https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s94y2uII3Oo I was absolutely thrilled to welcome Oleg Taktarov to my podcast. Oleg used his Sambo skills to win UFC 6, beat Dolph Lungren in a widely publicised boxing match, and fought at the infamous Pentagon Combat event which ended in a riot and got MMA banned in Rio de Janeiro. Oleg is also a great teacher - I personally use techniques and concepts I … [Read more...]
Training
My 100 Word BJJ Manifesto
A long time ago I tried to break down my approach to learning BJJ and mastering techniques as succinctly as possible. And here it is in 100 words... I recently did a more detailed breakdown of what I meant by these 100 words on my podcast, so check out the breakdown at the links below... Option 1: Stream the Manifesto Breakdown Here Click on the player below to start the … [Read more...]
Interview with Yuri Simoes, 2 x ADCC World Champion
Yuri Simoes is a two time ADCC World Championship, a two-time IBJJF black belt Absolute No-Gi World Champion, and a two-time Pan American Champion. In our chat we go deep into developing the motivation required to train at such a high level, recovering from 2 horrific knee injuries and winning ADCC, the importance of self defense training, how he took down a Olympic Judo champion in … [Read more...]
Jiu-Jitsu Saved My Life, with Jamie Kilstein
Jamie Kilstein is a BJJ brown belt and Joe Rogan approved professional comic who has been making a stir (and ruffling some feathers) in BJJ circles with his satirical videos on Instagram recently (follow him at @thejamiekilstein, on the JamieKilstein podcast, on Rear Naked Radio and on his Youtube channel). We got to know each other because we've both been vocal about the BJJ and Coronavirus … [Read more...]
Sports Psychology for Dummies, with Dr Leif H Smith
Dr Leif H Smith has worked with NBA teams, NFL players, and athletes from almost every sport. He's also the author of "Sports Psychology for Dummies," the best-selling book on optimising your performance in training in competition. I was thrilled to have Dr Smith on my podcast recently and get deep into the weeds about the mental components of optimal performance recently. We discussed … [Read more...]
COVID 19 and BJJ
I've been getting a lot of questions about COVID 19 (coronavirus) and BJJ, so let's have some straight talk... My approach to this comes from three perspectives... I've trained in the martial arts for 40 years and got my BJJ black belt 14 years ago... I have both a B.Sc. and an M.Sc. in biology and have been following the science around this virus fairly carefully... I'm also a first … [Read more...]
An In Depth Interview with Oliver Taza from the Danaher Death Squad
Oliver Taza trains at Tristar in Montreal with Firas Zahabi and at Renzo Gracie's in New York City with John Danaher. With his impeccable technique and aggressive grappling style he has amassed an impressive array of wins at Polaris, Metamoris, the ADCC Trials, the No Gi Worlds, and many more competitions. In this episode we go deep into the training and technical development required to … [Read more...]
Measure Your Training To Improve Your Training
Peter Drucker, the godfather of modern business management, once said, “You can't manage what you can't measure.” Now I don't think that Peter Drucker did Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (or any other form of martial arts) but the idea of measuring things in order to improve them applies to every field of athletic endeavour. So let's look at some concrete ways that we might quantify our training and … [Read more...]
Creating Your Optimal Training Environment, with Jon Thomas
In this conversation BJJ black belt Jon Thomas and I go deep into training and drilling methodologies that give you results as fast as possible. Jon is originally from the US but teaches at a school in Sweden. He still competes at a high level, so he has had to take extreme ownership over his results using reverse-engineering and a very analytical approach to his training. In this episode we … [Read more...]
Sparring vs Competition Strategies
Optimal Competition Strategy There's an old saying that goes... "Don't do what's best for you. Instead do what's worst for your opponent." There's a lot of truth there. In a competition your odds of victory go way up if you can prevent your opponent doing the things that he is best at. Back in the day I once competed against MMA fighter Chris Leben in a submission grappling … [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...]
BJJ Gameplan Development (Podcast)
In this live Q&A I cover a bunch of topics including Gameplan development, What to do about training partners figuring out your game, How to find a good gym, Whether loyalty to your instructor always a good thing, How sparring is the secret sauce of any effective martial art, Taking time off from jiu-jitsu, And more You can stream the audio for today’s episode in the … [Read more...]
BJJ for Law Enforcement
I recently sat down with my friend Rory Van Vliet to talk about the applicability of BJJ in law enforcement, including policing, corrections, security work and even bouncing. If you work in any of these fields then you should probably have a listen because there are some good war stories here! Episode 250 of The Strenuous Life Podcast in Video Form You can watch and listen to the entire … [Read more...]
On the Value of BJJ Competition with Thomas Lisboa
A fun conversation with BJJ black belt Thomas Lisboa about Why testing yourself occasionally in competition gives you things that you just can't get from regular training, How to develop your weakest positions, Why even advanced students should attend the beginner's class, How Brazilian black belts use their skills on the mat to emigrate to North America, And much more. Episode … [Read more...]
Crosstraining in BJJ and Classical Martial Arts
In episode 245 of The Strenuous Life Podcast I sit down with Japanese ju-jutsu black belt Alex Kask to discuss the benefits, pitfalls and procedures for training in traditional systems and in modern BJJ at the same time. Both Alex and I have extensive backgrounds in both approaches and have co-authored the Classical Japanese Ju-Jutsu vs BJJ article that got published in several magazines and … [Read more...]
How to Get Great at BJJ Defense
Want to tap out less? Let's take a look at how to get really good at defending against submission attacks. Today I mostly want to talk about training methodology, not specific techniques per se. Of course there are definitely many specific defenses that you can use to prevent, defend, and counter any possible submission. But too many people think that they just have to learn the defense … [Read more...]
Never Do This One Thing in a BJJ Tournament (a Competition Strategy)
I think you'll like this short podcast, because I share a fighting strategy that comes from Roberto Leitão, the godfather of Luta Livre, that is totally applicable to BJJ competition as well. Roberto has spent more than 50 years training and has taught fighters like Jose Aldo, Pedro Rizzo and Marco Ruas. So this is well worth listening to! I also discuss times how training and competition … [Read more...]
2 Concepts for the Absolute BJJ Beginner
A Guest Article by Ritchie Yip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeXg51hrgqE Brazilian Jiu Jitsu can be a confusing and frustrating martial art for the absolute beginner. Today we’re going to oversimplify BJJ with 2 basic concepts; so that if you’re just starting out you’ll be able to understand this complex and confusing martial art a little bit more easily... BJJ Beginner Concept … [Read more...]
Training While Sick and Tired
NO DAYS OFF!!! It's a meme, it's a hashtag, and it's a point of honour among many advocates of fitness and martial arts training. But this approach can really get you into a heap of trouble if you take it too seriously. I know this because I've been there many times, most recently on my 1000 mile solo canoe trip in the Arctic. On that trip I absolutely crushed myself. Driven by the … [Read more...]
Free Audio Download of The Roadmap for BJJ
The Roadmap for BJJ book tries to help you make sense of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu by breaking down the underlying 6 fundamental positions of art. It focusses the hierarchy of BJJ positions (i.e. which positions are better than others) and then breaks down the relationships and transitions between the positions. If you're new to the art then you should come away with a new understanding of what's … [Read more...]