Daniel Goldberg is a medical historian, a public health ethicist, a lawyer and has practiced BJJ for 8 years. It was great to have him on the podcast to talk about the course of the Covid-19 pandemic and when we might be able to get back to normal. 00:50 - Introduction to Daniel Goldberg 06:09 - On the difficulty of persuading the unpersuadable 08:02 - How the current pandemic has many historical precedents 12:20 - Vaccine distribution in the USA 19:30 - What happens when everyone make individua...
Jan 03, 2021•1 hr 32 min•Ep. 306
2020 has been a hell of a year, but better times are coming soon, so it's time to get our collective asses into gear. In today's podcast I'll take you through the 7 mental hacks I've successfully used to punch on through to the other side and that I'm going to develop and keep my momentum in 2021 as well! The second half of today's podcast was recorded during my 1000 mile solo in the arctic (go to https://www.grapplearts.com/solo to see my notes from the field for that trip). If you found today'...
Dec 31, 2020•18 min•Ep. 305
How to get better at predicting what your opponent is going to do, develop faster reactions and train your intuition with Rob Biernacki. Check out Rob's Submission Formula instructional in which you'll learn how to make all your chokes, armlocks and leglocks much tighter and much more effective: https://www.grapplearts.com/submissionformula
Dec 14, 2020•1 hr•Ep. 304
Today I talk with pro-wrestler Tad Lincoln Murphy about catch wrestling in early American circuses, the development of luta livre in Brazil, Shootwrestling in Japan, and how one trains to becomes a pro wrestler in the first place! Follow Tad the wrestler on Instagram at @tadwrestler or in his customer success career at @lincolnmurphy And if you could find it in your black little heart to leave a rating or a review of The Strenuous Life Podcast on Apple Podcasts I would be forever indebted to you...
Dec 09, 2020•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 303
01:32 - Qualifications of epidemiologists Dr Katrine Wallace and Madeline Lewis 04:42 - Is COVID-19 actually 99.5% survivable? 06:33 - What are the current best estimates of the COVID-19 infection fatality rate and case fatality rates? 10:00 - How important are IFR and CFR in the policy decisions? 10:50 - Is COVID-19 no more deadly than the flu? 13:55 - Problems with comparing Covid to the seasonal flu 15:18 - Are scientists under-reporting the flu and/or counting every case or the flu as covid?...
Dec 03, 2020•2 hr 8 min•Ep. 302
Back pain is incredibly common in sport, including all combative sports like jiu-jitsu, MMA, boxing and judo. That is why I was thrilled to talk to Dr Stuart McGill, one of the world's leading experts on back pain. Dr McGill spent 30 years researching and teaching spinal mechanics at the University of Waterloo in Canada. He has published more than 300 scientific papers, written 3 textbooks, and has worked to improve sports performance with countless athletes from almost every sport. His book, "B...
Nov 24, 2020•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 301
Here are 5 principles that I use on a daily basis for evaluating risk, along with concrete examples from martial arts training, fire fighting, white water kayaking, and behavior during a pandemic. I hope you find this useful! The single best way to stay in touch with what's going on with the podcast, grapplearts, and everything else is still my newsletter. Sign up for free at https://www.grapplearts.com/newsletter Cheers! Stephan Kesting...
Nov 19, 2020•27 min•Ep. 300
Division in BJJ community, angry people on the internet and the rise of conspirituality with comic and BJJ practitioner Jamie Kilstein. Jamie is the cohost of both Rear Naked Radio and A Fuckup's Guide to Self Help and has a new comedy album coming out soon!
Nov 17, 2020•47 min•Ep. 299
Today I chat with Black belt no gi world champion Brandon 'Wolverine' Mullins about how the most efficient training methods to master the highly complex world of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Lots of great takeaways in this one!! 02:18 - Learning technique only vs learning technique and theory 05:42 - Fundamental movements in BJJ 09:24 - Advanced applications of fundamental movements 14:48 - Winning by achieving depth in a technique 25:40 - Successfully setting up guard submissions 37:22 - Off speed pitc...
Nov 12, 2020•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 298
I was thrilled to talk to Matthew Remski, a cult researcher and cohost of the Conspirituality Podcast who has written extensively about the pervasive cultism and abuse in Yoga, spirituality, and wellness culture. The parallels to what's happening in BJJ are obvious. Here are some highlights... 01:48 - Matthew's own time in cults 05:39 - Conspiracy theories 08:02 - What are cults? 28:45 - Online cults 41:39 - What happens when cult prophecies fail to occur? 50:21 - How to help friends and family ...
