Six Minutes In Paradise

Six minutes....six minutes is all that i get. Once I step out onto the mat, nothing else matters. That right there, is six minutes in paradise. All of the training, drilling, strength and conditioning, and long hours that I have spent at the gym on a daily basis are over. There is nothing else left that I can do to prepare myself. Yet, I feel as prepared as I ever have for a competition. 

The Worlds Championships in Long Beach, California is one of the biggest tournaments in the jiu jitsu community and is spread out over a four day period in order to fit in all of the divisions. Just competing alone is a great experience, but to see all the other talented athletes going at it for the title of becoming a World Champion is incredible to watch.

Here is the schedule for the week(California Time):
THURSDAY MAY 30

9:00 AM	Blue Adult Male - Rooster and Light Feather
10:20 AM	Blue Adult Male - Feather
11:40 AM	Blue Adult Male - Light
	White Adult Male - Rooster
	White Adult Female - Light Feather and Feather
1:15 PM	Blue Adult Male - Middle
	White Adult Male - Light Feather
2:45 PM	Blue Adult Male - Medium Heavy
	White Adult Male - Feather
4:00 PM	Blue Adult Male - Heavy and Super Heavy
	White Adult Male - Light and Middle
5:20 PM	Blue Adult Male - Ultra Heavy
	White Adult Male - Medium Heavy to Ultra Heavy
	White Adult Female - Light to Heavy
6:40 PM	White Master
	White Senior

FRIDAY MAY 31

9:00 AM	Purple Adult Male - Rooster and Light Feather
	Blue Adult Female - Light Feather
	Purple Adult Female - Light Feather
10:30 AM	Blue Adult Female - Feather and Light
	Purple Adult Female - Feather and Light
11:45 AM	Purple Adult Male - Feather
	Blue Adult Female - Middle to Heavy
	Purple Adult Female - Middle
1:15 PM	Purple Adult Male - Light
	Purple Adult Female - Medium Heavy and Heavy
	Brown Adult Male - Rooster and Light Feather
	Black Adult Male and Female - Open Class Registration
3:00 PM	Purple Adult Male - Middle and Medium Heavy
	Black Adult Male and Female - End ofOpen Class Registration
4:45 PM	Purple Adult Male - Heavy to Ultra Heavy
	Blue Adult Male - Open Class
6:20 PM	Brown Adult Male - Feather and Light
	Blue Adult Female - Open Class

SATURDAY, JUNE 1

9:00 AM	Brown Adult Male - Middle to Heavy
10:45 AM	Black Adult Male - Open Class
	Black Adult Female - Open Class
	Brown Adult Male - Super Heavy and Ultra Heavy
	Brown Adult Female - Light Feather and Feather
12:30 PM	Brown Adult Female - Light to Heavy
	White Juvenile 1 Male
	White Juvenile 2 Male
	White Juvenile 1 Female
	White Juvenile 2 Female
	Blue Juvenile 1 Male
1:10 PM	Blue Juvenile 2 Male
	Blue Juvenile 1 Female
	Blue Juvenile 2 Female
1:50 PM	Black Adult Male - Rooster and Light Feather
	Black Adult Female - Light Feather to Heavy
2:50 PM	Black Adult Male - Feather and Light
	Purple Adult Male - Open Class
	Purple Adult Female - Open Class
4:45 PM	Black Adult Male - Middle and Medium Heavy
	Brown Adult Male - Open Class
	Brown Adult Female - Open Class
6:45 PM	Black Adult Male - Heavy to Ultra Heavy
	Blue Juvenile 1 Male - Open Class
	Blue Juvenile 2 Male - Open Class
	Blue Juvenile 1 Female - Open Class
	Blue Juvenile 2 Female - Open Class

