BJJ Amersfoort blog with Drs Erik Hein
In the past decade, there has been an (r)evolution in the martial arts world. The popularity of MMA(mixed martial arts) skyrocketed, and in its wake, new grappling sports gained prominence and popularity. Also, time-honored wrestling experienced a marked revival. The multitude of techniques and physical characteristics demanded today makes the sports in question interesting in their own right, but also offers enormous potential to the sport in
broad sense, exercise education, resilience training and counseling.
The grappling (r)evolution Hybrid martial arts have much to offer sports and exercise education
Erik Hein
In a two-part article, I hope to spark your enthusiasm
for all these possibilities. For example, whether you are a strength & conditioning trainer in sports, physical education teacher, resilience trainer or psychomotor therapist, the multitude of modern martial arts variants offers something for everyone.
Introduction
In this first part, I give you behind grounds on the rise of MMA
and, in its slipstream, some popular grappling sports, such as Brazilian jiu jitsu (BJJ) and submis- sion grappling. The revival of wrestling will also be discussed. In part two, I will describe the ten basic forms and the five core skills of grappling and discuss a methodology and didactics for offering grappling in sports and exercise education, among others.
Grappling
The term grappling will not yet sound very familiar to the average Dutch sports fan. The dictionary gives "grappling.
as the first translation, but grappling
is much more than wrestling (Greco-Roman or free style) as we know it traditionally. Externally, though, there is a kinship. The term grappling is an umbrella term in the martial arts world for all variants in which body to body fighting in an attempt to 'put the opponent under' is central. Stoeien' is a Dutch term that covers the same ground.
What is the most effective combat sport?
To understand the rise of grappling sports, some histo rical knowledge is necessary. Indeed, on Nov. 12, 1993, the martial arts world paused for a moment. It would finally become clear which form was most effective. Who wins in a spor tive fight with minimal rules: the boxer, karateka, kickboxer, kung fu practitioner or wrestler? Or will the surprise come from yet another angle? More on this later, but on that particular day, grappling sports regained their respect and would be starting a worldwide rise.
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Many modern grappling forms do not require a special suit, making them low-impact accessible for sports, exercise education and other applications.
but to make a plausible case that grappling is much more than just judo.
First, the high profile of judo ensures that grappling is primarily associated with this specific form of expression. In movement education or in modern visions such as the Athletic Skills Model5 , grappling consists mainly of judo and the other traditions remain out of the picture. From the objective of giving young people in exercise education and sport a broad introduction to the existing exercise culture, a more colorful offer than just judo is desirable in my opinion. I see a clear added value in offering a broader window
on the grappling world to young (as well as, for that matter, adult) athletes so that they not only become acquainted with Japanese martial movement culture.
Suit or no suit?
Second, the focus on judo suit ("gi") techniques is a major limitation. First, because in self-defense situations in real life no one wears a suit, and judo suits are almost never available in exercise education either. When using grappling forms as training for other athletes (such as rugby players, handball players and soccer players) there are usually no suits available either and other wrestling forms are actually closer. An an der consequence of training in a judo suit is that many other skills,
we know from other traditions, remain underexposed. Grappling zon der suit requires very different skills and makes different physical demands.6 Greco-Roman wrestling, no gi BJJ and submission grappling are specifically focused on this and have a whole curriculum for it!
Third, fewer and fewer techniques are allowed within judo
as a competitive sport than in the original curriculum. Many beautiful, effective techniques have been banned,
Body to Body
As mentioned, grappling is a form of martial arts that focuses on body to body combat
. The goal is to dominate the opponent standing or on the ground through positions, holds and clamps.1 Pankration was the first grappling sport in the history of the Olympics and is far similar to today's MMA.2 Grappling as a game behavior is as old as mankind itself3 and many cultures have their own traditions. From Greco-Roman wrestling to Russian sambo, Japanese judo
and the similarly Japanese sumo. In addition to the Olympic grappling disciplines of wrestling and judo, there are many an
dere grappling forms, including Brazilian jiu jitsu and submission grappling. Also, grappling is an important part of MMA.
