Explore every episode of the podcast Consistently Above Average

It's kind of like being stuck at a crossroads, but you know that if you do take the right exit or junction at the crossroads then it'll be the single best decision you've ever made in your life?

What is the best way, what is a useful way, what could be a helpful way. What is the right way to try do something, what is the wrong way to do something. Are there diminishing returns, are you chasing low ROIs. All of these concepts loosely talked about in some capacity by a rambling man who is really looking forward to interviewing a couple of unique guests over the next few weeks.

Until then, please enjoy 42 minutes of a borderline rant.

Recorded in the middle of the night in a room terrified of waking people up above and beside me. This is episode 54 of Consistently Above Average.

Following the public shame, humiliation, embarassment, betrayal and possible hyperbole. I have fled to France after losing on Polaris nearly 2 weeks ago.

Perhaps, not the audio conditions you are usually all treated to, but have been enjoying the downtime and some reflection so what a better way than to finish off the holiday than by staying up all night before a flight recording an episode.

Small appreciation of the overall UFC White House shout at the end, brace yourselves for a unwanted MMA podcast in the next couple of days as well.

Hey, thanks for waiting.

Jetlag drove me to planning this episode, maybe I should consider not sleeping more often during regular weeks and we could get some more podcasts out.

I went to California and wanted to give you the low down or experience of my first IBJJF Gi World Championships. It was really good, we also got to train with Dan Lukehart at Brea JiuJitsu who you may remember from older episodes of this Podcast.

Polaris this weekend as well, which means we're at least due another episode next week. Lovely.

Good to be back.

I don't know if it's because i overcame potentially the most lethal dose of flu ever recorded in the history of mankind this week but I might have turned into a bit of a hater this episode.

Alternative episode title could have been an A-D-SEE-SEE esque title because well and truely I have to be honest with you. Even though this tournament will crown one of the best grapplers in Europe, it attracts a host of people who might not be vying for that title of number 1.

A throw away remark from Chael Sonnen inspired this episode title, when someone said it's good to see you, he reminded them it's good to be seen. This is the over arching influence of the majority of compeittors competing this weekend at ADCC European Trials.

I have zero basis for this hypothesis, but have a listen and see what you think regardless.

Honestly guys, the title speaks for itself. One topic this week, we deep dive it,

A podcaster shouldn't tell you they are lost for words but my word...

Honestly it's been that long since I released an episode I think it would be disengenious to try and come up with an episode title that would make you think...oh what. a lovely nuanced thought out discussion and podcast episode.

It's back, 2026 is the year it works or goes bust. I'm hoping for the former instead of the latter but we haven't spoken since Las Vegas, then we had Christmas, Lisbon, London and ultimately where it always ends up being ... Dundalk.

So I recapped you in on the last couple of weeks and we kick start 2026.

Unfortunately, the show was delayed due to some legal complications that we address very early in the show.

Lessons have been learned, and I promise all of the listeners that it won't happen again.

It's the week before heading off to Las Vegas, but just after that is Christmas, where training is going to slow down a little bit, and you (yes, you) need to take a long hard look at yourself.

The shops that you give your money to have made a decision for what and why stuff gets put in the shop window, and what you see online is the shop window. You want to be the thing in there, not the pan de-greaser.

What you’re doing, who you’re doing it with, and if your week is really a reflection of the person who is trying to get to the place they want to get to.

HYDROX Dublin 2025 is here, one of the biggest events on the sporting calendar. Over 15,000 hybrid rockstar athletes are taking to the turf in the hollowed halls of the RDS Arena in Ballsbridge DUBLIN 4.

Finishers patches, event t-shirts, medals and podium photos all up for grabs this weekend, either in the singles, doubles, mixed doubles and elite divisions.

Huge early controversy is brewing online from a number of Hydrox athletes who think there are too many slow pace runners, hogging the fast lane at the RDS Arena...but all eyes point to this weekend so we can find out, who's going to be HOGGING the top spot at the end of the day.

There's also a rounding up, closing discussion about the news of another cringe worthy niche sport, Brazilian JiuJitsu closing in on receiving government recognition as a sport through IMAC (Irish Martial Arts Council) so we take a quick look at who they are, and what this might mean for the sport.