SUNDAY, JUNE 2

10:00 AM	Black Belt Male - Adult - Rooster and Light Feather - Quarter Finals
10:40 AM	Black Belt Male - Adult - Feather and Light - Quarter Finals
11:30 AM	Black Belt Male - Adult - Rooster and Light Feather - Semi Finals Black Belt Male - Adult - Feather and Light - Semi Finals
12:20 PM	Black Belt Male - Adult - Middle and Medium Heavy - Quarter Finals
1:00 PM	Black Belt Male - Adult - Heavy, Super Heavy and Ultra Heavy - Quarter Finals
2:10 PM	Black Belt Male - Adult - Middle, Medium Heavy, Heavy, Super Heavy and Ultra Heavy - Semi Finals
3:00 PM	Black Belt Female - All weight divisions - Finals
4:40 PM	Black Belt Male Finals - All weight divisions and open class Black Belt Female - Open class final

Good Luck to everybody competing throughout the week. It's time to make my way back to California for the third time this year. I will be competing at 10:30 am on Friday in the adult women blue belt featherweight division. Keep an eye out for me! Ouss! 
If you want to watch the live feed in your home, go here --> http://www.ibjjftv.com/
--Morgan Beverly

Skip The Diet. Just Eat Healthy.

Cutting weight can be one of the most dreadful times for a jiu jitsu athlete. Before every competition, I have to make sure that my weight is in a certain range--all while trying to keep my body as healthy and energized as possible. I always used to procrastinate and wait until about two weeks out to try to start losing the weight, which was always a bad idea. It's really hard, and sometimes very frustrating, to balance not eating too much, but eating enough to fuel my muscles. Eating a well-balanced diet is an important part of being an athlete that most people, including me, sometimes overlook.

A week before Pan Ams 2013, I decided that I couldn't make the cut to feather weight. I weighed about 135 lbs, without the gi, and I just knew that it would be too dangerous for me to try to lose that much weight in just one week. I decided that I was just going to suck it up and compete at light weight, which is 141 lbs with the gi. I was in the middle of the weight class, weighing in at 137 lbs, but I just jumped on the mat and fought the best that I could--ultimately losing my first fight against a tough competitor. Although competing is always a learning experience, I knew that I wanted to change my eating habits in order to get down into the feather weight division.

I decided that I needed to clean up my diet and start to eat better all of the time--instead of just a couple of weeks before competition when I needed to cut out the weight. I started to write down everything that I would eat throughout the day and sort of "monitor" how much I was putting into my body on a daily basis. It's incredible how many vegetables and fruit you can eat that could compare to just one bowl of pasta or a hamburger. I actually started to enjoy eating so healthy. Cooking and experimenting with different flavors makes eating healthy a lot more fun.  I started to feel a change in my jiu jitsu game as my body adjusted to my new diet. Overall, I just felt better all of the time. I have more energy, and my muscles rarely get tired now. 

The first picture on the left was one week before Pan Ams 2013. Now, the second picture on the right is about one week away from Worlds 2013, and I am weighing in at 126 lbs. I look at this picture, and I can't believe the difference that I can see.  I honestly don't know why I neglected this lifestyle for so long. I guess I had imagined eating so clean as being a miserable way to live, but it really is far from that. I started to substitute carbs for healthier alternatives like quinoa or whole grain oats, added more greens and berries into my everyday meals that are full of essential nutrients, started to cook more with fish rather than chicken and steak, and started to drink a lot more water--eliminating all of the unneeded, sugar-filled drinks that I was drinking. After a couple of weeks of eating more naturally, my body has started to feel like it was on a whole new level.
If there was any one piece of advice that I could give to jiu jitsu competitors, it would be to just try to eat healthier foods year-round, instead of just during competition season. You can't get the full affects of healthy eating through just two weeks of dieting to make the weight cut. Once you taste the benefits that you can get from this, you won't want to go back. Of course it's okay to eat a bad meal every once in a while, but once you change your diet to eating more fruits, veggies, fish, and other natural foods, your body will thank you--and then you can thank me. 
Good luck at Worlds everybody! :-)
--Morgan Beverly

