The Strenuous Life Podcast with Stephan Kesting

With eyewitness testimony in the US Congress and purported alien bodies being wheeled into the Mexican Congress, it looks like we're in another UFO craze right now. It was great to have science writer and sceptical investigator Mick West on the podcast to make sense of this evidence and evaluate what the odds are that aliens truly walk among us. Check out Mick's current research at metabunk.org, it's my first stop for anything UFO-related. Check out the video of this conversation on the Strenuous Life Podcast channel on Youtube. And finally, please share this episode with a friend who might be interested - that's how this podcast grows! May the force be with you, Stephan Kesting

I caught up with world record holder James Pieratt shortly after he completed a 500-mile, self-supported mountain run along the Pacific Crest Trail. But James isn't just an ultrarunner - he's also a serious weightlifter who also trains in jiu-jitsu. In this interview we went deep into how to balance strength, endurance, and skill training, the role of prehabilitation and rehabilitation, the effect of hard training on life expectancy, and what drives someone to these extremes. Check out James' training programs at wildhuntconditioning.myshopify.com or follow him on instagram @wildhuntconditioning. If you know someone who'd be inspired by this episode please send it to them! Stephan

The Ultimate Self-Defense Championship was a competition in which six martial arts YouTubers competed against each other in seven self-defense challenges to find out what works, what doesn't and who would become the ultimate self-defense champion.

The organizer of this event was Rokas Leo who trained Aikido for 14 years and eventually realised that that art didn't live up to what to the promises. He made the switch to MMA training and has had several amateur MMA fights since.

My previous interview with Rokas about his evolution from Aikido to MMA: https://www.grapplearts.com/aikido-vs-mma-rokas/

Watch the first season of the Ultimate Self Defense Championship on Youtube for free: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JU3nOrEfN70&list=PL4FJXg8RNp-mqVhFpncyMk4rANel-TRa9

Contribute to The Ultimate Self Defense Championship Season 2 here and get early access and extra footage: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ultimate-self-defense-championship-season-2#/

Find out more about Rokas on his site: https://www.martialartsjourney.com/

Not only is Robert Drysdale a BJJ and ADCC World Champion, he has also conducted extensive research into the history of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. In this interview, he reveals some of what he's discovered, including...

01:54 - The first wave of jiu-jitsu in Brazil - Helio Gracie and Carlos Gracie 04:35 - Exhibition and carnival fighting in Brazil 06:55 - Traditional jiu-jitsu style vs modified judo 12:14 - Training methods of the Gracie Academy in the '30s, 40s and '50s 18:43 - The second wave practitioners 19:47 - Waldemar Santana 22:49 - Carlson Gracie and the Rua Figueiredo Magalhães school 33:19 - How BJJ rule changes changed the sport 42:31 - Rolls Gracie 48:51 - Self-defense and Vale Tudo training 55:28 - Rolls Gracie death 1:00:55 - The Carlson Gracie tragedy 1:13:54 - Carlos Gracie Jr. 1:21:03 - Future rule changes, luta livre, and the sportification of jiu-jitsu 1:35:10 - The Rise and Evolution of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, the book You can grab Robert's book, The Rise and Evolution of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which goes into MUCH more detail on these topics at https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Evolution-Brazilian-Jiu-Jitsu-Democratization/dp/B0C1JCNQ1P

Note that today's episode was also on my Youtube channel at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2ThcGhAlvs

If you found this episode interesting then a rating or a review to help get the word out would be SUPER appreciated.

Thanks,

Stephan Kesting

Carlson Gracie fought in 18 Vale Tudo matches, brought jiu-jitsu to the masses, and innovated many of the MMA training practices we now take for granted. He innovated many seemingly radical ideas at the time, like training without the gi, group classes, and being a well rounded fighter.

