Riley: [00:00:00] Alex, this is, uh, this is called the Go Earn Your Salt podcast, and I'd be curious to know what that phrase go earn your salt means to you.
Alex: Oh man, I, I'm, you know, it, it may just be a season in my life, but I, I, um, I really believe that, you know, earning your salt is not just absorbing knowledge, but sharing it and. It's, um, I don't think you've earned anything until you've given it away. So all the knowledge that you gain in Juujitsu, all the knowledge you gain in life, all the knowledge you gain in your business, whatever it may be, if you're not sharing that with other people, I really don't believe that you're earning anything.
[00:01:00]
Riley: . I welcome to the show today, my friend Alex Martinez. He's the, the host of the BJJ Fox cast and the owners of Aries East Mesa Jiujitsu Academy. Um, Alex and I have become friends here just over the years.
Uh, we met on the internet, didn't we? uh,
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: electrolytes and, uh, we got introduced that way and we've just yeah, built and maintained that friendship here and, and we're both, both Juujitsu fans and, and practitioners and, and, uh, have a lot in common there. So, uh, Alex, welcome to the show, man.
Alex: Thank you man. Thank you for having me. It's just, uh, a long time coming.
Riley: for sure. I'm super excited. I, uh, you know, I said we have a lot in common and there's a, there's a lot of stuff going on in your, in your world that really interests me and I, I, yeah. I want you on here to pick your brain a bit. So some of this is selfish, man. [00:02:00] I get to get to get some wisdom from you.
Alex: Ah, yeah, let's do it man. Let's do it. And likewise, man. I mean, you got a lot going on too, so. Yeah. Just this'll be a great conversation.
Riley: This is great, man. So, talk about, you tell us who you are, where you're from, what was life like as a kid.
Alex: Yeah. So, um, I grew up in south Texas, um, Brownsville, Texas. Uh, graduated Hannah High School, go Eagles. Um, but, uh, left there in, uh, 91, joined the Navy. Basically I, I needed to get away from, from Texas because my life kind of took a, took a turn and I knew it was just a matter of time before I got into real trouble.
Um, had a couple friends that went to prison shortly after high school, um, for real big crimes. I never had the stomach, you know, for that, for the stuff they were doing, but, you know, if you're in the same car with them and they're doing stuff, you're just kinda, you know, you're part of it now. So, um, I kind of knew that was coming and, uh, yeah, joined the Navy, [00:03:00] uh, at the request of my oldest brother and yeah, went to bootcamp in 91 and I became a, uh, I went, went to gun school and yeah, ended up on a, on a ship for a few years.
Went to Panama for a couple years and, you know, shore duty and, you know, and then when I got outta the Navy in, uh, 2000, you know, I really, honestly, I had no idea what I was gonna do. I, I knew I was getting out, you know, 'cause I had kids and, you know, they were, they were little and wasn't really, I wasn't really interested in being a remote dad that showed up periodically between deployments.
So, yeah, I had to make a decision and honestly, like, um. There's, there's a class that the Navy puts you through when you're getting out, right? Well, not just the Navy, but the military itself. They put you through this class. At the time it was called TAP Class. I don't remember what the acronym stands for, but basically it was like a transition from military service to civilian world.
And they teach you like [00:04:00] how to do resumes, how to do, um, interviews, and, you know, and all the, they, they have headhunters that work with how to dress for interviews, stuff like that. Things we have no idea because we've been wearing uniforms, uniforms for so long. We, we knew what we were gonna wear day to day, right?
So, yeah, so I got on with a company, really had no idea what I was doing. Um, but they had a program where they were hiring military folks at the time that were trainable and they trained you up and you became a technician. And that's kind of how I started in this, uh, you know, in this, in this civilian life.
Um, I made the mistake, I hate to say that that wasn't a mistake, but I always joke that it was a mistake. I joined, I joined the Reserves in August of 2000. So not too long after I'd gotten out, I'm sorry, 2001. So, um, and then September happened, and then I got basically redeployed. I got called back to active duty, uh, in December of 2001.[00:05:00]
Spent another six and a half months, you know, um, on active duty. Really didn't do a whole lot. We just ran security at a supply depot got sent home 'cause they ran outta money. And yeah, so like I said before, I, I joked that I spent nine years, six months, and 28 days in the Navy. So on active duty anyway, but, uh, yeah, so yeah, so I, I, I, you know, shortly after that I moved to Arizona and, uh, I've been here ever since.
Riley: You said your brother got you into the, into the military, but was that, was like his idea or was he just your connection there?
Alex: So he was already in the military. He had been in for, gosh, man, maybe three or four years before I joined. And, you know, he knew what path I was on, you know, it was, it was not good. So he really encouraged me. He said, Hey man, you'll learn a marketable skill if you hate it. And you get out in four years and then you're just done.
You know? And then, you know, luckily the, the Navy lowered their standards and I got in and uh, and [00:06:00] it pretty much saved my life, man. You know, it really did. I had to basically go out and reinvent myself, which, um, which sounds great on the outside, but then, you know, I'll go into this later, but you kind of forget who you are when you go out and reinvent yourself.
So you spend a lot of time trying to figure that piece out. 'cause you're kind of detached from, you know, your former life, I guess you can call it.
Riley: Yeah, that can be the identity thing, man. I, you know, maybe we get into that conversation a little bit more, but I know when I just switched, um, business careers, you know, I went through a business failure in the bankruptcy and, and that identity change from, you know, I was the window and siding guy in the construction world, and that's how people knew me.
And they'd come to me for advice and,
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: know, projects and those kind of things. And all of a sudden there was this like limbo where
Alex: Hmm.
Riley: I didn't, I didn't have a thing, I didn't have a new thing and somebody would come up to me and go, Hey, what do you do? And I go, I was the between jobs guy for a little while, and I,
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: that that hit [00:07:00] me way harder than I thought it would.
Alex: Yeah. Um, it's, um, you know, I would say the only difference is like, you had an identity and it was almost like a crisis, right? Like,
Riley: yeah,
Alex: do I do now? I mean, it's hit, it's hit. My wife and I a couple times, like the first time I felt like anxiety about, like, my identity is when you wake up one morning and you've got no one to drive around.
Like, all the kids are grown up, they got their own licenses and do they need you anymore? You know, that kind of thing. Of course they do, right? But you go through that little, that little bit of anxiety. And the second is when, um, the kids moved out. You know, our last, you know, son Zachary moved out and Amy, it hit her hard.
'cause, you know, she's like, I've been mom for 26 years. Like, who am I now? You know? And I'm like, who cares? Enjoy the silence.
Riley: That, you know, it's funny 'cause I'm, I'm right at that. My kids are, uh, are 15, 18, and 22 now. And[00:08:00]
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Riley: yeah, we're looking at that kind of real, seriously. I've,
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: all my buddies in my peer group, they're empty nesting now, you know, or, or getting close to it or, uh, and it's hard, man, that's hard on them. It's, uh.
Alex: Yeah. It's, it, it's, it's really difficult. And I, you know, I, I went to that, you know, when I was, when I, when I, when I went off and joined the Navy, like I said, I wanted to reinvent myself because I was just not a good person at the time. You know, did a lot of things that, I don't wanna say, like re they're regrettable, right?
I don't regret my life, but they're regrettable things that I did. And, um, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out like, well, who do I want to be? And, and then, and you end up like mimicking other people, right? Almost following their dreams and their, and their goals, because you don't even know, like, there, you don't even have the clarity to know who you are.
So how can you become something else, you know, like greater than you know who you are. So, um, so yeah, I, I kinda latched onto a few people. Luckily there were good people [00:09:00] and kind of followed their dreams. One of 'em was, I had a friend who was, um, who was on my ship that wanted to become a Navy Seal and. He did it, he went, you know, after he got off the boat, he went to SEAL training, got on, he was on a couple, few SEAL teams.
I don't, we lost touch, so I don't know if he retired from the military or not, but he, he went off to do that. So I kind of followed. Right. I kind of followed and, um, you know, I I, I spent, you know, about a good eight weeks in training and, you know, there's like some pre-training and then the actual classing up and going through training and, um, you know, during hell week it was, I think hell week at the time was week number six.
Now it's like week three. They just wash 'em out pretty quick. So, um, yeah, like 48 of us went into hell, week 24 came out, and I, I wasn't one of 'em. Um, so it was, it was very difficult for me after that to have like, feel any kind of self sense of self [00:10:00] self-worth, you know what I mean?
Riley: Yeah,
Alex: it wasn't until, shoot, man, my forties, it wasn't until my forties and it, when I, when I started doing Juujitsu, you know, I really started taking it seriously and really immersing myself in Juujitsu that I literally ju I always say this, that Jiujitsu kind of peeled me open and it showed me who I love, who I was, and I, and I freaking love that guy.
So, you know, it took a while, but I got there.
Riley: That's me. I, I do want to get into that as we move into that subject a little later. Um,
Alex: Sure, sure. Yeah.
Riley: yeah. To, to the peeling you open thing. That's, that's, that's a, that's an interesting way to say it because it is that thing. We, we talk
Alex: Yeah,
Riley: in the juujitsu culture of it. The mats don't lie. They tell you the truth.
And man, you gotta reckon your with some pretty tough, pretty tough things sometimes. You know truth can be hard.
Alex: yeah, yeah. It, it can be. And you know, I, I'll, I'll tell you, and we, we can get into this, like you said, we were gonna talk about a lot of things, but I don't wanna [00:11:00] jump around too much. But yeah, it, it's, um, I've got a few examples where the mats did not lie and I was wrong.
Riley: Yeah,
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: Um, talk about, talk about, you know, military into life. So you said you went into the military to get a marketable skill, and what,
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Riley: there or come out of it with? What, what type of a marketable skill?
Alex: Um, a lot of self-confidence. Um, but as far as something tangible, like I worked on, I was a gunner's mate, so that means I worked on gun and missile systems. It also means I did a lot of cleaning, you know what I mean? I swept a lot and mopped a lot. You know, you do a lot of that stuff, and, and if it's, if it's like covered in grease, I will have it sparkling in no time, dude.
Like, I'm a champion. Um, but, you know, I was a small arms instructor for a while and, um, really, like, it wasn't anything that [00:12:00] translated into the civilian, especially the, the, the job I was going to was very. Um, very tech oriented. So I did, I did, uh, building automation for, um, basically, uh, commercial air conditioning.
That's what I did when I came outta the Navy, bro. I had no idea what I was doing, zero idea what I was doing. And luckily I just surround, I got out. I, it was, I was very fortunate to be surrounded by people who actually gave a shit and helped me, you know, so that, that was, that was a fortunate piece. And, and I ended up, you know, going to be a, a service tech for a while and then, you know, got into some new construction, got into sales, and, you know, the rest is history.
Riley: learn to talk in sales.
Alex: Yeah, yeah. Basically. Yeah. You know, you're always on the ship. You're always like, you're always hustling. 'cause you never have everything you need and you always have to, you know, it's, it's like a barter system, you know, where you go to a different shop and have maybe something fabricated or borrow a tool or something like that.
You gotta, you gotta [00:13:00] learn to deal with people. It's, it's, it's, you become very close, uh, especially when you're shipboard, but there's still that like, you know, you're the other, right? You're one of those guys. I, I work in this shop, you're not one of us kind of thing. So yeah, you learn to, you learn to, you learn to deal with people a lot.
Riley: Yeah, it's funny 'cause you
Alex: I.
Riley: know, it wasn't like this certain thing that directly translated to the civilian world, but yet yes it was. Right. Because you, you did have to do that. And that's what sales is all about, is you're having to, you go into someone else's world, you're not really one of them necessarily.
And them your widget, you know, whatever that happens to be your, your
Alex: Yeah,
Riley: and, and that takes personality, man. It takes some articulation, it takes, it takes the confidence you talked about. And I think that's some,
Alex: yeah,
Riley: it, it translates quite well actually, as you say
Alex: yeah. It, it does actually. Yeah. It, it, you know, and it's a rush too, man. It's a rush when you sell somebody, forget about the money piece, like getting, you know, ink on paper. When you sell [00:14:00] someone on this, on a concept that they never thought of before, and they're like, dude, I'm all in. That is the big rush because the sale comes easy after that.
You know, it's very easy to be a transactional, like, I need this fixed. You're the guy to fix it. Go get it. But when you're gonna change how someone runs their business, that's a big one, man. It's, it's really cool.
Riley: no, that's a fact. It's funny
Alex: Yep,
Riley: other company, um, not salt, but my, I don't know if you know this, but I have a, a mobile oil change company. I have trucks that run around and change oil.
Alex: I remember that.
Riley: yeah. So in
Alex: Yep.
Riley: that, we have to do that quite often. 'cause our concept, the way we do business there is very different from what people are used to. And so it is, it's a total gear shift man. When we go in there and they're like, man, I've never heard anyone do it the way you guys do it. And I'm not sure I even like it.
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: this.
Alex: Right. Yeah. Yeah. Well, well, you know, when, when, when somebody, like in, in your world, I'm, I'm sure you can relate to this, when somebody is spending zero on something and you want them to spend a dollar, that, that's a lot of money, [00:15:00] right? So, I mean, when you're doing mobile OO oil changes and you're talking to somebody about their fleet of trucks and they've never paid a guy to come out and do it, it sounds it doesn't matter what the price is, it sounds like a lot of money.
Right? So selling 'em on the concept is a big one.
Riley: it that way. 'cause my job, I feel like is to, is to show them that they, they are spending that money. It's just in a different line item in the books.
Alex: Yep, yep. Exactly. Yeah. But they don't see that, right? Because that's a, that's, um, what would you say that's like, uh, you know, um, whatever, like that's business as usual and you're, you're dis you're disrupting that and people get very defensive about that disruption.
Riley: work hard on building our systems to make 'em work. Right. So you start going in there
Alex: Yeah, yeah.
Riley: some, it takes some doing. Yeah.
Alex: Yeah, man. Yeah, for sure.
Riley: what would you say, uh, would, what would you say was, is your the best advice or advice? What, I'm trying to put this into words, man.
The best lessons that you took from the military that you were able to bring into the [00:16:00] civilian world.
Alex: Oh man. You know, like I said, I, I, I was surrounded by, by great people. Um, and one of, one of the pieces of advice that I got early on that really, really helped was. If you wanna be a good leader, you gotta be a great follower. And when you're sitting at a level that I was in basically making minimum wage, you know what I mean?
I was like, entry level, you know, you know, just a sailor, you know, working for people that have been doing this for, you know, 10, 15 years. And, you know, you kind of get a little bit too big for your britches sometimes, and you're like, oh, I know, I know what I'm doing. This guy doesn't know anything. And you end up making mistakes that these guys saw coming, you know, a mile away because you're a shitty follower.