No Obstacles..Just Strength Training

The past few weeks have brought many lessons. I don’t know any easy way to handle certain things life hands us. About a week ago I got back from training and looked at my phone and opened it to a text that said sorry about your loss. I knew right then what the reference was, but told myself it wasn’t true. I knew for sure someone sent the wrong person the wrong text. To confirm I logged onto Facebook and saw nothing but posts about my incredible boxing coach, Coach Nate. He had left Tuesday morning to be with our heavenly Father. I was heart broken. I completely broke down and had to figure out what this meant. It is very easy for people to say things with the intention to comfort, example: He is in a better place… it is better this way… He doesn’t feel pain anymore. The problem is it hurts for so many more reasons. I found out a few months ago my first MMA fight was going to be may 11. Coach Nate taught me my boxing. I have been blessed with many coaches but Coach Nate taught me my fundamentals for standup. When he was sick and I went to visit him, he talked to me about my fight. He told me how he wanted it to go. He also promised me he would be there. I wanted so badly to have him in my corner for my first fight to see how much he taught me. That was not going to happen anymore. As a fighter you learn early on that you have to be able to cope with things thrown at you and to be able to make adjustments according to what the situation brings. Losing Coach Nate is not a comfortable feeling no matter how anyone words it. I was close to not going through with my fight.

            No decisions were made at that time. I walked forward, ran, went to the gym, and trained the best I could. There was no logical reason I should not go through with my fight. I love this and that is why Coach Nate took so much time with me and shared so much knowledge to be successful. It would be a slap in the face to give up.

After training for months it is two days before weigh ins. I have spent the last few weeks cleaning up my diet to lose weight but it is now time for the final stretch of the cut. Thursday morning I had 7 pounds to cut and weigh ins were Friday night. The weigh ins were actually in Savannah Georgia and I was in Canton, therefor I needed to be on weight Friday morning so we could drive down there. I was completely dry Friday morning and still not on weight. I was getting sick. We left early and not long after we left I was throwing up and again and again at weigh ins. What ended up being like 10 minutes before we weighed in, it was time to decide if I needed to just leave and go to the hospital. My body had nothing left and we didn’t know if there would be a fatal outcome. I had spent so much time training and cutting and did not want to lose it all in a matter of minutes so with much support and help of my training partner/ boyfriend, Nick Beal, I got to step on the scale and made weight to fight my fight. Even after hydrating I was not getting better. My body was rejecting what I was trying to take in. Friday night we spent hours trying to get my body to its normal function for my fight Saturday.

Saturday comes and it is time for me to get my hands wrapped for the fight. I am fight number three. I was so excited and ready to walkout to the words of a song chosen to represent the fight for my coach. I got in the cage and got my zone and fought. I fought all three rounds the best I could. When the fight was over I was told I had the first and third round and to get my hands up. Then the ref called us over and grabs me and my opponents hand and my opponents get raised. She had won by split decision. I was at a loss for words. I felt heart broken. All the thoughts going through my head about the training I put in, the surrounding circumstances, and the situations of the fight. With amazing coaches and incredible support from Nick I was able to hold my head up and get through the night in attempt to take steps forward and accept what happened.

      The situations that were presented in the past few weeks all had their place. Nothing that is worth achieving is easy, but that does not change its worth for fighting for. When being realistic giving up is the easiest solution we can find. If we give up we don’t have to face any hard obstacles. We get to walk away and the upcoming obstacles will disappear. Where will this get anybody? There are things to be achieved and accomplished. No one person has a monopoly on pain or loss. Everyone is given a share of problems and obstacle to deal with. The things we overcome define us. I love fighting. I am disappointed at the outcome and as much as I wish I could change all these things that have happened, but it is not possible. I have learned more and more with each day given to me and that is something I would not want to lose. I am a stronger person and I want to train and fight now more than ever. With many situations presenting themselves I know I still have a dream to fight for.

