Grappling
What is Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu? What beginners learn on the mat
Why a grip can feel strong while the other person still escapes, and what positions and submissions have to do with it.
3 min read
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Understand more. Train better.
Clear articles about martial arts, technical decisions and learning on the mat. Useful questions, with room to explore the answers.
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Selected articles
Three useful starting points: understand what you train, compare your options and keep realistic expectations.
Training & learning
Nutrition for martial arts: eating for training, recovery and ordinary life
Calories, protein, carbohydrates, fats and thirteen eating approaches explained with the evidence and its limits.
33 min read
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MMA
From style vs style to MMA: how mixed martial arts evolved
Brazilian challenges, Japanese competitions and the early UFC helped turn a contest between styles into a sport built around transitions.
23 min read
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Business & teams
Martial arts for a team: what makes partner practice interesting?
A shared physical task can ask colleagues to agree a pace, swap roles and find a useful way to help each other.
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Business & teams
Teamwork on the mat: being a useful training partner
Clear roles and specific feedback let a pair practise the intended problem. Unagreed resistance changes the task.
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Children & development
Children’s martial arts: what are they actually practising?
Movement, a clear task, a partner who is ready and a stop signal everyone understands can all be part of a lesson.
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Children & development
Children, resistance and mistakes: make the next attempt clearer
When a task goes wrong, change something the child can understand. “Try harder” may leave the original confusion untouched.
3 min read
Read articleTraining & learning
Nutrition for martial arts: eating for training, recovery and ordinary life
Calories, protein, carbohydrates, fats and thirteen eating approaches explained with the evidence and its limits.
33 min read
Read articleMMA
From style vs style to MMA: how mixed martial arts evolved
Brazilian challenges, Japanese competitions and the early UFC helped turn a contest between styles into a sport built around transitions.
23 min read
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Striking
Boxing or kickboxing: what changes when kicks are allowed?
Stance, distance and the kind of decisions made in training can change even when the punching techniques look familiar.
3 min read
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Self-defense
What does physical resilience training actually involve?
Distance, boundaries and choices can be practised with a partner. A useful programme explains what it does and what it cannot promise.
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MMA
What is MMA? How striking, wrestling and ground fighting fit together
Why a boxer has to think about takedowns, and why a familiar grappling position changes once punches are possible.
3 min read
Read articleIn this article
- What is Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu? What beginners learn on the mat
- Gi BJJ or No-Gi grappling: how the grips change the game
- Boxing or kickboxing: what changes when kicks are allowed?
- Kickboxing, K-1 and Muay Thai: which rules are you training?
- What is MMA? How striking, wrestling and ground fighting fit together
- Grappling with Ground & Pound: why a familiar position changes
- What does physical resilience training actually involve?
- Physical resilience or self-defense: what are you practising?
- Starting martial arts: what to ask before the first lesson
- A technique keeps failing: how to work through it with a coach
- BJJ positions: what guard, side control and mount actually describe
- Tapping in grappling: stop means stop
- Pads, heavy bags and sparring: what each can teach
- Distance and footwork: why a punch misses before it starts
- The Muay Thai clinch: what happens when the space closes?
- Training MMA transitions: find the moment the fight changes
- Self-defense training: what a demonstration cannot promise
- Self-defense for women: questions worth asking before a session
- Preparing a martial arts workshop: agree the task before the day
- Martial arts training notes: record the moment worth trying again
- Martial arts for a team: what makes partner practice interesting?
- Teamwork on the mat: being a useful training partner
- Children’s martial arts: what are they actually practising?
- Children, resistance and mistakes: make the next attempt clearer
- Nutrition for martial arts: eating for training, recovery and ordinary life
- From style vs style to MMA: how mixed martial arts evolved