The Few Will Hunt Show

Are you willing to drop everything to pursue your dream? In this episode, Joey and Drew sit down with Daniel Maira, IBJJF Competitor, 2x NoGi Worlds Bronze Medalist, and co-founder of Movement Art Jiu-Jitsu. He talks about his dedication to training, the founding of Movement Art Jiu-Jitsu, and his experiences competing in Jiu-Jitsu. Tune in as Daniel shares his inspiring journey, from his humble beginnings to becoming a respected figure in the world of Jiu-Jitsu.

The official podcast of Few Will Hunt, the world’s largest community of hard workers and Made in the USA apparel brand. Family-owned and operated and headquartered in Philadelphia. We’re on a mission to restore the dignity of hard work and help others live The Rules of The Few to strengthen ourselves and strengthen society. No entitlement or excuses are allowed here.

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Creators & Guests

Host
Drew Beech
Drew Beech is an entrepreneur and cofounder of Few Will Hunt. He spent several years in the sales and marketing industry, grossing over several million dollars in sales. But his love for the entrepreneurial journey and desire to escape the rate race started with his personal training business in college. Today, Drew leads the Few Will Hunt community alongside his cousin and cofounder, Joey in their mission to restore the dignity of hard work through the highest-quality American-made apparel.
Host
Joey Bowen
Joey Bowen is co-founder of Few Will Hunt.

What is The Few Will Hunt Show?

The official podcast of Few Will Hunt, the world’s largest community of hard workers and 100% Made in the USA apparel brand. We’re on a mission to restore the dignity of hard work and help others live The Rules of The Few to strengthen ourselves and strengthen society. No entitlement or excuses are allowed here.

Daniel Maira:

To be really good at jujitsu, you need both. You have to have a really intellectual approach to shortcut the learning curve as much as you can at the same time as just being tough, like, hardcore and and kinda you gotta have a dog in you at the same time. You know?

Joey Rosen:

Smart smart and savagery both. Yeah. Yeah.

Drew Beech:

Welcome to the Fuel Hunt Show. What's going on, Eagles? I am Drew, and welcome to the Fuon Show. I am joined today by my cofounder and cousin, Joey. Joey, say what's up?

Joey Rosen:

What's going on?

Drew Beech:

And my friend, if you want athlete, IBJJF competitor, gold medalist in or not gold medalist. Medalist

Daniel Maira:

in Bronze. I got bronze in, no gi worlds two times and then black belt gi worlds as well, both in adult division black belt, in the gi. So

Drew Beech:

And then cofounder of Movement Art Jujitsu here in PA. Yeah. Before we start, I just want to get into we'll start with this, but your life growing up, what you did at athletics, how you got into jiu jitsu, and start there.

Daniel Maira:

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, first, like, thank you so much for for having me here. You guys are awesome and a big fan of what you guys are doing, what you guys represent, and it's a huge honor to be here today. It's a lot of fun.

Daniel Maira:

I'm looking forward to this.

Drew Beech:

Yeah.

Daniel Maira:

I mean, I started training, like, years ago. There was, like, 21 about to turn, like, 22. I was at a weird point in my life where, I was I was playing soccer actually. I was trying to play professional. And then, that was kinda like kinda are we doing this?

Daniel Maira:

Are we not doing this? And then I had a job as well at a youth academy where I was like, you know, there's there's a projection there that, you know, you got a stable career and something that you enjoy and, you know, you're passionate about. And, I was trying to do just a little bit on the side kinda just starting, and I was just like I was a white belt with, like, one stripe, and I was like, alright. Bet we're gonna just cancel everything. My my family's moving away, moved out, and, I was like, I'm gonna be a world champion.

Daniel Maira:

And So

Joey Rosen:

the bug, like, the bug guy you're right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Joey Rosen:

Right away. So how so you said you were 2021. How long ago was that? If you don't mind me asking.

Daniel Maira:

Dude, so I'm 32 right now. So So, like, a decade? Yeah. About 10 years right now. So I've been about 10 years of just holy cow.

Daniel Maira:

What is going on? Right. And, yeah. It's like fake it till you make it and just learning how to learn and just, like, walking through the mud the whole way. Yeah.

Daniel Maira:

Yeah. And, yeah.

Joey Rosen:

So I feel like I feel like jujitsu gets, like, bites people like that and it just it's over. Like, after you said, like, cancel everything. Like, it's all about this right now. Like, everything all other plans are off. You know what I mean?

Drew Beech:

I respect that though. Like, just saying, like, fucking going all in. Like, it was kind of what we did with, Amanda's gym when we started it. Yeah. Like, she just quit.

Drew Beech:

Like, we're, like, let's just do this.

Joey Rosen:

Well, we we talk all about it. We talk all the time about the commitment. Right? Like, I'm gonna do this or I'm gonna die. Like, it's just straight up commitment all in.

Joey Rosen:

And that's what it takes to be a world champion.

Daniel Maira:

Yeah. It's like just burn the boats and just go

Joey Rosen:

for it. Yep.

Daniel Maira:

It's very much like what I did. I remember when I moved out, I was like, okay. So if I get a job to make money, then I don't have any time to train. The problem is I have to make up an extra 10 years that these guys have been training since they were 5 years old. I gotta make up 10 years from somewhere.

Daniel Maira:

So how do I do that? It's like, well, instead of making more money, I'll just need less money. So I just moved into my car. I had a Jeep Wrangler at the time. I moved into that, and then, I was just, like, literally training every day, all day, and, that was kind of the life for a long time.

Drew Beech:

You've told me a little bit about that life, but can you go into a little more depth about you said, like, living out of your car, but and in your Jeep Wrangler, but it was a the those days were kind of intense. Right? Like, you were taking taking the train to New York and then coming back and then working at another academy.

Joey Rosen:

Mhmm.

Daniel Maira:

Yeah. No. There was another academy that I was working at, back then, and it was probably, I don't know, 5, 6 years doing that. So I had, like, 2 years in a Jeep Wrangler, and then I upgraded to a Grand Cherokee. And I was like, I can stretch out.

Daniel Maira:

Holy cow. This is amazing.

Joey Rosen:

Wait. You're when you you're saying upgraded, meaning, like, upgraded your home.

Daniel Maira:

Yeah. Yeah. I upgraded yeah. I got transportation, my home. Yeah.

Daniel Maira:

So I sold the Jeep Wrangler,

Joey Rosen:

and I

Daniel Maira:

bought a Grand Cherokee, and I was like, let's go. Like, I set up a little shelf in there and everything too. And, it was great, man. It was great. And, so then, from there I ended up going to, like, the van life and doing that for a little while too.

Daniel Maira:

But just, like, didn't have to pay rent and do it that way. And then, I would just train all day in the gym that I was at there. After that, as soon as I got my I was doing, like, day passes commuting up to the city every once in a while when I could afford it to Marcelo Garcia Academy in New York. And, when I got my brown belt, like, couple days after, I was like, alright. Like, I need to be around people who are like minded, who are world champions, who, you know, there's another level and I need to get there.

Daniel Maira:

Mhmm. And so that's when I signed up at Marcello's in New York. So I would be teaching, at this other gym. I would commute to the city. So I drive, like, 20, 30 minutes to the train station, hop on the train, and then we'd go all the way up to, like, New York Penn Station.

Daniel Maira:

And then from there, you walk down to Marcello's, like, 26. And then, you know, you train few sessions depending on the day. Some days you're training 4 sessions. Some days it's only 2 sessions. And then you come back, I would teach, and do whatever there.

Daniel Maira:

And then, you know, you sleep and then you try to do it all again. By Saturday, you're literally dead and then you try to rest.

Drew Beech:

Four sessions you said?

Daniel Maira:

Yeah. So a lot of days, I would go up there with the, the 7 AM crew. And, you know, shout out to those guys. Man, I would get up at, like, 4:30 in the morning and I'd be in the city by training. I would literally walk in the door at, like, 656, 657, something like that.

