Advertise on podcast: Consistently Above Average

Starting this episode with a little bit of tentative information for something happening in Q1 2027 guys and girls. I'll leave the surprise to listen to it. The rest of the episode is entirely filled out with statements and beliefs of people who are JiuJitsu practitioners in Ireland and why they chose to not compete at one of the flag ship events in Ireland (even though the event sold out with max capacity, why did they not get in before then etc) Finished off with a one on one interaction with someone in the DMs from a couple of weeks ago that i think will bring ahead a further discussion on another episode

I had to break ranks, to Jiu-Jitsu listeners from abroad. I'm sorry, but last night I witnessed one of the greatest sporting moments to ever happen in Ireland. The confusing thing is, it wasn't the sporting moment aka the main event, that made it the greatest sporting moment. Dig into that idea with me a little, because this was a rousing appreciation and goodbye to Katie Taylor from the sport of professional boxing. She had to make her name in the sport, mostly in places that weren't Ireland, and even though she got her good showings in the 3Arena, something being pulled off like what we saw in Croke Park deserves further reflection.

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