The Strenuous Life Podcast with Stephan Kesting

I really enjoyed talking with Andreh Anderson who started training in the very early days of North American MMA with famous fighters like Oleg Taktarov and more. We cover the specific ways how MMA (and BJJ) were very different in the early days, tribalism in the martial arts, training in Brazil, making the switch from JKD to jiu-jitsu, the evolution of leglocks, old school jiu-jitsu, and more!

Loved chatting with articulate Seph Smith, Ryan Hall's first BJJ black belt and a Combat Sambo black belt as well! We cover training leglocks safely, competing in Judo and Sambo, his instructional products, potentially career-ending injuries, where the sport of Jiu-jitsu is headed, developing a well rounded game, and tips for performing well in competition. Find out more about Seph's school in Richmond VA at http://www.upstreambjj.com Find out more about Seph's BJJ mini-courses at https://upstream-bjj.teachable.com/courses Follow Seph on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/sephwillkillyou/?hl=en Finally, if you enjoyed this episode the single best thing you can do to help me (and get more episodes out for you faster) is to go and subscribe to the podcast right now. I can't tell you how much that moves the needle. And if you've already done that then a rating and review would be super-appreciated. It may seem silly but it REALLY helps! Thank you so much Stephan

OK, I kind of go off on a big rant here about traditional Kung Fu forms and Karate kata based on my years of training Hung Gar, Northern Shaolin, Southern Crane, Hsing I, Tai Chi and Wing Chun Kung Fu. Are they at all useful for learning how to fight? In this episode I refer to an article I wrote called "How to Make Sure Your Martial Art Will Work in the Street" - you can find that here: http://selfdefensetutorials.com/how-to-make-sure-martial-art-work-street/ You can also find the video version of that article, called "5 Steps to Make Your Martial Arts Techniques Functional in Real Life" on Youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC1-vgMh2l0 OSSSS, Stephan Kesting

In this rant I go off about my single biggest problem with Crossfit, especially when people try to use it as a conditioning method for another sport. I also go into the exact exercises and combinations of exercises which I find particularly dangerous, and how to mitigate these risks. Sign up for my BJJ and martial arts training tips at https://www.grapplearts.com/newsletter

I'm STOKED that Survivorman Les Stroud came on the podcast today!!! We talked adventure, survival skills, navigating in the wilderness, the closest he's come to death while filming, work-life balance, music and more. I hope you enjoy listening to his episode as much as I did recording it for you! Go to http://www.lesstroud.ca to find out more about Les, his appearances, shows, and concerts.

How often and how hard to train are tricky questions. Too much hard training and you'll grind yourself into a pulp. Not enough hard training and you'll never reach your potential or expand the limits of what you think you're capable of. In this episode I dive into the topics of over-training, under-recovery, and the single most important legal supplement for recovery! To support the podcast and allow us to bring you more episodes with more amazing guests consider contributing a buck or two a month at https://www.patreon.com/stephankesting And if you can't do that then please remember that rating or reviewing the podcast on iTunes (or your podcasting platform of choice) is a huge help as well. Train hard, but smart too! Stephan

This was a neat interview I did with Emily Kwok from Princeton BJJ and star of the first How to Defeat the Bigger, Stronger Opponent series. We focused on creating positive learning environments in BJJ, looking at the roles played by the students, the teachers, and instructional technology. We also covered whether I would do anything different if I was starting my BJJ training all over again, competition vs training, and breaking through plateaus. I hope you find this interesting!

How to improve your BJJ almost instantly. No, this isn't hyperbole; microdrilling is a training method that will have immediate effects on your game by finding ways around the sticking points in your techniques. Give it a try and if it works for you then please share this episode with someone you train with who might also find it useful.

This is an important episode because it's all about managing the adrenaline dump and the fight or flight reflex. Shane Fazen from Fight Tips and I talk about what fight or flight feels like, what you can expect in your first few competitions, how to use adrenaline to your advantage, exactly how to use visualisation and meditation to lower your heart rate, stay calm, and actually fight the way you train. If you compete or are interested in self defense don't miss this episode. Find out more about Shane Fazen at http://fighttips.com Download my free video guide for learning BJJ for iOS and Android devices at https://www.grapplearts.com/roadmap And if you found this episode useful please give the podcast a rating and/or a review - that type of support is really helping!

How do you know when to attack? It's actually pretty simple math!! In this episode I share the "what's the score" concept that I learned from Rob Biernacki. At any given point in time both you and your opponent have a score, determined from your base, posture and structure. The relative score tells you whether an attack will succeed or fail. This is a very useful idea and it will allow you to create and recognise opportunities for your sweeps, submissions and guard passes! Videos referred to in this podcast include The Three Most Critical Concepts in Jiu-Jitsu https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5RaxEV9fx8 and My New Favourite Triangle Choke Setup https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yB2A-hAv04A