Secure your spot and get started today with our EXCLUSIVE offer!
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 RED CORNER NEWS AND UPDATES FROM THE NORTH STAR ACADEMY OF MIXED MARTIAL ARTS WEEK OF FEBRUARY 3rd, 2025 Happy Monday Team! Ah yes, February. The coldest and shortest month of the year. Thematically appropriate as this week’s newsletter is both short and kind of boring 🙂 As we roll into a new […]
CASTING SPELLS WEEK OF 2/3/25 Wizards, dragons, magic spells. The stuff of Fantasy, right? And an appropriate topic now that the A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is set to debut this year on HBO (a fantastic companion piece to the A Song of Ice and Fire written by George R. R. Martin). Previously […]
THE RED CORNER NEWS AND UPDATES FROM THE NORTH STAR ACADEMY OF MIXED MARTIAL ARTS WEEK OF JANUARY 27th, 2025 Happy Monday Team! Quick one for you today, as we don’t have much extra stuff in the pipeline over the next two weeks or so. Big thank you to everyone who came out this […]
NEVER LOSE YOUR TEMPER WEEK OF 1/27/25 Conversational phrases often pull from the martial arts’ vernacular. Things like “roll with the punches,” “take it on the chin,” and “don’t lose your temper.” As it pertains to the last phrase, tempering is a process used by bladesmiths to add some durability to the blade, so […]
THE RED CORNER NEWS AND UPDATES FROM THE NORTH STAR ACADEMY OF MIXED MARTIAL ARTS WEEK OF JANUARY 20th, 2025 Happy Monday Team! First things first, we are open as normal today despite the holiday! If we encounter any weather-related issues we’ll send out a separate e-mail/notification to make sure everyone is on board. […]
INVITATION WEEK OF 1/20/25 You don’t need an invitation to sit at the table. You just need to walk through the door and take your seat. You don’t need an invitation to go to bed earlier. You don’t need an invitation to train more. You don’t need an invitation to practice better habits. So, […]
THE RED CORNER NEWS AND UPDATES FROM THE NORTH STAR ACADEMY OF MIXED MARTIAL ARTS WEEK OF JANUARY 13th, 2025 Happy Monday Team! Writing you on the heels of a long and successful weekend of competition across both disciplines. Make sure to hit the links at the bottom for our Junior Samurai Stripe Challenge […]
PRE-PARATION WEEK OF 1/13/24 There are many lenses through which we can understand our human experience. Some of these are in the fossil record, others are in written history, and others are through the myths and legends that are passed down through the ages. But one that I particularly find useful is in the […]
THE RED CORNER NEWS AND UPDATES FROM THE NORTH STAR ACADEMY OF MIXED MARTIAL ARTS WEEK OF JANUARY 6th, 2025 Happy Sunday Team! I am incredibly excited to put the holiday stuff behind and get back to work in an serious and consistent way. For those of you that took a little break — […]
CARDIO ISN’T “PROGRESS” WEEK OF 12/30/24 …And being out of shape doesn’t mean you “fell behind.” This is the time of year when many of us are steeling our minds for the challenge of getting back into the groove of things. A big part of that is anticipating some difficulty in “knocking off the […]
Happy Monday Team! We are fresh off another week of intense competition and right back into the fire again! Congratulations to Tim Green, the 2024 ISKA Kickboxing Champion! Tim Green put on a killer performance this weekend in the ring, blending heavy pressure with smart footwork and impeccable defense. Coach Trevon Scales came up short […]
Happy Monday Team! My day-to-day teaching schedule is such journey between extremes. On one end, I teach the littlest students (ages 5+) and on the other I’m working with seasoned fighters. And, obviously, everything in between. As adults we can often be looking too far ahead into the future. To some distant time when everything […]
THE RED CORNER 02.05.24 NEWS AND UPDATES FROM THE NORTH STAR ACADEMY Happy Monday Team! We are back from a quick trip down South for Gianna’s MMA debut. We didn’t pick up that Hollywood ending but in these combat sports, you go out there and play your hand and sometimes come up short. […]
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 […]
Z THE RED CORNER RETURNS ON MONDAY! CLASS REGISTRATION AND ATTENDANCE TO BEGIN ON FEBRUARY 1ST Hey Team! Coach Jackson here — Wanted to give you all a few quick updates on what we’ve been cooking up in the back room (or, more appropriately, how we’ve been putting out the kitchen fires for […]
MONDAY MINDSET || 11.06.23 || PHILADELPHIA MMA Mental tips, tricks, and productive perspectives Monday Mindset: You’re Both The Driver — And The Mechanic Imagine this scenario: you’re behind the wheel of an F1 race car in the most important race of your life. You pull into the pit stop and the lead mechanic slaps a few things together then offers you a thumbs up. “Hey […]
THE RED CORNER || 11.06.23 || PHILADELPHIA MMA News and updates from North Star MMA in Philadelphia Happy Monday Team! We are going to be firing off on all cylinders until we reach the Thanksgiving Holiday, so buckle up and get ready to roll! Our full event lineup is as follows: 11.11 Tap Cancer […]
THE RED CORNER News and events here at north star mma Happy Monday Team! Lots coming up this second half of October. Yeesh. Rather than drawl on and on about it, I’m going to organize everything into neat little bullet points below for your reference: Gianna Vadino heads to Germany to represent the USA […]
FINDING THE RIGHT MMA GYM FOR YOU HOW YOU SHOULD PRIORITIZE THE QUALITIES OF EACH MMA SCHOOL NEAR YOU TO PICK THE PLACE THAT’S RIGHT FOR YOU As a gym owner, I’m forced to be somewhat capable in all areas — of course, being a black belt in BJJ and a retired professional […]
MONDAY MINDSET: SERVICE MARTIAL ARTS MINDSET FOR SUCCESS BOTH ON AND OFF THE MATS Too often we approach things we enjoy as if they exist to serve us. Truthfully (and to an extent, problematically), many of our pastimes and hobbies do. Video games, Netflix, snacking — these are indulgent behaviors and often serve their purpose well. For […]
Happy Monday Team! We had an amazing turnout this Saturday for our Fall PRO/AM Invitational Sparring Meetup. Over 55 athletes, with over 230 combined bouts, were in attendance from the region’s top competitive gyms. Getting together for some friendly but hard rounds is what it’s all about! We’re already halfway through September (and the beginning […]
Monday Mindset: The Power of Self-Belief Earlier last week, I remarked how spectacularly Sean Strickland would likely fail on Saturday against the incumbent UFC Middleweight Champion, Israel Adesanya. And I wasn’t alone — Vegas odds had Strickland over +400 and the MMA community largely regarded this as a “shoe-in” for The Stylebender. Well, wouldn’t you […]
Monday Mindset: Labor Day Today we’ll divert from the usual routine and instead take a moment to honor the members of our community here who are out there getting things done every day. The first responders, construction workers, truck drivers, and so on. The people who rarely get the spotlight but keep the wheels of […]
Happy Monday Team! We are CLOSED today for regular classes, but we’ll be hosting an open mat from 10am – 12pm (approximately). All students are welcome to attend and mess around on the mats! We’ll be running 5 minute rounds on the timer and the rest is up to you. Have any family or friends […]