SW Portland Martial Arts Blog

Leglocks!

May 3rd, 2025

It’s another month of leg locks and hey, let’s start with a helpful graphic of the 6 basic positions involved. Why 6? Well, because you’ve got to start somewhere. There are definitely more, of course, but let’s not go diving into the deep end just yet.

If you’re intimidated by learning 6 new positions in a month, learn less. Better to learn one of them well than 6 of them badly. If this is your second or third time around diving into leglocks, good – see if you can walk away with a little more depth.

Oh, and if you’re wondering where I got this idea from… it’s from this video.

 

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Spring Special

March 28th, 2025

Got a kid age 6-12 who is itching to try martial arts? Sign up now for only $30 and get unlimited training through 4/30.

That’s $130 off our normal monthly rate. In addition, should you choose to sign up after this amazing deal, we’ll give you 50% off your first month’s regular dues.

Deals, deals, deals!

Go to our kids intro page to sign up.

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All Together Now

March 22nd, 2025
All things for all people

Some folks may balk at all the different things that we offer as a gym. That’s fine. There is room for specialized gyms out there. We prefer the generalized model, doing a little bit of everything.
What does that look like? Well, hopefully the video tells the tale.

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Kick Catching

January 17th, 2025

In the fantasyland of martial arts movies, snatching kicks, punches, spears, and swords out of the air is common practice. Unsurprisingly, kids are particularly susceptible to the illusion that plucking strikes out of the air is a thing.

It’s completely possible to kick catch, it’s just most of the time, the kick has to actually land to make it catchable. That’s why on Wednesday, in the kid’s martial arts class, we practiced letting the kick hit us, moving with the momentum of it THEN scooping up the leg. While it might not look as cool as a Kung fu movie, it’s generally a more successful strategy.

 

 

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Fundamentals Class

January 11th, 2025

Starting in February, We’ll be running a “fundamentals” kids class for ages 8 and up. It’s on Tuesdays @5pm. There will still be the regular class in the big gym, replete with all the sparring, wrestling, and grappling that the students are used to… this is an additional class.
Why? Because there are students who are not ready for the rough and tumble of wrestling and sparring. This class will be all about technique and drills. We will work with partners but there won’t be any competitive sparring or wrestling.
All current students are welcome to take the class at no charge. New students can sign up for a package of the 4 Tuesdays in February for $80 here.

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