The Strenuous Life Podcast With Stephan Kesting / Grapplearts Radio

Want to find out how to be a more effective martial arts teacher? Stephan Kesting interviews BJJ black belt Ritchie Yip about the art and science of teaching martial arts.  Lots of tips and tricks for teachers and aspiring instructors in this one!

Stephan talks with 2013 Pan American middlweight champion Clark Gracie about training, competition, growing up Gracie, and yes, that famous picture with the hair and the omoplata.

Stephan interviews John Perretti, the matchmaker for the early UFC and the EFC (Extreme Fighting Championship).  He put together some of the most iconic matches in the UFC before Zuffa took it over in 2001.   In this interview he talks about the rules and weight classes he created for the fledgling sport of Mixed Martial Arts (a term that he is credited with coining), how he found and selected fighters, brain trauma in the combat sports, his disdain for the current state of the UFC, and much more.

Stephan Kesting interviews Rafael Lovato Jr, one of the most successful North American BJJ competitors.  They discuss technique, mindset, training, conditioning, and the keys to being successful in competition.  The full transcript of this interview is available at http://www.grapplearts.com/lovato

Stephan Kesting interviews one of his most influential teachers, 9th degree Kajukenbo black belt and Black Belt Hall of Famer Philip Gelinas. Topics include the evolution of Georges St Pierre, the relevance of BJJ and MMA to self defense, grappling with sticks and knives, and how the martial arts continue to change and adapt in the 21st century.

Want to be an effective martial artist?  Burton Richardson talks about training and performing under pressure in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, MMA, and Full Contact Stickfighting. Plus he shares lessons learned from such martial arts luminaries as Dan Inosanto, the Machados Brothers, Egan and Enson Inoue, Baret Yoshida, Chris Leben, Eric Knauss, Antonio Illustrisimo, and Charuto Verissimo.

Keenan Cornelius is a BJJ phenomenon.  Having won double gold medals at four of the biggest IBJJF tournaments - The World Jiu-Jitsu Championship, Pan-American Championship, European Open Championship, and the Brazilian National Jiu-Jitsu Championship, he's one of the most active, most successful North American competitors on the scene today.   In this interview with Stephan Kesting from www.grapplearts.com, Keenan talks about his training regimen, competition mindset, dealing with nerves, his time at Team Lloyd Irvin, and what he hopes to accomplish in the future. 

Proof that a serious BJJ competitor can still be classy; Roy Dean talks with Stephan Kesting about BJJ, Judo, Aikido, and Path of the Martial Artist. Roy Dean has black belts in kodokan judo and aikikai aikido, japanese jujutsu and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.  He's recognized as a black belt by the international brazilian jiu jitsu federation (IBJJF), with affiliated academies around the world.

How do you go from being the smallest person in the class to a BJJ world champion! This is a really interesting interview with my friend Brandon 'Wolverine' Mullins.  I first polled the Grapplearts.com newsletter readership if they had any questions for Brandon, and boy, did they ever! I sifted and sorted hundreds of emails to pick out the very best questions for for him, and this in-depth interview about competition and training strategies for grapplers is the result. Brandon has worked with Stephan to create 'How to Defeat the Bigger, Stronger Opponent Series 2' available in mobile app and DVD format here: http://www.grapplearts.com/bigger-stronger-series-2/

Vinicius 'Draculino' talks with Stephan Kesting about how surfing beach fights brought him into jiu-jitsu, what it was like training with the top Gracie and Machado fighters in Rio in the 1980's, and how self defense and vale tudo training were incorporated into the classes. He also talks about the early BJJ competition scene, and how BJJ has changed over the last 3 decades. His contributions to the Spider Guard Position, and why he gets more nervous for BJJ competition than for MMA fights. Then they move on to why he thought that many matches at the 2012 Mundials reminded him of two spiders having sex, the rule changes, he'd like to see to make jiu-jitsu competition more exciting, and why he makes even his BJJ world champions do self defense twice a week All in all, it's a merry romp down many BJJ topics, past and present.  

