The Strenuous Life Podcast with Stephan Kesting
What is it that allows some people to push themselves beyond their limitations? Why can some people survive situations others do not? On this podcast we try to find out the answers. Stephan Kesting, is a lifelong martial artist, BJJ black belt, career firefighter, and outdoorsman. Join us as he talks to fighters, adventurers, competitors, coaches, firefighters, trainers and other people living the strenuous life.
Stephan also runs Grapplearts.com, where he has published many hundreds of martial arts videos, articles and tutorials.
His free guide to learning Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, A Roadmap for BJJ, has been downloaded more than 10,000 times and has become a foundational text for the art.
- Update frequency
- every 12 days
- Average duration
- 47 minutes
- Episodes
- 428
- Years Active
- 2009 - 2025
110 - Training with World Champions, with Rob Biernacki
109 - Keep It Simple Stupid! The KISS Principle in Self Defense...
What would the boxer Vasyl Lomachenko do if he caught you macking on his girlfriend? Well, I don't think it would involve any elaborate footwork or strategies... It's fun to make things complicated i…
108 - Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu vs Traditional Japanese Jujutsu with Alex Kask
I think you'll really like this episode! In it I talk with Alex Kask who is a traditional Japanese Takeuchi-ryu Ju-Jutsu teacher but also no stranger to modern Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. We go deep into …
107 - Extreme Kiteboarder Jack Rieder
I really enjoyed this chat with kiteboarder and extreme athlete Jack Rieder (in part because I'm dying to try kiteboarding myself). Here's just a bit of what we talked about...
1:10 - What is kitebo…
106 - Top Five Martial Arts Nutrition Tips for the New Year
The Christmas binge is over and it's time to take control of your diet again! In this short episode I give you my top five pieces of advice for cleaning up your diet and not sabotaging your training…
105 - Matt Thornton on Conor McGregor, Skepticism and Aliveness in the Martial Arts
104 - Why You Have To Grapple (And How To Get Good At It As Fast As Possible)
Why training in the martial arts without including some form of grappling is stupid, and what are the key positions, techniques and transitions you need to learn first in order to get good as fast as…
103 - Forget New Year's Eve Resolutions; If It's The Right Thing to Do Then Do It Now!
I really mean it: DON'T wait until New Year's Eve to start making the changes you know should happen! Waiting will only make things more difficult. To prove my point I drag Genghis Khan, Julius Caes…
102 - Becoming a Firefighter with Battalion Chief Ken Johnson, 34 Year Fire Veteran
101 - My Twitter Q&A: Talking Cryotherapy, Self Defense, Heel Hooks and More!
100 - Optimal BJJ Training and Recovery with Sean McHugh
I've known and trained with black belt Sean McHugh for 16 years, so I was super-stoked to have him on the podcast. We covered a lot of important material including
- How to train your training partn…
099 - How to Motivate Yourself to Train
In this episode I share one of my best tips to get your butt on the mat or in the gym, indicators for when it's NOT time to push, as well as a cautionary tale of when an MMA training session went too…
098 - Why Do So Few BJJ Gyms Teach Takedowns?
Are takedowns important even though so few BJJ gyms teach them, and can you get away with never training them if your focus is competition? And what about self defense? This are questions I answere…
097 - A Q&A About Training BJJ for Older Grapplers
In this episode I answer questions and share some tips and tricks for training in BJJ as an older grappler. How often should you train? How can you recover faster? Should you also do weight traini…
096 - Lessons Learned from 19 Different World Champions, with Mike Zenga
In this episode BJJ and Judo black belt shares some of the lessons, commonalities, and differences he's seen from working one-on-one with 19 BJJ, Judo and ADCC world champions. Do they all train the…
095 - Increasing Mobility for Jiu-Jitsu
Some quick thoughts about improving the different forms of 'mobility' for jiu-jitsu, both in terms of movement on the ground, and joint mobility, from a recent Instagram Live Q&A. You can find me on …
094 - Carnage and Survival in South Africa with Coach Rodney King
WARNING: This episode contains graphic descriptions of violence and is definitely not suitable for children.
In this episode I talk with boxing and BJJ coach Rodney King about the epidemic of violenc…
093 - Testing Techniques and Avoiding Cults; The Critical Concept of Testability
In this rant I go off about the importance of critical thinking, and include examples from the martial arts, business and life. Somehow I try to wrap things up by bringing the Heaven's Gate cult and…
092 - How Violent Was Our History, Really? A Conversation with Daniele Bolelli
I love this episode where I talked with historian Daniele Bolelli. In it we talked about a huge number of topics including...
- His process of researching and producing History on Fire, one of the le…
091 - The Strange Connection Between Business, Entrepreneurship & Jiu-Jitsu with Jack Wilkinson
It's amazing how many high level entrepreneurs also enjoy the challenge of jiu-jitsu! In this episode Jack Wilkinson and I explore this connection, as well as going down many other rabbit holes...
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