When I was 8 years old I presented my mother with an ultimatum. I handed her a crayon-written note, "I want to go Judo. It is not fighting. I want to go NOW or I will go on strike." I was pretty serious about this, but Mama Kesting wasn't going to be that easily bullied. Needless to say I didn't get to go to Judo that year. In fact it took another 3 years of campaigning before I was … [Read more...]
5 Critical BJJ Skills for BJJ Self Defense
A lot of people don't know that I actually run TWO sites. There's this one, Grapplearts.com, of course, but then there's also SelfDefenseTutorials.com. One of the most popular articles on that site is called The 5 Most Important Self Defense Lessons from Jiu-Jitsu... https://selfdefensetutorials.com/5-quick-lessons-on-grappling-for-self-defense/ To help spread the word I recently ranted … [Read more...]
How Many Coaches Do You Need To Be Serious About Martial Arts?
The days of learning from just one instructor if you're a serious martial artist or MMA competitor are over. Nowadays you need at least four different coaches... A jiu-jitsu coach A striking coach A wrestling coach A conditioning coach I go into more detail on this topic, including for whom this applies and for whom it doesn't, in the following video and audio podcast episode … [Read more...]
Mindset and Motivation in the Martial Arts and the Rest of Life
Brett Piperni has spoken about mindset and motivation on the TED stage and I was very happy to get him on my podcast because he shared some great tips! I particularly his approach to creating 'have-to' situations in life. His story is that he was a nationally ranked Taekwondo competitor when he came down very serious illness that threatened his life and left him crippled. Multiple … [Read more...]
New Self Defense Focussed Module for Your iPhone or Android Phone
People have been asking for me to include more self defense material on the Grapplearts BJJ Master App. And, as always, your wish is my command! The Self Defense Guard - a 2 module instructional for iPhone and Android - is now the newest module with the Master App. I did this instructional together with BJJ black belt Elliott Bayev. In it you'll get the techniques and strategies from … [Read more...]
Rehab and Prehab for Martial Arts
It was a pleasure to talk with Dr Mark Cheng about injury rehabilitation and rehabilitation today on The Strenuous Life Podcast. Mark has worked with lots of combat athletes in all sorts of martial arts disciplines. He has also trained with some really good instructors, some of which I know personally. Here are just some of the things we cover in this podcast... The process of … [Read more...]
Podcast Episode 181: Why is Sparring So Hard? (Audio + Video)
Ritchie Yip is the brains behind The Precision Kickboxing Masterclass, and in this episode he and I sat down to discuss the path to kickboxing mastery. Too many beginners feel great when they're hitting the pads only to have everything fall apart the very first time they spar. Sparring can be a completely different beast from just drilling technique, and the transition can be incredibly … [Read more...]
Brand New Instructional – The Precision Kickboxing Masterclass
What's a grappler like me doing getting involved with a project like The Precision Kickboxing Masterclass that officially launched today? Totally valid question... First of all I trained in Muay Thai, Jun Fan JKD, and Kajukenbo for years. And dabbled in Savate, Capoeira and Boxing. I like to think that I was pretty good at striking back in the day. One of the things I learned is that … [Read more...]
Grappling and the 5 Ranges of Fighting
I've said many times that BJJ is a fantastic sport and fitness activity, but that at it's core it's a martial art. And it being a martial art means that you have be able to use it to defend yourself. Now it's pretty hard to beat BJJ and submission grappling as a martial art at close range. The ability to move up the positional hierarchy, getting to more and more dominant position, is a HUGE … [Read more...]
Podcast: Exposing Martial Arts Frauds with McDojolife!
Rob from McDojoLife has been relentless in his attempts to expose martial arts frauds, exposing everyone from from chi-based knockout masters to ninjas who practise bending joints in the direction they are designed to bend. Honestly some of the videos he's shared with people over the years have been hilarious for all the wrong reasons! (Scroll down for some of my favourite videos!) In … [Read more...]
Do Dirty Fighting Moves Work in Grappling?