Answers for your BJJ questions!  Stephan takes questions from his newsletter readers in the first ever Q&A Podcast.  Find out how how to taper for competition, what to do when you're getting crushed all the time, what to do when your wrestling coach wants you to stop doing BJJ, and how to remember all these bloody techniques...

Ryan Hall is one of North America's most prolific competitors in BJJ and Submission Grappling.  In this in-depth interview with Stephan Kesting he shares tips on training, competing, the 50-50 guard, the triangle choke, sparring with Marcelo Garcia, the construction of an effective guard game, and so much more!

Want to find out more about the psychology of combat?  Tony Blauer is the head of Blauer Tactical Systems which specializes in close quarter tactics & scenario-based training for law enforcement, military and professional self-defense instructors. We had a great conversation about Crossfit, fear management, adrenaline dumps, and his 'conversion' to BJJ.  And it's all pretty relevant stuff!  Everybody (who's not insane) feels fear, whether we're freaked out about sparring somebody new, entering our first BJJ tournament, fighting MMA, or defending ourselves on the street. And so we should know how to deal with it

Sarah Kaufmann, the UFC fighter and former Strikeforce champion, talks about training, competing and the role of women in MMA

Daniel McCormick, the 2008 US National Judo Champion and 2009 Judo Olympian, talks about his Olympic experience, training BJJ, and "judo for bjj" or how exactly how Judo can be adapted to be effective in a BJJ context.

Emily Kwok is a BJJ black belt, a decorated BJJ competitor and runs her own school in Princeton, New Jersey.  In this interview she talks about how and why she abandoned a conventional white collar lifestyle to pursue her BJJ dreams, as well as sharing lots of great information about choosing BJJ schools, gender etiquette on the mats, and how to survive and thrive when you're always the smallest person at your school. She has also collaborated with Stephan Kesting on a series of instructional apps and DVDs called 'How to Defeat the Bigger, Stronger Opponent Series 1" available at http://www.grapplearts.com/bigstrong

7th degree black belt Marcus Soares takes us to Rio in the 70's and 80's on a narrated stroll through BJJ history.  Find out about the legendary Carlson Gracie, the fighter, the teacher and founder of the strongest BJJ team of the era.  Get the inside scoop on the toughest tournament in town, and the friendly rivalry between Carlson and Rolls Gracie students.

Erik Paulson is an MMA Master Coach.  He's trained tons of fighters competing at the highest levels of Mixed Martial Arts.  And he also held the Shooto light-heavyweight title in Japan for 5 years. In this interview with Stephan Kesting from www.grapplearts.com, Erik reveals     •    What training with the Gracies in their 'garage days' was like     •    How wrestling can improve your BJJ, and visa versa     •    The theory of the jiu-jitsu wheel     •    The strategic and tactical differences between catchwrestling and BJJ     •    The key to rapid-fire submission attacks     •    Erik's philosophy on training with and without the gi     •    When is the best time to attack with leglocks     •    Leglock safety tips     •    How to develop a fighter's gameplan     •    Tips for defeating larger, stronger opponents     •    What it's like to train with Brock Lesnar     •    The best conditioning exercises for fighting and grappling     •    A glaring weakness and a fantastic opportunity in today's MMA game

Learn the best BJJ competition strategies.  Today I have a long chat with David Meyer, the author of "Training for Competition; Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Submission Grappling." We cover WHO should compete, WHEN to use certain strategies, HOW to prepare for a competition, WHAT your mindset should be, WHY put all this stress on yourself in the first place, and much, much more. It's one of the best interviews I've done, and if you practice any grappling art then I really think that you'll enjoy it.

Want to find out how UFC champion George St. Pierre's gets in shape?  Let's ask his conditioning coach, Jon Chaimberg.  Find out about the training program that's helped GSP stay at the top of his game and retain his UFC belt.  Jon has worked with many top Mixed Martial Arts fighters, including Georges St-Pierre, Denis Kang, Rashad Evans, Nate Marquardt, David Loiseau, Keith Jardine and many others. This is a very detailed and specific discussion about MMA conditioning.  Jon pulls no punches and shares much of his approach for working with fighters.  We discuss periodization, crossfit, aerobic vs. anaerobic work, program design, overtraining, initial assessment of an athlete, and a whole lot more.