Hello Hello!!!

Last weekend had a pretty rough roller coaster ride! Had the honor of being sponsored to compete in Europa (put on by Fight To Win, and World Grappling Circuit)!  This sponsorship was awesome!!! I had previously won an absolute divison at the begining of the year, down in Spring, Tx, by beating out a few good guys. (Finals for Absolute below)

This weekend at Europa I had 5 matches in my gi division 155-169lbs, followed by 2 matches in my gi Absolute and ending with 4 in no gi absolute, for a desperate dash towards Gold and prize money!!  I ended up taking 1st in my divison, not placing in Absolute gi, and taking first place in no gi absolute winning 500 dollars and 50 in free supplements. I will upload a couple more matches , ignore the first ten seconds of the match...I had to convert the file to upload it at all. Enjoy!!!

Catching Everyone up to speed

Results of big 2 Competitions.

Pans was amazing, had many fights, made it all the way to the quarter finals, my 5th match. I feel like my last match was a perfect example of horrible scoring. I will insert a link below and I would love some honest thoughts on it as well. Lol, this match hurt me so  bad. Not physcially, was just tough to watch a match I felt I should of won, took me till yesterday haha. Was the first time I watched it since Pans.

Hope you guys enjoy :D

Secondly , I do not have any video footage of Worlds.  But I do have this GEM :P (2nd Place, Blue Belt, Middle Weight) OSSSSSSSS :D

Pans preperation

I feel like 6 times a week, coaching 3 times a week just isnt enough for me to excell at these high levels. Sometimes I feel like everythingI do just isnt enough. I am not trying to sound depressing, just a little discouraged at times, so much work. But if this were easy then everyone could and would do it. That is what makes us stand out, that is what makes us great. Sorry this is a short post, just a real post. I am tired of my job, all I can think about is jiu jitsu and my baby boy. He already shows great promise in the sport, he can mount and even say it!!! He knows what it is, and is constantly mounting mommy when I say mount. I know this sounds horrible, but it is the makings of a prodigy.Just a busy mind , that is all that is happening. I think some deep meditation will help me to focus and clear my mind. Ah well, back to working, going to miss the training with Bruno Bastos today, grrrrrr should of faked sick or something.


- I'll show you how great I am.

Coaching more exhausting than competition!!

Going to give a new Font a try. I will be playing with alot of things on my Blog, trying to spice it up a bit. I would like to start off by telling everyone about my weekend. This weekend was fun, but very tiring. Went to bed at 10 on Friday, only to get up at 4:15 on Sat morning to start our drive to Houston, Tx. Turns out we didnt leave till 6a.m , and made it there by 10:30!! From 10:30 till about 7:30 at night we were coaching team members at Naga Houston. I took my gi...just in case :D. I asked them what time my divison would start and it was going to be at 6 or 7, but take into consideration that they were 2 hours behind as of 4 o'clock. Since my intentions had been to simple coach, I stuck with that, not wanting to inconvience those I rode down to Houston with. After the tournament we enjoyed some Outback!!!!! Yum! I couldn't gorge too much because we have Pan Ams coming up , followed by quite a few tournaments. I am hungry though, veryyyyy tournament hungry. This is two tournaments I have coached at but not competed. I think it is one of the hardest things to do. It is very tiring, you have to be careful not to yell the wrong way, or you go hoarse and no one can make out anything that you are saying. Lol. It is quite an art, and then when people don't listen to you and completly go against what you are trying to coach them through, it gets frustrating. We all have been there though, we all have to learn from our mistakes, it is how we grow. You may be on the mat by yourself but we you are part of a T.E.A.M (who gets this reference?). We got back about 12:45, woke up early for a healthy breakfast and some Open Mat where I became the nail and not the hammer. We all have our days :D I hate going more than a day without training, makes me feel like I missed a week :D That is why Friday should not exist. Ah well, I have to get back to doing work stuff, later I will show you guys my new mat area (GHETTO).

Chicago Open

I wanted to provide you guys with the links to coach's matches. Also I didnt really get a chance to mention her, but his daughter, Danielle Alvarez has been on fire for quite some time. She is going to make quite the mark on the Jiu Jitsu world, watch out for her. Everything I post up video wise of others will be public, if it is not posted on a public forum then it is not meant to be and I will not use my social media connections to obtain them otherwise. Sometimes people don't want their videos up :D

Here is the match against Renato Tavares(above)

Been 2 weeks , better update

So some awesome things have happened that I must share with you guys. First and foremost I got a NINJA blender!!! It is simply amazing, chops everything up crazy quick. Makes me feel like a Jamba Juice. Secondly Coach took 2nd at the Chicago IBJJF and lost to Renato by a refs decision, Danielle took 1st. I thought it should of been at least an advantage for the takedown , seeing as it appears he jumps out of bounds. I will like all the pictures and videos for you guys. Yesterday we drove down to Houston for the Naga there, we had a few guys competing, I was going to sneak in but it was looking like an 8 or 9 o'clock kind of thing, with 4 hours on the drive back. Opted out on this one, Pans in just a few weeks, going to hit last week of training very hard then slow it down big time for next week. It will be awesome, and of course the comrade that comes with the whole event is simply priceless. I will post my thoughts on tomorrows training after class
">Gotta Get That Ninja





- I'll show you how great I am.

