The Strenuous Life Podcast with Stephan Kesting

I'm just getting over an injury that was completely, utterly, absolutely my own fault.  The fastest way to stall your BJJ progress is to get injured.  It's true that some injuries are unavoidable, bu…

Knuckle conditioning is a two-edged sword in martial arts.  On the one hand hard knuckles and a conditioned fist make for a much more powerful punch in a streetfight and make it less likely you'll br…

Monty Collier is 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 a fun one and we started…

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 fighter…

Lethwei is an incredibly intense full contact combat sport from Burma that allows punches, kicks, elbows, knees and headbutts. And did I mention that the fighters don't wear gloves and only have a th…

Tarsis Humphreys is a multiple time BJJ black belt world champion and Brazilian National Champion.  In this episode we go DEEP into the mental game, including how to keep a match on your terms, the o…

Switching to no gi grappling can be difficult. Here are 5 steps that will make it easier... 1) Accept that No Gi is an inherently faster style of grappling and be prepared to push the pace harder at …

Here's one simple thing you should do every time that your training has stalled out and you're just not getting any better. Hell, you should probably be doing this even if your training is going grea…

Today I talk with Kathy Hubble who is a professional Stuntwoman and multiple time Canadian National Judo Champion.  She shares how she got started in stunts, how she got injured on set in a Jacky Cha…

It's important to be able to dial your aggression level up or down in a BJJ match. There are essentially 3 ways to do this...

#1, by using so-called 'dick' moves, and/or

#2, by using more force and s…

I think you guys are really going to LOVE this talk I had withJamie Flynn, a British Special Forces operator turned world base jumping champion.  Jamie is also a wingsuit pilot, a professional bodygu…

"Overnight success feels great after 10 years of playing behind chicken wire in honky Tonks" - Willie Nelson. I recorded this rant halfway up a snowy mountain during a rest break because I was thinki…

Reaching a state of flow where you respond automatically and correctly to your opponent is the goal of martial arts training. But how do you get there?

In this episode I go through what flow is, what…

Today I chat with Liz Beaver.  She's a fitness writer, BJJ practitioner, adventurer, mental health advocate and self-described 'cantankerous bitch'.  

It's a wide-ranging  yet deeply personal convers…

Today's episode is PURE GOLD for BJJ practitioners and No Gi grapplers. Fabio Gurgel - 4 time BJJ Black Belt World Champion (and trainer of more than 50 other world champions) - talks about his appro…

Eliot Marshall is BJJ black belt and a former professional mixed MMA fighter who also appeared in Season 8 of The Ultimate Fighter show.  In today's podcast we talk about how to run a successful BJJ …

Red Sullivan is a strength and conditioning expert who has worked with athletes in many different sports to help them realise their athletic potential.  In this podcast we go deep into skill vs physi…

Are you flailing around in your guard, trying to react to your opponent, without a clear plan of what to do?  If so then this episode is for you!  In it Rob Biernacki and I talk about the 3 step orde…

Daniel Strauss (aka The Raspberry Ape) is a BJJ black belt under 10x World Champion Roger Gracie.  But he's also a very serious advocate of strongman training including the development of crazy level…