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
- 427
- Years Active
- 2009 - 2025
310 - Are you in a Jiu-Jitsu Cult with Matt 'Aesopian' Kirtley
- Changes to jiu-jitsu culture,
- Crazy martial arts cults,
- Channeling of ancient spirits,
- How we can get more out of drilling,
- …
309 - Seven Ways to Make Your Leglocks More Effective
How leglocks and leglocking strategy have changed in the last 20 years. As they say for TED Talk Podcasts, this presentation contains powerful visuals and can be viewed at https://youtu.be/9mF_YtLOVI…
308 - Jiu-jitsu Is The Art of Facing Challenges, with Elliott Bayev
307 - Nazi Hippies and Authoritarian Yoga Instructors with Jules Evans
Jules Evans studies the history of ideas and was the perfect person to help me understand the abundance of insane conspiracy theories on BOTH sides of the political spectrum right now.
We discuss why…
306 - How to Talk to a Covid Denialist
305 - 7 Mental Hacks I'm Using to Maintain Motivation in 2021
2020 has been a hell of a year, but better times are coming soon, so it's time to get our collective asses into gear. In today's podcast I'll take you through the 7 mental hacks I've successfully use…
304 - The Role of Intuition in BJJ and How to Refine It with Rob Biernacki
How to get better at predicting what your opponent is going to do, develop faster reactions and train your intuition with Rob Biernacki. Check out Rob's Submission Formula instructional in which you…
303 - Everything You Wanted to Know About Professional Wresting But Were Afraid to Ask, with Tad Lincoln Murphy
302- Debunking the Covid Myths, with Epidemiologists Dr Katrine Wallace and Madeline Lewis
01:32 - Qualifications of epidemiologists Dr Katrine Wallace and Madeline Lewis 04:42 - Is COVID-19 actually 99.5% survivable? 06:33 - What are the current best estimates of the COVID-19 infection fa…
301 - Back Pain in Sport and How to Fix It, with Dr Stuart McGill
Back pain is incredibly common in sport, including all combative sports like jiu-jitsu, MMA, boxing and judo. That is why I was thrilled to talk to Dr Stuart McGill, one of the world's leading expert…
300 - 5 Principles for Taking Risks
Here are 5 principles that I use on a daily basis for evaluating risk, along with concrete examples from martial arts training, fire fighting, white water kayaking, and behavior during a pandemic. I …
299 - Division in the BJJ Community with Jamie Kilstein
298 - Efficient Training for Competition with Brandon 'Wolverine' Mullins
Today I chat with Black belt no gi world champion Brandon 'Wolverine' Mullins about how the most efficient training methods to master the highly complex world of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Lots of great t…
297 - Cults, Prophecies and Deprogramming Your Friends with Matthew Remski from Conspirituality.net
I was thrilled to talk to Matthew Remski, a cult researcher and cohost of the Conspirituality Podcast who has written extensively about the pervasive cultism and abuse in Yoga, spirituality, and well…
296 - A People's History of BJJ, with Robert Drysdale
Multiple time world champion Robert Drysdale comes onto the podcast to share his discoveries about the history of BJJ. Here's just some of what we talked about...
00:52 - Opening Closed Guard, the Bo…
295 - How to Do Long Wilderness Expeditions on the Cheap, with Frank Wolf
294 - The Biggest Clue That It's Time to Quit Competing in Full Contact Martial Arts Like MMA, Boxing and Kickboxing
Full contact fighting is inherently risky, especially when you consider the traumatic brain damage that's so common in boxing, kickboxing and MMA. And competing in sports where head shots and brain t…
293 - My Kung Fu Training Days...
On today's episode I'm interviewed by Randy Brown on his podcast about my journey through Kung Fu and how I found jiu-jitsu. Lots of nuggets about training safely and effectively in this one!
Foll…
292 - Is It Safe to Train BJJ During Covid Yet? A Nuanced Answer...
Is it safe to train BJJ in a pandemic? I wish it were a simple yes or no answer, but as I discuss in this episode (which is also available on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjyivFxPJMU&fe…
291 - Yoga, Meditation, and... Conspiracy Theory? With Derek Beres from the Conspirituality Podcast
Only aligning your chakras can save you from the satanist deep state... Derek Beres is an author and former reporter who cohosts the Conspirituality podcast which investigates the convergence of left…