In his book Educating by Frolicking,4author Yos Lotens says, "When young people and animals want to let off steam, they go to frolic. But frolicking is more than just a way to
get rid of your excess energy. It is an important aspect of (exercise) education'.
More than just judo
In Western Europe but certainly not
in Eastern Europe, the immense pre-modern Soviet Union and the USA, Olympic wrestling slowly declined in the last century. At one point, the sport had only a handful of practitioners. The
'From the objective of giving young people in exercise education and sports a broad introduction
in the existing movement culture
is, in my opinion, a more colorful offering than just judo is desirable.
grappling tradition was sustained primarily by judo. This identification of grappling with judo unfortunately has a number of drawbacks, which I will discuss below. Not to disparage judo,
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Photo: Shutterstock
TRAINING
including wrestling throws and take downs, as well as foot and leg-over stretches. As a martial sport, judo has lost versatility as a result.
Self-defense
Fourth, judo has also lost some of its value from the perspective of self-defense. It has really become a sport, disconnected from the reality outside the dojo. In most judo schools, there is no longer a focus on self-defense and therefore no curriculum in this regard. Indeed, typical match tactics in judo, such as sitting in buck or lying on your belly defensively, are highly undesirable in self-defense situations. Also, the emphasis on standing throws makes judo largely disproportionate in self-defense situations. If you fall from a throw on the street, you are at great risk of serious injury. Unlike judo, grappling forms like BJJ still have an explicit self-defense curriculum. BJJ also makes less use of hard/
high throws and is more focused on control techniques. This makes these grappling forms easier to use in
training apprehension and self-defense skills by civilians and violence professionals. Fifth, the competition rules of judo limit ground work because little time is given for it. As a result, judo has become primarily a standing form of grappling, whereas groundwork offers so much potential as a form of grappling. Moreover, standing grappling is physically demanding and technically difficult.
body, partly because of the throwing and especially the falling. This makes it relatively inaccessible as a training form for practitioners of other sports and especially for the somewhat older athlete. Groundwork, in particular, offers many opportunities to grappling safely and without falling. The
Figure 1 | A wide variety of techniques (right) from a wide range of martial arts forms (left) come together in MMA.11
American judo coach Jimmy Pedro (1999 world champion and four-time OS participant) says: 'Judo is a hard sport for adults to do, especially in terms of falling. You have to be pretty athletic for it.' BJJ is much more accessible to the older athlete.7
Grappling versus striking
Although judo emerged as the dominant form of grappling pling in Western Europe in recent decades, like the other grappling variants it suffered from the increasing popularity of the so-called striking arts: initially karate and taekwondo, later mainly kickboxing. Judo seemed more and more especially suitable for children and as a pure competitive sport. Boxing, kick boxing and karate were considered superior to grappling in open combat. Until that November twelfth in 1993. To understand that a little better, let's take a step back in time and end up in Brazil.
The Gracie Family
True to the tradition of martial arts masters, Brazilian Helio Gracie (19132009) was petite, light (61 kg) and weak of health. He learned jiu jitsu and judo from Japan ners and refined their techniques.8
In 1951, he fought the top judoka of the time, Masahiko Kimura, in a packed stadium. Helio lost the fight on a shoulder lock, which has since been called the kimura . Bolstered by this defeat, the Gracie family continued to practice their martial art then called Gracie jiu jitsu
further development. They challenged anyone to compete against them in fights with few rules and no weight classes. It is important to note that the Gracias very consciously sought a jiu jitsu ("soft art" or "smooth technique"): more emphasis on technique and less on physical strength. This philosophy would later play a role in whether or not to go along with the trend of modern physical training.
