I'm going to be quiet here for a few days, so I wanted to leave you with something that's been on my mind. Rest and reset are underrated. The time away is often what lets us come back to the thing we love with more energy and appreciation. And honestly, health is everything. It's easy to take it for granted until you have a stretch where all you want is to be on the mats, worry-free, moving the way you know you can. That's human. We all go through it. But it also reminds me how grateful I am for the ability to train, compete, and be part of a community like this. So while I'm away: train hard, take care of your bodies, and spend good time with the people you love. I'll see you all soon. 👊

For years, my competition fueling strategy was basically the opposite of fueling. I’d make featherweight, sometimes barely eat, compete after a long fast, and because I still performed pretty well, I figured the system worked. This year I’m competing at lightweight and doing it completely differently. Instead of showing up depleted and trying to run on adrenaline, I’m going to eat simple carbs throughout the morning and top up between matches. Rice cakes. Honey. Bananas. Electrolytes. Nothing complicated. Just trying to have enough fuel to attack, react, make decisions, and hopefully feel like myself through multiple matches. And this isn’t only for people who compete. Some people eat before every class. Some have a small carb snack before hard rounds. Some train completely fasted and feel great. I don’t know the final answer yet. Master Worlds is part of the pressure test. How do you fuel before class or competition? And has that changed over the years?

For everyone competing next week… Have the nerves kicked in yet? For me, two weeks out I’m usually okay. About a week out, I start getting more cerebral and spending a little too much time in my own head. Then the day before and the morning of competition, it becomes very real. 😂 When do the nerves usually hit you?

Not the toughest. Not the most technical. What quality makes someone a genuinely good training partner? Control? Communication? Reliability? Knowing when to push you? Not turning Tuesday morning into the ADCC finals? 😂 What’s number one for you?

Most of us know how to push. The harder skill is knowing when we’ve done enough and the next session isn’t adding anything. So how do you know when the work is done? Is it when the plan is complete? When the quality starts dropping? Or only when your body forces you to stop? Regrettably, this time my answer was the last one. I still believe in the process. The body just delivered the message before I made the call. What’s yours? 👇