Doctor Jiu Jitsu Show

Rolling through Adversity: Paige Ivette on Jiu Jitsu, ACL Recovery, and Competition

• Doctor Jiu Jitsu • Season 1 • Episode 7

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In this episode, I catch up with my friend and powerhouse black belt Paige Ivette Clymer. Paige is a multiple-time IBJJF medalist, ADCC Open double gold champ, and one of the most technically sharp athletes I know. We go deep into her ACL injury, how she navigated the emotional and physical recovery, and the mindset it took to come back even stronger.

We also break down her epic Who's Number One match and how she prepped for battle with precision—right down to escaping a guillotine with total calm. Paige gets real about pre-competition anxiety, training smarter, and what every grappler should know about injury prevention, mental prep, and fueling their body. This one is packed with insight for athletes of all levels.

 

Episode Highlights:

[1:07] Meeting Paige and the ACL injury that changed everything. 

[3:33] Learning from the injury: technique tweaks and defending your knees. 

[6:19] Why prehab matters: physical and emotional readiness before surgery. 

[10:03] Breaking down her Who's Number One performance and guillotine escapes. 

[14:11] Pre-fight anxiety and how Paige is learning to tame the nerves. 

[18:40] Top injury prevention tips: slow is smooth, smooth is fast. 

[21:07] Learning how to fall and the banned techniques at Legion. 

[24:58] Training smarter as we age and protecting your peace on the mats. 

[27:39] How Paige prepped her cardio for a 15-minute war. 

[31:29] Paige's go-to meals, nutrition hacks, and her foodie favorites.

 

Links & Resources:

If you got something out of this episode, please rate, follow, and leave a review! Share it with a teammate or a friend who’s passionate about Jiu Jitsu and building longevity on and off the mats. Thanks for listening—see you on the next one!

To learn more about Dr. Megan Jimenez, check out her website: doctorjiujitsu.com

Unknown:

This is Dr jujitsu. Your go to podcast for combat sports, military performance, injury prevention and treatment now. Here's your bad ass host. Dr Megan Jimenez, bow to your sensei.

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

Okay, I'm here with Paige. Yvette climber, originally Boras, but married. Congratulations. Thank you so happy to have you here. Paige is a black belt in Jiu Jitsu. She trains here at Legion American jujitsu in San Diego, visiting and super excited to be able to speak with you who's number one bet, which we're going to talk about that match, because that was awesome. I really enjoyed it multiple time, IBJJF champion, NoGi, silver medalist, Pan silver medalist, every belt you were pretty much getting gold or some kind of metal, you were just owning it, and now Black Belt doing great things. ADCC open double gold, and hopefully we'll see at ADCC sometime soon. That's the plan. Yeah. Thanks for being willing to talk to me. Yeah, thanks

Paige Ivette Clymer:

for having me super excited to do this. I I just have known you for a while now. You've been through you've been with me through a lot. So I'm grateful that we're doing the same.

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

Yeah, I guess we talked about that first. Then if you're opening up with it, yeah, are what we've how we kind of met 2021 I came here. Actually, I'm here for an orthopedic conference. Same orthopedic conference I came for four years ago our academy meeting, and of course, I came by here then, and I didn't know who you were at the time, and I knew keenan's name, and that was a long time ago. And like, now I come for you. But then it was like, Keenan kind of brought me in the door, and he wasn't near that time. And I was like, well, these other people are so great, and we were both purple belts training, and then you tore your ACL, soon after that, and you gave me a call. So let's talk about that injury first. Then,

Paige Ivette Clymer:

yeah, so I was injured back in October, 2022 I had surgery in February, so I had to wait about four and a half months until I got the surgery. I was in Pittsburgh. I taught a seminar my very first one, and I was on a high I was so, so excited when I flew home without getting any sleep, because I had to wake up super early to get to the airport. And I flew five hours, and then I was super anxious to get back to J flows class, because I was, you know, just trying to get back in a competition and just trying to compete as much as I could. But J flow is just amazing. So I really wanted to be in his class and my training partner, it was, like the first regular round of the day, and I shot in on a single leg. He spun out really quick, and then he shot in on a single leg, and then got to the rear body lock. And from the rear body lock, he did a Tanny on Toshi. It said Judo take down, where you collapse behind the near side leg and then you kick out the far leg. Because I didn't know how to properly defend the rear body lock. I had my hands on his hands. He was able to jump on my leg.

