Gunshots to Grappling: Two Lives Transformed by Jiu-Jitsu with Black Belt Mike Medina and Nate Crisler

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:18):
Welcome to the Morning Formation.
Strive, thrive and survivethrough life's toughest
challenges.
I'm your host, kp, and todaywe're testing out some new
in-studio features and tech.
I guess you could say I amfeaturing two incredible human
beings in front of me from theworld of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

(00:39):
Joining me today is coach MikeMedina, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
black belt and longtime mentoron and off the mats.
Right Alongside him is NateKreisler.
He's a blue belt, risingstudent of the craft.
Awesome Pleasure to be here.
So today's episode is all aboutgetting to know these two

(00:59):
warriors, learning about theirjourneys and tapping into some
trending topics, from fitnessroutines to mental resilience.
So let's get after it.
How are you guys doing today?

Speaker 2 (01:08):
Doing good, thank you .
Thank you for having us.

Speaker 3 (01:10):
Yeah, doing good.
Thank you for having us.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
I appreciate you guys being my guinea pigs.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
Yeah, no problem.

Speaker 3 (01:17):
Yeah, I mean, it's the first time for me, but I
think it's pretty cool.
Man, I'm excited.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
Yeah, I wish I could say I knew what I was doing, but
I really don't Like.
I bought all this stuff at agarage sale, sort of Like a
virtual garage sale.
It's called OfferUp, oh okay.

Speaker 3 (01:32):
Yeah, I've been on.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
OfferUp yeah, I love that, so, yeah, so, let's get at
it, man, so you.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
So I was born in Denver, colorado.
I moved to Rear Rancho, newMexico.
It's where I spent like most ofmy childhood and teenage years
and life was good.
Life was good I had.
My parents were awesome, put mein boxing as a young kid, so
that kind of like changed thedirection of my life.

(02:04):
Uh, kind of at a young age.
So, um, yeah, I've been, I'vebeen pretty fortunate.
I didn't have too much likehardship, luckily, well, when
did you move to new mexico?
second grade, second grade.
So it's probably what I'll doin second grade, like five yeah,

(02:25):
eight yeah, maybe yeah someseven, eight or nine.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
Yeah, I don't know so when you moved to new mexico
you mentioned that before thatthat it was rough there, right?

Speaker 2 (02:38):
yeah, so originally my parents moved to a little
small town and unfortunately Iwas like the only white kid so
people weren't very nice to meso but eventually I ended up,
like you know, kind of gettingpast that, getting past that
point and kind of overcomingbeing bullied and kind of being

(02:58):
alone Cause my, my olderbrothers, were already out of
the house so I kind of had noone to like back me up and
protect me, so I kind of had tokind of learn how to do that on
my own, you know.
So that was, that was always aproblem, but you know I was
still pretty fortunate.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
So but was there any incident growing up that changed
your life?
I mean like traumatic incident,that that you want to talk
about?

Speaker 2 (03:23):
Um, well, something did happen when I was younger.
Um, when I was, I think, around11 or 12, I was shot in a
drive-by, so that was kind ofintense.
This was in Albuquerque.
This was in Taos.
This was in Taos, new Mexico.
It's like a really small town.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
So so, yeah, so was that.
So was that common there tohave drive-bys, or was that
pretty?

Speaker 2 (03:45):
rare.
No, it was pretty rare.
I mean it was.
It was the day before the 4thof July and I was going to pick
up some fireworks and I wasriding my bike and my friend was
like, hey, let me ride yourbike.
I said, yeah, no problem.
And uh, as soon as he got on mybike and we traded, he started
riding away and these guysrolled up and just started
firing a .22 rifle at me and myfriend and I ended up getting

(04:08):
shot in the knee.
And yeah, it was crazy becauseI had that fight or flight
moment, because I thought theywere going to turn around.
So I was worried that I wasgoing to die.
So I ran across the street andI knocked on a random stranger's
door and this dude opened thedoor.
I'll never forgetthis.
This guy had a beer in his hand.
He was like an army ranger.

(04:29):
He had like a you know thosehats that are camouflage on.
He was like what's going on?
He's like I thought I heardbullets or gunshots.
He picked me up, drove me tothe hospital, stayed with me
until my parents got there andyou know it was was pretty
intense, you know.
Did they ever catch the guysthat did it.

(04:50):
So we went to court.
They had me look out of alineup and everything happened
so fast.
But I kind of remembered theguy's eyes.
He locked eyes for a second, Ikind of remembered what they
looked like.
And out of the lineup I chosethe person that I thought was
him and I went to court and hegot off.
They said it wasn't him, he hadalibis.
But turns out like a lot of thealibis were like lying and all

(05:11):
kinds of stuff.
So who knows, who knows?

Speaker 1 (05:14):
do you remember when you were in that moment of like
flight or flight or fight, uh,where you had to react?

Speaker 2 (05:23):
yeah, yeah, it was, it was.
It's kind of like how they say,even like you have to either
make the move or just stay there, like for for a split second I
was paused and I was justshocked and I wanted to stay
there but something told me no,you got it.
Like if they turn around, theystart shooting.
Like it could be worse thanjust where I was shot at.
You know, I mean, god forbid, Igot hit in my neck or my
stomach or something right?

(05:44):
So I just ran.
I just, despite how bad my kneewas, I just I just ran across
the street and wanted to getinto someone's house.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
So so you literally ran across the street and you
had a bullet in your in my kneeyeah, your knee yeah, damn,
that's wild man.

Speaker 2 (06:00):
I was terrified, like it is the fact that they were
going to turn around, as mybuddy said.
He said they were going to turnaround.
As my buddy said, he saidthey're going to turn around.
And I was like, oh no, I'm dead.

Speaker 3 (06:08):
At that point I didn't even know how to process
that at that age it's prettycrazy.

Speaker 2 (06:13):
No, it was rough.
And then my mom didn't believemy friend that I got shot.
She's like, oh, mike got shot.
About an hour later she showedup.
So were you their target?
No, so they were doing a stringof random shootings.
They were just driving aroundthe town shooting random people,
I guess like a gang initiation.

Speaker 3 (06:33):
Yeah, that's what I've heard People do that.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
They shot at some dudes, some guy that worked at a
fireworks stand.
They shot at him, but I was theonly one to get hit.
Wow, yeah, just know, but I wasthe only one to get hit.
So wow, yeah, just bad luck, Iguess.

Speaker 1 (06:48):
But to be honest with you, that's.
That's New Mexico, it's wild.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
Yeah, it's a wild west Wild west Yep it's the wild
west.
And I was young, I was likenine, 10 years old.
Like these dudes are going tojust shoot at some kid, two kids
, you know.
But what can you do?

Speaker 1 (07:02):
that's crazy, man.
Yeah now, nate, I know you grewup in bel-air and you had a
much better life growing up,right?
No, not necessarily.
Where did you?

Speaker 3 (07:14):
where did you go up?
So I was born in, uh,westminster, colorado, grew up,
lived there for about nine yearsI think it was the Arapahoe
County area and then mom and dadwent through some stuff, ended
up getting divorced.
So I moved out with my mom,went to Washington State when I

(07:35):
was nine years old, lived therefor about two years with my
mom's sister, my aunt, and thenactually came to find out that
my dad ended up passing awaywhen I was nine.
So, um, just went through thestruggles of that for a little
bit.
I think, being at such youngage, I didn't really know how to
process it and in the moment,um, it just didn't really affect

(08:00):
me in like a sad way, I don'tknow.
So I mean, now that I'm mucholder, I think I can understand
that, because it happened atsuch a young age.
It's it's hard to processtraumatic events like that that
go on and then, uh, but you know, you move on.
I think it's made me the personI am today, so forever thankful
that, uh, things play out theway they do.

(08:22):
You know I would never go backin time and change anything, and
I think that's a good mindsetto have.
So, after Washington, livedthere for two years about 2012,.
Moved down to Orange County.
So I lived in Tustin, startingmiddle school.
For what was it?

(08:42):
Three, three years I was inTustin.
So my mom ended up meetinganother guy, another gentleman,
who later became my stepfatherand, uh, we moved down here
because he's a screenwriter orthat's what he liked to do as a
uh, as a hobby, so moved downhere so he could be closer to
hollywood.
My mom originally from Torrance, so coming back home for her.

(09:06):
And then, once middle schoolended, about eighth grade, they
decided we're going to move upto Pasadena.
So moved to Pasadena, livedthere for about 10 years and
then just been in the LA greaterLos Angeles area for, I mean, I
guess, 12, 13 years now.
So you?

Speaker 1 (09:27):
you bounced around quite a bit, did you?
Did you have a goodrelationship with your father
growing up?

Speaker 3 (09:33):
Um, I'd say yeah, I'd say we'd had a decent
relationship.
I think, you know, since I wasso young, it's.
I think you know, since I wasso young, it's, it's.
It's almost like a blur, youknow, and I only I try not to
think about the bad times thatwould happen.
I only try to think about thegood times.

(09:59):
But, um, you know, I meanregular dad stuff, we'd go to
football games and you know,barbecue in the backyard.
I mean it was, it was gooduntil it wasn't good, you know,
and yeah you, you actually did alot of adjusting.

Speaker 1 (10:09):
You know you, you were almost like a military brat
.

Speaker 3 (10:14):
Yeah, yeah.
Actually, I wanted to be in themilitary for the longest.
My dad was in the Air Force,gramps was, uh, also in the Air
Force.

Speaker 1 (10:22):
Both sides of my family I've had a bunch of
people in the military, so yeah,because usually military rats
have to adjust every four years,like they have to move every
four years.
And you moved from Colorado toWashington, down to Orange
County, up to Pasadena, I meanthose are.
I mean it's it's still Pacifictime zone for the most part, but
still I mean you're moved,bouncing around quite a bit and

(10:44):
having to readjust and having toreestablish yourself all over
again and your friends andeverything.
So at what point did you starttraining Brazilian Jiu Jitsu?

Speaker 3 (10:53):
So I actually didn't start training Jiu Jitsu until I
was 22.

Speaker 1 (11:00):
I thought you just started training like three
months ago.
That's what I like to tellpeople.
It makes me look better.

