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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.
JUNIOR SAMURAI STRIPE CHALLENGE: FITNESS WEEK OF 3/3/25 This week’s Junior Samurai stripe challenge is RED for Fitness! Students can earn their stripe this week by designing a 5 minute workout routine, and performing it over 3 days this week. Bonus points if you can get a parent or sibling to join in!
JUNIOR SAMURAI STRIPE CHALLENGE: INITIATIVE WEEK OF 2/24/25 This week’s Junior Samurai stripe challenge is Blue for Initiative! Students can earn their stripe this week by cleaning their room from top to bottom. Parent’s, it’s up to you to determine if this task has been completed!
JUNIOR SAMURAI STRIPE CHALLENGE: INITIATIVE WEEK OF 2/17/25 This week’s Junior Samurai stripe challenge is Green for Technique! Students can earn a green stripe this week by teaching a parent or sibling (with parental supervision) one NEW technique. Must be something they haven’t taught previously before!
JUNIOR SAMURAI STRIPE CHALLENGE: FITNESS WEEK OF 2/10/25 This week’s Junior Samurai stripe challenge is Red for Fitness! Students can earn a red stripe this week by completing this workout four times (can be split over different days and each exercise can be chopped up into manageable chunks): 50 Pushups 50 Squats 3 Minute […]
JUNIOR SAMURAI STRIPE CHALLENGE: INITIATIVE WEEK OF 2/3/25 This week’s Junior Samurai stripe challenge is Blue for Initiative! Students can earn a blue stripe this week by completing 3 acts of kindness or initiative. Some ideas include: Helping a family member with a chore or task without first being asked Writing a note to […]
JUNIOR SAMURAI STRIPE CHALLENGE: TECHNIQUE WEEK OF 1/27/25 This week’s Junior Samurai stripe challenge is Green for Technique! Students can earn a green stripe this week by discovering a new Jiu Jitsu technique online and sharing it with the class or the coaches. The entire library of Jiu Jitsu skills are available online — […]
JUNIOR SAMURAI STRIPE CHALLENGE: FITNESS WEEK OF 1/20/24 This week’s Junior Samurai stripe challenge is Red for Fitness! Students can earn their stripe this week by performing a minimum of 3 minutes of planks each day for four days. Minimum time spent in a plank at any given time is :30. This one is […]
JUNIOR SAMURAI STRIPE CHALLENGE: INITIATIVE WEEK OF 1/13/24 This week’s Junior Samurai stripe challenge is Blue for Initiative! Students can earn their stripe this week by taking lead on cleaning up after dinner on two separate occasions. This includes all plates washed, surfaces cleaned, and food put away. Students: if you need help, just […]
JUNIOR SAMURAI STRIPE CHALLENGE: FITNESS WEEK OF 1/6/24 This week’s Junior Samurai stripe challenge is Green for Technique! Students can earn their stripe this week by learning all six methods of scoring points in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. The scoring system (and a ton of other super useful stuff) is available inside our Parent’s Guide […]
JUNIOR SAMURAI STRIPE CHALLENGE: INITIATIVE WEEK OF 11/25/24 This week’s Junior Samurai stripe challenge is Blue for Initiative! Students can earn a blue stripe this week by simply being as helpful as possible during the Thanksgiving holiday. What that means is up to you, parents. If you need their help, just ask! Bonus points if […]
JUNIOR SAMURAI STRIPE CHALLENGE: FITNESS WEEK OF 11/11/24 This week’s Junior Samurai stripe challenge is Red for Fitness! Students can earn a red stripe by completing a cumulative total of 10 minutes in a plank position over the course of the week. Must be performed in increments no shorter than :60 in length. This […]
JUNIOR SAMURAI STRIPE CHALLENGE: TECHNIQUE WEEK OF 11/04/24 This week’s Junior Samurai stripe challenge is Blue for Initiative! Students can earn a blue stripe by hand writing a short note to a teacher or coach figure (BJJ coaches are exempt) in which they describe something they learned that they enjoyed. Easy peasy this week!
