AOJ black belt Tom Wortman is a fierce competitor; he won IBJJ Pans, Euros, North Americans and Master Worlds in a single year as a brown belt. He's also a jiu-jitsu gypsy, typically training at a club for 3 to 6 months, then moving thousands of miles to see a new part of the country and training at a new club. Find out how he manages this nomadic lifestyle, what the red and green flags are for … [Read more...]
BJJ
How Training Your Submissions as Positions Takes Your Game to the Next Level, with Steve Kwan from BJJ Mental Models
Today, Steve Kwan from BJJ Mental Models picks my brain about the benefits of training your submissions as positions first, and submissions second. I promise this will make perfect sense by the end of the episode, and may change how you approach your training. Episode 436 with Steve was a rare audio-only episode and is available on all audio podcast platforms, including Apple … [Read more...]
Roy Dean History of BJJ in North America
Renowned BJJ blackbelt Roy Dean came onto The Strenuous Life Podcast to talk about his research into how BJJ got started in North America, martial arts culture in Japan, the power of Judo in self defense situations, the importance of role models in shaping one's conception of masculinity and more. In addition to the video above you can also check out Episode 436 of The Strenuous Life … [Read more...]
High-Percentage BJJ Competition Strategies with Beatrice ‘Berimbozo’ Jin
Beatrice Jin shares the competition strategies that have allowed her to become the American National adult black belt middleweight champion and one of the top ranked black belts in the world. From guard pulls to sweeps to takedowns to pin escapes to conditioning to KO grips to structuring open mats so that they become a competitive advantage for you, Beatrice doesn't hold anything back. If … [Read more...]
Growing Self Confidence with BJJ
Alicia Reitz and I dive deep into how BJJ can be used to develop a strong sense of self confidence for everyone, and how that self confidence can then be put to good use in self defense and the the rest of your life. We also digress a little into specifics of the social media drama that I was involved in recently, which certainly raised my blood pressure just a little. You can also catch … [Read more...]
The Fastest Way to Boost Your BJJ Cardio
Years ago a big name MMA coach told me that Tabata sprints were mandatory for all his fighters. He argued that this particular exercise acted like a tank of nitrous in a street car; it gave his fighters the ability to generate an extra burst of speed and power when they need it most. In an MMA context this might be a wild flurry of sprawls and punches. In grappling it might be a desperate … [Read more...]
The 16 Most Important Techniques for the BJJ Beginner
What's the most common problem (aside from getting caught under side control) facing the BJJ beginner? It's probably feeling overwhelmed by the staggering number of techniques that Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu contains! There are a thousand variations of sweeps and locks and chokes and pins and escapes and guard passes. It's enough to make your head spin! So where then do you start? Which … [Read more...]
BJJ After Age 35
On today's episode of The Strenuous Life Podcast, I'm joined by wrestler, jiu-jitsuka, and author Chris Jessulat (https://www.thewrongsideof35.com/) to discuss the best practices for staying relevant on the mats as you enter your fourth decade and beyond... 00:00 Training as an Older Grappler 02:48 The Transition from Competitive to Recreational Training 05:46 Physical Changes and … [Read more...]
Optimal Competition Mindset for BJJ Competition
Rob Biernacki has some very impressive competition victories, including black belt masters gold at both No Gi Worlds and ADCC. In this podcast episode he reveals... Why people sometimes just don't perform up to their potential and how to fix it, How to reframe tournament nerves, The optimal state of arousal for competition, Building and executing on gameplans, Why some people … [Read more...]
Meerkatsu Draws A BJJ Book!
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, the Ultimate Illustrated Guidebook started as an April Fool's joke and then morphed into a BEAST of a book complete with 967 illustrations. In episode 424 of The Strenuous Life Podcast I chat with the authors of this awesome new book: renowned BJJ black belt, illustrator and designer Seymour Yang (better known as Meerkatsu) and his partner in crime Graham Barlow (the … [Read more...]
