Steve Koepfer is a Master of Sport in Russian Sambo, and has translated his skills on the mat into a busy career as a stuntman appearing in the John Wick movies, Ray Donovan, The Blacklist, The Punisher and more. In episode of 329 of The Strenuous Life Podcast we go into depth about what doing stuntwork is really like, how fight scenes get choreographed, and Steve's best advice for people … [Read more...]
The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting
This is the Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting where we talk about Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, living a full life, and pushing yourself to the limit. Subscribe to the show on all the podcast platforms (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, etc) or find the individual episodes below…
Combat Sambo and Russian MMA
Steve Koepfer is a Master of Sport of Russia in Combat Sambo and the head coach of New York Combat Sambo. In episode of 328 of The Strenuous Life Podcast we talk about the impending wave of combat sambo specialists coming to the UFC and other MMA events, the differences between training in Russia and North America, the prevalence of leglocks, and much more. I hope you enjoy this conversation … [Read more...]
A Revelation That’s Helped Me ‘Win’ More than 10 Street Fights
Today's video (and podcast episode) is story about the first time I 'won' a street fight by realising that the other guy - an older, shabbily dressed, homeless man - was almost certainly mentally ill. A good street fight is one that you walk away from or de-escalate, because even if you KO the other guy you could still lose (as I discussed in my Death After the Knockout article. Be … [Read more...]
Bringing Jiu-Jitsu into Public Schools, with Dom Hoskins
Dom Hoskins is a BJJ black belt, coach and fierce competitor who is helping bring the lessons of jiu-jitsu to public schools in California's East Bay. I think his insights will help anyone who is looking to work with kids and help them get ahead in life. Bringing Jiu-Jitsu into Public Schools (Video) Bringing Jiu-Jitsu into Public Schools (Audio) You can also just listen to the audio form of … [Read more...]
Wrestling with Trust, Propaganda, and Conspiracies, with Amitabha Palmer
Amitabha Palmer is a wrestler, judoka, and an adjunct professor of philosophy at Ohio Northern University. The topics he researches include how widespread conspiracism and science denialism affect democratic policy making. I was thrilled to have him on the podcast and I think it's a very important conversation! Wrestling with Trust, Propaganda, and Conspiracies, with Amitabha Palmer … [Read more...]
An Evolutionary Biologist on the Best Strategies for BJJ, with Marcio Pie
Here's the video of my conversation with Marcio Pie which blends of two of my favorite topics: the science of biology and the science of BJJ. Marcio is a professor of zoology at UFPR and practices Jiu-Jitsu in Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil Evolutionary Theory Applied to Jiu-Jitsu, with Marcio Pie (Video) Video Timestamps 01:08 - Introduction to evolution 06:44 - Runaway selection 09:56 - … [Read more...]
The Limits of Human Endurance, with Endurance Athlete Mike McCastle
Mike McCastle set a new world record on Jan 23, 2021, immersing himself in ice for 2 hours and 40 minutes and surviving! He joined me on Episode 323 of The Strenuous Life Podcast to talk about this absolutely insane challenge including, The physical preparation and mental strength required to it off, The limits of the human body, Tummo (inner fire) breathing and visualisation, How … [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...]
Improving BJJ Training Methods, with Pritt Mihkelson
Priit is a renowned BJJ black belt who has taught his style of defensive jiu-jitsu to thousands of people through his classes, seminars and instructionals. He's particularly known for his unusual approach to teaching jiu-jitsu and structuring classes in such a way that people come away from them with the techniques and concepts they can actually use right away. In episode 321 of The … [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...]
Strength Training for BJJ
Brandon Morgan is a high level powerlifter who trains, coaches and competes out of the Kabuki Strength gym with Chris Duffin in Portland Oregon. In this episode we go deep into strength training and conditioning for combat sports drawing on his personal experience as a wrestler and training MMA athletes to be bigger, stronger, faster, and more injury resistant. Strength Training for BJJ with … [Read more...]
Risk, Science, and Who to Believe with Nini Munoz
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...]
Karl Gotch, the Godfather of Japanese MMA
In this episode I'm joined by pro-wrestler Tad Murphy to talk about the legendary wrestler Karl Gotch. Karl Gotch was a German-Hungarian wrestler born in Belgium who trained at the infamous 'Snake Pit' in Wigan, England, then competed in the United States and then taught several generations of pro-wrestlers in Japan. His influence is the common link between just about every major Japanese … [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...]
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...]
Are You in a Jiu-Jitsu Cult?
I've wanted to talk with Matt Kirtley for a LONG time because of his BJJ background, but it just so happens that he's done a ton of research into cults and cult-like practices, so we went off in some pretty interesting directions in this one! Some of what we talked about in episode 310 of The Strenuous Life Podcast includes... Red flags that you might be in a jiu-jitsu cult Changes to … [Read more...]
Jiu-Jitsu: The Art of Facing Challenges
In episode 308 of The Strenuous Life Podcast I talk with BJJ black belt and entrepreneur Elliott Bayev about using jiu-jitsu to face challenges, how to test new ideas, how the basics change over time, how to use jiu-jitsu in sales and running a business, and much more. Elliott has been featured in several Grapplearts instructionals including The Spider Guard Masterclass and The Self Defense … [Read more...]
Why Is Conspiracy Thinking Running Rampant in BJJ?
Jules Evans studies the history of ideas and was the perfect person to help me understand the abundance of insane conspiracy theories on BOTH sides of the political spectrum right now. We discuss why there are so many lizard people in tunnels, why many Nazi leaders held new age beliefs, how BLM resembles a religion, and why BJJ is such a fertile breeding ground for conspiracy thinking in 2020 … [Read more...]