Daniel Maira:

Just enough time to, like, jog, change my gi, get ready, and start training. So first session is 7 AM, then you're drilling, you know, you get some breakfast, whatever. You go drill, like, 11:30, 12:30 sessions. Then you go there's a 5 o'clock session, and there was an 8 o'clock session. So some days you would just hit all of those.

Daniel Maira:

You just you kill yourself one day so you can recover and kind of unpack the details that you learned and, the data you collected the next day.

Drew Beech:

That's that's a crazy amount of training. Are you getting hard rounds in, like, every session? Or They

Daniel Maira:

literally would try to kill you. Yeah. Yeah. It's you're in a room with world champions and just monsters who, you know, it's we would call it the trenches. You know, you're in the trenches.

Daniel Maira:

You're people running each other into walls, bumping in. They're all in close range. You know? Yep. Pull hard rounds is it wasn't a soft environment by any stretch.

Drew Beech:

That explains why you guys can compete at the level at which you do now. You know what I mean?

Joey Rosen:

Were you so all that time you're living in your your jacket. So what were so I'm curious, man. Like, what were the evenings like? Now, obviously, you're exhausted from training. Right?

Daniel Maira:

So you

Joey Rosen:

can probably sleep anywhere, dude. You probably sleep on, like, a bed of nails if you wanted to. But what were the evenings like? Because you mentioned, like, unpacking Mhmm. Like, the learnings.

Joey Rosen:

And when we kicked off the show, you said, like, learning how to learn, which I called. Right? So what were the evenings like in the Grand Cherokee?

Daniel Maira:

Yeah, man. It would be you come back, you you shower. There's a a shower at the school, so I would shower, and then you just unpack to to go to sleep basically would be, you know, you had a mat and a sleeping bag, a little, like, kind of bed area.

Joey Rosen:

Yeah.

Daniel Maira:

You know, take the dirty clothes, you put them in the bucket, make sure they don't stink up anything. And I would do laundry on the weekends or every few days at a laundromat. Laundromat. And, yeah, you know, you read, take some notes, watch some film for a few hours, and then you pass out. On the days where you're getting back really late, you gotta get up and do it again early.

Daniel Maira:

You just try to pass out as quick as you can. And then I would have these like, cardboard pieces that I would cover with black duct tape. Yep. I cut them just to the shape of the windows so I would black everything out. And, when it was really cold out, it was it was actually pretty nice to sleep in there because you just get all, like, warm and cozy.

Daniel Maira:

That's right. Dude, when it's cold and it's rainy, that's, like, double whammy. It's, like, super cozy. You got the sound of the rain, and you know no one's gonna bother you because of the rain.

Joey Rosen:

Yeah. Yeah. Dude, it's it's I I

Daniel Maira:

was down. I liked it.

Drew Beech:

So the white noise.

Daniel Maira:

When it's hot, though, it's terrible. Oh, it's miserable. Miserable.

Joey Rosen:

To be in a hot car. Yeah. When I was a kid, my dad used to take me and my buddy camping. Mhmm. And, you know, we drive, like, you know, upstate Pennsylvania.

Joey Rosen:

And he had a, like, a pickup truck and a cap on the back.

Daniel Maira:

Yeah.

Joey Rosen:

And he's just put me and my buddy in the cap in the in the back Mhmm. And just put, like, a kerosene heater in the back with, like, with, like, blankets. Yeah. Like, we're talking, like, winter.

Daniel Maira:

Yeah. Yeah.

Joey Rosen:

You know? And you being, like, living in the back of that Grand Cherokee like that, it brought me back to that time. Yeah. That's why I wanted to

Daniel Maira:

It was, like, just, like, camping trip every night. Yeah. Urban camping.

Joey Rosen:

Urban. I was gonna ask about the the windows too. So you touched on that. Where?

Daniel Maira:

You gotta be invisible. I feel like so many nights where, you know, you don't know what you're doing. So when I was first living out of my car, I was like, you know, figuring out where can I park and where so many nights? It's just like knock knock knock. Some cop messing with you.

Daniel Maira:

And, at the time, I I used my mom's address in Minnesota at the time and, because she had moved out there. And, so I would have Minnesota plates and out of state license. And so when the cops, like, knock, knock, knock, he's like, I'm like, oh, I'm on a road trip. You know, I have some excuse, whatever. You know?

Joey Rosen:

Yeah. You gotta explain, like Yeah. Because they're not gonna they're not gonna really believe the real story. Dude, I had a

Daniel Maira:

I had a the same cop knocked on my window at different places 3 separate times. And on the second time he was like yeah. He was kinda cool. The second time he was like, don't let me see you again. And on the 3rd time, dude, he was like ready to put me in handcuffs and, like, it was like 3, 4 in the morning handcuffs and,

Joey Rosen:

like, it

Daniel Maira:

was like 3, 4 in the morning. I woke up. I was like, oh my god. I gotta be at training, like, soon. Like, this is horrible.

Daniel Maira:

Yeah. And, at that moment, this guy just goes zooming by, like, for no reason. And he's like, it's your lucky day. Don't let me see you again. Jumps in his car and dips.

Daniel Maira:

And he starts chasing that guy, and I was like, let's go. And, like, I was just more careful where I parked and, never saw him again, thankfully. So Yeah.

Joey Rosen:

That's wild. When you were so you're living, you know, you're living out of your Grand Cherokee, Wrangler, then your Grand Cherokee. Was there ever a doubt in your mind that it wasn't gonna work?

Daniel Maira:

No. That was too stupid for that.

Drew Beech:

Yeah. Yeah.

Daniel Maira:

Yeah. I was way too dumb to know the size of the bite that I had bitten off. Yeah. And I think, like It's true. At the level that I'm at now, I've closed the gap on these guys who are world class level.

Daniel Maira:

Like, we're talking top 10 guys on the planet. Yep. Aside from Mike, he's in another league of his own. But, you know, the the top guys in the world, that's who I'm like, man, I need to I need to win worlds. These are the guys who I have to compete against.

Daniel Maira:

I need to be at that level. We've we've closed that gap, enough that it's very, very attainable. It can happen, for sure. But before I was at that level, when I thought the gap was a lot closer than it is or was, like, dude, it was so far. I had no idea how far it really was.

Joey Rosen:

Yep.

Daniel Maira:

And luckily, I was dumb enough to think it was close to have hope to keep going.

Joey Rosen:

We call we call that we call that delusional self self. Delusional self belief. Yeah.

Drew Beech:

It's a 100%. On a previous episode, like, delusional self belief and believing in yourself when no one else does.

Joey Rosen:

Mhmm.

Drew Beech:

Did anyone take you seriously when you walked in to Marcello's as Oak Did they

Joey Rosen:

know you were living in your car?

Drew Beech:

And the one well, I was thinking I had the one stripe white bell coming in here. I wanna be a world champion. Yeah.

Daniel Maira:

No. I didn't I didn't so I wasn't at Marcello's until brown belt.

Drew Beech:

Oh, okay.

Daniel Maira:

So when I got there at brown belt, I was I was pretty I was a very active competitor. And I kinda I kinda jumped in with all the other brown belts. Like, they had a dream team back in the day with, like, all, you know, all the black belts now, when they were brown belts before they got promoted, and they kinda, like, called themselves the dream team, the Marcellus dream team.

Joey Rosen:

Okay.

Daniel Maira:

And so we had a brown belt squad, and everybody called us the dream team 2 point o. And so it was like, there's quite a few of us. You know? It was Nick Salas. It was myself.

Daniel Maira:

It was, Max, Ruderman. There was, Marcus Rudy. There was a bunch of other, you know, brown belts. And so we had a a solid brown belt squad. We were just go to comps and just clean house.

Joey Rosen:

Yeah.

Daniel Maira:

And, so that happened at Brown Bow. So I was kind of absorbed into that decently quickly, but it was very kind of standoffish environment, for the most part. It was very clicky and, you know, things like that. It wasn't the healthiest environment to learn. It was very, very good to get super tough training.

