Learning to Fight! Conversations in Combat Skill

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In 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. 

 

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This episode is the second 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 [email protected]

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This 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 [email protected]

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(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.

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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.

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Danny Hatcher joined me to talk more about ecological dynamics for sport.

Danny is a Podcaster, youtuber, educator, coach and sport scientist from the UK. We connected after I watched his terrific youtube video on Ecological Learning. Among his many endeavors, Danny has spent a lot of time researching in the areas of psychology and learning. This has given him a robust understanding of both the information processing approach of cognitive psychology and the Ecological approach of ecological psychology.

Danny is active on twitter and is well worth and follow. I look forward to him returning in the future as guest to pick his brain again. 

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In this episode I welcome on Coach Kabir Bath, founder and owner of Kaboom Jiu-Jitsu in Surrey, British Columbia. 

Kabir is a Raphael Lovato Jr Black belt/affiliate and was a Lovato associate coach of the year 2017.

As Kabir explains in the episode, he recently and abruptly shifted to an ecological approach while abandoning the more typical traditional format for learning and teaching jiu-jitsu.

I can't give enough credit to an already successful and established coach who is not only open to change, but who has done so, so rapidly and radically.

I look forward to watching team Kaboom grow and thrive in the coming months and years.

Ancora Imparo Indeed! 

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Today I welcome back Standard Jiu-Jitsu's coach Greg Souders.

Greg and I were chatting about a very recent reddit post aptly named, 'Training at a gym that doesn't teach technique'. The post was specifically posing the question about Standard's training approach and garnered many perspectives and opinions.

Greg, and I decided to talk about the post, some of the comments and record our discussion for an episode. 

As usual the editing and sound quality of the episode is a little rough and unpolished, but I hope the quality of the content makes up for that.

*If myself or Greg in anyway misrepresented anyone's comments on the thread, please feel free to reach out so we can address.

Likewise, I am always open to debate, discussion and pushback. Should anyone want to be a guest on the podcast to have such a debate, please reach out to me on my IG with a DM or contact me by email at [email protected]

Much love to all that support! Onwards and Upwards!

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On this epsiode, I welcome Dr Mike Piekarski aka. @doctor_kickass about to talk about S&C for MMA.

As I discuss with Mike, I've believe that in being so focused on skill development in practice, I've been  guilty of undervaluing the role of S&C, in particular when it comes to competition.

My concern with not cutting into valuable 'learning' time, inevitably had me neglect and deemphasize  the importance of S&C. 

As part of rebalancing  and moving forward with my team. I reached out to Mike for some insight, advice and direction.

Being a BJJ blackbelt, a former MMA fighter and an active Dr of Physical Therapy, Mike seemed to be an obvious choice to invite on for discussion.

I very much enjoyed talking with him, and encourage anyone in the MMA space to give him a follow on IG where he posts most of his content. 

I do plan to have more S&C coaches and scientists on going forward as a part of my rebalancing of training focus. 

Onwards and Upwards! Enjoy the convo with Dr Kickass!

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On this episode we delve a little more into the underpinning science of Ecological Dynamics.

I recently read 'Introduction to Ecological Psychology' written by Dr Julia Blau and Dr Jeff Wagman which was a terrific read. The book was just recently published in the summer of 2022. Had this book been available years ago, it might have saved me countless hours of confusion and frustration.

While there is little talk of MMA or Grappling in this episode, it does offer a teaser of the fascinating area of ecological psychology and how we interact  and move in our world.

Our discussion lends support to what many of the guest coaches and academics that have been on the podcast are telling me. That we are complex systems and we must let the body acquire skillful movement solutions trusting it to do what it is designed to do. Solve movement problems.

Dr Blau and Dr Wagman also recently appeared on the Perception Action Podcast to discuss the book.  As mentioned countless times, Dr Gray's podcast is a treasure trove of contemporary sports science and any coach that wants to better understand the human system and how it learns should absolutely subscribe and listen to it. 

Thank you to all who support and listen. And especially all those who took time to talk to me an participate in the discussions.