Speaker 3 (11:05):
No, so I just started training like three months ago.
That's what I like to tellpeople.
It makes me look better.
No, so I just started trainingseriously about at 22.
So we met through a mutual buddy, actually on Mike's birthday a
couple years back, our buddyChris, and you know I was
talking to Mike about how I lovejiu-jitsu, but he was giving me
crap because he was like youdon't train man, you know so
just at the time, jiu jujitsu,but he was giving me crap
because he was like you don'ttrain man, you know so, uh, just

(11:26):
at the time, jujitsu is notlike a super cheap sport, you
know, I'm saying especially assomeone who's 22.
Right at the time I was takingclasses, uh, in college, I was
working a job, so I didn't havethe time, didn't have the money,
um, and so I was mentioningthese things to mike and he uh

(11:47):
told me he was opening up hisgym in alhambra and he uh he
mentioned to come train with him, uh, when it opened.
And you know, ever since thenthat's where it started.
So, yeah, super fortunate forthat opportunity.
I think it uh changed my life.
Crazy how things work out.

Speaker 2 (12:04):
Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (12:05):
Yeah, mike, you seem like you have a lot of outreach
when it comes to young adultsand getting them in the gym,
because I noticed there's a fewguys at the gym that are in
their mid-20s.

Speaker 2 (12:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (12:21):
And you kind of brought them in and brought them
on board and got them trainingright.

Speaker 2 (12:26):
You know, for me, I just feel that I see, I think
jiu-jitsu could change anyone'slife if given the opportunity.
You know, like when I started,I've had some great friends do
great things in jiu-jitsu, so Ialways know that.
You know, for young people it'sa positive thing to be a part
of.
You know, especially whenyou're young, a lot of people
are influenced by partying andyou know some a lot of negative

(12:49):
things.
At least jiu-jitsu gets peopleaddicted to something, um, that
can change your life, you knowthe thing is, though, is like
you're not.

Speaker 1 (12:56):
You're not like a one-trick pony, because you do.

Speaker 2 (12:59):
You've done muay thai boxing right yeah, yeah, boxing
muay thai wing chan so why?

Speaker 1 (13:06):
why jiu-jitsu?

Speaker 2 (13:08):
I think.
For me it just seemed morefunctional for what I wanted to
do, if that makes sense.
I uh did all these arts and Iknew something always felt like
it was missing.
I was still chasing somethingelse and then, once I had the
opportunity to train with somereally good wrestlers in new
mexico, I realized I was like,wow, like, no matter how good my
stand-up is or, uh, my cardio,these guys were able to get

(13:29):
underneath me, take me down andreally, like, put me in some bad
positions.
So I said, wow, I need to, uh,I need to learn this.
So I'm I'm never one to just,you know, be held down, if that
makes any sense.

Speaker 1 (13:40):
So so you think you think, out of all the martial
arts that you train, thatjiu-jitsu is the best one?
Jiu-jitsu, wrestling any typeof art that's like grappling to
control the fight yeah,absolutely.

Speaker 2 (13:54):
I mean not to take anything away from anything else
.
I mean I believe the art andthe person like you could learn
karate or taekwondo If you'rereally passionate about it.
You could be deadly at it, you,you know if you're a master of
the craft.
But um, for me I just figured.
Well, I already knew a littlebit of stand up, I knew a little
bit a little bit of everythingelse.
If I just did jujitsu, where Icould train every day, spar

(14:15):
every day and not be injured,not have any um headaches, you
don't kind of take away fromthat issue, I was like perfect,
sign me up.

Speaker 1 (14:22):
So oh yeah, that's uh .
I've I've been doing jiu-jitsufor 12 years on and off, had
injuries here and there, and I Ilove seeing guys like nate over
here.
Who's just nate?
How old are you?

Speaker 3 (14:36):
23.

Speaker 1 (14:36):
I'll be uh 24 next month you're 23 man and you,
just you just dove head firstinto it and you train like every
single day.
How many full time, how manycompetitions have you done?

Speaker 3 (14:47):
oh, I've lost count.
I've lost count.

Speaker 1 (14:49):
Uh, maybe 15 to 20, 15 to 20 in the past year, so
year or so that's the one thingthat I regret is when I was
younger, was not training evenharder like taking off, taking,
taking time off, not taking,because the older you get, the
more, the more uh variables aregoing to get a hundred percent

(15:13):
so you got to get it in whenyou're young as much as possible
, Cause when you get kids, youget married, you have work and
all this other stuff going on.
It.
Just it just starts getting inthe way.
So I like how you are.
You're in it and you're in itevery day, man, and you take it
serious.
I mean, it's a business for you, almost right, no, 100%.

Speaker 3 (15:31):
I mean, jiu-jitsu is my life.
It's completely consumed me forthe better.
And I think people have alwaystold me that you're going to
find something that's going tojust call to you and you're
going to do that.
You're going to find somethingthat's going to just call to you
and you're going to do that.
And I mean, ever since Istarted jujitsu, I just felt
like it was my calling.
You know, maybe I lovecompeting, you know, and if it

(15:52):
doesn't work out, competing,that's completely.
I'm totally okay with that.
You know, I love the coachingaspect of of doing jujitsu.
I think I get a lot of, I reapa lot of the benefits being a
coach and you know that buildsmy character a lot.
So, yeah, jujitsu has justcompletely traversed my life Now
.

Speaker 1 (16:10):
for me, it was easy to get into it because I
wrestled.
Did you wrestle in high school?

Speaker 3 (16:13):
No, I did not.
I was a tennis player so.
But yeah, I did tennis to getout of class.
I was one of those kids.
But yeah, I never played reallysports in high school.
I was always active, you know.
But yeah, no wrestling.
My school actually didn't offerwrestling, unfortunately,

(16:34):
otherwise I probably would havedone it.

Speaker 1 (16:35):
Yeah.
But, no, wrestling, no, I had asimilar thing too.
I wrestled my junior and senioryear and my first high school
didn't have it.
So, okay, I end up doing itlike for the first time, but it
gave me a good base.
But the thing is, is a lot ofmy competition of the the other
wrestlers that I was goingagainst, they literally were

(16:56):
wrestling since they could walk,and this is in the state of
ohio so it's a wrestling statejust like you know, it's just
like any other big state whensports and stuff so for sure but
um, mike, I didn't ask you, man, when did your um, when did
your jiu-jitsu journey start foryou?
I know you mentioned yourparents started you in boxing
yeah, so it started when I wasyoung.

Speaker 2 (17:15):
Um, obviously you know I'm a lot older.
I was born in 1984, so I wasinfluenced by like rocky and all
, like rambo, all these stuff,right?
So wwf yeah like I was yeah,hulk hogan, ultimate warrior, um
, you know.
And then I I wanted to trywrestling.
I went to wrestling, I did allthe practices until it was time
to uh, get the slinglet size andI was like, no, I'm not wearing

(17:38):
that.
I was like why, I don't know, Idon't know why now and now I
can see you in a singlet youknow I'd be comfortable wearing
it.
You know, in my no-gi career I'dwear just little shorts with no
top and nothing, and theslinglet was a killer for me,
it's like a leotard forgymnastics.
Yeah, I don't know what it was,but yeah, I ended up with mine.

Speaker 3 (17:58):
I've never tried one on.
I mean I've never we need toget you.

Speaker 2 (18:02):
We need to get you one.
We'll get you some custom ones.
Why don't we?
We?

Speaker 1 (18:05):
should make him one, make me a custom custom singlet.

Speaker 2 (18:08):
I think, adcc, you can compete in a singlet.

Speaker 3 (18:11):
I want one of those ones that are like super far
down you know, oh we can make itsexy.

Speaker 2 (18:15):
No, you want.

Speaker 3 (18:16):
You want the Borat one yeah, the Borat one for sure
, that'd be hilarious but um,but no, I did boxing was a state
champion my first year.

Speaker 2 (18:26):
I was in um crazy story actually.
So I joined boxing and thefirst day they had the tryouts
there was like 150 kids thereand every week 20 would drop bam
, bam, bam.
It was only me and two otherkids who stayed, and the kids
kids that I stayed with weresome really good friends of mine

(18:47):
, one of them being NathanielDuran.
He was a multiple time nationalchampion as a kid.
He was phenomenal.
We were best friends.
We ended up having a fallingout.
I left boxing and I was likekind of jaded by the situation
because his uncle was the coachand he was really like hard on
us.
And I just kind of jaded by thesituation because his uncle was
the coach and he was reallyhard on us.
I just wasn't reallycomfortable around him, the

(19:09):
coach, as far as the way he justhandled things.
He was a good guy but he wasjust really rough.
And years later I stopped doingboxing and I got into music and
watching the news and NathanielDuran ended up murdering a lady
.
He's like my best friend.
Yeah, he was just likepromising boxer, like off for

(19:29):
stardom and, yeah, end upcommitting murder and getting
into drugs and yeah, crazy, Igot out of there like right at
the nick of time.
You know, it was like justreally weird how that all worked
out.

Speaker 1 (19:40):
But yeah, something I think about so when you left
boxing, did you go to jujitsu ordid you get into Muay Thai?

Speaker 2 (19:48):
No, I didn't get into Muay Thai until I was in MMA,
until I was like probably aroundlike Nate's age, like 23, 22,
when I started taking itseriously.
I actually wanted to do JeetKune Do.
I was a big Bruce Lee fan andhe was, you know.
I was like all right, you know,I want to learn that stuff and
be super, super good streetfighter and all that stuff.
And I found I found a gentlemanin Albuquerque, a coach, sifu

(20:12):
Rei Yi, which is an amazing guy,helped me out a lot actually.
But I trained with him and hehad this little tiny dojo and I
just stayed with him and then hegot into MMA.
Some wrestlers came in andwanted to learn striking, so he
started taking these guys onthis whole striking journey and
then that's where my wholejourney transitioned to mixed

(20:34):
martial arts and I wanted to bean mma fighter and all that
stuff.

Speaker 1 (20:38):
So I mean, nate, you're probably too young to
understand, but like in the 80s,like we, we thought wwf at
least I did.
I thought wwf was real, yeah,and I thought steven seagal was
real and I thought I thought allthat, I thought it's not.
No, I'm just kidding dude.
I.
I mean I thought that johnclaude van Damme was real.
I thought like that's howfighting went down, right, right

(20:59):
, and it totally does not at allLike UFC, kind of you know,
broke, broke that whole mythreally quick, really quick.