Jen

teamNATE

Life Is A Matter Of Balance

I have recently diagnosed myself with insomnia. No matter how tired I am at the end of the day from training, I just can't convince myself into falling asleep at a decent hour. I have been training three time a day lately, so by the end of my final training session, my body is so worn out. I try to lay down in bed to relax and let my muscles rest up, but my mind just goes crazy. I think it's an accumulation of the adrenaline rush that I get from training and the preworkout that I took earlier in the day that just hasn't quite worn off yet. It doesn't help me much that night training ends around 10 pm and morning training begins at 7am. Did I mention that I live about 40 minutes from the Alliance school? Hopefully my body will start to realize that sleep is a good thing. Who needs sleep when you're already living your dream though, right?

Sleep isn't the only thing you have to sacrifice when you're training this much. Whenever you have dreams, you sometimes have to be selfish, sacrificing time with friends and family in order to devote long hours into training. It’s hard to balance a life like that, while trying to become the best that you can be, but it is, without a doubt, very important.

               My mom has always told me, “Money doesn’t buy happiness. Do what you love to do.” In the long run, I want my life to have meaning. I don’t care to be rich. I truly just want to enjoy what I dedicate my life to, whatever that may be. Seeing my mom and how much she loves her job and being able to spend time with us really inspires me. She is off on holidays, summers, and after school so she is able to be with us a lot—which some kids nowadays don’t have. We aren’t rich, but I think being happy with not as much, rather than being rich with a lot, is a much better way to live. However, if you find something in life that you enjoy doing ,but it also brings you a high level of success, then it's a win-win situation.

My mother has always been one of those people who puts others before herself, and I love that about her. No matter what I am going through, she always makes sure that I have everything that I need. Even though Worlds is only three weeks away, I knew that it would mean a lot to her if I came home from Atlanta to see her for Mother’s Day. I live four hours away from my hometown, so it’s quite the drive, but she is definitely worth it. She does so much for me every day, and even though I have an intense training schedule right now, I have to put my family first sometimes.

Some people will try to tell you that you have to sacrifice all of this in order to be successful, but I don't think that's true. In everything you do, there should be balance. I don't want to just be successful. I want to be successful and truly happy. I don't want to lose everything that I have now in order to be considered "the best." My close family and friends are always supporting me, and I want to keep that part of my life as I go through this journey.

However, coming home during Worlds preparations is a sacrifice in some ways. My family isn’t exactly the “health-nut” type of family, which doesn’t do me any good when I’m cutting weight. My family always has to accommodate our dinner plans and grocery lists, so that I can have some food to cook for myself. Since it is Mother's Day weekend, we decided to go out and celebrate at Longhorn's on Saturday night. So as I'm sitting at the table eating my plain grilled chicken and steamed vegetables with nothing on them, my family taunts me with juicy steaks, chips and lobster dip, and all of the other tempting foods that I can’t have. I am just constantly reminding myself of the delicious meal that I get to eat after I win Worlds. Then, I can have all of the acai bowls and overpriced, overrated Korean BBQ all day long at the venue. I’m glad that I am a very disciplined person, or else I would be moving up to Light weight for Worlds.

I actually started to do jiu jitsu here, in Tallahassee, Florida with Felipe Neto. His teacher was Jacare Calvacanti, whom I now train with up in Alliance Atlanta with Lucas Lepri. Felipe has a school under Alliance, as well, so even though I am home for the weekend, I am still able to train every day. It was a lot of fun to train with some of my friends that I haven’t seen in a long time. I even emailed Felipe beforehand to tell him that I needed him to push me hard in training, so that I could stay on track for Worlds. He definitely gave me that extra push that I asked for. I was dripping in sweat and out of breath by the end of every session. I love that feeling though. I like being pushed to the edge and feeling myself improving on a daily basis.

 Felipe is such a good teacher and always makes sure that his students understand how to efficiently execute the moves he teaches. He even spent an extra thirty minutes with me after class on Saturday to help me out with some of the moves that I had questions about. I really appreciate having a teacher that, not only takes the time to teach and critique moves individually during training, but also devotes extra time into his athletes to make sure they fully understand how to perform these moves. Even though I haven’t been home in quite a while, it’s nice to always feel at home when I step back onto the mats where I actually started my whole jiu jitsu journey.

