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Techniques, Tutorials and Gear for BJJ, MMA and Submission Grappling

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Home » Self Defense

Self Defense

Podcast: Exposing Martial Arts Frauds with McDojolife!

October 19, 2018 by Stephan Kesting

Podcast about 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...]

Filed Under: Miscellaneous, Podcasts, Self Defense Tagged With: Interviews, Martial Arts, McDojoLife, Self Defense, Sparring, The Mental Aspect, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting

Do Dirty Fighting Moves Work in Grappling?

October 16, 2018 by Stephan Kesting

DIRTY TECHNIQUES 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...]

Filed Under: Podcasts, Self Defense, Training Tagged With: Martial Arts, Self Defense, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting, Training, Video

How to Manage Fear and Adrenaline in Competition

June 28, 2018 by Stephan Kesting

managing fear and adrenaline

My friend Shane Fazen has fought Muay Thai in Thailand, competed in boxing, and has even challenged himself in some MMA smokers. In this conversation he and I talk about how to manage fear and adrenaline when you're competing or in a fight. Specific topics include What happens to your body when you experience the  fight or flight reflex, How to use an adrenaline dump to your … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Competition, For Beginners, Mixed Martial Arts, Podcasts Tagged With: Competition, Interviews, Self Defense, Shane Fazen, Striking, The Mental Aspect, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting, Training, Video

Standing Guillotine Choke Escapes

June 25, 2018 by Stephan Kesting

guillotine choke escape

Standing guillotine chokes are really tough to escape, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try to get out! I recently met up with my friend Ando Mierzwa, and we shot something on the topic of guillotine prevention and escape for his martial arts oriented Youtube channel. It's a video in 3 parts... The first part of the video is about guillotine prevention.   It's always easier to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques, Self Defense Tagged With: Ando Mierzwa, Clinching, Escapes, Guillotine Choke, Self Defense, Techniques, Video

Getting Back to Your Feet in BJJ

June 22, 2018 by Stephan Kesting

bjj technical standup

If you boil down the thousands of guard techniques in BJJ they really fall into one of five categories... Sweeps that allow you to reverse the position and get to the top Submissions where you choke or jointlock your opponent Strikes with your hands, elbows, knees and feet Survival where you maintain your guard and keep yourself against your opponent's attacks, and Standing back … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques, Mixed Martial Arts, Self Defense Tagged With: BJJ, MMA, No Gi, Self Defense, Submission Grappling, Technical Standup, Techniques, Video

I Get Knocked Out Badly!

June 17, 2018 by Stephan Kesting

I recently had my ass kicked and was left for dead. This happened because I had the opportunity to help with the fight coordination for a big scene in a recent indie film. I also got sucked into acting in this movie - please don't hold that against me - let's just say that I don't intend to quit my day job! The whole film is only 5:15 long, and the fight scene really starts halfway (2:40) … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: BJJ, Eva Schubert, Self Defense, Video

Podcast Episode 94 – Coach Rodney King on Survival in South Africa

June 17, 2018 by Stephan Kesting

WARNING: This episode contains graphic descriptions of violence and is definitely not suitable for children. In this episode I talk with boxing and BJJ coach Rodney King about the epidemic of violence in modern day South Africa, how training helps you prepare for confrontations, and how dangerous a 'romantic' notion of fighting is. Some of the topics we covered include: 00:17 - Who is … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Interviews, Podcasts, Self Defense, Training Tagged With: BJJ, Grapplearts, Interviews, Rodney King, Self Defense, Stephan Kesting, Techniques, The Mental Aspect, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting

Podcast Episode 109 – the KISS Principle in Self Defense

June 14, 2018 by Stephan Kesting

What would the boxer Vasyl Lomachenko do if he caught you macking on his girlfriend? Well, I don't think it would involve any elaborate footwork or strategies... It's fun to make things complicated in training, to use setups, fakes, and elaborate combinations to beat your training partners.  But when it comes to street self defense you should keep things really, really simple. KISS = Keep It … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Podcasts, Self Defense Tagged With: BJJ, Grapplearts, Self Defense, Stephan Kesting, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting, Training