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

Yeah, and I remember you sending me the video when it happened, and he kind of jumped on the outside of your leg, causing the knee to buckle in in ortho piece we call valgus. It's just kind of the direction that the knee goes, almost like bow legs. Is what I equate it what I tell people. So creating that valgus force stresses your MCL on the inside of the knee, and then what you tore your ACL is what took the brunt of it. But what have you learned? Now, you said you learned how to defend this properly, because when you're holding the hands, your legs are a little bit vulnerable.

Paige Ivette Clymer:

Yeah, from the rear body lock, I always thought that you're just supposed to use your alligator hands and start pushing your hips forward to break their grip. And that's not the case. You're actually supposed to bend at the hip. You're supposed to do a hip hinge and then keep your hands on either sides of your and making sure like you post on their knees so they can't bring their knees close to you. So after my surgery, I got the call to teach at the same seminar where I came from before I was injured, and I made sure to teach that to the women and say, like, this is how I was injured a year ago, and this is how you can, you know, protect yourself.

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

Yeah, I think protecting yourself super important. And also the technique, right, not jumping into your partner's side of your knee, because I teach that after you showed me the video, I make sure to teach that to my students. When I'm teaching them, like, listen, we don't jump into the side of person's knee, because it happens too, when somebody might be posting up on a leg, maybe on the other knee, and people will jump into that leg. I've seen that happen a lot, too.

Paige Ivette Clymer:

I know. I've seen that. Actually, just last week, I saw that we that round that we had was pretty aggressive. We were going at it, you know? And so, yeah, no, he didn't mean to do it. No one means to injure anybody. But it was just something that I had to go through. I'm really grateful I went through it

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

now. Isn't that crazy? Yeah, because then I tore my ACL, what a year later. And yeah, it was my fault, and not tapping in time, not realizing what kind of a position I was in. And. And I called you, and I was like, I'm devastated, right? And so it's, it's so funny, like, and you're not an orthopedic surgeon, like, you called me because I'm orthopedic surgeon. I called you because you went through it. Yeah, right. And that's something to say for that. I know I think it's not trauma bonding, if you will, but it's kind of trauma bonding because, like, we're going through it at the same time, and you think you're not going to make it through. You're like, I'm not getting back to jujitsu. I'm done. Like, dramatic, right? I never walk again, all this stuff, and I'm going to be surgeon, like, I know I'm gonna be okay, yeah? But it's when you're going through it. It's just a long road. It's mental. So we talked about the recovery process, or even before surgery. How important was it to do the rehab before?

Paige Ivette Clymer:

Oh, it was super important. It was just making sure that my quad was really strong. Because I did opt for, or I wanted to go with the quad tendon graft. So we focused a lot on strengthening of the of the quads, as well as hamstring and glutes, because when you go through the surgery, there's atrophy. So he really wanted to focus on, like, building that muscle, making sure it was strong. But all while doing that, like I was just really processing like that I was gonna have to have surgery. And, you know, so it was, he was also my physical therapist. But he was like, my therapist, you know, yeah, they opened me through. So I

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

think people try to rush into ACLs too quickly, because everybody wants their ACL done like the second it gets injured. But what I tell my athletes is I want you to come into surgery the day of surgery asking me why we're even doing it. Because you feel that good, right? I need you to be it's like an oil change before a road trip. You have to have your oil filled before you go. And if we are doing it too quickly and your knee hasn't settled down, and you're not strong enough, I'm causing a second trauma, opening up a knee, right? Yeah, and so being strong just helps your recovery so much more, right after, it's very

Paige Ivette Clymer:

true. I think that that was, like, a really key detail as to why I healed so fast. But while I was recovering, J flow would not let me train. I love that he wouldn't let me train for nine months like I even before this podcast, I went through my phone and looked at my photos, and I was like, did I train like at six months? Did I train at seven? And no, I didn't. When I looked back, I literally waited until nine months to get back on the mat and actually move, because then I was like, My doctor was like, Okay, you're ready to go. You got the clear and but I was, I was running, yep, I was doing sprints, like trying to work up to that by jogging first then running, but doing a lot of hopping movements. And what is it the elevated toe or elevated heel flat, yes, and knees over, toes style. But I did all

