Consistently Above Average

This week has been a little bit mental, on many fronts. But I have to say I think the reaction to everything is even more mental. I've had the blinkers on for a couple of years now, and I really think you should consider it as well, for the sake of yourself.

27 is a very dangerous number, so please keep the thoughts and prayers coming for consistently above-average performance over the next week, as we hope to make it to 28. I might have taken a bit of a turn on the open mats. I still love them, but maybe I don’t need to see them as much, if you know what I mean. We’re not on a "Ross and Rachel" break or anything, but I do think there’s a time and pla...

I really hope it doesn't become a trend to start episodes with facts about the date in question, but after hearing what we discussed in this week’s episode, you’ll probably agree with me. I've seen people start jiu-jitsu by jumping straight into mixed-level classes, and I've also seen people start beginner courses and not finish them. If you're listening with the intention of starting soon, this e...

After a week off, I'm back in the hot seat with a wonderful episode discussing the now trademarked 'Post-Training Clarity' effect that many of us experience throughout the week — a feeling we should never take for granted. I was also commentating on a local MMA show last weekend, IUR FC. I've been part of every show since it started and love seeing how it has come together and grown. It also made...

Sometimes things don’t go as planned, and I’m happy to say that I decided to pull the plug on what would have been an overall boring and potentially troublesome episode. We have to keep in mind the huge, impending sponsorship deals that don’t yet exist in the podcasting world—but we’ll keep dreaming, all the same. In this episode, I’ll walk you through how we ended up with a Sunday release, share...

There’s been some great feedback from the last episode or two, and I just wanted to double down on a couple of points—especially the ones about how terrible you all are at jiu-jitsu. Please enjoy and send messages accordingly. There’s also a thought process about the unifying element of jiu-jitsu that genuinely brings so many people together. It started to make me think I was organizing a cult of...

After last week’s episode, I posed the question online: Is Irish Jiu-Jitsu regressing? This was based on the results at the IBJJF European Championships in Portugal. In this week’s episode, I’m joined by Darragh O'Conaill, head coach of East Coast Jiu-Jitsu Academy and co-owner of Nexus Alicante in Spain, which he runs with his wife. Darragh has not only won multiple major IBJJF titles, but he’s a...

In this episode, I feel like I’m doing the opposite of clickbait. The question in the title? I don’t fully agree with it—and neither did the person who originally asked me. But it's still worth considering. It's worth taking a moment to play devil’s advocate and think about how things could be better. I dive into a few chaotic days in Lisbon, exploring some random, yet surprisingly deep thoughts....

First fresh episode of 2025! I say it in the episode, but thanks to everyone who enjoyed the last episode specifically, and thank you very much if you're back to give it another go. I'm heading away tomorrow to the European Championships. I kept that one under wraps, but even when preparing for the NoGi Worlds, my training was split, and the Gi Europeans are one of the most important tournaments o...

If you want to watch the video episode for this podcast you can find it here on our brand new YouTube channel - https://youtu.be/kQVD9dvYdEE I sat down with Brazilian JiuJitsu Black Belt and notable GAA figure Kieran McGeeney to discuss a wide variety of topics including how he got started in Brazillian JiuJitsu, what it was that appealed to him so much about the art, the value of having something...

Coming to you from the Mardi Gras "Hotel" and "Casino" in Las Vegas Nevada. I'm flying away in a couple of hours so wanted to run down the week in Las Vegas so far, including the couple of banana skins that was on the way leading up to it. You'll never be worse off not trying, and that's something I will keep trying to remember even more after this week in Las Vegas. Here's to NoGi Worlds 2025.

I had hoped for this episode to allow me to take a week off and just publish what we recorded last weekend, however I took for granted how annoying of a process it just might be to get everything done the way I wanted to in my head...a good lesson learned that we dip into slightly on this weeks episode. You'll hear all about it, and then all going to plan you'll be able to watch it very soon. Than...

To keep the early morning friday listeners happy, there's a very small episode right now with an update. BUT A longer, audio + video episode being recorded in a couple of hours after time of writing + recording. All going to plan that will be online over the weekend. Was set for the British Open but now the timing of the matches just might not work out in my favour.

