In this clip of my epic talk with BJJ black belt legend Fabio Gurgel on The Strenuous Life Podcast he talks about whether old school or modern BJJ is more effective in competition, MMA, and in a real fight. He argues quite convincingly that new school jiu-jitsu is now MORE effective than it's ever been, that there are now MORE submissions in competition, and that reminiscing about the good old … [Read more...]
Training
A Guard Passing Drill You Can Do At Home on a Heavy Bag
It's hard when you want to train but there aren't any bodies handy right at that moment. Here's how you can drill a guard pass called the kickpass (aka X pass) by yourself. This is a standing guard pass where you force your way into a loose half guard position and then use a dynamic backwards swinging kick to free your leg and come forward directly into a dominant position like knee … [Read more...]
Back Attacks 3: How to Trap the Arm and Leave Your Opponent Defenseless
Trapping one of your opponent's arms when you're in rearmount gives you a HUGE advantage and makes it much easier to finish him. Here's Rob Biernacki of BJJ Formula fame showing exactly how to do that. This is part 3 in a series on the so-called 'weak side' of the back we're releasing on Youtube and is a small part of the Back Control module of the BJJ Formula instructional. You can get The … [Read more...]
Three Steps to Mastering Any Technique
Some people look at grappling as a giant grab-bag of techniques. They may learn hundreds of techniques, but there's no rhyme, reason or organizing framework to guide what they learn or work on next. If you're very physically talented then maybe you can get away with this approach, but I find it much easier to learn, retain, and use techniques if they're coherently organized. Here are the … [Read more...]
Discipline and Mental Toughness with Brett Piperni {Podcast}
In this episode of The Strenuous Life Podcast I talk to TEDx speaker Brett Piperni about discipline, decision making, and deliberately putting yourself into situations where you have no options other than going forward. Brett was a nationally ranked Taekwondo competitor who was diagnosed with an illness that crippled him which specialists told him was incurable. He fought through it, returned … [Read more...]
Vanessa Wexler, Black Belt BJJ Champion, Mother, School Owner, and Model
Vanessa Wexler is a BJJ black belt and a multiple no-gi world champion, PanAm champion, and Masters champion. She's also a mother, a school owner, and a model. I caught up with her shortly after she won Gold in the Pan Ams competing with a completely destroyed ankle. We talked dealing with injuries, pre-competition visualisation, how running a school does NOT give you unlimited training … [Read more...]
Monty Collier, Keanu Reeve’s Judo Instructor for John Wick 3, Parabellum
Today's guest on The Strenuous Life Podcast is Monty Collier, a black belt Judoka who worked with Keanu Reeves to get him ready for the amazing fight sequences in the movie John Wick 3, Parabellum. This conversation was fun and we really went detail about stuntwork and gun fu movie fighting including how he taught Keanu highly technical Judo throws that have bedevilled me for years. We … [Read more...]
Situational Sparring and Positional Drilling
Situational sparring and positional drilling is a training method used by virtually every single black belt and high level BJJ competitor. In this type of training you start out in a certain position or situation and define specific end points where you reset and start again. For example, if you were to start in the sitting guard then you might stop if the guy on the bottom gets the sweep or … [Read more...]
One-Armed BJJ with Para-Athlete Jess Munster
Jess Munster was born with a severe brachial plexus injury which left her with only one functional arm. But this disability hasn't stopped her from training BJJ, competing against able-bodied fighters, and travelling the world to compete in para-athletic championships! In this episode I talk with Jess about what drives her past the limits of her disability, how she modifies her training and her … [Read more...]
How to Set Traps for Your Opponent in BJJ
Today I want to talk about setting traps for your opponent in BJJ. The idea is that you force your opponent into a position or a situation where he only has a limited number of possible responses. Because you already have a pretty good idea of what he's going to do as soon as he uses one of those responses you spring your trap and go to the next pre-programmed move. This concept allows you … [Read more...]
Don’t Concede the Guard!
I used to make a very specific mistake all up until about purple belt: I would just concede the guard. Conceding the Guard By that I mean that in a competitive roll I would just give my opponent whatever kind of guard he wanted and then go from there. If he wanted to play spider guard, sure, I’d give him spider guard and then try to pass. If he wanted de la Riva I’d give that to him right … [Read more...]
The Mental Side of Jiu-Jitsu with Tarsis Humphreys
Tarsis Humphreys is a multiple time BJJ Black Belt world champion and Brazilian National Champion. From 1998 to 2010 he won a medal in whichever Black Belt adult division he entered. In this episode we go DEEP into the mental game of BJJ, including How to keep a match on your preferred terms, The optimal state of mental arousal for a match, Tailoring a strategy to overcome certain … [Read more...]
How to Get Past a Plateau in BJJ
When you're training and training and training but just NOT getting any better that's called a 'plateau'. It happens to everyone but it's still an INCREDIBLY frustrating experience. You're out there sweating, straining, and maybe even bleeding on the mats but feel like you're stuck in some kind of rut. Everyone you train with becomes wise to your tricks, and seem to know what you're about to … [Read more...]
‘Overnight Success’ in BJJ [A Rant]
I started recording this rant as a video for my instagram channel halfway up a snowy mountain during a rest break. But then I got carried away and went over the 1 minute Instagram limit, so I turned it into a podcast for ya'all instead. Anyway, the theme of today's rant is about how willingness to work is MUCH more important than talent or genetics, regardless of whether you're talking about … [Read more...]
What Grapplers Can Learn From The Best Rock Climber in the World.
I recently watched an amazing documentary about how Adam Ondra clawed his way up literally the world's toughest climb. After FOUR YEARS of preparation he finally pulled off the hardest, most technical climbing challenge ever mastered, on September 3rd, 2017. There are a lot of lessons in this documentary for BJJ athletes! In fact it'll help you with ANY seemingly impossible athletic … [Read more...]
Podcast Episode 197 – The State of Flow in BJJ
Finally reaching a state of flow where you respond automatically and correctly to your opponent is the the most amazing feeling in BJJ. But what can you do to achieve that flow state more often? In this episode of The Strenuous Life Podcast I describe what flow feels like, and some of the triggers and prerequisites for flow to occur. Hint: relaxation, competence, engaging with your … [Read more...]
Will Grappling Dummy Drills Really Help Your BJJ?
I often get emails from people wanting to know whether drilling with a grappling dummy will help their jiu-jitsu. Dummies are expensive items, and people want to make sure the investment will be worth it. The short answer is no. WATCH AND/OR LISTEN TO MY RANT ON THIS TOPIC Here's a video and podcast with my views on the subject, or if you prefer to read on you can scroll down the page a … [Read more...]
BJJ Self Defense for Girls
I believe that every girl should have some basic self defense training. Yes, defeating a larger, stronger, male aggressor is a high bar to clear for a smaller girl, but it's not impossible - I've seen lots of trained women choke out bigger guys on the mat. The key word here is 'trained'. As in having spent many hours on the mat training, drilling and sparring. Now there are lots of self … [Read more...]
Podcast Episode 173 – Self Experimentation and Limiting the Downside of Experiments Gone Wrong
In this episode of The Strenuous Life Podcast I talk about the importance of self experimentation and how your results may be different from most other people's. I share some dietary experiments I've been fooling around with and exactly what I've been doing to limit the potential downsides. And somehow I drag the conversation down into musing about limiting the downside when dating crazy … [Read more...]
Do Dirty Fighting Moves Work 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...]