Excuse my language, but you're a crappy follower. Um, it, it, it, it costs you, right? It costs you, I mean, you, you, you end up looking, you end up looking like you're, you're incompetent, you're end up whatever, instead of just asking questions and being like, Hey, I don't know how to do this. Can [00:17:00] you help me? Yeah.
You know, um, yeah. That's, that's probably, you know, and getting things done, um, the way they should be done is, I mean, it, it, it sounds so simple, but taking shortcuts is so easy, right? But when you just don't take a shortcut. You just, you know, like I said, be a good follower. Do what you're told. You end up learning way more.
You know, 'cause you kind of know the whole system now and you can work within that system and quite frankly, manipulate it after a while. Right. But you're still working within that framework, so Yeah. Yeah. That, that was now Al Hayes, I'll never forget him. He was the one that taught me that. And, and I, and I use that to this day.
You know, when I'm, when I'm doing something new, when I'm doing something new, like even in juujitsu learning, learning a new, a new technique, I'm a good follower before I'm a leader.
Riley: being a good follower before you can become a good leader is [00:18:00] such a cool concept, man. 'cause you're, I, again, back into Juujitsu culture, we talk about that all the time. The things I've learned from white belts that I go, crap, dude. Um, I don't even think you realize what you did, but that thing you just did.
I'm stealing it, it's mine now. I'm gonna take it, I'm gonna create a lesson out of it.
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: uh, yeah.
Alex: Yeah. Absolutely.
Riley: I call it the Blair
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: this blue belt gal who was doing something. I always say she was doing it so wrong that it went clear around the circle back to right again.
Alex: I love that. That's so cool.
Riley: the move
Alex: That's so cool. Uh,
Riley: today, so Love it.
Alex: that's awesome. I love it. Yeah, I mean, there, there's a lot of lessons that I learned in the military. Um, but that's, that's for some reason that always stuck, you know, e even, I mean, I'm, gosh, I'm gonna date myself, but I'm like, what, 23 years removed from that world?
And I still remember that to this day.
Riley: Oh, that's a beautiful example of exactly what I was asking, man. [00:19:00] Um, I wanna
Alex: Thanks.
Riley: you, uh, had briefly mentioned, and so for the audience doesn't know we, we tried to record earlier so we've had some conversation. So if you hear me say, you said before, and Alex hasn't actually said before, it's 'cause it was in the other recording that we didn't use.
But, um,
Alex: Yeah,
Riley: you, you got into that world for a while and you had mentioned that and there's some, yeah, certainly some carry over in
Alex: yeah,
Riley: what we've been talking about into that sport. So about triathlon.
Alex: yeah. So one of the, one of my superpowers, um, that I, that I, I found in while I was in the military. Being able to do tedious tasks and just shutting my brain off. Like, I don't know, you know, when somebody's like punishing me and says, you know, uh, you know, uh, you know, sweep, mop, wax a passageway, you know, hallway, no problem.
I can put my head down and just do tedious tasks like a champion. So, um, I remember, uh, once I [00:20:00] was told to like, uh, polish a bell. It was a giant ship's bell, dude. I was there for like three and a half hours just polishing the thing, and my brain, I just shut it off. It was fantastic. It was like, and people were like, I had never seen that before, right?
No complaints. Just doing it. And that came in really handy when I did triathlon. When you're, when you're jumping on a bike for six hours, you don't want to think about how much pain you're in. You know what I mean? You don't wanna think about traffic, you don't wanna think about other riders. You're just focused on, I, I gotta knock this out today.
And this is the way it is, man. And then on, on long runs. I, I once did, I once did four hours on a treadmill just to see if I could do it,
Riley: The crap.
Alex: because I knew when I'm in the middle of a triathlon, like if I'm mentally weak, I'm gonna stop. And what other way? I know this is stupid, but what other, what other way To build mental toughness and to do the most boring thing imaginable.
I mean, running's boring as it is, [00:21:00] but imagine you're on a treadmill for four hours. I did it.
Riley: Excited. Yeah. I'm a runner myself. Right. And we've talked about that.
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: that, I'm not sure I wouldn't end it all if I had to do four hours on the treadmill. Man, I, I think that's
Alex: Yeah, man. Yeah. And, and that's, that was my superpower, man. Shut off the brain and just do it.
Riley: crap. It's funny 'cause I have to do these tricks, right. Um, in order to run if I, if I have to do laps around something. No way, dude. It's too, too much repeat.
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: laps, it's just
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: much repeat. So I, I go, I do these out and backs, right? That's how I run every time. And I'll go
Alex: Yeah. Yeah.
Riley: that's, that's only half as long as I need to go.
And in my brain I feel like I finished there, then I just have to run back to the car. Right?
Alex: That's kind of cool. I like that. I like that a lot. That's actually way safer than the way I would do it. I would, um, I would look at a map and I would plot a [00:22:00] course, like if I gotta do like eight miles, 10, whatever the, the run was, and I'm like, okay, well I'm gonna go a couple miles this way. And, and Arizona, basically all of the, not all, but 90% of the roads are on a grid.
So it's like a mile this way, A mile that way, A mile this way, you got four, no problem. Right? But then you gotta increase. I'm gonna go a couple miles this way, then a couple miles that way, and then come back, man. I'd be in the middle of a run going, oh, I screwed up. I'm in a really bad, he run and back, you know, I outran where the police go, you know what I mean?
So that was pretty scary. Every once in a while I'd make that mistake, but out and backs, that's the way to do it.
Riley: Yeah, that's funny how we have to play tricks on ourselves sometimes. And it's,
Alex: Yeah,
Riley: it just makes no sense and you know, why you, why that
Alex: right.
Riley: easier or harder, but it sure does. Sure does, man.
Alex: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's wild man.
Riley: you had said six hours on a bike,
Alex: But yeah,
Riley: done, you've done full Ironman distance.
Alex: one, I've done one. So I did, [00:23:00] the first triathlon I did was a, um, mountain bike sprint and it was on, uh, in Papago Park in Tempe. So we swam in Tempe Town Lake, which is disgusting. And then we hop on, we hop on um, mountain bikes and I had this mountain bike. It was a piece of crap. It was, it was some, I bought it at a pawn shop 'cause I, it was, I, I didn't own one, so I bought it at a pawn shop.
And there are these guys with some really tricked out mountain bikes and I'm like, just trying to keep up. Right? I am so green to this, like, I don't even know like how to carry my water. I had a, a single bottle of water, right? And it wasn't cool out, it was kind of warm out, single bottled water in that little holder thing, that little down, you know, the down tube on the bike, that little holder.
And, and I'm, you know, going up and down hills and I'm hitting things and rocks and shit. And then I reach down, bottle's gone. I didn't have [00:24:00] any water and, and it was a sprint, so it wasn't supported, you know, they don't have like,
Riley: stations.
Alex: know, places to Yeah. Aid stations like anything like that unless you got hurt.
And, um, yeah. So then I, I finished the mountain bike course, I finished a run course. I think that those are like five Ks or something like that. And, um, the, uh, the cool thing was they had a, like a big slip and slide at the end. It was a big giant inflatable slip and inside slip and slide, so you could cool off in that.
Um, but believe it or not, uh, Lance Armstrong has done the same race.
Riley: Really.
Alex: Yeah. Not, not the, the year I did it, but he's done that race, that mountain bike, uh, that mountain bike sprint. Um, but after that I just, I just never, I never signed up for a race that I was ready for. So if I was, you know, the next, I never did a sprint again.
All the other ones were ies, you know, Olympic distance, uh, races that were, I guess they were like a couple hours long. And then I did a couple, I did [00:25:00] three or four, uh, half Ironman, well, half iron distance. They weren't logo Ironmans. And then I was like, one day I was like, I wanna do a full distance triathlon.
I wanna do a and well, and I wanna do an Ironman. Just what everybody says. Right. And so, I, I, man, I, I got online and I'll never forget this. I, I'm, I'm online and I'm getting so frustrated 'cause they're all sold out. I, I wasn't like part of a community at the time. I was just doing this shit on my own, you know, so I, I, I, yeah, you know, I just, I, I, I asked a friend of mine, I was like, I can't get into this Ironman thing.
Like, how, how do you, how does this happen? He goes, dude, they sell out in minutes. And then he said, you have to, you have to volunteer for one. And then the volunteers, I don't know how it is now, but at the time, the volunteers would get to sign up the very next day before it went online and everybody could just swamp it and sell it out, right?
So I was like, well, I'm like, well, I don't wanna wait a year, you know, so he says, but there's, there's, [00:26:00] um, at the time there were some races called talent races where it was like, um, it was the same distance, but they just weren't logo Iron Man races. And I found one called Silverman. I did Silverman in 2010, and if you wanna look it up, take a look at Silverman 2010.
So it, I, I looked it up online. I wasn't even thinking. I, I was like, it's not sold out. I signed up right away. It was like six or $700. It was not cheap,
Riley: for
Alex: but I was like, I, I have, I have to do this. Like I want to do this. So I signed up and um, Amy was my girlfriend at the time, and I said, I think I'm gonna hire somebody to like write a program.
So I don't quite know, like. You know, you don't know what's beyond that 70.1, you know, whatever, you know, and, and you know, you're gonna go one 40 now, so it's like double and so whatever. So I hire a guy, his name's Ron and uh, Ron, you know, we, we sit down, we have coffee, [00:27:00] and he says, what race did you sign up for?
I was like, oh, Silverman and in Henderson. And he got this look on his face and he is like, we've only got, he's like, we've only got five months. I'm like, yeah, five months. He goes, do you even know what race that is? I was like, no. He's like, okay. He goes, look it up. It was, at the time, it was the hardest full distance triathlon in North America.
Riley: Me,
Alex: was even harder than the one they have in Utah, like St. Croix or whatever. St. Saint, something st. I can't remember. But there was one in Utah and it wasn't as tough as this one. There were so many DNFs, which is, for those of you that don't do triathlons, did not finish. It was, you know, the, the field was like one professional, one professional did the race because they all know better, right?
Um, they probably paid the guy a ton of money to show up, but I spent, gosh, man, almost seven and a half hours on that bike that day. 112 miles [00:28:00] just up and downhill. I didn't know Henderson was so damn hilly, dude. It was just like. Up and down, up and down. So an average triathlon, if you did in a triathlon here in, in Arizona, like, you know, in the basin, you're probably gonna climb about, I don't know, not a whole lot, maybe three, 4,000 feet total, you know, of climbing up and down.
That was 12,000 feet of climbing. Yeah, dude. Yeah. So, so Ron and I came up with a scheme. We're like, okay, so we're not gonna get your heart rate above 165 beats per minute. That's gonna be our threshold. So I'm so frustrated on this bike, 'cause you're going up this hill, you know, 6%, whatever it was, and people are just flying by me.
And I'm just so competitive. I'm like, God, I want to just get outta the saddle and chase these guys. He was dead. He was dead on with his, with his, uh, with his, um, um, strategy. I got to the run and I'm just smoking people on the run. [00:29:00] They're just walking like zombies because they went so hard on the bike.
They had nothing left. And you know, I, of course, you know, I'm not so confident that I'm like, I, I got a marathon. You know what I mean? Like, no problem. But I was like, I've got, I remember at the, um, at the, uh, athletes meeting, they said there's gonna be an aid station every mile on the run. So I said, okay, I've got 26 races to run.
They're all a mile long and I'm gonna decide if I'm gonna continue at every aid station. So I would run. And the eight stations are pretty long. You, you, you've seen those like they're, they're pretty long. Um, and I would grab a cup of water at the beginning. I'd walk the length of the tables, I'd finish my water, throw it, and I'd take off running.
So that length of the, the length of there may be three or four tables, but those four tables, I'm deciding do I want to keep going? If the answer is yes, I trot on. And that's how I finished that race. Um, but it took, gosh, I don't even remember what my time was, but it took forever, dude. [00:30:00] It was, it was a long, fricking day.
And there was one point, I'm sorry I keep rambling, but, um, there was one point in the race where, you know, the run is hilly as hell too, right? So I remember it was, um, it was a two lapper, you know, kind of, kind of run. So 13.1, whatever it is. So I, I'm going, I'm going around the second lap and I'm just, just, I can hear my footsteps and it's dark out and we're going, I'm going up this hill, and at the top of the hill is a streetlight and it's an old school street light that, that that shut, you know, when they, they would shut off when they get hot.
So the streetlight is like, kind of flickering and I get to the top and it just gets dead. It just dark, just like I can't see. And I'm like, okay, I'm still standing. I thought I passed out. So, because I was just a little loopy. And then I, you know, I, the first time you go around the loop, you pass the start, finish line.[00:31:00]
Then you just gotta go around the chute and then you keep going the second time you go through the shoot. So I'm running, I'm gonna go through the chute. I'm like, I can't believe I'm finishing this thing. This is awesome. And I hear footsteps behind me, like, real, this guy's motoring behind me. So I kind of, you know, I don't really slow down, but I look over my shoulder, I'm like, Hey man, if you wanna go by me, you hit it and we'll, you know, you get your day in the sun and I'll just follow in.
After the guy goes, I'm on my first lap. I'm like, oh, you core bastard. 'cause that was such, I, I just knew what was waiting for him on the second lap. It's just, you know, there's long stretches where you're just alone, you know, and it, it's mentally, it's tough. And I think that four hours on that treadmill prepared me for that tough course and being alone for so long.
Riley: you, you know, you said something else in there too, um, about how you listen to your coach, right? He said, don't let your
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Riley: above 1 65. And then you're, you know,
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: hills and, [00:32:00] and people passing you and you're having, you're just having to back that down. Like, I gotta trust him and I gotta trust him.
Back to the original
Alex: Yep.
Riley: you know, in, in order to be a good leader, you have to be a good follower and listen to that.
Alex: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:33:00]
Alex: And, and man, he, he, he, he asked me to write him a review after the race. Dude, I just, I just rambled it. It was, he was right. He was right about everything. The nutrition piece, we got pretty scientific with it. 'cause um, at the time, you know how it is, like, um, he was trying to get a little deeper into the science of, uh, personal training.
So he was buying like VO two max readers. He was, you know, he was getting all of these things and he is like, Hey, can we try this? I'm like, hell yeah dude. I mean, you know, he was just doing it 'cause he wanted to, you know, learn. And so we got pretty scientific on how many calories they needed. You know, how much water to drink, you know, how much, you know, goo packs to eat stuff.
We got pretty, pretty dialed in with that. So that was really cool.
Riley: a, that's an interesting thing 'cause I've, the, the longest triathlon I've done is an Olympic right.