Daniel Maira:

It would make you tough, but it's not gonna make you smarter. And, that kinda really is something that, you know, my my partner, Nick, Salas, he and I really took to, like, there's a different way. You know? And, when we met Mikey, it was like, holy cow. Like, not only is there a different way, but we have proof now.

Daniel Maira:

And this guy's just been doing it this different way that we believed in, but for 20 years, and he's so much better. He's so much further along with it than anyone. Like, Mikey's on another level of his own, and we can talk about that later. That is

Drew Beech:

one thing I'm gonna get into, like, the whole movement art curriculum and and what makes the way your your way of teaching or the way you understand is just too different. But is Marcellus where you met Nick for the first time?

Daniel Maira:

Yeah. So it was just before I joined. He was actually a large part of the reason that I joined Marcellos at the time. So I I was, like, back up a little bit. I was, like, up until brown belt, I was at this other gym, like, just kind of training and figuring it out on my own.

Daniel Maira:

But the only thing that I knew was, like, I had to be my own coach. And, so I was working on that a lot. Nick Salas was doing his thing as well. Similar circumstances reaching the same conclusions totally separate. So he was he joined Marcellos, and, we were, like, talking a little bit.

Daniel Maira:

And he was like, look, bro. If you're serious, like, why are you not surrounding yourself with people who are trying to do the same things as the goals that you want? And I was like, that's a good question. Alright. I'm there.

Daniel Maira:

Let's do it. And, he kinda brought me in and really helped me, you know, cut ties with the other gym. Or not even cut ties, but just be like, I need this, you know. Mhmm. I need to get to this level.

Daniel Maira:

And, that was the start of it. And he and I really kinda became best friends on that sort of, like, we both want the same things, had the same vision, and thought about jiu jitsu the same way. And so it was it was really nice to have someone else else there who kind of you could bounce ideas off of, you could drill with, and and explore jiu jitsu

Joey Rosen:

and really

Daniel Maira:

learn jiu jitsu, not just train hard. So and I think to be really good at jiu jitsu, you need both. You So and I think to be really good at jiu jitsu, you need both. You have to have a really intellectual approach to shortcut the learning curve as much as you can at the same time as just being tough, like, hardcore and and kinda you gotta have a dog in you at the same time, you know.

Joey Rosen:

Smarts and savagery both.

Daniel Maira:

Yeah.

Joey Rosen:

Yeah. Both. Yep. Makes sense. So you guys met when you're both brown belts?

Daniel Maira:

Yeah.

Joey Rosen:

Okay.

Daniel Maira:

Yeah. So

Joey Rosen:

Had he been there at that gym in New York? Is that where he came up through the ranks?

Daniel Maira:

Yeah. He had just joined there, but Oh, okay. Similar trajectory to me where, you know, we kinda came up in jujitsu through the belts in other locations and didn't really have any coaching, you know, didn't really have any coaches to be like do this, do that, learn this, learn that. I mean, for me, it was like past past white belt with a few stripes. It was like, you know, you're learning.

Daniel Maira:

Alright. Here's a Kimura. Okay. Here's a basic half guard, whatever. But again, the mechanics are, you know, looking back, the mechanics are even wrong on those things.

Daniel Maira:

So it's like so learning a few moves is like, okay. Cool. But then beyond that, like, what what am I I doing here? You know? So me just chasing that, like, feeling, you you know, just trying to get that dopamine of learning something new and then applying it

Joey Rosen:

Mhmm.

Daniel Maira:

Was was huge, and he was doing the same thing. So just both of us really learning as much as we could on our own, being our own coaches, learning how to be our own coaches, and then going to the competitions and testing things. And then when we kinda met each other, it helped a lot.

Joey Rosen:

Yeah. We we talk about that, like, the performance gap between knowing and doing, like, between learning and doing and how important it is when you learn something to immediately apply it. 100%. Right? Because especially nowadays, just even outside of jujitsu, entrepreneurship, whatever, there's ton of learning, not a lot of doing.

Joey Rosen:

Mhmm. You know? I

Drew Beech:

go into that. Danny did allude to that you are a black belt under Mike Musamecchi.

Joey Rosen:

Mhmm.

Drew Beech:

At what point did you and Nick join forces and say, okay. Let's start a business and create this environment we wanna create

Daniel Maira:

Yeah.

Drew Beech:

And, start it and create it in Pittsburgh, PA. Like, being that Yeah. We're in New York, but for those of you that are listening and for you, Joe, like, when you go to MVMT, is it there's a different level of energy there. Like, the vibrations, speaking on a philosophical level like that, like, it feels like there's just so much positive energy and creativity and connection going on there that when you're there, you just wanna like, that's where you wanna learn. Mhmm.

Drew Beech:

So, like, at what point did you guys paint the picture of, like, this is what you wanna create and then that you set out to create that? Or how did it even come about that you guys were, like, let's go into business together? Because you're already chasing an extremely one a very challenging goal in trying to become world champions.

Joey Rosen:

Mhmm.

Drew Beech:

But then, like, there's also this extremely other challenging goal that you're chasing, and that's building a business that most people most people can't do either.

Daniel Maira:

Dude, I mean, like so Nick and I, like, joined forces, like, immediately, like, when we we went to Marcellus and we met, and I think that was the start of everything. It's just having somebody that was, like, on the same page, and we were, like, we're gonna do the same things. And then so I think that was kinda always the goal. Flash forward really far, things started taking a turn a little bit. You know, we met Mikey.

Daniel Maira:

We're training with Mikey and and friends with Mikey and then, you know, pandemic starts to happen, things start to shut down.

Drew Beech:

Were you guys looking to start a business at that time? Or okay.

Daniel Maira:

Definitely definitely not. We just wanted to train every day and get better and win worlds. That's singularly focused. That is all we cared about. That's all we wanted.

Daniel Maira:

Mhmm. And that's really something that we were chasing. And so for us to open movement are was like we've been to so many different gyms. We've trained with the top guys in the world. We've been around the block.

Daniel Maira:

There's things that we love at a lot of different academies, and there's things that we really hated. Being on the wrong end of clicks, being on the wrong end of favoritism and politics, drama, being on the wrong end of just training a certain way where you're just trying to kill each other, you're not trying to learn, seeing gyms where all they do is just try kind of static drill and try to learn, but they never train hard at all. And it's just kind of like we tried to take the best pieces of everything, bring them together into what we believe is the best training environment that's conducive to learning and competing at the top level where you can both get hard training in and you can level up your knowledge and learn as quickly as possible trying to shortcut that process being around like minded people at the same time. So kind of bring those three things together to say, like, we wanna build this location with this intent, with this vibe so that we have a place where we can win worlds. And if we're trying to go and win worlds, then the hobbyist who wants to go win Naga is in good hands.

Joey Rosen:

Mhmm.

Daniel Maira:

The hobbyist who doesn't care about competing is in good hands. Because all they care about is having fun learning and leveling up. Well, they're gonna do that. They're leveling up way faster and way more than they will anywhere else. So I think for us it was really important.

Daniel Maira:

We were in Sweden at the time. Pandemic was happening. We had to actually just watch that movie Contagion. And we were, like, joking around, like, oh, like, you know, you don't know what was gonna happen here. And we were, like, oh, like, wouldn't that be funny if everything shut down?

Daniel Maira:

Knock on wood. Next thing you know, we're in the London airport. We just competed in the grand slam in London. We won that. And so we had a nice little chunk of change and the world just kinda shut down.

Daniel Maira:

And so we went from Sweden to London. We barely made it back into the country like a day or 2 days after they kinda shut the borders for a little bit. It was kinda crazy. We didn't have a place to train. Marcellus closed down.

Daniel Maira:

New York City closed down basically as a whole. And, we were like, okay. So now what? Nick's parents, they're moving from one house to another, and the new house that they're moving into, is getting construction done on it. There's no one living there at the time.

Daniel Maira:

So we were like, you know, ask, Nick's pops. We were like, hey. Like, can we set up some mats here? And, by the way, I don't have a place to live. Can I just sleep in that closet?

