Ep. 388: Injury and the Stockdale Paradox, feat. Alex Sterner

This week, we're joined by Alex Sterner! Alex is a black belt and the owner of Electrum Performance in San Diego, where he coaches strength and conditioning for jiu-jitsu and combat sports athletes. In this episode, Alex breaks down the psychology of injury rehab and the Stockdale Paradox: the marriage of optimism about recovery with brutal acceptance of where you actually are right now. Topics include: pain as a feature, the staircase model of rehab, healing it like you hurt it, short term versus long term risk, and a sample weight room program for jiu-jitsu. Follow Alex on Instagram: Follow Electrum Performance on Instagram: Train with Alex on YouTube: Mental models discussed in this episode: Visualization Mindfulness Growth from Discomfort Loss Aversion Compounding Timeframe Paradox Silver Bullet Fallacy Prioritize Longevity ⬆️ LEVEL UP with BJJ Mental Models Premium! The world's LARGEST library of jiu-jitsu audio lessons, our complete podcast network, online coaching, and much more! Your first week is free: Need more BJJ Mental Models? Get the legendary BJJMM newsletter: Learn more mental models in our online database:

You can listen to Ep. 388: Injury and the Stockdale Paradox, feat. Alex Sterner online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Ep. 388: Injury and the Stockdale Paradox, feat. Alex Sterner is an episode from BJJ Mental Models by Steve Kwan.

This episode is 59:58 long.

This episode was published on Apr 27, 2026.

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