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Riley: I did exactly the opposite. I got out there on the bicycle, man. I was feeling like a king. I was flying. Just, just feeling great. I was [00:34:00] feeling
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: nutrition and I was, I didn't eat, I
Alex: Oh no,
Riley: anything. And you know, that's a, it was a, for me, I'm, I'm slow, you're probably faster than this, but it was a, my goal was three hours to finish that Olympic distance. Right. And
Alex: great. Yeah, yeah,
Riley: I stick it in the stands and then I even forgot my water bottle that had some, it's kinda like goos, like a gel that was mixed with, with water.
Alex: yeah.
Riley: calories at
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: Forgot it. Lifting the bike took off for the 10 K run. I got one mile in and I crashed
Alex: Oh, no.
Riley: hard that I, yeah, I, it was a barely a walk for the rest of the, the last five miles. And I finished and I
Alex: Yeah, yeah,
Riley: at three hours and six minutes or something and I was, you know, it kind of guts you when it's like that close in that length of time, it's like six minutes.
And that I, I
Alex: yeah,
Riley: If I would've just drank or eaten
Alex: yeah,
Riley: man, that would've probably made the difference right.
Alex: yeah, yeah. The, the, um, that particular, and, uh, Silverman, [00:35:00] um, it was, you know, it was the, the bike course is 112 miles and the hardest two climbs were after mile 90, the two toughest. So it was my biggest fear was to get swept up. You know what I mean? They got a sweet car. If you're too slow, they get you off the road.
They pick you up, you don't get to finish. So I just, that's what kept, that's what really drove me. And I'll tell you what, so this is before a lot of the technology we have today is 2010, right? Long time ago. But, um, at the time we were still, we're already using the chips and the shoes, right? So you could, if you go through a certain point, it reads, you know, um, so, so you actually finished a race and you can't cheat.
Uh, but they had a website where you could put people's phone numbers in and they could track you on the course. So when you cross a certain point, it would let them know. I remember I got into the, the swimmer's pool, right? The swim, the just, uh, waiting, waiting to start. And I'm, I'm [00:36:00] getting emotional. I always did because like, I would, I would think like it's over.
Like, I know I'm gonna finish, so all of this work is over, you know, I would really get emotional. And then the second thing I thought was like, oh my God, if I don't finish, everybody's gonna know. You know?
Riley: the
Alex: So that drove me too. Yeah, that drove me too. So we're, we're, I, I'll never forget, we, we, we we're riding down and they got a guy with flags, you know, he's kind of pointing you in the direction where he had to turn and we're getting off the main road and we're going on, just imagine like a, a two lane quad trail.
Okay. It's paved, but it's, it's in a park. Right. And that's what's taken us back to Henderson. We're going around this road and going to Henderson, so it's not like, um, uh, an average, um, highway, um, incline where they're like maybe six, 7% max. I don't know what this was, but there were people pushing their bikes up this hill.
I could read, I'm, I, I didn't, I want, didn't wanna get [00:37:00] off my bike, but I'm off the saddle and I'm really going one pedal at a time and I could read the lettering on the side of my wheel. That's how slow I was going. Like, I was barely keeping myself upright though. That, that, that, that is just so cruel that they did that to us after mile 90.
Those were the two hardest climbs of the day. And there were like real athletes pushing their. Pushing their bikes up that hill. It was wild. It was wild.
Riley: seven hours into this thing before you hit that point.
Alex: Yeah. It's a long day. And then, you know, yeah. But dude, no regrets. I I, I, I really cherish that experience. I, I don't know that I have another one of those in me, you know? But, uh, I'm glad I did it.
Riley: That's impressive, man. I, I think that's, those are kind of bucket list things, right?
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: very many people have the Iron Man, uh, experience, right?
Alex: No, yeah. It's, it's tough. It's, I actually did volunteer at [00:38:00] an Ironman and didn't sign up.
Riley: Oh, yeah.
Alex: Yeah. I, the very, the following Ironman, I, I volunteered. I didn't like, I didn't need it anymore, you know what I mean? Like, I was good, but I just wanted to be like the, what really makes it possible for people like me, just the average Joe, you know, hobbyist athlete to finish those kind of races are the volunteers.
Man, they did so much work, dude. They like, they make sure like your halfway bag is there. They make sure like you're, you know, you're going into transition and you're so used to hanging up your own bike and grabbing your shoes, you know, like there's somebody there to take your bike. I was pulling. On my bike when this lady's trying to take my bike.
She's like, no sir. I, I'll take, I'll take care of this for you. I'm like, oh, shit. That's right.
Riley: help me and
Alex: So, um, they, they, yeah, yeah. They, they take care of you. They take care of the bikes. The transition area is kept super clean. You know, the, the, um, you couldn't ask for more stuff at the eight stations, like ev, you name it.[00:39:00]
And if you even uttered the sound, I need you got it. And, and so I wanted to be that person for somebody finishing, you know, iron Man Arizona. And, uh, and I, I feel like I was, man, I, I feel like, um, you know, we, we worked really hard and, uh, I think, I think we did help a few people finish that race.
Riley: Yeah. I, I think the volunteers are awesome, man. When you're in those things and you're, you're hurting, right? It's, it's late in the race and you're, nothing feels good. You know, you're just tied everywhere and, and, and tired and,
Alex: Yep.
Riley: you know, one of those eight station people hand you something and, and just says. You're doing great. That's all it takes, man. Sometimes it's like
Alex: Yep.
Riley: just gave me three more
Alex: That's it.
Riley: encouragement.
Alex: it. Yeah. Yeah. It, it, it it is, it is. Uh, I did one with, uh, I did a, it was an oli with, uh, with Amy, and they were actually it. I ran, I ran the run course twice, once for me to finish. And then I found her and I ran with her and they were literally packing the place up behind [00:40:00] her, but they wouldn't let her not finish.
It was so cool. Like, those volunteers were so cool. They're like. They'd leave some stuff for her, but they're packing up, you know what I mean? So she has something to grab. And that I get, I get emotional thinking about that. 'cause that was, that was really cool of them because she really wanted to finish.
Riley: That's, that is cool, man. I had the, I ran with a kid one time. He was. Just a, a young man, he is 12 or 13 years old. He wanted to, he was quite overweight, but 10 K was his goal for the year. And his mom came to me, she
Alex: Nice.
Riley: and she says, Hey, can you, can you kind of coach him through this? And I said, well, yeah, we can.
And so he and I would go on these runs on the weekends, the training training runs. Right. he did so good on these training runs, but man, we got to the race and I'm not sure what happened if he, uh, he, it must have just been the way he ate or didn't eat or something, but he crashed about a mile and a half
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: K and walked,
Alex: Oh no.
Riley: he didn't even
Alex: Oh, poor kid.
Riley: the, the other,
Alex: [00:41:00] Yeah.
Riley: a half miles. And I felt so bad for him, but it was the same thing, man. It was, we were last place, went through the, through the finish line, very last. And waited. They, they saved some pancakes for him and they, they kind of, they took care of us at
Alex: Oh,
Riley: end,
Alex: so cool.
Riley: figured we were gonna get there and
Alex: That's really cool.
Riley: but they saved some. It was neat. It was a cool experience.
Alex: No, that's cool. Yeah, it, it happens, man. It happens. You never know. Like there's some, you know, there were some rides where I felt like. What am I doing here? I'm not even a real athlete. Like these guys are all better than me. And there were some times when I'm up front going, I am the strongest writer in this group right now.
You know what I mean? So it's, it just happens.
Riley: No, it's like any sport. I, uh, I was shocked at times on how fast other people could be in different events. Like, I swim really good, I'm a fast swimmer,
Alex: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Riley: slowest tar on the bike, you know? Uh, in comparison now I'm fairly
Alex: Right.[00:42:00]
Riley: but it's fairly average versus a pro is a, it's a huge difference.
Right.
I, I want to talk about kinda what took you from Now you've kind of made it to a certain level of fitness, which is a pretty high level fitness to be able to do that. and then somewhere in there, juujitsu comes into the picture. Tell me, tell me that story.
Alex: Well, there's a little bit of a gap. There's about a two and a half year gap where I got very, very, um, driven in my job. And I just wanted to, you know, I, I, I don't know. I just wanted to provide for, you know, Amy was still my girlfriend at the time and, you know, we were living together and um, I got really big in fat because getting really big in fat was so much fun, dude.
Nachos and beer. Ugh, fantastic. So when I, [00:43:00] Amy was going through nursing school and we had five kids in the house, you know, we were blended family. I had three, she had two. And um, you know, my job was to take care of the fam and the kids and, you know, you know, she had to go to school at night and she did a great job too.
I mean, she took care of us really well, but it was tough, man. And the, I guess her superpower is her ability to retain information. It's amazing, dude. It's amazing how much information she can retain. So I'm not gonna say nursing school was easy, but it was kind of, she was built for it, right? Um, so, yeah.
Yeah. So, um, so when, while she was going through nursing school, we made friends with a couple that was going through school with her and, um, uh, Kevin, Kevin Bunion, shout out to Kevin, uh, Gracie, Arizona. Great dude. Um, he was a blue belt and all he talked about was Juujitsu. So we would go to dinner, jiujitsu, we'd go to ball games, juujitsu.
And I'm sitting there like, if I gotta [00:44:00] listen to one more Juujitsu story. I might kill Kevin, you know what I mean? I might put an axe through his head. And, um, but because he was, he talked about it so much, man. When Amy graduated nursing school and I wanted to get back in shape, it prompted me to Google, you know, like Juujitsu and Arizona and that's how I or Juujitsu Mesa, Arizona.
And that's how I found my instructor's place. And dude, I'm telling you like my, my buddy Ruben, he, he puts it this way. He's like, there are people that just know they're lifers and there's people that just fight to be lifers. You know what I mean? Like, you either just, you're all in or man, you just push yourself and you get yourself through the door and, you know, it's kind of a trudging leap.
But you, you're a lifer. I was a lifer day one dude. Like I, I told Amy, I was like, I don't wanna do anything else. This is all I wanna do. And I don't know how, we're still married, but we're still married because I was [00:45:00] showing up, you know, people should talk about, you know, if you wanna get good at jujitsu, show up three times a week.
I was showing up three times a day. I would go to the morning class and I'd do two evening classes every single day. And then I'd do, I'd do open mats on the weekends. Yeah. Yeah. So it, I was to say I was all in is an understatement. I was all in, I, I, I loved it from the first day.
Riley: Funny man. That's a familiar story right there. That's, uh, yeah,
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: exactly right, man. I spent last, you know, what, seven years
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Riley: I'd get four hours a day training, or not most days, but a few days a week. I'd get four hours a day. And you know,
Alex: Yeah, that's good. Yeah,
Riley: you
Alex: no, it, it's, it just, gosh, man. It's just, you know, I, I went there, I went there, I went to Paul, Paul Novice's place, uh, um, you know, um, a Aries, Arizona, uh, awesome, awesome place. Changed my life. [00:46:00] Um, I went there just to get in shape, dude, that's, that's all, that's all it was about. And it was a very competitive team at the time.
We had a couple guys at one pans, like had a lower level at White Belt, blue belt, but they had one pants. So we had a pretty competitive group. And open maps were just like a brawl. It was awesome. Like, back in the day, it was just, it was so cool. But, um, so there's a tournament coming up and it's a local tournament, and I'm not competing.
I'm, I'm like three months in, something like that. I'm the new guy, but I told Amy, I was like, Hey, do you mind if I just go and see what's up with this stuff? You know? And she's like, yeah, sure. So I, I brought, like, I had my little iPad, I had a book, I had my earbuds. Then, you know, I'm thinking I'm just gonna sit in the stands and just, just watch.
And there was a guy named Ross. Um, he doesn't train with us anymore, but he was, he was a purple belt at the time. And, um. I'm sitting up in the stands and Ross is like waving me down and he's [00:47:00] one of our teammates. And um, he's like, we're over here. And I'm like, what's this we stuff, you know what I mean?
Like, I didn't know it was like a we thing. But yeah, I ended up sitting with the team, um, spent the whole day with them. We went out to a little bar called Bogey in Tempe after, took over the whole place and I was like, this is all right man. And I got the bug, dude, like I wanted to compete. So I started competing way too early, like about six months in, you know, I started competing, got the crap kicked outta me.
But you know, you're a white belt, you know, still overweight. I actually got myself to, I think I was super heavy, so I started out 240 pounds when I walked through the door and I got myself to super heavy in six months. Um, so what is that? Two 20, I guess two 20. Um, and then I, I worked my way down to, um, what do they call it?
Um, middle heavy or light heavy, whatever. It's 1 95 and then middle weight. And I've gotten down as low as the lightweight, but now I'm just, I just do middle weight. [00:48:00] But yeah, so it's like, you know, 60 pounds, something like that. I lost just, uh, getting myself ready for tournaments and I was hooked, dude. I, you know, if we were, if we, if there was a tournament, I was doing it, you know what I mean?
I wanted, I wanted to just compete and I fell in love with doing like I-B-J-J-F, not because the I-B-J-J-F is so great, but because like. The team, like, we're going to, you know, San Jose, we're going to Vegas, we're going to, you know, orange County, we're going to la you know, and it's so much fun, dude. I had so much fun competing.
I still do. I still do. But
Riley: I
Alex: yeah, that was,
Riley: sometime.
Alex: I was, I was 40, I was 40 years old.
Riley: so we
Alex: Yeah, I was 40 years old and
Riley: 38, right? We were in that same,
Alex: Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, people, I, I'm 53 now and people ask me like, you know, how do you keep yourself going? And, you know, blah, blah, blah. Honestly, man, like I don't let people project their, I don't, can I [00:49:00] cuss, can I say one bad word?
I don't let people project their bullshit on me. Like, oh, I'm too old for this. Or, oh, when, you know, I can't do this anymore. I can't do that anymore. You know what, let's find out, dude. Like, it's easy to sit on the side of the mat and say you can't, and there's another thing to try and figure out, oh wait, maybe I still got something in the, in the tank.
Right? Um, I got a great compliment today from a young guy, you know, he's like, man, I want, I want to do this at, at, at, at your age. And I was like, I wanna do this at 80, bro. Like, what are you talking about? Like, think bigger homie. You know what I mean? So, um, but yeah, so I don't know. I'm sorry I got off, off track there.
But yeah, I mean, so when, when we, when I started, when I started competing, I did the first tournament I ever did, I got moed to. Different rounds by guys that were about to get their blue belt. And I was just a ragdoll dude. They just beat the cr. It's, I think there's a video of it somewhere. It's [00:50:00] unwatchable.
Like, I'm just getting, I didn't know what an Ezekiel choke was,
Riley: you
Alex: it turns out I was in one for a good four minutes without passing out. So my neck hurt for like a good month. Um, what else? Uh, I got smashed by the second guy. And then, um, the second tournament I did, it was one and out, one and done. I got killed.
