Introduction

This is a guide for people whose primary interest is skill development in martial arts. The principles and methods here do have some carryover to other activities, but the focus is on non-striking combat sports like submission grappling.

You don't need to be an aspiring world champion to benefit from this Manual. I'm not, and never will be, a world champion—I just love martial arts and want to make the most out of the time I spend on the mats. It's written primarily for the benefit of my friends and training partners, but if you aren't satisfied with the status quo of how martial arts are taught, you're in the right place.

This is a collection of ideas about how to most effectively train and compete in a martial arts context, based on both scientific principles and my own opinions. No doubt some people will disagree with me on at least a few points. That's fine, disagreement is healthy. That being said, if you find even one thing that improves your martial arts experience, then reading this will be a net positive for you.

Background

I decided to write this after a long stretch of continuous competition training with a tight-knit group of fellow grapplers. The gym we train in is a unique place, where members are allowed to experiment whenever they want as long as they don't interfere with scheduled classes. Because we didn't have a structure set by any of the existing coaches, we had the freedom to create our own training environment.

What started as four regular training partners who got together for positional rounds a few times a week transformed into a group of over 20 within a few months. None of us expected it to reach this point, nor did I expect to be a coach. Even though I have experience coaching in other contexts, martial arts was something I pursued as a solitary activity until this emerged naturally at the tail end of my time at purple belt.

We didn't have a name early on, so I jokingly called it "Fight Club" when I created the first group text for coordinating sessions. That name stuck, and now the Fight Club has a Manual that compresses all the time we've spent training together into one place.