Helio's eldest son Rorion brought the
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Brazilian jiu jitsu to the U.S., where he once again challenged everyone to compete against him. This was recorded on video and thus the Gracie Challenge was born. Any one who thought his martial art was effective could test it out, always with the same result: on your ass on the ground and tapping out on a clamp or strangulation. But still the martial arts world thought strikers were better than grapplers and that karatekas, taekwondokas, boxers and kickboxers would make up for those grapplers. Until Nov. 12, 1993, when the birth of MMA shook up the combat sports world.9
Mixed martial arts
Royce Gracie was the youngest and least physical member of the Gracie fami
lie. Without any injuries and purely on technique, he defeated a boxer (Art Jimmerson), a Dutch full contact karate topper (Gerard Gordeau) and a submission wrestler (Ken Shamrock) in succession on that November 12th. Three wins in one night, with no weight classes! Gracie would repeat this feat at several tournaments, also tapping Dutch judoka and jiujitsuka Remco Pardoel from Oss on a strangulation. How could this happen? How could such a light jiujitsuka win over heavier and physically stronger strikers? What exactly was he doing there on the ground? Tournament after tournament, Gracie remained the superior fighter as no one was able to solve the puzzle yet.
Professional martial arts
Today, just under thirty years later, MMA is one of the highest-paid and most professional combat sports, with explosive growth, matches at the hallowed Madison Square Garden (New York) and packed stadiums on every continent. On sports channel ESPN, re cord figures with pay per view . Worldwide, both grapplers
as strikers from all martial arts disciplines from ever making their debut in MMA.
In terms of regulation, the largest MMA organization (UFC: Ultimate Fighting Championship) meets the strictest requirements, including a tight anti-doping policy organized by the United States AntiDoping Agency (USADA). Like boxing in the past, MMA has its own "Muhammad Ali" and "Mike Tyson. Only now they are called Connor McGregor and Ronda Roussey (former judo champion). McGregor challenged undefeated world boxing champion Floyd Mayweather in
2017 in the biggest money fight of all time. He lost in the tenth round of the ge fight, but was able to add millions of dollars to his bank account. It marks the immense popularity of MMA.
Sports Science
In the combat sports world, MMA is at the forefront of sports science research. For example, there is the UFC Performance Institute, where state of the art training, medical and sports science guidance and research takes place. Dr. Duncan French is the institute's vice president of performance and has the sports science optimization of MMA as his mission. French is also editor of the recent NSCA (Natio nal Strength & Conditioning Associa tion) "bible," titled "NSCA's essentials of sport science. "10 He is a student of NSCA pioneer Prof. William Kraemer and brings years of Olympic experience to MMA. In 2021, the Performance Institute released the second "Cross-sectional performance analysis and projection of the UFC athlete .
Figure 2 | Vertical alignment is considered the ideal model for the integrated training of MMA skills.11
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TRAINING
An impressive effort physiological, nutritional, injury prevention and tactical analysis of the modern all round martial artist.11
MMA is abundant in terms of research in authoritative science journals, including those of the NSCA. MMA is a great sports science challenge because it is a mix of striking and grappling martial arts, with sometimes opposing physical demands. You could call it the "decathlon among martial arts. These internal contradictions make MMAtrai ning a very challenging puzzle, forcing sports science to research and innovate.
The first piece of the puzzle is how to integrate all these skills from different domains (see figure 1) into a coherent training program. The second piece of the puzzle is the vertical alignment of all trainers and coaches from the many disciplines involved. This current sports science process within MMA training is very interesting for coaches in other complex sports.
The third piece of the puzzle is the physical side of this multifaceted mix. How do you align the physiological requirements of all the different disciplines? For example, MMA athletes can train wrestling as well as boxing, and these activities require different physical idiosyncrasies.12 In addition, there is also the supporting physical training, which again must be diverse because the standing phase has different physiological characteristics than the clinch phase and ground combat. For those who want to read more about the exercise physiolo gic and training aspects of this most comprehensive fighting sport, I have included some suggestions1115 in the bibliography. MMA has no fixed, preknown
the competition calendar. Therefore, athletes should always be base fit for when competition is offered. The majority of
athletes then goes into "fight camp" for 612 weeks. So what is effective periodization? "16 A puzzle that will also appeal to coaches from other complex sports.