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

his stuff too. He loved his stuff in the recovery, so

Paige Ivette Clymer:

I didn't do his stuff. Per se. I did whatever my PT said, but great. I really followed the course like I made sure, because I wasn't training where I was training, like six days a week, one day off training multiple times a day. I needed another, like, physical outlet, so going to PT, and then also working on my own three days a week. So all in all, four days a week of, you know, lifting, I gained like 10 pounds of muscle just by doing that. So I've definitely gotten heavier since in the injury. But then I also, you know, put on some muscle so I feel good.

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

Yeah, that's awesome. And you're way stronger than before. It probably because you've learned all these new techniques. Oh, yeah, getting back. When did you think that you were gonna get back? Like originally, you had told me you thought you read, you were on Google and seeing some people have done this three

Paige Ivette Clymer:

months, I thought it was like the three, three to six months is when you were gonna start feeling good. Three months was, like, unheard of and then, but six months was like, little more like. I really thought that the six month was going to be my time frame. And it just was not like the bending of the knee, it was, I don't know, it just did not feel it felt stable, yeah, but it just felt like there was not inflammation, but it's just stiff, yes, still stiff and weak. Like my how I knew, like I wasn't ready, was my quad was not growing, like it was still atrophied. And I was like, How is this even a thing? And so my PT did a lot of scraping, especially on the scar. Can't

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

rush biology, no, can't rush healing. And really, it takes about two years for that your new graft to heal in fully. But we can't hold athletes for two years, right? Yeah, if, if we could have a perfect world and two years could just go like this, be like, let's wait two years when we're our body has accepted it, like the vascularization. So vessels come into the raft, but we can't do that. So nine months to a year is when we say it's, it's pretty safe, as long as you're strong enough. But really it takes a year. It's a year process. Yeah,

Paige Ivette Clymer:

I think even just after the two years, like my quad is actually looking normal, yeah. Two. Years it's taken. So

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

it's a journey. It is. So let's talk about your who's number one battle, because I enjoyed the shit out of that thing, like I loved watching it. Yeah, I think I texted you right after and I said, you need to teach guillotine escapes, because it was so tremendous. Like you could tell you had just prepared for what you're at you. But talk about that. I want to talk about what you do pre fight, what your routine is, and how you kind of handle and come in with poise, your anxiety coming up to the match, how you how you deal with that?

Paige Ivette Clymer:

Yeah, so, I mean, leading up to the match, I was really excited to train like, I was like, I need to train. I need to do everything that I need to do. Like, I need to train with the biggest guys. Sloan was making me roll with these big dudes that were just like, blue belts, purple belts. And I was just getting, like, flat lined, like he was making me train until I was like, grunting on the mat and like, there would be days when we didn't have enough space, and Sloan would block off the area and be like, Guys, I need you to move. Paige, you got a match coming up. And, you know, all of that pressure was a lot, yeah, you know, leading up to that, what was, what was the weight difference? Um, just 10 pound difference. I was 176

Unknown:

and then she was 186 and Sloan has you rolling with these big like, 200

Paige Ivette Clymer:

he had me rolling with these big boys, like 210 and they were like trying to squeeze me, hold me down. He had me do like Shark tanks. But it was because he knew that I was fighting a 15 minute match and that I was gonna have to go as hard as I could the entire race, unless I subbed her, and then we also went over the guillotine escape. Like that day, like while we were warming up, I used him to warm up, and he was like, Wait, there's how you're gonna get out of the guillotine escape. We knew that this was gonna happen, that she was gonna guillotine me, but I didn't know that to that degree. But when she first sunk in the Anaconda choke, she had the front headlock and then switched to an Anaconda, I was able to get back up to my feet, but because Sloan taught me the guillotine escape, where you fall to your back and then post on their hips, I think that's how they're unable to keep you down and control you. So yeah, so that really did help out. But the night before that match, like I could not sleep. I had the worst time sleeping. I was up every hour, every two hours, like I was crying, telling someone I can't do this. I'm gonna have to fight this. Girl's like, Babe, just go back to bed. You're fine. But I was, like, literally having panic attacks. And I think, you know, maybe that's what people go through when they go to war. You know, they just can't sleep. They know they're gonna go to war. And, like, I just do Jiu Jitsu, you know, I don't even have to, I'm not gonna get concussed. You don't. You're not to be gonna die, yes, right? And so, yeah, that's something that I'm still working on. I don't know. I mean, that's my first who's number one match. So maybe there was some anxiety, and, you know, some anticipation leading up to that, but I am trying to figure out, like, I don't know if I need to get hypnotized, you know, so I can just settle down. Yeah, I really think that that's kind of what I'm meeting because I've done meditation and prayer and affirmations, and it's just, I think when you get in that headspace of like anxiety, and you feel it, you almost are, like, in a hole, and you're like, oh no. So I think where I fell into my training, I just focused on just, just keep going to training. Keep training as much as possible. Try to keep learning, try to keep training hard. And I was running hills a lot. I was doing it like twice a week, and that helped as well. But, man, I was so gassed in that fight. Yeah, you didn't look at the 10 Minute 10. I was, like, they were, I was taking office back, and they said, like, I was looking at my corner laughing, but no, I was really breathing, gasping for air, like, like, yeah, like, trying to suck in as much air as possible. That

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

was fun, though. That was a good match. It was super fun. As far as the anxiety goes, I think it happens. It's like, I remember in school, when I was doing presentation, I get so nervous, and my parents used to say it's important to you, and so that's why I look at it. But it doesn't mean it may go away. It's just how what are we going to do about it? And it's hard. It's something that I haven't mastered, and I think we probably spent a long time

Paige Ivette Clymer:

doing it. Yeah, I'm still trying to figure that out, because as a coach now, I'm trying to help people compete, and if I am going through that anxiety, like tornado, how am I going to help people to, like, pull themselves out of that? You know, I That's a

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

good point, because when I coach, I kind of try to go through the game plan, yeah, keep them distracted almost, yes, yeah. But that's. That's the best I can offer right now. Go

Paige Ivette Clymer:

home and you go to bed and you're like, I can't even sleep. Yeah, but when it is Match Day, though, like, because I'll feel it in my stomach, those like butterflies. I do do some tummo breathing nice. So I'll do like, 30 hyperventilations, and then I hold my breath for two minutes. And so that kind of calms me down. And I just do two rounds of that, but I kind of look crazy, because people, if they don't know what it is, they're just like, the heck's this girl doing? Yeah, but it really calms me down. And breath work is really important when you're fighting. I agree, competing,

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

anything. Sometimes I'll go into a heart surgery and I sit outside the room like before I go to scrub my hands, and I breathe, I visualize the case, right? Because I've already done that, just like matches, right? Visualization before, seeing the best possible outcome, you know? And just that's what I do with surgery, too. And I breathe, and I control my heart rate, control my mind, focus on my breath. Yeah, go.

Paige Ivette Clymer:

That's so funny. You say that you visualize. Because Dr Lucius, he actually told me he used to fight MMA, and he said, What would help him when he had anxiety was he would visualize. So for Pan Ams, when I placed second in 2024 I was visualizing the whole time. And I was I went there alone. I went to compete alone, and I had no coach, and I got guillotined and and I didn't visualize that. So, like me and visualization, I'm like, I don't know if I need to do that's a good point. That's a good point. Yeah, it was like something. I was like, Oh, I believe this. I need to do this, you know. But then when you're fighting someone. I don't know there were so many other factors that could have played into that, but I really just think it needed to happen.

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

Yeah, I mean, I think visualizing, you go in more positive, yes, you go in a better mindset. That was positive. And, I mean, shit happens, right? So I've and then when I got heel hooked and tore my ACL, it was like my first big loss, my first big injury. It was I was traumatized. And then I said, same thing, visualizing doesn't work. But then I started visualizing other outcomes too, and then what I was going to do? So now, when I prep for matches like, my awareness is so important, even rolling like, if your heel gets caught and you cannot slip it, you're tapping right? And that's an outcome too, is it's not the best possible. And I try to keep visualizing the best possible. But what am I gonna do in these other situations? Am I gonna let it break again? Yeah, hopefully not, yeah. And so I have to, I teach people now to, like, have that awareness. Because if you don't, and you just think you're gonna win, bad things can happen. You don't believe it's happening.