And I told Paul, I was like, I was like, I'm not, I'm not gonna lose anymore. I'm wanna lose anymore. And Paul's like, okay. Like, you know, good luck with that. And I went like a year and a half without losing a single tournament without, without losing a single match. And I competed a lot. I compete a lot at Blue Belt.
At Blue Belt. I was doing 10 to 13 tournaments a year.
Riley: nice. Yeah. That's significant.
Alex: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Purple Belt was about the same. And, uh, yeah, it was, um, anyway, I love it, man. It keeps me going.
Riley: Funny. You said you were in a, in a white belt, Ezekiel choke for four minutes. The reason you lasted [00:51:00] for four minutes 'cause it was a white belt, Ezekiel choke, but half the time,
Alex: The white belt.
Riley: half the time it,
Alex: Yeah. Yeah. It was a, it was a choke.
Riley: to cave in your neck.
Alex: Yeah,
Riley: I,
Alex: dude. I didn't know what was happening. All I know is like, okay, well I'm not going to sleep. It hurts, but I'm okay. So yeah. One of those things.
Riley: yeah. It's funny.
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: who's not in the juujitsu world, this Ezekiel will choke you, wrap your arm around the back of a guy's neck and you take your forearm and you press it into his, his throat. Right.
Alex: Yeah,
Riley: if it's done incorrectly, it's on your trachea. If it's done correctly, it'll be on your, your carotids.
But yeah, I
Alex: yeah.
Riley: like you don't survive it. If it was on your carotid, you can only survive it. It's on your trache, but that's
Alex: No,
Riley: that hurts.
Alex: it's one that hurts. Like hell yeah. It hurts like hell. Um, and, you know, um, I've had a few injuries. Um, the first significant injury I ever had was a, I, I tore my groin, uh, pretty [00:52:00] bad. It was like a pop, pop, pop on the groin. And, uh, it was white belt, like maybe three stripe, white belt, something like that.
In, in the, at the Vegas open when they had the Vegas open. Um, it was in the semi-final. And I tear my groin. And this is how well my wife knows me. This is how like she gets me like no other, um. I, I beat the guy in the semi-final, and back in the day there was the, um, gosh, man, it was like the Las Vegas Sports Center or athletic center or something.
Just imagine like a basketball court that's four feet lower than the stands right where you sit. So there's a platform basically that you're, you know, so you're kind of looking up at people like that are on the rails. And I, I'm in the, i, I come outta the bullpen and I'm standing, waiting for my turn to go into the final.
And I'm talking to Amy, she's standing above me, and I was like, I don't think I can do this. Like, my groin really hurts. I, I think I, I think I screwed it up really bad. [00:53:00] She says to me, she goes, if you don't do it, you're gonna be unbearable. Just go do it. I was like, all right. And I went in, I won. She was right.
I, I would've been, I would've been so upset with myself had I not at least tried. But yeah, I won that match. Um, it was not exciting. But, uh, after that I wasn't off the mats for too long, you know, I taped it up and, you know, kept going. But yeah, I've had that, I've had, um, some minor, you know, injuries to my knees, some meniscus surgeries.
Um, a partially torn LCL, um, and then, and then just the regular bumps and bruises, all the sprains and stuff on fingers and wrists and stuff like that. But nothing too bad. Yeah.
Riley: I
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: people. I was
Alex: But yeah.
Riley: Something's been tweaked for the last 12 years. You know? It's like,
Alex: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Riley: haven't had any real serious injuries, but I've had, I'm, I'm just, you know, you're always sore.
Alex: Yeah. Always.
Riley: sore are my
Alex: Yeah, yeah,
Riley: always sore, so there's that.[00:54:00]
Alex: yeah. That, that's very true, man. That's very true. And um, yeah, if there's somebody that, you know, listens to the show, uh, that is, uh, you know, even considering doing it, I don't care how old you are, you can get some juujitsu in, man. You can, you can do something. You know what I mean?
And it'll pay off. Like I said, it, it, it changed the course of my life. Um, you know, I quit my corporate job to do my academy full time, and, uh, no regrets, man.
Riley: Let's talk about that. Um, I do, I've got it on my list. So that's just one thing I really want to ask you about. Um, but
Alex: Okay.
Riley: about real quick, just, you started at 40, you competed
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: years, and you said, you know, up through Purple Belt anyways, you were competing a lot. Um, you didn't go past that
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Riley: you still competed a lot at Brown and Black, but your, um,
Alex: Oh yeah, absolutely.
Riley: a,
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: it doesn't matter
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: are, that there, you can get some juujitsu in. It's a different version though, isn't it? It's not quite, quite the same as a [00:55:00] 20 year old's gonna do.
Alex: Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of things that, you know, my, my, my body is, um, I, I'm not saying it can't do, um, it doesn't want to, and I have to force it, you know? Um. And I don't wanna get to that point. Right. Um, there's things that I could probably do better. Like, uh, I had a buddy of mine on my podcast, uh, this guy Josh, uh, shout out to yoga machine.
Uh, he has a, um, um, a, a video on BGA fanatics, sorry, uh, stretching like fit, I think it calls me like flexible over 50 or something like that. And, you know, he was just telling me like, you know, you don't have to be flexible to do yoga. You know, it helps to be warmed up, you know, to do it, but you don't have to be flexible.
So that I, that kind of changed my perspective on it, and I think I'm gonna give it a try, but, you know, there's things I, I, I could have been better to my body when I was younger, but I wasn't. So that's, you know, out of the, that's outta the picture. But moving forward, I, I can, [00:56:00] um, you know, there's things like, oh gosh, man, to say it's different is, is really difficult for me because I was never a 20-year-old doing juujitsu.
I don't know what that's like, you know what I mean? I was, I just, I just never was, I was old, always, always older. So I only know what I know. But yeah, I mean, me compared to, you know, some of like, you know, some of my students, like, uh, a young guy, uh, Justin, he's just a super athlete and you know, in my twenties I probably could keep up with him, you know what I mean?
But now it's like, imagine being like, um. Like a, uh, like an older linebacker in football, you know what I mean? You can't chase down runners, but you can cover that hole 'cause you know where it's coming from, right? You can kind of see things coming. And that's what keeps me on the, keeps us, you know, active and, and how do I, how did, how did somebody put it effective, effective on the mat Like, we're not playing catch up 'cause we know what's coming. Like, we could see it coming. So Yeah. So I, it's really difficult for me to, to say [00:57:00] like, you know, um, it's a different type type, type of gene suit, and it is, you're, you're right about that. But I just, I I have no frame of reference for,
Riley: only type, you know?
Alex: you know, before 40.
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. So it we're right, we are right.
Riley: doing it and we're in our, you know, I'll, I'll be 50 this year and you said you're 53 and we're still doing
Alex: Yeah. 53.
Riley: and, and
Alex: man. Absolutely.
Riley: a lot of 20 year olds you can choke out, right?
Alex: Oh yeah. Oh yeah, absolutely.
Riley: Take that 20 year olds
Alex: You know, for now, for now for now, like I, we, we got a kid, um, we've got a kid named Ben. He's, uh, 15 years old and he's a, he's, he's, he's, he was, he was a big kid. So at 13 he started coming to the adult class and we're ragdoll in him, you know what I mean? Like, we're just messing with him now.
He is like putting up a real fight, you know what I mean? So let's just say it's just a matter of time before Ben either, you know, hopefully he, lets [00:58:00] go. That's all I'm saying when I chat.
Riley: My, uh, my 18-year-old son just this previous week to the date we're recording this, submitted me for real, for the first time he ever has, and he's, he's, uh,
Alex: that's a good day, man.
Riley: day and, you know, I'm sitting there like caught in an arm bar and he, he transitioned great from a triangle to an arm bar and rolled me over and I'm like, you little sucker man.
But you know, he's, he's, he's, uh, he got it, he got it legit. And I had to
Alex: I love it. Yeah.
Riley: man, that was the first one that I could not stop,
Alex: That's so cool. Yeah. Good for him. Good for you too, man. It means you're, you're training them, right? If they can get the, they can get their instructor. They can, they can get anybody.
Riley: crap though. 'cause now he's bigger and bigger than I am. So there's that too. You know
Alex: I know, dude. I know. Yeah, those days, the days of beating 'em up are over. So Yeah, I hear you.
Riley: like, it's gonna be, you know, that was your first time, but you know, you'll get another one here soon, and then you'll get another one sooner than that. That, that, that
Alex: Yeah,
Riley: between him catching dad's gonna get [00:59:00] closer and closer, right?
Alex: yeah, for sure, for sure. Can I, can I add something to, um, you know, being, you know, our age and, and staying on the map, um, and, and I'm not, and I'm not trying to talk you up, but your product, your salt electrolytes is so freaking good, dude.
Riley: man.
Alex: you sent me a sample, you sent me some samples and I was, I was, I was hooked.
And you know, full disclosure, you are, you are, um, a supporter of my podcast. You know, you're, you're, you're a sponsor of my podcast and I, and I love that. Like I do a salt packet in the morning, right, with my breakfast, and then I do a salt packet in the afternoon, basically like, um, I'll put it in my water and then I don't let it, I don't drain the water.
I don't drink at all. I just keep refilling it. So I have that flavor. But I do soup two, I do two salt packets a day. It, sometimes I'll do three. It is, it is Arizona, so I'm, if I'm outside, I'll do three. But I'm telling you, man, like I can feel a significant difference when I'm taking them consistently than when I don't.
[01:00:00]
Riley: It's interesting, man. 'cause I've been, um, taking, I've always kind of known to take 'em in the morning, but I don't always do it, you know, and I, I have
Alex: You gotta do it. Yeah,
Riley: then man, it, it lights me up and I, it it's fun to
Alex: yeah,
Riley: it's my product. So you obviously I'm biased, but I notice it.
I do feel it. I'm like, gosh, why don't I do this every day?
Alex: yeah.
Riley: but
Alex: got to, man. You [01:01:00] got to. Yeah.
Riley: man. Um, listen,
Alex: of course.
Riley: you know, 'cause that what you're saying about this is, is, uh, again, it's like you said, you don't really have a frame of reference, um, what it was like to do jujitsu's 20-year-old and I wrestled as a kid.
So I kind of have that, some of that frame of reference and I know it's just a lot
Alex: Yep.
Riley: Right. And, and I think one of the things
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: know, older athletes, especially if you're gonna start any sport, man, they wanna start triathlon. You start running. Ease into that thing, man. Ease into it.
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: You know, you mentioned earlier, climbing that hill on your bike, keeping your heart rate under 1 65. It's like, monitor that stuff, see where you perform best and take time off to recover and you know, let those legs relax and, and you know, whatever it happens to be, there's a way to
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: and do it in
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: I'm a proponent, I guess, and you, you reflect on this with me here a little bit and tell me your opinion, but you don't wanna do something. You're starting [01:02:00] so you don't wanna dive in so deep that you are hurt and discouraged. You want to do it at a pace where
Alex: Mm.
Riley: where you can be consistent. Right.
Alex: Yeah,
Riley: I know that that would be, if I was giving advice, that would be something I would tell people in any athletic endeavor they're
Alex: yeah, yeah. Absolutely, man. Like you and I did it wrong and we got away with it. It's flat out it's just the truth. We did it wrong and we got away with it. How many people did you see come and go due to injuries or just burnout, whatever that we're doing that we're training with us, right? We all have that fear missing out, right?
That fear that that FOMO fear missing out. And you know, you show up to every open mat and you go to every tournament, you go to, every comp class, you go to every, you know, every class you can. We just got away with it, dude. Like it had, I, you know, had I known truly like I, I kind of knew, but I, I. I really didn't listen to my, you know, my, my inner voice that this [01:03:00] is a marathon.
And it doesn't matter what age you start at, you're not gonna catch up to anybody. You know, that's, that's just the way it is. You're gonna learn at your pace, but if you don't take care of your body, you will not see a finish line of any sort. Right? Not that there is a finish line, but like, if you're trying to, you know, do a, a, a two and a half month workup to a tournament, you're not gonna see that tournament healthy.
That's just the way. It's
Riley: Yeah.
Alex: because you're, you're, you're pushing your body beyond its limit. And bro, at 40 we got limits, man. You know, we gotta listen to our body. And, um, yeah, I mean, especially now, like, I'm getting ready for pans and I wrote out my, my training plan weekly, and I'm not deviating from that plan.
There's not gonna, if, if I'm in a class that I'm teaching and somebody goes, coach, are you rolling today? Nope, not rolling today.
Riley: to say,
Alex: What? It's hard, dude. It's really hard because you wanna be a body. We want to help them get better, but the reality is like, I'm still competing and I gotta take care of my body too.
You know? [01:04:00] Um, and then I always ask the question, where were you at? 6:00 AM just saying, I'm just saying I was there rolling.
Riley: Yeah, that's a
Alex: But, um
Riley: teach the day classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and oftentimes I'm there in the evenings also, know, and
Alex: mm-hmm.
Riley: young guys will be like, man, I want to get around in with you. And I'm like, dude, I was here this morning, bro. I'm, I'm, I'm the
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: tonight.
We're, we're done tonight.
Alex: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And then, you know, we, I've got some weightlifting days in there too, so that plays into it. I gotta have my day off, you know, that type of thing. So it's, it's, it's, it's hard. It, it's, yeah, it, it's, it's not hard because I love it. It's hard because I have to say no to that passion sometimes.
Riley: man, that's, uh, that's good. I wanna write that down 'cause that's just, that's some good, good wisdom there. Oh.
Alex: Thank you.
Riley: talk about this man. So you, you, you said, what year did you quit your, your job and went into the, your school? Or started your school?
Alex: It was, uh, [01:05:00] November 1st of, uh, 2023. Um, can I, can I tell you the story real quick?
Riley: yeah, I, that's exactly what I
Alex: So,
Riley: 'cause I wanna know what that,
Alex: yeah.
Riley: looked.
Alex: So let, let's start from the very beginning. Okay. So I'll, I'll try to make it as quick as I can. I, I kind of ramble, so cut me off if you need to.
Riley: We're here for
Alex: I'm sitting in traffic. Right on. I'm sitting in traffic in my corporate job.
I'm on my way to a meeting that I don't want to go to, to a client that is just not gonna spend money. I know I'm spending my wheels. I am gridlocked. Gridlocked. Like we're, this is an eight lane fricking highway, and then we're not moving. Okay. It was a trans, and I hadn't even gotten on that highway yet.
It was a transition from the 60 to the I 10 going towards Phoenix. And I'm just sitting in traffic and it's, uh, it's um, gosh, man, I wanna say it was like January of 2020 and I call a buddy of mine that we had, we had talked about, you know, [01:06:00] buying into a gym or, you know, doing stuff like that. And I called him, I was like, Hey, you wanna just open an academy?
