The Old Bastard's Guide to Surviving (and Thriving) on the Mats

Hey friends! Today I present to you a great conversation with my friend Craig Cordi, BJJ black belt under Ron Keslar at American Elite Grappling in San Jose, California. Craig is also the host of the Newaza Podcast, another fine offering in the jiu jitsu podcast space! Craig and I talk about a variety of topics, including: his start in the martial arts as a kid; his experiences in traditional Japa...

Today we have my friend Paul Kim, from Southern California, who runs the Instagram account @losangelesopenmats. Paul has been training jiu jitsu on and off for years, and recently has been working to build community with his IG account that gives free information about open mats in the Los Angeles, California area. We discuss: Paul's jiu jitsu story; what lead him back to the mats after multiple b...

(This should fix the audio issue I experienced on the first upload where this episode was blended with the last episode for a couple of minutes at about the 1:10 mark) On today's episode I am joined by my good friend, coach, and training partner, Robert Verdell. Robert holds black belts in BJJ, Judo, Karate, and TaeKwonDo, and has been training combat sports for decades. He is a huge proponent of...

Today we are joined by a very close friend of mine, one of my cohosts at Fighting Matters, owner of Rough Hands Jiu-Jitsu in Louisville, Kentucky, and an all around wonderful human being, Jesse Walker. Jesse tells us about what brought him to training first Krav Maga, and then Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. We talk about how Rough Hands came to be, starting as pop up classes in local parks, to the successfu...

Being an Old Bastard is great - until you realize you are getting weaker with age. Luckily for you, this week's guest drops some knowledge about how to stay strong as we enter our old bastard years and stay on the mats and active in life for as long as we can. Steph Gaudreau is not only a dear friend of mine, but she is one badass strength and conditioning coach who specializes in helping women ov...

Hey friends! ☺️ Today on the Old Bastard's Guide to Surviving (and Thriving) on the Mats, we are joined by my close friend and training partner, Zach Robinson! Zach is a purple belt in BJJ out of Magic BJJ in Lansing, MI, and the highest ranking Lansing student of the surely fictional Mahaffey Fighting Systems (lol). Zach is a Lansing Fuji BJJ giant ring winner, a local farmer, and all around wond...

Hey friends! In this episode, I share my personal experience with chronic autoimmune disease and how it shaped my philosophy toward training for longevity on the mats. I also talk about how this can help grapplers of any age to reduce injury, keep training longer, and increase the enjoyment they get out of their practice. I talk about the nuts and bolts of how to do this day to day, and how this m...

Hey gang! In this inaugural episode I talk about what I hope to achieve with my Patreon, and why I think that concepts trump techniques for the older grappler. Enjoy!