Have you run into that guy who thinks he can eye gouge his way out of your mount, groin punch his way past your guard, and bite your ribs from side control? Well, today's video is for him! Now it's true that on the street you may need to pull hair, gouge the eyes, kick the groin, grab the throat. Then, if all that doesn't work then you'll need to start fighting dirty ;) But a martial … [Read more...]
Kata is Useless for Combat, Prove Me Wrong. A Discussion with Iain Abernathy, 7th Degree Karate Black Belt.
In some ways this podcast about the usefulness of kata was destined to happen... In the last couple of years several people suggested that I should talk to Iain Abernathy, an expert in the application of karate kata, because I am generally quite dubious about the utility of karate kata and kung fu forms. Then I published a controversial video on Youtube called "Why Kung Fu Forms and Karate … [Read more...]
Podcast Episode 65 – Interview with Sensei Ando Mierzwa, Is Martial Arts Training for Everyone?
I think you'll like this one: in this episode I speak with Ando Mierzwa (Sensei Ando) who is a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and Kung Fu San Soo with extensive experience in BJJ, Aikido, and Shotokan Karate. We talk about levels of realism in training, tribalism in the martial arts, the fighting arts as a tool to feel some control in a chaotic universe and much more. To listen to this conversation … [Read more...]
Podcast Episode 62 – Rant: It is NOT About the Colour of the BELT!
I'm on fire for this one because it really gets under my skin when people focus on the wrong thing in their martial arts training. Boys and girls, it's about skill acquisition and NOT about the color of your belt. Get this wrong and it will destroy your relationship to the martial arts! You can watch a video I did about this on You Tube below: To listen to this conversation you could … [Read more...]
Podcast Episode 52 – Rant on the “Too Deadly to Spar” Myth
It's a HUGE mistake to focus on techniques like biting, finger breaks and eye-gouging and avoiding techniques you can try out under pressure and against resistance in sparring. Here's why that's the case, and why most martial sports participants are actually far deadlier than most martial artists. To listen to this conversation you could press play on the embedded audio player below, but then … [Read more...]
Podcast Episode 50 – The #1 Reason You Should Train in Martial Arts
In this episode I go into depth about why you (and everyone else) should train in martial arts. Hint: it's not about self defense, fitness or socialising; those things are definitely benefits, but they're not the core reason that martial arts training is so transformative. For more on this topic you can also check out a blog post I wrote on Grapplearts called Blood, Sweat and... Sparta! To … [Read more...]
Podcast Episode 124 – My Interview on the Cody Jitsu Show
This was a fun episode of my podcast (The Strenuous Life) because the tables got turned; instead of me doing the interview I got grilled by Cody from the Codyjitsu podcast. We covered tons of stuff including my martial arts background, how I got my black belt, my favourite moves and techniques, specific strategies to train around injuries, the role of competition in training, and much … [Read more...]
The 5 Steps to Training A New Technique
Most of the videos I post online are from my main Youtube channel which focusses quite heavily on BJJ, no gi jiu-jitsu, MMA and other forms of grappling. But what a lot of people don't know is that I also have a second youtube channel called 'Self Defense Tutorials' which - as the title might imply - focuses more on self defense and martial arts training. Here is one of the videos from that … [Read more...]
Eye Gouging, Hair Pulling, and Theodore Roosevelt with Historian Daniele Bolelli
This is definitely one of my very favourite Grapplearts Radio Podcast episodes to date. In it I talk with historian and martial artist Daniele Bolelli. When Daniele isn't training MMA or giving lectures to students he's busy creating episodes of his own podcast, History on Fire, which you should totally check out. Our chat went all over the place, including from the rules (or lack … [Read more...]
What to do when you’ve just had a really crappy BJJ class…
Have you ever have an absolutely terrible BJJ class? One of those days where your regular training partners - the guys and girls you're normally neck and neck with - basically had their way with you? Maybe even junior belts passed your guard, took your back, swept you repeatedly, dominated you positionally, and tapped you out again and again? This can be difficult to deal with; … [Read more...]