'The Titan Games' Season 2: Meet your West Region's reigning Titan Margaux Alvarez
'The Titan Games' is all set to see six athletes in the West region take on each other before facing off against the Titans in the epic Mount Olympus challenge. However, the task is easier said than done as one of the Titans happens to be Margaux Alvarez who successfully defended her title in the previous episode.
Ahead of the West region finals, Alvarez, in an exclusive interview with MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) spoke candidly about her preparation for the show, the motivating factors, and her best memories so far.
What motivated you to join The Titan Games?
My biggest motivation was to challenge myself not only physically and mentally, but also for my sister who passed away and that has been a big motivation. In life, you are not guaranteed the next day or the next week. From her passing, I learned that you don’t always have a guarantee for tomorrow. Living in the memory of her and honoring her, that was one of my biggest incentives to take an opportunity to challenge myself.
How did you prepare for the show?
I’ve done a lot of training over the years. Seven to nine years of training. The biggest change was adding object training. Instead of training with dumbbells, I would add sandbags or different objects, or a lot of sledgehammer work because I would look at last year’s events and see that they had similar implementations. I would train 2-3 hours in the gym, about four to five days a week, depending on the schedule. So I try to make sure that I'm working on the cardio aspect like running, but then also making sure that I'm working with different methods. I might have to jump over a wall, climb through a cage, or swing a sledgehammer.
While facing your challenges be it as a competitor or a Titan, what was the one thought that was running through your mind when performing?
I just kept thinking one obstacle at a time, one step at a time, and just try to focus on the kind of pulling my sister's inner strengths and doing it for her. I know that when I leave it all on that competition floor, I would have no regrets. I would be fulfilled no matter what the outcome was.
One of the things we noticed was you were so much smoother on the Mount Olympus course...
I always visualized a lot before the actual competition. I think that preparation in your mind helps run a smooth course from the first obstacle to the last. I think a lot of people might think about just the physical aspect, but I think the visualizing part is what helped me.
What is your one learning from the Titan Games?
I would say seize the most of every opportunity that you have. Every competition and every challenge was different. So being able to go out there and not have any regrets, like "I wish I could have done this, or I wish I could have done that."
My biggest lesson is just literally going out there, leaving it all on the competition floor, give everything you've got because you might not have that chance next week or the next run or the next event. Obviously, there can only be one winner amongst the two competitors. So I would say the biggest lesson is just making sure you leave it all on the competition floor.
What has been your best memory from the show?
That’s a good question. One obviously has been to meet the amazing competitors, to be able to have so many good people in one city, at one spot, with good hearts and good souls. That was a very unique experience where I don't think a lot of people have the opportunity to meet so many good people in one spot — the relationships and friendships that I built.
Another memorable one was getting to talk to The Rock, just being on the competition field, and being grateful for the opportunity to be out there. We have one life and we want to make the most of it and we're going to come across challenges and successes along the way, and that we should and try to enjoy the process, enjoy all those moments as much as we can because we spend so much more time in those moments than actually achieving that end goal.
What’s the message you would like to give for aspiring contestants as the reigning Titan?
I would say keep working hard. Minimize distractions, negative people or negative things in your life, place yourself in a positive environment that allows you to reach your goals, whether that's to be on the Titan show, to be on Titan games or other focuses in your life.
I think the biggest important thing is to have patience, have a lot of hard work, put yourself in a positive environment, and challenge yourself each day and allow yourself to see successes in each day, because sometimes the overall goal may seem so far. Away from where you're at currently. But if you have small goals each day, that will help you get closer and in time you'll eventually get to your end goal.
'The Titan Games' Season 2 airs Mondays 8 pm ET on NBC.