Daniel Maira:

So we kinda did that for, like, a year, 8 months to a year, something like that. I don't really remember.

Joey Rosen:

And we

Daniel Maira:

called it the Bolivaros House. It was just like ghetto and just

Drew Beech:

That's cool.

Daniel Maira:

Crazy training. So basically Crazy. The the hyperbaric, like, time chamber where you just go into and it's like

Drew Beech:

From like Dragon Ball Z.

Daniel Maira:

Yeah. Dude, that was Nick and I, bro. Everyday, hours of tape, hours of drilling. We still have videos from it. It's it's crazy.

Daniel Maira:

Hours of tape, hours of drilling, hours of sparring, trying to kill each other with no one watching, no one around. Just Nick and I just murdering each other.

Joey Rosen:

Like, it

Daniel Maira:

was crazy. Hell.

Drew Beech:

Sick of this. I love that.

Daniel Maira:

And then we would take our trip to to Kwik Trip, right, it was a Kwik Check, whatever it is. Like, right up street. It's like a wow. It's Jersey Wawa. Yeah.

Daniel Maira:

And, go up to there and, get some snacks, whatever, come back, and then just, like, let it digest and just do it again all evening. And everyone Every day was like that for, like, like, a year.

Drew Beech:

This is during the pandemic, whatever, everything shut down?

Daniel Maira:

Everything's due. We were getting messages of people hating us for training. And I was like, we're more isolated than anybody than I am. I was like, we're only training with each other. Like, what are you

Joey Rosen:

talking about? It's exactly. It's just us 2 locked up in this case.

Daniel Maira:

I was like, if anything works, whatever.

Joey Rosen:

But

Drew Beech:

So realistically, you guys probably progressed. I mean, that probably gave you guys an edge because Oh, yeah. Everyone else was not training

Daniel Maira:

at the time. They weren't training, like, you know, fat and lazy and enjoying their time off, and we're just, like, the world is gonna reopen. World is gonna come back. We're gonna be ready.

Joey Rosen:

Yeah. You're

Daniel Maira:

gonna know. And, so, you you know

Drew Beech:

How was that first competition back after COVID? Like good, man. Did you guys crush?

Daniel Maira:

It was it was good. That was, brown belt Pan Am's was the first one coming back. We had left Marcello's. We're teamless. And, you know, we're friends with Mikey.

Daniel Maira:

We're talking to him, and he was like, he's like, can I give you guys black belts then? Like, kinda helping us out. And I was like, what do you what do you mean? I was like, bro, that's the dream. That would be that was our ideal situation.

Daniel Maira:

You know. And, so to have that be an option we were like, bro, like, let's do it. And, he's like, okay. Go bowl everybody at pans. We're like, okay.

Daniel Maira:

And so we just went absolutely just bullet everybody at pans and just, like, took first place and closed the division out with each other and

Drew Beech:

the vibes on that day. Everyone at the pans all the sudden. Like, you had to you had to actually

Daniel Maira:

We didn't have to do anything, I feel like.

Drew Beech:

It was it was a figure of speech.

Daniel Maira:

I feel like Mikey doesn't understand. I think when Mikey's like, oh, crap. We're like, what color, how much, and where. Like, he's that he's that good. So when he's, like, giving a suggestion or something, like, we trust it.

Daniel Maira:

And so what we'll do is we'll do it, and then we'll figure out why later, or we'll ask why later. And it's always right. You know? But at at this time, he just made, like, a sarcastic comment, I think. Like, oh, just go bowl everybody.

Daniel Maira:

And we're like, he's serious.

Drew Beech:

And you guys literally did.

Daniel Maira:

Yeah. And we literally did. Yeah.

Joey Rosen:

Like, mission mission received. We literally

Daniel Maira:

did. There's a video of me in the finals match sprinting back to the middle of the mat after I just bowled the guy and he defended and we rolled out of bounds. And, I literally sprint back to the mat, and the guy gets up. He's like, this guy is a psycho. Like, what's going on?

Daniel Maira:

And Nick's just like, let's go. Like, dude, I bow him again. He keeps running out of bounds. And, so the last bolo, I finish. I'm on his back.

Daniel Maira:

I have a hook in. I have, like, the choke. I'm, like, ready to go, and he just, like, walks out of bounds basically, gets d q'd, and that's how we win the final. And I don't even realize it's happening. I'm just, like, I'm ready to fight again.

Daniel Maira:

Yeah.

Joey Rosen:

Exactly.

Daniel Maira:

And, then all of a sudden, they raised my hand, and I'm, like, that was anticlimactic. Like, okay. And then, yeah. So then that was, the vibes on that day were were very, very good. Yeah.

Daniel Maira:

And, yeah, that that is definitely a moment that, you know, Nick and I will will share that, we look back onto those those vibes of just, like, it's do or die time. And every time we've been in that situation, it's like do or die. I feel like the level changes. You

Joey Rosen:

know? Yeah. You rise to the occasion. Yeah.

Drew Beech:

Yeah. Do you have any questions on that one?

Joey Rosen:

I mean, I have a I have a bunch. I wanna throw off your cadence too.

Daniel Maira:

Yeah. I wanna start cadence, obviously, this goes.

Drew Beech:

I'm jealous.

Joey Rosen:

This is

Drew Beech:

the first time Joey's heard your story because he's died sitting here, like,

Joey Rosen:

Yeah. It's Oh, this is great. Because I told

Drew Beech:

me it was a go.

Daniel Maira:

It it gets deep. Like, we're kinda nuts. We don't really have a life outside of the goals that we wanted. So before this, I was trying to just do soccer and I was like, I'm gonna do that. And then I was like, alright.

Daniel Maira:

I don't really love this and switch. But, man, I remember in Sweden, we we were just isolated again in another country, basically. Just Nick and I, were training there every day learning, and we go to this, little cafe that's open obnoxiously late for some reason. We don't know why. And it was called Tintin.

Daniel Maira:

And so we're always like that was the inception of movement art was in Tintin, this little cafe in Sweden. Mhmm. And we wrote down on some napkins. Okay. The city is closing down.

Daniel Maira:

What are we gonna do? It's like, well, we pay x amount of dollars to train, x amount to compete. Here's what we gotta do. Blah blah blah. Okay.

Daniel Maira:

So if we invest this much money into training and the whole thing goes to garbage, is it really a loss, or are we just paying x amount of dollars to train for x amount of time? Because we were like, alright. Say we invest all this time. It's not gonna burn to the ground before 6 months or a year. We have enough money to keep that afloat for that long.

Daniel Maira:

So basically then we're just it it it's kinda close. Actually, it's a little bit more. Alright. So let's say if it all goes south, then it's just like training fees except for our environment instead of someone else's. And that's kinda how we thought about it.

Drew Beech:

The rent on your first bill must have been that bad.

Daniel Maira:

The rent wasn't that bad. And, I remember, like, we were trying to find a location when we first got back. So we had, like, intent, and we had all the numbers, and we were like, this makes sense. Let's do it. Yeah.

Daniel Maira:

And we got back. We started getting to work. And after about a year at Bola Rose House, like, refining ideas, brainstorming the names, taking polls on different names, and, like, dude, we did everything down to the color scheme, down to what brand mats are better than others that would work better for us and, you know, down to everything that, you know, the logo. We we work for months just on the logo, like, every little piece. You know?

Drew Beech:

Were there any other names that were close to

Joey Rosen:

A lot.

Daniel Maira:

Yeah. There was there was a lot. I'm I'm gonna keep those

Joey Rosen:

locked in. Keep those locked in. Locked in.

Drew Beech:

There there

Joey Rosen:

was a

Daniel Maira:

few of them, but I'm I'm gonna keep those

Joey Rosen:

locked. Locked away.

Daniel Maira:

We have, we have some students who we had a conversation about, and they they might wanna use some of them or

Joey Rosen:

Oh, okay. Gotcha.