The importance of MMA
As with boxing and kickboxing before, there are several ethical questions to be asked of a full contact combat sport like MMA. And those questions are certainly being asked.17 The reality is, however, that MMA, like kickboxing before it, is very popular and apparently suits the psychological and sociological needs of practitioners18 and spectators. In the article "The Nordic female fighter "19 the authors see opportunities for women to use MMA as an emancipatory tool: "MMA women have the potential to act as female role models through their counterhegemonic negotiation of norms and views of 'traditional' femininity and, more specifically, the perception of femini nity as something fragile and passive.
Here is MMA's progressive potential.' The fact is that this martial arts momen teel is attracting many athletes and re creants worldwide and in its wake has (re)revived many other martial arts.
Positive consequences
The rise of MMA has produced a number of positive effects. First, due to its all-round nature, MMA has reunited the striking and grappling traditions. In movement education and sports, a distinction is often still made between striking and punching games, but these can also be practiced in an integrated manner as a fighting game or combat sport. In education these mixed forms do not have to be taught as a competitive sport.
offer, but rather they are just fine as an all-around self-defense game.20
Second, MMA has opened, brought together and emancipated the combat sports world. Opened and brought together because MMA has created tremendous interest in crosstraining. Because the game is so broad and cannot be solved by any one martial arts discipline, go
The MMA curriculum
MMA is a mix of "striking" and "grappling," and these skills are fed from many different martial arts. In terms of game play, MMA has three phases:
The standing phase, in which mainly punch and kick techniques and takedowns on long and
shorter distance are performed. The techniques for this phase come mainly from striking sports, with kick and Thai boxing, boxing, karate and taekwondo as dominant manifestations. Takedowns from free-style wrestling also fall into this phase.
The clinch phase, or body to body combat, in which the main objective is to immobilize, unbalance and bring the opponent to the ground. The techniques for this phase come mainly from Greco-Roman wrestling and sambo, judo and BJJ. Judo is an effective method here, although the techniques must be adapted because there is no judo suit. Short punch and knee techniques from kickboxing can also be used in the clinch phase.
In the ground phase, the goal is to force the opponent to surrender through, in particular, arm and leg clamps, chokes and punching techniques. If the athlete can no longer defend himself or does not "tap out," the referee ends the fight. The techniques for this phase come mainly from wrestling, sambo and BJJ.
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athletes look at and learn from the many individual martial arts. For striking techniques, one can study boxing, kickboxing or karate, and for grappling, athletes look to judo, BJJ and wrestling, among others. Whereas before, the martial arts were separate worlds,
there is now ongoing interaction and mutual interest and respect. Cross-training brings together more people from diverse athletic and cultural backgrounds and encourages innovation and mutual understanding.
The aforementioned emancipation means that teachers and organizations can no longer hide behind black belts, secret techniques and "the only truth. A common laboratory has emerged with MMA, in which anyone who claims that his martial art is the most effective
Is can realistically test this out. Also, you only have to look at the history of MMA to get an idea of what works and what doesn't work in
a sports fight. This means that anyone can join and hierarchical structures of bands and gurus have less influence. Also, no longer is only everything from the East worthy of respect. Martial arts from the West and other parts of the world enjoy just as much respect again.
Third, MMA has revived wrestling in all its cultural manifestations and given it a huge boost. This is obviously posi tive for the sport of wrestling itself, but also because it has revived a cultural inheritance with physical and (developmental) psychological value.
Brazilian jiu jitsu
Earlier, the origins of BJJ have been described as the Gracie family's attempt to make judo and jiu jitsu more efficient and less physical. The four strategic steps in BJJ are as follows:21
1. Take the fight to the ground: here power and explosiveness play a smaller role and the dangerous impact weapons are partially eliminated;
2. Dodge your opponent's legs, as they are dangerous; 3. Move through a hierarchy of
positions to the most dominant
obtain position;
4. Let the opponent surrender
ven by submission: clamp, strangulation or psychological surrender.
