Interviews

Daniel Perez is the first American to get a Black Belt under Demian Maia. He talks about training with Demian, running his own school, finding the right training environment for you and the blue belt blues. He also talks about self defense in the street.

Sgt. 1st Class Matt Larsen is the man behind the US military's Modern Combatives Program. He explains why BJJ is the base style in the system, effects of adrenaline in a fight, self defense for civilians and how a bar fight opened his mind to new tactics

Brian Jacks is an Olympic judo medalist and multiple time Superstars champion. Brian Jacks is a legendary British judo figure. Being the first brit to medal at a world championship. Put in the Olympic team age 17 and eventually taking a Olympic bronze medal. He then was invited onto hit BBC TV show Superstars where he dominated for years. Winning British and european championships. In this episode we talk about how Brian got into judo, going to Japan alone to train age just 15, his post judo life, his superstars career, his competition mentality, his physical training program, his autobiography, whats wrong with judo today and much more. For more info on Brian visit: www.brianjacks.co.uk Or email him: brianjacks129@gmail.com

Vlad Koulikov returns to the show to talk about his recent promotion to BJJ Black Belt, winning the Combat Wrestling Worlds in Japan, training through injuries, conditioning and his views on the modern leg lock game from a Sambo perspective

Joao Assis joins the show to talk about how Jiu-Jitsu helped him on a better path in life, learning from Leo Vieira and Mario Sperry, being a purple belt for 6 years and moving to the US without knowing anyone and with limited English

Jon Hegan is a BJJ, Judo and Krav Maga black belt and former Marines Commando. In this episode we talk about Jon's time in the Marines, how he got into BJJ, training with the Gracie family in the 90's, the early days of UK BJJ, taking his black belt test with the Valente brothers, training with a blue belt Roger Gracie, training Krav Maga in Israel, working with violent young offenders for 14 years and much more. For more info on Jon visit his website: www.kravmagacombat.com

Luiz Panza joins the show to talk about his recent trip to Brazil, his intro to martial arts, why his mother banned him from training as a young man, Chuck Norris jokes and his rap song he recently write for his friend Buchecha!

Today's episode comes from a Q&A session I did on Instagram live (@stephan_kesting) and gave the answers to a ton of BJJ and training topics including... 05:00 - When I started training BJJ 06:56 - Is BJJ ever going to make it into the Olympics 08:04 - Advice for remote learners without access to a school 12:33 - Teaching seminars? 13:19 - Grappling and submissions when there's a weapon involved 17:51 - Grapplearts leglock videos 19:01 - The leglock positional hierarchy 20:39 - Dealing with cauliflower ear 23:28 - What does my training look like? 24:51 - How powerful is the ankle lock, and what's the best leglock? 27:35 - Big man game vs small man jiu-jitsu 29:34 - Is it Ok to train at multiple schools? 31:38 - Is catch wrestling any good and do I use it? 33:39 - Custom rash gaurds 34:02 - What makes someone's game world class? 37:38 - Tips for facing larger opponents 39:55 - Strategies for people with bad knees 41:23 - Neck strengthening exercises 43:47 - Mapping out a training schedule Hope you enjoy this and also make sure to follow me on Instagram where I'm @stephan_kesting

Spenser Mango is a decorated Greco Roman Wrestling champion and a 2x Team USA Olympian. He talks about finding his style, strength & conditioning, the benefits of being smaller and his Olympic experience. He also gives advice on diet and cutting weight.

I chat with Romeo about entrepreneurship, design, grip, diet, cryptocurrencies, driverless cars, competition mindset and much more. Follow Romeo on instagram at: www.instagram.com/romeostasis_

This is a great episode with a ton of relevant and useful tips for combat athletes! Jason C. Brown shares a ton of information about kettlebell conditioning for jiu-jitsu and other martial arts including the details of kettlebell form, competitions, and designing conditioning programs for different people with different goals. We also riff on old-school jiu-jitsu techniques and why they still work. Give it a listen and, as always, please share it with someone else if you think it'll be useful for them!