I genuinely started off this episode with the inteniton of being nice and concise and shorter than last weeks but here we are again. Legacy in JiuJitsu I feel is going to be respected and highlighted way more than it is in the sport of MMA and that's something we will jump into and contrast between the next steps for the like of Jon Jones vs the returning steps for the GOAT of JiuJitsu, Marcelo Ga...

Two topics for discussion this week. It's episode 15, please ignore the intro and how confident i was that it's actually epsiode 14. There's no do overs here, it's why we are consistently above average and not some elite high end podcast. Patching holes in your JiuJitsu game and how that can be different from trying to implement it as an athlete and competitor vs how you are trying to patch other...

It has been a tough enough week, but I didn't want to do a shorter episode and make some excuse. Instead, I just tired to run / talk my way through it. One conversation heard at the right time, at the right place could have a huge effect that you didn't think possible. We might have had one of those during the week And a quick debrief about last weekends 14 hour round trip to London. Normal, Posti...

Winter Arc is the meme of the season so far, there'll be multiple other trends between now and christmas that i will miss and go completely over my head, but maybe there is some truth behind the winter arc, let's try figure it out. I need to get up to skills on how to use Instagram best to this shows advance. There's a market we need to tap into, so I will be enlisting the help of PFL Superstar CR...

I can't believe I'm writing this on a Friday afternoon, that's insanely off brand. The week after a tournament when you are questioning your life existance, happy to just be trianing for the sake of enjoying training instead of doing 3x per day, Took a seemingly normal diversion of my week and headed up to our fine capital country, where I'm reminded despite loving Dublin, everything people say ab...

The bonus episode. Longer than usual. Recorded in three parts, Sunday Night after dinner, the middle of the night trying to not fall asleep before heading to the airport and sitting at Gat E44. Thanks to Jean for joining me, for the first time but maybe not for the last time. We will have to see how it went. There are a couple of cuts in the editing, one mic between two people was a rookie move bu...

Coming to you from Ostia, Rome. Episode 10 of Consistently Above Average is live. The Airport Taxi drivers are clued in to what fares they want to take anyway, Day One is over and done with, Day Two will be kicking off just about an hour before this episode goes live. I am competing today, and it was a strange process to record and verbalise that the night before I competed. There'll be follow up...

I need to come up with more concise titles for these episodes.... Episode 9 continues on with a more positive twitter discussion than last weeks finished on, before transitioning over to look at the idea of does your environment deserves to influence your work ethic. Everybody is able to train when the conditions are perfect, why it's so important to keep doing it when they are less than ideal. an...

Episode 8, my favourite numbers. Why do you ask? No problem, I'll answer it. Another Week, ANOTHER E-MAIL. What a pleasure. The e-mailler poses (kind of) a two-part question and ultimately concludes they may not have asked a question at all, but I still do my best to make an attempt at an answer. We are going to have "The Last Dance" this Sunday as there's another big NoGi Europeans training sessi...

I got an e-mail during the week that influences a large part of this weeks episode. Comes from someone who felt a particular problem or reluctance to want to continue with JiuJitsu as they attempt to re-learn several fundamentals. It sprawled off into a much wider disucssion and thought process, so thank you very much listener for the e-mail. I've also marked this episode as explicit because I'm p...

We had brilliant training last Sunday and then I followed it up with one of my worst sessions in years. The sea saw of going up and down at different parts when you are preparing for a tournament is normal. Hopefully I'm able to normalise it here a little bit. A little chat about how prep + performance can be two different things entirely, as well as the fact how some people can just switch it on...

On this episode, we run over my predictions vs outcomes. from last weeks ADCC Ireland. Some observations from The Shamrock Cup on Sunday, as well as a couple of figures and sums from other tournaments for us to ponder over for a future episode. Also, in a small social media clip from last weekend, elite black belt Tainan Dalpra suggested "sooner than later" his coaches Rafa + Gui Mendes might retu...