Thank you for tuning in, you rockstars!

This is such a terrible time to be writing a podcast bio when your alarm is going off in 5 hours to drive to Dublin for the IBJJF Dublin Open but here I am.

I'm not even going to ask ChatGPT to correct the spelling and grammar on this one either.

It's a debrief episode on my experience competing in the NoGi Europeans last week, as well as the announcement you've all been waiting for...when are Andrew and Jean hosting another cross training session...

The Answer is actually a lot sooner than we expected, Sunday the 16th November and we hope to see as many listeners there as possible too. More information in the episode!

A lot of my training partners competed very well during the week and Team Torres has a new European Champion.

We had put a lot of good work leading up to this tournament.

I just felt like it was important, for me in some capacity to record and release this episode before I competed today.

I turn 33 today, quite a lot of the positive things that have formed in my adult life have formed from being involved in JiuJitsu.

Competing is a very freeing experience that one day I will not be able to do. I just felt like i said that it was important to think and put that out into the planet, on this day of all days.

I don't think there's a description that's gonna make someone listen or not either way, but this was my stream of thoughts the night before this years NoGi European Championships. How I hope that releasing this will help me with something else in the longer term.

See you on the other side.

So, Episode 44 of the Consistently Above Average podcast is here.

There's a big No-Gi Europeans next week that everybody is very excited for, I think, just under 3,000 people competing in Ostia in Rome next week and weekend. I believe across all divisions this is going to be a breakout tournament for people, and there are a few sleepers that are going to win divisions. We will talk about that more, hopefully before I fly over there.

The meat and bones of the topic on this episode, though, is returning to jiu-jitsu after a short or extended hiatus. We had a great one last week, so let's discuss some common fears or irrationalities you might have coming back and why we are always delighted to see you, as well as a quick guide on how to and how not to make your grand return.

For those interested at the very end, there’s also some great info on the origin of a chicken goujon!

Last week I closed off the podcast letting you know that I reached out to the Ireland BJJ organisation with some questions, both about the Emerald Cup and their evening event, the Irish BJJ Invitational.

We discuss the response, we go through the email I received, and we talk about the evening event — both in the promotion, the day itself, and the reaction people had.

I also think transparency is important. A friend of the podcast asked me recently why I had an issue with one athlete competing with a failed drug test, when previously I had no issue. So we chat about that too.

There's a huge desire in the world at the minute to be aggravated and annoyed at stuff, where sometimes it can be much easier to just admit maybe you were in the wrong. That's something I will always be happy to put my name to.

I promise, I genuinely thought it was called the Emerald Cup for the first six minutes. Sorry about that.

I'm holding myself to a public declaration of weekly episodes again. If I miss one, everyone who likes and reshares this podcast will win $100.*

This week’s episode is a single-topic deep dive into the Shamrock Cup, with a little side diversion about how obvious ChatGPT-generated social media posts have become, along with an announcement about the elephant in the room. We're still waiting on a comment, and we’ll follow up in next week's episode.

*may not be true

It's been 43 days since I wrote a podcast bio description after recording an episode and I do admit I missed it a little bit more than I thought I would.

Quick catch up and chat about what's been going on the last little while and why there's not been an episode, hard to act like everythings going great for your training when you're not able to do it the way you would like to.

That's probably a sign to have the back up plans ready in terms of the longer form guest interviews from the last little while but we will see how the next few months goes now after that.

We couple of thoughts on CJI as well within the debate of making it a spectator sport vs the competitors trying to win no matter what because the prize money is very lucrative. As well as why it seems like there are two (maybe more) versions of Craig Jones we should be aware of and how this could lead to what CJI 3 could (or could not) look like.

Chris Leddy is a Brazilian JiuJitsu Black Belt, He runs https://martialartsbray.ie/ alongside his brother Adam, He's also an instructor with David Gray Interactive https://www.davidgreyrehab.com/courses/Interactive

Chris has been training JiuJitsu since the late 2000s after befriending Darragh O'Conaill in a local weight lifting gym. Since then he has traveled, trained and competed all around the world.

We discussed Chris having not just one but two microdiscectomy operations, the most recent being earlier on this year. I'm not sure if this was a good title for the video, we discussed a lot more than what's there I had a loose idea where I wanted to go through his back operations, a famous boards.ie discussion around him competing as a white belt at the world championships in 2011 and then his journey and opening his gym up until this point.

