Performance Based Coaching

Eric has entertained audiences on stage with musicianship, humor, dancing, singing, and acting since the age of 8 and started competing in a variety of team sports at an even younger age. He continues to perform for crowds of people in a variety of arenas from performing arts to martial arts to this day. With this long history of performance and a Bachelor's of Arts Degree in Theater: Performance Concentration, he has amassed a variety of tools that can help you too perform at your best. Having to compete frequently in high pressure events at Regional, National, and International level Championship Tournaments for Extreme Martial Arts and Traditional Taekwondo, has forced Eric to refine mental tricks to hone his focus when competing against others. It can become more difficult to perform at your fullest capacity, whether or not you are competing against others, if you are the one getting in your own way. Eric has learned, developed and mastered certain techniques that have assisted him in executing consistent successful performances to reach his optimal potential under massive amounts of pressure including winning bronze, silver and gold medals at elite level, invite only, World Championship tournaments even as recent as this year. These same techniques for peak competitive performances or solo exhibition can overlap but differ from other approaches that assist with more cooperative and improvisational entertainment venues, like gelling smoothly with fellow musicians when he performs in public showcases or private ceremonies. Hear below how other's have benefited from the coaching Eric offered them on their individualized journeys in varied spheres of the performance world.

Nichole's Bikini Modeling Competition Coaching Testimonial

Nicole Silva trained with Titan Elite, owner, operator and coach Chris Ford, after signing up for her first bikini modeling competition Globus Formulas. Seeing her potential for growth with stepping into her own power more, I let her know how far we could get within just one session. As she was prepping her body externally for the competition, she realized that she also needed to do the inner work to prepare her mentally and emotionally to step out of her own way and support herself for peak performance. Thanks to her commitment and proper guidance from Chris, she wound up winning 3rd place in Unlimited Bikini Division E and 4th place in Novice Bikini Division D at the 2019 NFC Pacific USA Championships. This is her retelling of what working with me in just one session added to her competition and beyond.

"I originally sought out Eric's guidance with coaching and reiki because he had shown a deep level of understanding and empathy for what I was struggling to accomplish in my life at the time. I have always struggled with confidence, embracing my sexuality and allowing myself to fully step into being a woman from a "girl" mentality. I made a goal for myself to compete in a bikini competition with the purpose of finding my confidence as a woman through embracing hard work, discipline, and not feeling sorry or embarrassed for being proud of myself.

When I decided to start coaching with Eric during my competition prep, I realized in our first conversation that I should've done it sooner! I was able to connect with myself on a spiritual level that I haven't before. Eric prompted me with questions that created a much needed and overdue inner dialogue of where I was at mentally and emotionally, why I was in that place and where I want to be after this. I made several discoveries about myself and I was so excited to have these "light bulb" moments! With these discoveries Eric helped me create new mantras to repeat during meditation and live by in daily life to get me where I longed to be with my confidence.

He was passionate, empathetic, understanding, and more importantly created a safe environment where I felt I could truly be vulnerable. One phrase he said that has stuck with me since and I remind myself of regularly is "I deserve to confidently and unapologetically embrace my inner Goddess". His help during my competition prep literally carried me through all the way to the end, otherwise I believe I never would've stepped on stage.

To this day I give Eric credit for changing my life! What I learned about myself was priceless and impactful, and it allowed me to make a conscious effort to change my way of thinking. I look back on myself a year ago and am so thankful I reached out to Eric when I did!"

Nicole's Weightlifting Competition Coaching Testimonial

Nichole Thomas trained with Fitness 4ward coaches John and Josh to compete in her first weightlifting competition. After she expressed recurring fears related to her "day of" performance, I offered her to participate in a session with me to get her on more sure footing. She was able to win 2nd place in her first competition thanks to her dedication and the trainers at Fitness 4ward. This is her testimonial regarding what she gained from my sports psychology approach and motivational enthusiasm.

Martial Arts Training Written Testimonial

Brandon Plantz

"Are you considering learning martial arts with Eric and The Peaceful Warrior dojo? I highly recommend it! It was everything I wanted. I went in with the goal of being prepared for signing up for a Mixed Martial Arts gym. I wanted to know the basics, get comfortable, and have my initial questions answered so I wouldn't feel like a total newbie when I walked into a gym. Eric helped me achieve and surpass that goal.

The way he taught me was exactly what I needed. He met me where I was in my MMA journey and respected my beginner-hood. There was no ego in his teaching. Only a lot of care, skill, and respect.

