The Primal MMA Coaching Podcast

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.

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!

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Today 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.

Professor 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.

In 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:

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.

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 scott@primalmke.com

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 scott@primalmke.com

(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.

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.

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.

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!