Paige Ivette Clymer:

So, yeah, but I think things have to happen to you in order for you to learn. Fortunately, yeah, it's, like, the price we pay. I don't think we're sitting and playing chess, you know? Like, I don't think, I don't know, eating, yeah, yeah. But, um, I really love Jiu Jitsu. Like, even when I was out and I couldn't train, I wanted to train so and so, yeah,

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

I was here, and I'm in a shoulder sling right now because I had surgery, and I'm watching, and I posted on Instagram, and my buddy's like, isn't that worse just watching? I was like, no, because I'm here, I'm involved. After my ACL, I was teaching four weeks out in a brace, yeah, so could I knee cut? No, I had like, zero to 90 degrees of motion, but you're gonna knee cut this way guy, right? But I just had to be there. I had to be around it. You know? It's, it's a community, and that's what brought us together. It's what brought so many people. I know, the whole community, like, what

Paige Ivette Clymer:

are the chances I get to hang out with a surgeon, you know? And I'm

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

hanging out with like, a stud jujitsu athlete, all right, let's talk about, what are your best tips for injury prevention? You think if you had to talk to people about how to train safer, smarter, prevent some injuries.

Paige Ivette Clymer:

So I think definitely just being aware of, like, how you can get injured, because I think people go into training and they just don't know, like, from a stand up position, if you are someone grabs your collar and they go for an osoto Gari, and they're not in line hip to hip, your knee could suffer, right? Or if someone gets a rear body lock, you they could jump onto your knee, also heel hooks, leg entanglements. But just kind of ask your instructor, like, if you don't want to get injured, learn about that. Like, how can what positions can I get injured from? And then I also think, you know, while you're rolling too, especially coming up in the rings, I don't think it should be a death match, because you don't really know what's going on. So they always, I always bring up Bruce Lee, because he always says, like, be like water, right? And I think once you get to that black belt or that brown belt position, like you kind of already, are you like, you know what's happening, the timing is already there. But as a white belt, they say, like, slow is smooth, and smooth is fast. And I think that should be what white belts think of. Slow is smooth. When I first started, I was doing everything slow, and then when I would go to competition, I would try to hit it fast, right? But I think so many. People, especially while they're training on the mat, they like think that their training room is meant for, like them to be a competitor, or they compete with their training partners, and that's where the injuries come. When they bring their ego, or they're not having a good day, and they need to get out the stress, and usually they get injured.

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

We talked about that people that are coming not to compete, but to blow off stress from the work day, right? They just worked at a desk all day, and they have all this energy, or like, the 6am class where, where I train, it's everybody, a lot of people in the military, and we're about to go to work, do whatever, and everybody just has so much energy to blow out, yeah? And that's how injuries happen, because people aren't being smooth. I think you guys are really fortunate with J flow, yeah? Because just watching, whenever I watch him, it is that just smooth, even when, like, somebody throws him, I know he probably allows it, because he's just a savage. He the way he lands, like I've never, I never was taught that, right? So, like, I'm over here landing on my face and things, because I wasn't taught how to maybe tuck the way that he does or expect what's coming next on my feet, right? So you guys are super lucky here.

Paige Ivette Clymer:

It's just like, if you're gonna do takedowns, you should know how to do the takedowns. You shouldn't just do one take down or drill one take down and then be like, Okay, I'm ready to do takedowns. Definitely learn some safe takedowns. Learn how to protect yourself. Learn how to Ukemi, just break fall. I had trained for three years. I won a purple belt World Champion, and I did not know how to break fall, yeah, because at my gym, we never did any break falls. When you do NoGi, you kind of fall on your your wrist to elbow to shoulder. So it's more of like you fall. It's like a dance, if you will. But you know, in order to protect yourself, you have to slap the mat so you transfer the energy from your lungs to your hands. So yeah, I think learning how to properly fall, not, you know, falling like with your arm extended, lots

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

of shoulder dislocations, yeah? Dislocations, yeah, landing on your arm like that. What happened? What was a DCC, two years ago? Ni, right, yeah, landing on his hand, shoulder dislocation Wow.