Speaker 2 (21:10):
It was just.
It was just the more real formof seeing who's you know, out of
all the years of all thiscombat and dojo storming.

Speaker 1 (21:16):
I mean, I remember seeing fights at school and I'm
not even shitting you.
I would see fights at schoolwhere people would do that like
pat their elbow and then do thatelbow drop, like because that's
what we saw in wrestling.
Now, oh yeah, I've seen that,I've seen that before.
So that's what we thought, manlike back in the day, so like

(21:37):
like back in the day, so likeyou wanting to do.
I mean, it's amazing that yourparents even put you in martial
arts to begin with, because mydad would never do it.

Speaker 2 (21:51):
Well, I think New Mexico is a big boxing community
, you know, among the Latinopeople.
You know it was that or karate,and my dad's like no, we're not
doing karate, he's like, youknow, he's like no offense, but
the guy teaching is like 90years old, you know I mean.
So I said, okay, fine, noproblem, so put me in boxing and
it's probably the greatestthing that ever happened to me,
besides like my, you know,uncomfortable, being
uncomfortable around the coach.

Speaker 1 (22:13):
The teammates were really nice and you know it was
a good time what's the one thingthat you see related to all the
martial arts that you've done?
Footwork is it, is ittransition like what?
Like?
What do you think is similaracross across the board for
everyone?

Speaker 2 (22:31):
you know, I think it's just for me.
It was like I always sought outthe most brutal form, right
it's.
It's just for me, it was like Ialways sought out the most
brutal form, right.
They're both really gentle, butthey could be extremely brutal,
and those are the sports that Iwas kind of always drawn to.
You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (22:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (22:48):
Like Wing Chun.
People think it's a real softart, but it's incredibly brutal.
Same thing with Muay ThaiJiu-Jitsuitsu it's a very gentle
art but at the same time, ifyou start adding in other
variables, such as punches,headbutts and all this stuff, it
changes an art that's, you know, gentle to an art that's very
deadly, you know so that alwaysattracted me because, growing up

(23:10):
, I wanted I didn't.
I wanted to be someone who couldprotect themselves in the
street, no matter what you know,and that was a goal of me
trying to learn all thesemartial arts is, if I ever had
to protect my family or myself,I wouldn't be a victim you know.

Speaker 1 (23:24):
so you know for me, man, I think for me it's about
slowing it down, slowing theaction down, sort of like the
matrix, and being able to seethings and see windows open and
see those clothes at the sametime, absolutely.
And so, especially like in thelaw enforcement, military realm,
like it's important for you tobe able to do that under stress
and anxiety, to see action andto slow that action down.

(23:47):
And, nate, the only thingyou've trained so far is just
tennis and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

Speaker 3 (23:55):
So growing up I actually did taekwondo okay I
don't really uh.
Well, I mean, don't reallyconsider that people too much
dude.

Speaker 1 (24:03):
I mean people, people kind of shit on taekwondo and
like karate, but in reality,like tell me if I'm wrong, like
you would, you would know thisbetter than me.

Speaker 2 (24:09):
Like it teaches you discipline right and how to do
proper strikes yeah, you know, Iwas having a conversation today
with one of my students and hewas like why don't?
Why isn't it more efficient?
You know, and I said, well, alot of, especially with
Taekwondo, right, it's a lot ofkicks and no punches to the face
, only punches to the body.
Right, it kind of limits yourform of what you're used to

(24:31):
doing, right, like if you'reused to punching and in a
controlled environment like that.
But if you go, you know you'reat school, you're like still
gonna want to punch the body andyou know, yeah, unless you, you
know, have really good kicks,then that separates you from
everyone else.
Right, and, like I've alwayssaid, it doesn't matter about
the martial art, it mattersabout the person training the
martial art.

(24:51):
You know, if they're, ifthey're intense and they want to
be brutal, they can make.
They can make anything gentle,brutal, for sure, so I like that
.

Speaker 1 (24:57):
I like that gentle brutal.
Yeah, speaking of gentle, realnate, you're a fucking beast man
on the mats.
Um, I appreciate that I'm justsaying, man, you're you're,
you're relentless and uh, andjust for having trained what you
said three years now yeah, justunder three.
Two, two and a half so, inthose three years, man, what do
you think is your biggeststruggle or breakthrough so far

(25:20):
in your journey?

Speaker 3 (25:23):
That's a good question.

Speaker 1 (25:25):
There's got to be something that sticks out in
your mind.
The most difficult thing, orlike struggle, struggle, just
the one thing that sticks out inyour mind.
That is either a struggle or abreakthrough that you've had.

Speaker 3 (25:42):
Maybe it's a competition that you, I think
it's the uh.
Well, when I first startedcompeting, I actually ended up
losing my first 10 tournaments,and so I think that takes a toll
on your mental drive, right,because I'm paying money out of
my pocket to do all thesetournaments and I'm not
performing good, I'm not evenscoring any points, and so I
think the the mental resilienceof not giving up and still

(26:05):
pursuing my desire to compete, Ithink that's probably where the
uh, the biggest struggle was.
You know, and then eventually,when I just became full focus on
competing and taking it moreserious and just not stopping, I
mean, there's no secret.
You say I'm good at jiu-jitsu,but anybody can be really good
at something if they dedicateand have passion and spend a lot

(26:28):
of time working at it.
I wasn't born a giftedindividual for jiu-jitsu.
I don't think a lot of peopleare.
I mean, maybe some people aremore athletic than others.
People have done sports growingup.
But if you want to get good atjujitsu, that's the one
beautiful thing is it's justtime on the mat, time on the mat
and how hard you're willing towork.
And for me, um, I was just, I'malways that person where I want

(26:53):
to make sure that I'm thehardest worker in the room, you
know, not just for me but forthose people around me, so I can
set a standard.
You know, and try and be uh,try and be just a role model.

Speaker 1 (27:05):
So that's true leadership, man.
And I'll say this much uh,Brazilian jujitsu for me has
been like anytime I was goingthrough a rough patch in my life
, like when I was going througha divorce or anything like that
I had two options I could eitherget my ass in the gym or I
could go to the bar.
And I lived in great placeslike Chicago that have great bar
scenes and so, and they alsohave great MMA gyms, great BJJ

(27:28):
gyms, and so whenever I wasgoing through those rough
patches in my life, that's whereI would go.
I would just go to the gym, andI've been very blessed to have
people that own gyms that wouldjust throw me the keys and say
anytime you need to go in there,just go in there.
And I would spend like a lot oftime just going to the gym, and
when it was closed I had tofind something else to do.
But, yeah, takingaccountability and having that

(27:50):
self-awareness is really, reallyimportant.
A hundred percent, A hundredpercent.
Especially for young adults,military veterans, I think
especially like meeting peoplein the middle and having
self-awareness andaccountability is really
important and knowing thyself.
So I want to throw thisquestion out to both of you
right now and you guys cananswer however you want.

(28:11):
But how do you both, how do youboth define resilience in your
personal life or on the mats?
How do you define resilience inyour personal life or on the
mats just from what you've seenover the years?

Speaker 3 (28:26):
Go ahead.
I guess I'll speak on thisfirst.
I think it's you versus you.
I mean, at the end of the day,you got to be resilient about
being a better person, being abetter man, being a better woman
.
I can't be better than the nextguy and the next guy can't be
better than me.
He wasn't dealt the same cardsthat I was dealt, you know, and

(28:47):
vice versa.
So I think resilience, throughthe cards you're dealt and
trying trying to use it tobecome, you know, a better
individual, yeah, um, not onlyfor you but for the people
around you, you know.
And so I always try to tellmyself it's you versus you.
You know, especially in jujitsu.
I can't be better than the nextguy at jujitsu.
You can't be better than me,you know, all I can be is better

(29:10):
than the person I was yesterdayor better than I was six months
ago, you know.
So I know, as long as I'mmaking progressive changes and
it's making me better, not onlyon the mats but as a person,
then that's resilience for me.

Speaker 1 (29:26):
Yeah, I agree with that.

Speaker 3 (29:27):
I like that yeah.

Speaker 1 (29:28):
I mean, I like it because a perspective from a
23-year-old young adult who'sbeen training relentlessly from
three years.
But, mike, you're a 40 year oldblack belt brazilian jiu-jitsu
man.
What's, what's your take onthat?

Speaker 2 (29:43):
well, for me it was.
It was just staying consistent.
You know, as, like you I had, Iwent through divorce and I had
nothing.
I had nothing left.
So I had the same choice tomake, right.
But luckily I had a really goodfriends who kind of believed in
my journey, right.
So, um, it just taught me thatif you just set a goal like I

(30:04):
tell my students if you have agoal, you have something to work
towards, right.
If you, if you reach that goal,you set another goal.

Speaker 1 (30:09):
If you don't have no goal to reach, then you're kind
of just floating by, you're justtraining to train or you're
just you're just training totrain, or you're just, you're
just showing up to show up,Right, but if you put goals and
you, you meet those and youbecome more, more of a way,
better person.
You know, yeah, I agree withyou for sure on that man and um,
resilience.
You know I always say this, uh,whenever I was in the military

(30:29):
and law enforcement everyone hastheir own idea of a bad day.
Everybody has run it Nate.
I know you've been in some,some matches where the guy that
you've been going against hasreally pushed you to the limits
and you had to choose do I justroll over or do I keep fighting
100, and whether you win or lose, like it changes you like you
literally break through a wholenew floor oh yeah, I think it's

(30:50):
all mindset, you know, at theend of the day.

Speaker 3 (30:53):
What do they say?
It's uh, 90 mental, 10 physical.
So it's all just dependent onhow you look at the hardship.
You can either let it break youor it can make you.
And so I always try to have themindset.
If I go out anywhere in lifeand I, you know, have a
difficult situation orcompetition in the room, I'm
getting beat.
You know, it's super easy whentimes get hard, right, to just

(31:15):
give up and shy away.
And I try my best, you know, tonot have that mindset.
I try to say work through thehard times, it'll make you, you
know, a better person.
And what's the saying?
You can't make a scrambled eggwithout cracking some eggs,
right?
So yeah, just try to take thegood with the ugly and I think

(31:39):
that's all you can do.
You know it's everything'shindsight 50, 50 at the end of
the day.
So you know you're not going tobe able to go back in time and
change this, so might as welladapt, learn and overcome.