Daniel Maira:

Probably not. They're kinda garbage. But, but, yeah, dude, we had all the data on the napkin, and we were like, alright. Let's do it. We're searching around for a location.

Daniel Maira:

And, I kinda little birdie on a wire told me this other school was closing down because of COVID. And I was like, oh, we're dumb enough. Let's do it. Yeah. So I kinda cold called them and then, like, sort of convince them to to sell me their business slash them wanting to get out of their lease without, you know, getting their hands dirty.

Daniel Maira:

And so it was kind of a win win scenario. So we got into a lease where the place was already outfitted. We painted it. We changed it. And we made it ours, 3 year lease.

Daniel Maira:

And from month 1, we were in the green. And we never never went into debt, never took out a loan, and just did it the classic old school way. And,

Joey Rosen:

is that your current location that you're in now?

Daniel Maira:

So we moved from those first three years. We just upgraded about in November. So however many months that is

Joey Rosen:

You inherited their member base as well or purchased their member base?

Daniel Maira:

Or There was some some sketchy yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. For sure, that didn't happen.

Daniel Maira:

Okay. Gotcha. Luckily, we did the leg work for a year ahead of time to make sure that we had the students to fill the numbers. And if we didn't do that, we would have been sunk. And I think everybody thought we were gonna be sunk, especially during COVID.

Daniel Maira:

Luckily, you know, we we did the leg work, and we made it happen. And, we're blessed to have some amazing supportive people that want to learn jiu jitsu at a high level, and they actually care about the level of details that they're learning.

Joey Rosen:

Mhmm.

Daniel Maira:

So then after that location, we just switched to a 5,000 square foot facility. It's in Warminster, Pennsylvania.

Joey Rosen:

Mhmm.

Daniel Maira:

You know, stop by anytime. It's everybody's welcome. The door is open. The vibes are good. The the level of training and detail is is very, very high.

Daniel Maira:

Nothing like anything else that I've ever been to.

Drew Beech:

Let me paint the picture for

Daniel Maira:

a Where where

Joey Rosen:

where where do you buy in Warminster? Where are you at Warminster?

Daniel Maira:

There's a off of Jacksonville Road.

Drew Beech:

You're the king? We're in

Joey Rosen:

yeah. I know where Tanner is.

Drew Beech:

Right down the street.

Daniel Maira:

Few minutes away from that. Oh, really? Pretty close.

Joey Rosen:

Yeah. Yeah.

Drew Beech:

I know.

Daniel Maira:

So it's a Well,

Drew Beech:

you just paint the picture for a 6:30 class over at Luminar. You walk in

Joey Rosen:

AM, PM. PM.

Daniel Maira:

Sleep at 6:30.

Drew Beech:

You walk into the garage door that's open in the front. You got beautiful white walls. Everything like, everything's high end. Like, state of the art. Right?

Drew Beech:

It was, like, it just gives you that

Joey Rosen:

that feel. Macchio.

Drew Beech:

Yep. Place of light. Garage door also open in the back, sun setting. And you got people working out,

Joey Rosen:

people watching, people in the sauna, and the way it's just, like Yeah.

Drew Beech:

Where at low five. People in the sauna, and the way it's just, like Yeah. Where at low 5 low 5. Yeah.

Daniel Maira:

You gotta have the vibes, man. Yeah.

Drew Beech:

You gotta

Daniel Maira:

have the vibes.

Drew Beech:

By doing during drills. So Yeah.

Joey Rosen:

Alright. Now You

Daniel Maira:

can't you can't drill to just people be nobody wants to hear that, man. Nobody wants to hear that.

Joey Rosen:

Yeah.

Daniel Maira:

Yeah. I mean, the vibes are are for sure, they're amazing. And I think that really is just Nick and I trying to envision 2 things like what's the best environment that we would love to be around for our home Mhmm. Every day to be training in. So we just built that.

Daniel Maira:

And then for people to learn and feel welcome and feel comfortable, in a real state of the art facility that's a world class level gym.

Joey Rosen:

Mhmm.

Daniel Maira:

You know, it's not just about the instructions. It's also about the facility. So, you know, we're still working on it. You know, there's always improvements to be made.

Drew Beech:

Yeah. That was the thing you could tell that they put thought, effort, and intention into. It's like

Joey Rosen:

Mhmm.

Drew Beech:

Like, it's not your hole in the wall gym. It's like, where would I like to train and what would make me feel the best?

Joey Rosen:

Sure.

Drew Beech:

You touched on it, like, before and, beforehand, but do you wanna talk a little bit about what makes movement art different as far as, like, your understanding of jujitsu and the way you guys teach? Or

Daniel Maira:

Yeah. I mean, so MovementArt is the idea that as a black belt instructor for both Nick, myself, the other coaches at MovementArt, it's our job to be educators for both ourselves and then, you know, our students after that. Our job is to take the information and boil it down, make anything that's complex, understand it deeply so we can explain it simply, and break it down for people on a a, you know, Joe Schmo level so anybody can learn it. Learning about structure and body positioning first and the details and the concepts that really are gonna help you to organize your jiu jitsu in the long term to be your own coach. Our job as instructors is to help you not need us as quick as possible.

Daniel Maira:

You know? I don't wanna be you know, imagine a high school, you know, teacher who is, like, trying to keep you down and in a way that you always are gonna be at the high school level. Yeah. As a good high school teacher, you're trying to teach them to the college level. College professor trying to teach you how to be, you know, the next thing and and uncover new ground in science.

Daniel Maira:

And that's really the idea of movement art jiu jitsu is to try to update the technology of everyone there and then continue to push the envelope of how jiu jitsu is taught, how jiu jitsu is thought about, and the techniques in the organization that is used. Things for us, it's black and white. They're gonna make more sense or it makes less sense in every single position. And we need to understand that, not just do random moves. So for us, that's a huge, huge difference.

Joey Rosen:

That's the first time I've ever heard that in the jujitsu space. Like, I hear that from trainers. Mhmm. You know, like,

Daniel Maira:

you know, same thing. Yeah.

Joey Rosen:

But I've never heard that in the jujitsu space.

Daniel Maira:

I think that's something that you'll hear a lot from people who are, like, world class though. Everybody I've been blessed to be around a lot of world class humans doing, you know, business, soccer we'll say, other athletes in other sports as well as, you know, in jiu jitsu thankfully. And, you know, something that I like to do as well is I like to read a lot and and, you know, I'm always trying to learn. And the the people who are at the pinnacle of whatever their field is, they're like, I don't know anything about anything else really. Mhmm.

Daniel Maira:

Because every you know, my opinion is always subject to change, but I know I know this much about this. And and he I'm always learning, but here's what I know right now. And that's our job in jujitsu and everything else. So why should we not apply the same methodologies to jujitsu? Why do we get a black belt and then just stop learning?

Daniel Maira:

That's insane to me. And that's one of my pet peeves that, like, drives me crazy is black belts who don't update their technology.

Joey Rosen:

Yep.

Daniel Maira:

I'm like, man, like, the first, you know, computers came out and then you had, you know, different operating systems and Sure. Somebody who got a black belt 10 years ago, they're operating on Windows 90 7. And it's like, bro, that's great and all, but

Drew Beech:

It's almost like they think they know everything. Updated. Yeah. They know. They just say we're in the black belt.

Daniel Maira:

But For sure. You're a black belt. You own a school. It's your job to update your technology and give that technology and that software to your students.

Joey Rosen:

That should work with that process. Them.

Daniel Maira:

100%. I that's how we believe

Joey Rosen:

for sure. What percentage when you look at your member, your member base or your student rather, what percentage are hobbyists versus competitors?

Daniel Maira:

I'd say majority hobbyists for sure. Majority hobbyists, people who you know, hobbyists is same as any other gym. They have a job, a wife, kids, limited time to train throughout the week. And the reason that they'll gravitate towards movement art is they'll say, hey, man. I only can train 3 days a week.

Daniel Maira:

That's 3, 3 and a half, 4 hours maybe a week total.