But like most good conversations with Chris i've had it drew off into different paths and directions but we got there in the end. I will get around to the timestamps in the next day or two and they'll be posted in the comments.

It's a shorter episode this week but the whole world is now aware of some random CEO from an American company and the alleged HR worker who may or may not have been having an affair.

At a wider look, it's insane to think something that's happening every day, with little to no consequences at all can just be amplified to life altering effects with just one thing being recorded and going viral.

On the JiuJitsu discussion we have a small follow up from last weeks tournaments changing dates, a local tournament coming to a place with no effort of interacting with the local customers base, a very exciting weekend ahead of packing all your t-shirts and the deliberation of maybe, after giving off about them so much, that I should run a tournament next year myself.

We also have a voice note from a listener requesting a correction from last weeks episode and announce the next guest on the podcast which should be the very next (if not the one after) episode of the podcast.

Episode 38 is here!

boards.ie was once the old stomping ground of the Irish Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu community—people posting under usernames, some knowing who was who, others just faceless trolls. The internet hasn't changed much in that regard, and neither has the tendency for people to complain about competitions.

In this episode, we take a stroll down memory lane to revisit discussions around tournaments held in Ireland during 2010, 2011, and 2012, and the opinions that came with them.

This all came about because a listener sent in a question: on one weekend in September, there are five different tournaments happening across two days in Ireland—plus one invitational in the evening.

This is going to stretch coaches, parents, athletes, and staff very thin, raising questions about who will go where. We chat about the viability of running five events on the same weekend, and whether there's anything that could be done in the future to avoid such scheduling clashes.

Audio-only return of Consistently Above Average – Episode 37. In this episode, I talk about the recent absence, where real life basically jumped right in front of the car that is this podcast and forced a little break.

This is one of two episodes dropping this week, so keep an ear out for Friday's release as well. Today, I ramble on about the concept of sonder, why I’ve always wanted to be a conduit for interviewing, the overwhelming urge I had to take a photo of a wall in an Airbnb in Poland a few years ago, and a couple of other things.

T-shirt orders close this evening – or at the latest, tomorrow morning. You can order for collection or delivery using the link below: 👉 http://linktree.com/consistentlyaboveaverage

This is part two of a two-part conversation. The full, uncut version (around 3 hours) is up on YouTube.

Dan Lukehart is a third-degree BJJ black belt under Beneil Dariush, owner of Brea Jiu-Jitsu in California, and co-owner of IBJJFRankings.com. He’s known for his deep understanding of IBJJF rules, his old-school training logs, and his detailed athlete breakdowns.

Dan also coaches Nolan Stuart, who—in his first year as a black belt—won the IBJJF Pan Ams and placed second at both the Brazilian Nationals and the Worlds, losing only to Erich Munis, the current #1 pound-for-pound black belt.

Part two dives more into athlete development and building competitive teams.

There’s a slight echo on my voice in this episode due to a speaker issue—it won’t happen again. Thanks for listening!

It’s been a while since the last episode, but trust me—this one’s worth the wait.

This is part one of a two-part conversation. The full, uncut version (around 3 hours) is up on YouTube.

Dan Lukehart is a third-degree BJJ black belt under Beneil Dariush, owner of Brea Jiu-Jitsu in California, and co-owner of IBJJFRankings.com. He’s known for his deep understanding of IBJJF rules, his old-school training logs, and his detailed athlete breakdowns.

Dan also coaches Nolan Stuart, who—in his first year as a black belt—won the IBJJF Pan Ams and placed second at both the Brazilian Nationals and the Worlds, losing only to Erich Munis, the current #1 pound-for-pound black belt.

Part two dives more into athlete development and building competitive teams.

There’s a slight echo on my voice in this episode due to a speaker issue—it won’t happen again. Thanks for listening!

The Irish Open has come and gone, the biggest day in the calendar year in the Irish Brazilian JiuJitsu community. I assume this will be the first of two episodes on this topic because I would welcome people getting in touch to let me know what they thought of the whole thing.

