The Strenuous Life Podcast with Stephan Kesting

Daniel McCormick, the 2008 US National Judo Champion and 2009 Judo Olympian, talks about his Olympic experience, training BJJ, and "judo for bjj" or how exactly how Judo can be adapted to be effective in a BJJ context.

Emily Kwok is a BJJ black belt, a decorated BJJ competitor and runs her own school in Princeton, New Jersey. In this interview she talks about how and why she abandoned a conventional white collar lifestyle to pursue her BJJ dreams, as well as sharing lots of great information about choosing BJJ schools, gender etiquette on the mats, and how to survive and thrive when you're always the smallest person at your school. She has also collaborated with Stephan Kesting on a series of instructional apps and DVDs called 'How to Defeat the Bigger, Stronger Opponent Series 1" available at http://www.grapplearts.com/bigstrong

7th degree black belt Marcus Soares takes us to Rio in the 70's and 80's on a narrated stroll through BJJ history. Find out about the legendary Carlson Gracie, the fighter, the teacher and founder of the strongest BJJ team of the era. Get the inside scoop on the toughest tournament in town, and the friendly rivalry between Carlson and Rolls Gracie students.

Erik Paulson is an MMA Master Coach. He's trained tons of fighters competing at the highest levels of Mixed Martial Arts. And he also held the Shooto light-heavyweight title in Japan for 5 years. In this interview with Stephan Kesting from www.grapplearts.com, Erik reveals • What training with the Gracies in their 'garage days' was like • How wrestling can improve your BJJ, and visa versa • The theory of the jiu-jitsu wheel • The strategic and tactical differences between catchwrestling and BJJ • The key to rapid-fire submission attacks • Erik's philosophy on training with and without the gi • When is the best time to attack with leglocks • Leglock safety tips • How to develop a fighter's gameplan • Tips for defeating larger, stronger opponents • What it's like to train with Brock Lesnar • The best conditioning exercises for fighting and grappling • A glaring weakness and a fantastic opportunity in today's MMA game

Learn the best BJJ competition strategies. Today I have a long chat with David Meyer, the author of "Training for Competition; Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Submission Grappling." We cover WHO should compete, WHEN to use certain strategies, HOW to prepare for a competition, WHAT your mindset should be, WHY put all this stress on yourself in the first place, and much, much more. It's one of the best interviews I've done, and if you practice any grappling art then I really think that you'll enjoy it.

Want to find out how UFC champion George St. Pierre's gets in shape? Let's ask his conditioning coach, Jon Chaimberg. Find out about the training program that's helped GSP stay at the top of his game and retain his UFC belt. Jon has worked with many top Mixed Martial Arts fighters, including Georges St-Pierre, Denis Kang, Rashad Evans, Nate Marquardt, David Loiseau, Keith Jardine and many others. This is a very detailed and specific discussion about MMA conditioning. Jon pulls no punches and shares much of his approach for working with fighters. We discuss periodization, crossfit, aerobic vs. anaerobic work, program design, overtraining, initial assessment of an athlete, and a whole lot more.