Total MMA Studios: So Alyssa for our readers can you tell us a little about yourself?

Alyssa: Well I am originally grew up in Riverside, California but when I was younger moved out to Orange County and grew up for most of my teenage years in Santa Ana. When I was younger I hated working out, I hated to sweat I was that kind of a girly girl but I did have 2 older brothers so they did influence me a lot to become a tomboy so after that I got into the whole working out routine.

Total MMA Studios: So from we understand you were at one point 50lbs overweight before you turned your life around and lost the weight, can you tell us about it? What were the contributing factors to the weight gain and at what point did it all change?

Alyssa: When I was about 8 or 9 years old my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and it made a really big impact on me and my family. In my family I was the only girl and losing her, which we almost did was a really big eye opener. You know growing up in a Hispanic family eating well and healthy was just was not our thing, we come from a culture were healing comes from a higher power not from food and looking back now as I have become healthier I realize that curing yourself comes from the inside, it comes from your food. It is what you eat; it is what you put inside your body you know?

I believe at my heaviest I was at 150lbs and honestly the way I got there was when my mom and dad put me in soccer, during those years when she was diagnosed with the cancer but I got out of it because I really didn’t like it because I was really girly. After that I gained weight and once I hit high school it just got worse, I was eating badly because you know how high school food is? I was eating breadsticks for breakfast, I was eating chips for dinner, I didn’t even care what I ate and to be honest I didn’t even know how I got there? It was a gradual weight gain and I realized it when I could not even walk up a flight of stairs without being exhausted. To me that was pretty sad because I was 18 to 19 years old and I really wanted to do something different and honestly I started with the little things, I started to substitute foods and that’s how I started to lose weight…

For the full interview and a link to her in-dept blog where you will find tips on Nutrition, exercise and weight loss please click on the blog title.

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Total MMA Studios: So Mike for our readers can you tell us a little about yourself?

Mike: I was originally born in Brooklyn, NY and I grew up in Laguna Niguel and now I am living in Mission Viejo.

Total MMA Studios: Now we know you are currently a firefighter, can you tell use what made you want to become one? Did you think about it as a child or was it just something you got an opportunity for and just went for it?

Mike: I knew after high school that I wanted to do something outside of an office job and I just looked into firefighting. I just made sure to take the necessary classes I needed to become one and I just stuck with it; overall it took me about 3 to 4 years to go fulltime. During that time I also was doing a bunch of other fire related experience jobs such as EMT, wildlife firefighting and reserve firefighting before getting hired fulltime.

Total MMA Studios: Can you tell us about the job itself? What kind of things are you dealing with day in and day out?

Mike: It is very demanding, we are on a 24 hour shift schedule and at any time we can be called out on any type of emergency. Firefighting is all a risk, from medical aids to fires to traffic collisions, really just any type of emergency we can get called for….

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TTMMA: Neil so tell us when did you start training?

Neil: Well I started training about 6 to 7 years ago. I started with jiu-jitsu and then from there I started doing some stand up sparing and got into MMA about 3 years ago when I had my first pro fight.

Clink on the title above for the full interview.

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TTMMA: We are here with Fitness competitor Sara Evangelista, so Sara for our readers can you give us a little background on yourself?

Sara: I’m 35 and I have an 8 year old son named Gabriel and I am a person trainer, I have been training for about 5 years at a gym called Metrex in Costa Mesa, California, overall though I have been working out for about 10 years. Throughout the years I have always been in great shape and a lot of people would ask me if I have ever competed and I would always say “no”, and then from there I was asked a couple times to do a couple of modeling gigs and I just did them. After that people would always just tell me I should compete and so I did, so I have been competing in bikini for about two years now. Also I have been modeling different types of bikini and fitness modeling jobs for the last four years…

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TTMMA: So Beto can you tell us how long you have been training?

Beto: I have been training at TotalMMA Studios for over 2 years now. When I first started I was taking wrestling and then 6 months into it I started doing jiu-jitsu and I just fell in love with it.

TTMMA: As I understand you have lost about 100lbs, can you tell us what you did to achieve those kinds of results?

Beto: Well at first it was just coming into the gym and rolling and doing jiu-jitsu that really helped me a lot. Then after awhile I started to change my diet and that helped even more. So overall it was just dieting and coming into TotalMMA to take the wrestling and jiu-jitsu classes and just lifting weights…

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TTMMA: So Jim for our members can you tell us about yourself?

Colleran: Sure. I grew up in a number of places back East, Pittsburg was one of them then it was Boston. When I was young I was a competitive power lifter, I also boxed then I just lifted weights until my thirties and between my job where I am president and chairman of Neutrogena I didn’t do a whole lot. Then after a while I started to get injuries, had my hips replaced in May of last year and then got fat so I decided it was time to go so something, so my son wanted to do this and here we are…

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Total MMA Studios: We are here with John Petrie, so tell us John how long have you been training?

John: 2 ½ years at our gym with Juliano and the trainers and 15 months with Jiu-jitsu.

Total MMA Studios: So you are one of our success stories, for our readers when you first walked on the mat how much did you weigh?

John: 300lbs, 298lbs to be exact when I came to the gym to train for the first time. I actually weighed myself at my first gym and I became so frustrated with the fact I was not losing any weight after working so hard that I got in my car and drove down here. The reason why was because a friend of mine told me about Juliano and the guys over here and I came to try it out and I never left.

Total MMA Studios: So since you started this change how much have you lost?

John: 85lbs, I weighed in at worlds at 217lbs with my GI witch puts my actual body weight at 213lbs, so 85lbs total. In loosing the weight I feel that I have not lost any strength. I did not starve myself, I feel stronger, more agile, faster and more powerful then ever before. My core is stronger; everything has been a total body change for me…

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TotalMMA: We are here with BTT Orange County member and former Pro Motor Cross competitor Clint white, so Clint for our reader’s tell us about yourself?

White: Well I grew up in Spanish Fork, Utah. When I was about 12 years old I was given a motor bike and from that point I loved racing ever since, I was obsessed with racing growing up and by the time I finished High School I was able to turn pro and race at that level for about 8 to 9 years. Then about 2 years ago I quit the sport and found myself doing Brazilian Jiu-jitsu and fell in love with it, and that is all I do now.

TotalMMA: Did you play any other sports when you were younger or was racing your only love?

White: Well yah, when I was younger I did play the usual sports. I played football, baseball, basketball and all that stuff but as soon I got a motor bike it just canceled everything else out. It was the new cool thing, it was the adrenaline, and it was everything…

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