Nini Muñoz PhD does risk and failure analysis for a living. She has used these skills and a background in biology to make the science around the Covid-19 pandemic easy to understand and digest on her amazing Instagram feed @niniandthebrain. Today, on episode 318 of The Strenuous Life Podcast, we go deep into the actual process of risk analysis used in aerospace engineering and how it applies … [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...]
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...]
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...]
When to Hang Up the MMA Gloves
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 is 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 … [Read more...]
Is It Safe to Train BJJ During Covid?
Probably the question I get most often these days is, "Is it safe to train BJJ during pandemic?" People ask me this question because I've been a black belt for a long time (got promoted in 2006), have been training in the martial arts for 40 years, acquired a Masters of Biology at the University of British Columbia, and have worked as a firefighter specialising in hazardous materials response … [Read more...]
Training BJJ Outdoors
In this episode of my podcast I talked to my friend, black belt, and school owner Jeff Shaw about 2 two main things: the history of BJJ, and how BJJ can survive in a time of coronavirus. When it comes to BJJ and covid I particularly like how he's started having outdoor classes with dedicated training partners (essentially small training pods). This is something you can set up as well with just … [Read more...]
Do Masks and Face Coverings Work to Prevent Coronavirus Transmission?
I'm a jiu-jitsu black belt with a strong background in biology (BSc and MSc) who has been working in emergency response and hazmat for over 20 years (currently a captain in the fire department) and have been a strong advocate of taking COVID-19 seriously. Back in March I went on record saying that COVID was a huge concern for jiu-jitsu practioners. Since then I've published tips for training … [Read more...]
Longevity in BJJ, Stephan Kesting Interviewed on The Old Roller’s Podcast
I was recently featured on The Old Rollers Podcast hosted by Harrison Helterbrand and we dove deep into maintaining your longevity in the sport, skill development, learning styles and taking charge of your own learning process. It was a great chat and so I thought I would share it with you on my own show - The Strenuous Life Podcast. BJJ Longevity Podcast in Streaming Audio Form You can … [Read more...]
Mask Wearing and the Culture War During Pandemics in the USA
If you've followed me at all these last 6 months you'll know that I was early to speak to the BJJ community about taking Covid-19 seriously, helped publish guidelines for safely re-opening academies during and after the pandemic, and have continued to try and engage people about this topic on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. As a trained biologist with 2 degrees and 15 years of experience, and … [Read more...]
BJJ and Covid 19 Update, with Dr Chris Moriarty
Dr Moriarty is a medical doctor and had a long fierce career as a BJJ competitor who previously published guidelines for reopening BJJ academies during the Covid-19 pandemic (grapplearts.com/openingupbjj). In this followup episode we look at the current state of the epidemic, implications for training, and how to figure out whether cases truly are going up or down in your area. Option 1: … [Read more...]
Disunity, Division and Conspiracy Theory in the BJJ Community During Covid 19 (Podcast)
Today I'm joined by Thomas Nadelhoffer an associate professor in the philosophy department at the College of Charleston, an affiliate faculty member in psychology and neuroscience, and a BJJ brown belt. We focus our conversation on the tribalism and rampant conspiracy theory acceptance in the BJJ community during the time of Covid-19. I found the discussion of 'My Risk, My Right' (the idea … [Read more...]
Five Tips for Training During Coronavirus Lockdown
As I write this most clubs, dojos and training groups all over the world have shut down for a very noble cause; to flatten the coronavirus curve By shutting things down we're slowing (not stopping) community transmission of this virus, which in turn prevents the medical system from being overrun all at once and allows the system to manufacture and stockpile masks and other personal protective … [Read more...]
Jiu-Jitsu Saved My Life, with Jamie Kilstein
Jamie Kilstein is a BJJ brown belt and Joe Rogan approved professional comic who has been making a stir (and ruffling some feathers) in BJJ circles with his satirical videos on Instagram recently (follow him at @thejamiekilstein, on the JamieKilstein podcast, on Rear Naked Radio and on his Youtube channel). We got to know each other because we've both been vocal about the BJJ and Coronavirus … [Read more...]
COVID 19 and BJJ
I've been getting a lot of questions about COVID 19 (coronavirus) and BJJ, so let's have some straight talk... My approach to this comes from three perspectives... I've trained in the martial arts for 40 years and got my BJJ black belt 14 years ago... I have both a B.Sc. and an M.Sc. in biology and have been following the science around this virus fairly carefully... I'm also a first … [Read more...]
Stephan Kesting and Grapplearts Free Instructional Giveaway
Hey guys, I'm super-concerned about the coronavirus AND the effect of the coronavirus on the art of BJJ. There's just no better way to transmit this friggin virus that rolling around on the ground with other people, so we have to stop training and quarantine for a while. View this post on Instagram THANK YOU to everyone who had taken a leadership position in this crisis and … [Read more...]
Coronavirus and BJJ {Podcast Episode 262}
Earlier today I appeared on The Verbal Tap Podcast to talk about what grapplers and martial artists should do during the coronavirus and COVID 19 outbreak and I'm sharing that with you now. Based on training in martial arts for 40 years, being a first responder, and also having a master's degree in biology my recommendation is that YOU DON'T TRAIN FOR THE NEXT COUPLE OF WEEKS at least. After … [Read more...]