop those games. And it sucks because sometimes, you know, you just get taken down, but it'll get better. But if I just pull guard every round and I go right to my A game every round, and I get it to work, okay, then that falls on me. So like, you guys know Coach Story. Coach Story used to come over and he comes over every Monday and Wednesday and he always pulled guard and I'm like, bro, like, that's not how it works, man. Like, we're going to do two and two. You know what I mean? He's like, well, I'm not good at passing. This is a black belt, third degree black belt, like, well, yeah, you can't just come here and pull guard all the time. You're gonna pull two rounds. I'm gonna pull two rounds. So now that's the rule. That's what we do. So that's how we do it. And what happened? His guard passing has gotten so much better. You see what I'm saying? Because I've put him in a position where he's just not, he has a great guard, awesome guard, high-level guard. He didn't have any guard passing to match that. You know what I'm saying? So now it's catching up to his guard to his guard game. But I had to put him in that position. Like bro, you're not gonna come here and just pull guard. I tell him, that's lame! You know what I mean? Like we gonna go two and two. So that's how we do our rounds. We do four rounds. He pulls twice, I pull twice and sometimes we'll just wrestle. And so, you gotta be able to do that. And so it's not gonna be a win every time like that, if you mix it up like that, you know? So, but what was the other.

- Then the final question, if someone wants to make a living off Jiu-Jitsu. Cause we really, really briefly talked about this at the tournament. Like, cause I think there are some people who are like, look I love my job and Jiu-Jitsu's just my side hustle and that's the thing. And then there's other people like myself, I hated my job. And like I love Jiu-Jitsu. And like that was like, I just, I like someday man, like someday, someday I want to do it. But what, I didn't really have a roadmap. Like I just knew like I want, you know, I just kind of wanted it. But like what if someone wants to make a living off Jiu-Jitsu, you have any type of roadmap for them? Any type of like, you know, guide?

- Yeah. Because you were in the same boat.

- First thing I would say is you gotta be a people person. You gotta love people. You gotta love to see people, like want to help people. If you don't want to help people, forget it, man, stay at your regular day job because you won't make it. I've seen guys try to teach going on Jiu-Jitsu, but they just didn't really have good people skills. And they didn't really like, they kind of just cared about the good students. Like, if you were good, then you were like, then they'd pay attention to you. But if you weren't that good. Yeah. If you weren't that good, you know, you were just kinda like the 300 movie. The beginning of the movie when he's holding the baby up. And then at the bottom of the pile is all these skulls and the guy's talking like, you know, if there was any defects, they would just kill the baby at birth. You know what I'm saying? Like, that's just how some people treat you. If you don't have people's skills and you don't want, if you're not really into seeing to serve other people, and watch and like help people, forget about it. So that would be the first thing, like, are you that kind of person? If you're that kind of person, then I think you should go ahead and start looking into making that move to leave your job and do that. Of course, having a mentor. There's way more of those now a days. And if you guys, or any of your students want to do that, they got two great mentors with you guys. Same thing with me, someone that's been in business for 13 years. Come the first of the year, it'll be 14 years. I've gone through all kind of different things. Some things I just wish I didn't have to go through, but unfortunately it's just part of life and I had to, so I can just like Jiu-Jitsu, I've gone through all these things. I know what you're getting ready to go through as a white and blue belt, cause I've been there. I've been through these things. So I can, a good mentor that has experience and successful. Then you need to attach yourself to someone like that. But here's the thing, guys. You can't use people, you know, you can't step on people, use people and then later on back stab them. I mean you can, but that'll stick with you forever. You know what I mean? Like it'll stick with you forever. You just can't do that. You can't just try to attach and leech off people to get where you want to be. And then like show them no love after you get to where you want to be at man. It's just, that's just not how it, how it works. It'll be good in the beginning, but eventually you'll fail. You know? So I would just, I mean, there's so many resources now. You guys know that. Some of the groups and stuff you guys are a part of and the resources out there are just. There was none of that when I started in 2008, there was no masterminds, man. There was no, there was none of that. It was just like, I want to open a school and I just did it. And I had to figure it out the hard way. If I had to start all over again and do it from now, I'd be way more successful, a lot faster. You know what I mean? But first and foremost, when I first, when I hated my job and I wanted to open a school, I just wanted to train and just not do what I was doing for a living. I wanted to do Jiu-Jitsu.

- Sure.

- Over, over the years, I've come to realize it's not about that. It's about the people, it's about helping people achieve these goals and deal with these things that they're dealing with in life, because that's why they're coming in there. They're coming in there because they're dealing with something in life and they saw an ad or they saw the UFC or they saw something or Joe Rogan. See, there was no Joe Rogan back then. You know what I mean? Like Joe Rogan, I don't know how many people come into my school and came and signed up because they listened to Joe Rogan.

- Yep.

