The Primal MMA Coaching Podcast

Oct 22 2024 64 ep. 82 mins 34
The Primal MMA Coaching Podcast artwork

The Primal MMA podcast brings together coaches, athletes, and sports scientists to discuss training and practice design for Mixed Martial Arts. Exploring the science of skill acquisition, human motivation, and sports psychology, the podcast seeks answers to the question, can we get better quicker?

  Sports  Health & Fitness  Science
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#53 - Philosophy, physics and phighting! - Andy from the School of Grappling FINALLY joins me to chat.

Oct 22 2024 109 mins  
Send us a textIn this episode, I’m joined by Andy from the School of Grappling, a coach and physicist whose analytical approach to no-gi grappling and wrestling has made him a respected figure in the sport. We discuss the science behind skill development, biomechanics, and training methods that align with the ecological approach. As the podcast nears its conclusion, I’m gratefu

#52 - Getting Emotional! - Dr Laura Cuijper's talks about the emotional aspects of training and performance.

Oct 14 2024 86 mins  
Send us a text In this episode of the Primal MMA Coaching Podcast, I sit down with Dr. Laura Cuijpers, an assistant professor at the University of Groningen, to explore the emotional and psychological aspects of martial arts training. We dive into Dr. Laura's work on agency, resilience, and the application of the ecological approach in self-defense, with a particular focus on women

#51 - Beyond Eco! - Sony Sahota on bridging Ecological Psychology with an Active Inference Framework.

Jul 30 2024 107 mins  
Send us a textToday I welcome Sonny Sahota from Praxis Gym in Canada. Sonny, a judo black belt and manager of Kensington Judo Club in Vancouver, shares his insights on integrating Ecological Dynamics and the Active Inference Framework (AIF) into martial arts coaching. Sony introduces some of the tenets these approaches, discussing how they inform skill acquisition, practice design,

#51 - It's complex, keep it simple! - Coach Rob Cole on playing the ecological long game.

Jun 28 2024 50 mins  
Send us a textCoach Rob Cole joins me today to talk coaching within an ecological dynamics framework.Rob is a long time mixed martial artist, globetrotters BJJ coach and a regular coach at Ascension Athletics in Connecticut.

#50 - Exploring Eco Psych and perception - Gray Thomas of U-Con on ecological Psychology and it's implications for practice and development.

Jun 11 2024 72 mins  
Send us a textGray Thomas joins me today to talk about the Ecological Psychology side of ecological dynamics. Gray is a PhD student at the university of Connecticut where he studies and researches Ecological Psychology. I enjoyed my chat with Gray and learn more about eco psych. The ecological approach really hangs on the theory of direct perception. Gray took some time today to ta

#49 - Pitching and Punching - Pittsburg Pirate Coach John Baker on an eco approach to Baseball, BJJ & MMA skill development.

May 30 2024 102 mins  
Send us a textToday's chat was with Pittsburgh Pirate's coach John BakerJohn is a former MLB player and current performance and skills coach alongside Andy Bass in the Pirates Baseball organization. Also a BJJ purple belt, Ecological dynamics advocate and MMA fan. We had a fun chat covering all things eco, baseball and combat sports.

#48 - Hot Off The Press - The Boys from Emergence talk about their recently published Ecological Approach to MMA Journal Article.

Mar 27 2024 95 mins  
Send us a textThe 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 Ke

#47 - "ACTION ~ perception" Coach James de Lacey on building action capacities for combat sports.

Feb 21 2024 56 mins  
Send us a textIn 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

#47 - All Choking Aside - Dr Andy Bass talks about self-talk, attention and focus and how these can interfere with us all on game day.

Feb 05 2024 95 mins  
Send us a textToday 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 des

#46 - The gimmicks of the Gram - Coach Jon Mackey returns to discuss agility ladders and other questionable training tools.

Nov 15 2023 109 mins  
Send us a textToday 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 ski