JUNIOR SAMURAI STRIPE CHALLENGE: FITNESS WEEK OF 5.20.24 The Junior Samurai Stripe Challenge this week is Red for Fitness! Students must complete a five minute workout each day for a total of five days — this will test their ability to stick to a routine! Students can select their own exercises during this five […]
JUNIOR SAMURAI STRIPE CHALLENGE: TECHNIQUE WEEK OF MAY 6th, 2024 This week’s Junior Samurai stripe challenge is green for Technique! Students can earn their green stripe by teaching a parent or sibling (under parent’s supervision) one of our Jiu Jitsu games — Grumpy Monkey, Heavy Blanket, Beetle Wrestling, etc — and playing for a […]
JUNIOR SAMURAI STRIPE CHALLENGE: FITNESS WEEK OF 4.29.24 This week’s Junior Samurai stripe challenge is red for Fitness! Students can earn their red stripe by completing a 1-2 minute plank each day for 4 days!
JUNIOR SAMURAI STRIPE CHALLENGE: TECHNIQUE WEEK OF 4.15.24 This week’s Junior Samurai stripe challenge is green for Technique! Students can earn their red stripe by successfully completing the following drills on a parent or sibling (under parental supervision): 10 Sweeps 10 Standups 10 Submissions/Guard Passes
JUNIOR SAMURAI STRIPE CHALLENGE: FITNESS WEEK OF 4.08.24 This week’s Junior Samurai stripe challenge is red for Fitness! Students can earn their red stripe by successfully completing the following workout: 20 Sprawls + 20 Jumping Jacks (repeat x5 for a total of 100 repetitions for each exercise).
JUNIOR SAMURAI STRIPE CHALLENGE: KINDNESS WEEK OF 4.1.24 This week’s Stripe Challenge is Blue for Kindness! Students can earn their blue stripe by cleaning their room — and keeping it clean for at least three days.
JUNIOR SAMURAI STRIPE CHALLENGE: TECHNIQUE WEEK OF 3.25.24 This week’s Stripe Challenge is Green for Technique! Students can earn their green stripe by drilling their favorite submission on a parent or sibling (under strict parental supervision). Students must also exercise best safety practices as well as educate their partner on how to tap […]
JUNIOR SAMURAI STRIPE CHALLENGE 03.18.24 THIS WEEK’S STRIPE CHALLENGE IS RED FOR PHYSICAL FITNESS Students can earn a red stripe this week by completing 50 pushups each day for a total of five days!
JUNIOR SAMURAI STRIPE CHALLENGE 03.11.24 This week’s challenge is blue for initiative Students can earn a blue stripe on their belt by successfully writing and sending a small note through the mail. Surprising a friend or family member with a handwritten note is a great act of kindness and is sure to put […]
JUNIOR SAMURAI STRIPE CHALLENGE 03.04.24 THE STRIPE CHALLENGE THIS WEEK IS green FOR technique Students can earn a green stripe this week by successfully drilling their favorite technique 25 times on a parent or sibling (with parental supervision). Students will be required to describe/name the technique being drilled and may be asked to […]
JUNIOR SAMURAI STRIPE CHALLENGE 02.19.24 THE STRIPE CHALLENGE THIS WEEK IS blue FOr initiative Students can earn a blue stripe this week by successfully completing a chore (or chores/tasks) of their parents’ choice. Students must fully complete the task in order to be eligible for the stripe.
JUNIOR SAMURAI STRIPE CHALLENGE 02.12.24 THE STRIPE CHALLENGE THIS WEEK IS greeN FOR technique Students: teach your parent the guard position (remember, “small is STRONG and big is WEAK”). Then, drill 20 guard passes on your parent’s guard. A guard pass is when we clear the legs and secure the side mount, knee on […]
JUNIOR SAMURAI STRIPE CHALLENGE 02.05.24 THE STRIPE CHALLENGE THIS WEEK IS RED FOR FITNESS Students can earn their red stripe this week by successfully completing 50 pushups a day for three days in a row. Must be consecutive!