Nov 06, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 297
Multiple time world champion Robert Drysdale comes onto the podcast to share his discoveries about the history of BJJ. Here's just some of what we talked about... 00:52 - Opening Closed Guard, the Book 06:16 - The first japanese martial artists in Brazil 16:51 - Who was Mitsyuo Maeda? 19:27 - The role of the circus in the development of BJJ 23:20 - Early lineages of jiu-jitsu in Brazil 31:02 - The development and role of Vale Tudo fighting 33:08 - Why jiu-jitsu became so ground oriented 43:41 - ...
Nov 05, 2020•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 296
Today I talk with Mr Frank Wolf, a member of first two person team to paddle across Canada in a single season. He has undertaken amazing expeditions throughout North America both in the summer and the winter, and has some amazing tips for getting out into the deep wilderness on the cheap. I guess you could call him a wilderness travel hacker who is willing to share his secrets! On an entirely different note, sign up for the Single Leg X Guard Crash Course that I'm giving out - it's entirely free...
Nov 03, 2020•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 295
Full contact fighting is inherently risky, especially when you consider the traumatic brain damage that's so common in boxing, kickboxing and MMA. And competing in sports where head shots and brain trauma are abundant ramps those risks up exponentially. While I totally support your right to take risks (and have taken many myself) there comes a point when the risk outweighs the reward. So what is that point? In this episode I discuss the number one indicator that I think tells you when you should...
Oct 30, 2020•10 min•Ep. 294
On today's episode I'm interviewed by Randy Brown on his podcast about my journey through Kung Fu and how I found jiu-jitsu. Lots of nuggets about training safely and effectively in this one! Follow Randy at https://www.youtube.com/c/Mantisboxers/videos https://www.instagram.com/randybrownmantisboxer/ https://randybrownmantisboxing.com/ Tweet me: @StephanKesting Check out my Instagram: @Stephan_Kesting And get on my email newsletter - I use it to put out a TON of good training information: grapp...
Oct 27, 2020•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 293
Is it safe to train BJJ in a pandemic? I wish it were a simple yes or no answer, but as I discuss in this episode (which is also available on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjyivFxPJMU&feature=youtu.be) it depends on a number of factors including... Your age, health, pre-existing conditions Your tolerance for personal risk The age and health status of your family Your health insurance situation, Your willingness to put other people in society at risk, Whether you're taking precau...
Oct 23, 2020•27 min
Only aligning your chakras can save you from the satanist deep state... Derek Beres is an author and former reporter who cohosts the Conspirituality podcast which investigates the convergence of left-wing spirituality in Yoga and wellness culture with feverish right-wing conspiracy theorists. I wish this podcast could have been a light hearted traipse down the kookier aspects of Yoga and spiritual utopianism but in a time when rampant conspiracy thinking on social media spreads mistruths, disinf...
Oct 20, 2020•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 291
Steve Kwan from BJJ Mental Models comes onto the podcast to discuss cult behaviour in BJJ, good and bad club cultures, and the big picture behind effective jiu-jitsu training. "I consider cults to be any organization that uses unscrupulous tactics to manipulate the members for the benefit of the founders or the people higher up in the chain." "People always tell you that jiu-jitsu builds character and makes you a better person. That is not true. Jiu-jitsu gives you confidence and makes you a bol...
Oct 14, 2020•1 hr 35 min•Ep. 290
I talk with clinical psychologist and BJJ black belt David Ley about the psychology of jiu-jitsu, recent advances in psychology, the neurochemicals released when grappling, recovered memories, the prevalence of conspiracy theories in the martial arts, and much more. If you want to focus on the jiu-jitsu specific portion of the podcast listen to the intro then jump to the 45 minute mark. Dr David Ley is a clinical psychologist who runs a large mental health clinic in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and ...
Oct 12, 2020•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 289
Today I talk with BJJ black belt world champion Brandon 'Wolverine' Mullins about finding a way to win in difficult situations, and why you need to have a long range guard. Check out our brand new bestselling book Nonstop Jiu-Jitsu on Amazon, links at https://www.grapplearts.com/nonstop-jiu-jitsu-book/
Oct 05, 2020•34 min•Ep. 288
How to organise your strategies, techniques and tactics in the butterfly guard so you alway know what you should do next. A highly applicable podcast with black belt jiu-jitsu world champion Brandon 'Wolverine' Mullins. Check out our bestselling book 'Nonstop Jiu-Jitsu' here: https://www.grapplearts.com/nonstop-jiu-jitsu-book/
Oct 02, 2020•30 min•Ep. 287
Black belt world champion Brandon Mullins and I talk about the fundamental movements of jiu-jitsu and their advanced applications in almost every technique you'll ever use on the mat. Check out our bestselling book, 'Nonstop Jiu-Jitsu' on Amazon.com https://amzn.to/3kwkHRH or go here to get the links if you live in Canada, the UK, Japan, Italy or Germany: https://www.grapplearts.com/nonstop-jiu-jitsu-book/ This is the BJJ book of the decade! Stephan Kesting...