And he is like, yeah. I'm like, okay, cool. So my former partner who I bought out, um, uh, his name's Chris, uh, great dude. He, he opened another academy. They're doing really well. Um, but, uh, Chris and I decided that we're gonna open an academy and, and he, he, uh, he was a stay-at-home dad, so he was gonna run the place during the day.
I would teach in the mornings and the evenings and yeah, we would kind of do our thing. So we opened up in Aug. We, we, we incorporated in February, I believe, of 2020. And then the world shut down and we're like, do we man, do we do like online stuff? Because, uh, we're going like, we're doing this. You know what I mean?
And I was like, what do we do? And I, I actually had a conversation with a really good friend of mine, [01:07:00] mentor, you know, just an amazing guy. And I was asking, I was like, what do you think? And he says, he says, buddy, he goes, if you open a gym tomorrow, I would sign up with you tomorrow. He goes, but I need a place to roll.
He goes, why don't you find a place that's like month to month? You rent the place out, you know, you build your clientele until you get the spot that you want and you know, you move forward that way. And we did. And it worked out like crazy 'cause we didn't do brick and mortar until August of 2020. And by then people were really tired of being told what to do, you know?
And the government was writing checks, right? They were writing checks. So these people are staying home. They got nothing going on and they got money. So we outgrew the place in three months. Luckily
Riley: tell me
Alex: we had,
Riley: I'm really interested in that.
Alex: yeah, 1500 square feet, okay. In a little shopping center. I got nothing. Shopping center, most of the spots in that shopping center were empty, so they were eager to get people in there [01:08:00] 'cause it was COVID and no one was renting property.
Nobody's rent commercial space. So, um, so they were eager to get people in and we negotiated a month to month deal and they were cool with it. So we fixed the place up, we painted it, we changed out all the lights. And man, we made it look really nice. And I remember we put down the flooring, we measured out where the maps were gonna go.
'cause they had been ordered, but they weren't in. And a week before we opened, we laid down the flooring, got the bathroom all set up, and we're standing there in this space with no mats, but it's ready to go. And the mats we're gonna show up the following Friday. This was, this was actually Saturday the week before we opened.
And um, we get a call from FedEx and the guy's like, Hey, where do you want your delivery?
Riley: it was
Alex: And we're like, what delivery? Yeah. We got to do, we just got the tool [01:09:00] around on our maths for a week before we opened. It was awesome. It was awesome. It was, was like friends open mats, you know what I mean? Like every day, you know, just, and it was ours.
It was ours, man. It was so freaking cool. And, um, yeah, we had our, we had our grand opening, got in a little trouble, but we had our grand opening. People didn't like the fact that we had a bunch of people in there, but, uh, yeah. So we got three months later, three months later, we had so many people in that small space that we had to do like a group and B group.
It was like just chaos. And we outgrew it in no time. And then luckily we had found another spot that we were negotiating a long-term lease that we're in, we're in that spot now. And we just asked the guy like, Hey, can, can we just, can we just move in? You know, we'll start paying you. And well, they, they were gonna renovate and tear down the wall, build showers and all that stuff.
They're like, we just need, we need to be in there. And the guy's like, cool, do it. So we're trying to figure out how they were gonna build the showers and how they were gonna do the renovations while we [01:10:00] were in business. And finally we didn't do the showers, thank goodness. Um, but um, we got the place. Uh, dude, it's hard enough getting people outta there now.
People just love being in there. Imagine if we had a shower, there'd be a line for the showers. I'd never get any work done. Um,
Riley: have showers, so
Alex: because people think my job is juujitsu, right? Yeah. Yeah. The job, the job is my business. Juujitsu is my, the fun part of the business, right? Um, and I'll never complain 'cause I have the best job in the world, but it's, uh, it's, it's work.
It's a fun job, but it is a job, right? So, um, but people just love hanging out and if you give 'em an opportunity to, they will. They just won't, you know? And I want to usher them out so I can clean and get ready for the next stuff for get on a call or do you know, whatever. Um, but yeah, so, so I was, I was doing my corporate job and finally we got to a point where we had gotten so big that [01:11:00] it required more and more and more of my attention.
So I was half-assing two things. So, you know, talked to my wife got, we got in a position where we can make this transition, you know, from my job to the academy. And, um, I switched to a different company and I told Amy, I said, I'm gonna do one year at this company and then I'm gonna do the academy full time.
So it was November 1st of 21, I believe it's 21. 21, yeah. It was 21. And, um, I start my first day, right? Selling, doing my thing November 21st of 22. I'm sorry, November 1st of 22. I walk in to quit. And like, I can't believe I'm doing this. Like I'm about to walk away from a great salary plus commission making you know, really good money and I'm gonna do this jujitsu thing full time.
And the whole time it wasn't like I didn't believe in myself. I was so concerned about what [01:12:00] everybody's going to think, because you gotta be nuts, dude. You know what I mean? You're 48 years old, you know, you're, you're, you're gonna go into this business that is for, you know, kids basically, right? For younger people.
And you're gonna quit this job that you work so hard to build this career that you built. Uh, you work so hard to build. But I was like, Nope. I'm, I promised myself this is what I was gonna do. I'm gonna do it. So I go to my boss's office and I knock and no answer. And, uh, oh crap says, is not going like I expected.
So I went to the bathroom and I'm just kind of washing my hands and my boss's boss, the VP of building services, walked in, this guy named Tim. Great guy, great guy. And, uh, I said, Hey Tim, where's Brian today? And he goes, um, oh, um, Brian prefers to work at home when he is getting ready for a big, uh, sales meeting and you guys have your sales meeting next week.
I'm like, oh, great. You got a minute.
Riley: Yeah.
Alex: [01:13:00] So, yeah, so, uh, the, the, the story in the office was, there was an email that went out at 8:00 AM saying, congratulations, Alex Martinez on your, on your first year with, you know, the company. And then at noon there was another email that went out that said Alex Martinez no longer works for the company.
So yeah, that was my big goodbye to the, to that company. So anyway, I went, started doing it full time and um, you know, it wasn't, it wasn't that my partners and I, like our relationship really didn't change because I was there all the time now. 'cause they were there during the day, and I would be there in the mornings and the evenings and, you know, we would kind of swap out.
They would leave. I would come and Right. We were at each other's throats from like, week three, you know what I mean? There's just like, we had such differences of opinion and it wasn't like I'm a difficult person to work with. So I, believe me, trust me, I am a big, I was a big part of the problem. And finally we just had a meeting and they're like, [01:14:00] why don't you just buy us out?
And I'm like, uh, okay, yeah, sure. You know, and, and you know, I bought them out. They opened another academy and, uh, like I said, they're doing, they're doing really well. Um, but then I'm drinking through this fire hose because they did all the day-to-day stuff and now they're not there to do that anymore.
And I gotta learn a lot of this stuff. And it was like, like I said, drinking from a fire hose. And my wife wanted to help me. I'm trying to explain to her like the anxiety that I have. Right? And I remember one time Amy's doing, doing payroll, and our payroll system is like, uh, it's better now, but it was like glitching, you know?
And she's getting frustrated. She's getting frustrated. I'm like, this thing's not working. And I'm like, okay. I said, now take this energy and go teach a class. That's my life day to day, right? Like, I have to like get back in the zone, like, okay, it's time to go teach, you know, whatever. Um, it was, [01:15:00] uh, it, it was quite, quite the experience, man.
Um, but then, you know, I got my feet under me, got some processes in place. Uh, got a great, um, you know, um, in, in-house help. Uh, you know, my, uh, my employee, uh, Taylor, she's, she's a good friend. I call her my employee. She's a good friend, but she works for me. Um, she does my front desk, you know, she learns sales, she learned her system, she manages the coaches.
She does a lot of the stuff that I just don't have time to do. And now we've evolved to the point where I need to pull some of that responsibility from Taylor 'cause I need her to focus on other things. And I hired a virtual assistant, so the virtual assistant's handling a lot of the tedious stuff, you know, the emails, all that stuff.
And, um, yeah, we're, we're, we're chugging along. I don't even know if I answered your question, brother. 'cause I'm just rambling.
Riley: it is funny 'cause you're kind of going right down the list of questions I have for you. 'cause I, I did want to
Alex: Sweet.
Riley: it here. Like, when you started your school, what was it like? And it sounds like, you know, you,
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: of grew because of COVID because no one [01:16:00] else had a place to roll
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Riley: guys weren't willing to be open
Alex: Yeah,
Riley: you know, buck the
Alex: yeah, yeah,
Riley: had a clientele fairly quickly and then,
Alex: yeah,
Riley: you know.
Alex: yeah. Well, you know, like I, I will, I will give, um, I will give, um, you know, a lot of credit to, um, just the, the people that we surrounded ourselves with, um, they were amazing. They were just amazing. And, um, you know, it's not so much. Yeah. Yes, you're right. We did buck the system, and I'm not, it's not my proudest thing, but at the time I was like, you, you can't take this away from me.
You know what I mean? And, and I, and I tell my students that all the time is like, one thing that COVID taught me is that this can be taken away from you. You know what I mean? Whether it's injury, whether it's the government telling you can't do it anymore, it can be taken away. That's why like these moments are super precious.
And I [01:17:00] tell 'em like, you guys gotta enjoy like the moment because this team, the way it sits now, will never be together again, ever. It's gonna change tomorrow. This team is gonna change. Tomorrow someone's gonna move away. 10 people are gonna join, 20 people are gonna quit. You know what I mean? Like, we're gonna be a different team next year, you know, of, of the, of the people.
That started with me on day one. I mean, there like, we signed like 20 something people before we opened. There might be three people still there, you know what I mean? So it's a and and and people have come and gone.
Riley: Yeah.
Alex: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, and so many people have come and gone and, and it, you know, we came up in a, in, in a time where like if there was a purple belt on the mat, you know, when we were training, we're like, whoa, he's a purple belt.
This is awesome. And if there were two bla two black belts on the mat and they were rolling against each other, ain't [01:18:00] nobody else rolling. We're just watching. 'cause this is gonna be a barn burner. Yeah. Yeah. So now, like, I, I tell my students like, you guys got purple belts, you got brown belts, you got black belts, blue belts, you got all this knowledge on the mat and you're missing training.
Like, I don't get it. I, I, I don't understand it, but, but it's just a different time, you know? Um, man, if I had five, 10 black belts, like, like my instructor does, like he, he, he has a, now it's like nothing, right? There's just 10 black belts on the mat and you go over there and train.
Riley: yeah.
Alex: Like, I'm thinking if I was a white belt and I had 10 of these guys that could help me, I would be here every day.
Like, I would be here every single day and I'd, I'd be trying to learn from these guys. But that's just like, we're lifers. It's different,
Riley: Yeah.
Alex: but it's a little frustrating sometimes.
Riley: No, it's, it's a, you know, it's, it's a hard world 'cause it demands a lot of your time and, uh, demands a lot of
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Riley: You know, it's, we always talk about it. It's humiliating at times. Sometimes you just get smashed, man, and,
Alex: Yeah,
Riley: gotta contend with that. And if it's [01:19:00] not really part of who you are, that I could see that being difficult, man, you know,
Alex: yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. And
Riley: those days where I'm just like, I just, I don't want to go in there today. You know, it's only happened a few
Alex: yeah, it's, it,
Riley: it's, it does happen.
Alex: it does happen, man. It does happen there. Just recently I was, I had a day where I just couldn't do anything. Right. I just, there were guys that, you know, I roll with that I, man, I tool around with them and man, a couple of 'em pass my guard, which is like, for people who don't do juujitsu, that's a big deal, dude.
That's such a big deal. And, you know, I got smashed a little bit, but you know what? I came in the next day and I picked the same matches. Right? I always want those back and, uh, let's just say I did much better.
Riley: It's funny man. 'cause that's a, you know, we talk about that in like a job, right? You'll go there and it's like, well, I had a bad day today. I
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Riley: my game. real in Juujitsu too, man. [01:20:00] You, you'll have those days when you just,
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: you can't do anything right? And then there's other days you feel like you can't do anything wrong, you know,
Alex: Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's. It's the best feeling and the worst feeling, you know? 'cause like I always tell myself like, if I'm the best guy in the room, I'm in the wrong room. So it's okay to get beat up, you know? But I also, you know, you've been doing this, we've been doing this long enough that I should know better.
Like, you know, I shouldn't make, be making those mistakes, you know? And, and that's all they are. They're just mistakes. No big deal.
Riley: mistakes. That's right. And we all make 'em, man, you just
Alex: yeah,
Riley: second on a
Alex: yeah,
Riley: I had a kid catch me in a little ankle lock the other day and I just didn't think he knew it. So I kind of took a chance. And
Alex: yeah,
Riley: man, he, he
Alex: yeah,
Riley: and I was like, you little sucker. I didn't know you knew how to do
Alex: yeah.
Riley: was, yeah, I was hedging my bets and I mistakenly
Alex: Yeah. That's wild, man. Yeah, that's a tough one. Yeah.
Riley: So as we, as you, as you said several times, you know, in order to be a good [01:21:00] leader, you have to be a good follower. What, what else makes a good, know, business owner, coach, leader?
Alex: Oh, um,
I struggle with this one, just, just so you know, because this is like the first thing that comes to mind. Um, when you ask for people's opinions, don't shit on 'em. And that, here's what I mean by that. It doesn't matter. How many classes you have or how many levels of classes there are. Like you, you know, you have the beginner class or you know, your 1 0 1 class or whatever you wanna call it.
And then you might have like a mixed levels and then an advanced. There's always gonna be a knowledge gap between those. And someone's always gonna be asking you to fill that gap, right? I get this a lot with the kids' class. Like, there's kids that show up two days a week, they're getting schooled by these kids that show up [01:22:00] five days a week.
And I'm thinking that's just the way it is. But I mean, they put in the work, that's kind of what happens. Um, but I get always, I always get asked like, well, can't we have like a class that's like between those that kind of bridges that gap and right. And I'm like, well, you know, I gotta think of a way. I'm not saying I'm gonna make that happen.
Right? Because, you know, you if in order to add a class, you have to subtract one 'cause there's only so many hours in the day. That's just the way it is. But I can't shoot it down in such a way that that person no longer wants to give me any advice because I, I asked them for their opinion and now I'm about to destroy their opinion, which I've done several times.
And then afterwards I'm like, okay, you know, you gotta do, you know. Um, so I think a, a, a good leader, um. Values the opinion of the, of the, I hate to call 'em [01:23:00] subordinates of the team, because if you're a good leader, that means you put a good team together, right? And that team has a lot of knowledge. I've got several black belts that work for me, right?