Podcast Episode #73 – Grappling VS Striking

June 12, 2018 by Stephan Kesting

If you could only do one which would be better for self defense: striking or grappling?  The answer is grappling of course, but the reasons why might surprise you... This podcast episode, along with all my others, are available on my Strenuous Life Podcast, which you can subscribe to with a few easy clicks! Choose your audio player below and click on it to open up The Strenuous Life Podcast and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques, Podcasts, Self Defense, Training Tagged With: BJJ, Grapplearts, Grappling, Self Defense, Stephan Kesting, Striking, Techniques, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting

Podcast Episode 69 – Strategies for Dealing with Fear

June 11, 2018 by Stephan Kesting

In this episode I talk about the concrete steps you can take to control your fear and harness the power of the adrenaline dump that comes with the fight of flight reflex.  Properly used this power turns you into a superhero rather than a gibbering idiot! To listen to this conversation you could press play on the embedded audio player below, but then you might miss out on future episodes, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Podcasts, Self Defense Tagged With: BJJ, Self Defense, The Mental Aspect, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting

Podcast Episode 138: NFL Yoga and BJJ with Jessica Huneycutt

June 8, 2018 by Stephan Kesting

jessica huneycutt - NFL Yoga Coach

Jessica Huneycutt is the yoga instructor for the New Orleans Saints football team. Yes, you read that right. A professional NFL team, full of gigantic athletes who make a career of smashing into one another, has it's own yoga instructor! Oh, and did I mention that Jessica also trains BJJ? In this episode we go deep into how Yoga and other techniques are used at an elite level to help … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Conditioning, Interviews, Podcasts Tagged With: BJJ, Conditioning, Injuries, Interviews, Jessica Huneycutt, Self Defense, The Mental Aspect, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting, Women, Yoga

Podcast Episode 47 – Prison for 15+ Years for a Knock-Out?

June 6, 2018 by Stephan Kesting

prison for a single punch knockout

In every story about every streetfight the centrepiece is the big haymaker that landed and knocked somebody out cold. It's a compelling story, but the reality is that whenever you do this you automatically run a very serious risk of killing the other guy. Your punch to the head may be powerful, but usually it's not nearly as dangerous as the second impact when his falling head lands on the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Podcasts, Self Defense, Training Tagged With: BJJ, Chokes, Drills, Self Defense, Submission Grappling, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting

Latest Grapplearts Instructional: The Self Defense Guard

June 2, 2018 by Stephan Kesting

the self defense guard

Ultimately BJJ is a martial art, and that means knowing how to handle yourself in a real fight. I wouldn't advocate pulling guard in a streetfight, but if things go wrong then there's always the chance that you’re going to end up on the bottom.  And if that happens the guard could save your life. But the way you use guard is different when you’re dealing with punches, bites, headbutts and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: For Beginners, Mixed Martial Arts, Self Defense Tagged With: BJJ, Elliott Bayev, Grapplearts DVDs, MMA, Self Defense, Techniques, Video

Self Defense vs MMA with John Hackleman

April 25, 2018 by Stephan Kesting

John Hackleman on self defense vs mma

The intersection of MMA and self defense has always been interesting to me, so I was thrilled to have a chat with John 'the Pitmaster' Hackleman recently. John is well known for coaching Chuck Liddell to the UFC light-heavyweight title, but he has mentored many other successful MMA fighters as well. But despite his success as an MMA coach the reason he started training martial arts was very … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Interviews, Podcasts, Self Defense Tagged With: Chuck Liddell, Classes, Competition, Conditioning, History, Injuries, Interviews, John Hackleman, Kajukenbo, Older Grapplers, Self Defense, Sparring, Striking, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting, Training

Sport BJJ vs Self Defense BJJ

April 13, 2018 by Stephan Kesting

Sport BJJ and Self Defense BJJ

There are many reasons to train BJJ - fitness, camaraderie, having fun, taking on a challenge, spiritual development, learning to deal with challenges, wanting to compete - but at its core, Brazilian jiu-jitsu is a martial art. Martial arts means self defense.  Self defense is a very big topic, but it has to include choking an attacker into a unconsciousness if need be. Here are two videos … [Read more...]