Joey Rosen:

Mhmm. It's

Daniel Maira:

not a lot of time. What should I be focusing on to get as good as I can in jiu jitsu as quick as possible? Yeah. And that's our entire job at MovementArt is to shortcut that process and give you those things. And the proof is in the pudding, and you can tell when these hobbyists, once in a while, they go to compete, you see the difference.

Daniel Maira:

You know, you can literally see it.

Drew Beech:

I mean, you go there and you've and roll with these guys, like, you feel the difference. Like, everyone I've talked to is like, I wanna trade in my belt. And when they, like, like that's literally what it feels like. This just feels like they're on a different.

Joey Rosen:

So does the the hobbyist one of your hobbyist students, do they come in with the same mentality Mhmm. That one of your, you know,

Daniel Maira:

competitors do? I I really feel they should. The only difference between a hobbyist and a frequent competitor and me being a world class competitor trying to win Black Belt Worlds is the level of commitment to the goal. So we're all committed to learning as quick as we can, but for me, it's far more important. So I'm cramming for that test way more than the hobbyist.

Joey Rosen:

For sure.

Daniel Maira:

And, you know, everybody in between is doing the same. But, again, they're all treated the same and and the cool part is that they might be on different levels on the same path.

Joey Rosen:

Mhmm.

Daniel Maira:

But the structure and organization is the same. Sure. And, I think one of the really cool things is just how there isn't, like, clicks in movement are. It's the weirdest environment where Nick and I both hate that feeling of, like, being excluded on the outside and, you know, we didn't wanna have that in our gym. So we've worked very hard to make sure that everyone feels included.

Daniel Maira:

They feel welcomed. And, for right now, I think we have a really good environment where we don't have those type of clicks and people are welcomed. But at the same time, if your vibe is off and you're kinda like a jerk or whatever else, like Yep. They just don't last long at MovementArt. And it's not that they're not welcome, but they don't feel comfortable in a positive environment where they wanna, like, tear people down and and Sure.

Daniel Maira:

We just don't have those type of people there. Sure. So It's

Drew Beech:

interesting you bring that up though because when I took Parker there for a kid's class at one time, Nick gave a little, I don't wanna say, speech, but, like, a talk to the kids at the end of class. And he said, like, I guess someone a kid may have been getting left out in live, like, live trying picking partners.

Daniel Maira:

Yeah.

Drew Beech:

And he said, these are all our teammates. We wanna make sure everyone's in like, we're not skipping out on roles with certain people because of who they are, what

Joey Rosen:

Yeah.

Drew Beech:

We think they

Joey Rosen:

Can or can

Drew Beech:

do. Yeah. Or, like, just, like, everyone here is your teammate, and it's important that we include everybody. I feel that the I that's stuck with me.

Joey Rosen:

You know what

Daniel Maira:

I mean?

Drew Beech:

Yeah. That's that's that's what I've called that shit now.

Joey Rosen:

It's optimized for learning. A 100%.

Daniel Maira:

Yeah. And and I think, like, if you're in a positive state of mind, you're gonna retain that information far, far better than if you're, like, low key traumatized from doing something wrong and getting yelled at or something.

Joey Rosen:

Yep.

Daniel Maira:

And, I think it's just super important for us to both create the environment of positivity, but then also to put the onus on the kid or whoever else and be like, hey, man. Like, it's your fault. Everything in life is your fault, and you want it to be your fault. And that's our job to help them understand that they want things to be their fault because then they have the power to change it, and that's super important for them. So we'll yell at the kids like, don't go waiting around for someone to come and pick you.

Daniel Maira:

Go and pick someone else. And if that makes you feel some type of way, get over those feelings, and that's something you need to get over those feelings and that insecurity to to go and pick partners and be assertive and and build confidence. You know? So that's huge. So both both ends of those spectrum are something that we actively work on.

Drew Beech:

I'm always telling Parker that everything is your fault. Yeah. And that it's it's hard harsh to say to a kid.

Joey Rosen:

And the best of all and the best of all.

Drew Beech:

And he'll get it. He'll fully understand it one day. But

Joey Rosen:

The thing is, like, for me and I had this conversation with my daughters. It was recent. My this might have been this weekend, actually. I I told him, I'm like, you know, I it's similar. Like, everything's your fault.

Joey Rosen:

But that's actually liberating because that means you're in control.

Daniel Maira:

100%. You know, if

Joey Rosen:

things weren't your fault, you're completely out of control. And you have Yeah. You have no levers to pull in that situation to turn whatever the loss was into learning. If you're in control right? If you're if it's your fault, you're in control, and that's the best part of it.

Daniel Maira:

Yeah. And that's part of the reason I I love and hate competing so much. Sometimes things don't go your way, and sometimes it doesn't look like it's your fault directly. And you have to be able to look at things and make them your fault. Yeah.

Daniel Maira:

So I've been screwed over by referees in multiple different situations, and I just I gotta look at these and not make excuses and say, okay. Yeah. I got screwed over. But this situation happened before that. I messed up this grip and this technique, and I could have done this.

Daniel Maira:

I could have done that. And, you know, you gotta figure out how you can make things your fault. So even taking that a step further. You know? I remember, like, one of the the biggest stings in my career is, like, losing in the the black belt world semifinal.

Daniel Maira:

And, like, I've had this dream forever of, like, competing on the the Sunday at worlds, on the black belt league, on the mats. Visualizing. It's it's a different it's a different feel. You know? And you got everybody watching.

Daniel Maira:

You got the cameras and everything. And I'm just like, I've dreamed of this. I've been there so many times. And then when I was there, I was like, we're doing this. Like, we are gonna win worlds.

Daniel Maira:

And, you know, I was lucky to have Nick with me there, and he was like, this is our time. Like, let's do this, you know, and I ruined it. You know? And, I'm I messed it up, and I I ended up losing by advantage or whatever. And I can directly point to a number of details that I didn't understand at the time because my level wasn't good enough yet.

Daniel Maira:

And if I had done those details, who knows? Maybe I would have won, maybe I've would have lost, but the story would be different for sure. And then that prompts another thought of, let's say, you know those details, maybe the situation changes. How many more details could you learn until you could really change it? And this is something that is so inspiring about, like, Mikey Musimension who his technical level is so far gone past everyone else that he can be competing on, like, his worst day feeling like garbage.

Daniel Maira:

He's a terrible competitor. You know? He's amazing human. Terrible competitor. He you know, with the nerves or whatever else.

Daniel Maira:

And so when we see Mikey competing, he's he's competing at, like, 5% or, like, whatever of his capability. It's insane. And so to see the tech the technique shine through Mhmm. The the true level of technique is insane. So if you can get that true level of your technique to a world class level that is beyond a world class level, really, It'll make up for however you're feeling on the day.

Daniel Maira:

Yeah. Referees trying to screw you over, the opponent being on steroids. There's so many factors, and you have to have a, you know, let's say, a standard deviation of technique higher than each of those extra factors. So you don't need to just be more technical than your opponent. You need to be 5, 6 times more technical than your opponent to ensure that you're gonna win.

Joey Rosen:

Yeah.

Daniel Maira:

And that's the that's the road that we're on at MovementArt is trying to get to that level where it just doesn't make a difference.

Joey Rosen:

I love it.

Drew Beech:

Well, that segues into my next question perfectly. So you said you ruined it, but were there on on this journey to black belt, medalist, business owner, were there any extremely low points in the journey and points where you felt like because I asked this question to all of our guests, I like to hear how they overcame, but any points where you felt like it might not work out, and what did you do to overcome this?

Daniel Maira:

Yeah. I've definitely had some some dark times, some low points. At different times, I would say the the way I overcame them is different because of where I was at, the knowledge I had. You know, I I had a time when I first met Mikey where I was training at Marcello's. I was getting a little bit, like, just super turned off from jiu jitsu because I'm always being told that drilling is wrong and, studying is wrong and none of it's gonna

Joey Rosen:

help you anyway, and there's

Daniel Maira:

too much variation to actually learn everything. And and I'm like, okay. And I'm sitting here thinking like, well, what if somebody told me that about math? Like, why are we studying math in school then? This doesn't make any sense.