And when they say things, it's not coming from a, Hey, you know what would be cool? You know, it's coming from a, you know, what, I've seen work in the past. You know, that's, that's that, that's gotta mean something. And, and for me to, you know, to shit all over their ideas is basically gonna, gonna get them to shut down and not want to give me any more ideas, right?
Because we, as, as the owners, I'm not saying leaders now, this is the owner, very different. We're always looking for opportunity for ideas to shoot down. And I tell my, I, I tell people that all the time. Like, you know, bring me ideas I can shoot down. And, um, but if you shoot 'em down in such a way that it makes them feel like, I hate to use the wor, I hate to use, not worthy, but you know, stupid, right?
Make 'em feel stupid. They're not gonna gimme any more ideas because they don't wanna feel that way. [01:24:00] So, and I'm, I'm yelling at myself right now because I do that, you know, I, I shoot it down like, okay, so what class are we gonna get rid of if we're gonna do that? You know? And they're like, whoa, killer. You ask me for advice, you know, you asked me for a, a recommendation.
So, yeah, that's, that's one thing that I, that I struggle with, that I would say, you know, take things. You don't have to take everything for action, but you have to absorb the information a little bit better than I do.
Riley: It's beautiful, man. It's beautiful. You know, it's, it's funny 'cause I think that's, um, pretty common with leadership minded people, you know? 'cause
Alex: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Riley: the bigger picture, right? So you see exactly what you were saying. Well, what class are we gonna take away in order to fit that in then? And rather than, you know, just take it into account and maybe, you know, add a little, oh, you know, fundamentals class plus you shoot the whole
Alex: Right?
Riley: you know?
Alex: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you know what, you know what's funny? Like, [01:25:00] because you know, at the time when that, when that came up, we didn't, we didn't roll in fundamentals. There was no life sparring in. So we would just do some situational stuff, like the technique that we're teaching versus the counter, because I wanna keep people healthy and I wanna get them in shape so they can go on to the more advanced classes, advanced classes, the, the classes are more sparring.
There's no such thing as advanced in my opinion. But anyway, um, but, um, but these guys, you know, we came up with a compromise. Well, what if we started rolling in the fundamentals classes, right? Which sounds great. However, you've got lazy blue belts that want to go beat up on white belts. So they skip the more advanced class and they go to the fundees, right?
Where they're safe. Where they feel safe. They can feel, I don't wanna say superior, but they feel some kind of way that. You know, they, they're, they're the big dog in the class now. And that yeah, that's, that's where my hangup is with both, you know, bridging that gap, but
Riley: no
Alex: [01:26:00] gotta do it. I get it.
Riley: you make, they're gonna play to the that rule set. Right. And
Alex: A hundred percent. A hundred percent. Yeah.
Riley: you found. I love it, man.
Alex: Yeah. Yeah. And that wild.
Riley: Yeah.
Alex: Yeah. But it's, it's, um, you know, when, when, when, when I, when I opened the academy, going back to when I opened, I was not prepared for some of the things that are happening now, which are, they're awesome, but I wasn't like, how should I put this?
I wasn't, I wasn't ready to allow myself to feel like we had kind of arrived because it's always like, I'm always searching for that next thing. And I, and I'm guilt so guilty of that. Like, I can't enjoy the moment. But there was one day, you know, we have, uh, there was a time when there, the kids gotta move up.
They're just too big to roll with five year olds and they're, you know, [01:27:00] they're, they might be a little undersized, but it's time to bump 'em up into the adult class. So I have a, I have a teens slash adult class that I teach, so the teens can kind of transition, you know, into there. Yeah, so we had, so I have a Little Warriors that's like four years old to about six, seven to 11 is a, is a youth, and then 12 and up, you know, they move up.
I had the very first student that started in a Little Warriors join the adults class or join the teens class.
Riley: the way through. Yeah,
Alex: Yeah. And that was like, I had to kind of absorb that moment because like, I didn't make a big deal about it until the end of class. You know, we're all high fiving and stuff. And I'm like, Steven, I said, you were a, you were a little warrior.
He's like, yeah, blown away, man. Like, that was such a big moment for me as, you know, as a coach obviously, but as an owner, I'm like, that's that's pretty amazing. [01:28:00] That's pretty amazing. 'cause like, like we said, you see so many people come and go, you know, how many people are gonna, and, and now like someday Steven, I don't know, hopefully I'll be putting a black belt on him someday and he'll be like, starting from four years old, you know what I mean?
Into, or he was maybe six, it might have been six when he started, but, uh, it's gonna be a special day when, when I do put that black belt on him.
Riley: Yeah. It's funny 'cause probably in his mind, this is just what you do. You just come to Little Warriors and
Alex: Yeah,
Riley: thing you know you're in adult class. 'cause it's just, that's just life
Alex: yeah,
Riley: to you, that's a different thing to realize. You just raise that kid up
Alex: yeah.
Riley: way.
Alex: Yeah. It's, it's wild man. Yeah. He, I literally, I've seen him grow up. In the academy. It's, it's fantastic, man.
Riley: Uh, think that is super cool, man. And, you know, and that's oddly where I want to go next. You know, when you're talking about casting that vision for people, um, 'cause you know, if we're
Alex: Hmm.
Riley: we're in that coach position. Right. And, you are, you're trying to get that blue belt all the [01:29:00] way to Purple Belt without quitting.
You know? What, what,
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: what advice do you have on that?
Alex: For, uh, for the coaches or for the, uh, for the, for the, uh, student,
Riley: and
Alex: for me. So I look at people, especially my, especially my staff, like my, my coaching staff, I don't look at them for who they are right now. I look at them for who I think they could be five years from now. And like, if I hire a kids' coach and he's green, I know he's not gonna be a great kids' coach the first two years, and I just gotta coach him up.
Right. And then I kind of give him a longer leash as we go. But in five years, he's gonna be the best kids coach he ever had. Right. And at that time, they forget that they were green. Right. And now they're, you know, they're, they're, they're awesome and they kinda, you know. They just kind of forget those things.
But those are things that [01:30:00] I, I see. And I, I take a lot of pride in that, you know, when I have somebody with me that long and they kind of grow into what I think they could be. And it's the same thing with students. Man. I tell students all the time, I, I, I, I have a, just a speech that I give every single year and it's about showing up.
And I was like, it has nothing to do with showing up in here because I expect you to do that. Like, I, that's my expectation for you, for you to be here. I said, what about five years from now at Thanksgiving? Are you gonna show up as an overweight, used to do juujitsu? Or are you gonna show up as a purple belt and bore the shit out of everybody around you about how awesome it is to be a purple belt in Jiujitsu?
You can show up one of two ways. It's all up to you. Right? You could show up and be like, oh yeah, I used to do that. And then I started playing pool or whatever the hell you did. Right? Pickleball, we're losing people to pickleball. I swear to God. I can't, I, I don't know that one man.
Riley: man. That's,
Alex: Anyway, don't get me start.[01:31:00]
Don't. Yeah, dude. I freaking hate pickleball, dude. The first time I heard I, I got exposed to pickleball. I was actually playing golf and I shanked the ball and it was like by a clubhouse, whatever. And I go out there and I hear this noise and I'm like, in my car going, what the, what is that noise? And somebody goes, oh, that's the pickle ball.
That's what the ball sounds like. I'm like. Fucking pickleball. So anyway, so we start losing jujitsu people to pickleball, and I'm like disgusted with it. But anyway, where was I? Um, vision? Yeah, so
Riley: That's so
Alex: you can show up as a pickle baller, or you can show up as a juujitsu purple belt. That's really like, and the best part of that is you are fully in control of how you're gonna show up, right?
If you show up to class ready to go, you're hydrated, you're rested, you've got a great mindset, you're gonna have a great class. You are in full control of all those three things. If you show [01:32:00] up at Thanksgiving and you're just still outta shape, you know, you're still smoking, you're still, you know, drinking, drinking every night, or if you show up as a purple belt, that's like fit as hell and you're just different, you're in control of that too.
You know, that's the best part about this man. You're in full control of how you're gonna show up.
Riley: Oh, that's beautiful, man. Um, real quick, I know we're, we're an hour and a half into this thing already. I,
Alex: Are we really
Riley: Can you
Alex: sweet?
Riley: I, uh, and I, yeah, I wanna respect your time, but I'm, I'm super enjoying the conversation. I can do another hour and a half as far as I'm
Alex: Yeah,
Riley: um,
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: your podcast, man, BJJ, Fox Cast and, um, you know, again, my, my Electrolyte company is a sponsor of your podcast.
We love what you guys are doing, and, but I, I am. This was another startup, right? This was another thing you went into
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Riley: point in life and had to learn the art form. Right. And, and you know, I'm kind of right in the throes of that here myself, learn how to talk on a microphone and
Alex: Yeah,
Riley: [01:33:00] ums and uhs and likes.
And I still use way too many,
Alex: dude, I'm terrible. Yeah, yeah,
Riley: how did you guys
Alex: yeah,
Riley: one to do that and then two, what to do with it? You know what I mean? You're in the juujitsu space, so you had a subject matter, but also have a very specific
Alex: yeah.
Riley: there too. So.
[01:34:00]
Alex: Yeah. So the idea started in my backyard. It was, had to be like June of 2020. We would sit out there with a whiteboard, like brainstorming the academy stuff like just logos and t-shirts and you name it. We're just like putting all this stuff on a big whiteboard that we had on wheels. And, um, I said, man, we should do a podcast.
Well, podcasting was big because we were all locked down, right? And, uh, we would just listen to podcasts and I was like, we would sit out in my backyard and just drink bourbon and just talk. And we had these great conversations. I'm like, man, we should record these conversations. And it [01:35:00] was almost two years to the day that we hit record for the first time.
So, um, I was in Nashville. My wife and I were in Nashville. Um, my buddy out there was doing a grand opening for Juujitsu school. Um, and, uh, we're sit, or last night there we're at his house, you know, we're having dinner, you know, it was like six or seven of us sitting around a table. And there's a guy that I met, um, he was, uh, he did some kind of studio work, like recording studio recording stuff.
And he did beats for companies. And I was like, Hey man, do you think you could do a beat for like a, like a podcast? I never ended up using that. Should I should probably, I still have it, I should use it. But I was like, do you think you'd do a beat for a podcast? And he is like, uh, yeah, yeah, I guess like an intro.
And I'm like, yeah, like an intro. And he goes, uh, yeah, whose podcast? And I'm like, mine. And then Amy looks at me like, what? I was like, I was like, yeah, as soon as we get back and I got back, I had already been doing some research on microphones and stuff, like recorder, stuff like [01:36:00] that. I knew nothing, nothing about this stuff, but I knew like, people are using 'em.
It might be the right shit. I don't know. So I bought a bunch of lights. I bought a kit that came with like four microphones and the road caster and four crappy headphones. Uh, but you know, I, I set it up in my, in my dining room and my wife is like, that's, it's ridiculous. What are you doing? I was like, I said, do me a favor.
Let's sit down across from each other and let's just have a conversation with these headphones on. Right. We talked for like a good hour and a half,
Riley: Wow.
Alex: just we were immersed in it. It was like just having the headphones in and being locked in with somebody is just, you just talk about all kinds of stuff, you know?
And, um, we haven't done that since. We should probably do a podcast together, my wife and I. But, um, so, you know, like I said before, our [01:37:00] kids moved out, you know, we had this empty house and I turned one of the bedrooms into a studio, and I wanted to have my friend Tiffany as my first guest because she's really, like, she was a, um, like a, uh, like she was into like the bikini fitness, uh, competitions and, you know, she had a blue belt in Juujitsu.
And both things are super hard, right? And I just wanted to talk about, talk to her about like, achieving those types of goals, right? But I was so afraid that I was gonna screw it up, that I had my buddy who's now my co-host as my first guest. So I was like, if I screw it up with him, who cares? I don't even like him, the guy, you know, I jokingly, I love the guy, but, um, but we sat down and I just interviewed him and he's my friend.
Like, I, I learned more about him and that hour and changed that we recorded than I had in like the seven years I've known prior. Known him prior. You know what I mean? So we just like, man, that was fun. That was cool. So I started just [01:38:00] interviewing people. Um. I got really deep into like, I've gotta get like all these big names on my show.
You know what I mean? I want to, I wanna get this guy, I wanna get that guy. And you know, one day I'm at a tournament and I'm like, there's so many cool stories in this room. Like, why do I need to get like a famous person? Like, I'm gonna, I wanna ride their coattails to like stardom. It's not gonna happen, right?
But, so I, I didn't give up on the idea 'cause I did get Chris Hower. I got some people that I really like. Chris Hower inspired me to do Juujitsu. Like when I first started, you know, I wanted to be like him. Like, you know, he was a guy, you know, a little bit older, been doing it a long time, and he's, you know, he's, in my opinion, he's one of the legends in the sport, right?
Um, but, uh, I'll tell you a funny story how that happened. I was doom scrolling on Facebook and I was so mad at myself that I caught myself doing it. And I'm like, well, if I'm gonna be on Facebook, I'm gonna find somebody to get on the show. And you know how it shows, like [01:39:00] Facebook will show you like how, you know, the, the person's last post.
Like when they posted that last post, like he had posted something that said one minute. I'm like, oh, he's still on. So I message him and he messaged me right back. So I message him again, love to get you on the show. He's like, okay, here's my wife's phone number. Call her. She'll set it up. It's like, holy shit.
So I, you know, I, I've gotten him on the show. Um, um, so Scott Burr, um, I. Um, Richard Bressler, rest in Peace, Richard Bressler, he was on the show and you know, so it was like kind of a mix of people remote and people local. 'cause I'd love, people just wanted to kind of be in the studio. They wanted to see it, you know, and it was always the same thing, like, wow, this is cool.
I thought he'd be bigger, you know, like it's just a bedroom, you know? Um, but uh, yeah. So, um, but anyway, um, I did get a few, like Bernardo Faria, you know, stuff like that. And I would've never got them on the show if it wasn't for a good [01:40:00] friend of mine. This guy, Ryan, Ryan works for Meta and when Jiujitsu people get in trouble with Meta, Ryan helps 'em.
So like, um, there's a few people that he helped, like Tom de bla and Bernardo, and they're like, Hey man, if you, if there's ever anything I can do for you, let me know. And he is like, as a matter of fact, my buddy's got a podcast, how about you give 'em half an hour? So that's how I got those guys on, you know, so that was really, that was really cool.
Um, my, my, the, the, the, I love listening to people's stories. Uh, this is not evidence of that 'cause I'm just talking about myself the whole time. But I love listening to your story. I love listening to how, you know, salt electrolytes came about and I still get a laugh when I told you, like, the samples you sent me tastes like stuff I get in Mexico.
