Hard to Kill in Midlife · New Episode Every Tuesday at 5 PM EST
Honest conversations with doctors, researchers, grapplers, and coaches who have figured something out the hard way. For midlife combat athletes who refuse to decline.
Del Boykin — @Del_Boykin, No-Gi World Champion, Pans Champion, Masters World Champion — started jiu-jitsu at forty-three, built a championship run through pure consistency and a great professor, and has never once blamed his circumstances for anything. This episode is the clearest conversation this show has produced about what actually separates people who achieve from people who talk about achieving.
David Herrera — @DavidHerrera1119, @thesolarathlete, two-time state champion wrestler, multiple world record powerlifter, and the man actively rewiring a high school wrestling facility with UV, infrared, green light, and 55-degree training temperatures — on why the environment is the drug, what the Russians know about training facilities that American gyms don't, and why every grappling room in the world should be doing this.
Ethan Okunas — @quantum.dietitian, purple belt, author of Quantum Weight Loss and Quantum Nutrition — on why food is fifth on the priority list, deuterium in your food supply, DHA as a quantum molecule, the broken engine analogy for modern health, and why the supplement industry is selling you complexity to avoid the conversation about reconnecting with nature.
Professor Mathew Veiga — @oss_nation_bjj, creator of the Oss Nation BJJ page, co-host of the BJJ Balance podcast, and the funniest man in jiu-jitsu — on going viral as an A3, why the alpha dad is going extinct, keeping the locker room alive in this sport, and what staying dangerous after forty really means when the body is beat up and the mojo is required.
Nathan Siles returns for Part 2 — biophysics researcher, two-time cancer survivor, founder of Biospectral Systems — on resetting testosterone naturally through light, the right way to breathe for longevity, why supplements are a downstream solution to an upstream problem, and the new Biospectral products that are about to change how we think about indoor environments.
Professor Kenny Kim — @KennyKimBJJ, head of Kenny Kim Academy in Marietta, GA, creator of the Mat Made show, author of The Jiu-Jitsu Millionaire, president of the Korean American Jiu-Jitsu Coalition, and curator of the world's largest BJJ gym directory — on building people over champions, the stories jiu-jitsu deserves to tell, and the one thing that governs everything else.
Sean Applegate — @Trapplegate10p, head coach of 10th Planet Atlanta, PGF Twisters coach, 10th Planet black belt — on building one of the most dominant no-gi rooms in the country, min-maxing the meta, why depth of mastery is the most undervalued concept in jiu-jitsu, and choosing to pour into his athletes over chasing ADCC himself.
Brian Edwards — 58-time IBJJF gold medalist, two-time Masters World Champion, three-time Pan Masters World Champion, black belt under Tim Jones, founder of Swamp Fox Jiu-Jitsu, 19 years on the mats, hip replacement at 50, and still competing — on why midlife is your second prime and the only thing worse than not training is overtraining.
Nathan Siles — founder of Biospectral Systems, biophysics researcher, two-time cancer survivor, and one of the most important voices in the ancestral health and light biology space — on why you are already perfect, how light controls everything from testosterone to autophagy, and why health is free while fear is a choice.
Michael Cragholm — retired Marine, Purple Heart recipient, Battle of Fallujah veteran, BJJ black belt, founder of Space Coast Mobile Jiu-Jitsu and creator of Grapple App — on the don't-get-slept-in-front-of-your-family starter pack, the Zach Morris timeout, and why consistency is the most intense thing you can do.
Coach Manny Alonso — professional kickboxer, MMA fighter, 18 years in jiu-jitsu, founder of Maca Martial Arts in Austin, Texas — on the four golden rules, the goldfish grip, why staying on top ages better than anything else, and what it means to build a gym around pure vibe.
Mike Stewart Jr. — founder of Rising Tide Martial Arts, black belt since 2019, lifelong martial artist who opened his school as a white belt and built it into five locations through sixteen years of disciplined, unglamorous, relentless work — on coaching without rolling, sobriety, and what staying dangerous after 40 actually means.
