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This place is awesome ! I trained with Jackson for years, he's the best trainer around. Extremely knowledgable about the sport, super encouraging! Jackson makes training fun, while pushing me to do my best. I highly recommend !
Coach Jackson is a great instructor who takes on friendly students who are eager to learn. At no point did I feel uncomfortable with the speed or the level of difficulty and the group of people who I am getting to know all seem to enjoy the workouts due to the positive atmosphere that Coach Jackson has created.
Starting with no martial arts experience at all, I've been training at North Star MMA for about 2 months now. It's become something i look forward to every week. Coach Jackson has a great way of describing the intricacies of muay thai in exceptionally easy to understand ways. Lots of personal instruction and the other people in the gym really help with training. I really like the skills I've picked up so far all while getting a good workout in.
North Star MMA is by far the best training I have received as well as the best MMA facility. Fantastic atmosphere to learn, try, fail and ultimately succeed.
Jackson Galka's expertise and technical instruction easily qualifies him as a "fight nerd." However Jackson's passion and wit will have you kicking, striking and probably laughing too.
Jackson does a great job of integrating all levels of training with all levels of fighters.
Doesn't matter what level you are, you will learn each and every training session.
Top notch instruction, astounding technical expertise, challenging sweat soaked training sessions and a wicked sense of humor make for an unbeatable training academy.
I moved to Philadelphia in October and did a lot of shopping around for a new gym. After checking out NorthStar MMA, I quickly knew it was a perfect fit! I didn’t have much Muay Thai or BJJ experience at the time, but I felt both programs were very welcoming for beginners. Coach Jackson and the rest of the coaching staff have been super helpful in helping me to develop my skills and reach my fitness goals. Coach Jackson has created a great sense of community within the gym and does a great job of keeping the classes interesting, fun and effective! I look forward to each class and I couldn’t be happier to call NorthStar MMA my gym home!
Me and my brother came to train at North Star MMA, and we love it. Very good exercise, really good for getting in shape. Classes are very personal and with very good instructions. I would recommend this place to anyone who is interested in learning Muy Thai, BJJ and looking to get in shape in one of the best ways. It is also a very fun environment with great people.
Jackson is a huge asset to the combat sports community with years of experience as a fighter and trainer under his belt.
THE GAP WEEK OF 12/16/24 Between your actions, and the results you want to cultivate, there is always a gap. Sadly, we are conditioned to expect that results and gratification should be nearly instantaneous. Want a pizza? Open up your phone, it’s at your door in 45 minutes. Want a game? Download it. Want a […]
A NEW NORMAL WEEK OF 12/9/24 A new normal. That’s kind of what we’re all looking to create with our work, right? To create a new normal state of improved health, wealth, and happiness? But what happens when we start to achieve a new normal in our lives? Do we recognize and appreciate it, […]
AUTHORITY WEEK OF 12/2/24 “History is written by the winners.” You may have heard that expression before. Winners decide how the past is remembered. They have the authority to dictate – they are the authors of history. If we want to achieve high levels of success in whatever goal we’re pursuing, we must establish […]
TO MOVE FORWARD, SOMETIMES YOU MUST NOT MOVE AT ALL WEEK OF 11/25/24 Quick one for you today. And somewhat topical (at least for me, that is). To move forward, sometimes you must not move at all. That is to say, the formula for progress is as follows: Stress + Recovery = Adaptation/Growth We […]
MONDAY MINDSET: SADDLE UP, COWBOY! WEEK OF 11/11/24 Got a more pragmatic one for you today. By no means am I a sports psychologist or an expert in the field of performance optimization, but I do have a ton of experience as both a coach and and athlete and I’ve seen some things over […]