And you're like, you're the second person to tell me that, you know, um, the flavors of it, right? But yeah, so, um, uh, but, um, so. It's just basically like listening to somebody's [01:41:00] story and just hitting record. That's all it is, you know? Um, I, I really wish I would've started like as soon as we decided to do it.
'cause really very few people like watch the video, but everybody listens to the audio. So you just need a cell phone. Literally. You just need a cell phone and a, I think you can get like a couple lab mics that hook up to your cell phone for like a hundred bucks. Boom, you got a podcast. You know. Um, but that's been, that's, that's been probably one of the most, how should I put this, man?
One of the, one of the most gratifying projects that I've ever done. It's, I, I really enjoy doing that. Like this is, I don't, I didn't even know we'd gone an hour and a half already, so.
Riley: No,
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: cool, Alex. 'cause I, I, I just had this conversation last Friday. A buddy of mine has asked me like, I know it's a lot of work to edit these episodes and do all this stuff. And I'm like, I know, but it doesn't feel like work to me. I mean, there's some TDM in the editing [01:42:00] process, but this part is one of the funnest things I've ever done that I could ever call, you know, call it work.
Alex: yeah,
Riley: doesn't feel like work. It's just a great
Alex: yeah. It is. It is. And, and, and, and there's times when like, I'll have, I'll have my friends on and we're both, we're both crying. What I, where they, they tell me something that's happened in their life and I'm just like, man, that's, I'll give you an example. Um, my, my friend Amber, um, she's a tattoo artist and, you know, she had a, a rough, you know, childhood, you know, coming up kind of rough.
And she's telling me she's, she's hooked on drugs and she wants to get clean. She desperately wants to get clean, and she's in a house that got raided and she's begging the police to arrest her. And they're like, well, you didn't do anything and you don't have a record. Like you don't have warrants. She's like, you gotta get me out of this.
And that's kind of the [01:43:00] what started that process of her getting out of it. And she's, she's raised an amazing kid, you know, she's got a great career. She's a black belt in Jiujitsu. But it started on that day, and I'm getting chills. I, it started on that day when she was begging a cop to arrest her. I mean, he didn't, 'cause he couldn't, but that's what really, that was the day that it all started to change for her.
And she's had, you know, some hiccups along the way, but I'm super proud of her. I was crying that that podcast really got, really got to me. Um, you know, other friends of mine that, you know, that are, have these, these neurological dis diseases that they can't do anything about. Their body is literally trying to kill them and they're just trying to stay healthy so they can be there for their kids, you know?
All that stuff, man. It's, you know, even, you know, even, uh, Tom de bla opened up about some stuff that he went through as a kid, and I'm like, man, that's wild, man. Why? Why, why do I, why do I deserve to [01:44:00] hear those kinds of stories? Right. And I, I don't, but now I can get to share them with everybody else, and maybe it'll help somebody, you know, one of my 12 listeners, as I say.
Riley: 12. I love it. That's it is fun. You know, you
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: at that tournament and you're looking around. It's going, man, there's so many stories just right here.
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Riley: and this is mostly for my own curiosity, but every person I've invited on this podcast in some way, shape, or form has asked me me, why I'm not that interesting. You know? Do you get that a lot?
Alex: Mm.
Yeah. Yeah. And
it's, it's really, it's really difficult to take someone on a hero's journey that hasn't really done a whole lot, you know? But everybody has a story. Everybody has something in their life that they've gone through, that they've, they've come out the other end and they're just a [01:45:00] better person for it. And it doesn't matter who it is, the person can be 12 years old.
You can find something in there that they've overcome that can help somebody. Um, I get that a lot, man. The, the why, why me? And I'm like, why not you?
Riley: Why
Alex: You know, you, you know. Yeah. And, and, and, and here's, here's the other thing that I, that I, I think about these things when I'm, when I'm interviewing somebody and I'm like, there's something there.
Like I gotta dig into that a little bit more. You know, I gotta ask more question, more probing questions on that because some people will think that their hardships or the trials they've been through are so insignificant that it's no big deal. Wrong, absolutely wrong. You know? Um, I've had some opportunities that I squander.
Um, there's a guy, black belt in Juujitsu, he's a dentist. And we got through about an hour and 20 on the podcast. And I didn't know he [01:46:00] was an alcoholic. He's a recovering, but he was that guy. He was telling me, he goes, I was that guy sitting in the parking lot drinking vodka. 'cause I didn't think anybody could smell it.
And then going to train, I'm like, oh man, that could have helped somebody. And I blew it. Right? So I'm desperately trying to get him back on the show. His name's Robert. Great guy. Great dude. It was. And he reached out to me and he reached out to me asking if he could be on the podcast. And I never, I think I remember him kinda mentioning something and I missed it.
So we just. You know, and then, but yeah, that's, that's an opportunity I squandered. Uh, but there's, I'm sure there's a lot of, there's a lot of people out there that could have benefited from his story.
Riley: That's an interesting
Alex: successful.
Riley: suggest to me, and I'm gonna take him up on this 'cause he, he said, he said he loves listening to the podcast. He loves the, [01:47:00] um, the stories to hear. But he said, he said, some of these people now, now that you've, now that we know their story, have 'em come back on and talk about their specialty and really get into the details of that.
And I thought would be so cool. 'cause, you know, we've had just such a variety of people on here to get into the nitty gritty of
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: specialty is would be such a fascinating thing. Man. I, uh, so I thought I
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: a pretty good idea. And it sounds a little bit like that's what you're saying with this, this guy.
Alex: Yeah. And, and there's, you know, like, um, like, um, I've had, um, a guy out here who's, um, he basically, he and, and, and another person kind of started the whole, um. Tournament scene in Arizona. Uh, Gustavo Dantes, he's been around forever. You know, he, he fought in the first and second, uh, world Championships in Brazil when it was like, when it became the worlds in like the nineties.
Um, he talks about like weighing in [01:48:00] at someone's house the day before the tournament, because that's how they did it. It wasn't like, you know what it is today, right. The prestigious thing that it is today. Um, you know, I, I asked him like, what was it like competing at the iconic ta juka, you know, the, the, the, the arena.
And he goes, the place is the shit hole.
Riley: It was terrible.
Alex: But, you know. Yeah. So, you know, it was one of those things. But, um, his specialty, like you said, and I wanna have him back on the show to do that, is, uh, the mindset game. He, they, he's the, the, the g uh, BJJ mental coach, um, he's has a couple books out and we gotta dig into that.
You know, we just have to dig into it. And that the thing is, with him, you better buckle up because it's gonna be three hours, four hours with him. You know what I mean? So you better be ready to go. So I definitely wanna have him back on.
Riley: would be amazing, man. I, yeah.
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Riley: Well, I'll be looking
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: that one when you do it so
Alex: Yeah, brother. Yeah, man. Yeah.
Riley: let's move
Alex: Yeah. Look,
Riley: some
Alex: [01:49:00] can I ask you
Riley: but what were you about to
Alex: Okay, yeah, please. Yeah. No, no, no. I was gonna ask you why you started your podcast.
Riley: You know, so for me it was, it was one of those, I was on a road trip and I was driving across the Nevada desert and I was doing this loop, this was last, last year. And I was on a salt trip and, and I had an event in, I in Vegas, and I had another one in LA and then I had one in Dallas and then heading back home, right.
So that's a huge loop. That's that triangle is I, uh, 2200 miles or something around that thing. And
Alex: Wow. Yeah.
Riley: in the car, right. And.
Alex: yeah.
Riley: You know, when we get bored, when the creative juices start to flow, right?
Alex: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Riley: think for me, that's what I hate about getting stuck in the doom scroll is I'm not being
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: and I don't have, you
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: because there's something going through your head the whole time.
So it, that was really
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Riley: just get [01:50:00] out there and, and Cruise. And I started realizing like, man, I'm going to these, these events and I'm meeting not just legends in the jiujitsu world, but smart business people and really high level athletes all these people who have attributes that I look up to. And it's not like a few, it's like a whole bunch. And so you used the word squander
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: and I'm like, I don't wanna squander this thing that's going on in my world at this point in history.
Alex: Yeah. Yeah.
Riley: you know, I'm meeting all these people and I'm, I'm, because we're sponsoring events and because we're, you know, part of what's going on, we have this connection, right?
And so it's like, man, I need to do something with this. And that's, that's where the podcast came from. It's like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna have these people on here. I'm gonna
Alex: Nice.
Riley: many of 'em as I can, promote what they've got going on. I'm going to learn from what they've got going on. so these interviews,
Alex: [01:51:00] Yeah.
Riley: it before earlier where this is a bit of a selfish question, man, I'm here to learn.
So this is the coolest opportunity to be able to do
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: you know, it. There's a lot of good that comes of it, so there you go.
Alex: That's great, man. I love it.
Riley: Yeah,
Alex: very, very well said. I, I, I love that. I love, and then 2200 miles will give you a lot of time to think.
Riley: of time.
Alex: Yeah,
Riley: I love that kind of thing. But yeah, I was, by the time
Alex: yeah,
Riley: was over, I was ready to be out the car for a while. So,
Alex: yeah. I'm sure. I'm sure. Yeah.
Riley: man. Well, Alex, this is, uh, this is called the Go Earn Your Salt podcast, and I'd be curious to know what that phrase go earn your salt means to you.
Alex: Oh man, I, I'm, you know, it, it may just be a season in my life, but I, I, um, I really believe that, you know, earning your salt is not just absorbing knowledge, but sharing it [01:52:00] and. It's, um, I don't think you've earned anything until you've given it away. So all the knowledge that you gain in Juujitsu, all the knowledge you gain in life, all the knowledge you gain in your business, whatever it may be, if you're not sharing that with other people, I really don't believe that you're earning anything.
So that to me, earning your salt, you know, whenever I'm looking at a brown belt and there's a good chance they might be ready for their black belt, I always look at who they're mentoring. And if it's nobody, they're not ready.
Riley: go. That's an interesting thing right there, right? Is you just circled that around. I don't know if you realized what you just did, but in order to be a good leader, you gotta be a good follower. And so you, if you're not
Alex: Absolutely.
Riley: you're not leading anyone, you're, you're, you're not ready for that
Alex: You're not. Yeah. Yep. You haven't been a good follower yet. A
Riley: Yeah. Good follower mentors, those who are following him too. Right.
Alex: hundred percent. A hundred percent.
Riley: heard that, um, is a pretty common [01:53:00] theme, I think, in the jiujitsu world, but if you take the business world, you take the athletics world, you know, that's, I think that's a common thread, in the church world, right?
We, it's that way everywhere. It's like, man, you gotta be pouring
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: what you, what you've received, and dang, we always respect those people who do that well. Right?
Alex: Absolutely. Absolutely. They're some of the best people I know.
Riley: Yeah. Um, outside of Jiujitsu, your favorite pastime? Yeah.
Alex: Oh my gosh, I am so hooked, dude. It's, yeah. Yeah. It's, uh, think of, think of something that, okay, think of a sport where you're set up to fail. Okay? You're set up to fail and you have to take your eyes off the target every single time. It can be so frustrating, but man, when you crush a great shot, [01:54:00] it's pretty cool, man.
Riley: It's
Alex: It's pretty cool.
Riley: a few
Alex: Um,
Riley: but that I always tell people, I was like, when you feel that perfect 300 yard drive and you smack it and it goes straight, you're gonna hit, you're gonna hit a
Alex: Yeah,
Riley: ones after that, but you're still gonna remember that perfect one. It's gonna bring you back.
Alex: yeah.
Riley: It's,
Alex: That's the only one you remember, man. Yeah. And, um, you know, the, the thing about golf is, you know, people look at like the professional golfers and think that the amateurs are, you know, could possibly play at their level. Let me just say that we cannot, it's a. Different world. It's like you, you know, we were talking about not having that frame of reference with 20 year olds.
It's like adult worlds versus master worlds. You know what I mean? It's vastly different. Like we're playing the same sport, but it's just two different worlds. Just the [01:55:00] amount of focus those guys have is so incredible. It's so incredible. Now they do hit some bad shots, you know, but, uh, for the most part, uh, I would say, um, someone asked me like how good they are, and I would say the best golfer at your local golf course is not even as good as the worst caddy on the PGA tour.
Riley: And that's probably accurate. It's that's accurate,
Alex: Yeah, yeah,
Riley: Yeah,
Alex: So, uh, anyway, so yeah, I, I, you know, it, it was one of those things I was, I was, um, I was either at home, on my way to the academy, at the academy or on my way home. Like that was my life. And I just wanted to get outdoors, man. I wanted to get outdoors and, you know, I, most times I, I walk when I play, so yeah, I just get a little extra exercise, you know, if you wanna cut weight, walk out in the, in the Arizona summer and, uh, go walk nine holes, you'll, you'll [01:56:00] drop some pounds.
So.
Riley: Holy crap. It's funny, man. 'cause I think that's important. I think when, especially whether you're a businessman and you're focused on that heavily, whether you're an athlete and you've got your sport, you're really participating in a lot, it's a good thing to have another outlet, a hobby, or a, you know, something
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: and that's, that's something about juujitsu.
If there's, if there's one thing that will make me not want to be in the gym, it's, if I don't get my outdoor time, you know, there's a,
Alex: Yeah,
Riley: I'm not
Alex: yeah,
Riley: or running a trail or out there fishing, doing something that's like, I've gotta get out outdoors and, yeah.
Alex: yeah.
Riley: well
Alex: you know what we all have in common man is when, when you get blood work done, we're all vitamin D deficient. 'cause we're just indoors all the time. You know? And you know, when I got my last, uh, well not, not last, but uh, my blood work done after I started playing golf, my doc's like, whatever you're doing, keep doing it.
'cause your vitamin D is great.
Riley: beautiful.
Alex: so it's like, okay, that's cool. [01:57:00] Yeah. So that's, that's a good sign.
Riley: that's great, man. What, uh, what's your favorite band of all time?
Alex: Oh, okay. So this is a little bit, this is a little bit off the rails here, but do you know who, do you know who Melissa Etheridge is? I freaking loved Melissa Etheridge. Dude, I freaking love that band. She was so good back in the day. She's still good. Like, I listened to her today. I'm like, anyway, so, yeah.
Isn't that weird?
Riley: I
Alex: That's a little weird.
Riley: I mean, it is what it is, but I'm trying to remember if I
Alex: Yeah,
Riley: than she had, uh, what was her big song that she had in the nineties? It was like,
Alex: she had, I'm the only one with like the big commercial one where it's on every radio station. Um, there was a Come to My window. That was another one that was on the radio, but she has several albums. Yeah. Yeah. So good.
Riley: I was trying
Alex: So freaking good.
Riley: [01:58:00] other
Alex: I
Riley: besides that one?
