1. Get your damn phone out of your face.

2. Don't sit with your back to the room.

3. If a situation feels potentially dangerous, leave.

Lunch should be simple and effective, just like a well-executed grappling technique. I use a few key ingredients that have a lot of variety and versatility. I don’t want to get bored, but I still need to receive the same cornerstone nutrients no matter the organization of the meal.

My favorite meal to make for lunch is a salad. Now I know what you’re thinking; salads are for chicks and vegans, right? Well that’s true, but as performance athletes we need them too. The salads I make are are tasty, versatile, and full of all the nutrients I need.

The ability to defend oneself is everyone’s right. The problem is that not all of us are born with the same abilities or strengths. Luckily for us, information is the great equalizer. jiu jitsu is an excellent tool to utilize for self-defense because it’s as much science as it is an art.

There are thousands of self-defense styles, and I’m sure many of them are effective and useful in their own right. However, jiu jitsu answers the questions of “What if I’m smaller than my attacker?” or “What if I get knocked to the ground?" and "what do I do if the attacker gets on top of me?” These are the worst case scenarios that have been tested through jiu jitsu and have the track record to honor its merit.

I’m writing this to give insight to what my diet is like and how it improves my Jiu JItsu experience and why it’s necessary. I have been a performance athlete since I can remember, and I wish I’d known then what I know now. When I began my Jiu Jitsu journey my diet wasn’t terrible compared to the average household, but it was nowhere near what I needed and didn’t change until I was a few years into college.

At this time I was training Jiu Jitsu every day, and like most, completely addicted. My teammates were a mix of hobbyist and pro- fighters, with a handful of guys like me. It was a breeding ground for competition, and everybody was interested in what the others were eating and what supplements they were taking. This was my first experience in which nutrition sounded like it mattered. Coincidently I was writing a paper for school about the food industry; the information I was exposed to influenced and inspired me to look at my own diet and see where I could make improvements. The diet I have now, 10 years later, has worked well to supply me with the necessary fuel to improve and then maintain my performance level. Not only that, but helps secure my place on the mat for years to come.