MONDAY MINDSET: YOU HAVE TO GET STARTED BEFORE YOU CAN FINISH WEEK OF 11/04/24 You can’t win gold in the race if you don’t queue up at the starting line. But we’re always so focused on the “gold medals” of whatever activity we’re interested in that we often never even lace up our shoes […]
MONDAY MINDSET: K.I.S.S. WEEK OF 10/28/24 When it comes to making things complex, I’m as guilty as anyone else. Fighting is, at the highest level, extremely complex. Knowledge, first and foremost, drives action, and action drives results. Therefore, knowledge is power, right? Well, yes, of course… That said, I do have a LOT to say […]
MONDAY MINDSET: FINDING YOUR RHYTHM WEEK OF 10/21/24 Breathing is a rhythm. Circulation is a rhythm. The solar cycle is a rhythm. The Earth’s orbit is a rhythm. The universe, some think, also has its own rhythm of expansion and contraction — not unlike the heart or lungs. As above, so below (and within). […]
MONDAY MINDSET: SEEDS NOT BORDERS WEEK OF 10/14/24 At some point in our lives, we stop thinking so much about what we’re going to accomplish, but rather what we will leave behind. What is our legacy here on this planet? What was the point, after all? How did we make our mark on this […]
MONDAY MINDSET: WHEREVER YOU GO, THERE YOU ARE WEEK OF 10/7/24 Wherever you go, there you are. I can only really speak to my own journeys, and my own dreams. But every time I set out to do something, I always ended up somewhere else than where I thought I would be. When we […]
MONDAY MINDSET: PASSION WEEK OF 9/30/24 I have a disproportionate response to getting a sliver. Getting hit in the head, or getting twisted on the mats, doesn’t really bother me too much. But a splinter? A tiny piece of wood or metal that works its way into your skin and just stays there, throbbing, […]
MONDAY MINDSET: PASSION WEEK OF 9/23/24 I’m a huge fan of etymology, the study of words and their origins (not to be confused with entomology, the study of bugs, which is also pretty cool I guess). If we understand the history of words and their uses, we learn more about what it means to […]
MONDAY MINDSET: BE UNDENIABLE WEEK OF 9/16/24 Nothing worth having comes easy. And sometimes the difficulty is not in the actual work, but in achieving the recognition of that effort you’ve been putting in. There will often be gatekeepers who stand between you and the goals you are working to achieve – and whether […]
MONDAY MINDSET: THE REAL TREASURE IS THE FRIENDSHIPS YOU MAKE WEEK OF 9/9/24 There’s a cliche in storytelling that’s crossed over into meme territory at this point. That being: at the end of a long journey, when you finally reach the buried treasure, it’s empty — there never was a material prize at the […]
MONDAY MINDSET: MOMENTS WEEK OF 9/2/24 Sometimes, it’s just not your moment In fact, unless you’ve really, really prepared for it, it probably won’t be.And even if you have done everything humanly possible to prepare, sometimes it just doesn’t pan out. We tend to think in narratives, that our story is the main arc […]
MONDAY MINDSET: PERFECTLY IMPERFECT IS THE END GAME WEEK OF 8/26/24 May of this year marked my 9th year as a Jiu Jitsu black belt (I earned the initial rank in 2015). That promotion was equally both one of the most exciting and most disappointing moments of my life. Exciting because I had finally […]
MONDAY MINDSET: REVOLUTIONS WEEK OF 8/19/24 Training is cyclical. Be revolutionary. Not in the 1776 American Revolutionary way, with black powder rifles and wool coats. But revolutionary in the sense of revolving back around to the beginning. In anything, you always learn the most important skills first. Stance, positioning, breathing. The basics. As beginners […]
MONDAY MINDSET: YOU GOTTA GET GOOD TO BE GOOD WEEK OF 8/12/24 Real talk, being a successful and capable fighter is cool. You have confidence, your body is an extremely functional instrument, and people respect what you do and how well you can do it. There’s a reason that people endure all the training, setbacks, […]
MONDAY MINDSET: ADVERSITY WEEK OF 8/5/24 “Adversity introduces you to yourself.” That is a quote I heard many years ago, when I was just getting off the ground as an amateur fighter. For some reason, it resonated with me, and became a core tenet of my approach to training and dealing with obstacles in […]
