The Strenuous Life Podcast with Stephan Kesting

It's a HUGE mistake to focus on techniques like biting, finger breaks and eye-gouging and avoiding techniques you can try out under pressure and against resistance in sparring. Here's why that's the case, and why most martial sports participants are actually far deadlier than most martial artists.

You'll like this episode! In it I talk with 62 yr old BJJ black belt Rabbi Mordecai Finley (the Wrassling Rabbi) about starting BJJ at a later age, picking the right jiu-jitsu club, training after a heart attack, the horrors of the Eastern Front in World War 2, interpreting the Torah, being Leonard Cohen's Rabbi, and awarding Blue Belts in marriage counselling.

In this episode I go into depth about why you (and everyone else) should train in martial arts. Hint: it's not about self defense, fitness or socialising; those things are definitely benefits, but they're not the core reason that martial arts training is so transformative. For more on this topic you can also check out a blog post I wrote on Grapplearts called Blood, Sweat and... Sparta!

I think you'll like this one! In this episode I talk to 280 lb BJJ Masters World Champion James '300' Foster, fresh back from a pre Pan-Ams California training trip. We discuss getting kicked our of Karate after starting BJJ, the process of finding the correct mix of training that works best for you, cutting weight in BJJ, how to train successfully with smaller and/or less skilled students, 'modern' BJJ techniques appearing in old Judo, the movie Logan and our favourite comic books.

Stephan talks with Filipino Martial Arts instructor Jarlo Ilano about sparring with sticks and knives, self defense and how the training methods you're using affect how your martial art will express itself when you're trying to use it under stress.

Jarlo Ilano is an instructor under Burton Richardson https://jkdunlimited.com/ in his Battlefield Kali system and a purple belt in BJJ. And as well as being a physical therapist since 1998 with a board specialty in orthopedics, he is a co-founder and Managing Director at GMB Fitness https://gmb.io/ which specializes in online training for improving strength, flexibility, and body control through bodyweight exercise.

Stephan rants about the ethics and legal consquences of smashing someone's head in with a piece of concrete, otherwise known as the pavement coup de grace. Check out the video version of this rant at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RF-J1M5QJs

In this 13 minute rant Stephan goes into the 3 essential components that make up every martial art on the planet, a concept he learned from the famous Filipino martial artist (and protege of Bruce Lee) Mr Dan Inosanto! Lots of examples from Judo, Boxing, Wrestling, BJJ, MMA, Kali, Capoeira, and Kung Fu...

This is a fun conversation about BJJ, Judo and MMA with Jeff Meszaros, one of the guys I started training with 23 years ago!

• Self defense applications of BJJ
• Russian team MMA events
• Judo, BJJ and the early days of the Uncle Willy's Grappling Association
• The joys and hazards of learning BJJ in Brazil
• The evolution of BJJ (and how we got to double guard pulls)
• Why describing BJJ as 'Male Pyjama Wrestler' tends to give people the wrong idea
• And much more...

It's way too easy to slack off and get totally out of shape when things get busy in your personal or professional life. Here are some tips and training methods that'll keep you within striking distance of your optimum fitness level. Something is better than nothing, always!

Bernardo Faria, 5 x BJJ World Champion, discusses his training and conditioning routine with Stephan Kesting.

We talked about what

• Exactly what his day to day training regimen looks like,
• Who he spars with
• How he's balancing his training as he gets older,
• How his training regimen changes as he gets closer to competition,
• Whether you should do extra conditioning or not,
• How he gets his signature guard pass on everybody,
• Health and nutrition,
• And a whole lot more.

This was an episode of my podcast, the 'Grapplearts Radio Podcast', which you can find on iTunes, Youtube, Stitcher, and Soundcloud.

Here are the links:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/grapplearts-radio-all-things/id320705565?mt=2

http://www.youtube.com/stephankesting

http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/stephan-kesting/grapplearts-radio-podcast

https://soundcloud.com/user-993426357

And if you want an 'I Love BJJ' shirt you can grab that on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01BW64LDC