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...]
Podcast Episode 109 – the KISS Principle in Self Defense
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...]
Podcast Episode #73 – Grappling VS Striking
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...]
Podcast Episode 69 – Strategies for Dealing with Fear
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...]
Podcast Episode 138: NFL Yoga and BJJ with Jessica Huneycutt
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...]
Podcast Episode 47 – Prison for 15+ Years for a Knock-Out?
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...]
Latest Grapplearts Instructional: 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...]
Self Defense vs MMA with John Hackleman
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...]
Sport BJJ vs 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...]
12 BJJ Black Belts Give Their Best Tips for Starting BJJ {Video and Podcast}
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...]
Podcast Episode 128: Can Kung Fu and BJJ Coexist, a Conversation with Randy Brown from Mantis Boxing.
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...]
Podcast Episode 125: Reilly Bodycomb on Sambo, Leglocks, MMA, Jiu-Jitsu and No Gi Grappling
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...]
Police Combatives with Lt. Kevin Dillon on The Strenuous Life Podcast, Episode 121
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...]
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...]
Mount Escape to Ankle Lock Position
If you're caught in mount the first thing you want to try are the conventional bridging and shrimping movements to escape. These are two of the gold standard escapes for a good reason; they work all the time. But as the old saying goes, man makes plans and God laughs. Even the best techniques are going to fail against some opponents and in certain situations so it's always good to have some … [Read more...]
Christmas Office Party Jiu-Jitsu
Tis the season, and there's a very good chance that you'll be going to one or more Christmas parties in the next few weeks. I hope those parties stay friendly, but you can never be too careful. Let's just say that things can go sideways QUICKLY! A little bit too much rum in the eggnog... The wrong person under the mistletoe... Accidentally giving your girlfriend an oversized piece of … [Read more...]
Jiu-Jitsu for the Zombie Apocalypse
As we get closer and closer to Halloween it's important to shift your priorities from training jiu-jitsu to surviving the impending zombie apocalypse. (After all, it's tough to train jiu-jitsu when you're dead. Or undead, as the case may be.) That's why you've got to check out the most important video I've ever put onto Youtube: Jiu-Jitsu for the Zombie Apocalypse. A lot of people will … [Read more...]
New Strenuous Life Podcast Episode with 5 x BJJ World Champion Bernardo Faria
I've just released a KILLER new podcast episode with 5 x BJJ World Champion on my Strenuous Life Podcast. (This is episode 086 of the podcast for anyone keeping track.) In this episode we talk about Bernardo's 'kidnapping' in the Philippines two years ago His thoughts on the results of ADCC 2017 The toughest guys he has ever rolled with Whether you can get your BJJ black belt … [Read more...]
Judo Throws for BJJ
For the most part, Brazilian jiu-jitsu is about fighting on the ground. But that raises a big question. Namely, how do you get an opponent down there in the first place? Whether it's in a sport competition, mixed martial arts or a street fight, that's an important question you need to answer and having no answer is bad. Very bad. One way to get around the issue entirely is to pull … [Read more...]
Self Defense, Weapons, BJJ, and Mexican Prisons…
BJJ is a great sport but ultimately - and even more important - it's also a martial art. And the core of every martial art has to be about combat; the fitness, discipline, camaraderie and fun is great, but they're all bonuses. It's fantastic to have an awesome spinning triangle from spider guard, but you ALSO need to understand how to use your art in the streets, which might … [Read more...]