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Today's chat was with Pittsburgh Pirate's coach John Baker

John is a former MLB player and current performance and skills coach alongside Andy Bass in the Pirates Baseball organization. 

Also a BJJ purple belt, Ecological dynamics advocate and MMA fan. We had a fun chat covering all things eco, baseball and combat sports. 

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The boys from emergence are back to discuss their recently accepted and published paper on  "Applying an ecological dynamics framework to mixed martial arts training". 

This paper followed their previous publication from 2023 "(Re)conceptualizing movement behavior in sport as a problem-solving activity".

Both of these papers were supported and co-authored by Professor Keith Davids himself a titan in the skill acquisition community and a pioneer of ecological dynamic.

SBG's Adam Singer, The Academy's Andy Grahn and myself were also able to provide modest contributions by way of case studies that were included in the paper as practical examples of the application of an ecological approach at our prospective gyms.

Tyler Yearby and Shawn Myszka plan on further investigation and future studies in the space of MMA from an ecological perspective.  Until then, check out the papers linked above and to access an absolute treasure trove of all things ecological, check out their website at Emergence. 

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In this episode I talk with Coach James de Lacey of Sweet Science of Fighting.

While most discussions on the podcast have been biased toward the perceptual half of the perception-action loop. Coach James talks about how we can support the action side through science informed exercise programming.

While James doesn't offer a specific program for combat athletes, he does give valuable insight and his opinions on where the best bang for the buck comes with regards to S&C for fighters. He also offers some practical and measurable ways to integrate S&C into busy training schedules and simple ways to track and measure.

James can be found on IG here and has a YouTube channel definitely worth checking out if you want some combat sport S&C content that has been research informed.

Thank you to all that listen. Stay tuned for a whole bunch of episodes in the pipeline featuring Skill-Acquisition specialists from all over the world. Here's to an educational and enlightening 2024! 

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Today I talk with Dr Andy Bass. Andy is a researcher, educator, former pro baseball player and is currently a performance coach with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Andy talks about both the mental side and motor learning side of skill development. How the two can be separate but also generally integrate.

I have linked several episodes that Andy features on in the podcast description, and would recommend you check them out if what Andy talks about today interests you.

Slappin Glass Podcast

Beyond Baseball

 Coach Your Brains out

Ride the Grey


Andy, admirably, is not on any of the social media platforms but he can be reached by email. Please get in touch with me if you would like an introduction. 

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Today I chat with Irish National Kickboxing Coach Jon Mackey about the role of training tools in striking sports. We'll explore whether these tools actually support skill acquisition and debunk some of the popular training gimmicks that are flooding social media.

Coach Mackey brings not only an extensive coaching experience, but his academic perspective as a PhD is skill acq candidate.  

Jon gives his thoughts on the effectiveness of tools like noodles, ladders, flashing lights, and frisbees for improving athletic performance. He'll explain why these tools may not be as beneficial as they're often portrayed and offer alternative strategies for developing the skills and conditioning necessary to excel in striking sports.

Whether you utilize these tools or have wondered how effective they might be, hopefully this convo will help challenge the conventional wisdom and leave you with a better understanding of what most likely works and what most likely doesn't when it comes to training tools and equipment.

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Today I welcome Kit Dale and Greg Souders on to the show.

Kit is well know in the jiu-jitsu world for his rapid development in the sport and his achievements at high level no-gi grappling in a short few years. An advocate of 'learning through trial and error and one that has been preaching the anti-drilling message for years' it seemed fitting that I get him on to talk with Greg Souders.

Greg himself has emerged as a leading advocate of the ecological approach and in doing so, brought a lot of the science and research from the academic side onto the mats and into a broader conversation.

Kit has recently launched his 'Task Based Games' series which is really the first of it's kind in bringing this gamification approach to the wider grappling community. 

A long but interesting convo between the two coaches. 

Thank to all that download, listen and take the time to reach out!

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Today, I chat with Noah Shaffner from the Standard Jiu-Jitsu Grappling Team, mentored by Greg Souders. Unlike my usual guests who are coaches or academics, Noah stands out as a student who has embraced the ecological approach to skill development. Despite being only 17, his insights into the sport and its methodologies are profound. While many might assume he's echoing Coach Souders, Noah showcases a unique understanding. He's definitely one to watch in the sport's future.

After recording with Greg and Kit Dale, known for championing live resistance training, I spoke with Noah. He even invites anyone interested to visit the Standard team in Rockville, Maryland.

While I aim to delve more into MMA, the upcoming episodes remain grappling-focused. Your support and feedback inspire me to continue this journey.

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Today I talk with Coach Rory Singer.  Rory is the younger brother of Coach Adam Singer and together they have run and coached MMA in Athens Georgia for several Decades.

Rory is an UFC Vet and lifelong martial artist.

In this convo we spoke about the expectations we have for new students entering the sport and particularly those who have the aspirations to fight at a high level.

We talk about gym culture, duty of care for fighter and of course our philosophies of aliveness and ecological learning.

You can find Rory here and here.

You can find SBG Athens here.

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Emergence founder, NFL skills coach and MMA superfan Shawn Myszka joined me to discuss Strickland's win over Adesanya last week.

As stated during intro. Must of this analysis is somewhat speculative given we are not privy to the innerworkings of both fighter's camps, preparation and day to day training methodologies. 

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Today 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.