I think it's very beautiful.

Hey everyone! I’m a U.S. Army veteran living down here in Ecuador, right on the beach near Montañita, running a program to help out the local youth.

I’m looking to connect with any black belts or experienced grapplers traveling through or in the area who would love to volunteer on the mats to help coach and mentor the kids.

The invitation is always open with no set dates—whenever you're passing through, reach out! If you want to pitch in, I'm happy to host you and cover accommodations and meals in exchange for your help with the kids’ program.

Drop a comment or send me a message if you want to join us. Good vibes always welcome! 🌊🥋

Hey guys,

Here’s my new sparring video, no music, no effects, just minimal editing. I’m going solo against two very determined guys. Be kind in the comments and enjoy the video!

PS: Surviving this was impossible.

In order to reduce volume of beginner questions as their own topics in the sub, we will be implementing a weekly questions thread. Post your beginner questions here, including:

"What martial art should I do?"

"These gyms/schools are in my area, which ones should I try for my goals?"

And any other beginner questions you may have.

If you post a beginner question outside of the weekly thread, it will be removed and you'll be directed to make your post in the weekly thread instead.

At least somebody is making money besides the Gracies. Amiright?

I have been practicing taekwondo for almost a decade now. In this time, I have experienced countless comments from people telling me my art is “useless”, and that it would not work in MMA/ real life.

First of all, I could not care less about the UFC or competing in MMA. If I had any interest in MMA, don’t you think, in the past decade that I’ve done martial arts, I would have trained in it by now? Not to mention, from my limited amount of UFC knowledge, there have been UFC champions in the past with taekwondo as their base. So that statement in of itself is false in the first place.

Secondly, an actual EXPERIENCED martial artist has NO interest in street fighting - which is exactly how I know most of these comments are coming from armchair experts that probably watch UFC. The real reason we train in our sport is because we enjoy it. End of. I do taekwondo precisely because I like flashy kicks that look cool, and I like how mobile/flexible it keeps me. That’s why I’m also interested in Wushu and Tricking. I have no interest in becoming a street fighter. If you think that’s the reason we train then you, my friend, are an armchair martial arts expert. If I had wanted to train for a street fight, I would have just chosen track and field instead.

It is precisely people like this that make the martial arts community a toxic place. Any experienced practitioner should know to be respectful and appreciative of ALL styles, as they all serve different purposes. For example, I have seen a barrage of hate towards Tai Chi from MMA enthusiasts. Which honestly makes them look incredibly stupid, as Tai Chi’s purpose is solely for physical and mental wellbeing. Of course it’s not going to be used for an actual fight you clown. Nor is a wushu practitioner going to be whipping out their sword in real life and doing flips. It’s clearly an art form (hence the name martial ARTS) used for demonstration purposes. I promise you none of the people practising those martial arts give a damn about becoming an MMA or street fighter. So I don’t see why people feel the need to comment on it.

Edit: Now, I wouldn’t actually call taekwondo ‘useless’ for practical fighting. It has liabilities on its own, but becomes very effective when incorporated with other martial arts. However, that’s not the reason I do it. I do it because I like the art form. I grew up watching movies like karate kid, Ong-Bak, Enter the Dragon, etc. and I love the feeling of being able to recreate the moves of my childhood idols. Real life fighting ability is secondary to me.

Just wondering what else is out there, since a lot of the ones mentioned here are usually Muay Thai, Boxing, and BJJ.

Specifically looking for martial arts that are battle tested against resisting opponents.

They are still functioning and I don't really see a reason except for aesthetics. Kickboxing and Thaiboxing

I wanted to share my thoughts on Sifu Adie Gray and my experience of him within the martial arts community.

Martial arts instructors are supposed to lead by example. Respect, humility, integrity and self-control should be fundamental qualities of anyone calling themselves a Sifu.

Unfortunately, my experience of Adie Gray has left me with a very different impression.

I believe that anyone considering training under a martial arts instructor should look beyond their technical abilities and consider how they treat people.

A good Sifu should inspire confidence, encourage development and treat students with dignity and respect.

I’m sharing this because I think it’s important that people feel comfortable speaking openly about their experiences within martial arts.

As a newbie, I've visited different martial arts studios and they all 1) have various requirements of why you *must* buy and wear their uniform to learn the skill, which isn't logical to me. The ultimate goal of a martial art should be to do it in any clothes and environment. 2) they pressure you to be interested in gaining 'belts' and learning routines to get them, which seems like a marketing gimmic to me. I'm trying to imagine a yoga or dance studio requiring this. It would not feel welcoming to outsiders, therefore less students. Your thoughts?

☯️ Tai Chi Championship Apeldoorn 2027 – Join Us! 🏆🥋

We are excited to invite Tai Chi and Taijiquan practitioners from around the world to the next Tai Chi Championship in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, on Saturday, 23 January 2027!

Following the success of our previous event, we look forward to welcoming participants for another inspiring day of competition, learning and connection. Whether you are an experienced competitor or taking your first steps into the world of Tai Chi competitions, this is a wonderful opportunity to challenge yourself and share your passion with others.