Speaker 1 (31:48):
So yeah, exactly yeah , I learned at a young age man
like, even when I, when I hadlike a toxic situations being in
the military, bad leadership orwhatever, I walked away a
better man because I learned howto navigate, manage the
managers, manage the situation,take accountability.
Some self-awareness fall onyour face and fall forward at

(32:10):
the same time when you guys arein competition.
When you guys are incompetition, what are both of
your biggest competitions so far?
If you had to rank them like,what have you been to?
Like Worlds?

Speaker 3 (32:24):
I did Worlds last year so I got actually Worlds
coming up in two weeks.
So but yeah, I did Worlds lastyear.
Biggest tournament, I guessthat just depends on, you know,
maybe the notoriety, and I guessWorlds is considered the
biggest tournament, absolutely,um, but biggest in terms of
matches I've had.
Uh, I wouldn't say it's worlds,I'd say it's more one of the

(32:47):
opens, you know, but I guess itjust depends on how you look at
it yeah, I was really surprised.

Speaker 1 (32:54):
I did a tournament in uh, indiana once and it was a
little tournament, it wasn'tibjj.
I ran at that and I, I did not,I did not take it serious, I
didn't cut weight.
Huge mistake, man, huge mistake.
I, oh yeah, ended up gettingmopped in that tournament.
But uh, so yeah, I know whatyou're saying when it comes to
like what's, like, what's big,that's, that's subjective, right

(33:15):
, but take me through a typicaltraining day for you.
When you're, when you're in thezone both of you, when you guys
are getting ready for acompetition I mean, because your
diet changes and like 100, howmuch do you train?

Speaker 2 (33:27):
so for myself, I'm a lot older so it's a little
different, right, um?
But for me I just try to trainwith the best, with every day,
with the guys in the room right,try to have a good diet, and
for me, I believe a lot of it'sfor myself is just self-belief.
If I can, if I know I put inthe hard work and I've given it
my all, then I'm gonna have noregret, no matter what right,

(33:48):
win or lose.
But I I never want to go inhalf-ass and have to live with
the fact that I got beat bysomeone.
I shouldn't have been beat byor made a mistake.
I shouldn't if I just preparedright, because for myself,
regret's something I don't likeat all.

Speaker 1 (34:03):
Have you ever made that mistake about taking
something serious?
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (34:06):
a lot of times.
I mean, I didn't start doinggood in competition until I was
a black belt, so everything elseI was always mediocre.
Really, yeah, I would win onetournament here.
I was always like top three.
You know, I can never likebreak through.
And then, uh, you know, as soonas I like got, actually as soon
as I opened my gym, more than Ireally started doing good,

(34:29):
which is really weird, because Ididn't have a room full of like
a bunch of tough guys, you know, I had a bunch of beginners and
, you know, my nephew and mynephews and all them to work
with, and that's kind of all Ihad to prepare me, yeah.
So it was uh shout out, youknow yeah shout out.
You know right, yeah, yeah,shout out.
You know, giudini, for all hishard work.
He was with us, you know,helping me coach with all the

(34:51):
students and he's.
He's something else too to havein a room when you have at
least one good guy.
But but I had all my nephewsthere, so I had, you know, nate
was coming up and a couple guysfrom the gym that I had before
that I was working at beforekind of came over, and that's
all I had.
But I knew that if I could justhone in my technique, that I

(35:12):
could go do it when it mattered.
You know, I mean, I've beendoing this long enough that I
know that like what I need to doto mentally prepare.

Speaker 1 (35:19):
It sounds like you're talking about a specific
tournament.
Which tournament was that andhow?
What was the outcome?

Speaker 2 (35:24):
Well, it was one of my first.
So, growing up in a small town,I've always wanted to win an
IBJJF, let alone at Black Beltright, that was like a big goal
of mine.
So, um, so, uh, and not onlythat, I just opened the gym
right.
All my students came parents,you know.
So it was.
I think it was 2023 orangecounty open.

Speaker 1 (35:45):
I remember that.
Yeah, I just started yeah.

Speaker 2 (35:47):
So that was like.
That was like a big win for me,because that that solidified
for my for me not, I didn'treally care what anyone else
thought, I just solidified to methat I could go and put myself
on there and fight guys thatnormally I wouldn't be able to
beat.

Speaker 1 (36:01):
So you got first.

Speaker 2 (36:02):
Yeah, submitted to everybody.
That's right, and Orange Countytoo.

Speaker 1 (36:05):
Yeah, submitted all my opponents.

Speaker 3 (36:07):
Yeah, orange County Again.
Some tough guys too.

Speaker 1 (36:09):
I will say that I mean Orange County, that's a big
, a big.

Speaker 3 (36:14):
Yeah, they don't call it the aoj open for no reason.

Speaker 2 (36:16):
Yeah well, I just knew that, you know my students
were going to show up and I hadto, uh, I had to be ready, you
know, because I just opened thegym in alhambra and I knew, hey,
like it was mainly for myself,like I had done the nabjf worlds
and won and done thesetournaments, but I was like,
okay, this is like in mybackyard, you know, like
everyone knows out, everyoneknows, like Orange County, la

(36:37):
area, we have the best jujitsu.
Besides, maybe Brazil even then, right, we have some of the
best.

Speaker 1 (36:41):
So yeah, when I used to train out in Cincinnati, the
guys would fly out here for thetournaments.
I mean, this is a big state forthat.

Speaker 2 (36:49):
Yeah.
So if you can come out and,like I said, that was my goal.
So for me I just, you know, Iwas just ready, I was motivated
and mentally prepared.

Speaker 1 (36:59):
If I'm mentally prepared, I feel that I can't be
beaten by anybody.
So, yeah, what about you, nateman?
What?
What is your uh typicaltraining like when you're
leading up to a big competition?

Speaker 3 (37:08):
so I'll just give you the rundown, uh, of my
day-to-day right now.
So, uh, I wake up about 9 am,go do a morning training session
for about an hour or two andthen, um, after that I go to do
strength and conditioning withone of our guys at the gym there
shout out kev nimble athletics,and he's been training me for

(37:30):
the past couple weeks, gettingme ready for worlds and then, um
, after that I come home, I'mworking with the nutritionist
right now, so just to help meshed these uh extra pounds a
little bit easier what weightare you at?
right now I'm 155, so I fightfeatherweight, which is 150, but
you walk around at what about160?

(37:53):
It depends on how much I'meating, how much I I'm splurging
.
I'm a big back, so I love food.
But last tournament I weighedin when I fought heavyweight.
I was 168.

Speaker 1 (38:05):
Heavyweight.

Speaker 3 (38:06):
Yeah, I fought heavyweight, but for Worlds I
wanted to cut down.
That's why I implementedworking with strength and
conditioning and working with anutritionist.
These are all things I could domyself, but it's the
accountability of having someonethat's coaching you and there
to push you that, I think, ishelping me a lot, especially

(38:27):
with the nutrition factor.
I've always cut weight on myown, I've always understood the
calorie deficit and everything.
But I think, uh, taking thechance and leap of faith in
someone else, especially aprofessional, and having that
accountability has reallysolidified it being a good thing
for me.
So, but, uh, after strength andconditioning for a couple hours

(38:50):
, I come back home, rest up alittle bit and then I'm back on
the mat.
Uh, coaching kids class for acouple hours, depends on the day
, usually one or two classes,and then have the adult training
at night wow, yeah, I mean backin the day when I used to do
tournaments, I was prettyregimented, disciplined.

Speaker 1 (39:11):
Would you believe that I was down to 145 at one
point, accidentally?

Speaker 3 (39:15):
accidentally, accidentally dude, I'm sure you
looked like a lean and mean 145dude, I can believe that.

Speaker 1 (39:20):
I can believe that dude, I I got down to 145 and I
was, I was working you probablymoved really good too.
Yeah, super fast and uh the thething is is I wasn't trying to
do it, but I was, so I mean, itwas a rough patch of my life, so
I literally just soaked myselfinto jujitsu.
I was doing hot yoga at thesame time, which is next door to

(39:41):
the MMA gym that I trained at,and then I was also going to the
sauna.
I was eating nothing but likeSubway chicken sandwiches
nothing on it, just plain.

Speaker 3 (39:51):
Oof damn.

Speaker 1 (39:53):
So yeah, I mean I mentally went there at one point
, but I know it's very trying.

Speaker 3 (40:00):
It is, and I think the sacrifice is what makes it.
Like I said earlier, it's 90%mental, 10% physical.
So if I'm willing to go theextra step and if all said is
done, it doesn't help me out,but I go in there mentally
believing that it helped me out.
I mean, that's, you know, 100%of matters, even if it's a

(40:22):
placebo.
You know, what I'm saying, I'mtaking that bet.

Speaker 1 (40:24):
The trend that I'm seeing here is you both were
talking about being mentallyprepared.
Mentally ready and in the rightstate of mind, right?
You think being relaxed reallyhelps you out?

Speaker 2 (40:32):
quite a bit Relaxed helps you out quite a bit
relaxed, um, nervous, but yet Ithink, for myself, prepared, I
think, prepared, I think youjust got to go out and have fun.
You know like, especially ifyou're competing, it's like it's
beyond, I think, being nervous,right, you're not getting
punched, right, if you thinkabout it, you're just kind of
like playing a game plan, right,you're just trying to implement

(40:54):
the game that you've beentraining.
You know, and for me, I thinkif, when I said think about it
that way, I wouldn't be nervous,you know, it's like, well, what
could really go wrong?

Speaker 1 (41:03):
You know, as long as I just go in there and just try
to win, it's kind of like theknobs on this audio and just
setting it just right to whereyou're nervous, taking it
serious, but you're relaxed atthe same time.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (41:15):
Yeah, I mean they all play a factor for the mental
part.
You know, it's just how you're.
You deal with each emotion,each feeling, right, you know?