Filed Under: For Beginners, Self Defense Tagged With: BJJ, History, MMA, Self Defense, Sparring, Striking, Takedowns, The Mental Aspect, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting, Training, Video

12 BJJ Black Belts Give Their Best Tips for Starting BJJ {Video and Podcast}

March 25, 2018 by Stephan Kesting

12 BJJ black belts give their best advice for starting jiu-jitsu

Today you're going to get 12 BJJ black belts give their best tips, strategies and advice for people just starting out in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. White belts looking for help getting started and organising their training will really benefit from watching this. Although there are a few themes the fascinating thing is how diverse the advice is.  There is no one path, no one BJJ tip to rule them all, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: For Beginners, Miscellaneous, Podcasts Tagged With: Bernardo Faria, Brandon Mullins, Classes, Concepts, Elliott Bayev, Fundamentals, Jason Manly, Mike Zenga, Perry Bateson, Pshemek Drabczynski, Ritchie Yip, Rob Biernacki, Sean McHugh, Self Defense, Sparring, Strategy, The Mental Aspect, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting, Training, Travis Stevens, Video

Podcast Episode 128: Can Kung Fu and BJJ Coexist, a Conversation with Randy Brown from Mantis Boxing.

March 11, 2018 by Stephan Kesting

kung fu and bjj podcast

Can Kung Fu, BJJ and MMA coexist?  Maybe they can, and maybe they can even learn from each other. This is a conversation I had with with Kung Fu stylist (and BJJ brown belt) Randy Brown in which we touched on  the history of Chinese martial arts and what made them less effective over time, what traditional martial arts look like when you start training them with resistance, and much more.  I … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Interviews, Podcasts Tagged With: BJJ, History, Interviews, Kung Fu, MMA, Randy Brown, Self Defense, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting, Training

Podcast Episode 125: Reilly Bodycomb on Sambo, Leglocks, MMA, Jiu-Jitsu and No Gi Grappling

March 5, 2018 by Stephan Kesting

Reilly Bodycomb Interview

I loved doing this interview with Reilly Bodycomb. Reilly is a Russian sambo and leglock expert who has competed in a TON of different rulesets including BJJ, no gi submission grappling, MMA, Russian Sambo, and Chinese San Shou. He is the Pan-American Sport SAMBO Champion (2016), USA Sport SAMBO Champion (2016), Dutch Combat SAMBO Champion (2016), recently competed in Japan and is a BJJ black … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Competition, Interviews, Podcasts Tagged With: BJJ, Classes, Competition, Injuries, Leglocks, MMA, No Gi, Positions, Reilly Bodycomb, Rules, Sambo, Self Defense, Teaching, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting, Throws, Wrestling

Police Combatives with Lt. Kevin Dillon on The Strenuous Life Podcast, Episode 121

February 27, 2018 by Stephan Kesting

Police Combatives with Kevin Dillon

I found this conversation with Lieutenant Kevin Dillon (ret) about police combatives training super interesting.  Kevin served for 25 years as a police officer, SWAT team member, and detective commander before moving on to become a full time trainer for police departments so he speaks from authority on this topic! In this episode we talk about his closest calls on the street, how police … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Interviews, Podcasts Tagged With: Interviews, Kevin Dillon, Law Enforcement, Policing, Self Defense, The Mental Aspect, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting

Japanese Jiujitsu vs BJJ

January 16, 2018 by Stephan Kesting

japanese jiujitsu vs bjj

BJJ (Brazilian Jiu-jitsu) is undeniably the most popular grappling system on the planet right now. But BJJ came from Judo, and Judo came from the traditional Japanese Jiujitsu systems. So there's a direct lineage from Japanese Jiujitsu (aka Jujitsu or Jujutsu) to BJJ. Both arts contain chokes, pins, armlocks and leglocks, so what's the difference? There are differences in both the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Grappling Techniques, Podcasts, Self Defense, Training Tagged With: Alex Kask, BJJ, History, Japanese Ju-jutsu, Self Defense, The Strenuous Life BJJ Podcast with Stephan Kesting, Video, Weapons

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