Teaching Martial Arts by Combat Learning

Dr. Garcia joins us one final time to discuss a few very interesting topics. First, we talk briefly about donor sports and the part they play in building better skills for your main sport. Finally, Raul helps us understand how we can use CLA not just for training in the sport itself but also a preparedness that comes with greater skill in stress management. --- Join the email list now: ⁠https://co...

Dr. Garcia joins us again today to unpack the false assumptions that lie beneath the kata-based training system and traditional martial arts. He shows how early ecological researchers such as Nicholai Bernstein blows up the conventional wisdom of traditional martial arts. He then spends the bulk of this episode comparing and contrasting the differences between Information Processing and Ecological...

Today I'm joined by Dr. Raul Sanchez Garcia, a sport science lecturer at the University Politécnica of Madrid, Spain, martial artist, and Ecological Dynamics thinker. Most researchers in the ecological approach come from a psychology background. Dr. Garcia is unique in that he approaches Ecological Dynamics from the vantage point of ethnography, which is the systematic study of peoples and their c...

Today I'm joined by Matt Phili, a mobility training coach and founder of Primal Mobility. Whether a grappler or striker, most martial artists need greater mobility. However, most of the mobility routines you see around Instagram really won't cut it, and stretching isn't necessarily good mobility work either -- at least on its own. In this episode, Matt unpacks his approach to mobility...

In this episode, Pedro updates us on his kickboxing program. Then we move into a deep discussion on combinations, affordances, and elaborate pad work in striking sports. We return to the external focus of attention subject briefly before digging into some of the issues Pedro and his coaches experience applying CLA to their classes on a daily basis. If you're excited to jump in, hit the subscri...

Today, Pedro Sierra returns to the podcast to update us on his program in two parts. Before understanding Ecological Dynamics, Sierra MMA had lackluster results. Since implementing the constraints-led approach, Sierra MMA has begun to see much more success. In fact, thanks to this change in training methodology, one of coach Pedro's students even won an ADCC Open. Pedro has come a long way sin...

In this episode, Emil reveals his approach to game design. Then we move quickly into the ways to individualize sessions to each learner, including some principles of session design. Overall, Emil keeps the generic conditioning exercises out of skill training. Strength and conditioning is something you can do on your own time with coaches specialized to that. In Muay Thai class, you come to practic...

In this episode, Emil continues to explain how he does the constraints-led approach to Muay Thai. Other ways to control for intensity/going too hard How to introduce leg kicks and leg kick defense through sparring games What are the fundamentals of Muay Thai as a sport? How can we understand it at a dynamic and foundational level? How constraints can lead to adaptive or maladaptive fighting strate...

Today I'm joined by Emil Fitoussey, a professional Muay Thai coach out of Nacka Dojo in Sweden. Over the past year, Emil has transitioned his partially ecological Muay Thai program into a 100% ecological Muay Thai program. In this episode, he recounts his journey into Ecological Dynamics and the constraints-led approach. Then, we talk about how he builds the culture of his Muay Thai program to val...

In this third installment of our interview with Greg Souders, we unpack in gritty detail how Greg approaches both task simplification and task complexification. There's quite a bit of information out there about how to scale down games, but not a lot on how, why, and when to scale them up, even beyond the complexity of free sparring. There's a lot to glean here across practice design to curriculum...

In this second part of my second Greg Souders interview, we take Greg's rationale for his use of language and demonstrate how it can be used to take the same games and help learners of all skill levels get something out of it even without scaling the constraints down or up. Of course, we highly recommend you engage in task simplification and complexification, too, which we discuss in more practica...

If you're new to the show, please sign up to the Combat Learning Newsletter at combatlearning.com/newsletter . I'll send you cheat sheets on how to transform your drills into maximum skill-building games and get you up to speed on the science of motor skill learning for martial arts. Plus, you'll never miss a show. Go to combatlearning.com/newsletter now to get those resources. The good news is th...

How to support the podcast... Buy Me a Coffee: https://combatlearning.com/support/ Zoom Workshops: https://combatlearning.com/waitlist/ --- Today I join Brian Willis on a podcast series he does for his police training website, the Excellence in Training Academy. Brian has 25 years of full time police officer experience and now 25 years of experience as a police trainer as well. He consults with tr...

