I'll go ahead and say it: every practitioner should have at least a couple of throws and takedowns for BJJ. Yes, it's true that pulling guard is an option in sport BJJ competition, but ultimately this is a martial art, which means we have to at least occasionally consider the self defense aspects of what we're doing. Are you going to pull guard in a streetfight? Not bloody likely. In this … [Read more...]
The Five Types of Triangle Choke You Need to Know
The triangle choke is one of the most powerful BJJ submissions. Thousands upon thousands of matches have been ended with it, including in the UFC and other MMA events. Knowing how to do the triangle choke properly is an absolute necessity for every grappler This choke originated in Japanese Ju-jutsu and was then incorporated into Judo in the early 1900's where it is known as sankaku-jime … [Read more...]
Covid-Safe Jiu-Jitsu Teaching with Dan ‘TrumpetDan’ Lukeheart
In this episode of The Strenuous Life Podcast I chat with Dan "TrumpetDan" Lukeheart from Brea Jiu-Jitsu in Orange County about The steps he's taken to keep his school open in a responsible manner during the Covid-19 pandemic, How to improve your BJJ skills during a training layoffs Match strategy to win more often tournaments, And much more... Here's the video of my conversation … [Read more...]
The Balance Between Stress and Recovery in Training
Your health is like a credit card.. You can definitely put things onto your credit card once in a while. You can even use a credit card to help bridge the gap when you're short on funds. But sooner or later you need to pay it off. But if you keep on making withdrawals against your card without ever putting money back into it then you're going to end up in serious trouble. Your health is … [Read more...]
Top Five Diet Tips for BJJ
I often get questions about diet and nutrition from grapplers and martial artists. People want to eat correctly because they think it will make them more effective in BJJ class, allow them to recover faster after training, and provide them with better health overall. Well, it's true. What you eat can have a HUGE effect on your performance. Nutrition is a super-important piece of the … [Read more...]
Guidelines for Opening Up Jiu-Jitsu Academies During the COVID-19 Pandemic (Last Updated Sept 10, 2020)
Everyone is itching to train again, and for many jiu-jitsu school owners opening up is a matter of financial survival. But just to make things even more complicated, as we learn more about this virus it means that the science, policy and best practice need to keep on evolving That's why I talked to Dr Chris Moriarty who has published a 6 phase process for reopening schools and getting back … [Read more...]
Are You in a Jiu-Jitsu Cult?
I've wanted to talk with Matt Kirtley for a LONG time because of his BJJ background, but it just so happens that he's done a ton of research into cults and cult-like practices, so we went off in some pretty interesting directions in this one! Some of what we talked about in episode 310 of The Strenuous Life Podcast includes... Red flags that you might be in a jiu-jitsu cult Changes to … [Read more...]
Implications of the IBJJF Legalising Heel Hooks and Reaping
Starting Jan 1st 2021 adult brown and black belts will be able to use heel hooks and leg reaping entanglements at the brown and black belt adult divisions in no gi competition. Long banned, heel hooks are rotational leglocks where the hip and/or the knee is held in place while the foot is bent and rotated. They are incredibly efficient because they attack the smaller ligaments of the foot and … [Read more...]
Jiu-Jitsu: The Art of Facing Challenges
In episode 308 of The Strenuous Life Podcast I talk with BJJ black belt and entrepreneur Elliott Bayev about using jiu-jitsu to face challenges, how to test new ideas, how the basics change over time, how to use jiu-jitsu in sales and running a business, and much more. Elliott has been featured in several Grapplearts instructionals including The Spider Guard Masterclass and The Self Defense … [Read more...]
Why Is Conspiracy Thinking Running Rampant in BJJ?
Jules Evans studies the history of ideas and was the perfect person to help me understand the abundance of insane conspiracy theories on BOTH sides of the political spectrum right now. We discuss why there are so many lizard people in tunnels, why many Nazi leaders held new age beliefs, how BLM resembles a religion, and why BJJ is such a fertile breeding ground for conspiracy thinking in 2020 … [Read more...]
How to Talk to a Covid Denialist
I've been a first responder for more than 20 years, have a Masters of Science in Biology, and have trained in BJJ for almost 3 decades. This has put me smack dab in the middle of the Covid-19 controversy within jiu-jitsu. In the past year I've been pretty outspoken about taking science seriously, fighting against conspiracy theories, and how to teach and train BJJ more safely during a … [Read more...]
7 Hacks for Maintaining Motivation
2020 was 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 … [Read more...]
An Easy Way to Take the Back
Taking someone's back and achieving rearmount moves you right to the pinnacle of the BJJ positional hierarchy (click here for a downloadable guide to the BJJ positions). From the back you can attack your opponent with chokes and armlocks at will. By contrast he has very, very limited attacks he can use on you since all his weapons are facing away from you. Here's one of my favorite ways to … [Read more...]
How To Do the North South Choke
The north south choke is a powerful choke that you can apply from the top of sidemount or the north south position. This submission looks a bit like an upside-down guillotine choke but the mechanics of finishing the choke are quite different. Given that this technique works both with and without the gi I think everyone should experiment with it, at least enough to recognize when someone is … [Read more...]
The North South Kimura Armlock
Here's a short 1:55 video taking you through the the Kimura armlock attack from the north-south position. This Kimura setup is usually the first attack I go for whenever I'm in the north south position. If you run into resistance then there are a million ways to finish the Kimura or to transition into backtakes, leglocks and armbars. So if you learn this setup it ends up leading you to a … [Read more...]
Intuition in BJJ with Rob Biernacki
How to get better at predicting what your opponent is going to do, develop faster reactions and train your intuition with Rob Biernacki. In episode 304 of The Strenuous Life Podcast I meet with Rob Biernacki to discuss the situations on the mat when your intuition will serve you well and when it will serve you poorly, drills to develop the correct instinctive movements in a scramble, the … [Read more...]
The Step-by-Step Armbar from Mount
The armbar from mount is often taught as the 'CPR' armbar where you're mounted on your opponent, he sticks his arms straight up, you put both your hands on his chest and swing around into the armbar. It's slick, it's smooth, and it looks great. But the only reason the CPR armbar works is because your opponent has broken his own structure by pushing on your chest. Good opponents will almost … [Read more...]
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Pro Wrestling But Were Afraid to Ask, with Tad Lincoln Murphy
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! 00:53 - Training in wrestling 06:01 - Pro wrestling school 09:40 - Distinction between fake and real in pro- wrestling 13:00 - Catch and shoot wrestling 23:59 … [Read more...]
Covid Myths Debunked, with Epidemiologists Kathrine Wallace and Madeline Lewis
In episode 302 of The Strenuous Life Podcast (my podcast) I do a deep dive into the COVID-19 pandemic with two actual epidemiologists: Dr Katrine Wallace and Madeline Lewis. Here it is, along with timestamps to relevant sections... Timestamps 0:00 - Introduction 01:32 - Qualifications of epidemiologists Dr Katrine Wallace and Madeline Lewis 04:30 - Is COVID-19 actually 99.5% … [Read more...]
Cults, Prophecies, and Deprogramming Your Friends, with Matthew Remski from the Conspirituality Podcast
On episode 297 of my podcast I was thrilled to talk to Matthew Remski. Matthew is a cult researcher, cult survivor, 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 happens in some BJJ schools are … [Read more...]