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Techniques, Tutorials and Gear for BJJ, MMA and Submission Grappling

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Home » Stephan Kesting

Dealing With The “I Just See Red Bro” Guy!

May 9, 2025 by Stephan Kesting

I just see red guy

It's just a matter of time but if you're training, then you'll eventually run into an untrained guy who wants to test his skills by brawling on the mats. These are usually the "In a fight, I just see red, bro!" guys. They're never very skilled, but the problem is that even the reddest of the just-seeing-red bros present some danger. That's because they'll go zero to one hundred in the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Training Tagged With: Gripfighting, Injuries, Strategy, Training

Grapplearts Instructionals on Grapplearts BJJ Master App Now

May 8, 2025 by Stephan Kesting

Exciting news!! Historically, Grapplearts instructionals were available in two main formats (online streaming and app), but never did the twain quite meet. It took a TON of development, but as of right now, any online courses you've purchased are ALSO accessible on the Grapplearts BJJ Master App. It's seamless across the two platforms and very simple. Just do this... Download the app … [Read more...]

Filed Under: apps, Grappling Techniques, Instructional Videos Tagged With: Grapplearts BJJ Master App, Techniques

BJJ, Science, and D&D with Bryan Rumble

May 6, 2025 by Stephan Kesting

Bryan Rumble on The Strenuous Life Podcast with Stephan Kesting

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 this of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Podcasts, Training Tagged With: BJJ, Bryan Rumble, History, Japanese Ju-jutsu, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting

For Fastest BJJ Improvement Specialise, Don’t Generalize.

May 3, 2025 by Stephan Kesting

The Uno Reverse Card Knee Ride Escape

There's no way around it, when you first start jiu-jitsu you have to be a bit of a generalist. You’ve got to learn an escape from side control… an armbar from mount… a sweep from closed guard… a choke from the back… and so on. What you’re doing with this approach is trying to develop a couple of offensive and defensive options from the top and bottom for each of the major positions on the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Training Tagged With: Techniques, Training, Training Modalities

Training to Deal with Adrenaline and Emergency Situations

April 24, 2025 by Stephan Kesting

How-to-Deal-with-Adrenaline-and-Emergency-Situations

The fight-or-flight reflex is always lurking just below the surface. When things get sufficiently stressful, our hormonal system dumps enormous amounts of adrenaline into our bloodstream, and — BOOM — suddenly we’re ready for action. That adrenaline serves a purpose: it elevates your heart rate, makes you much stronger, more pain tolerant, and able to ignore injury. If you ever have to lift a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Miscellaneous, Podcasts, Training Tagged With: Perseverance Book, Podcast, The Mental Aspect, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting, Training

BJJ Training and Conditioning Myths

April 5, 2025 by Stephan Kesting

james deirmedjian interview

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...]

Filed Under: Competition, Conditioning, Interviews, Podcasts, Training Tagged With: BJJ, Competition, Conditioning, james deirmendjian, Podcast, Strength Training, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting

Top 5 BJJ Instructionals of 2025

April 4, 2025 by Stephan Kesting

The Complete Grapplearts Anthology

There are a LOT of BJJ instructionals at Grapplearts.com/instructionals, and choosing between them can get a little overwhelming. That's why I thought I'd share the five instructionals that have been most popular the last 12 months 1, No Gi Pin Escapes. Having rock-solid escapes from all the major positions of jiu-jitsu is liberating. You can still get back to safety if everything screws … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques, Instructional Videos Tagged With: Drills, Grapplearts BJJ Master App, Grapplearts DVDs, Techniques, Training, Training Modalities

How to Safely Practice Dangerous Leglocks

March 20, 2025 by Stephan Kesting

how to train dangerous leglocks

Q: Given that leglocks are dangerous, how do you train them safely and still have confidence that they will work in a 'live' setting. A: Although ANY submission is potentially dangerous, cranking someone with a heel hook or toehold can not only end the match, it can end your opponent's athletic career. Go here if you don't know what a heel hook is. . If you don't know what a toehold is, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Health & Nutrition, Training Tagged With: Injuries, Leglocks, Sparring, Submission, Training

Perseverance, Life and Death in the Subarctic (Hardcover, Kindle and Audiobook Format)

March 4, 2025 by Stephan Kesting

Perseverance Life and Death in the Subarctic by Stephan Kesting 3D

I've got something special for you today: a true adventure story set in the Far North that I underwent a few years ago after a kidney transplant. I ended up learning a LOT about mental toughness, resilience, and strategies for making progress when I was absolutely at the end of my rope, lessons that I think are universally applicable. Please check out the first three chapters of the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Miscellaneous, Podcasts Tagged With: Books, Outdoors, Perseverance Book, Podcast, The Mental Aspect, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting

Transitioning from a Front Headlock to Guillotine

February 28, 2025 by Stephan Kesting

front headlock to guillotine

There's a Short onto my YouTube channel addressing how to properly transition from the front headlock position to the guillotine choke. Now this might seem like the simplest transition in the world, but it's easy to screw up.  The most common mistake is trying to rearrange your grips (from their arms encircling his head and his arm to encircling just his head) without offbalancing the other guy … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques

Come and Hang Out at the Perseverance Book Tour

February 25, 2025 by Stephan Kesting

Perseverance Book Tour Dates

In March, 2025, I'm doing some free presentations and meet-and-greets in to promote my new book Perseverance, Life and Death in the Subarctic. "Waitaminute," you might say, "I thought you were a jiu-jitsu guy?  What's with this outdoor adventure rubbish?!?" Well, nominally, this book is about a 1000-mile solo trip I did in the Arctic after a kidney transplant, but there's a lot of overlap in … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Books, Outdoors, Perseverance Book, The Mental Aspect

Spartans, Samurai and Ninja with BJJ Black Belt Jeff Nelson

February 24, 2025 by Stephan Kesting

Jeff Nelson Ninja Punks, @*&% OFF!

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...]

Filed Under: Competition, Interviews, Podcasts, Training Tagged With: BJJ, Competition, History, Jeff Nelson, Podcast, The Mental Aspect, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting, Training Modalities

Volume over Intensity in BJJ Training

February 16, 2025 by Stephan Kesting

Today I want to talk about how to best allocate your training time in BJJ. You've probably heard the saying that "BJJ is a marathon, not a sprint," right? Well, if BJJ is a marathon then we should also train it as if we were getting ready for a marathon! Now I used to do a LOT of running. Bruce Lee called it "The king of exercises", and he was right. (Sadly, since my hip replacement, I … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Conditioning, Training Tagged With: Drills, Injuries, Running, Training, Training Modalities

How to Get Your Black Belt Without Being Affiliated With Any One Specific School

February 11, 2025 by Stephan Kesting

Paul Kindzia getting his black belt in his home dojo from a consortium of black belt instructors

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...]

Filed Under: Interviews, Podcasts, Training Tagged With: BJJ, Black Belt, Competition, Injuries, Interviews, Older Grapplers, Paul Kindzia, The Mental Aspect, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting, Training, Video

How to Escape Kesa Gatame and the Headlock

February 8, 2025 by Stephan Kesting

Kesa Gatame is one of the most under-utilized positions in BJJ. People in jiu-jitsu tend to ignore this position but generations of judo players and wrestlers have proved that Kesa Gatame IS a powerful and effective way to pin someone. And - even worse for someone caught in it - Kesa Gatame is also a great entry into some very effective armlocks, leglocks, neck cranks and diaphragm … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques, Mixed Martial Arts, Self Defense Tagged With: Escapes, Judo, Kesa Gatame, No Gi Pin Escapes, Techniques, Unorthodox Strategies, Video, Wrestling

What We Can Learn from Extreme Athlete Jost Kobusch

January 27, 2025 by Stephan Kesting

Extreme Athlete, Jost Kobusch

Jost Kobusch is just back from Everest, where he is doing a multi-year project to climb the tallest mountain in the world... by himself... without oxygen... up the incredibly difficult West Ridge route in the middle of winter. In winter, the effective altitude of Everest is over 9,000 meters, and the winds can reach 250 km/hour (155 mph).  And - on top of that - the mountain was hit by a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Interviews, Podcasts Tagged With: Adrenaline Sports, Jost Kobusch, Podcast, The Mental Aspect, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting, Training

Ask Question, Receive Advice, Improve Jiu-Jitsu

January 21, 2025 by Stephan Kesting

stephan teaching at a bjj school

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...]

Filed Under: Training Tagged With: BJJ, Strategy, Training

BJJ and Self Defense, What Does the Data Say?

January 16, 2025 by Stephan Kesting

Stephan Kesting and Tyson LaRone talk self defense

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...]

Filed Under: Interviews, Podcasts, Self Defense Tagged With: BJJ, Self Defense, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting, Tyson Larone, Video, Weapons

How to Get Started with Leglocks

January 8, 2025 by Stephan Kesting

The Most Important Positions of Leglocking

To the uninitiated, leglocking can seem like a confusing black art; a spinning tangle of legs resulting in sudden match-winning submissions. But you can't just stick your head in the sand and ignore them because but leglocks have become HUGE in jiu-jitsu, especially in no gi grappling. To become a complete grappler (and to avoid tapping out 10 times per match to some young punk who just … [Read more...]

Filed Under: For Beginners, Grappling Techniques Tagged With: 411 Position, 50/50 Guard, Ankle Lock, Heel Hook, Leglocks, No Gi, Positions, Techniques, Video

Training BJJ as an Older or Smaller Grappler

January 2, 2025 by Stephan Kesting

Jesse Walker, Episode 414 of The Strenuous Life Podcast

There are WAY too many injuries in jiu-jitsu, especially for older, smaller, and less athletic grapplers who end up going against young and explosive superathletes. The answer to minimising injuries and maximizing learning lies in having the correct training methods AND developing the right culture within a club. To help understand this better I had  Jesse Walker from Rough Hands BJJ in … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Podcasts, Training Tagged With: Conditioning, Injuries, Kalle Beck, Strength Training, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting

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