As for the sessions, he would intertwine practical applications with the formal jujitsu training. It was an excellent bonus. I basically received an "Intro to Self Defense" course while learning the formal Brazilian Jujitsu arts. Furthermore, the flow of his classes were right-on. He recognized my energy and skill level and met me there with his step-by-step educational process. He never tried to prove himself, hurt me, or up-sell me on services. I felt he honestly wanted me to learn and excel. As a result, all the basics that I needed including transitions, escapes, attacking, defending, and submissions were safely taught ... in a fun way! It was an awesome experience. I'd highly recommend private lessons with him and/or long-term education with him. I'm a satisfied student who learned and received exactly what I wanted and more!

Sincerely, Brandon

Real Time Martial ArtsTraining Sessions

Jujitsu/Krav Maga/Self-Defense Training Sesh at the Peaceful Warrior's Dojo

This training session was performed at the Peaceful Warriors' Dojo. Due to the two clients different weights, size, and strength we focused on different ways to work through the same techniques using varied strategies versus muscling through the movements. I have a general curriculum I generate based on the client's shared goals for learning and specified interests in particular techniques or positions. However, I also allow for space and flexibility to change the direction of the session towards the flow of what the students bring to the classroom that day which allows for more of a dynamic exchange amongst all.

Aikido/Krav Maga/Jujitsu Training Session

This training session was completed at the other client's location in her yard to accommodate both clients' ease and convenience equally. The equipment for Jujitsu, Aikido and Krav Maga are mostly mats so it is easy to move to different locations. I start each session with asking the clients if they had any questions or confusion come up from the previous sessions when practicing on their own/with others or attempting to recall cognitively versus through their own muscle memory. I allow time in the beginning of each session for them to share if there was something that they saw or were introduced to that has not been covered yet that they are excited to learn so that we can make sure we cover that technique in this session or build towards it in a future session. Brandon had expressed interest in a ninja roll so we shifted gears and covered that in the beginning of the session until he was satisfied.

2nd Degree White Belt Review & Testing

This is a longer session as I was reviewing ALL of the techniques that I had covered in the previous sessions in preparation for his testing to earn his first stripe on his white belt. He did well throughout his training and review so he received his stripe at the end of this session. I also gave him some bonus time afterward to review anything he was asking for further clarification on as there can be a lot of steps to the most common leg based triangle choke on the back and if one or more are off, it is less effective or not effective at all. He was able to pull it off after reviewing some corrections to his positioning. This travel session was completed at a local park decided amongst us both as equidistant from our locations as it's always nice to take advantage of San Diego's weather!

Brandon's 1st Jujitsu Tournament Competition

B's goal at the Peaceful Warriors' Dojo was to prep himself before he entered a Jujitsu school. He feared getting thrown about as the new guy with no experience as some gyms allow more aggression than required to learn. I taught him names of positions/techniques, various starting positions & covered the most common attacks, escapes, defenses and transitions. This is Brandon's 1st tournament after studying with me & his school of choice. He is able to identify various threats and neutralize them.

Brandon's Video Testimonial

"B" signed up for a 6 session package where we covered Krav Maga and Jujitsu beginner skills. In this package I started with the basic positions to start encounters and introduced the vocabulary needed to take instruction. I covered the most practical submissions/chokes important to know if engaged in class or street. I taught at least one attack from every position and shared the defense for each attack presented. I included different transitions and escapes from various positions and attacks.

Mission Accomplished and Goals Achieved!

Here is Brandon stoked at his new school, feeling confident and making progress on his jujitsu journey by testing successfully for the next belt level as we covered blue belt ranking skills as well as white belt. One of the blue belt level skills is to be able to initiate one attack from every position. In our 5 sessions together I taught him the following skills: Armbar submissions for left and right sides from bottom and mount position; Kimora submission for left and right arm from bottom and top positions; Americana submission from mount and side control; Rear naked choke from sitting, standing, and lying prone or supine front to back; Triangle choke from guard and mount positions towards both sides; Head and arm triangle choke from standing, tall kneel, side control and securing in mount then moving to side control to finish; Guillotine choke from guard, tall kneel, standing from acquiring headlock position. We covered acquiring half guard, open guard, closed guard, butterfly guard and transitioning from these positions with bridging, shrimping and sweeping to either sides. We covered remaining calm with breath control, passing the guard, attaining and escaping side mount, full mount, and maintaining top position. We covered defending against all of the above techniques with proper gripping of Gi, clothing and body with no Gi. We covered solo and 2 person drills like falling back, being thrown, and rolling forward safely. We covered throws, takedowns, and trips from standing. We covered typical rolling drills with 2 different body types and weights. We covered being respectful to your rolling partners, competitors and opponents. But covered how to take these moves to another level when not training or competing in a tournament but defending yourself in a street fight. Our last session was a quick review of anything he wanted to cover before his white belt test, the test and then some extra training based on where our rolling sessions landed. He passed with flying colors and as you can see is still flying towards even more brighter and better colors :)