JUNIOR SAMURAI STRIPE CHALLENGE 01.29.24 THEME OF THE WEEK: INITIATIVE Our Junior Samurai stripe challenge this week is blue for initiative. Students can earn a blue stripe by taking it upon themselves to clean their room. The extent of the cleaning is up to the parent or parents’ judgment. Students will have until Monday, February 5th, […]
JUNIOR SAMURAI STRIPE CHALLENGE FOR THE WEEK OF 01.22.24 Students can earn a green stripe for Technique this week by teaching a parent one technique from the following list, and drilling it 10 times each. For the Junior Samurai students: Mata Leon rear choke defense Block a punch into the body lock and take the back […]
JUNIOR SAMURAI STRIPE CHALLENGE FOR THE WEEK OF 01.15.24 Students can earn a red stripe for Physical Fitness this week by successfully completing the following workout: 25 pushups 25 monkey crawls 25 squats Repeat 4 times in a row. This workout must be completed from start to finish in one session and cannot be broken down […]
THE RED CORNER || 09.25.23 || Updates from the north star mma academy in philadelphia Happy Monday Team! We have a HUGE week ahead of us in our Jiu Jitsu program. Before I get into details, let’s give a big congrats to our Jiu Jitsu competition team for a solid performance this past weekend at […]
Happy Monday Team! Wow! What a weekend! We had a great time at the WKA National Tournament in Delaware (well, outside of the 47 hours of waiting and all that.. IYKYK). Coach Tre went 1-1 in a stacked division and Gianna had a few dropouts in her division, but finished the finals match with a […]
Ok, full stop. Definitely believe in yourself! With that said, when preparing to engage in something challenging, we can often start to doubt ourselves. Am I mentally strong enough? Durable enough? Do I “have what it takes” to get this job done? These questions can be hard to answer because, well, there […]
At the Olympic level, athletes have a massive team working behind the scenes to ensure that their training, time management, and recovery are fully optimized. These athletes also train and compete full time and often have difficult decisions about where to invest their limited resources of availability and energy. At that level, by […]
Happy Monday Team! Big thank you to everyone who made it out for our 6 Year Anniversary Party! I promised everyone I’d go for an Irish Goodbye at some point, but when I attempted to escape it still took me 45 minutes I guess that’s how you know it was a good […]
Happy Monday Team! Congratulations to all our competitors from this past weekend at Grappling Industries! Both Dashaun Kimp and Joe Angelo placed first in their respective divisions with clean sweeps of their opponents throughout. Grant Boyd, Garret Powers, David Cross, Angus Perfect, Kevin Koch, and and Tenzin Wangdak also had strong performances […]
Quick one for you today! The word “passion” has taken on a lot of romantic, intimate, and otherwise lovey-dovey connotations. But originally, passion comes from the Latin root of pati and means, literally, suffering. When we are passionate about something, we suffer for it (and anyone who’s been training Muay Thai or Jiu Jitsu will tell you […]
Happy Monday Team! Thank you to all the students and staff who came out on Saturday night to support Coach Tre as he picked up a dominant and exciting win at Gut Check Championships! As a coach it’s always really fun to see your athletes specifically execute skills that have been rehearsed throughout […]
Happy Monday Team! We are fresh off a great week of training and competition, with six of our athletes participating in a sparring meetup at one of our sister schools. Joe, Nicole, Chris, Makhi, Dom, and Sam all performed excellently and demonstrated solid technique, good composure, and great sportsmanship! We have Trevon […]
You may notice that this Monday Mindset section is being delivered on a Tuesday. Well, I gave myself a break over the weekend to enjoy some much needed family time — and whenever possible, you should too. The goal of training in any martial art is not necessarily going to be a belt […]
Happy Monday Team! Hard to believe it’s already May, right? We are nearly halfway through 2023 (and it feels like we just celebrated New Years). Time flies when you’re having fun I guess 🙂 In April, we debuted a new monthly competition: the Shout Out Show Down. Both the author, and the subject, […]
Happy Monday Team! We had an incredibly successful and busy weekend here, split between two big competitive events. First, we are proud to introduce the NEW Warrior’s Cup Super Featherweight champion Gianna Vadino! Friday night in Queens, NY, Gianna won an extremely tough and close fight against a 5x champ en […]
Happy Monday Team! We are back for another hard week of training on the mats! Thank you to everyone who observed the slight adjustment in class scheduling this past weekend. Any time we operate on an adjusted schedule and we don’t have a student walking in for a cancelled class means we […]
Happy Monday Team! Springtime is almost here! And with it some exciting events at the academy lined up for you. But first, just a reminder that we are operating on an adjusted schedule for Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. All other days will be scheduled as normal. Changes in the daily lineup will be italicized […]
Quick one for you today. Often times I have students reach out to me concerned that they are not making progress because they are always exhausted after training. Conflating exhaustion with a lack of skill, progress, and/or conditioning is a common fallacy, though. Consider this thought experiment: you are a runner […]
Happy Monday Team! We had a great time at the MOC Sparring event at 8 Limbs Academy yesterday in West Philadelphia. Ken, Tre, and Ade all stepped into the ring and put on a fine showing. Fighting is a team sport, even though you go out there alone. Without a strong support […]