BJJ, Science, and D&D with Bryan Rumble
Bryan Rumble is a 2nd degree belt and a working scientist. In this episode we start out by talking about BJJ traditions, the depth of the art, and how the scientific method might be applied in jiu-jitsu. Then, at about the 23-minute mark, Bryan and I nerd out SUPER hard on Dungeons and Dragons and how it relates to martial arts training. You've been warned! You can check it out as … [Read more...]
BJJ Training and Conditioning Myths
On episode 421 of The Strenuous Life Podcast, I'm joined by three-time IBJJ World medallist James Deirmendjian and elite personal trainer to discuss optimal training methodologies and the science behind strength and conditioning for sport. We cover hacks to improve recovery, debunk common myths in the Jiu-Jitsu community, and go deep into the need for a more scientific approach to training and … [Read more...]
Spartans, Samurai and Ninja with BJJ Black Belt Jeff Nelson
On episode 418 of The Strenuous Life Podcast, I was thrilled to chat with Jeff Nelson about Spartans, Samurai, Ninja, developing confidence through jiu-jitsu, fight scenes in movies that drive us crazy, and pro-training at some of the best BJJ schools in the world. You can check it out as Episode 418 of The Strenuous Life Podcast anywhere you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts … [Read more...]
How to Get Your Black Belt Without Being Affiliated With Any One Specific School
Paul Kindzia describes himself as a "homeschooled, non-denominational, it takes a village black belt" and had a very unique route to getting his BJJ black belt. He was a ronin, training at different schools and did a lot of his training in his home dojo. This paid off because he was a top IBJJF Masters competitor at blue, purple, and brown belt, before being awarded his black belt by a … [Read more...]
Ask Question, Receive Advice, Improve Jiu-Jitsu
Here's something I want you to do that is almost guaranteed to make your jiu-jitsu better. The people who know you the best also probably know how you can improve the fastest. You just have to wheedle the information out of them! Start with your coach. Ask him or her, "What should I focus on for the next 3 months to get better at jiu-jitsu?" Then ask your favourite training partner … [Read more...]
BJJ and Self Defense, What Does the Data Say?
Tyson Larone is a BJJ belt, a Muay Thai teacher, TEDx speaker, and a strongman competitor. In this episode he and I dive deep into exploring how BJJ can be used for self defense. Topics include how context changes everything in self defense… adaptations that women and smaller people need to make…the problems with the one time self defense seminar model… the need for force-multipliers and … [Read more...]
BJJ in the Nineties, a Time Capsule!
It was the late 1990's, I was a purple belt, and my friend Allan had one of those gigantic $3,000 consumer cameras that recorded directly to a book-sized VHS cassette. He wanted to film some jiu-jitsu, and I wanted to show a few friends some material I'd been working on. So we went down to his condo's fitness room and shot a 12 minute "instructional" for some of my friends. The running joke at … [Read more...]
Can You Learn Good Jiu-Jitsu from Bad People?
Imagine going through the expensive teacher training process to become a Bikram Yoga instructor. Imagine investing every penny you own to open your own studio, then slaving away at 105°F (41°C) with 40% humidity in class after class to make it financially viable. Then you find out that the founder of your system, Bikram Choudhury, has a warrant out for his arrest and has fled the country … [Read more...]
Gold Medal Judo Techniques that Work in BJJ
I've previously written about why you probably shouldn’t use the top-scoring judo throw - Seio Otoshi - in your BJJ practice. (To recap, this throw requires a TON of reps, potentially exposes you to back takes, is gi-dependent, and there’s a high chance you'll roll over your opponent to end up on the bottom.) But don't throw the Judo baby out with the bathwater!! There IS a heck of a lot … [Read more...]
DON’T Use This Top Judo Throw in BJJ!
I came across something really neat recently. Someone called DrSeioNage did a TON of data analysis and looked at 5850 elite judo matches to identify the top-scoring techniques. The highest-scoring technique of them all during the time period studied was a throw called Seio Otoshi. This throw involves turning your back to your opponent and is often performed dropping one or both knees … [Read more...]