Speaker 2 (41:21):
and everyone's different.
Everyone people, some.
Some people need nerves, somepeople don't get nervous.
One of my teammates, estevanMartinez, he would.
This guy would never getnervous and this guy would fight
big guys.
And I'm like like man, what doyou?
You don't get nervous, he'slike no man, I just go out there
and fight.
And I was like man, that'ssomething I always look at and
be like, wow, that's that's arare yeah thing to find in

(41:44):
somebody who just like has zerofear when he competes, like no
nerves, he could like eat food,take a nap, it's nothing.
Was you know where me?
I'm like all right, I gotta besharp, I.
But then I realized like I mean, if I'm prepared and I trained
hard, what's you know, my body'sgoing to react to everything
I've done.

Speaker 1 (41:59):
So just, exactly, yeah, it's going to happen.
So I've noticed that for me,like when I'm shooting or doing
tactics, that when I it's, it'salmost like the least I give a
shit, the better off I do,because I'm putting the
fundamentals together that I've.
That I basically have beenpracticing this whole time.

Speaker 3 (42:16):
Muscle memory yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1 (42:18):
I'm going back to my training.
Yep, you know.
I wanted to ask both of youguys, man, what are your
thoughts on?
Brazilian jujitsu is growingpopularity in mainstream culture
movies, celebs, trainingthere's a lot of celebrities now
that are that are training andwhatnot.
What are you guys thought onthat?

Speaker 2 (42:36):
I love it.
Yeah, I love it, especially as,I mean, you know, I'm a I'm a
jujitsu business owner, so forme it's something that I you
know, just to see anyone come inwho normally wouldn't do
jujitsu to me is amazing whetheryou're a celebrity, uh, you
know, a comedian, whatnot youknow?
That's always cool to see butit's still.

Speaker 1 (42:54):
It's still black magic.
I mean, there's still a lot ofpeople that don't train I could
see that.

Speaker 3 (42:58):
I could see that.
I mean I I would love morepeople to to join and do
jiu-jitsu.
I recommend it to everybody,but I just wouldn't want it to
water down yeah the sport youknow, in terms of, of, uh yeah,
the promotions are just wateringdown, just for for money, or
anything like that.
You know what I'm saying.
I think yeah the value thatjujitsu brings is super

(43:19):
important.

Speaker 1 (43:20):
So uh, that, just like karate or taekwondo, I
think, because they're sooversaturated, they have so many
people doing the sport, it kindof takes you know the meaning
away a little bit you think therules, the rules could be a way
of watering it down, like notallowing certain things to
happen, like not striking in theface like they did in some of

(43:41):
those strike martial arts, Imean, how like?
How would you want?
I feel like jujitsu is justlike a proving ground where you,
you can't either.
You're like, if you walk into agym and you're wearing a belt,
you can't lie.
Yeah 100.

Speaker 3 (43:54):
Yeah, the bell is just a caller.

Speaker 1 (43:56):
I can't break boards or not strike you in the face.
It is a grind.
You are going to get putthrough a meat grinder when you
first walk into a gym and italso depends on the gym you're
training at.

Speaker 2 (44:07):
Too.
A lot of gyms they havedifferent ways of training and
teaching their students, you'reright.
So there's some gyms wheretheir aspect is strictly
competition.
So there's two to me.
I noticed the students are verylike, have a very good iq, but
they're not very tough outside.
Does that make sense?
So I think it just depends onwhere you're, who your

(44:31):
instructor is right.
So yeah, what that culture isyeah yeah because some gyms I've
heard they don't some.
We had a student come in.
He said, hey, me and my buddyare both training jujitsu.
I trained it and I'm not gonnasay the name of the gym.
He said I'm training at thisgym.
Uh, he's training with us, his,his friend's, training at a gym
and they don't spar at all.
He's like, yeah, he's notallowed to spar until he's like

(44:51):
a blue belt.
You know, we start.
We start teaching people how tospar like their very first
class yeah, right, so bangingyeah, it's you know, it's night
and day.
So when they, when they, whenthey meet up to train, he's just
like smashing this guy and he'syou know his buddy's like wow,
I don't know why I'm notprogressing.
And it's like, well, it's notthat he's not progressing, he's
just learning in a different way.
Right, it's not that it's wrong, it's just not the way we do it

(45:13):
, you know yeah, you got to becareful where you train at, man.

Speaker 1 (45:16):
Some gyms are dangerous and some gyms aren't
teaching you the proper way yeah, definitely, definitely.

Speaker 3 (45:21):
but to circle back to what mike was saying, I think
it's all about the leader andthe person running the gym.
Yeah, you know for sure, I knowsome guys too that run gyms or
train at other gyms and you cansee the type of person that, uh,
their coach rubs off on them.
Right and, thankfully for me,because mike has been my

(45:44):
professor, my coach, my teacher,and knowing, knowing him as a
person, has rubbed off on me anduh, I mean the mental fortitude
that this guy has, you know asas rubbed off greatly on me and
his confidence and seeingeverything, I think I think it
uh rubs off on everybody in thegym and I think that's an
important factor to have.

Speaker 1 (46:04):
Yeah, that's huge.
That's why I stuck around,because I mean, I, I had I was
gonna start at a different gymand then I went to go pick up a
pizza at papa john's and then Isaw that brazilian jiu-jitsu
canvas outside.
I was like, oh, there's ajiu-jitsu gym here.
I was like I need, I need toget back into it again.
Yep and uh, I was like I'llgive this place a try.
I.

(46:24):
What I really liked was I likedhow the gym had a very family
environment where, like notfamily, like kids and adults I'm
talking about family we're like.
Everybody was there to getbetter, no matter what level
you're at, because my first gymthat I started at was Midwest
training center and at that gymI tell people all the time, like

(46:45):
, at that gym day, one night,one you were were a rag, they
would ragdoll you, they wouldbeat you because the guys were
fighters I mean, that's whereclay guida was, jason guida will
, brooks, like.
All those guys were there likeand they would and their, their
objective in that gym was tocreate fighters and so if you're
a hobbyist, dad walking in, youbecame a grappling dummy, yeah,

(47:06):
and so I did that for a body.
I survived because of mywrestling.
And then I then I moved on to acarlson junior school.
Christian uflacker shout out tohim uh, south chicago.
Uh, got my blue belt throughhim, um, and I got to see what a
real gym, how a real gym issupposed to operate.
And so, yeah, be careful whereyou train at, because some

(47:27):
places can be dangerous, youknow, if you, especially if you
have to go into work tomorrowyeah, I think that's a that's a
good thing that our gym does.

Speaker 3 (47:36):
We try to cater to everybody, you know.
Yeah, there's so many differentreasons people start jiu-jitsu,
whether it's to get in shape,you know, or, um, it's to
compete right, or just become abetter person, or maybe you just
want the camaraderie of beingaround other guys or other
people.
You know, I think that that'swhat we do really good is we

(47:57):
attract people and people thatcome to do jiu-jitsu, for
whatever reason it may be.
You know we're able to fulfillthat.

Speaker 1 (48:06):
Definitely agree with that man.
Mike, you run a really goodschool man.
Thanks, I appreciate that.
I try Not just kissing yourbutt Cause you're here.
I really feel that way.
Thank you for for opening upwhere you did and having a pizza
shop next door, otherwise Iwould have never found you.

Speaker 2 (48:19):
I've been, I've been blessed.
The Alhambra area has beenamazing.
I've had incredible studentsand you know that was my goal
opening the gym.
I've, you know, traveled allover, trained at a lot of gyms
and I always noticed there was alot of clicks, you know, and I
always didn't like to go in andyou know I was like man, I wish
I would just feel morecomfortable training somewhere,

(48:39):
you know.
So I made sure that my students,when someone comes in, you know
we make sure they're, they're apart of the gym.
We're not a separate entityinside the gym where these guys
are friends and these guys arefriends and you can't hang out
with these guys because they'retoo cool black belts.
It's not like that at all.
You could walk up to me and anyone of us ask us any questions
any time.
We're just.
You know that was the goal tofamily, kids, everyone, to just

(49:03):
be happy and learn jujitsubecause it's for everybody.
And I hear so many stories ofpeople going to try a jujitsu
gym and they get hurt and theynever do it and they don't want
to put their kids in it, right,and now they're jaded to that
experience and it's not fairright, you know for sure.

Speaker 1 (49:16):
So yeah, you definitely have had those, those
gatekeepers there too tocontrol the new folks that are
coming through the door.
Oh yeah, um, to kind of holdthem down sometimes.
You know you got those guysthat they could be pretty rough.
How did you get your start?
I mean, you you opened the gym.
You already knew, nate.
Like how did or did you justopen up and you had no body

(49:39):
there and you're just sittingthere waiting for people to walk
in?

Speaker 2 (49:42):
No, so I moved back.
So my wife is in the military,so I was in Maryland and my
business partner now koji shoutout, koji um wanted to open a
gym.
Long story short.
Uh, professor lucas gave me acall and said hey, we want to
open a gym.
So I said, well, why don't Icome out and work?
I'll work for you until the gym, until everything works out.

(50:04):
So I end up working forprofessor lucas for, geez, about
a year and a half, maybe alittle more, until the gym
opened.
And then I'd already had likeput out that I was opening a gym
.
So, uh, luckily, I had peopleliterally waiting to join.
Okay, good so as soon as thedoors opened I had like rent was
already paid my first day, likeeverything was.
It was just such a blessing,like right off the bat, and I

(50:27):
met nate.
I knew him from my buddyestevan.
They knew each other so like Ikind of had like known of nate
and then when I moved back we.
Our mutual friend of oursintroduced us and yeah to
piggyback.

Speaker 3 (50:41):
I know I'm pretty close with his nephew, juno.
Yeah, so I knew juno.
I actually knew mike before heknew me and I have a quick funny
story.
So the very first day we met,um, it was at a bar in monrovia.
We're celebrating his birthdaywith some of the jujitsu guys
and I was actually superhesitant on going because, uh,
my buddy chris was training atthe time and he's like, dude,

(51:04):
just come, you know, like it's,it's mike's birthday, it's gonna
be a good time.
A bunch of jujitsu guys.
I was like I don't know man,like you know, these guys don't
know me, I don't know them, youknow.
And I was like, all right, youknow, I'll go, and I mean,
thankfully I did.
But when I got there, I rememberI sat down right next to mike
and he's wearing a denverbroncos hat and I'm like, oh you
, like you like the broncos,like I'm from denver, and you

(51:26):
could tell, like knowing mikenow and knowing how his sense of
humor is, you know it's it'sfunny to look back in time and
laugh at this situation.
But I remember he was giving mea hard time.
He asked me if I was doingjujitsu and I said no and he
just told me I had a reallypunchable face and you know,
back then looking back it'shilarious, right, knowing his

(51:47):
sense of humor, but at the timetime I'm never the type of
person to let just someone talksmack.
But I already had knew Mikebefore he knew me, so I knew I
got to pick and choose what Isay around him because he
doesn't know me yet.
So I don't want to rub off onhim and get my ass beat right on
his birthday.

