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...]
Interviews
Smashing Mental BJJ Barriers, with Erin Herle
This is an in-depth podcast on smashing the mental barriers holding you back from achieving your potential in BJJ with BJJ black belt and certified mental performance coach Erin Herle. Erin is great - check it out! Erin Herle is a BJJ black belt under Cobrinha and is a certified Mental Performance Consultant. She uses an evidence-based approach and has a master's degree in sport and … [Read more...]
How to Become a Professional Grappler, with Chris Wojcik
As a first-time ADCC competitor, Chris beat the odds and came in fourth, beating a couple of legends along the way. In episode 410 of The Strenuous Life Podcast with Chris Wojcik, we cover... The qualifying process for ADCC, the Olympics of Grappling Training with a herniated disk How to go from enthusiastic amateur to dedicated professional What natural athletes need to do … [Read more...]
From Underground Bareknuckle Fights to the Biggest MMA Stage in the World, with Denis Kang
In the early 2000s Denis Kang was one of the top MMA fighters in the world with wins over Minoru Suzuki, Murilo 'Ninja' Rua, Akihiro Gono and Marvin Eastman. In this interview, Denis opens up about: The mindset shift that took him to a 22-fight undefeated streak... How he dealt with the death of his fiance while competing for the biggest MMA organisation in the world... How … [Read more...]
Steve Kwan Shares the Most Important BJJ Mental Models
Today I'm joined by Steve Kwan, the host and creator of the wildly popular BJJ Mental Models podcast. We discuss the most important mental models in the art and how they can improve your ability to perform on the mat! Check out BJJmentalmodels.com for Steve's podcast and Grapplearts.com/rollingbacktakes for my newest BJJ instructional. And, as always, please send today's episode to … [Read more...]
UFOs, UAPs, and Alien Bodies with Mick West
With eyewitness testimony in the US Congress and purported alien bodies being wheeled into the Mexican Congress, it looks like we're in another UFO craze right now. It was great to have science writer and sceptical investigator Mick West on the podcast to make sense of this evidence and evaluate what the odds are that aliens truly walk among us. Check it out in video or audio-only format … [Read more...]
The Ultimate Self Defense Championship
The Ultimate Self-Defense Championship was a competition in which six martial arts YouTubers competed against each other in seven self-defense challenges to find out what works, what doesn't and who would become the ultimate self-defense champion. The results were shocking, and the entertainment value was off the charts! On episode 388 of The Strenuous Life Podcast I talk with the organizer … [Read more...]
Podcast Episode 116 – To Pull Guard in BJJ Competition, or Not?
Should you pull guard in BJJ competition or fight doggedly for the takedown. You'll get some answers to this perennial question in my conversation about pulling guard with BJJ black belt Rob Biernacki. To hear this podcast episode in full, you have a couple of options. The first one is to just press play on the embedded player below - easy as 1, 2, 3! The second (and better!) option … [Read more...]
How to Add Judo Takedowns to Your BJJ Game, with Chris Round
Chris Round is a Judo black belt under Jimmy Pedro. In this episode we talk about How to add Judo throws to your BJJ arsenal, Old school vs new school Judo training methods, Kosen Judo which focuses very heavily on groundwork, The critical importance of gripfighting and how to develop it, Leg grabs, belt grabs, crazy Eastern European throws, And more! To consume this … [Read more...]
The Red Flags That Indicate You’re Dealing with Pseudoscience, with Jonathan Jarry
Being able to tell the difference between real science and pseudoscience has never been more important, especially given the staggering amounts of misinformation and disinformation being circulated on a daily basis. In this episode I talk with Jonathan Jarry, a scientist who works for McGill University's Office for Science and Society, which uses the tagline 'Separating Sense from … [Read more...]
Vanished Civilizations and Lost Human Lineages, with Patrick Wyman
Patrick Wyman from the amazing Tides of History Podcast joins us today to discuss Large civilizations that disappeared (12:22) The human evolutionary family tree and paleogentics (17:41) The explosion of agriculture on different continents (28:16) Different species of hominids (40:20) 40 years that shook the world (43:57) The pivotal role of the printing press (48:30) … [Read more...]
Julie Kedzie on Choking Opponents and Dissing Vladimir Putin
In today's episode of The Strenuous Life Podcast I talk with Julie Kedzie. Julie is a retired MMA fighter who has now works as a fight commentator, interviewer and matchmaker for Invicta Fighting Championships. In this episode she shares her experience of meeting Vladimir Putin, unaffiliating yourself from bad people (like Vladimir Putin), the importance of role models, what drove her to start … [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...]
Combining BJJ and Muay Thai, with Tyson Larone
I really enjoyed talking with Tyson Larone today on episode 360 of The Strenuous Life Podcast. He's a badass Jiu-jitsu black belt who also teaches Muay Thai and is a certified strength and conditioning coach. We went deep into developing effective training methods for the two arts, how to avoid injury, which experts we should listen to, training against resistance, and how to build a good mix … [Read more...]
Margot Ciccarelli, Travelling the World While Training Jiu-Jitsu
Multiple time World and European champion Margot Ciccarelli joins us take us through some of the following topics... Competing at the highest level while spending much of the year on the road, How to feel invincible on the mats, The importance of tempo changes in jiu-jitsu, Transitioning through different guards, Learning faster vs staying in your comfort zone, Switching from a … [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...]
How to Talk to the Vaccine Hesitant, with Amitabha Palmer
Amitabha Palmer is a wrestler, judoka, and teaches at ethics at Texas University. His research topics include how widespread conspiracism and science denialism affect democratic policy making. Ami has been on the podcast before (on episode 325, Wrestling with Trust, Propaganda and Conspiracies) and was so insightful that I was thrilled to have him back. The focus of today's conversation was … [Read more...]
BJJ Defense with Steve Kwan
Steve Kwan from BJJ Mental Models joined me today to share some guidelines that'll immediately improve your jiu-jitsu defensive skills. Check out the BJJ Mental Models Podcast wherever fine podcasts are distributed Here's the video version of our conversation... And here's the audio-only version... Links to Subscribe to My Podcast The best way to stay up to date with new … [Read more...]