Welcome to the End of the Lion Heart Podcast with your host, Lauren Stunning.

I've known Mark Beavers for many years. When I moved to Chicago, I started training at

the Old Carlson Gracie Academy on the South Street back in 2003, and shortly after I met

him when he moved to Chicago. Later, I remember being impressed when he opened up his own

school, the new retreating centre in the north side of the city, and he quickly grew

it to a very successful Gizu Gym. And over the last few years, I've been brain-spired

by just how much he's out there traveling the country and competing. This year, I really

struggled with my own Gizu competition, to in having my newborn son and also a very busy

work schedule. I had a front row seat to a few of Mark's phenomenal performances. He beat

me at the Chicago Open in the summer, and then crushed a very solid bracket when the

Nogi Pan Am's. And just recently came third in a stacked 60-man bracket at the Nogi

World's last month. Watching him, I was always impressed with how smooth, relaxed and focused

he was when he was competing. And after losing my first match to Kenny Foreign at the Nogi

World's, I was sitting there a little bit dejected, and we started talking and he began explaining

his meticulous preparation. He was telling me how he approaches every calendar year with

a specific plan based on balancing his hard training with his full recovery and focusing

on competing every Saturday. I was so inspired by the details you were sharing that I immediately

said, please stop, we've got to do a podcast on his Gizu journey with a specific focus

on his competition strategies. Mark just ended this last competition season, ranked as

the number one master three black belt, which is an amazing achievement. I believe it

is something like 19 tournaments this year, which for someone in their mid 40s, competing

at the black belt level is just insane. I'm excited to learn more about his motivations,

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