MONDAY MINDSET: WEEDS ARE WEEDS WEEK OF 7/29/24 I’m sure some of you wonder what the creative process is like for these articles, right? Well, would it surprise any of you to learn that I often sit down on a Sunday afternoon, scratch my head a bit, and either dip into the archives (yes, […]
MONDAY MINDSET: CHANGE REQUIRES CHANGE WEEK OF 7/22/24 Change requires change. Obvious statement there, of course. If we want things to be different, then things will need to be different. Yet this seemingly simple idea is incredibly difficult to implement into our lives and habits. As a martial arts coach, I am constantly inspecting, […]
MONDAY MINDSET: SEEING PROGRESS WEEK OF 7/8/24 I often field e-mails from students (at the academy, and abroad – we have a decent social media reach here) – about their frustrations with their progress, or perceived lack thereof. Beginners, or those with the “Beginner’s Mindset,” have trouble seeing progress, as if it’s some opaque, […]
MONDAY MINDSET: TWO IS ONE AND ONE IS NONE WEEK OF 7/1/24 “Two is one, and one is none.” Commercial airlines have multiple engines but only need one to fly. Skydivers pack two parachutes. Automobiles have two sets of brakes (standard and emergency). The list goes on and on. In any critical system, there […]
MONDAY MINDSET: FEEL DEEPLY, ACT DEEPLY WEEK OF 6/24/24 Feel Deeply, Act Deeply. That first half–feeling deeply–that is something we can all say we experience. Sometimes it just hits you like a tidal wave, a deep feeling of motivation or interest or affection. Whatever it is, it hits you hard. And sometimes, we define ourselves […]
MONDAY MINDSET: THE ILLUSION OF STAGNATION WEEK OF 6/17/24 There comes a time in your training career where it feels like you are just not progressing at all. And if it hasn’t happened to you yet, it will. We have to remember that “progress” is a relative term. Unlike in weightlifting, us martial artists […]
MONDAY MINDSET: CHANNELS OF EXPRESSION WEEK OF 6/10/24 This week’s article is not a prescriptive (i.e., do X to get Y results) one. But rather just an observation and conceptual approach that I’ve taken to life, and how my martial arts training fits into a larger, holistic method of living. I am by no […]
MONDAY MINDSET: YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT WEEK OF 6.3.24 “You are what you eat.” Pretty much everyone has heard that phrase a number of times throughout their life, and it’s pretty straight forward: your body uses the food you eat to repair and rebuild your body. If you eat junk, you become junk. […]
MONDAY MINDSET: WHAT IS YOUR WHY? WEEK OF 5/27/24 Today marks the annual Memorial Day celebration, often associated with BBQ’s, sunshine, and getting stuck in traffic on the way to/from the shore. Of course, the purpose of Memorial Day has nothing really to do with any of that; it’s a day to remember the […]
MONDAY MINDSET: WHAT WE DO IN THE DARK WILL BE BROUGHT INTO THE LIGHT WEEK OF 5/20/24 What we do in the dark, will always be brought into the light. If you could boil down the lessons I’ve learned from my competitive fight career into an easily digestible nugget, this would be it. Fighting […]
MONDAY MINDSET: YOU DON’T NEED A SEATBELT… WEEK OF 5.13.24 …Until you do. As combat sports athletes, we walk a razor’s edge each day as we balance intensity and productivity with risk mitigation. Gloves, shinpads, floor mats, pads, rules, etiquette, no bare feet off the mats (wink wink)– these are all active filters that […]
MONDAY MINDSET: THE SHADOW WEEK OF MAY 6TH 2024 Between the idea And the reality Between the motion And the act Falls the Shadow –T. S. Eliot Although Eliot likely did not write his famous poem, The Hollow Men, about the difficulty of sticking to a health and fitness regimen, this excerpt from “The […]
MONDAY MINDSET: THE KEYSTONE WEEK OF 4.29.24 Coaches, Athletes, and Keystones– There should exist a natural tension between the athlete, who desires to grow, mature, and overcome boundaries, and the coach, who works to contain the athlete inside of a structured training protocol. People generally shy away from conflict or from disagreement, as if […]
MONDAY MINDSET: INSIDE OF US ARE TWO CHIHUAHUAS WEEK OF 4/22/24 Inside of us are two Chihuahuas. You’ve all heard the “ancient wisdom”: inside of us are two wolves. One wolf good, one wolf bad. Which one grows? The one you feed. Blah blah blah. To distance myself from this kind of TikTok brand […]
