SW Portland Martial Arts Blog

Strength At Length

April 3rd, 2024

Do you struggle with persistent mobility issues that don’t respond to traditional stretching, foam rolling, or bands? You should sign up for Scott Hagnas’ Strength At Length seminar.

What is it? It’s a 6 week course designed to improve your functional mobility.

Who is it for? Anyone, of all ages and abilities, looking to improve their range of motion.

How much does it cost? $175 for members and $200 for non-members.

When does it meet? Sundays, starting 4/21 from 2-4pm.

Where does it meet? 6309 SW Capitol Highway – CrossFit Hillsdale.

Where is the registration and more info? On our events page. Hope to see you all there!

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Technique Triumphs

March 3rd, 2024

Want to be move faster? Improve your technique.

Want to lift heavier weights? Improve your technique.

Want to look cooler while you lift? Improve your technique.

How does good technique make you faster? Spend the time to trim off excess movement and you will be faster. Trimming off excess movement is efficiency, which is just another word for technique.

How does good technique help you lift heavier? If you understand how to position your body relative to the weight so that you can exert more leverage, you will be able to lift heavier weight. Leverage is just another word for technique.

How does good technique make you look cooler? Humans know good movement when we see it. We are all drawn to the beauty of a well executed athletic movement. A well executed athletic movement is just another way of describing technique.

So yes, technique triumphs. Don’t just yell louder as you do thrusters (unless that’s improving your technique), get the bar into a good rack position and transfer the power of your legs into the press.

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Themes of the Month

February 23rd, 2024

For our BJJ program, we have started doing monthlong blocks. What does this mean? Well, February has been (and continues to be, for another six days) half guard month. Why? It helps students and teachers alike get a little deeper into the meat of the art and I think, more importantly, it helps us all connect the dots a little more efficiently.

One of the tricky parts of BJJ (and indeed, any martial art) is the vast depth of techniques, positions, and strategies. This difficulty transfers to the communication of the art. How do you teach/learn such a deep thing? Do you focus on the basics? Do you expose students to a wide variety? Do you construct small games that center around core concepts? If the goal is to develop functional understanding, the answer to the dilemma must be: teach what helps people get better faster.

The themes seem to be helping people get better faster. Does this mean we have found the silver bullet? Heck no, because there is no silver bullet. We have found something that happens to work at this moment, for our gym. Undoubtedly, things will change. If they didn’t, I’d be worried.

For now though, I’m enjoying the half guard deep dive and hope everyone else is too. They at least say they’re enjoying it.

Posted in grappling, Martial Arts | Comments Off on Themes of the Month

2024 Winter Tournament

January 10th, 2024

Why do we do kid’s tournaments? So many reasons.

For one, they’re super fun. Almost all the kids walk away smiling (there is some disappointment, of course – not everyone gets a medal, but even many who don’t get a physical prize come away energized from the experience) and talking about what a great time they had.

Second, it’s a huge help for us coaches. We get to see if the training we are providing students functions under duress. Do the techniques, combos, and strategies work when another student is actively working against them? Can they speak and move with confidence when everyone is watching? We watch, take note, and adjust our coaching accordingly. Tournaments are an amazing feedback tool.

Third, it brings all the parents in to see what their kids have been doing. Undoubtedly the kids talk about their training at home and the parents have some idea of what is going on but this is a huge opportunity for the parents to see things in action. What is their child actually learning in martial arts class? What does this stuff look like?

Finally, it’s a great way to bring the whole community together. The adults in the martial arts program get to help out, kids of all ages get to see one another compete, and we even get students from our sister gym (North Portland Martial Arts) to come in and join in on the fun.

Want more info? Sign up on our kids camp and events page and join the fun.

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How Come the Teenagers Get Their Own Class?

January 8th, 2024


It’s not easy punching, kicking, and wrestling people. Stack on top of that the self-consciousness of a teenager and you often (but not always) have potential students who are completely against the idea of training with the “little kids” (everyone under 13) or with the “old people” (everyone 20 and up.) So what do you do?

You put some teens classes on the schedule. This doesn’t mean that students who are 13-19 have to train only in the teens classes. Anyone 13 and up is welcome to go to the adult classes. Those same teens are also welcome to train in the kids class. Whatever gets students on the training floor, so long as it is safe for everyone involved, is what we’re into.

What are the teen classes? Right now we’ve got 3 of them: Teen MMA Wednesdays @ 6pm, Teen MMA Saturday @ 11am, and Teen BJJ Sundays @ Noon.

Posted in Kids, Martial Arts | Comments Off on How Come the Teenagers Get Their Own Class?

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