(52:07):
Want to rub off on him and getmy ass beat right on his
birthday.
So, um, but we ended upclicking through our, through
our buddy yesterday and throughjuno.
And yeah, like I said, he saidhe was opening up a gym and he
actually told me, you know he'slike, I know you're struggling,
I know you want to do jujitsu.
He said, uh, and I'll neverforget this, he told me I'll let
you come train with me, but onone condition you're going to be

(52:27):
the hardest worker in the room.
And you know, right then, andthere I told him I promise you
I'm going to be that hardest,I'm going to be the hardest
worker in that gym.
And uh, he told me right back.
He said actions speak louderthan words.
You know, a man is only as goodas his word.
So I was like, you know, I got.
I got to prove not only to himbut to myself.
You know, I've always been aperson where if I say I'm going

(52:48):
to do something, I do it.
So I knew this wasn't anopportunity I couldn't pass up.
And as soon as he opened up thegym, showing up every single
day offering to help to cleanthe mats, trying to put up my
end of the bargain, you know,because I know at the end of the
day it's a business for him,yeah, so if I'm not paying right
, it's, it's taken out, you know, of his livelihood.

Speaker 1 (53:10):
So you have to help him in a positive way yeah, run
the business.
Yeah, exactly.
So, mike, how many times haveyou extended that, that olive
branch?
And people just don't show upand show out.
I've had a few.
Yeah, I've had a few, but Idon't offer it too much.

Speaker 2 (53:25):
You know, like I've had, I've had a few, I've had a
few, but I don't offer it toomuch.
You know, like I've had, I'vehad, like I said, I've been
around some very successfulpeople that I've came up with
from, you know, white belt toblack belt, and you know, um, I
just, I just like to help, right, and sometimes you, you help
people and they don'treciprocate it, right, but uh,
or they don't?

Speaker 1 (53:44):
they just don't appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (53:45):
Yeah, they don't want to like.
Yeah, they don't want to likebe, or like just be a part of
the gym, right, it's like, ifyou have that opportunity, you
should be more of a role modelin the gym.
You should be asking for help,you should be respectful, right,
there's a lot of things that goalong with that, right?
So, yeah, only if I seesomething, if I see something in

(54:07):
someone, then I'll, you know,extend that, because I there's a
point in my life where Iremember going to Jiu Jitsu and
they're like, yeah, man, it's200 bucks and I'm broke and, you
know, my wife is paying for myJiu Jitsu because I can't, you
know, pay for it.
So it's like, man who knows ofthe opportunity for a lot of
people who have the chance to begreat at jujitsu, but they, you

(54:28):
know, money is the barrierbetween them and success, right?
Or learning the art.
So, right, you know, I mean Ican only do so much, but when I
can, I will.

Speaker 1 (54:37):
So, no, I think that's huge man, Like whether
you want to be considered or not.
I mean, at the end of the day,you are a mentor, you're a
mentor and it can be veryfrustrating mentoring because
you don't run into people likenate over here all the time.
I mean it to actually put itout there, offer it up and then
them follow through and take itserious yeah that's not

(54:59):
something that happens quiteoften it's not, but you know
what I could say?

Speaker 2 (55:03):
we're very fortunate at our location.
We're like every single personwho walks through those doors is
a blessing to the gym in someway.
Rather, it's their personality,or if it's, you know, they were
just willingness to learn or bearound others and it's just
it's.
It's really amazing, it's.

Speaker 1 (55:18):
I mean.

Speaker 2 (55:19):
I can't say enough how lucky I am, so you know
absolutely.
No doubt, and overall, likewould you say that, uh, you are
where you thought you'd be rightnow, like with, with the
business and everything no,really no, I was, I was worried

(55:40):
from the very get-go you don'tthink, you didn't think it'd
work out no, I mean, uh, when Ifirst started jujitsu, I was
like Nate, I was very dedicatedand at the time I was in a very
toxic marriage and everyonearound me was saying you've got
to quit jujitsu, it's going toruin your life, you'll never
make a living, there's no moneyin it.
And I said, I just believed init.

(56:03):
I didn't go to college.
The only thing have, you know,the only thing I was good at is
fighting, you know, and beingthat person.
And I didn't.
And there was two ways to go.
I could try to make aprofessional route or I could,
you know, go a bad route.
So, um, I decided, you know,I'm going to just train every
day.
And I ended up having to choosebetween my relationship and

(56:24):
jujitsu at one point in my lifeand I chose jujitsu and it, uh,
you know, led me to a greatplace.
So now I'm pretty pretty happy.

Speaker 1 (56:32):
So yeah, I tried to warn nate about that, about
relationships about therelationships and jujitsu.
Do girls hate jujitsu I?
Mean unless they do jujitsu.

Speaker 3 (56:42):
Yeah, they fucking, they hate it I've been super
fortunate, uh, to to have apartner that is super supportive
of what I do, and you know, andI'm I mean, I'm super blessed
for that you know I told her,told her at the beginning.
I set the standard.
I said, hey, you know we'regonna.
If you want to date me, my lifeis jujitsu and if at any point

(57:03):
in time you make me choosebetween you or jujitsu, I mean
I'm gonna choose jujitsu.
So, and she knew that from theget-go and you know she's like,
I support you 100 and anythingthat you do.
If you need my help, I'm alwayshere.

Speaker 2 (57:15):
So shout out to her well, that makes it, that makes
you a better jujitsu athlete.
Though, when you have someonewho supports you, yeah, and
believes in your dream, oh, itdoes, yeah, it pushes you so
much because there's times thatI know me, I wouldn't believe in
myself and my wife would likeforce me.
Hey, you know you can do this,you you know, yeah, keep going,

(57:35):
yeah, right, so it's like whenyou have that dynamic, it works
out.
I didn't have the dynamic, itdidn't work out.
Then, now that I have thatdynamic, yeah you know I
couldn't be any, I couldn't askfor anything more so that's
awesome, man.

Speaker 1 (57:48):
That's awesome.
Yeah, jujitsu has definitelymade a huge purposeful change in
my life and it's made suchgreat connections for me too,
like it actually got me in amovie last year like a guy that
I remember that a guy that Itrained with, like when, when I
was a blue belt in cincinnati,northern kentucky, there, like,
he's now a stunt coordinator andhe's actually coming back soon.

(58:09):
He's coming back for a few days.
He just talked to me today, inJuly, so I'll I'll bring him by
the gym, but he's a black beltunder Carlson jr Awesome, really
, really great guy.
But you know we've been doingthis for about an hour now, man,
and I know this isn't the lasttime we're going to be doing
this.
But I want to fire off somerapid fire questions to you guys
and get your thoughts on itreal quick before we round it

(58:30):
off, and I just wanted to havean opportunity in this episode
to get to know both of you andin the future, man, I'd like to
do some video commentaries.
The way I got this place set upis specifically for you guys.
Like, I've got the monitorright here where you can see the
video and everything.

Speaker 3 (58:49):
And I like it.
It already I do too.

Speaker 1 (58:50):
I already like where I love it, I think it's super
dope, so I'm gonna have it linedup to where.
Because there's a lot, there'sa lot of uh, bull jitsu out
there.
That's going on and I I a lot ofbullshit and I just want to get
your guys's opinion on it, ofcourse, and I think it's great I
think it's great because yougot a competitive blue belt
right here 23 year old blue beltand then you've got a 40 year

(59:10):
old black belt that's been inthe game for a while and then
myself, just a fucking loser.

Speaker 2 (59:16):
But like I'm just kidding I'm just.

Speaker 1 (59:20):
I'm just a big beefy guy but it's tough.

Speaker 2 (59:21):
He doesn't give himself credit.

Speaker 1 (59:22):
no, um, but yeah, man like this, uh that I definitely
want to do some videocommentary and stuff.
Absolutely All right guys.
Rapid fire round.

Speaker 3 (59:32):
All right.

Speaker 1 (59:33):
Let's do it.

Speaker 3 (59:34):
Gi or no?
Gi Gi Gi, for sure, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (59:38):
I'm not a big no Gi guy, even though I started no Gi
, and all my students know I'mnot quite fond of no Gi.
But that's okay, yeah, unlessyou're fighting naked in the
street, yeah.
It's, look it's, it's jujitsuat the end of the day is what I
say.
But my preference, you know,the gi for sure.

Speaker 1 (59:57):
Absolutely Both.
Gi huh, okay, I agree, I agree,everybody's.
Everybody's got a belt for themost part and everybody's got
clothes on, so it's definitelygood to know where those handles
are for sure.
All right, what was the firstsubmission you ever landed?

Speaker 2 (01:00:13):
In a tournament.
Yeah, triangle, really.
Yeah, I've always been atriangle guy, I don't know why.

Speaker 3 (01:00:21):
I wish I was.
So mine first was actually atworlds last year and it was a
conto choke and that's been kindof my uh, signature, signature
submission since then so contochoke conto interesting.

Speaker 1 (01:00:35):
What is your favorite post-training meal?

Speaker 3 (01:00:38):
oh my god when I'm cutting weight or when I'm not.

Speaker 1 (01:00:45):
I'll take this first it's a good question, go for it
either american barbecue or uhlike.

Speaker 2 (01:00:53):
My favorite place now , honestly, is prince street
pizza in pasadena.
That's where we get our pizzafrom and that place is
phenomenal, let's try it out.
And uh moose as well.
So those are two places that,like I, go 100.
I think.

Speaker 3 (01:01:07):
I think, if I'm not cutting weight, those two, for
sure are, are up there, I'mnever cutting weight when I am
cutting weight um you don't haveto probably probably some steak
, some ribeye, a nice ribeye,not too much, but some ribeye,
and then, uh some, some fruitand honey, not smoked, I usually

(01:01:29):
pan sear it.
Oh yeah, it's delicious.

