Joshua Arellano is a physiotherapist with a black belt in Judo and a brown belt in BJJ. He works with combat athletes on rehab, prehab, and injury prevention, and - since injury is the enemy of progress - I was thrilled to pick his brain on the podcast to help everyone have a healthier grappling career! The 5 Most Common Judo and BJJ Injuries and What to Do About Them with Joshua Arellano (Video … [Read more...]
Sport vs Self Defense Jiu-Jitsu, with John Will
John Will trained in Southern California in the late 80's, was one of the first 12 non-Brazilians to get a BJJ black belt, and then went on to create the largest jiu-jitsu association in Australasia. We talked about how the art has changed, how to be 'centrist' in the sport vs self defense debate, teaching elite military personnel, how to create a curriculum, and much more. I'm sure you'll … [Read more...]
Physical Endurance and Mental Toughness with James ‘The Biking Viking’ Benson King
Physical Endurance and Mental Toughness with James Benson King (Video Version) James 'The Biking Viking' Benson King is cycling from Alaska at the very top of North America to Argentina at the very bottom of South America. He's covered thousands of miles, endured injuries, dealt with bears, and gone deep into the reservoirs of his endurance. In this episode we talk about his mental and … [Read more...]
Risk-to-Reward Ratios in BJJ Training
Nothing brings your progress to a screeching halt like an injury. Therefore the goal is to get as much benefit from your training while at the same time minimising the chances of getting injured during that training. To do that we have to recognise that some aspects of training are just more inherently risky than others. And we have to consider how much benefit we're likely to get from that … [Read more...]
Long Covid & How to Minimise Transmission
Note - this was published on July 13th, 2022 and updated on July 22, 2022. I will try to update this page with new information as I come across it. Image of SARS-Cov-2 virus from Wikimedia. I can think of several jiu-jitsu training partners and several firefighters I've worked with who have been crippled by Long Covid. And I'm not unique; by now most people know someone who has been affected … [Read more...]
Covid is Airborne and Long Covid is Real – Here’s What to Do About It, with Colin Furness, PhD
No, the answer is NOT lockdowns. In this interview University of Toronto epidemiologist Dr Colin Furness, PhD, goes into detail about Covid transmission, the debilitating (and mostly denied) effects of Long Covid, and simple mitigation measures that don’t require billions of dollars. Covid is Airborne with Colin Furness, PhD (Video Format) Some highlights include... The evidence for … [Read more...]
Key Tips and Strategies for Older Grapplers
Rob Biernacki and I have just released BJJ for Old F***s, and from that instructional here are some of the most important tips for the older grappler. Specifically in this episode Rob Biernacki (age 46) and I (age 52) discuss... The two things that change most about your training as you get older How to improve as fast as possible by limiting your training Why base, posture and … [Read more...]
On Winning a Tough Fight in the UFC by KO While Partially Blind in One Eye – Lance Gibson Sr on MMA
Lance Gibson Sr made a HUGE impression on me when he KO'd Jermaine Andre in the UFC while partially blind in one eye. That fight was a masterclass in both grit and strategy, so I was thrilled to have him on the podcast. We talked at length about, How training for MMA has changed since the early days, Whether you can operate a gym and fight professionally at the same time, What really … [Read more...]
The Dark Side of the Keto and Carnivore Diets
Kevin Bass has a background in medical anthropology, is both a medical and a PhD student, a grappler, and a weightlifter who has been deep in the trenches of the diet wars. In this episode we discuss the evidence for keto, ancestral and carnivore diets, the seed oil controversy, LDL, and a tentative protocol to help minimize brain damage from concussive trauma The Dark Side of the Keto and … [Read more...]
Chiropractic Back Care and Martial Arts (Podcast)
In episode 353 I chat with Troy Schott about martial arts, recovering from back injuries, and living healthy. In a world full of woo I really appreciate his thoughtful, skeptical and scientifically informed approach to health. Chiropractic Back Care and Martial Arts, with Troy Schott (Video Format) Here's the video version of episode 353 of The Strenuous Life Podcast Some of the … [Read more...]
