Learning to Fight! Conversations in Combat Skill

Send us Fan MailToday I am chatting with Ed Ingamells. (Aka the Partybear). Ed is a black belt and coach at the Institute of Grappling in North London, UK.As a former Neuroscience PhD student, Ed has a deep understanding of cognitive psychology. Ed talks about his shift in recent years to a more ecological approach and how ecological psychology and direct perception make more sense to him from a skill development and motor-learning perspective. If you enjoyed the convo you can find other podcast appearances by Ed here and here. If you'd like to reach out to Ed, you can do so here and here. In the first part of the chat, we talk about the role of memory and cognition in skill development before moving on to discussing our ever evolving endeavors to optimize practice design. Thanks to all that download and listen. 

Send us Fan MailAdam Singer joins me today to talk coaching, culture and continuing the SBG philosophy of aliveness through an ecological lens. 

Send us Fan MailToday I am joined by Coach Josh Root from Gravitas Martial Arts in Arkansas. Josh has recently re-visited an Eco D approach to grappling after initially abandoning it due to uncertainty.With a deeper understanding and support from Standard's Greg Souder's, Coach Josh is not looking back and has been all in on the approach. Enjoying some early success he is starting to get his team on board and trusting the practice design.Josh talks about his switch from a highly prescriptive and high volume drilling approach to a more games based and live learning environment. His initial difficulties making the switch and his excitement and optimism for his team going forward.As mentioned in the intro, I have been made increasingly aware of strokes from chokes in BJJ. If you have not, then you most likely will in time.  Be prepared and recognize the signs and have a plan. Your own, or your teammates life might depend on it.  Check out this video by my friend Chris Martin who himself suffered a stroke from a lapel choke a few years back. 

Send us Fan MailProfessor Alan Dunton is back. Alan is a lecturer and researcher at MTU Cork, Ireland. With a PhD in Skill Acquisitor and having been a long time martial artist himself and a National TKD team competitor, Alan is well informed on both the theory and practical sides of the sport and training. Alan and I discuss developing metastability.  Metastability occurs when an athlete is able to maintain a stable position or movement pattern while simultaneously having the flexibility and adaptability to respond and adjust to a highly dynamic environment and conditions (Think Fighting). It can characterized by a delicate balance between stability and instability, allowing for efficient and effective performance.We also discuss the limitations of pad and bag work as they pertain to skill development. 

Send us Fan MailIn today's podcast, we're honored to have Jon Mackey as our guest, a celebrated coach in both Taekwon-Do and Kickboxing. With a career that began in 1987, Jon has trained numerous national, European, and world gold medalists in Taekwon-Do and Kickboxing, including Amy Wall, Lauren Bradshaw, and Robyn McDonnell. As the founder of Red Star Kickboxing and the National Director of Coaching for Kickboxing Ireland, Jon has significantly contributed to the Irish national team's success. When he's not coaching kickboxing, Jon works as High Performance Director for Canoeing Ireland and is an avid researcher in coaching, skill acquisition, and decision-making. Jon's philosophy emphasizes the power of sports in shaping young people's lives and developing essential attributes like resilience and self-discipline. With a Masters in Coaching & Performance Science and currently pursuing a Doctoral degree in Elite Performance in Sport, Jon's expertise and passion for coaching make him a truly remarkable figure in the world of sports.TWITTER: INSTAGRAM:

Send us Fan MailIn this episode I speak with Coach Ricky Pachon . A young  coach from Gracie Barra, Bondi Beach, Australia. Ricky leads a successful youth competition team and is himself an avid competitor on the Australian BJJ/Grappling scene. Recently a parent of a student of Ricky reached out to me to introduce him. Following several years of employing a high-repetition traditional approach to developing his youth team. Ricky has in recent months been another coach to fall down the ecological rabbit hole. Ricky's enthusiasm and energy spills out when he talks about coaching and  training and it's clear, despite his age he is well on his way to becoming a high level bjj coach and ambassador for the sport. Ricky talks about his recent transition to a ecological approach and we discuss the reception of his student and fellow coaches. You can get in touch with Ricky and follow him on his IG page.I look forward to watching this passionate coach and his team grow and thrive in the coming years.  

Explore the application of Ecological Dynamics to Striking and Grappling in MMA. Discuss the shift from high-volume drills to problem-solving approaches in coaching. Emphasize the importance of personalized coaching considerations for effectiveness. Contrast teaching principles and concepts over specific techniques. Highlight effective teaching methods starting with the end goal in mind.

Send us Fan MailThis episode is the first of two interviews by Brian Willis of the Excellence in Training Academy.Brian reached out to both myself and Standard Jiu-jitsu's Greg Souders to talk about our application of Ecological Dynamics to Striking and Grappling respectively. With Brian's blessing he allowed me to share these interviews here on my podcast, given his interviews (over 350 of them) are available for his subscribers to his online platform. Brian was a very engaging and great interviewer and both Greg and I were thankful for the opportunity and fun conversations. While neither Greg or I have much insight into law enforcement, Brian similarly is in a constant pursuit of how we can make training more optimal and effective for our domains. Brian can be found best on his training academy site and at his other online resource site https://winningmindtraining.com/ Should any one want to reach Brian directly through the show, please email me at scott@primalmke.com

Send us Fan Mail(PART 2) Today my guest is my friend and fellow podcaster Josh Peacock.Josh is the host of the Combat Learning Podcast and a fellow advocate of an ecological approach to combat sports training.A real student of the science of skill development, teaching methodologies and the history of combat sports, Josh is also a 4th degree TKD coach/practitioner and more recently a student of BJJ and submission grappling.In this episode Josh and I discuss some of the common pushbacks and arguments we hear against the ecological approach and how they may not be entirely fair or honest.With increasing attention being turned towards this methodology we thought a discussion about some ingrained biases and assumptions might help those who themselves are somewhere in the transition phase towards this kind of training.Hopefully discussions like these can better help newer EcoD enthusiasts to be better prepared when presenting a case for change.While it's Josh's first appearace on the podcast, he and I speak regularly and are fairly well aligned. His podcast is really excellent and well worth a listen if you have not already done so!Josh has a Facebook group called the Combat Learning Community which is also worth checking out and getting involved with the discussion.

Send us Fan MailToday my guest is my friend and fellow podcaster Josh Peacock.Josh is the host of the Combat Learning Podcast and a fellow advocate of an ecological approach to combat sports training.A real student of the science of skill development, teaching methodologies and the history of combat sports, Josh is also a 4th degree TKD coach/practitioner and more recently a student of BJJ and submission grappling.In this episode Josh and I discuss some of the common pushbacks and arguments we hear against the ecological approach and how they may not be entirely fair or honest.With increasing attention being turned towards this methodology we thought a discussion about some ingrained biases and assumptions might help those who themselves are somewhere in the transition phase towards this kind of training. Hopefully discussions like these can better help newer EcoD enthusiasts to be better prepared when presenting a case for change.While it's Josh's first appearace on the podcast, he and I speak regularly and are fairly well aligned. His podcast is really excellent and well worth a listen if you have not already done so!Josh has a Facebook group called the Combat Learning Community which is also worth checking out and getting involved with the discussion.