BJJ hereby assumes a hierrar chie of ground positions that represent real combat value outside of BJJ as a competitive sport. The higher the hierarchical value, the more opportunities the position would offer in a real fight. Table 1 describes the hierarchy of ground positions.
As the name implies, in the "top" positions you are "on top" of the opponent and in the "bottom" positions you are the underlying party. Top positions are high in the hierarchy, neutral positions offer opportunities for both sides. The best-known example
is the guard position: your opponent is between your legs and may be "on top," but you can still apply tilt techniques and submis sions very effectively. However, the opponent can also pass and move to higher-valued positions.
'Gi' and 'no gi'
BJJ has both a "gi" (with suit) and a "no gi" form (without suit). Typically, both are practiced.6 The no gi variant has a greater transfer to fisticuffs, as well as to self-defense and application in MMA.
BJJ after MMA
After starting the MMA revolution, BJJ would continue to spread around the world in five directions:
- as the dominant martial arts variant
within MMA;
- as a competitive sport in its own right; - as a resilience and self-reinforced
diging method for, among other things
citizens and first responders;
- as a psychosocial intervention;
- as a frolic for young and old.
BJJ in MMA
About BJJ in MMA we
have already talked about it. Nowadays, all fighters are training in the techniques
and so BJJ is no longer dominant. There is formidable competition from wrestlers and samba wrestlers who have deciphered BJJ. Strikers are also getting better at holding off the clinch and ground fight. However, mastery of BJJ techniques is still a must in MMA!
BJJ as a sport
BJJ has evolved worldwide as a competitive sport and has in
Dominant position
Neutral
Inferior position
Table 1 | Hierarchy of land positions in the BJJ.
Back mount on opponent
Mount on opponent
Knee on belly on opponent
Side control on opponent
Top turtle position
Guard top / in guard
Turtle position below
Side control under
Knee on belly below
Mount under
Back mount under
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TRAINING
ternational competition variants with and without judo suits.22,23 The Interna tional Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) uses competition times of 510 minutes for adults, depending on age and graduation. The match begins standing, as in judo and wrestling. Scores can be scored at that stage with throws or takedowns. Once one is on the ground, the fight continues. Unlike judo and wrestling, the match is not over after a throw or hold, but the fight continues. Points are earned by capturing ground positions and the fight is won by submission (clamp or strangulation). BJJ as a competitive sport is open to techniques from other traditions, so there is a continuous global exchange with other grappling forms such as wrestling, sambo, judo, and so on. Because of the no gi variant, BJJ is not tied to the judo suit, making it accessible to, for example, education, sports and all those other places where judo suits are not available.
BJJ as self-defense
BJJ has also traditionally focused on realistic self-defense and is used worldwide by police and defense forces, among others. Many BJJ organizations have a specific self-defense curriculum, with much emphasis on exerting control and minimal use of physical force. Because BJJ works without a suit, there is a link
is with MMA and the techniques are naturally focused on "the street," the transfer to resilience training is easily made.
BJJ as a psychosocial intervention
Studies on the psychosocial possibilities of BJJ are gradually becoming available. Practitioners appear to learn important life skills through BJJ, with a positive transfer to ordinary life.24 Mentioned are: respect for others, perseverance
ability, self-confidence and healthy habits. Here, the trainer and fellow athletes are the main influencers. This is mainly an implicit learning process and thus not an explicitly established life skills program. BJJ is also successfully used as (body-oriented) therapy and as an intervention for PTSD.2527
BJJ as a form of combat for young and old
BJJ as a romping game is more accessible and longer lasting than the standing grappling, hard throws and frequent falls in judo or wrestling. The sport is characterized by a relaxed family atmosphere and a high level of community. BJJ is unique because of its underlying philosophy of technique, efficiency and control and because of the fact that it also attracts older athletes. Especially the sco ring system, where you can earn points per position, make it extremely suitable as a fighting game, because it can be moved through and it does not end with a hold.