Paige Ivette Clymer:

It was crazy. But that's because we're taught to even Jay flu will teach this. And it's like because he knows you can break fall break falls more so in the GI, when you slap them out, because of that ricochet with the GI, you can just, like, really slam someone. But in no Gi, it's more of like, you want to continue that energy. So you want to fall and then, like, key melt, yes. Melting, roll, yes. And so yeah, I think gyms need to do a better job on teaching that. But what we do at Legion, we literally have a sign up that says you we have four techniques that are banned, and what techniques, jumping close guard, the Tanya Otoshi, the scissor leg takedown, and then, I mean,

Unknown:

those are the main ones, I would think,

Paige Ivette Clymer:

yeah, I think there's one more. I need to give me some time that's I need to think it'll come to you. Yeah, yeah.

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

Whenever I sign up for a tournament and it's like, everything is legal, like, except slamming or something, I'm like, Okay, what about scissors and jumping guard? Legal? The last time I competed, I was like, I swear, if somebody jumps guard, I'm gonna punch him in the face. Yeah, because I've seen some knees blow out bad and like, jumping guard, I don't think is necessarily bad. It's how you do it. Same thing. So take down if you push into the knee in that valgus stress, yes, which is what people usually do, they go flying straight into the leg, versus tucking the knee behind the knee and bending the knee right front to back. Yes. So, but in the heat of the bat, and he like, I've seen it. I saw it. What Canuto does it a lot, and I see him do it, and every time I cringe, yeah? Because I'm like, Oh God, something's going on with the knee. I know

Paige Ivette Clymer:

some it's, it's one of those things that, like when you compete, you have to be ready. You have to be aware, yeah, and, and know that that could happen, yeah, when that girl jumped close guard on me with the guillotine at pants, my knee kind of buckled a little bit my ACL so I do kind of have some pain, like, every now and again, it'll get aggravated just right

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

backwards, yes, right? Because when people jump guard, they jump into the quads, like, just above the knee, versus into the

Paige Ivette Clymer:

hips, yeah. So then your knee kind of, like, correct, yeah. Well,

Unknown:

I like that. You guys banned those that's

Paige Ivette Clymer:

really great. Yeah, I know it's it's just because it's just not worth it. So one

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

more thing time before we close out. You and I always talk about, like, because I always say I'm getting older and, you know, and a lot of I have more fear of injury now that I've had three orthopedic procedures. I'm like, man, and I feel like I'm getting older, but then you get mad at me. You're like, no, no, we're talking about this. So let's talk about it. Because you're 32 because you're 32 I'm 36 and you just have this mind that's like, we're gonna go hard, like, not hard, but we're gonna get out there and be confident. And I have a fear of re injury a lot of times, yeah, so help me be like, Okay, I'm only 36 instead of I'm old and 36 you know?

Paige Ivette Clymer:

Yeah. So you. Yeah, honestly, I think age is just a number, right? I feel like old is like, 60. You know, when you're like, things start catching up. Like, you know, the collagen starts to leave your body. But when I think about training, and especially getting to my later years, you really have to find, it's not about, like, finding the right training partners, it's just knowing how to exchange the energy properly. And if someone grabs me, like, way too aggressively, and I'm not in for all that, I will literally stop the round and be like, Can you settle down? Or if they keep grabbing me, I already know what they're gonna do, so I'm just beating them. I'm just defending the whole time I just defend, defend, defend, defend, even if they're trying to face crank me without any hooks. You know that's happened to me. And then after, I'll let them know, because people that usually, if I grab them gently, and then they grab me aggressively, they're usually a little bit lower in the belt rank. They're still learning that they're not thinking of it like how we think of it. So whenever that happens, I usually just, I'll tell them after when they ask me, they say, is there anything I can work on? And I said, Yes, like the training room should be the where you train and you take care of your training partners. And what I mean by that is constantly just try to move like we're in here to get a good cardio workout. You can be rigid when you compete. You can be rigid when you are lifting, but when you're in here, like, you have some training partners that you can be rigid with and, like, try and hold, but then the majority of your rounds should be, like, water. You should be really trying to move as much as possible.