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According to Rener Gracie, (of the world famous Gracie BJJ family) only 10% of new Brazilian Jujitsu

students will earn a blue belt. Of that 10 percent, only 1% will earn a black belt. Stated Aug 10, 2022

Take the first or next step on your martial arts journey to zero in and achieve all your goals no matter what focus or style you dream about mastering more!

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Training Taekwondo Blackbelts in Sparring with Master Suyat

Jacob was the first blackbelt taekwondo student we started training in kickboxing together

This was the last and final round of sparring after 5 previous rounds post initial warm up drills back from July 2022.

Watch Till the End

If you watch until the end you can hear the kind of feedback given to Jacob. We are mixing in some moves from Muay Thai Kickboxing but not using knees or elbows to give students more variability with what they are exposed to and get used to punches coming at their face as that is not allowed in most taekwondo schools for safety sake but is not practical if they have to defend themselves.

Full Contact Sparring

Traditional Taekwondo Sparring used to include punching to the head and kicking to the entire body before it became more protected to continue on as a competition sport. This was to assure the safety of competitors with less vulnerable areas hit less frequently with more protective gear (helmets, chest protectors, etc.) so we are just bringing it back to OG basics.

Training Taekwondo Blackbelts in Boxing and Kickboxing

Boxing with an aggressive opponent

It's helpful to take away part of your attacks to get better at another aspect of your game. TWK is very kick heavy so we took away their option to use their kicks to create distance. This helps them stretch their comfort zone with being closer in the pocket and exchanging blows with their fists. It takes some getting used to but more exposure is the key getting more accurate at connecting with the hands, avoiding punches and improving footwork when in closer quarters with an opponent. This student has an aggressive forward attack approach as you can see at certain points of this bout, the key to which is lots of movement which is why I am moving out of the frame at times. I alternate between moving my body or head left, right and back to avoid his attacks. But you can't just run you have to stand and trade or the aggressor thinks you are afraid of him so you find the right moment and position to get set and throw as that keeps their aggression at bay. This is easier in kickboxing because you can just throw a kick out there many ways to land or create distance, there are less options with boxing. This student is fantastically frustrating at parrying kicks and punches from his taekwondo sparring background so I have to get creative by showing him something entirely different he isn't used to receiving. In this session, I throw and land my favorite punch a "hookercut, shovel hook or Mexican uppercut". This is a lesser known punch which has several names because it is a combination of an uppercut and hook thrown at an awkward angle. I usually combine it with stepping or pivoting out of range as the aggressive attacker comes in to close the distance for me. It's the first shot you see me throw around the 30 second mark when I come back on screen but you see him hit with it fully at about the 2 minute mark. Another tactic for an aggressive opponent is to do everything I just shared but then when the moment is right sit down heavily with a nasty power shot to stun or stop them which is not an option when sparring with students or training partners :)

Training another grasshopper

We rotate the students between each other, give them feedback and then let them practice their adjustments on one another.

Letting the kids play

I am training a different student in the back but we are letting the black belt students test their new skills out with each other in the foreground.