- I swear to God, like, is this it's nuts? There was none of that when I opened my school back in 2008. You know what I mean? You gotta want to be able to help people with their goals, man. And if you're not willing to do that, stick to your day job, man, like, it's just not going to work out. Like you gotta be an unselfish individual and give a lot of yourself to people. I, just like you guys, I'm sure you do. I give a lot of myself to my students, sometimes more than I give my own family. And, then come 8, 6, 7 years later, you know, they turn their back on you and it is what it is, but I wouldn't change it for anything. I would still do the same thing. Like I'm not salty because of it. It just, it is what it is. It's just how human beings are, it's what people are. But that's not the majority of them. I just know I'm going to take the good stuff that I've. I just love people, man. I just love to be around people. And I love watching people grow, but you know, it's something that you gotta want to do though. And if you're not willing to do that, like I said, I've got some people that I know here locally. They really aren't people person. And so their schools aren't doing that great. It's the same few people in all their pictures for years. You know what I mean? Like, there's no growth, You know what I mean? Versus some of the other people, if you love people and you want to help people and help them with their, achieve their goals, you're gonna do great. You know, and of course there's a lot of mentors and stuff like that, but just make sure you got all your ducks and stuff in a row, man. You know, like when I first quit General Motors, you know, I just, I tried to spend some time studying teaching classes, like watch my instructor, how he talked to people, how he broke down techniques, you know. Before, I would just go to class and just do Jiu-Jitsu, and then I was starting to pay attention. Well, how does he break down these things? And how does he talk to people and how does you know, this kind of stuff? And then of course Jiu-Jitsu there's so much to learn, but nowadays there's just so many resources with that. But I would say first and foremost, if you're willing to help other people and go into a lifestyle like that, man, you're going to do great. If not, don't waste your time. You'll fail. You'll fail big time, you know? So.

- Well that, that's a great answer too. You know, I, we covered a lot of great, a lot of great answers. I appreciate your time Coach Alvarez. Yeah. And I, I know even I like learned some things, you know, like, like a lot of these, I was like, oh, well here he would be my answer, but you gave a different answer than I would, you know? So like, that's the importance, like you said, a mentor, a coach and people like, you know, someone that you feel you, there's always like a next level to things. Right? So people look it up like all coaches, you know, Professor Mohammad, Coach David, whatever. But then like we have people that we look up to like aspirational kind of for us as well. And so like, it's always just, if you're committed to that growth, it's people are gonna see that. They're gonna want to follow that a little bit too.

- Yeah. Let me address one thing that you guys have brought up to me yesterday, I think it was. Going back to the Jiu-Jitsu is fun thing. For anyone listening that wants to do Jiu-Jitsu, it's gonna be tough. Someone is physically trying to impose their will on you, dominate you, and choke you.

- We should put that in our ads.

- If you think you're just going to walk into Jiu-Jitsu, and it's supposed to be fun, the fun is in the hunt, in the tactical strategic mindset of trying to set up your opponent, your teammate and submit them, right. If you're not going to class to work hard and put in the work, whether you're a competitor or an academy grappler. Then why are you there? Like, what's your goal? What's your mission behind that? Like, it's like trying to say, well, I want to lose weight, but I really don't want to let go of my chicken tenders and French fries. You know what I'm saying? You can't go to a CrossFit class, or F 45, or Orange Theory, or all these, even Planet Fitness, right? You go to Planet Fitness and be like, well, I want lose weight, but I'm just going to walk on a treadmill. And well, you gotta put it on a ramp a little bit. Right? You gotta kind of gradually make it a little bit more intense. You know, you gotta sweat a little bit, you know. You just can't come in and think like, it's going to be easy, guys. Like, and that's what happens sometimes is people that train Jiu-Jitsu over time, it's like, well, man, this is hard. Like, why's it gotta be so hard? Why do I gotta be pushed so hard? Because we're there to grow. We're there to develop. We're there to get better. We don't want to be the same person as we were last month, last year, you know, last week. Like, you're doing yourself a disservice, and your teammates, and your coaches to disservice. If you're not trying to walk into that academy every single day and put forth 100% effort. And if you're there to just kind of play around, you know, a lot of academies, at least for me, that I know in this area, it is what it is, they're open mats. They're literally open mats, but they're classes, legit classes. People can do what they want. There's really no push. And their students always look the same. They're not losing any weight, their Jiu-Jitsu game's the same. There's no growth. Like, because the reason why, is some people are scared to actually be a coach. Anyone can teach the techniques, but can you actually coach someone and help them achieve their goal and develop a new person. From the time that you walk into my doors at my academy, till the time you leave, you should be a different, healthier, more tougher mindset, physically looking better, individual. You know what I mean? And I can't achieve that, or we can't achieve that, if you're going to just come in and think that it's just supposed to be all fun and games when you come in. I don't care who it is. I don't enjoy getting choked out. Like that's not fun for me to come in and let people just beast on me, and then me not trying to fight back. You know what I'm saying? Like, you got to put in the work. You actually got to put in, Jiu-Jitsu is about work. That's, what we're there to do. We're there to get better. And if you have the mindset of like, not getting better, what are we doing? You know what I mean? Like those individuals need to ask themselves, you know, what am I really trying to do with Jiu-Jitsu? You know, that's what, I'm sure you guys ask that question. When people come in, you kind of get a feel for why they're there. That's one of my first questions. Why are you here? What's the goal?

