WELCOME!
My name is Stephan Kesting and I produce The Strenuous Life Podcast.
This podcast originally started out as The Grapplearts Radio Podcast which focussed almost exclusively on BJJ, Grappling, MMA, and all manner of martial arts training.
That’s still a pretty big focus of the podcast, but since it’s been renamed and rebranded we’ve broadened out to include everyone from UFC fighters to veteran firefighters, BJJ world champions to navy rescue swimmers, world famous MMA coaches to extreme kiteboarders.
Previous guests have included Les Stroud (Survivorman), Bernardo Faria (5 x BJJ world champion), Kirik Jenness (founder of the Underground forum), Daniele Bolelli (History on Fire podcast), Carlos Machado, Erik Paulson, Alan Belcher, Eddie ‘Wolverine’ Cummings, and many, many more…
The title of the podcast comes from a classic speech by Teddy Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States. It’s about the importance of going out there, putting it all on the line, and giving it your best effort.
“I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph.”
I like to think that the guests we have, and the topics we cover, embody the ideal of the strenuous life pretty well!
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST
You can subscribe to The Strenuous Life Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Soundcloud, Google Play and other podcasting platforms.Those platforms also allow you to scroll through previous episodes to see if anything interests you.
You can also use the search bar at www.grapplearts.com/podcasts to find any of the more than 150 episodes you want.
If you enjoy what you hear then a rating or a review for the podcast on your favourite platform is incredibly appreciated!
The Final Word
Since the title of the podcast comes from one speech by Teddy Roosevelt I thought I’d finish with a second quote from the man.
This is a small part of his famous “man in the arena” speech. Keep it in mind when you fail, stumble, or run into obstacles in your life!
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Please enjoy the podcast!
Stephan Kesting
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