Avoid the “all or nothing” trap when it comes to fitness, health, training, or whatever. We can all be particularly manipulative to ourselves when we set our standards too high, knowing we can’t achieve them. It’s almost like we engineer our own failure just to avoid the hard work of actually sticking […]
What better day to discuss service than today, where we celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr? So often in martial arts we only see things through our own self-centered lens. We come to class to make ourselves better. We do what we think is best for us. We prioritize our well […]
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 […]
Let’s keep it real today fam. Resolutions are for quitters. The goal is not to commit to a resolution, but rather to reshape your lifestyle. The end of one year, and the beginning of another, create a great symbolic opportunity to address areas of your life that are unfulfilling. We are inspired to seek out […]
The training room is a high pressure, high intensity environment. And at some point, when we get through the initial on-boarding of how to actually train, we start engaging in live drills and even full, occasionally hard, sparring rounds. It’s easy to think that we are then working against our fellow students, rather than working with them. […]
Happy Monday Team! We are back after an arduous but fun and successful outing at Grappling Industries on Saturday. The team picked up 5 Gold, 1 Silver, and 3 Bronze medals in some highly competitive divisions. We are back competitively this Saturday with Isis Toledo in a grappling superfight! This week also brings some […]
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 […]
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 […]
I completed my high school wrestling career as a senior in the 130lb weight class as a nearly 6′ tall bundle of knees and elbows. I spent my entire high school athletic career being as tall and skinny as possible — I competed freshman year at 119lbs. When I stopped wrestling halfway through […]
Happy Monday Team! We have a rare break in the action this month with not much confirmed on our calendar. So let’s double down in training and really focus on the basics! I have some fun and important news for everyone as well: we have made some changes to our Jiu Jitsu […]
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 […]
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 don’t have a quantifiable metric to track (i.e. how […]
Happy Monday team! Have a little more for you to chew on today.. we are covering three topics in this newsletter so sit down with a cup of warm joe and make sure to get yourself up to speed! We are hitting the mats fresh off another successful weekend in competition. On […]
Happy Monday Team! Looking forward to another great week on the mats with you all. Don’t forget, Trevon Scales is competing this Saturday for Gut Check Championships in Hockessin, Delaware (about an hour from the gym). We have tickets available at the front desk! On Saturday, June 25th at 1pm, we will […]
Happy Monday Team! We have a beautiful week of training ahead of us, let’s get after it! Please remember we have an adjusted schedule for Memorial Day Weekend (see below). This will affect class times throughout the week starting this Wednesday. Please make sure to check, and double check, the schedule before […]
I originally wrote this in the early Spring of 2019, when we had just secured the large space we now call the “Thunderdome.” Prepping 3400 square feet (including demo) while also teaching a full schedule of classes was not easy 🙂 Novelty, Plateau, Reward. These are the stages of every endeavor. It’s funny, 15 […]
Picture this — you’ve been running around all day, and at your last stop you go to pull out your wallet to pay for something and, whoops, realize it’s missing. What do you do? A reasonable person would retrace their steps — can you tease out any moments where you might have taken […]
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 […]
WOW! What a weekend! I want to thank the students and coaching staff here for being integral ingredients in the recipe for Gianna, Tre, and Isis’ success this weekend. While our competition team is filled with highly motivated and gritty athletes, it’s the environment here that keeps them sharp and moving forward. Is […]
Happy Monday Team! Before I get into the run-down of our upcoming event schedule, I want to remind everyone that Friday night’s schedule this week (3.25) has changed: We’ll be running an open mat from 6-8pm. NoGi open mat starts at 6:30pm as normal. We are officially out of Winter! Every transition is a […]
We often confuse the idea of “toughness” with “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. Those big scary guys, well, sometimes they are tough. Other times, they […]
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 beyond that initial insecurity, we start focusing more on […]
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 […]
Hey Team! After a looooooong hiatus on my weekly newsletter, I’m back! I’m looking forward to sharing some of my own personal training experiences, insights, and tips here in “The Red Corner.” Traditionally speaking, the champion or higher ranked fighter would be assigned to the red corner — so it seems like an apt name for a place […]
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 […]
There are a lot of emotional benefits available to kids who study the martial arts. We’ve talked about some of them already, but today I’m going to talk about one that sometimes gets overlooked: Martial arts classes are a great place to make friends! Think about how most of us make friends. Friendships often start with commonalities, […]
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 […]
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 […]