Houston Arriaga: The Art Of Fighting, Growing Up In The Bronx, & Microdosing Shrooms
”The hardest part about growing up in a tough neighborhood is remembering to check your ego. That will keep you alive.” - Houston Arriaga
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Intro
In this episode of Auxoro, Zach talks with Houston Arriaga, a professional Muay Thai fighter and owner of The Beautiful Violence Club. He is also Zach’s personal trainer and friend. They discuss what it’s like to be in an actual fight, the appeal of UFC, and the training session where Zach broke down and cried. Houston also shares what it was like growing up in the hood and the importance of checking his ego. Other topics include social media stars turned fighters and if training on shrooms gives you a sixth sense.
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Key Takeaways
First impressions set the tone of a training relationship
Houston knew Zach would be a serious and successful client due to his baseball background.
(3:08) “Whenever I meet a client for the first time, the first thought is like ‘okay, what’s this guy’s angle gonna be?’ Because just being in New York City in general, everyone has an angle. They either want money from you, or they want something from you, or they want to sell you something.” – Houston
Group sessions often cause you to learn on your own and are not an effective way to train.
Sometimes, the best ‘research’ and growth comes from putting yourself out there, even if you don’t think you’re ready.
(7:17) “You can tell though when you see a guy whether or not he’s going to be strong or he’s going to be in tune with his body.” - Houston
Connecting on a personal level is essential to success
It’s important that the trainer and client are on the same page. Houston sees the value of a client’s goals on an equal level with their coordination.
In order to fight, you have to fight. Being hit can be a painful, but important reality check.
(9:24) “The first time we sparred you said ‘I’m not going to use anything on you that I haven’t taught you to defend,’ and I appreciated that.” – Zach
Learning something new comes with the responsibility of defending it.
(12:44) “Some days you’re the nail and you get your ass beat.” – Houston
‘Being real’ means allowing a client to cry or throw up without responding like a douche.
(15:07) “It would be hard to do podcasts with CTE. I could get it done, there would just be a lot more spacing between words.” – Zach
Sometimes, fighting is a part of your DNA
(16:22) “If you’re Puerto Rican, you know the national sport is boxing and everyone boxes on that island.” - Houston
When Houston’s father went to prison, he distanced himself from boxing and became exposed to MMA style fighting through video games. This led him to clean a jiu jitsu gym in exchange for training and ultimately switch to muay thai.
Muay thai’s appeal is in the ability to use your entire body.
Houston’s first fight in muay thai underscored the importance of kicking and other elements.
(19:10) “You got hit and you felt like you wanted to keep going. You wanted to figure out whatever it was that that guy did to you.” – Zach
While UFC is more popular and accessible, muay thai fighters have more strength and technique.
UFC’s appeal lies in its storylines and characters
The genius of Conor McGregor is his ability to stay in the spotlight by picking fights and having memorable responses.
(23:13) “As a podcaster, I appreciate the content that he puts out outside of the fights.” Zach on Conor McGregor
International fighters add to the intrigue of UFC. What is a mystery to us may be commonplace where they’re from.
(25:16) “Does he sleep? Is he batman? If someone told me tomorrow Khabib is Batman I’d be like ‘that makes sense.’ You don’t really know what he does outside the ring.” – Zach on Khabib Nurmagomadov
Cultural qualities like hard work, guilt and sacrifice play into the ability to be a good fighter and can affect you in a positive way, even if they appear to be negative.
Our backgrounds shape the people we become
Important self-discoveries can come from outside forces, or emerge from within.
(29:21) “Being a brown kid in the south Bronx, you feel like there’s not a lot of options for you. You see a lot of your friends kind of going down the route of shootouts, gang violence, prison, you know what I mean? That seems to be the consistent thing for minorities.” – Houston
One of Houston’s first memories is the SWAT team breaking down their door to arrest his father.
Muay thai was an escape and a motivation for Houston to avoid the fate of his peers.
(32:12) “There’s a privilege in that aspect of being able to control how I want violence to come in or come out of my life. If I wanted to get into a fight as a kid, I could decide if I wanted to do that…but if I didn’t want violence as a part of my life, no one was ever going to come knocking to do it.” – Zach
It’s difficult to fully understand the experience of someone who grew up differently than you.
(35:01) “The differences between a neighborhood where maybe you would have grown up versus where I would have grown up is that those people that are in the train station live in my neighborhood.” - Houston
There are many past and present societal reasons for why poverty and hardship still exists.
Every city contains two different worlds
(35:29) “I think the hardest thing about those environments is just remembering to check your ego. That will keep you alive.” - Houston
Stress in a controlled environment can be healthy with the right support and balance.
It’s not easy to lift yourself up out of a bad situation when you’re being pulled in many directions.
(37:50) “I’ve only been able to do what I have done or what I haven’t done with the tools that I’ve been given from where I’ve grown up, genetics, how my parents raised me.” - Zach
(39:23) “The same kids whose dads went to prison, they’re going to prison and now they’re having kids with no dad around. It’s the same cycle happening over and over again.” - Houston
Growing up in the Bronx, Houston felt forgotten. When he left, he was uncomfortable around different types of people.