Today I'm joined again by Daniel Marino, a 4th degree black belt in Tang Soo Do and founder of the Naihanchi Project and popular Facebook group, Practical Tang Soo Do. In this episode, Dan and I discuss the controversial question, "is karate salvageable?" Right now, it doesn't look good, but maybe in a generation or two, we can turn the ship around. The subject matter of this conversation is based...

Today I'm joined by Geno Guevara, founder and head instructor of Alamo Ranch Martial Arts and a Joon Rhee taekwondo black belt turned kickboxing coach. In this episode, Geno begins by recounting his journey into the ecological approach as a martial arts instructor and school owner. Like all of us, Geno struggled at first to transition to the constraints-led approach because his old habits were so...

Pedro Sierra is a BJJ black belt instructor, kickboxing coach, and owner of Sierra MMA in Utah. But more importantly, Pedro is a normal guy just like you who teaches and trains martial arts. Unlike most teachers, however, he has taken the leap into CLA and fast begun to restructure his programs -- with near immediate positive student feedback and results. At the time of this recording, Sierra MMA...

Today I'm joined by Cal Jones, a 5th dan in Judo and one of the most qualified Judo coaches in the UK, especially Wales. In this episode, Cal Jones fills in some gaps with how to use the constraints-led approach for martial arts, specifically grappling sports. First, he walks us through a system of understanding and controlling the degrees of representative learning design. This is a tool from an...

Dr. Rob Gray returns today to talk to us about an exciting concept called the differential learning effect. The so-called "ecological approach" is often used synonymously with the Constraints-led Approach, but it also encompasses other frameworks such as differential learning. Differential learning is about true randomness in practice conditions. The constraints-led approach is about purposefully...

Today I'm joined by Nick Delgadillo, Starting Strength Coach, Head of Corporate Development at Starting Strength, and a lifelong martial artist. In this episode, Nick unpacks common misconceptions about strength training and how conditioning works for most athletes in combat sports. He introduces to the the so-called "Two Factor Model" of strength and conditioning for sports. Rather than spread yo...

Today I'm joined by Bryant Coston and Seneca Savoie, Historical European Martial Artists who specialize in coaching the sword at their club, Arena Weapon Arts. In this episode, Bryant and Seneca recount their journey from a traditional technique and drill-based sword coaching, to games-based practice, and finally arriving at a full-bore constraints-led approach. They go into detail about how they...

Today I'm joined by Dr. Ian Renshaw, Associate Professor in Exercise & Nutrition Science at Queensland University of Technology at Brisbane. Professor Renshaw is a major researcher in the Constraints-led Approach to motor learning. In fact, you'll see his name on several of the books and studies recommended throughout the Combat Learning Podcast. In this episode, Professor Renshaw teaches the "Env...

Join the email list now: combatlearning.com/newsletter --- Today I'm joined by Greg Souders, a 3rd degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and the owner of an academy called Standard Jiu-Jitsu. In this episode, Greg reveals how he runs a totally, radically "ecological" grappling program, where he doesn't even teach "techniques" in the way we've always seen them taught. Greg has stripped down ever...

Join the email list now: combatlearning.com/newsletter --- Today I'm joined by Adam Haniver, a boxing coach out of the UK and one of the founding members of The Box Gathering, which is a community of practice for boxing coaches. In this episode, Adam talks to us about how he has moved his boxing program away from the traditional approach to a constraints-led approach. Of particular interest, we di...

Join the email list now: combatlearning.com/newsletter --- Today I'm joined again by one of my best friends, Master Thomas Huskey, a 4th dan in taekwondo and a fairly accomplished Olympic TKD coach in his own right. In this episode, Thomas and I begin by explaining in detail why martial artists outside of taekwondo are wrong in their criticisms of it. Then we transition our ire inward towards the...

Join the email list now: combatlearning.com/newsletter --- Today I'm joined again by Greg Koval, a 6th dan in taekwondo and owner of Devil Dog Martial Arts. In this episode, Greg and I catch up from when he first appeared on Combat Learning. Since then, Greg has taken the Constraints-led Approach and overhauled his entire curriculum to great success. We also talk about training terminology and oth...