The New Year is upon us, which to me, means a great time for leaving bad habits behind and embracing new routines. For myself personally, that means fully and wholly dedicating myself to every task that lays before me, i.e. never doing anything half-assed, but always with the entirety of all of my buttocks instead. […]
Read moreYule Wish You Trained More Jiu Jitsu
It can be so easy during the holiday season to slack off a bit and not hold yourself to your normal training schedule standards. Perfectly fine if you are in reset mode, and no competitions or fights on the horizon, but a bit risky to do if you are a smidge bit more than your […]
Read moreBeauty is in the Eye of the Gi Holder
I’m tired of society thinking you have to conform to one narrative to be beautiful. I have a half-shaved head, a muscular frame, gnarled fingers & toes, cauliflower ears, and am usually spotting some type of gi burn or bruising and when I tell you I have never in my life felt more beautiful than […]
Read moreMastering Your Mind
If you let your emotions control you and dictate your behavior, you will never be free from the burdens of the thoughts that chain you to mediocrity. If when in the midst of a high-intensity situation, you “see red” rather than being able to think about the logical next steps, you have already lost the […]
Read moreI’m Not Flexible, You Just Suck at Jiu Jitsu
There is almost no greater pet peeve I have in Jiu Jitsu, than an insecure man denigrating my accomplishments due to a preconceived notion about the way my body moves. Basically, what this refers to is when a larger guy has difficulties when rolling with me, his automatic ingrained response is to blurt out something […]
Read moreReflections
I write about Jiu Jitsu and MMA a lot, often interspersed with my own feelings, thoughts, and experiences throughout this journey. But I have been unfair to my readers who think they are privy to the innermost workings of my mind and the things that make me tick. See, I don’t often divulge the hard […]
Read moreI’m a Real Boy
Move over Pinocchio, there is only one character in the story of my life working hard to become a real boy, and it ain’t some wooden ragamuffin of a puppet, so tell Gepetto to take several seats. The more you publicly put yourself out there in the world, the more you open yourself out there […]
Read moreAm That Bitch, Still That Bitch, Ahh.
Several people approached me at Master’s Worlds in Las Vegas a few weeks ago, asking for advice going into their matches on competition day, because of this blog right here. It’s crazy to me, because all I did was start a tiny little outlet for my words, and I am not a therapist in any […]
Read moreKarma, Karma, Karma, Karma, Karma Chameleon
I have come to the recent conclusion that I must have been a child murderer in a past life, or at least something as equally awful, because as of late, I can’t seem to catch a break, at least from a competition standpoint. Between irreverent calls at major IBJJF competitions, a number of opponents lacking […]
Read moreSmooth Like Butter
Wake up. Cardio. Eat. Train. Sleep. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. My schedule is like clockwork; from my training to my cleaning and chores schedule, to my meal prep. A semblance of control in a chaotic life that allows a ship to sail as smoothly as possible, creating the false illusion that nothing is out of line. […]
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