"Pe De Pano" joins the show to talk about how BJJ saved him from his troubled youth, the Colby Covington incident, Brazil in the 90's vs today, the ingredients of a champion and facing weaknesses head on. He also gives technical insight on the armbar

It started so well! First Rob Biernacki and I discuss The Last Jedi and training with ADCC champion Yuri Simoes and World Champion Caio Terra. Then things went off the rails and we pissed off leftists, rightists, geeks, lesbians, Marxists, trickle-down economists, liberals, Trumpists, systema practitioners, academics, flat-earthers and everyone in between!

UFC veteran and BJJ champion Eliot Marshall joins the show to talk about finding BJJ in 1997, cult mentalities that exist in BJJ, the UFC, his love for teaching and meditation. He also provides one of the funniest answers The Pummel has ever seen.

Dan Camarillo joins the show to talk about keeping kids interested in Jiu-Jitsu, structuring a curriculum, injury prevention, training take downs safely and taking breaks from training. He also tells stories from the old days of Ralph Gracie's Academy.

Gareth Riddy is the author of "How to Undo the Shit the Modern World Does to Us", a personal trainer and physical therapist. In his episode we discuss all the shit the modern world does to us and some ways of undoing it. For more info visit: www.garethriddy.com Or check out his book on amazon here: www.goo.gl/Pz41Er

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 the techniques and history of traditional Japanese martial arts systems, including modern vs traditional training methods, the Japanese 'Warring States' period, historical challenge matches, the importance of wrestling in an environment with weapons and armour, and much more! Find out more about Alex at http://www.shofukan.ca/ Read the article we did together on Japanese Ju-Jutsu vs Submission Grappling here: http://www.grapplearts.com/submission-grappling-vs-classical-ju-jutsu-when-cultures-and-concepts-collide/ See Alex and I talk armbars vs knives here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUYWwutQrBE And check out how the Rear Naked Choke (RNC) might be applied differently in traditional Japanese Ju-Jujutsu vs BJJ here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PL8ywtIOtfY

Justin Flores joins the show to talk about learning online, universal truths in grappling, broadening your horizons and being the captain of your own ship. He also talks about coaching Ronda Rousey and opens up about his crippling fear of mustard.

Shintaro Higashi joins the show to talk about the pressures of being the son of a Judo legend, how rule sets impact grappling styles, his diverse grappling experience and pursuing the Olympics. He also covers improving take downs for any grappling style!

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 kiteboarding? 6:47 - The disciplines of kiteboarding 13:57 - Other uses for kites 17:51 - Controlling the kite 21:28 - Injuries and risk 27:14 - Media and video process 30:36 - Training vs doing for high level performance 38:07 - The future of the sport 41:11 - The art of getting sponsored

Mario Sperry talks about the early days of Carlson's academy and shares several epic stories including fighting Wallid Ismail on a bathroom floor, surfing brawls and his old rivalry with Royler Gracie. He also talks about the Pride days and his new school

Abmar Barbosa is a respected BJJ champion and instructor known for his exciting, fast-paced style. He talks about how bullying led him to BJJ, overcoming adrenaline dumps, money in Jiu-Jitsu and defeating Kron Gracie. He also talks about his time in Japan

Gustavo "Siri" Pires is a decorated champion and instructor. He talks about appreciating the basics, having a sibling who trains, closed guard and competing against friends. He also talks about competing against Demian Maia and Comprido back in Brazil

Matt Thornton is the founder of Straight Blast Gym, the organisation that produced Conor McGregor. He's also a skeptic with many harsh words for traditional martial arts and traditional training methods. Don't listen if you're easily offended! 00:51 - Matt's martial arts background 10:26 - The concept of "Aliveness" 20:41 - The "I" method of teaching and training martial arts 26:14 - John Kavanagh and Conor McGregor 32:37 - Where did fantasy martial arts come from? 42:55 - The evolution of martial arts 65:54 - False positives and negatives 73:26 - Skepticism