Jiu-Jitsu in a Time of Omicron, with Dr Nicholas Tyau
I've spent a lot of time talking about Covid with doctors and epidemiologists these last few years. Things are finally beginning to change... On the one hand we have vaccines, boosters, and are getting better at treating Covid. On the other hand, right now we're in the middle of a giant spike of the crazy infectious (but mostly less deadly) Omicron variant. Which begs the question, to … [Read more...]
About That Diet You Just Started
I write this a few days after New Year's, and that means that people are inevitably going to be starting new diets. I don't have a problem with cleaning up your diet but many people are also going to be trying out the more extreme diets (the Keto diet, the Paleo diet, the Carnivore diet, or whatever crazy diet the last kooky guy on some Spotify podcast endorsed). Here's the thing though: not … [Read more...]
Jiu-Jitsu and Grief
The Grit to Work through Grief: How Martial Arts Gave Me the Tools to Work Through Pregnancy Loss A Guest Post by Rachel Honeyman Imagine 200 pounds of weight holding you down on the ground, compressing your ribs, preventing your lungs from expanding. You panic. You can’t move. You can’t breathe. You feel like you’re going to suffocate. And then, you remember that, while your torso is … [Read more...]
Lifting Weights to Improve Your Jiu-Jitsu, with Steph Gaudreau
In episode 339 of my podcast (The Strenuous Life Podcast) I talk with strength trainer, nutritionist, author, and BJJ athlete Steph Gaudreau about why lifting weights won't make women bulky, the 5 main exercises every grappler should include weekly in his or her training, and how to train as you get older. Here's the excerpt from our chat specifically about these 5 categories of lifts that you … [Read more...]
An Epic Rant About the Stupidity of Runaway Conspiracy Thinking
In this podcast episode I'm the one who's getting interviewed, and I go on a huge rant about conspiracism, Ivermectin, Joe Rogan, anti-vaxxers, elk meat diets and more. This is from an Instagram Live session I did with Dr Hanan Bushkin (@drhananbushkin). Dr Bushkin is a psychologist so he really knew how to wind me up and set me loose! Here is the video version of our chat... And … [Read more...]
Unaddressed Little Problems with Your Training Quickly Become Big Problems
800 pounds is a LOT of weight. Put that weight onto the shoulders of an average man and it’ll crush him straight down into the ground. Now imagine loading 800 pounds onto your shoulders and squatting down until your thighs are parallel with the ground, and then fighting your way out of the hole back to standing. Squatting this much weight is an almost impossible achievement. At most … [Read more...]
Fixing Martial Arts Back Pain, with Dr Stuart McGill
Back pain is incredibly common in sport, including all martial arts and combative sports. That's why I was thrilled to talk to Dr Stuart McGill, one of the world's leading experts on back pain. Dr. McGill is considered to be one of the world’s foremost experts on the spine, back pain and rehabilitation. He is an author, scientist, clinician and was a professor emeritus at the University of … [Read more...]
Covid Epidemiology 101 with Colin Furness, PhD
What exactly is herd immunity? How can we be sure that the vaccine companies aren't lying to us? What is this 'R0' value and why does it matter? What are the proven methods to stop outbreaks? Are what are some reasons for hope? These are just some of the topics I cover on today's podcast with Colin Furness, PhD, a epidemiologist at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, … [Read more...]
So You’ve Been Jabbed: Now What? BJJ After Vaccination with Dr Nicholas Tyau
Dr Nicholas Tyau is a BJJ Black Belt and an internal medicine specialist who worked in NYC hospitals during Covid Ground Zero in 2020. Today we cover the 5 key factors you need to consider after you've been vaccinated but before you decide to return to normal training. We discuss the effectiveness of vaccines in preventing you from getting Covid-19 (good but not perfect), ending up in the … [Read more...]
BJJ Training Pods
APRIL 18 2021 UPDATE (Originally published August 5th, 2020): With the advances in vaccination I believe there is a role for 'vaccinated training pods' to exist in the BJJ landscape. Essentially these are small groups of fully vaccinated people who are willing to accept the much smaller risk posed by training with other vaccinated people rather than training out in general population. This … [Read more...]