Complete dissapointment

As I hear our flight is delayed, all I can do is giggle, who cares I still get to leave it all out on the mat tomorrow! I am hungry , I have been cutting weight for this tournament for 2 weeks and have been good for the most part all week. I decide to indulge in a turkey sandwich , followed by a delicious yogurt parfait with some nasty granola on it hehe. Dont get me wrong I LOVE granola. Anyway, I hear the man at the service counter come on barking about how the delay went from 2 hours and 25 minutes down to 2 hours. .No biggie, I decide to start watching a movie, but get fidgety with anticipation for tomorrows combat. The man comes back over the speaker, maybe the flight is going to be here sooner than expected again, YAY!!! His words read like this.....The flight to Chicago has been canceled....AWESOME. So we are gonna get on the next flight.....sadly it starts out being the next day at 545 pm .....then it moves till Wednesday...either way neither of these put me in Chicago by 9. I try and find a solution, I wanna drive there, we wont make it in time.....disappointment. As I feel myself fall through the floor, I pick myself back up, I have teammates competing tomorrow at a local tournament, I will be there. I may not be going to war tomorrow but my teammates will, and i will be there to coach them. OSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. Sometimes we end up on foreign battlefields fighting different battles, we fight, we prevail. TEAM ALVAREZ BJJ


- I'll show you how great I am.

The Pink Panther

Today I got one of the biggest surprises ever....A BRAND NEW GI. Some of my AWESOME teammates pitched in and got me a brand new gi to match a pair of Kaylas socks, so imagine my delight when they were the EXACT SAME COLOR!! <3 my teammates, and will wear this gi in all legal competitions!!
">THE PINK PANTHER
- I'll show you how great I am.

Last weekend and this one.

Like I recently said, I had a very good win this past week. It was just what I needed. Everything lined up for me in a way that it usually doesnt. These things are things that I have complete control over, not random. So I guess what you could really say is that , I havent wanted to win this bad before. The thing that I struggle the most with is diet, although it is getting really easy to stay on track now. I see people eating gross food and gross meaning big juicy hamburgers with onion strings, BBQ sauce and pepperjack cheese....OH and bacon. And dont you dare forget fries, with ranch to dip it all in.. YUM....but when I see people eat things that I used to think were yummy, I want to vomit. It is absolutely disgusting. I think it comes down to my body adjusting to the more healthy foods I have been eating lately. I ended up being able to eat before my tournament, and I didnt have to sit in the sauna or do any last minute weight cutting, my mind was a 100 percent into it, and it showed. This weekend coming up I will also be able to do the same thing at the Chicago Open. It will be a good chance for me to test myself again before Pans. There is a guy I lost to at the Houston Open, rrather quickly mind you, that will also be at this tournament. I am excited to get to fight him again without the weight cutting I had done for the Houston IBJJF. I leave Friday, and come back on Sunday!! Time to get super focused for this weekend, there will be some wars. I cannot wait until class.


- I'll show you how great I am.

Research

Last night at the gym was pretty fun. I am having a hard time with Vins X guard, he seems to be able to get there no matter what. One thing that I was having success with is using the Brabo grip to prevent him from extending himself in half guard to bring my leg up onto his shoulder. I also have been pushing on this inside knee very hard, as I try and slide my weight off his X while keeping my hips parallel to the ground. I will have to try this more.
">X guard
Coach could fight Renato Tavares, he is a very good black belt and it will be one of the toughest fights he has had yet. Coach watches tape and asked me to watch tape as well and try to attack in some of the ways that he attacks. I studied him for about 2 hours last night and took quite a few notes, one of the things that he is very adamant about is setting up the Brabo grip, but not always switching hands, and sometimes he just feeds the lapel around the back. He also loves to underhook a leg from half and do the over under pass. He is very good at this. I have a list of notes I will put up one I am done looking at his material.
">Renato Tavares

">Danny Alvarez


- I'll show you how great I am.