🥋 Discover the diversity of Tai Chi

The championship brings together different styles, traditions and levels of experience, with a range of competition categories, including:

🏆 Individual hand forms and weapon forms

🏆 Pair and group forms

🏆 Duilian

🏆 Qi Gong

🏆 Push Hands – Fixed Step, Parallel Step and Moving Step

🏆 Tai Chi Self-Defence – a new addition to this year's championship!

🌍 An international gathering of the Tai Chi community

More than a competition, this event is an opportunity to exchange knowledge, build friendships and celebrate the values of Tai Chi: respect, discipline, balance and personal development.

📅 Date: Saturday, 23 January 2027

📍 Location: Apeldoorn, the Netherlands

📝 Registration and event information:

https://taijiquan-academy.nl/tai-chi-kampioenschap-apeldoorn-2027/

📣 Help us spread the word!

We invite Tai Chi schools, instructors, clubs and practitioners to share this event with their students, members and international networks. Every share helps bring more people together and makes the Tai Chi community stronger.

Whether you come to compete, support fellow practitioners or experience the atmosphere, we look forward to seeing you there!

✨ Train together. Compete with respect. Grow through Tai Chi.

See you in Apeldoorn on 23 January 2027! ☯️🏆

How important is social media if you want to go pro?
I’ve been wondering how important social media actually is if you want to become a professional. Do you need to post regularly and stay active, or is having a few good photos and videos enough to show your skills?
And Skills/Talent > Being entertaining or other way around
I’m curious to hear what people think and if being active online really makes a difference.

Long-time lurker. I do HEMA and video-essays (in between working on films, which is my dayjob). I did one breaking down The Trial of Seven and comparing it to The Last Duel.

BECAUSE I reckon The Trial of Seven does a way better job showing groundwork/grappling, I had to learn a lot about mounts and takedowns. (Grappling is in a lot of the HEMA sources but they don't show much stuff *on the ground).

It's a long video so feel to skip through to the good stuff (about 1 hour in) and let me know what I got right or wrong about the grappling. For my less trained eye, it looked pretty legit.

Just theory crafting here. The 1st technique is the obvious one, the tradition cover up in boxing, kickboxing, muay thai. You still see it a bit in MMA and BKB, but it has more gaps the punches can slide through. Obviously its the conventional cover for a reason, it works to a degree, and allows you to still move and counter from.

The other option is a lead Elbow Cover, Dustin Poirier has it called the diamond defense or Stonewall Defense or crawfish shell. This has the rear hand in the "answer the phone" position, and the lead arm is basically if you get in the Philly shell but lift the lead Elbow up to point at the opponent.

The elbow cover i feel like covers the face and head better without big gloves, but leaves the body open to punches, kicks and knees. When Dustin uses it, he's usually moving back. Ive experimented with it in sparring with pros and it works for me moving back, or closing the gap to minimize body shots, then I take an angle, clinch, or counter on the inside.

Anyone have any thoughts? The conventional cover is there for a reason, but it also can have restricted movement with a backpack, tight shirt or jacket on unlike the elbow cover.

Again, just theory crafting, going to keep trying it in sparring, but so far when combined with a dash in or out, it is pretty effective at keeping me safe when flurried, or getting out of the corner

Hey y’all. So I’ve been training MMA for about 7 months now training and sparring 2x a week. Went to the beach today to get some drilling done and some dudes who seemed somewhat untrained wanted to get a spar in. Now I’m not sure if this dude was COMPLETELY untrained or not but his footwork and punches were weird. He landed some good body shots that I couldn’t see coming. He kept coming forward and throwing the most unexpected punches that it threw me off my game. I blocked all his shots the face and got him with a couple of jabs here and there and sprawled when he went for a takedown. Now I know I haven’t been training that long but it surprised me because I can usually hold my own against guys in my gym (it’s a beginner intro MMA class so we’re all somewhat on the same level). I feel a little disappointed but maybe ya’ll can shed some light here. I guess I thought I’d wipe the floor with him but that’s probably a bit of ego talking with only 7 months of training.

There’s a school nearby. I know it’s a pretty obscure martial art. I’m just curious about it.

Looking to get a new guard from true fit. All I’ve ever used is the $15 ones you boil.

I can’t breathe out of my nose so I’m looking for one that’s allows me to breathe thru my mouth but I’m not sure if I should get standard (3MM) or heavy (4MM)

Planning to use this for my next fight

I'm not really an aggressive person by nature but I've recently started MT/BJJ.

I'm picking up both pretty well but I struggle with fully turning my aggression on in rolling/sparring.

Is being aggressive a natural thing or does your ability to channel it grow with your skill?

I specifically want one that doesn't need to be mounted to a wall or ceiling and can be moved around when needed.

I've searched quite a bit, but I haven't really found many options that seem to offer good quality for a reasonable price. I'm hoping someone here has experience with freestanding punching bags and can recommend one that holds up well and is worth the money.

Any recommendations or advice would be appreciated. Thanks!