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

Like, more cerebral. So yeah, you're thinking you're trying to play chess, yes, and I Yes, yes. And you're trying to checkmate people with your movements rather than your strengths. Exactly, agility.

Paige Ivette Clymer:

And I mean, strength is a skill, of course, but there's a time and a place to be 100% yes, there's training partners that you can do that with, but then it's also really, really helpful for you to get those rounds in with the people that you already know you can beat up and just let them try to beat you up. Yeah, right, just let them do their thing or just beat them to it. You know, I think that's how I roll. And I think when I competed against Hoffa like you could see that I'm not super rigid. I'm very like flowing in and out of things, but I'm gonna work on my rigid. I'm rigid. You looked

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

phenomenal, rigid. I saw, I saw, I loved that match. Yeah, so much fun. It looked I was so impressed with your cardio, too. I think I had just competed in my cardio is what killed me. Yeah, I was like, damn. Like, I didn't prepare enough. And I know what I need to do well. I

Paige Ivette Clymer:

think what it is, is like, okay, definitely putting aside time to, like, maybe do 150 burpees, yeah, okay, or doing some hill sprints at least once a week, yeah, because then you're gonna start feeling good, then pushing yourself in training,

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

right? Were you doing 15 minute rounds?

Paige Ivette Clymer:

No, I did not like, what, like, even after I was like, Why did I not do a 15 minute round. But I think what really helped me, and kind of made me feel good, because I competed at Worlds, and I competed against Nadia Franklin in the absolute and they always start at for ibjf, they start the absolute first, and then they get to your weight division. And that first match of the day, it was like at 9am and I got so gassed, I could not even sit up. I was laying down. I literally, I thought I had blood in my throat. Her coach walked by, and he was like, you good. And I rolled my eyes. I was like, why is this guy asking me? I feel good right now. I just had a freaking war with your girl. But then, then my next matches, I felt great. So I think how you're going to work on your cardio too. I have a not a massage therapist. He's a sports therapist who helps me sometimes with some body work. He said that when you're going to compete and you do your warm up, make sure you warm up 30 minutes before your match, and then make sure you're walking on the mat and you're still sweating, yeah, keep moving. Yeah? Because if you're not sweating, you're letting your body know, like, it's time to relax, rest and digest. You know, that's

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

a problem with a lot of a lot of tournaments, right? You warm up, and then you get, yeah, bullpen, or wherever you are, on the stage, behind stage, and and then they're like, oh, this match went long, or this match went quick, and then you didn't warm up, and you're getting rushed? Yeah, it's really hard to time it,

Paige Ivette Clymer:

yes, but I think that that's why we see a lot of female or male competitors. They're like, jumping right up on the side of the mat. It's not to like, make their opponent, and it's not to like, what is it called when they intimidate? But yeah, I'm not trying to intimidate my opponent. I'm just trying to be myself. And if they get intimidated, then I'm cool, like, I'm like, Okay, this is great. Yeah, I'm warm, yeah, but definitely keep moving. Make sure you're sweating. I think that'll make a difference, because after that 15 minute match with Hoffa, I didn't have it in my throat. I wasn't feeling gassed. I Yeah, I mean, I was gassed, and I wasn't feeling like, overheated, and, yeah, it was. You guys had fun out there? Yeah, well, I can't wait to run it back. We better. I can't wait.

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

All right, so last fun question, you love cooking? I love cooking. Well, actually, my fiance cooks now I don't cook anymore. That's great. Well, his cooking is way better than mine. Mine's like, this looks like a good protein, some eggs, and then I just mush it all together. I get my nutrients. His is, like, perfectly plated. Oh yeah, it's really good. So I don't cook anymore. Wow. I like good food. Yeah. So what's your favorite food?