Role Models

Something easily overlooked is our ability to influence others. It is my belief that martial artists should lead by example, especially higher ranks. Whether you teach, compete, or just love the sport you compete in you are a role model. You could apply this concept to just about any leadership role, or a role in which you are in public eyes. I say martial arts to point out something that really bothers me, I could give you countless names of people who epitomizes this. I could also give you countless names of people who do not. I understand that it is something to strive towards and not always achieved, but for goodness sakes. If you are in a position of authority, even more so around children or teaching children, you should not be using the F bomb. I was at a tournament recently where I heard AT LEAST 30 F bombs, not quite in one on one conversation, but LOUD F*** bombs. There were children around. It comes down to alot more than just swearing, it comes down to your actions, the core of who you are and how you behave, your beliefs. Many people may see it as cool or down to earth....I do not. In my mind we are raising the next generation to do better than we are, to be better than we are. I want my son to be a better person than I ever have been, and with that, I want other kids to have that as well. I want everyone to want that for their children. I still believe in ....it takes a village. Just a little blurp sorry I am rambling!!

">They are watching!
- I'll show you how great I am.

I felt great

So I must start off by saying I recently competed in IBJJF San Fran 2012. I placed 1st in Middle Blue Adult and 3rd in Absolute. It was awesome!! I started cutting weight at the beginning of the week and was right on point by Sunday when I competed. I would like to say I have never felt so good competing! Most times I have to dehydrate myself, and this leads to a very slow thinking, slow moving version of myself. This time, I had energy and food, I could think and therefore I could achieve what I knew I was capable of 1st place!! This is my first gold at an IBJJF, often times I run into a number of factors that do not go my way. It has been from dehydration all the way to mentally broken, but not at this one. I will be going again to IBJJF Chicago this weekend. A little sore but hey, comes with the territory. O O O and I fought me a bbbbbiiig boy, 320 lbs in the absolute, he pretty much gassed me lol. I need to work on my conditioning even more.
">1st Place Blue Middle Adult
- I'll show you how great I am.

Time off?

I haven't taken any time off of my jitz, but I have taken time off writing. I feel that I must continue. I just competed in Fight 2 Wins "Tournament of Champions 9" down in Houston , Tx. I had 5 matches, won 2 by submission, 2 by points and 1 by refs. I feel that I could have done much better, the way I rolled was still stiff. At one point during one of my absolute matches, I simply would not listen to my coach, this is something that I am going to have to nip in the butt real fast. I think one of the most useful tools to a competitor is having their coach with them, to not utilize this is foolish. I will be doing the 2012 Winter Classic put on by Killer Apps. Trying to take home that $200 for the absolute prize. Also I won sponsership for all the Fight 2 Win and WGC tournaments for 2012!! I will keep you guys posted.

T minus 6 days

I haven't written an update in forever and I feel that my BJJ game has taken such a turn that I cannot possibly explain the growth I have experienced thus far. Next week holds the single biggest tournament of my life. I have competed at many tournaments, I even took 3rd at Pan Ams as a white....but now I am ready to compete at 2011 Worlds. This is no Naga, or Grappler's Quest...this is the real deal. World Cup, Super Bowl, Stanley Cup, BJJ WORLDS!!! Get it? I am more ready than I have ever been, 50 people stand between me and my gold. I am going to go hard...harder than I ever have before. Anyway, I am about  5 pounds heavy, but have been working that out. Shouldnt present much of a problem come next week. Anyone who cuts weight knows that you do what you have to do to make it. I've been training 6 days a week for a few weeks now, getting on the mat at any and every oppourtunity. Ah well, today is an off day , tomorrow back to the mats.

Mondays always suck!!!! (till jitz time) /Tuesday

Had some good jiu jitsu Monday as well, went over some very cool X chokes. I love to learn new things. BUT the highlight of my night had to be the flying armbar attempts.  I have done it before, but not the PROPER way, the way that will get you hurt. So on my first attempt, I went horizontal before crashing to the ground with the wind knocked out of me. After that....a KIND SOUL....(brown belt) showed me to start by jumping guard at an angle, and progress from there. So I did.....and it worked wonderfully. Baby steps. Also, the failure got alot of laughter.

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So , on Tuesday night I can only make it to the 8:15 competition class, which sucks. I hate not being able to get my jitz ....it is like my fix, but way more fulfilling. BUT I still made it to some, got some good rolls in. I got called technical and  a NEW nickname "Megamind" cuz I'm always thinking of new stuff and have questions all the time. Lol, that is how you learn. My note taking is really paying off, it makes me sit and think about each detail. Not only that, when I am writing it down, I am basically branding the move into my head again. Ever since I started doing it this way, I am recalling the smallest of details and the "driving force" behind alot of the moves that I am doing.   If you can't tell, I'm late on writing this again, but whenever I think about not writing anymore...>I think about how one day when I look back on this blog, I will be able to see the road I have traveled down. There is a tourney in Houston this weekend that I was thinking about attending, but I forsee it causing a few problems. Belt tests are on the 11th as well as the Bruno Bastos seminar....I'M GONNA HAVE TO MISS BOTH >< (that is a mad face) have to do Lamaze class :*( Ah well, sometimes you gotta put something in front of jiu jitsu. (Last time I hope) If I had it my way I would do the belt test and the seminar, but I think that would cause me more harm than help. Maybe improve my game, but at the cost of an angry pregnant woman. And besides, I have to work on not being selfish at some point.