The revival of wrestling
As described, strikers in MMA initially came up hopelessly short. As a boxer, kickboxer or ka rateka, you were on your back in no time. Free-style and Greco-Roman wrestlers began to be more successful earlier, as they were used to defending takedowns and throws. They were able to counter BJJ more and more, although at first they still couldn't get away with the ground submissions. After all, in wrestling you pin your opponent to the ground and that's it. In MMA, that's where it starts and you have to tap your opponent. Especially the Russian sambowrestlers gradually got better at the game and added intimidating leg and ankle clamps.
Due to the ever-increasing profes sionalization and the large flows of money
it became more attractive for wrestlers to focus on MMA.
Many top Olympic-level wrestlers successfully stepped into the sport. As a result, martial arts wrestling regained its respect. In addition, the media coverage of MMA greatly increased the attention paid to wrestling as an independent sport. Dagestan wrestlers in particular have recently enjoyed an almost mythical status, culminating in Khabib Nurmgamedov's win over Connor McGregor. Nurmgamedov is still undefeated and seems capable of easily dominating American wrestlers as well with his specific samba techniques.
Wrestling has a rich curriculum of skills ranging from takedowns to pins. You can practice it without a judo suit and it is directly applicable in sports and movement education.
Submission grappling (SG)
After the success of BJJ in MMA, there was also a revival of other grappling forms. Not everyone wanted to grappling in a white or blue suit and be bound to the graduation system (with colored belts) of BJJ, judo or traditional wrestling. People just wanted innovative and accessible dueling, with techniques that could come from anywhere. SG is therefore a mix of all possible grappling forms, which can be practiced without a suit and without a wrestling outfit, but simply in
a Tshirt and sports pants. The goal is scoring through throws and takedowns and, above all, striving for submissons on the ground. SG most closely resembles what we generally understand by romp. The sport now has worldwide organizations and betting circuits, and pros can make a living at it. The beauty of SG is its great accessibility to grapplers from different sports.
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Grappling and broad motor training
Grappling skills can be of positive value to other sports, for example, from the perpective of broad motor education. Ronald Mijzen and Ronald Joorse have been working together for 15 years within the youth training program of Ajax Football Club. Martial arts is an important part of their performance program to turn youth players into all-round athletes. They use romping in top sports for four reasons:
- Becoming groundproof : if athletes
are not afraid of the ground and thus dare to fall, they have much more freedom in their movements. For example, you will not make a turn if you are afraid of falling.
- Becoming contact-proof : not fearing the impact of other bodies while exercising.
Preparing for strength training: the youngsters use romping games to make their bodies functionally stronger and as a bridge to strength training, initially with their own body weight and later with additional resistance.
Teambuilding: because you have each other
1 Øvretveit K & Laginestra FB (2021). Mechanisms and trainability of peripheral fatigue in grappling. Strength and Conditioning Journal, 43 (4), 918.
2. Georgiou AV (2008). Pankration A historical look at the original mixedmartial arts competition. Black Belt Magazine, April 2008, 9297.3. Bult P (1994). Exercise education as an evolutionary problem. The development of physical education and sports programs from an evolutionary biology perspective. Academic dissertation, University of Groningen.
4. Lotens Y (2013). Educating by frolicking (2nd revised edition). Rijswijk: Elmar. 5. Wormhoudt R, Teunissen JW & Savelsbergh G (2013). Athletic skills model. For optimal talent development. Arko Sports Media.
6. Pessôa Filho DM et al (2021). Energetics contribution during nogi Brazilian jiu jitsu sparring and its association with regional body composition. PLoS ONE, 16 (11), e0259027.
7. Lex Friedman podcast #236 Jimmy Pedro: Judo and the forging of champions.
8. Peligro K (2003). The Gracie way: an illustrated history of the world's greatest martial arts family. Invisible Cities Press.
9. SouzaJunior TP et al (2015). Mixed martial arts: history, physiology and training aspects. The Open Sports Sciences Journal, 8, 17.