Varying sparring styles

Kickboxing with an aggressive opponent

Everyone has a different fighting style so you must have different styles of offense and defense to offer in response. This student is a highly skilled tournament sparring blackbelt level student in Taekwondo as you can see from his quick, powerful and accurate kick attacks. He has a more aggressive style with high energy, great endurance and excellent leg kicks from being a track and soccer athlete as well. Some examples to highlight the different in how I approach sparring him in kickboxing versus other opponents. I know he is going to come forward if I wait him out because he gets restless so the easiest way to score a point or attack on him is to just jump up and kick at his stomach/chest area. I minimize my amount of effort needed and I don't telegraph anything because I don't move anywhere but up. I land this at least 1 out of 2 attempts but you still never go to the same well too many times to let your opponent know what you are going to do. Another thing you see me doing in this session differently than usual is turning my back. This is usually a horrible idea in any combat, however in TWD point sparring you can't score a point on the back so I show my back to protect myself from having a point gained on me. If I were to land in these positions in other styles of combat accidentally or on purpose I would throw an upwards spinning back elbow but we don't throw blind elbows in training for the safety of our sparring partners. This student's mother is present consenting and actually desiring him to get more comfortable and confident getting hit in the face as modern day taekwondo sparring does not allow for that. He is good at the typical repetitive piston like point punching towards the upper chest area as its a quick way to land a strike for the judges to see without putting yourself in too much danger of being hit. However, this technique is not very useful in a real fight. I am able to get off punches to the body below the chest and to the head because he is not used to these attacks. He is great at parrying strikes to his chest but not as well to his face and body so we are teaching him to keep his hands up at his face and also parry shots below his chest. He has made great strides from his first session to now and is much more confident with his skills sets yet remains humble.

Sparring an opponent with a more balanced style

You see a more mature style here as Master Suyat and I are more technical and less wily than his young and spritely 18-20 something year old students. With kickboxing we go back and forth between looking for and trying to create openings for substantial attacks as going in for a failed attack leaves you open. Sometimes it leads to less entertaining sparring to watch because we are getting hit less, as part of the success is also not allowing yourself to get hit. By recognizing the danger and bailing on the initial inertia of your attack you can evade a strike. However, even though we are somewhat slowed down after several rounds prior, this session is pretty spunky.

Light sparring versus heavy sparring

These videos of Master Suyat and I sparring are from earlier on in our competitive collaboration back in July 2022. Taekwondo Blackbelt students are working on putting the tips and tricks we just shared with them into immediate application in the back of the dojo. In these light sparring sessions we are working less on hitting each other with power but focusing on improving cardio endurance, speed, accuracy, technique, creative combinations, footwork flow and distancing to limit how often we are able to be hit during all of the above. For more recent sparring sessions with more than just taekwondo sparring between us, see below and the next webpage full of martial arts videos.

Myster E. versus Master S.

Boxing

Even though our sparring styles are similar I tend to be more aggressive when boxing. It is an advantage to be setting the pace of the bout to one you are more comfortable with or slightly faster than they desire, not letting them rest or get into a rhythm, putting pressure on the opponent to respond to consecutive attacks puts them on their backfoot which takes away power from their offense, making the opponent feel that they are being aggressed upon to put them more in a reactive state than enacting their will, dictating their pace and building momentum. Defensively you can see how important head movement and footwork are here, even more so in boxing in my opinion as your offensive options are more restricted. Master Suyat is very good at avoiding attacks as well so you see it illustrated here why it is important to throw multiple combinations one after the other in order to make contact as your first several attempts may be unsuccessful. I also switch stances typically when I box which presents different looks and angles for the opponent to not get too used to your timing and distance. I also box a little bit differently in orthodox stance versus southpaw stance which helps with this too. I actually box a little better Southpaw stance because I started training my non-dominant side when I was older and more experienced so there are less bad habits and better techniques. Switching stances can open you up to being attack mid switch if you don't do it quick enough and get caught being flatfooted. It helps me cover the distance because as he thinks I am out of reach I switch and then have just enough further to connect on the next punch. It takes time to train on both sides but I recommend it for every fighter. And as an Occupational Therapist I am aware of the neurobiological benefits of cross training your brain as anything you practice on one side of your body helps your other side get better at it too.

MMA

There is some good grappling and Jujitsu in this sparring session to one of our fav jams by Kendrick Lamar, "Sit Down, Be Humble", which is good martial arts medicine itself as it can be very humbling when someone serves you up some humble pie. Ironically do sit him down with a seat belt grip from behind after he gets back up from my initial successful single leg takedown. But he humbled me in the very next MMA round when I went to trip him and he ninja hopped over my trip to make me fall down go boom. Expecting to trip him because he did start to lose his balance, I committed fully and lost my footing. I landed in front of him and he quickly took advantage of my open neck and was able to eventually get me to tap with a rear naked choke. So the lesson is to not let winning one round of anything build up your ego too high as it's only further for you to fall in the very next round if you are humbled. So just sit down and be humble from start to finish and take "pride" in the ability and desire to be humble.