Paul Halme (Last Sat)

Wasn't sure what time practice was gonna be, usually coach puts it up on Facebook. Nate calls me and says..."Hey wanna go train with me tomorrow at Paul Halme gym in Keller?" ....and of course I said yes. Woke up early headed out there ready to get my jitz on. In case you didn't know, if you go to someone elses gym, people are not always SUPER nice to you. They get very territorial, and upset if you are working some of their teammates. Not these guys, they are simply stand up practitioners. Everyone was super nice, very accepting and also instructional and ready to give advice. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I hung in with my white belt counterparts. Another real cool thing is that the high level belts didnt try to destroy me, they just worked with me. It was beautiful.

I had to shower...I stank!!

Phew, so practice today was about an hour and a half, then I stayed late of course, to get some extra work in. We did our usual warm up followed by 7 8:45 sec rounds......was rough. Tiring in all truth, but got to roll with some great people, and jiu jitsu practitioners. My fingers are beat up from spider guard/grips. Worked alot on that and on guard recovery, which I am becoming particularly good at. I like it :D Ah well, Im tired, caught a few people, others I just chased, and played off my back alot today. need to start armbaring the other side...need to put a ton of reps in for that hip movement. Ah well, peace friends.

I'm slacking hardcore

Alright guys , this will be a brief summary of the last 2 practices. Thanksgiving is upon us...or was lol. And it was a good thanksgiving. I didnt really get to enjoy it to the max, because I was too focused on making sure I wasnt stuffing my face, or drinking  alot. Btw...I realllllly want a beer....a TON of beer. But since I am being good....Tuesday night practice was good, my left elbow started really bothering me. I armbar'd myself a week or so ago, and it is really starting to act up. Rest is key though, when I take a day off, it starts feeling pretty good again. Nothing super notable Tuesday night in practice. Worked on more attacks from the back (gi). A repeat of earlier in the week, but practice makes perfect. You can never have too many repetitions put in. On Wednesday morning I went to the gym and was not afraid to shoot at all. I swear working with Renny has been my saving grace.  I contribute almost all of my takedown  success to him. :D :D I took down a black belt and a brown belt.....although I didnt maintain the advantageous position long...I still succeeded in taking them down. 2 points!!! :D  Ah well guys, practice tomorrow. While others are getting good Christmas deals, I am getting....my workout on. I will post AS SOON AS I get home. BEFORE SHOWERING!!!!! ZOMG.

Some good stuff.

So class wont be held as much as usual this week, but I should still manage to squeeze in some good training. Had some good rolls today. In class we worked on a really good set up for crucifix/bow and arrow choke. It was not bad at all. Had some great rolls today. Was rolling all over someone....then they told me it was their 5th day....I lightened up!! Lol. Oops. Think all my rolls besides that one was with blue belts. I held my own fine, and was chasing them around :D Let go of one sub cuz I had it, but didnt want to hurt da "non tapping folk". So overall it was a great day. At the competition class we drilled grip fighting as well as some really great subs from half guard/side control. (both on bottom). It also helped me clear up a misconception with kimura's that I had previously had. It should add a certain....deadly dynamic to my top game :D We will see tomorrow. Ah well, post after tomorrows class as usual :D Night

The results are in......ADCC !!!

Again....a day late....was sooo tired yesterday night guys. I always just CRASH hard after a tourney. I think it is all the adrenaline, plus the dump. Helps for a bit, but that dump is a killer. Started out the morning not being able to poop, and as usually had the nervous craps as it got closer to match time. This happens without fail. keep in mind I have done 6 or 7 tourneys so far. Oh well, I ended up taking 1st in my division. Me and Anthony swept the division again. 1st and 2nd place. He was hurt so we didnt roll for final match, usually we rock paper scissors for 1st/2nd, but he got the 1st last time and i took the 2nd. So we flipped it. I won 2 matches by submission. My 3rd one , I did the absolute division, Open weight classes, and open skill level as well. I held on against a 4 stripe purple belt for 6 and a half minutes. Didnt find out how high ranked he was till after I got tapped via rear naked choke. I did really well though. i was proud of myself. Very good matches. Verrrry proud of myself. WIll put some videos up very soon!!! Promise!

(pics are cake, gonna have to work on vids upload. Will have 1 by the weekend though, promise)

My serious face....

The real me :P