10. French D & TorresRonda L (eds.) (2021). NSCA's essentials of sport science. Human Kinetics.
11. UFC Performance Institute (2021). A cross-sectional performance analysis and projection of the UFC athlete.
12. Plush MG et al (2021). Developing a comprehensive testing battery for mixed martial arts. International Journal of Exercise Science, 14 (4), 941961. 13 Andrade A et al. (2019). Physical and training characteristics of mixed martial arts athletes: systematic review. Strength & Conditioning Journal, 41, 5163.
14. Plush MG et al. (2021). Exploring the physical and physiological characteristics relevant to mixed martial arts. Strength & Conditioning Journal, online ahead of print, doi: 10.1519/SSC.0000000000000649.
touch and not just sport past each other, grappling works extremely well as a team-building activity. You feel each other's bodies and thus the abilities of your teammates. Also in handball and rugby, among others, in which body-to-body combat is a part of the sport, grappling can have great added value.
Just as Mijzen and Joorse use sections from other sports to train all-around athletes, they do the same in romping. 'From judo we mainly use ground combat, but we also use forms like sumo wrestling. We don't want to turn them into judokas, but better movers, using all forms of frolicking.
The methodology used by Mijzen and Joorse in this regard is as follows:
- Frolicking with material (think pull and push forms): this involves unintentional physical touches as an introduction to contact with others;
- Compete for material: here the focus is on conquering the material, but you naturally touch the other person to get to that material;
- Frolicking around the body: having to hold each other down and wanting to get loose, i.e. the pure form of grappling.
Continued
I hope I have been able to awaken your enthusiasm for grappling as a sport in its own right, but especially as a source of exercise material for a variety of other applications. In the second part of this article, I will elaborate on those applications for a variety of purposes.
About the author
Erik Hein is a regular contributor to Sport-oriented. He is a movement scientist, registered epidemiologist and psychologist (i.o.) and has years of experience as a teacher at the MBO Sport en Bewegen, at the Natio nal Police and within many martial arts, resilience, fitness and personal trainer trainings. He currently works as a first responder trainer and researcher and as a teacher at the Academy of Physical Education in Amsterdam.
15. Plush M (2021). Understanding physical and physiological characteristics in mixed martial arts athletes. Master's thesis, Edith Cowan University (AUS).
16. James LP, Kelly VG & Beckman EM (2013). Periodization for mixed martial arts. Strength & Conditioning Journal, 35 (6), 3445.
17. Holt J & Ramsay M (eds.) (2021). The philosophy of mixed martial arts. Squaring the octagon. Routledge.
18. Green K (2016). Tales from the mat: narrating men and meaning making in the mixed martial arts gym. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 45 (4), 419450.
19. Alsarve D & Tjønndal A (2019). 'The Nordic female fighter': exploring women's participation in mixed martial arts in Norway and Sweden. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 55 (4), 471489.
20. Slaats C (1996). All round self-defense games for secondary schools (1st ed.).
21. Joe Rogan Experience Podcast - JRE MMA Show #111. John Danaher.
22. Øvretveit K (2108). Anthropometric and physiological characteristics of Brazilian jiujitsu athletes. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 32 (4), 9971004; erratum in 32 (5), e7.
23. Andreato LV et al (2017). Physical and physiological profiles of Brazilian jiu jitsu athletes: a systematic review. Sports Medicine - Open, 3 (1), 9.
24. Chinkov AE & Holt NL (2016). Implicit transfer of life skills through participation in Brazilian jiu jitsu. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 28 (2), 139153.
25. Mickelsson TB (2021). Brazilian jiujitsu as social and psychological therapy: a systematic review. Journal of Physical Education and Sport, 21 (3), 15441552. 26. Weinberger K & Burraston T (2021). Benefits of Brazilian jiujitsu in managing posttraumatic stress disorder: a longitudinal study. Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship, 13 (4), article 11.
27. Collura GL (2018). Brazilian jiu jitsu: a tool for veteran reassimilation. PhD dissertation, University of Florida.