Since recording this episode I was also contacted by a couple of people regarding the registrations etc, I did talk about it on the air but maybe I need to go and look a little bit more in depth into some things. I'll have to think about it.

Personally speaking, and you'll hear me say it. I thought it was the best one in a couple of years and I'm very happy with how it went but we do talk about "times gone by" about how nostalgia is a very potent thing, and it's purchasing powering is very strong too.

That's included mainly at the start, when you realise what you might have been missing out on or what has happened in the past.

Reminder, to keep an eye on the instagram for what may or may not be a t-shirt release happening very very soon.

We've kicked off episodes with some wild topics before, but I didn’t think the 100-year-old plans for a Metro in Dublin — complete with a hub at Dublin Airport — would come up this soon.

After a three-week hiatus, I’m back following a run at the IBJJF Masters Europeans, the Rome Spring Open, and a short holiday in France.

This is one of two episodes dropping this week. I wanted to get something out before the Irish Open — no doubt — but didn’t want to cram everything into one episode. That would’ve meant bouncing between two competitions, slightly annoying weight cuts, and everything coming up this weekend at the Irish Open.

Andrew McGahon recapping a Mixed Martial Arts event I attended last night was not on the trajectory of plans for this particular podcast but here we are.

Perched in the back row of the cheap(est) seats in the venue armed with a red and black pen and a notebook I took my mate from Dundalk for a trip to see Cage Warriors.

We missed the last 3 fights of the night unfortunately so didn't get to include them in this particular breakdown but there was some very good stories and results to come out from that particular event last night including some information about the night that changed the safety standards for the sport 9 years ago in 2016 and how important that has been since then.

Got to also see, in action the benefit or the realisation of having that crucial family and parental support network as you go through the earlier years of training the sport begin to show fruit when the athletes reach the professional stage, something that is absolutely crucial for younger athletes to have.

Regular BJJ content will resume next week, to any new listener who's dropping in. You're very welcome, consider checking through the back catalogue of episodes I have uploaded here.

It’s WrestleMania Weekend, and the WWE is now part of one of the most valuable sports entities on the planet—TKO Group. This powerhouse also includes the UFC under its umbrella, along with a soon-to-be-launched boxing league.

Dana White has announced a major investment into the sport of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and it’s not a stretch to suggest that Fight Pass Invitational and the UFC brand could become the premier platform for No-Gi submission grappling in the coming years.

How much could this kind of exposure fundamentally change the way top athletes behave and market themselves, as the sport shifts from niche to something with a broader audience?

We tackle a lot of interesting questions this week, including one listener wondering if the Irish Open isn't quite as big of a deal as it used to be.

It's a fairly simple question for episode 30 this week.

It could be about any one thing, or many things.

Just realise that depending on who asks you this particular question, including yourself there's a chance that the answering is going to be different.

I think it's important that moving forward, if someone asks me that question the answer should be the same across the board no matter who is asking.

Earlier this week, I posted a photo that got a lot of interaction and feedback. It was taken moments after the NoGi European final in 2022 in Rome. I've been sitting on this photo for a couple of years, and when I was deciding what to feature in this week’s episode, I figured it was time to share it.

Thanks to keeping notes of my training throughout that year, I was able to look back at my tournament results, how I felt leading up to that tournament, and how I felt afterward.

Looking back now, I'm grateful not only for having the photos from the event but also for the written thoughts I captured—especially considering how my perspective shifted over time.

In this episode, I'll walk you through my thoughts from that time and even read some of my unhinged, chicken-scratch notes—gotta love the perks of being left-handed!

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 place. Let’s discuss that.

There’s nothing like an honest evaluation of where you’re going wrong in certain areas and what you need to work on to fix them.

And stay tuned as I blow the lid off the potential benefits for mentorship coaches on Instagram who claim they’ll help you become the best version of yourself. The secret is exposed in this episode. Instead of paying them, you could donate to this podcast!

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 episode might offer some useful tips on how to navigate that starting point.

As sauna week approaches here in the Northeast, we’re getting excited! We had to discuss some do's and don'ts of using the sauna, as well as dive into the bizarre world of the Cursed Sauna World Championships.

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 me realize how many people are now pursuing careers in fighting. Reflecting back on some of the older events I attended 13, 14, or 15 years ago, it’s fascinating to see where things are now compared to where they were then.