These points come from Robert Drysdale's excellent book, The Rise and Evolution of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Evolution-Brazilian-Jiu-Jitsu-Democratization/dp/B0C1JCNQ1P

I'll be talking to Robert Drysdale about Carlson Gracie and this era of jiu-jitsu in the very next episode (#387) of The Strenuous Life Podcast, so don't miss it!!

Cheers,

Stephan Kesting

The jiu-jitsu world was shaken recently when Jack Greener, severely injured in 2018 while sparring at a San Diego gym, was awarded $46,475,112 dollars by a jury. Rener Gracie testified for the plaintiff, and Clark Gracie testified for the defence.

In this episode, I get together with Dan Lukeheart (Brea Jiu-Jitsu) and Alex Kask (Barrister and Solicitor) to discuss the specific technique that caused this injury (the 'Leo Viera Backtake'), training methods used in jiu-jitsu, who gets to set industry standards in jiu-jitsu, whether white belts should spar, and how teachers and club owners can protect themselves from being wiped out by similar lawsuits.

More information about this lawsuit is available here...

Developments in Martial Arts Practice Liability: Greener v. Del Mar Jiu Jitsu Club

Rener Gracie's Deposition

Video of the accident

Take care of your training partners!!

Stephan Kesting

Jesse Bryant is doing his PhD on the politics of nature, and has come across some amazing examples of both far left and far right groups wrapping themselves in the mantle of nature and what is deemed 'natural'. From the Artaman League to the Wolves of Vinland and Alex Jone's fantasies about moving back to the country sometimes what he's found is hilarious, and sometimes it's terrifying. I really enjoyed today's homage to the Naturalistic Fallacy and I hope you do too...

Check out Jesse's great Tiktok channel where he goes by @jessecallahanbryant.

And check out the latest Grapplearts instructional, Cutting Edge Leglocks, at https://www.grapplearts.com/cutting-edge-leglocks. It's an amazing deal and will definitely help you tap out a LOT more people!

Amanda Bruse took home Gold as a black belt in her weight division at No Gi Pans in 2022, and also a Silver in the open division facing much heavier opponents. She's also done amazingly well at ADCC Trials, No Gi Worlds, and is now competing in Combat Jiu-jitsu as well. It's remarkable that she's only been training for 6 years; clearly, she's doing something right, and in this conversation I try to find out what it is!!

Tune in to find out about learning how to train (02:48), her favorite submission competing against bigger opponents in the open division (09:12), how to structure multiple training sessions per day (14:38), strength and conditioning for jiu-jitsu (18:06), balancing training and university studies (28:57), wrestling for no gi jiu-jitsu (35:34), starting a clothing brand (41:01), visualisation for competition (47:11), and her best advice for new people starting jiu-jitsu (53:06).

Follow Amanda on Instagram at @amandabruse.bjj.

As always, a rating and a review of this podcast is super-appreciated!!! Thanks so much Stephan Kesting

To say that Greg Souders is a huge believer in drilling and gamification is actually an understatement; he believes that BJJ training methods have not kept up with the science of learning, and runs Standard Jiu-Jitsu in Rockville, Maryland without teaching any techniques. And black belt medalist students at the Pan Ams and the World Championships suggest that he's onto something!

I really enjoyed this conversation and did my best to ask the questions you'll be hearing in your own head as you listen to this!

As always, if you enjoyed this episode I would REALLY appreciated a review and a rating on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listened to it!

Cheers, Stephan Kesting

Brooke Binowski is a journalist specialising in debunking disinformation and misinformation. She has worked for Snopes and is now the managing editor at TruthOrFiction.com. In this episode we talk about Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter, how disinformation campaigns are structured, white supremacists, why the wellness space is so prone to believing conspiracy theories, and how we can know what's actually true and what's not.

Follow Brooke on Mastadon [email protected], on Twitter (for now) @brooklynmarie, and check out what she's working on at truthorfiction.com/author/brooke/. Finally, check out the video version of the Strenuous Life Podcast on Youtube as well. Merry Christmas, Stephan Kesting