The Raspberry Ape Podcast

James Crossley is a former bodybuilder, strongman, and Gladiator from ITV's "Gladiators"

In this episode we talk about Jame start in bodybuilding as a youth, being scouted by ITV to join the hugely popular TV show: Gladiators, his career on the show, his subsequent career as a theatre actor, his competitive strongman career, historic stone lifting journey, yoga and much more.

Dan Hardy is a former UFC fighter, commentator, and fight analyst.

In this episode we discuss Dan's start in martial arts, his entry into professional MMA, his career in the UFC, his retirement due to a heart condition, his transition to the commentary table, his desire to continue to compete, his journey into psychedelics and much much much more.

"Judo" Jimmy Wallhead is a judo black belt and professional mixed martial artist.

In this episode we talk through Jimmy's martial arts career, from his start in Judo to his career fighting in many of the world's top MMA organizations including UFC and Bellator, the issue he's had with the UFC and his role of head coach of an up and coming MMA team.

Jeff Lawson is a BJJ black belt, a judo black belt, and a former MMA fighter.

In the episode we talk about how Jeff got into judo, how he transitioned into mixed martial arts in the early days of the sport, his time on the ultimate fighter, some of his coaching philosophies, and his journey with psychedelic plant medicine.

Matt Benyon is a BJJ black belt and the brains behind multiple BJJ brands including Scramble and Polaris.

In this episode, we talk about Matt's journey into martial arts, his inspiration for starting Scramble and Polaris, some of the obstacles he has come across on the way, many stories from behind the scenes and much more.

I'm joined again by strength and conditioning coach Andrew Marshall to discuss training, lifting and the passage of time.

Rick Young is a lifelong martial artist whos full list of accomplishments is too long to note but include:

Scotlands first BJJ black belt, judo black belt, Karate black belt, full instructor in JKD under Guru Dan Inosanto, full instructor in CSW under Erik Paulson and much more.

In this episode, we talk about Ricks early days into martial arts. His meeting with the Gracies and his experience learning under the legendary Dan Inosanto.

Martin Jancsics is one of the world's leading authorities on Stone lifting.

In this episode, we talk all about historic stone lifting; its history, the culture, the stories, the myths and the stones themselves. We also discuss how Martin got into stone lifting and how he got so good at it.

Steve Campbell is Manchesters first BJJ black belt and owner of Stealth BJJ.

In this episode, we talk about Steves BJJ journey which included living in Brazil for 8 years and all the stories that come along with that.

David Horne is a master of all things strength.

Legendary in the grip strength world David has competed in over 300 contest including tug of war, strongman, powerlifting, arm wrestling and grip sports.

We discuss Davids journey through strength and all the disciplines he's competed and trained in. He drops continuous knowledge bombs on grip, lifting, injury, strength for BJJ and much more.