Promises to Keep

In his new blog, Marshal writes how a small note to himself got him through hard training times and why he's coming back to that practice today.
Marshal Carper
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The Illusion of the Super Athlete Upper Belt

Chris Henriques was a purple belt when I was a white belt. A tattoo artist and professional fighter, Chris was tough-looking in that he had tattoos up his scalp and a fight record to match, but he had a Hawaiian smile...
Marshal Carper
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Separating Knowledge from Physical Gifts

A meniscus (cartilage in the knee) repair, partial removal, or total removal may increase one’s risk of osteoarthritis and therefore likelihood of needing a total knee replacement. The number of patient who will expe...
Marshal Carper
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Distilling Technique Down to Concepts

All triangle choke entries involve one of two mechanics: You either pin the arm close to the body to enter the triangle position, or you extend the arm away from the body so that you can thread your leg out of the ga...
Marshal Carper
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Mastering the “When” of Technique

  When I was new to jiu-jitsu, a wide-eyed and bushy-tailed white belt, I struggled to grasp the idea of when to use a particular technique. I thought that if I mastered the series of steps that made up executing a mo...
Marshal Carper
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Chasing the Good Ol’ Days Magic

10 years ago, the jiu-jitsu scene in Pittsburgh was radically different. Where most cities—like New York or San Diego or Seattle—had attracted multiple black belts and sprouted thriving jiu-jitsu cultures, Pittsburgh...
Marshal Carper
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Pros and Cons of Gym Hopping

Over the course of the last ten years, jiu-jitsu schools and individual jiu-jiteiros have largely accepted that cross-training is a good thing. An instructor who salts the earth for students who dare visit a neighbor...
Marshal Carper
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The Bully Factor

These days, a good bit of my professional life is spent off the mat. I go to client meetings with construction contractors, lawyers, designers, and so on. And it seems like 1 out of 5 meetings involve someone strikin...
Marshal Carper
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A Jiu-Jitsu Journey Without Gold Medals

Many jiu-jiteiros begin training with aspirations of being a world champion, and I was no exception. So many of our heroes in the sport have incredible competition stories, and perhaps since we aspire to someday acqui...
Marshal Carper
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This Technique Doesn’t Work

Usually—and I have been guilty of this myself—this thinking is rooted in frustration. After many attempts to learn and apply a technique and failing, you give up on a move. Unfortunately, many fundamental techniqu...
Marshal Carper
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Coping with Contradictory Instruction

When you teach jiu-jitsu, you will routinely encounter uncomfortable situations. You might have to discretely tell someone that they need to trim their toenails. You might have to explain why pressing one’s chin into...
Marshal Carper
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Enhance Your Privates

In my early days of training, I was a broke college student. I convinced a few friends to start training around the time that I did, and the four of us would carpool for the hour drive from campus to the closest gym,...
Marshal Carper
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