Tag: kids

  There are a number of tough questions in combat sports.   How do I optimize my training?  What’s the best solution to a given problem?  How do I balance training and life?   As a coach I’m constantly asked questions like these (and if you know me, I often give long winded but ultimately […]

  Happy Monday Team!   Back to work after a long but successful weekend in New York.  Big thanks to the crew that spent their entire day driving in and out of NYC to catch Tre and Gianna make the walk into the ring.  That’s a huge effort and I know the fighters are so […]

  Happy Monday Team!   We are back with another week of hard training on the menu.  As this is the first week of a new month, you’ll notice major curriculum shifts in each program.  Going to be some really good stuff shown so make sure you get in often!   Let’s give a big […]

  I often get asked — Why “North Star?”  Guesses range from The Fist of the North Star (an awesome 90’s anime) to something related to my middle name (Baer, for those wondering — the North Star is on the tail of Ursa Minor, the little dipper).   But, nope.  Those are good guesses and would fit […]

  We are often way harder on ourselves than we are on others, don’t you think?  Our inner voice can speak to us in ways we’d never tolerate from someone else.   So this week I have a little tip for you — the next time you have a problem, write it down on paper (or, ya […]

“Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?  — George Carlin   Man, that is one of my favorite quotes!  We’ve all been there on the road before, trying to get from Point A to Point B and dealing with the nonsense from everyone else alongside […]

  Happy Monday Team!   We’re only one week away from the unofficial start of Summer and it’s crazy how fast this year has been going by!  But looking back on it, we’ve accomplished so much and really improved the overall level on the mats.  I’m excited about what the next half of the year […]

  In our dreams and aspirations, we tend to focus on achieving something close to perfection — an unblemished record, a perfect physique, a rigorous diet free of cheat meals and hiccups.   But perfection cannot be achieved in the real world.  Our ideals are like cardinal directions in that we can orient ourselves by […]

  Happy Monday Team!   Apologies about the lateness of last week’s newsletter.  The mass e-mail kept failing to send.  Hopefully you’ll receive this one on time 🙂   It’s FIGHT WEEK for Timmy Green!  Timmy hasn’t been in the cage in over a year, and we are super stoked to see his evolution on […]

  Your first round is never your best round, is it?  It takes awhile to get your body loose, limber, and attuned to the demands of combat sports.  Most athletes find their “flow” a little deeper into a training session, when everything starts to sync up.   This is especially true on days where you […]

  That’s it.  There are no secrets to success.  All the information you could ever need in order to be successful in combat sports is available, mostly for free, at a moment’s notice.   It’s the implementation of this information that creates success.   Small, daily habits turn into large, life changing results over time. […]

  Procrastination is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do but doesn’t get you anywhere.   And, unfortunately, it is anemic to development — especially in the martial arts.   There really is no “tomorrow.”  In many ways, the future is an illusion.  Yes, the future will come, but no, conditions will […]

  Happy Monday Team!   Big thank you to everyone who came out Saturday evening to support Gianna en route to her championship win.  Gianna won all five rounds to secure the title with a dominant score of 50-45, making a big statement in the regional scene.  Although Gianna did the heavy lifting, proper preparation […]

  Quick one for you today!   We often think of mastery as being a destination at the end of a long path.  And, in some ways, it is.   But mastery is more a process of calibration than it is a journey towards a spot marked off on a map.  As such, we will […]

  Ha, I know some of you have seen me juggling like a clown here and there in the gym.  So, why juggling?   Aside from the surprisingly deep metaphorical similarities that juggling has to life, jiu jitsu, fighting, or whatever, it’s also a pretty simple yet difficult task.   As a coach, I often […]

  One thing’s for certain, if you attempt something beyond your current level of comfort, there is a good chance you will fail (or, as the kids say, “Take the L”).   You absolutely have to get used to the feeling of losing.  Losing out on other opportunities.  Losing out on junk food.  Losing rounds […]

  Happy Monday Team!   Hard to believe, but next month is our 6 year anniversary!  I have some crazy stories to tell from the “early years” but believe it or not, we have some ride-or-die students still with us from the get-go.  Big shout out to Jamie Ueberroth, Ken Mosely, Colleen Tozer, Coach Bill, […]

There is just so much information to learn in martial arts.  Angles, posture, footwork, strikes, positions, you name it.  And especially in the grappling arts!   Developing some literacy in your art will give you a massive boost in your learning speed.  However, literacy isn’t just some emergent ability that comes with time.  You have to work […]

  Happy New Year and New Monday team!   2022 was an amazing year for the academy.  After taking a serious beating over the two worst years of the pandemic, we were able to regain our footing and move forward again.   I personally want to thank all the staff and students here for your […]

Happy Monday Team!   I hope everyone was able to spend some time with their families this week, or at least get a little bit of R&R in.  I definitely needed the downtime after an intense open mat on Xmas eve 🙂   We are running an adjusted schedule this week.  Please make sure to […]

  In any combat sports competition, we can often say that the person who made the second to last mistake is the winner. This is especially true for submission grappling or no-holds-barred fighting, where victory is absolute. The key, then, isn’t to be flawless.  That’s impossible, and also unnecessary.  Rather, the key is to be […]