My dad also got to come watch me do jiu jitsu for the first time. It was a cool experience for us both because he has always heard me talk about my training, but he has never seen me do it first hand. All of the time, I am trying to explain to him exactly what jiu jitsu is, but it's kind of hard to tell people. I always refer to it as a "technical wrestling," but even that doesn't seem to give it justice. In order for people to really appreciate it, you just have to show them. I feel like he has a much better understanding for the sport now. After class, he just looked at me and said, "that was awesome!" It's such a great feeling to have him appreciate what I am doing with so much of my time. Now, my dad can actually visualize what I do every day, three times a day, and understand what's going on better when I send him my competition videos. 

Being home for the weekend was much needed. I was able to catch up on some much needed rest, keep my training at a steady pace, and I got to spend some time with my wonderful family. This Monday starts the Worlds Camp at Alliance Atlanta, so now it’s time to get very serious and focused. All I will be doing this week is training, sleeping, and eating….literally. I will be training at the school three times a day, all while trying to squeeze in a couple of naps in between each session. I guess I can just call Alliance Atlanta my home for the next two weeks until I fly out to Long Beach!

--Morgan Beverly

"If You're Going Through Hell, Keep Going"

It's Saturday, and after a full week of intense training, my body is shot. My eyes are heavy. I have bruises all over my body, and my muscles are completely drained. Today's noon class was probably the most intense class that we've had all week. Jacare literally put us through hell today. We did a lot of situational rolling, high-pace interval rolling, regular training, and just when we thought that class was over, what better way to end the day than with some last minute sprawls? Days like these are a true test of how far we can push our bodies until they collapse. Oddly enough, not even the most beat up body could keep me away from my time on the mats this week. I've literally been living at the gym lately. All of my time has been devoted to training, drilling, working out, studying BJJ videos, and well....other than that, I am just eating and sleeping. It's as if, even though school has just ended, I am still in a constant year-round "jiu jitsu school." I enjoy this type of school much more, though. I get to do what I love all day long. What person in their right mind wouldn't want that?

I finally got around to registering for Worlds and booking my flight to Long Beach in three weeks, so there's no turning back now. Now, it's time to really start eating clean and pushing myself more at training. I have a couple of pounds to cut, so now I am in the dreadful stage of eating "weight cutting" foods, like fish, raw veggies, fruits, and nuts. I basically have to eat like a caveman-- eating all natural. It's hard to find a happy medium of eating enough food to give my body energy to train this much and trying to eat just enough food to lose the weight that I need to get rid of. Hopefully now that I am able to train full-time, the weight will just fall off without me having to suffer too much. One can only hope though, right?

Aside from worrying about my weight, I couldn't be more excited to see how well I can execute all of my hard work over the past couple of weeks on the mats in California. It's kind of nerve-wrecking to compete at such a high level, but I just have to go out there and trust my game. I think it's important to prepare yourself as much as possible for competition. There is no room for excuses when you're about to compete against some of the best in the world.  

In training, we are able to make mistakes and learn how to correct them without any real penalties against us, but in competition, there's no room for error. You have to execute techniques almost perfectly or else your opponent will execute their moves perfectly. That's why it's so hard to accept defeat sometimes. Losing a fight could just be a result of a simple domino effect of errors. Even though you may be doing really well training in your gym and you feel really confident in winning, one error could cost you a match. I think that's why drilling techniques is key to your jiu jitsu game. It allows you to repetitively do a move until it's almost like a reflex. Like they say, practice makes perfect. I try to drill techniques every day before or after class, and I can honestly say that it helps my game tremendously. Even though it's sometimes hard to put in the effort to do the extra work outside of class, all of the hard work will pay off in the long run.

Sometimes, I don't know how I stay so motivated. I train so much throughout the week, and I still want more. Tomorrow is Sunday, and I had planned to take the day off. I've had a really tough week of training, and I probably should just take the day to rest, but that would be weak of me. What would I do with myself, without a whole day of not training? ....Well, I don't have to worry about that, because I am just going to go train anyways. There's no such thing as over-training for me. It's time to start living life on a new level. 

--Morgan Beverly