A challenging setting can impress on you the need to be ‘spectacular’ as a way to escape. Fighting became this for Houston. He even started training clients in high school.
Building relationships outside your experience can be difficult and strange. Houston felt like an exotic spice, or porno to the white girls he dated.
( 41:58) “There’s definitely a space in the middle where you can acknowledge that sure people need to be personally accountable, but also there are a lot of people that need help to get to a level where they can survive first.” - Zach
Muay thai is a natural extension for someone with a lifetime of physical and emotional pain.
The art of fighting is nuanced and often misunderstood
(44:18) “Because everything is so heightened, you don’t really feel everything in the moment.” – Houston
Israel Adesanya is a great example of someone who has mastered a diverse and efficient toolbox.
All the ‘little things’ gradually become instinctual through a calculated learning regimen.
(45:51) “I didn’t realize how important cardio is as a fighter. You can’t think when you’re tired, you stop making smart decisions.” - Zach
(52:27) “Just because you can play baseball doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a great teacher of baseball.” – Zach
Nonsensical and overly repetitive training is a dangerous waste of time.
Knowing your goal helps you ‘trim the fat’ and be more efficient on your journey.
Military service is the unique synergy of combat and reason
Houston is drawn to the tough, combative lifestyle of the military and sees it as a natural complement to his fighting. He plans to continue as a professional in both fields.
(56:51) “People keep telling me ‘are you afraid to die?’ Dude, I’m afraid to get head-kicked unconscious with a flying knee, you know what I mean? I’m afraid of all that stuff, but you know it is what it is. If it’s what you want to do you got to go do it. If you know the consequences and you can deal with the consequences of those things, go do it.” – Houston
Joining the military should not be an instinctual decision. There should be a reason for your service like learning a new skill set, getting a scholarship or other benefits.
(59:55) “The US military needs to do a better job at marketing to young, responsible adults who want to serve their community versus taking the lost people.” – Houston
Being a ‘big’ name is not synonymous with being a good fighter
Your mentality determines your success and is tied to speed and cleanliness of technique.
(1:03:03) “I’ve sparred guys who are pretty bigger names and been like ‘wow, you’re not that good’…you see a lot of guys with crazy records like 20-0? They fought like 20 cab drivers.” - Houston
Chris Musary is an incredible, relatively unknown fighter that Houston looks up to.
When content creators get creative
Jake and Logan Paul’s entrance into fighting has been a controversial, yet commendable affair.
(1:06:48) “I do think they’re taking advantage of the commoner’s viewpoint of fighting.” - Houston
Logan Paul’s fight with Floyd Mayweather is smart from a financial, not fighting, perspective.
By tweaking his brother’s example and fighting notable fighters out of their element, Jake Paul has set himself up for a potential win.
(1:11:23) “I know that a really good, high level amateur skill set in boxing, you can beat a pro MMA fighter in a boxing match.” - Houston
Content creators can essentially ‘skip’ the line while creating interest and making money in a relatively safe environment.
Due to his British accent and action movie experience, Jason Statham would have no trouble capitalizing in this arena.
Range cannot be overlooked
Even seasoned athletes underestimate the importance and role of proximity.
(1:15:23) “It was simply the observation of what should have been obvious facts. Most people overlook obvious facts.” – Zach quoting Georges St-Pierre from ‘The Way of the Fight’
(1:17:21) “It’s a difference of centimeters where someone is hitting you, like grazing you, or knocking you out.” – Zach
It’s important for shorter fighters to master range. It gives them an advantage.
Fighting is not like an anime. You can’t channel your ancestors or charge up like Charizard.
Mind-altering substances are a mixed bag
(1:19:21) “I feel like when I microdose I internalize things differently.” – Houston
Microdosing does not have the negative effects of other techniques such as sluggish movement (marijuana) and dehydration (drinking).
Shrooms send Houston into a flow state and help him get closer to his movement.
(1:20:54) “Anticipating their movements and all that psychic stuff? I don’t know, maybe I haven’t gone that deep…I just haven’t been to mars yet.” – Houston
For Zach, the benefit of microdosing comes through increased creativity and a lighter mood.
Final thoughts on fighting and life
(1:22:33) “What separates me is my ability to just change style on you. I can fight you at one pace, one rhythm and then completely change the type of fighter I am and the toolset that’s necessary to fight you.” - Houston
While scientific data backs-up abstinence before a fight, proper training is a better way to guarantee a win.
If you believe in yourself you will go where you need to go to get what you need to succeed.
(1:24:50) “I think a lot of times as a young man, especially for fighting, I stayed in one place too long with a certain coach for too long, because I was afraid of abandoning them or feeling like a disloyal student when in actuality they weren’t giving me what I needed.” - Houston
Being ‘selfish’ about your mental health in training is not selfish, it’s smart.
(1:25:35) “A lot of people have lost money chasing pussy, but no one’s ever lost pussy chasing money.”- Zach
Connect with Houston
The Beautiful Violence Club (@thebeautifulviolenceclub) • Instagram photos and videos