Kickboxing

A meeting of the "Master minds" ;) This sparring session has traditional Taekwondo kickboxing sparring with certain Muay Thai and MMA techniques we agreed to allow. I grab his kick and get him off balance and then kick him with the opening I created which is not TWD legal but is in the others. Spinning backfists are not allowed in TWD but are in Muay Thai and MMA. I also allow myself to be backed up to the wall instead of circling away from it like I usually do to possum like he had an advantage but jump off of it to present less predictable timing, distance and speed springing forward which helped me connect with a superman punch. I also feign and elbow and attempt backwards spinning elbows which are not in TWD sparring but we permit from Muay Thai MMA. For more videos of our regular sparring sessions in boxing, TKD/kickboxing, and MMA scroll down on the Martial Arts Videos webpage.

Boxing, Muay Thai and Street Fight Training

Backyard Brawl

Yan is a 6 foot something badass who has been in more than his fair share of street fights growing up in the mean streets of LA and finding himself in certain shit-uations where he could only rely on himself. When your that tall, you can't hide yourself away as easily as a ninja and certain ppl want to pick on the tallest guy in the room to try and prove something and it's usually the other biggest dude in the room so you have to know how to handle yourself. Yan has learned how to handle himself well in many difficult situations cutting his teeth in some of the most sketchy and cut throat industries and environments. I have never met anyone who has as many interesting and insane true stories about situations this man has gotten himself into and out of time and again with the proof to back it up. He trains Muay Thai these days and we had been jonesing to put on the gloves and mix it up ever since I discovered that. This day we went to my home turf (literally ;) but also where he is just as comfortable outside of the ring.

It's good to mix things up in a variety of ways to be prepared for anything. Yan is a tall dude with long reach with some formal training but also real life fighting experience which can be hard to find, depending on what circles you run in. In this match up, it was a great challenge for me to work around his long and rangy attacks. Most of the rounds are Muay Thai fighting but we did one round of boxing at the end to switch it up. At the beginning of the 5th round as it almost gets too dark for friends to "fight safely", I ask if he was interested any pointers which he was open to and shared after the final round, besides my request at that moment to not just let me out of a space this round, "if I get backed into a corner, make me fight my way out".

Fighting outside with it not being a perfect square ring with some obstacles here and there to remain aware of is important if you encounter a threatening situation outside of the gym. It's a good practice of being aware of your surroundings so you don't trip over something, be aware of where the glass doors and windows are, be aware of where the various exits are and when that changes as you continue to move around the space to navigate yourself away from threats. Also in this sparring session, the lighting shifts from day to night. You should become comfortable fighting day or night or as the lighting is shifting as well so your senses remain keen and don't get spoiled from always having 100% of visibility about you.

Training with a variety of body types, reach and weight

It's important to have exposure to sparring partners that offer variety as everyone is different. Master Suyat and I sparring weekly is important to maintain the consistency to keep up the skills and endurance. But if you only spar one or a few people then the effectiveness of your style can lesson as it works best with that opponent. When facing an opponent with a longer reach than you, you have to fight a different style of fight. Less aggressive tactics are safer unless you just want to get in close and end the fight in real life. But in the ring, you need to pick your punches, wait for the moments to open up to pounce and strike. Find the moments in transition when they are closer, tired, lose focus, or create them. See both videos for examples of this.

Andre Training

Andre is a friend of ours who takes boxing and kickboxing at a local UFC gym regularly and has been. He enjoys working out with us and appreciates each of our tips and pointers that we offer humbly without condescension. It's important to choose the right moments for appropriate timing to offer a suggestion so as to not overload the person as there are so many moving parts in constant motion to think about at baseline. Giving too much feedback all at once can get someone into their head too much instead of being able to integrate one thing at a time into the body, which are two very different beasts. It typically proves difficult for the brain and body to bring awareness to something that someone else is telling it to do a different way than the patterns that are already occurring naturally especially while your sense of safety is threatened by punches and kicks being thrown by someone else aggressing towards us which tends to put us into protective response mode.

Feet-back Feedback

"Footwork is everything" you will here many say. If you don't have your balance, then you don't need an opponent to trip yourself up. Add a moving opponent and now it's much harder to do what looks cool and feels good hitting a stationary punching bag. The learning curve can ramp up quickly with all of the moving parts which is why it is important to break down what to focus on in between rounds to try to bring more awareness into the next round on just expanding, exploring and improving one thing. A good teacher will know what the next right focus and challenge is for each student's stage of growth and capacity to hold more new information in each session.

J-rod Training with Feedback Before & After

Just watch, listen and learn from the videos if you want to :)