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...]
When Should an MMA Fighter Retire?
Quitting MMA One of the hardest decisions a fighter ever has to make is when to hang up the gloves and retire from the MMA game. In many sports professional athletes are usually forced into retirement by orthopaedic issues. A knee just can’t take the pounding anymore… A problem shoulder just keeps on getting worse… As the the mileage takes its toll and the injuries add up, athletic … [Read more...]
Physical Conditioning & Mental Training for Combat Sport
In this episode I go DEEP with Commonwealth Games gold medalist and 5 time National Team member Nick Ugoalah about the physical conditioning and mental training it takes to become a world class wrestler. It's a fascinating conversation because what Nick shares is applicable to any combat sport and not just wrestling. (It also shows you how damn hard you have to work to become an elite … [Read more...]
The 3 Steps to a Takedown
Many grapplers lack even a basic knowledge of takedowns, and this is a HUGE mistake. As far as I'm concerned if you're a submission grappler or a jiu-jitsu player who pulls guard in every competition then you need to have at least a few ways to get the fight to the ground from the feet. In having takedowns is just part of being a well rounded grappler, but it's also for self defense: you'll … [Read more...]
A Weight Cutting Plan for BJJ, MMA, and No Gi Competition
Weight cutting is a fact of life in modern MMA and also in many jiu-jitsu and submission grappling competitions. And the person who does it correctly usually has an undeniable advantage. But it can also be very dangerous if done wrong - people have sabotaged their performance, gone into kidney failure, and even died after cutting weight badly. So if you're going to cut weight you need to do … [Read more...]
Podcast Episode 144 – Aikido vs MMA, the Full Story with Rokas
Have you seen the "Aikido vs MMA" video that went viral within the martial arts community? In 2017 Aikido black belt Rokas Leonavicius called up a local MMA gym and explained that he wanted to test out his Aikido against a trained mixed martial arts fighter. The results of the resulting sparring session were predictable; despite 13 years of serious Aikido training he was unable to get his … [Read more...]
Podcast Episode 131 – Kirik Jenness of The Underground Forum, the Fighter’s Notebook and More
In this episode I have a great talk with Kirik Jenness who is mayor for life of the underground forum at http://mixedmartialarts.com, the author of The Fighter's Notebook, the official records keeper for mixed martial arts, and has "done every job in MMA except for being a ring girl." This man is one of the founding fathers of MMA in North America and had a TON to share! Here's just some of … [Read more...]
Podcast Episode 129 – Dan ‘The Wolfman’ Theodore
Dan was bitten by the MMA bug after watching UFC 4; soon he was training with Dan Severn and learning all he could about wrestling, jiu-jitsu, fighting and MMA. Many miles and multiple black belts later he's on the podcast. In this conversation we focus on the fighting aspects of jiu-jitsu, 'friendly' sparring sessions gone bad, catch wrestling, Systema (yes, systema), training with hundreds … [Read more...]
Stephan Talks to Chewy from Chewjitsu on The Strenuous Life Podcast, Episode 120
Chewy (aka Nick Albin) is well known for the BJJ advice he gives on his prolific Chewjitsu channel, so I was thrilled to have him on the podcast. It's a great chat and we cover a ton of material, including How he got his nickname, His journey from wrestling to MMA to jiu-jitsu, Gi vs no gi training, Preventing injuries in training, Why he decided to leave tech and go full time … [Read more...]
Cults, Comets and Critical Thinking!
I've just released a new podcast episode (episode 093) just out that starts with martial arts training and ends up talking about mass suicides and alien spaceships trailing comets... At it's core it's a rant about the importance of testability, falsifiability, and critical thinking. This podcast episode, along with all my others, are available on my Strenuous Life Podcast, which you can … [Read more...]
New Podcast with Historian Daniele Bolelli: How Violent Was Our Past, Really?
Daniele Bolelli is a martial artist, historian and the creator of the History on Fire podcast. But this time I managed to get him for a return visit to my own Strenuous Life Podcast (Click here for information about our first podcast together). Here's just a bit of what we covered... The evidence for and against an ultra-violent human past vs a peaceful noble savage model of our … [Read more...]
MMA Weight Cutting with UFC Fighter Alan Belcher (And More)
I just released a new interview with UFC star Alan Belcher who has had some of the most exciting, edge-of-your-seat fights in the UFC. In our chat Alan shares lessons learned from 26 MMA fights including… The details of cutting major amounts of weight before an MMA fight His mindset while fighting Rousimar Palhares, one of the dirtiest and scariest fighter in MMA Lifting … [Read more...]
BJJ Rib Injuries and How to Deal With Them
Let's talk about rib injuries in BJJ. This will probably only apply to a small percentage of people, but if you're one of those people then you might be about to get some important information. I'm being pretty general here and not differentiating between all the different ways you can bang up your ribcage: I'm including bruised ribs, broken ribs, damage to the sternum and damage at the … [Read more...]
Kurt Osiander Interview – the Barbarian of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
I've just released the latest podcast (episode 35), featuring an interview with Mr Kurt Osiander. Kurt is an old-school BJJ black belt under Ralph Gracie. He's known for his no BS communication style, his informative Youtube instructional videos, and his swearing (this interview is definitely not for the ears of little children or the overly sensitive). The topics we cover include... … [Read more...]
Does MMA Make You Stupid? Impact, Concussions and Brain Damage in Mixed Martial Arts
MMA has been my guilty pleasure for a long time. On the one hand, I'm a huge fan. I've been watching the UFC since its inauguration in 1993, and have enjoyed fights in Pride FC, Shooto, WEC, Strikeforce, Bellator, and many other organisations. I have good friends who are professional fighters, and have helped them prepare for their fights. And I have nothing but respect for the skill, … [Read more...]
11 Short MMA Conditioning Workouts by Chuck Liddell’s Coach John Hackleman
John Hackleman is a friend of Grapplearts and a very successful MMA coach. He runs The Pit Gym and guided Chuck Liddell to UFC Lightweight Champion status and has coached many other MMA fighters. As an MMA trainer he is keenly aware of the importance of conditioning for fighters, but also for 'regular' people training martial arts for self defense. Hackleman is also a very direct … [Read more...]
Anderson Silva Screws Up (Video Proof)
Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva in his prime was probably the most talented striker the UFC ever had. This man could do it all: insanely high striking accuracy, pinpoint punches, devastating knees, unreal timing, an amazing ability to bob and weave. When he was on fire he didn’t just beat opponents: he broke them and systematically dismantled them, and left them slumped unconscious on the … [Read more...]
Podcast EP27: Roxanne Modafferi about MMA Training, Continuing to Improve, Tryouts for The Ultimate Fighter, and More
In this podcast episode I talk with Roxanne Modafferi, MMA fighter and TUF standout, about The differences between MMA training in Japan and the USA, Continuing to improve after 12 years in the sport, Training tweaks that finally snapped a 6 fight losing streak, What tryouts forThe Ultimate Fighter were really like, And much more... To hear this podcast episode in full, you … [Read more...]
Podcast EP26: Perspectives on BJJ Drilling – An Interview with SBG’s Steve Whittier
Steve Whittier from SBG East Coast is a cool guy. He manages to combine both thoughtful analyses and controversial opinions into one eloquent package. In this interview we talked about lots of different BJJ and MMA related topics, but the main emphasis and recurring theme was functional drilling and the efficacy of different types of BJJ training methods but we also covered self defense vs. … [Read more...]