Alex: want to Come Over was another one that was a big hit for, um, there's, there's several, but her albums are good, man.
She's so freaking good.
Riley: That's awesome. Um, what's something quirky that people don't know about you?
Alex: I'm afraid of the dark. Swear to God, dude.
Riley: lamp went out
Alex: I'm not proud of this.
Riley: weren't kidding, huh?
Alex: I thought I passed out, so, no. Um, I'll tell you a funny story. I was, I was out on a deer hunt and I parked my truck like, you know, at the farthest point I could. I'm gonna hike in as far as I can and it's pitch dark and I've got a little headlamp right?
And I am, every noise in the woods just scaring the hell outta me. And uh, I was like, I had to, I just laughed at myself. 'cause I was like, okay, so there's like an ax murderer on the off chance. Someone's walking out in the middle, these fricking woods, you know? And [01:59:00] by the way, I have two guns on me. I think I'm okay.
But, um, yeah, dude. Yeah. I'm not kidding. I'm afraid of the dark.
Riley: So people don't know
Alex: It's not, it's not paralyzing. Afraid, but hype. Hype. I'm hyper aware.
Riley: That's funny to,
Alex: Yeah,
Riley: 'cause I, you know, I've been in those situations, especially out in the woods, Ben, you don't know dark until you've been out there. It's,
Alex: yeah.
Riley: neighborhood dark. It's, it's,
Alex: No.
Riley: closet dark.
Alex: Yeah, yeah, dude. Yeah. Yeah. And there's, there's animals, like that's where they live. So I don't know. Anything can happen. Yeah.
Riley: that want to eat you. I, I hear you. Uh,
Alex: I'm, I don't think I've told anybody that, well, my sister knows, but yeah.
Riley: Alex, what's your favorite food?
Alex: Spaghetti and meatballs, hands down my favorite.
Riley: you
Alex: Oh, spaghetti and meatballs. Did I ever tell you about the No. Did I ever tell you about the worst spaghetti and meatballs I've ever had? It was awesome.
Riley: That's fantastic, man.[02:00:00]
Alex: That's my favorite meal, dude. Spaghetti meatballs. I'm a simple guy.
Riley: do you like it noodles down then sauce on top and meatballs, or do you like it all mixed together?
Alex: Noodles down sauce, uh, meatballs, then sauce on top and like, I like the little outside. No sauce on the outside. So you kind of scoop it and it kind of Yeah. You get the right amount with every twist in a fork.
Riley: place in my world for the mix it together thing, man. I,
Alex: No.
Riley: makes like
Alex: No. And people,
Riley: it. I, I'm not eating it.
Alex: bro, have you ever been. Next to a person who's cutting their spaghetti with a fricking knife, they're just cutting it. I'm like, what are you doing? Like, you're ruining. It's a whole concept. The spaghetti is a twist. Anyway, whatever. But yeah. Yeah. Spaghetti meatballs, hands down. Favorite meal.
Riley: bite the better it is. Right.
Alex: Oh, a hundred percent, dude. Yeah.
Riley: in
Alex: Yeah,
Riley: it's not proper. It's gotta, gotta whip your
Alex: [02:01:00] that's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Yeah.
Riley: Tell me the scariest moment of your life, man, it's probably in the dark, I imagine.
Alex: Oh man. Um, and this one's, this one's easy, but it's kinda, it's the man, it's the, it's just hard to talk about. Um, the scariest moment in my life was the, the last time I said goodbye to my mom. 'cause I knew that was gonna be it.
Riley: long ago, was it?
Alex: Nah, it's, uh, two years ago. Yeah. That was, uh, you know, there's a lot of times when, you know, especially when people ask me about, um, you know, Spanish words, like, how do you say this?
How do you say that? And I, I still to this day will say, I don't know. I gotta call my mom and ask her, like, oh, I can't do that anymore. You know? Yeah. [02:02:00] Life got scary then, because that, you know, I, I've, you know, I've had friends pass away, I've had other relatives pass away, but this was the one where I was like, I don't get to, I don't get to talk to her anymore.
That was, that was scary.
Riley: And yeah, that's, it's, it's weird how long that will stay with you too. 'cause I, I hear what you're saying. My dad
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Riley: away in 21 and.
Alex: Oh, I'm sorry, man.
Riley: it's the same thing though. I'll be driving down. There was a spot that I used to, if I was driving my truck I'd, I'd jump on the freeway in, in, uh, on one of the, on-ramps here.
And every time I did that, I'd think, oh, I'll call dad. 'cause I'm gonna be driving here for a minute and I'll just call and chat with him while I
Alex: Yeah, yeah.
Riley: today, man.
Alex: Yep.
Riley: do that. And
Alex: Yeah, yeah. She was, uh, she was my, my biggest supporter in, in the, the, the tough decisions, like quitting my job, all that stuff. So it was cool.
Riley: it's beautiful. Dang. Um, what's another, what's an item on your bucket list? Something you wanna do before you cash it in?[02:03:00]
Alex: Oh, man. Um,
there, there's a few man,
like, I, I don't wanna, I, I don't wanna climb a mountain or, you know, do anything like that. I want to, I, I've always wanted to go to Australia. I don't know why, but that's one of my bucket list items. And if there's something I could do tomorrow, that would probably be it. I, you know, I, I've had, I, I don't wanna say I've had opportunities to go, but I, I could probably go.
I just, I don't know that I wanna be in a plane that long. Like, I like the idea of being there. I just don't wanna get there, you know? But I've always wanted to see Australia, you know? Yeah. But not like
Riley: yeah.
Alex: like the cities, like I, you know, the rural, rural where everything's out to kill you, Australia.
Riley: That's such an interesting thing 'cause there's, yeah, there's not many other countries I really would care to go to, but Australia's one and Castles like I Ireland, that [02:04:00] kind of old European castles,
Alex: Oh, yeah,
Riley: would be so cool.
Alex: yeah, yeah,
Riley: Um,
Alex: yeah. I've been to Co Ireland, which is, if you've never gone to Ireland, go, it's very, it's a very cool place.
Riley: it
Alex: But yeah, like, I, I love, I, I love fantasizing about going to Australia, but I don't want to be on a plane that long.
Riley: Yeah. Well, you have to make, you know, stop somewhere along the way. Just make your way over through
Alex: Yeah,
Riley: down.
Alex: yeah, yeah, yeah. That's probably the way to do it. Yeah.
Riley: Oh,
Alex: this is my simple brain, right?
Riley: I hear you though. That, that would
Alex: Yeah,
Riley: I think that long of a plane trip. I, I don't like, I love flying, I don't like crowds.
Alex: yeah,
Riley: being stuck on an airplane,
Alex: yeah, yeah. But that's a tough, that's a tough one, like the bucket list thing. 'cause I've, I've done a lot of, a lot of cool shit in my life, so Yeah. But that's the one that I haven't done, so that would be cool.
Riley: you ever wanted to skydive?
Alex: No, I have no desire. My sister's done it twice. [02:05:00] And um, I will say this though, I did do a job at a, it was like a, an air, an airport in Eloy. There was like Eloy, Arizona is a very, very small town, but there was like an Air Force kind of thing where they had like a big bubble. Anyway, there was some AC work they wanted us to look at, didn't work out, but Skydive Arizona is in that airport and I saw those pieces of shit airplanes that they bring people up.
I jump out of that freaking thing too. I wouldn't trust that thing to land. Are you crazy? It looked like a FedEx truck. It was a piece of crap. It was like, looked like a FedEx truck with wings. I'm like, what are we doing? People get in that thing for real. I can see why they jump out of it. Absolutely. Yeah,
Riley: That's awesome. That's awesome. Yeah, they can be,
Alex: yeah,
Riley: sometimes, yeah, stuff isn't quite what you expect. You know, you expect this pristine aircraft, but those are just mules,
Alex: yeah, yeah. Like go, go, go and you jump out the door. No, this thing had like, it looked like [02:06:00] a FedEx truck. The back was open and you just jump out the back. I guess I wouldn't know 'cause I'm not doing it, but yeah.
Riley: Do you have a favorite book?
Alex: Um, gosh, man. Um. Favorite book. I, I, I will, I don't know that I could call it my favorite, but, um, it was a book I read every single year, and it was, um, it was a, uh, a, a Sandler, the Sandler Sales System. It was called, you Can't Teach a Kid to Ride a Bike at a Seminar. And that was like my sales bible. So I, I, I used to read that book every year just as a refresher.
'cause that was a system we used at my, at my, my former job. And, uh, I learned a lot from that book, uh, look from my, from my work. But as I don't do a lot of recreational reading, like I'm not really big into fiction. So I like, um, the power of habit comes to mind as one of, uh, probably had a pretty good impact on me.
I, I really enjoyed learning why people do what they [02:07:00] do. But yeah, that's, that's, that's about the only two that come to mind.
Riley: That's cool. I'm gonna have to check that Sandler one out 'cause I, yeah, every once in a while a good sales book is, uh, it's a
Alex: Yeah.
Riley: You learn some, some nuggets in there for
Alex: Well, you know, yeah. So we, when, when we were in, uh, in, when I was in my, my, my former, my former job, um, we would have these big sales meetings and we would talk about the Sandler Sales system and all that stuff. And we'd, we'd talk about, like, maybe dissecting one of the chapters, like, you know, when you talk about money and you talk about, you know, closing and you talk about the post-sale and all that stuff.
And I was like, why don't we talk about the first two chapters? They're all about learning who the hell you are. Right. And not, and not having this, um, this job be your identity. Like your identity is sacred, right? Everything else is just a role you play in life, whether it's your a parent, a, you know, a whatever, a salesperson, a, you know, whatever, [02:08:00] a, an oil person, whatever it is, those are all roles you play.
Your identity is sacred. Your identity is something totally different. So if you fail at one of your roles, it's not who you are, right? That failure is not who you are. I love that chapter, those two chapters. And, but those are the things that to me is the real work. The hard part about learning to sell is learning who you are first.
Mm-hmm.
Hmm.
Yeah. So you put your whole self, you Yeah. Yeah. It's a, those great chapters, but it, like, you put so much into that role that it kind of became who, what you thought you were. Right? So when that role didn't pan out, you think I'm a failure. No, no, you're not a failure. It's just that role didn't work out. You know what I mean?
So that's why you gotta hold your identity sacred.[02:09:00]
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. Oh, absolutely. I know exactly what you mean, dude. Yep. Yep.
Oh man, next for me, um, I really, um, I'd like to open another business, uh, not related to Jiujitsu. Well, it'd be in the Jiujitsu family, like acai and coffee kind of thing. Um, but I've always wanted to have, uh, a good, a good coffee shop. I love, I love coffee, I love cigars, but I'm not really a cigar bar kind of guy, so that, that really doesn't appeal to me.
But there's a, there's a place in Tempe called, uh, Steve's espresso. And in my opinion, they do it right, like all the furniture, well, the exception of very few things, but all the furniture in there is, uh, just stuff you could get at [02:10:00] the fricking, you know, goodwill. You know, it's just cozy, cozy couches, you know, that like literally dinner tables, you know, that multiple people can sit in there.
The coffee is amazing. The staff is, the staff is so good. And they might have four things on the menu if, if, if you can order food, it might be four things. They, they're not trying to be a restaurant. They're a legit coffee shop, and it's one of my favorite places. So, you know, something, I don't know that I would model exactly what they're doing, but I would definitely, um, I would like to have a, um.
Like a Mexican themed, uh, coffee shop. And, um, just because when Amy and I go to Mexico, we hit this coffee shop and their coffee is so freaking good, and it's from Mexico. Um, so, um, that would probably be the next thing I do.
Yeah. Yeah. It's so cool. [02:11:00] Ah, well maybe they'll make it up with the atmosphere, right? The, the vibe. But, um,
that's funny. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, Steve's is, uh, is, man, they, they, they got some good baristas. They're kids, but they're good. You know what I mean? They, they know what they're doing, so it's kind of cool. And they don't, they don't try to be something. They're not, they're a fricking coffee shop. That's it, you know?
Yeah,
yeah. For sure. Yeah. My battery's dying. I'm looking at my battery's like we, yeah, yeah. Lemme see what I got. Yeah, we're good. So, uh, my school is in, uh, is in Mesa, Arizona. Uh, it's East Mesa. And, um, we're off of, uh, Guadalupe and [02:12:00] Ellsworth. And if anybody is ever in town that listens to this podcast, all you gotta do is, is say you're a friend, O'Reilly's and you're automatically welcomed to our, in, in our, in our facility for sure.
Um, yeah, they'd be like, I hate the guy. Come on in. You're good. Um, but, uh, you know, the, you can find our, our podcast, the BGJ, Fox Fox Cast. It's not related to the academy, but it kind of is. Like we talk about the Academy a lot, but, um, the BGA Fox cast is on anywhere you can get, uh, a podcast, any platform.
And, um, we're gonna start, uh, we're gonna try to, uh, do a, a Patreon, but I'm gonna be very careful with that 'cause I wanna make sure that I bring value if someone's gonna give me money, right? Um, just like with you, I hope you like the reads that we do. I hope, you know, we give you shout outs all the time.
And, um, but because I believe that, you know, if you're going to take anything from somebody, you better give something back, you know, if, if not tenfold. So I try to [02:13:00] overdeliver on that. But, um, Instagram, Facebook, all that stuff. BGJ, Fox or Aries East Mesa, b bj.
Thanks brother.
Um, let me think, let me think, man. You know, it would be a, a cool interview. I'd love to hear. Um, oh, what, what's his name? The guy from show your role, um, the owner of Show Your role. What's his name? Gosh, why can't I think of his name? I'll have to send you. I don't know him. I don't know him personally. Um, but, um, my, my instructor is sponsored by Showy role and I've met him one time I met him in Vegas.
That would be a cool interview just to kinda get that history, you know, uh, of, you know, how they got started and how be they became [02:14:00] this iconic brand in Juujitsu. You know what I mean? That would be such a cool interview. Like, uh, yeah, I think that's the first thing that, I don't know why that first, that's the first one that comes to mind, but, um, but so far, man, I like everything that you're doing, man.
It's, it's, it's a great show. You do a great job. Just keep it up, bro.
Yeah,
yeah.
No clue dude. No clue. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you gotta, you gotta be careful 'cause you fall into this trap. Like, what if I had six different angles? You know? And [02:15:00] like, you don't need six angles. Like you really need one camera, but I have five for some reason. I don't know why, but I have five. Yeah. It's stupid.
It's stupid. But I, I obsess about things. Like right now it's all about lighting, but I, I refuse to buy new lighting. I'm, I'm gonna make it work with the lighting I have. So anyway.
Thanks brother. Thank you for everything. I appreciate you.
[02:16:00]