The Strenuous Life Podcast With Stephan Kesting / Grapplearts Radio

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's episode useful then please share it with one person who might benefit from it as well. Take good care, Stephan Kesting

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

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!     Stephan Kesting

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? 22:05 - Do scientists and the CDC want everyone to lock down forever? 23:57 - Did lockdowns work in other countries? 26:28 - Would less intrusive measures work to control COVID-19? 28:54 - Where are the deaths, is this a casedemic, and are there only more cases because of more testing? 31:40 - How long does it take to go from infected, to getting sick, going to the hospital, and dying? 32:56 - When will we see the cases and deaths peak from 2020 Thanksgiving celebrations in the USA? 36:16 - How many people are going t

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, "Back Mechanic: The Step-by-Step McGill Method to Fix Back Pain" has become a classic manual for living a painfree life and "Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance" is a guide for many coaches to bring their athletes up to the next level of performance while avoiding a debilitating back injury. Here is just a little of what we covered today... 00:42 - How to become a world class expert in spinal mechanics and back pain 08:16 - Studying spines in the lab and what that tells you about spines in athletes 14:08 - Disc hern

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

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!

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 pitches and surprising your opponent in BJJ 44:03 - Starting at step 3 52:19 - Top tips for training 1:01:39 - Safe techniques 1:11:03 - IBJJF legalising reaping and heel hooks in nogi Check out the 265 page full color book we wrote together at https://www.grapplearts.com/nonstop-jiu-jitsu-book/ - it's the best BJJ book of the year for sure! Cheers Stephan Kesting  

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 members in cults  

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 - George Gracie 45:47 - Helio's early fights 47:58 - The period of decline in jiu-jitsu 52:36 - BJJ andmarks between the 1950's and 1990's 1:02:26 - The role of jiu-jitsu federations 1:09:07 - Effects of legalizing heel hooks 1:15:16 - BJJ in the Olympics  

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 and it's the fastest way to make you competent at one of the most powerful and versatile of guard positions! https://www.grapplearts.com/slxcourse/

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 quit competing in contact sports... Check out my Single Leg X Guard Crash Course, available for free at https://www.grapplearts.com/slxcourse And please share this episode with one person in your social circle who might enjoy it! Cheers, Stephan Kesting

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: grapplearts.com/newsletter Cheers! Stephan

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 precautions in the rest of your life What the local Covid test positivity rates are The precautions your club is taking Whether you're in a training pod The precautions your training partners are taking And more. If you're interested in more information about BJJ training pods check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSG3zsC-WwM If you want to see some evidence that masks help prevent transmission of Covid-19 please read https://www.grapplearts.com/do-masks-and-face-coverings-work-to-prevent-coronavirus-transmission/ If

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, disinformation and 'alternative facts' this is a deadly serious issue. Follow the Conspirituality Podcast here: https://conspirituality.net/ - it's very good! Stephan Kesting  

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 bolder, more assertive version of the person that you already are.  And whether that’s a good person or a bad person is up to you." "In a time when things are as uncertain as they have ever been in our lives, we crave certainty. If someone can promise you certainty in an uncertain time especially if they can confirm what deep down you've always believed to be true, you're going to gravitate towards them and it shuts off part of your brain."

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 has been featured on the Anderson Cooper Show, the Dr. Phil Show, in the London Telegraph, The New York Post, Salon, and the Huffington Post. He wrote The Myth of Sex Addiction (Rowman & Littlefield, 2012), and Insatiable Wives: Women Who Stray and the Men Who Love Them (Rowman& Littlefield, 2009).

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/

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/

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