  Happy Monday Team!   We are fresh off a successful weekend at Tap Cancer Out!  We placed second overall in single-team fundraising with over $10,000 raised.  That’s an incredible amount and I am so impressed with the team’s efforts to not only prepare for competition, but also apply themselves to the fundraising in parallel. […]

  Happy Monday Team!   We continue to have non-stop events lined up over the next few weeks!  Our full event schedule is listed below.   But first, we are hosting Jon “Thor” Blank on Saturday, December 3rd, for a 90 minute workshop on the False Reap and Reverse De La Riva.  These are cutting […]

  With Halloween all around us, it seems appropriate to talk a little bit about “faking it till you make it,” or the act of putting on a facade (the word comes from the same root as “face,” by the way).   Typically we apply a negative meaning to “putting on a facade,” as if the act […]

  Happy Monday Team!   I’m probably flying somewhere over the Midwest as you’re reading this now!  After a quick trip to the West coast for a wedding, I’ll be back on the mats tomorrow without skipping a step.   We are ramping back up for a ton of activity over the next couple weeks so buckle […]

  What are our routines? The word itself is related to “route,” meaning our routines are the routes we take through our habitual cycles. Humans are creatures of routine.  I remember in college, when we had no assigned seating, that my fellow students and I all generally sat in the same seat each day.  It […]

  Happy Monday Team!   We are on the other side of a super busy series of competitive events across the spectrum of combat sports, so it’ll be nice to get back into a less frenetic rhythm for the next two weeks!   While we didn’t get the result we wanted, Trevon Scales put on […]

  Happy Monday Team!   If I could describe this upcoming month in one word, I would probably say “TUMULTUOUS!”  But that’s not a bad thing.   We are packed to the gills this month with some awesome events and changes both big and small.   Please note that our Striking 101 Review Test is […]

  One of the most important concepts in becoming a successful martial artist (regardless of how you define “success”) is that of ownership.   We could spend hours talking about all the different ways ownership is important: owning your excuses, owning your responsibilities, owning your emotional state, etc.   All of these could even be the […]

  I wrote a Monday Mindset article a in February of 2020 with the same title, basically, while overseas in Paris.  I really had no idea how different my life trajectory would go in only a month with the onset of the COVID pandemic and all associated shutdowns, restrictions, anxiety, and general instability of the next two […]

  Happy Monday Team!   We are heading into an important week here at the academy, with the return of our Striking 101 Review Test on Wednesday!   This test is for any student that has completed more than 4 consistent weeks of training in our fundamentals program.  Participation is free, but you will need […]

  Simple one for you this week.   Just show up.   Feeling tired?  Just show up.  Sore?  Just show up.  Hungry?  Just show up.   I’ve been training for nearly two decades, and I can tell you the hardest — and most important daily step in your training regimen — is just to show […]

  Happy Monday Team!   I am exciting to announce our return to a more formal grading and testing system to both hasten, and focus, the progress of our students in their pursuit of striking mastery.   One of my most bittersweet memories as a coach was Wednesday, March 11th, 2020.  We had a packed […]

  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 myriad outlets. It can be challenging to not feel […]

  Happy Monday Team!   I want to start out by saying a giant, huge, humongous, gargantuan thank you to everyone who came out for our anniversary shindig.  A good measure of whether a party is fun can often be how few pictures there are — I was personally too engrossed in hanging out that […]

  Happy Monday Team!   We have some really cool events on the horizon — the 5 Year Anniversary and UFC Viewing Party on Saturday the 19th, NAGA (North American Grappling Championships) on the 26th, Gut Check Muay Thai on March 26th, and then Art of War MMA at the beginning of April.  We’re gonna […]

In one of my earlier emails, I told you that persistence is one of the five core tenets of martial arts. It’s a must for kids to learn to fulfill their obligations and stick to their commitments – but what makes them want to do that? In martial arts, we attribute it to one small […]

You know how good it feels to set your sights on a goal and then achieve it. It’s empowering and invigorating – and it’s not just a matter of chance. Goal-setting is an important life skill. The good news is that studying the martial arts can help your child learn: The importance of setting goals How to […]

As adults, we think a lot about stress. Modern life is difficult. We worry about paying the bills, doing our jobs well – and we worry about our kids. That’s part of our jobs as parents, but we don’t want our kids to be affected by stress. It’s not good for them physically or emotionally. Still, […]

It’s time to talk about the emotional benefits of studying martial arts. Let’s face it – kids have a hard time managing their emotions. You’d be hard-pressed to find a parent who hasn’t had to deal with their share of temper tantrums. It’s exhausting. Also, consider the other side of the coin: it’s exhausting for […]

It’s time to talk about the fifth and final core tenet of martial arts. In many ways, this tenet brings all the other tenets together – and it explains why kids who study martial arts have a light in their eyes that other kids don’t. We call it Indomitable Spirit. What does it mean to have an indomitable […]

In the last couple of blog articles, we’ve been talking about the core tenets of martial arts instruction, and today’s tenet is one that a lot of kids need to learn. I’m talking about self-control. Control is something that’s hard for kids. Their brains and bodies aren’t fully developed, and from the time they’re babies, […]

You know how that saying goes, right? Try, try again! And that brings us to our next core tenet of martial arts: perseverance. Perseverance is what keeps us going when it would be easier to give up. It’s what makes us get up when we fall down – and it often means the difference between […]