Speaker 1 (01:01:33):
Yeah, man, I tell you , one time I cut weight for a
tournament and then the next dayI went directly to Cinnabon and
I bought the biggest Cinnabonwith cream on it, nuts and
everything.
Dude, you can get sick, sick Ididn't know that that's a real
like I was sick as a dog.
That's a lot of sugar, man, itwas a lot of sugar and I I

(01:01:55):
didn't know that that was even areal, that you could really.
I really was sick after that,yeah, I've been there.

Speaker 3 (01:01:59):
I've been there, I was in uh.
Actually earlier this year Iwent, flew out to albuquerque,
did a tournament out there and,uh, after nogi we went out with
the boys and went out with mybuddies and ended up eating six
sopapillas with honey and anentire plate of new mexican food
, which, if you don't know whatsopapillas are, it's a uh it's

(01:02:22):
like it's like fried fried bread.

Speaker 2 (01:02:24):
No, it's like like if you got a piece of dough like
pizza dough and you're fried init, kind of bubbles up it's.
They're delicious superdelicious new mexico cuisine is
yeah, but I ended up getting.

Speaker 3 (01:02:35):
I ended up getting like really badly sick and it
wasn't like throwing up, it wasjust really bad stomach pains.
I think my, since I was cuttingaway, my body just wasn't ready
, you know, to to intake allthat all that flour expands in
your stomach and it pushes itout, especially when you're
cutting weight.

Speaker 1 (01:02:50):
Nightmare.
That's a real thing, though,yeah.
So if you guys could roll or,I'm sorry, if you guys could
train, I'm just going to saytrain if you guys could train
with anyone, past or present,who would it be?
You go ahead.

Speaker 2 (01:03:02):
Let's hear what the younger guys got to say about it
.

Speaker 3 (01:03:05):
If I could train with anybody.
Younger guys got to say aboutit.
If I could train with anybody,um, you know, I'm gonna keep it
humble on this one and I'm gonnasay, man, that's tough, there's
so many.
I think, off the top of my headI'm gonna go two people, okay,
and this is gonna sound supercliche and gooberish but
probably mike and uh and juno.

(01:03:26):
You know, there's a bunch ofgreat people out there,
especially in jiu-jitsu.
There's a bunch of great guys.
But just because they're reallygood at jiu-jitsu and they show
you something, that doesn'tmean it's going to work for you.
I think the biggest part aboutdoing jiu-jitsu in general is
having fun doing it.
I think I'm having a lot of funwith the people that I'm around

(01:03:50):
every single day and if I hadtwo people to choose, it would
be them.
So good answer.

Speaker 2 (01:03:58):
It's definitely not my answer.

Speaker 3 (01:04:01):
How to keep it a little cliche so are you going
to say Nate?

Speaker 1 (01:04:05):
Yeah, you better say me.

Speaker 2 (01:04:06):
No, I would say.
I mean, you know, I've trainedwith so many jujitsu greats,
literally Like I've.
If I had to choose one, I'dprobably I'd probably holes
Gracie.
He passed away in a hanggliding accident a long time ago
and apparently he was like theultimate.

(01:04:27):
Like he was apparently I'm notno, I now I'm not, I don't know
this but he was a lot betterthan hickson and um, I think
that'd just be cool him.
Or like haja gracie, someonethat's like tall that that kind
of jujitsu gives me a problem.
So it'd be cool just to learn,you know so, yeah, that'd be a
really good guy, because I'velearned from I've came up with a
lot of really good guys thatI've trained with, you know I

(01:04:48):
don't want to say a bunch ofnames, but yeah, yeah, I've been
pretty blessed, so probablysomeone that's trying to think
if there's somebody that'sthat's like passed away, that I
would bring back and train withleandro low actually, yeah,
leandro low for sure.

Speaker 3 (01:05:03):
But, for sure, leandro low, um, yeah, I need
any top guy I would love totrain with, you know, yeah, I've
been fortunate enough to be insome rooms with some top guys as
well, you know.
So, um, but I think at the endof the day, it all just boils
down to to having fun and, yeah,as long as you're around the

(01:05:23):
people that you're having fundoing jujitsu with, you know, I
think that's the most important.
So, who knows, if I, if I bringthem back and we connect, you
know, or something like thatmaybe in a perfect world,
leandro.
Lowe would be a great trainingpartner.
But you never know.
I'd like to say maybe CraigJones too.
I think he's a funny, funny guy, good personality.
I think it would just be fun tohang out with him on and off

(01:05:46):
the mat, so maybe personality.

Speaker 1 (01:05:49):
I think it would just be fun to hang out with him on
and off the mat, so maybe, maybehim as well.
To me it's kind of weird howthose guys sort of have like
celebrity status now yeah yougot craig jones, ryan gordon,
who else is out there?
I mean a lot of these guys.
Now they even have like themarcello marcello.
They have like the thejiu-jitsu tournament now, uh, in
vegas, what's that called?
With this televised um, thenogi one.
Oh, uh, adcc, yeah and cj likethat like that's televised is a

(01:06:11):
big deal, you know so I meanit's, it's growing and it's more
people are getting into it I,more people in their 40s are
getting to it.
Or white belts like yeah, justit's their first time starting
out, you know, and and it'sgreat, you know it's great I
think I think that's the thingabout jiu-jitsu, like there's a
style you can learn for everybody type.

Speaker 2 (01:06:31):
You could be a huge overweight guy and you're going
to be a pressure passer.
If you're really skinny andflexible, right.
You're going to be a guardplayer.
If you're you know, kind ofthat like mid-stature right, you
might be a great guard passer,whatever, right.
So you can kind of adapt yourgame.
I've even seen big guys who arelike chunky, invert and
backtake, and I'm like everyone.

Speaker 1 (01:06:51):
Everyone has their own game, yeah, yeah, everyone
knows that I'm like everyoneknows, like I'm smashing pass,
like every time like for sure,and like it's kind of a
kryptonite to do the same thingover again and I'm trying to
develop that.
But the thing is is I alwaystell people is know your

(01:07:12):
adversary, or have an idea ofyour adversary, like look at his
size, look at, look at how bigthey are, how strong they are,
and like think about what youwould do, have a game plan, yeah
, and then have a contingency.
If first thing you do fails,then we go to this, then we go
to that, so on and so forth.
Don't treat me the same way youwould 120 pounder.

Speaker 3 (01:07:31):
Right, Right.
A game plan is is important,but you just got to be prepared
for adaptability Right, notgoing your way.

Speaker 1 (01:07:38):
Like when you rolled against the heavyweight guy,
like the last place you probablywanted to be was for him to be
on top of you, smashing youabsolutely out of control.

Speaker 3 (01:07:47):
Right.

Speaker 1 (01:07:47):
Absolutely Out of control, right, Absolutely.
So that's what I always tellpeople is to just have a game
plan.
Know your adversary.
If you see them wearing like abrown belt or a black belt or a
higher belt, don't do the samething you would do to a white
belt.

Speaker 3 (01:07:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:08:00):
You know, try to get the advantage and hold it.

Speaker 2 (01:08:02):
And that's the thing with jujitsu is looks can be
deceiving.
Yeah, it's like you don't know,because when you're wearing the
gi, everyone looks like thesame.
You don't.
You don't know if they'repacked full of muscle, if they
got zero muscle.
You're like you're just wearingthe uniform.

Speaker 1 (01:08:12):
You don't know both of you guys.
Have you guys been, uh,underestimated before?
Or like anyone?

Speaker 2 (01:08:17):
look at you like oh, I'm sure I do.
I feel all the time.

Speaker 3 (01:08:21):
I don't know, maybe I don't, can't speak for
everybody.
I feel people look me andunderestimate me, especially
maybe going into like a heavierweight class or something.
If I was, they overlook me.

Speaker 1 (01:08:31):
If I was untrained?
If I was, if I was untrained, Iwould underestimate both of you
.
Oh for sure, Because you'reboth you're both skinny and
you're both small.
Yeah, yeah, you know, but I'mbut I trained, so I know better.

Speaker 2 (01:08:44):
Yeah you know, surprisingly though, I I like,
for some reason, people justwhen I go out, they just think.
They like think I'm an mmafighter or something, so they
just like they don't mess withme.
It was because of my ears, yeah, but I usually that's always
like the topic those are talkingand then, you know, it's pretty
chill.
Never had someone be like, hey,man, like you know, usually
they'll like be like, oh you areyou, you train?

(01:09:06):
I'm like, yeah, and that's howit goes.
My wife always says man, moreguys talk to you than they like
come up and talk to her.
You know, like talking about myears or something, I'm like, oh
my gosh, I think.

Speaker 3 (01:09:15):
I think that's the.
Uh, the beautiful, beautifulthing about jiu-jitsu is it's
almost designed for the littleguy to win right or the yeah
maybe not the little guy to winbut but to have like a defense
and an offense fighting againsta bigger opponent.
So for sure, I think, being asmaller guy you get overlooked,

(01:09:36):
not just in jujitsu, maybe lessin jujitsu because people
understand, but for sure on thestreet you know for sure, people
are looking at you and I thinka lot of it boils down to ego.

Speaker 2 (01:09:46):
Right.

Speaker 3 (01:09:47):
That's a beautiful thing about juiu-jitsu as well.
It's an ego humbler oh totally.
A bunch of guys that don't doit.
Unfortunately, they don't gethumbled.

Speaker 1 (01:09:56):
I can't tell you how many times people like
weightlifters have come to ajiu-jitsu class and walked away
like I'm really sore man.

Speaker 3 (01:10:05):
Oh yeah, it's the hardest thing they've ever done.

Speaker 1 (01:10:12):
Doing those.
I'm really sore man.
Oh yeah, they say it's thehardest thing they've ever done.
Like you know, like doing thosebicep curls.
That that's my problem is.
Back in the day, like when Iwas in college, I did the beach
muscles, yeah Right.
And then during pandemic Iworked out with you know, beach
muscles, so kind of one of thosethings for me, like they don't,
it doesn't help you like in afight.