MONDAY MINDSET: DIALING IN WEEK OF 4.15.24 We’ve all heard the old expression, “practice makes perfect.” This really couldn’t be farther from the truth. We should really think of it more along the lines of “perfect practice, with perfect consistency and appropriate intensity, makes perfect.” There’s a lot to unpack there! When we step […]
MONDAY MINDSET: FEAR IS A COMPASS WEEK OF 04.08.24 Fear is a compass. Well, not always. We don’t necessarily want to run into a pack of hungry, wild wolves. But when pursuing our passions, we often find that fear will not let us freely move forward. Often this is fear of failure, fear of […]
MONDAY MINDSET: THE WARRIOR PATH WEEK OF 4.01.24 Pop-culture often makes a big deal of “The Warrior Path,” making it seem that the apprentice fighter must walk over coals, survive in the wilderness with just their wits, defeat hordes of faceless enemies, and stand on poles for days. And while extreme challenges will confront […]
MONDAY MINDSET: ESCAPE VELOCITY WEEK OF 3.25.24 In Rocket Science, there’s a concept called “escape velocity” – essentially this is the minimum speed at which an object needs to be traveling in order to escape the gravitational pull of another object. Practically speaking, if a rocket doesn’t achieve escape velocity, it won’t make it […]
MONDAY MINDSET: GIVE EXCUSES AN INCH, AND THEY’LL TAKE A MILE 03.18.24 Excuses are powerful. They are often appropriate–some of us have injuries, or restraints on our time or finances, that prohibit us from pursuing our goals. But these excuses often overstep their boundaries and trick us into thinking they absolve us of other […]
MONDAY MINDSET: WHAT IS STYLE 03.11.24 STYLE. Some people have it, some people don’t.. but everybody wants it. It’s an elusive thing. What, exactly, is style? Well, style is always defined in relation to some sort of system or instutition–“he’s got great fashion style,” “she has an awesome fighting style,” “his musical style is wonderful.” […]
MONDAY MINDSET: GIVE YOURSELF A PAT ON THE BACK 03.04.24 Seriously! Give yourself a pat on the back from time to time. We start our journeys as wide eyed beginners, wholly focused mostly on whether we can, or cannot, actually do something. That is the beginner’s burning question: “can I do this?” As we grow […]
MONDAY MINDSET: TOUGHNESS 02.26.24 We often confuse the ideas of “toughness” and “dominance.” We see the big, scary bully, with giant muscles and fists the size of cinder blocks, and we think to ourselves: “that guy looks tough.” What we really mean is, that guy looks dominant. Dominance doesn’t require toughness. I guarantee […]
MONDAY MINDSET: OWN YOUR MISTAKES 02/19/24 Own your mistakes. After all, you made them, right? Here’s the thing–most people have it twisted. In our hyper-connected world, we are privy to the “success” of other people. At least, a cultivated image of success that they often present on social media and other outlets. It can […]
MONDAY MINDSET: TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK Joining and participating in a martial arts program is kind of a weird thing, right? I mean on one hand you are a paying customer — you have a right to take whatever you want, within reason, and define your own boundaries and level of participation. For […]
MONDAY MINDSET: YOU CAN ONLY FILL AN EMPTY CUP Quick one this week; I want to a little of my own, personal process with you. Bowing in and out of class can have many different meanings. In some ways, it’s to show deference to the instructor. In others, it’s to humble ourselves. Mostly, all of […]
MONDAY MINDSET 01.29.24 MAKING UP YOUR MIND DOESN’T MAKE ANYTHING We’ve all been there. It’s late at night. Small crumbs litter our chest, the smoking gun of a bag of potato chips gone missing in an instant. The feeling of “rock bottom,” of needing to make some change for the better. (We’ve all […]
MONDAY MINDSET: INACTION IS ACTION We often delay making difficult choices in order to look back and absolve ourselves of not taking the proper action. “See?” We’ll say, “I just wasn’t able to get myself together in time — but I would have totally completed that difficult task if I had been ready.” And we […]
MONDAY MINDSET: FOCUS FORWARD Quick one for you this week. Sometimes when I’m writing these, I find myself asking the big question: “why?” Why write these monday mindset articles when 99% of this stuff is just obvious? I’m not breaking any new ground here. Just simply pointing out the simple, basic, and obvious things that […]