Daniel Maira:

So for us, it's an intellectual thing. For them, it's just movement, and they didn't wanna study it. And so, you know, it really turned me off from jiu jitsu. I got really really low. I was like ready to quit.

Daniel Maira:

And Mikey was like he talked to me for like 2 hours the first time I met him after just absolutely annihilating me. And, man, like, you just really kinda brought me back from the brink, I feel like, to reignite the love I had for jiu jitsu because I was like, I haven't had that that curious feeling of and that dopamine from learning something new and being able to apply it. I I kinda got away from I got away from that for a little bit of time, and I think it really impacted me negatively in jiu jitsu to the point where I was, like, ready to not do it. And now, you know, my love of it is just as high as ever. The same feel when you're in day 1 and you're, like, learning Kimura, and you're like, woah.

Daniel Maira:

That's so cool.

Joey Rosen:

And, like,

Daniel Maira:

I'll never hit that live, though. And then you hit it live, and you're like,

Joey Rosen:

oh, this is so good. Like,

Daniel Maira:

for me, I get that same feeling, but it's zoomed in so much more. So I'm like, man, I can't break this grip. But when I turn the pinky like this and I make him activate his pinky instead of his thumb, now I can break the grip when I get it on the inside of my knee versus the outside. It's like, woah. That's so cool.

Daniel Maira:

So now we're thinking about these details instead of those. K. Same dopamine response feels great. You're learning. You're leveling up.

Daniel Maira:

You're having fun. So, Mike, you really helped me overcome, like, that first bout of, like, kind of depressive. I wanna quit. I'm done with this. I don't know what I wanna do with my life.

Daniel Maira:

And, he really helped me with that. I think I also stayed with it for a long time too. You know, I didn't really have another choice because I kinda burned the lifeboats. So when I had some, you know, you're swimming in the ocean or whatever, you don't have another choice. It's just kinda you swim or you die.

Daniel Maira:

And I feel like that's kinda where I was. And then I've had other times too where, you know, maybe the way through was learning more about, you know, neuroscience and my neurochemistry and how things affect our body, our brains, our emotions, and our feelings differently. Mhmm. How the body can impact, you know, your feelings and how your feelings can impact your physiology as well. And just just learning how to kind of biohack that a little bit to feel a little bit better and grow.

Daniel Maira:

And I think that's really, really important as an athlete, but also as just regular person who wants to feel better and optimize performance.

Joey Rosen:

You know? Oh, for sure. So

Drew Beech:

It's funny as I react like that to biohacking because we just did an episode on biohacking. Really? Yeah.

Daniel Maira:

Yeah. Yeah. I'm gonna listen to

Drew Beech:

that. I mean, I told about how I'd I've grown to not like the word anyway. I used to be biohack, biohack, biohack, but now I just think it's, like, things you do to increase

Daniel Maira:

Yeah. I would say like true biohacking. It's more like, okay. Like, I understand that I feel this type of way because I have, you know, been getting way too much dopamine. So now I'm in this valley, and it's hard to regain my baseline.

Daniel Maira:

So then when I do something that's like, holy cow, this is amazing. Like, it's not spiking my dopamine the same. Like, just learning how, you know, we function as humans has has been massive. So I would say there's been dark times where knowledge has brought me out of it. It's like Andrew Huberman has this saying that he says all the time, which is like knowledge of knowledge is power.

Daniel Maira:

And so there's times where, you know, let's say for weight cuts for example where I'm like, I'm so hungry, like, oh my goodness. And I'm like, okay. Why is my why is my hunger at such a high level? It's like, well, you learn about satiety and, you know, your hunger hormones of, you know, leptin and ghrelin and whatever, and you're like, okay. I gotta learn how to regulate these.

Daniel Maira:

And then all of a sudden, you change your diet, you get your sunlight, you get your sleep right, and and other things, you start feeling a lot better. Then, of course, it's no coincidence when you mess those things up. You feel like garbage. You overeat to compensate. So, yeah, that there's that for sure.

Daniel Maira:

Post competitions, another dark kind of thing is, like, I have, like, a binge eating disorder kind of. So, again, I'll cut down.

Drew Beech:

Me the.

Daniel Maira:

I'll cut down and then after the competition, man, I eat, bro.

Joey Rosen:

Yeah. Yeah.

Drew Beech:

Like, I It's like an all all or nothing approach.

Daniel Maira:

Yeah. Dude, I don't I don't party. I don't drink. I don't smoke. I don't do anything.

Daniel Maira:

I'm I'm pretty boring. I eat, though, bro. Like, that's that's my advice. And, I've really been working a lot to try and not medicate with food so much, and I think that's not a healthy thing to do.

Drew Beech:

I think, I think my gallbladder because I wrestled a little bit in high school. Not very good to preface, like, very average wrestler, but anything below average, but I, I had to get my gallbladder removed because I developed through weight cutting, developed that, like, a a bad relationship with food. I think that to this day even is why I have that all or nothing approach because it's like I would weight cut and then Mhmm. Binge. And that's what had me develop call stones.

Daniel Maira:

I think I I cut weight incorrectly and way too harshly on my body way too many times, and I'm learning more about that balance now for sure. And so as a professional athlete now treating myself, my body, my environment, my learning, my training, everything as a professional,

Joey Rosen:

Mhmm.

Daniel Maira:

You know, I feel like I've been trying to figure that out for the last 10 years, and I feel like now I'm I, you know, I wanna say I was close back then, but then every time you get closer, you always know that you weren't. Yeah. But I wanna say right now that I'm I'm definitely further along than I've ever been. And, I feel like we're very ready for worlds. We're very ready for, you know, what's next.

Drew Beech:

So do we more

Joey Rosen:

No. No. Continue. I don't wanna I

Drew Beech:

have 2 more questions just to bring this in for a landing. But so, we'll start with you said that, but what's next for you, Nick, even or at MovementArt? Mhmm.

Daniel Maira:

Yeah. So for MovementArt, the goal is to basically just continue to grow and thrive and share our love of jiu jitsu, try to change the way people think about jiu jitsu, and to continue to have an environment for people where they can come, be part of something bigger than themselves, feel welcome, enjoy the the process of learning, fall in love with learning, and just have a healthy escape as well for some of the struggles in life that are happening. And then, also to give the competitors, whether they're hobbyists or world class competitors, a place where they can really come and level up, different than anything that they've ever experienced before. So just continue to build a world class facility if we already have it, but to make it better, that's never gonna stop. We never stop growing.

Daniel Maira:

We never stop learning. And I think the second that you do and you give up hope, you're you're good as dead.

Joey Rosen:

Yeah.

Daniel Maira:

And, I think that's super, super key. I know even when I retire, it's like the goal is just gonna shift. We're not gonna stop. So Mhmm.

Drew Beech:

Is there anything what's next as far as, like, competing as well?

Daniel Maira:

As As far as competitions, we have, worlds coming up in a in a few weeks. So, you know, camp's going strong for that, feeling great. Jiu jitsu, the jiu jitsu level is feeling really, really good. The room feels really good. Everybody's pushing hard, training, technically learning a lot, drilling a lot.

Daniel Maira:

It's great. After worlds, you know, there's many other things on the horizon, but for me, I'm very, like, single-minded on whatever I'm doing. So try to go a 100% in on whatever that one thing is. So for me right now, it's worlds, and everything else is just a shadow.

Drew Beech:

If you have any other question, I'd to end it. Mhmm. There's a lot of members of the community that are aspiring competitors and and new competitors. What advice do you have for someone that is new to competing or looking to make competing their even their life. Right?

Drew Beech:

Like, what what would you suggest to them to make that a reality?

Daniel Maira:

To competition like their life?

Drew Beech:

Yeah. Or just even even the hobbyist competitor. Right?