Paige Ivette Clymer:

Okay, chicken tikka masala. That is, like, it's so good, just because all the spices and then, like, heavy cream, it's and chicken. I love chicken. But if I have to, like, if we're talking like animals, I really like, like, a good venison, like a back strap, nice. But I don't, I don't have access to that. I don't hunt. My husband doesn't hunt. And I'm a ribeye

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

girl, yeah, I love ribeye. Oh, my God, that's, I know, I know. And Terry's my, Terry's major, which is actually like a muscle, kind of from the back, okay? It's just kind of below the rotator cuff muscle, wow. And I don't know what it is about it. I guess it's not used as much. I don't know. It's super tender, yeah, so good if you can get a Terry's major. I'm telling you, babe, that's

Paige Ivette Clymer:

honestly. I love meat, so, but I do. I do love fruit, too. Yeah,

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

yeah. And you were telling me, you don't really cut weight. You fight at your weight. And so what are you eating to fuel your workouts? What are you eating to fuel your competition? So

Paige Ivette Clymer:

I, usually I'll get up, I drink some electrolytes, some extra water, and then I go for my coffee. And then I'll usually like some eggs, like hard boiled eggs, and then I'll have, like, a slice of toast, or I like rice cakes and I doctor that up, or I'll just go for yogurt. But with my coffee, I always put protein in there, especially leading up, because I know I need more protein. It's kind of hard to eat. But when you over train, it's hard to eat sometimes. So I have to focus on, like, when I do eat. I do eat a lot, but some days, if I, you know, I just make sure to have that protein, because then I'm, I know I'm gonna hit my macros.

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

You're like, tired and hungry, and you don't know what is trumping, what you gotta get something

Paige Ivette Clymer:

exactly. And so I usually will eat, like chicken or fish during the day and then at night. I love red meat, nice so ground beef or steak rib eyes, ribeyes are our favorite. But if I, you know my dying like wishes, or you know your, what is it? Your death food, your your last meal, if you were to have the last less ever, yeah, it would definitely be venison. It's just so good. It is good. It's good. Yeah, meat is just, I know all

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

of it, we're talking about vegetables. Yeah, I don't eat many vegetables anymore. Like carrots, here

Paige Ivette Clymer:

and there, but I like carrots. I do do some potatoes. I like bell peppers as well. But, um, since I'm not growing it and there's, we don't know where it's coming from. I don't know what's put on

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

top of it, farmers markets. Yeah, telling you I don't go to the grocery store much anymore. It's farmers markets.

Paige Ivette Clymer:

I know cool stuff, dude. I'm training so much, but

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

I have a freezer outside, and I just butchered my first cow with my hand surgery partner, so I took like, 200 pounds of meat and put it in the freezer. So we're set right now. Yeah, how much

Paige Ivette Clymer:

is that? It

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

depends on get it from. I actually don't know, because you can buy a full cow, or you can go in on a share and you can buy like, half a cow, I would think like two grand if you're getting, like, maybe a quarter or a half, but I'm just it depends on where you're getting it from, who the farmer is it's going to be more expensive because that's their baby, like they raised it, they know exactly what they're feeding it. I love that. Yeah, I just got lucky because it was my partner and the cow, like it was their time to go. Just give us extra hands, and then we'll, we'll give it to you for, like, pretty cheap. I said, say, less amazing. Yeah, that's so cool. So try and do that, try and, or try and at least find a farm. And it seems like a lot of money, but you are saving when you buy them bulk, like, it's a lot up front, yeah, but then you put it in a freezer, in your garage, I know, and you eat for like, a year. That's

Paige Ivette Clymer:

honestly so good. That's really what I want to do. All

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

right. Well, thank you so much. Yeah, spending the time with me tell everybody where they can find you. Okay,

Paige Ivette Clymer:

yeah, so I train at Legion American jujitsu and their social media, they are on Instagram at Legion, AJ, and then you can also find me at Paige Yvette. So P, A, I, G, E, period, I v, e, t, t, e, on Instagram, and that's where I post, like, all my technique videos and, you know, my highlights. Yeah,

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

they're dope. Back Step one, you post. And then I got to be here for one of them today. I know I was running around like a lunatic, and I was just like, Oh, they're filming. I

Paige Ivette Clymer:

know sometimes I'm I think that I make a technique up, and then I'm like, wait, okay, let me look it up, and then I find it. And I'm like, Okay, I didn't make it

Unknown:

up. You're trying to name. It after yourself. I know I don't want

Paige Ivette Clymer:

to name it after myself. I would want to name it something like, like, after your dog, yeah, maybe not. All right.

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

Well, thanks again. I appreciate you coming out, yeah, I appreciate you coming on the show.

Paige Ivette Clymer:

I hope we do this again. We will. I know next time,

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