Speaker 3 (01:10:28):
No, definitely no, definitely not.
It tires you out.
I don't think.
If you know you got into afight against a bigger guy.
That is untrained, right, youknow?
The only thing he's gonna sayis what?
Like, let's have a bench off,right, right?
Like, yeah, you may be able tolift more than me, but let's see
where those weights really comein handy.

Speaker 1 (01:10:39):
You know what I'm saying, so yeah, if you, if you
had one thing to say toencourage someone who's on the
fence to train or not to trainlet's say the guys in his 30s,
40s the older you get, theharder it is to walk into that
gym.
Yeah, what, what would be yourpush?

Speaker 3 (01:11:00):
so I'll say two things.
First, number one, the hardestpart is always showing up, right
, it's super, like I saidearlier, it's super easier, or
it's super easy, excuse me whensomething's tough, to shy away
from doing it, especially withjujitsu.
It's not easy to show up everysingle day, or to show up on the
first day and and and tellyourself you're going to do it

(01:11:21):
and uh, I think that's superimportant.
And second thing is for me,what actually kept me going at
the beginning was the fact thatI always tell everybody this jiu
jitsu takes your mind off ofeverything, and I've never
experienced something like thatwith uh training at the gym,
right, lifting weights and youknow, maybe that's just me and

(01:11:44):
maybe some people do go to thegym and it takes their mind off
of whatever they're goingthrough or relieves the anxiety.
But for me, jiu-jitsu it's, Ithink, that being in a situation
where all you can do about allyou can do is think about what's
going on in the moment, thinkabout what's going on in the
match, and it just takeseverything away.
I think that's an attractivefeature for jiu-jitsu.

(01:12:06):
And, you know, I highlyrecommend anybody to at least
give it a try Cause, like I said, the hardest part is showing up
.

Speaker 1 (01:12:12):
Yeah, how do you get them through the door?

Speaker 2 (01:12:14):
Mike.
Well, I usually say that first.
That's when they got that fromum hardest parts is showing up,
actually, yeah.
But, uh, I, my thing is, I justtry to show people the beauty of
jujitsu, like it's foreverybody.
You know, like, oh, you know Idon't want to show up.
You know it's a lot of peoplewhen they end up do showing up,
they're trying to rush thepositions right, because it gets
really frustrating when you'rebrand new and guys are doing

(01:12:36):
things you don't know and you'relike, hey, you know, it's too
much for me, it's just like, man, you gotta like.
You know it's not a sprint,it's a marathon.
You know, you gotta your time.
You have to like, and a lot ofit has to do.
Is you?
You got to people, got to feelcomfortable walking in.
You know, always try to makesure every single person that
walks in those doors feels liketheir family from the moment
they step foot in the door.
You know, um, so I mean justand not only that I tell them

(01:13:00):
look, it could change your lifein many ways.
You can compete, right, you can, you know, help you with your
body.
It can help your mental state,your confidence, right, if
you're being bullied at work,all these things are just coming
to play for people.
So I try to just reiterate thatit's just for everyone and it's
such a positive addictionthat's what I tell people.
It's the most positiveaddiction you can have.

Speaker 3 (01:13:18):
Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (01:13:19):
Worst comes to worst.
You'll introduce you to jujitsu.
You're gonna be by looking atgeese, you know, or looking at
technique, you know.
That's not bad.
It could be much worse, youknow.

Speaker 1 (01:13:30):
I thought you were going somewhere else with that.

Speaker 2 (01:13:31):
Yeah, hey, you never know you never, know Me, I
always got caught looking atjiu-jitsu, so it's like whatever
.

Speaker 1 (01:13:38):
Watching, looking at dudes wrestling each other on
the mat.

Speaker 2 (01:13:42):
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 3 (01:13:52):
And you know.
But you know it's just, it's anongoing, it's an evolution of
getting better.
You know, just trying to yeah,test yourself.

Speaker 1 (01:13:55):
Absorb as much as you can.
You know.
Yeah, I think it's one of theultimate tests you can do.
Yeah, I definitely agree, man.
It's challenging for sure, andit's, uh, it's, it's, it's more
realistic than weightlifting.
It's real life stuff.
It might, it may even save yourlife at some point, or someone
else's life and that's andthat's why it's worth training.
Just one last thing, man, Iwant to ask you both so you guys
are mma fighters.
What's your walkout song?

(01:14:17):
I got a couple I got your numberone.
What's your number one, though?

Speaker 3 (01:14:22):
I'll let I'll let mike answer this one first, so I
have more time to thinkhonestly, mine would probably be
uh one first, so I have moretime to think.

Speaker 2 (01:14:29):
Honestly, mine would probably be uh bon jovi, the
song that they played for youngguns oh uh, blaze of glory.

Speaker 1 (01:14:36):
Blaze of glory, nate's like, what is that?

Speaker 2 (01:14:38):
yeah and who is bon jovi.

Speaker 3 (01:14:40):
Nate's like I'm too young for that, bon jovi.

Speaker 2 (01:14:42):
I was actually trying to look at my spotify right now
but that was just off the topof my head, either that, or like
a rocky song or something, ormaybe something super modern.
But other than that probablybecause that it's an old jam and
the movie really resonated withme as a kid I liked it too.
You know, I liked it too.

Speaker 1 (01:15:00):
I wanted to be Lou Diamond Fellows man yeah.
He was a badass.
I wanted to be Billy the Kid.

Speaker 2 (01:15:04):
yeah, I was like a million west of they're coming
out with part three.

Speaker 1 (01:15:07):
I can't wait, yeah, can't wait, we'll see.
Hopefully, don't ruin it, I'msure they will what's up, nate?

Speaker 3 (01:15:13):
what is it?
I got a couple, but uh he saidone man.
Yeah, I know, man, I he's hadone, so I think off the top of
my head uh uptown girl.
No, I'm just kidding girl notprobably something that would
get the crowd going.
I think like, uh, I don't knowif you guys have ever heard of
track called the heads will roll, but it's a very popular track.

(01:15:35):
Actually, patty pimlet, the ufcfighter, it's his walkout song.
He actually stole it from me nono, I'm just kidding, but I
think that would be a reallycool walkout song.
I think whatever gets the crowdhyped and behind you, you know
that that extra fire and andyour and your heart and in your
mind is is everything, sosomething that gets the crowd
going yeah I've heard some crazywalkout songs also yeah, maybe

(01:15:57):
the game like the, the game wwe,what was his name?

Speaker 1 (01:16:02):
triple h's intro or is a, I don't know time to play
the game I stopped watching wwflike or wwe back in like 95.

Speaker 3 (01:16:11):
Yeah, there's a bunch of.

Speaker 1 (01:16:12):
There's a bunch, you know, but I think something just
to get the crowd hyped upanything by acdc, you know, yeah
, that's a good one, get theground going yeah, the funniest
one I ever heard was um blink182, all the small things, and I
think it was what's his name.
Man, it was that one guy.
He's a grappler here fromSouthern California and he just
told them like, put on whatever.

(01:16:32):
And they put on All the SmallThings by Blink-182.
Nice, and he's walking out tothat and I thought that was
strange.

Speaker 3 (01:16:40):
It's a good song, though.

Speaker 1 (01:16:41):
Yeah, it's a good song.
It was a good song worse yeah,could be worse.

Speaker 2 (01:16:45):
Mike perry picked a song and they they picked the
wrong one and it was like abeyonce song.
But he was walking out and he'slike yeah, he was like jamming.
Yeah, he was like he looked athis lady.
He's like, well, it is what itis, let's go double down yeah he
won that fight too that's funny.

Speaker 1 (01:16:58):
so so, man, before we round it off, man, is there
anything that you guys want tomention?
Um, I mean, we'll come back tothe table again, but but
anything that I didn't mentionthat you want to throw out there
, no, Nate you got a competitioncoming up in a couple weeks.

Speaker 3 (01:17:13):
Yeah, I got the world championship coming up.

Speaker 1 (01:17:16):
That'll be cool when at.

Speaker 3 (01:17:18):
That's going to be in Long Beach at the Pyramid,
walter Pyramid, long Beach State, I think it's at.
But if there was one thing Icould say, it would be, um, to
just try jujitsu.
You know, um, you don't knowwhat it can do for you.
You don't know what it could dofor the those around you
absolutely, and for me it, likeI said, it completely changed my

(01:17:41):
life, and for the better.

Speaker 2 (01:17:42):
Find a great gym yeah , yeah absolutely that's key
absolutely find a place whereyou're comfortable.
That's why I tell people.
But, like, people will call andthey'll say, hey, we want to
sign up, and I'll say, well, whydon't you come first and make
sure this is what you want,right?
Especially for us too.
Like we don't want someonecoming in here and trying to
like bully someone right, whereI have to step in and kick
someone out or you know.

Speaker 1 (01:18:02):
So it's got to be chill we'll get into that next
time, because I know you havefootage on that one.

Speaker 3 (01:18:06):
Oh no, maybe I'll bring it for you guys yeah and
see that one yeah, we'll have tocome back after after world
yeah yeah, that'd be great.

Speaker 1 (01:18:16):
What?
What about you mike with uh,anything to say?

Speaker 2 (01:18:19):
I just want to say just thank you to everyone, you
know, thank you to you and allthe students and everyone who
made you know, my transition tobeing a jujitsu professor happen
, you know, make it a reality.
So all my students, my wife, mydaughter, you know, my son,
everyone, if you build it, theywill come.
It's what they say and it's true, you know, it's true.

(01:18:40):
So, and I we're, we're lookingto expand, so hopefully soon
we'll have a bigger, biggerlocation, you know, and all that
good stuff.
So have a place for a podcastand everything.

Speaker 1 (01:18:51):
That's right.
There you go.
All right folks.
Well, that's a wrap, andtoday's in studio episode of the
morning formation podcast hugeshout out to coach Mike Medina,
professor Mike Medina and NateChrysler here the young the
young resilient, the young gun,the young gun.
Right there you go.
Thank you, guys, for pullingback the curtain and sharing

(01:19:12):
your stories about where you'refrom and a little bit about your
thoughts on Brazilian jiu-jitsuand whether you're new to the
game or deep in the grind.
We hope this episode gave yousome insight and inspiration to
keep fighting the good fight.
Don't forget to follow,subscribe and leave us a review.
As always, I want you to staytuned, stay focused and stay

(01:19:34):
motivated.
Warriors fall out.

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