- Of course.

- You know? And then once you tell me that, it's go time, let's get after it then. But then you get those individuals where it's like, I'm not a competitor why I gotta be pushed so hard? We're trying to lose some weight, aren't we? We are trying to get them 10 pounds off. We we're trying to make a different individual, right? Like that's what you, you said, these things, you know, well, let's get after it then. And we can't do that if you're just coming in, eating the same crappy foods, you know, trying to just be the same person as you were prior to Jiu-Jitsu. Jiu-Jitsu is supposed to help change you as an individual. Let it's do its work, let the coaches help you. And you know, don't be resistance to that, you know. But that's what I get. I definitely get that on my end, over here from a few students where like, you know, this is supposed to be fun and someone says, oh, the fun is like me chasing you with a submission.

- Yeah.

- That's the fun man.

- Yeah, man.

- And you chasing me and you're trying to stop me and me trying to set you up. That's where the game is at. That's the fun, you know? So if you don't want to work hard, you know, go play darts or something, man. I don't know. But even then I would think at darts, you gotta practice, right? Like you gotta spend some time doing it. You know what I mean? It's a physical thing and it's more mental than it is physical, because it's just what it is. I tell my students all the time, man, you gonna be going through all kind of stuff in your day to day, and if you need someone to talk to, I'll be more than happy to hears what you got going on. But when you show up and you bow onto the mat, you belong to us for the next hour and a half. And we need the best from you. We need you to clear your mind and empty out whatever you're going through and give us whatever you need to give us for this next hour and a half, because it's only three days a week for most people, right? Like two to three times a week?

- Yup.

- Yeah. So for those two to three classes a week for that hour and a half, we need the best from you. So let's get it, you know, and let's all get better, because if you're not bringing the best to us, then how are we supposed to get better as a team? You know, because they're being selfish at that point. You know? So, but I just wanted to make that point. Cause I know I deal with that my myself too, you know?

- Yeah. Coach your experience. Yeah. I mean, it's really cool. It's fun to be around. We appreciate having somebody like you around that we can connect with everyday. Cause you're very, you know, you're real consistent. And like you said, these are your words and we got to get after it. And you know, Metro Jiu-Jitsu is real lucky to have somebody like you around and you know, and yeah, we appreciate you, man.

- Yeah, no, I appreciate you guys too, man. You guys are good people. Good coaches.

- You make me want to go work out, like right now Coach.

- Yeah. Yeah, me too. I gotta get my workout in for the day I took yesterday off.

- We should have the largest 1:00 pm class we've ever had, then today.

- Yeah, let's get it.

- I'm expecting two dozen people.

- That's right. And tonight after listening to this man it's Tuesday, yesterday was a holiday.

- No gi, they'll be here for no-gi.

- Let's get after it guys. Let's do it. You know, don't forget, it's the last quarter of the year. So last two months, last couple months of the year. So we can either one of two things, you know, do the average person thing and ride off into the sunset and call it a year and say, we've already done enough. Or we can stay on the path and get stronger and better as a team and as an individuals, and finish the year strong and keep showing up to class and keep, you know, stay healthy, stay strong and get better at Jiu-Jitsu and go into 2022, you know, coming in hot as a, you know, as the best version of ourselves. You know what I mean?

- No doubt. No doubt.

- Look guys, before I let you guys go, obviously with all this stuff going on this last year, year and a half or whatever, I lost friends, I lost some students, I lost some pets. You just never know when that time is up. And if you're wasting a day being lazy, being mediocre, just being average, just, you know, that's tough. You know, my incentive, a big thing for me, I'm 46. I don't know how much more time I have on this earth. Hopefully it's another 50 years. It could be tomorrow. It could be what, I don't have time to waste. I've seen too many people go at a young age, you know? And that's motivation for me to like, you know. I want to leave something behind that people can follow and people can use as a measuring stick, so to speak, and be like, man, look, man, that guy just, you know, he just stayed on the path, man. He just got after it. And I don't want to just, just say, oh, I've done enough now, and just let myself go be lazy, put on 20-30 unwanted pounds and just call it quits. You know, I feed off my students, they feed off me, we feed off each other and I just want to be a good example. And I definitely want to just, I don't want to waste any time because I don't want to be on my death bed and be like, man, I, could've, should've, would've, wished I would've did these other things. And I wasted time, you know, don't, don't waste time. Don't waste time. Get to the mats, get around some good people, get a good workout in, a good sweat in. Take care of yourself. You know, be a good example for your friends and family around you. Motivate them to take better care of themselves and a yeah man, just do good things. Do good things.

- Thank you, coach. Appreciate your time again.

- All right guys, you guys have a great day. Talk to you guys again soon.

- Yup. See ya .

- All right thanks.

- All right.