Sep 29, 2020•25 min•Ep. 286
Dr Nicholas Tyau is an internal medicine specialist who was working at a hospital in the Bronx, the epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic in North America, during the spring of 2020. He's also a BJJ black belt, so he's no stranger to training and adversity! In this podcast we talk about the chaos that the pandemic created in the NY hospitals, the controversy over death certificates, hydroxychloroquine, vaccines, dealing with the second wave, and what it was like when Nicholas himself got infected b...
Sep 23, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 285
Deliberate practice: if you try to get good at every aspect of your sport all at once then you’ll get good at nothing. Instead break it down into specific skills, then break those skills down into components, and then refine those components before putting it all back together again. Note: this was recorded outside in the wind, so the message is good but the audio is a bit fuzzy. Sorry about that - I'll pick a spot with less background noise in the future
Sep 13, 2020•6 min•Ep. 284
Medical doctor and famed BJJ competitor Dr Chris Moriarty is back on the podcast with a major update to the protocols for safe training during Covid-19. The biggest changes include the addition of monogamous training pods and class cohorts, and are applicable to just about any form of martial arts training. Check out Dr Moriarty's updated guidelines in written form at https://www.grapplearts.com/openingupbjj And check out my video and article about BJJ training pods here: https://www.grapplearts...
Sep 10, 2020•52 min•Ep. 283
Jessica Cox was born without arms but she didn't let that stop her from becoming the first woman to get her pilot's license using her feet to fly the plane. And she has a couple of black belts as well. Check out this episode; I'm sure you'll come away super-inspired and ready to smash your own limits!
Aug 30, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 282
Jeff Shaw and I geeked out about Jiu-Jitsu history at first, but then at about the 27:00 minute mark we pivoted to his school's innovative outdoor classes with dedicated training partners during coronavirus and how we can get back to normal in the sport. I hope you enjoy this episode. Please share it with your friends and training partners who are looking for ideas about how to continue training as safely as possible during the pandemic. Here are the recently updated guidelines for opening up BJ...
Aug 21, 2020•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 281
Robert Drysdale is one of the most highly decorated American grapplers in history. He remains the only person not born in Brazil to win both the IBJJF World Championships with the gi and the ADCC Open Division without the gi. Today we talked about the difference between Jiu-Jitsu in competition and in the gym, his research on the early history of jiu-jitsu in Brazil, and his upcoming documentary called, “Closed Guard: The Origins of Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil.” Find out more about the complicated relat...
Aug 12, 2020•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 280
Adam Shoalts is a professional adventurer and explorer. He has completed a 4,000 km solo trip across the Canadian Arctic, explored unknown rivers in the Hudson Bay Lowlands, and is a fellow in the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. I hope you enjoy his tales of adventure as much as I did! More about Adam at https://adamshoalts.com/ and follow him on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/adam_shoalts/...
Aug 06, 2020•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 279
Here's how to organize a BJJ training pod to keep yourself and, more importantly, other people safe during the coronavirus pandemic. 1:11 - What is a Training Pod 1:38 - Why Are Training Pods a Good Idea Right Now, and Reasons for Hope 7:51 - How Many People Should Be In Your Pod and Who Do You Choose? 12:20 - When is a Training Pod Appropriate? 14:20 - Where Can Your Train with Your Pod? Articles referenced include Guidelines for Opening Up BJJ Academies During the Covid-19 Pandemic with Dr Chr...
Aug 03, 2020•21 min•Ep. 278
I was recently featured on The Old Rollers Podcast hosted by Harrison Helterbrand and we dove deep into maintaining your longevity in the sport, skill development, learning styles and taking charge of your own learning process. Check out The Open Guard System with Jon Thomas at https://www.grapplearts.com/openguard Download The Grapplearts BJJ Master App for free at https://www.grapplearts.com/masterapp Follow The Old Rollers Podcast on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theoldrollers/...
Jul 27, 2020•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 277