Daniel Maira:

So, I mean, as far as the first one goes, like, don't do it. You know? It it no. I would I would have a serious conversation with them or tell them to have a serious conversation with themselves. Why are you doing this?

Daniel Maira:

And start with why, of course. But, man, if you're in it to make money, go make money. Go do something else. If you love it and you can't fall asleep without having it wrack your brain, you might be you might be in for it. You know?

Daniel Maira:

Be honest with yourself, I would say, about the level that you're aspiring to achieve, and you have to be unapologetic in finding the right environment to go and do that in, not just staying loyal to who's who. Because loyalty is a two way street. And so for me, I had people who were like, if you wanna get to that level, you gotta go and do that thing. I had a couple of people who were like that, thankfully. Had a lot of people who were saying a lot of other things.

Daniel Maira:

You know? But for me, I would say that would be the first question is, are you gonna try to make money, or are you doing it because you love it? Are you doing it because you wanna be a world champion? And for me, I know I leave a lot of money on the table. That's not my goal.

Daniel Maira:

I'll make money when I'm retired. I'll make money later. And, know, we do okay right now, and we're just gonna keep working hard. And, I know when we apply those same concepts to making money, things are gonna change. And then I would just say put yourself in the right environment.

Daniel Maira:

Proximity is the most powerful indicator of success or failure. If you're hanging around an environment, a location, certain people, that's what you're gonna be. You know, when I have to drive past Wawa every single day with a big eating disorder when I'm cutting weight, it's a problem. So I just don't drive past the Wawa. I take a different route.

Daniel Maira:

And, I think, you know, I think that's really, really important if you're putting yourself around success all the time. Let's say you never amount to that success, you're still gonna be successful. You know? Amen. So just aim sounds cliche.

Daniel Maira:

Aim for the stars. You know? And if you you land a little short, that's fine. You know?

Drew Beech:

We haven't thought of that. We've I just said that. We got

Joey Rosen:

into we got into a whole debate on the solar system on the grid.

Daniel Maira:

Yeah. Actually, that's you. Yeah. We don't wanna you know, whatever. Aim for the stars, land for the moon.

Drew Beech:

We'll we'll we'll

Daniel Maira:

get a measuring tape out.

Drew Beech:

Yeah. But

Daniel Maira:

that Which one's further?

Joey Rosen:

That's what I asked.

Drew Beech:

Yeah. So it's

Daniel Maira:

This is the theory.

Joey Rosen:

That's the

Daniel Maira:

idea. Exactly. It's just

Drew Beech:

absolutely crazy. You just brought up biohacking and shoot for the moon land of the stars because that was literally the theme of our

Daniel Maira:

last episode. Yeah.

Joey Rosen:

I think

Daniel Maira:

I think it's huge, you know. Yeah. But yeah. Long story short, if you wanna be a competitor, you gotta be your own coach first and foremost because every one of these other coaches just sucks in the way that they're not updating their technology. And if they say they are and they're trying to convince you that they are, like, see if you can update your technology faster.

Daniel Maira:

If you can, then obviously they're not, and challenge them on everything. You should challenge them on everything. You should be a skeptic for everything in your jiu jitsu. So be your own coach, number 1. Number 2 is just put yourself in the correct environment to really reach that level, not the environment where people are telling you that they're they're at that level.

Daniel Maira:

It's so common, especially in these gyms in this area, in the Philly area. And everywhere I've been actually around the country, they always say, like, oh, yeah. Yeah. They don't teach that. They don't teach this.

Daniel Maira:

It's all oh, yeah. Yeah. But those guys aren't legit. And and it's like, you're not legit by tearing other people down. You're legit by building yourself up and building others up around you.

Daniel Maira:

And, man, look at the credentials of whoever it is that you're trying to really learn from and put yourself in that environment. And then once you get to that level, you can decide to go higher or lower as needed. Sure. So Cool.

Drew Beech:

Dude, I mean, that was

Joey Rosen:

I have so many questions.

Drew Beech:

Yeah. We're

Joey Rosen:

gonna we're gonna talk afterwards.

Drew Beech:

Part part 2 maybe.

Joey Rosen:

Yeah. Yeah. Part 2.

Drew Beech:

Dan, can you let them the community know where to find you?

Daniel Maira:

Yeah. We're, Movement Art Jiu Jitsu at Movement Art Jiu Jitsu on Instagram. Movement art dot online is our, our website. The schedule is on there. We got, like, an open door policy.

Daniel Maira:

Everybody can come through. We don't do politics. We don't do drama. We just do, like, leveling up, learning, hard training, and, you know, having fun, having a good time. So come through and visit us.

Daniel Maira:

Even if you're not intent on joining the gym, come through and check us out. You know? The door is always open. I'm at Danny Freestyle on Instagram. The l is a one though because the the l was taken.

Daniel Maira:

So Yeah. That scrubbed at the one.

Joey Rosen:

It

Daniel Maira:

was the freestyle nickname came from, like, soccer thing back in the day too. I remember there's a funny story real quick. Marcelo's Marcus was like, bro, you've been here for, like, 3 years now. I haven't heard you rap once. Like, what's going on?

Daniel Maira:

Oh, that's funny. I was like, I was gonna

Joey Rosen:

ask you to I was gonna ask you to freestyle here, actually. I got scared.

Drew Beech:

That's cool.

Daniel Maira:

But, yeah, Danny freestyle on Instagram, Movement Art Jujitsu on Instagram as well, and Movement Art dot online is the website as a, those are the the best spots to to check us out. Give us a follow, and, it doesn't take anything to follow and share. You know, it doesn't cost anything to support in that way, and that's a huge help. Yep. You know, shout out to Fuel Hunt.

Daniel Maira:

You guys are amazing. I love what you guys are representing, what you guys are doing, not just as a brand, but as people and bringing a community of like minded people together. And, man, especially in this day and age in this world, we need more people who are trying to bring everybody together from all walks of life. And so, you know, I commend you guys, and I I thank you guys for doing what you're doing. And this is something that I'm very happy to align, you know, with the brand because it's something that I also stand for and I'm trying to do with moving art.

Daniel Maira:

And I can see, obviously, you guys are doing this so well with Fuel Hunt.

Joey Rosen:

I appreciate that, man. I appreciate that. I wanted to say thank you for the support. We're on in in many ways, we're on similar missions.

Daniel Maira:

Yeah. I

Joey Rosen:

always say to Drew, like, we build bridges. We don't dig trenches.

Daniel Maira:

Oh, I like that.

Joey Rosen:

That's what we that's what we do because we all have more in common Mhmm. Than we have uncommon. Yeah. And that's lost now. You know?

Joey Rosen:

I believe, like, anybody can tap into exactly who they could be and should be with the power of hard work, and that that transcends all those lines. So we're out here building bridges, man.

Drew Beech:

And the power of positivity that you put into the world, like, comes back to you tenfold too.

Joey Rosen:

Is that high it's a high vibration, like, you know, over and over. I know we're trying to tie this up, but over and over again, you guys were mentioning, like, positivity and the environment is positive and the environment is positive. Like, what you're describing is a high frequency environment. Mhmm. And in that type of environment, you absorb.

Joey Rosen:

Yeah. You absorb knowledge. You absorb other people's high frequency. Right? You absorb the possibility and belief that what you're there for, you can achieve.

Joey Rosen:

Like, that's what makes it positive. 100%. So, we commend you for what you're doing. We're on similar missions. Thank you for coming today.

Joey Rosen:

I don't wanna steal your outro, but No.

Daniel Maira:

Yeah. I'm

Drew Beech:

I'm gearing

Joey Rosen:

up anything like Oh, yeah. I think we had cut it off there. I mean, we just signed off and

Drew Beech:

I gotta let the Eagles know. Always choose hard work over handouts. Always choose effort over entitlement. And remember, no one owes you. No one owns you.

Drew Beech:

You're one of the few.

Daniel Maira:

That's talk.

Drew Beech:

Let's talk. Let's

Joey Rosen:

talk. Let's talk.