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 some thoughts on the term “superfight” in a jiu-jitsu context, and review last week’s excellent Sub Culture event. Plus, I’ll offer some insights into what the future might hold for a Belfast-based jiu-jitsu event.

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 some form—maybe I am. Let’s see how it unfolds.

I’ll also have a little chat about subculture this weekend in Belfast, and the 4th and 7th of February are two important dates for me, so I’ll round off the podcast with that.

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 also been instrumental in developing champions at all belt levels. He created one of the highest-level training environments Ireland has seen, consistently pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.

We dive into a variety of topics, including the current state of Jiu-Jitsu in Ireland, Darragh’s early training experiences in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and how he fell just short of his ultimate goal—conquering Mount Everest in the world of chicken nuggets.

Note: This episode was loosely structured from a conversation we had over Instagram DMs, so we may jump around a bit. Darragh has expressed interest in coming back for another episode in the future!

I encourage you to listen with an open mind, reflecting on your own training environment and considering how you can improve and progress more effectively.

Enjoy!

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. Maybe we’ve just stumbled upon a new recurring segment for the next few weeks—who knows?

Oh, and keep an eye out for the trampolines…

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 of the year. The yearly pilgrimage is back on to Lisbon.

I can't wait to go for a variety of reasons, but you'll hear about them in the episode. Mainly, it's good to be back, and thanks for listening!

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 outside of his day to day career and life as well as overseeing high performing athletes and many more.

Thanks to everyone who has been in touch looking forward to this episode, if you have stumbled upon this because of wanting to hear from Kieran you could check out some of the older episodes while you are here.

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.

Thanks again for everybody that has been in touch over the last weekend, there's a lot of goodwill floating about and it must be this time of the year. It's appreciated.

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 Garcia.

It's also confirmed, the podcase is heading back on the road and there'll be episodes coming to you from SIN CITY. Las Vegas in December as I am now booked to go compete in the IBJJF NoGi World Championships.

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 peoples games through coaching.

There's definitely some parallels but just some thoughts of what i have come across in the last year or so.

Then at (21:30) of the episode, we transition shockingly over to the sport of Mixed Martial Arts. Ahead of the return of Jon Jones this weekend I just wanted to give some of my thoughts or read of the absolute masterclass this man is playing in the media this week, and if he is robbing us as MMA fans the ability to see Tom Aspinall do to him, what he once did to Mauricio "Shogun" Rua.

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, Postive, Upbeat service will resume next week!

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 CRIS CYBORG to help take my next steps.

It was my birthday yesterday too, one year closer to deaths sweet embrace

and for the second time in as many weeks, there's going to be a second podcast later on in the weekend with everybodys favourite guest (1 out of 1) as i'm heading off for a 16 hour round trip to London on Saturday to watch a grappling event called Polaris.

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 about it is probably fair and true.

Ponder over what could have been from a viral body kick thrown in a EUROPEAN FINAL might have led to and a question to consider and what side of the coin do you land on.

Why is getting beaten up in BJJ Enjoyable?

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 but wanted to make do with what we had.

Three people agreed to meet for a Taxi to the airport at 4AM but only two showed up, what happened next?

Back home now and back to training this week, Episode 11 this Friday.

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 episodes throughout the weekend, but this podcast started as an accountability thing leading up to the NoGi Europeans. It's gonna continue no doubt, but very happy I decided to start it up again and it helped in the preparation towards competing.

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.

and some early morning petrol station thoughts for you to finish the episode.

INSTAGRAM - @consistentlyaboveaverage

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 session happening in Newry.

And in completely unrelated content to JiuJitsu, I take note of some of my algorithm changes on social media. It's relating to terminally ill people, so feel free to tune out a little bit early.

Good luck.

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 pretty sure I cursed once or twice by mistake. Sorry to any young ears who might have caught a stray.

I also go the other way on a very popular hot take, the market is not over saturated at all. I actually don't think there are ENOUGH podcasts in the world.

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 when it matters most.

and in nothing more than sheer luck, when recording and preparing this episode i stumbled upon a great clip of an interview with Anthony Joshua, where by fluke he echoes the thoughts in this podcast. Lovely stuff.