Pittsburgh Kids Martial Arts Blog - Steel City Martial Arts

Kids Martial Arts near Pittsburgh RSS Feed

Our New Competition Class, Tuesdays at 8pm

Competition season is around the corner for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Pittsburgh. To help our active competitors prepare to perform at this level, we have added a new competition class on Tuesday nights, 8pm to 8:45pm. We had our first class last night, and there was a lot of sweat on the mat when we finished. And we plan to keep that pace. If you trained with us last night, you already have an idea of what to expect from future classes. If you missed out, here’s what you need to know. Who can take the class?
The competition jiu-jitsu class is open to all active jiu-jitsu students. We aren’t enforcing a minimum rank or competition record either. At the same time, the class ....
Read more
Leg Locks at SCMA (or Please Don't Be "That Guy")

Leg locks are getting a lot of attention in the Jiu-Jitsu world these days. Many of us remember training in the “old days” when leg locks weren’t favored and, in some cases, actually were looked down on. Most today would agree that’s a shame, because leg locks can be wildly effective and they are a great way for a smaller person to gain additional leverage on a bigger opponent. In any case, regardless of how you view them, it looks like leg locks are here to stay and they are only going to get more popular over time. A Google Image Search for “Heel Hook”
I’ve done basic leg locks for a long time, but I never really considered myself a ....
Read more
Train Like a Family

Even before we first opened our doors many years ago, Steel City Martial Arts felt like a family. As soon as people heard we were working on opening a school, we had volunteers helping us clean and renovate our very first space. Since then, the SCMA family has continued to grow. Today, husbands & wives, mothers & fathers, and brothers & sisters share the mat with us every day. It’s an honor to have so many Pittsburgh families training together under one roof. Training Karate or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu provides a great way to challenge yourself as an individual. It’s good for your mind, and it’s good for your body. It challenges you to think proactively about ....
Read more
How to Get the Most Out of Seminars

At SCMA, we are fortunate enough to have martial artists from around the world visiting our school regularly. Sometimes they are just passing through on a vacation or on a work trip, and other times they stay for a bit longer to teach a seminar. Though these events happen regularly for us, you might be new and haven’t ever attended one before, or perhaps you’ve been around the block and just aren’t sure if seminars are worth it. A good seminar can supercharge your training if you approach it with the right mindset. If you go into a seminar unprepared, you might find yourself struggling to remember techniques a few weeks later or worse yet, not enjoying the special ....
Read more
New Year's Resolutions

Health researchers learned a long time that almost no one keeps their New Year’s Resolutions or reaches the New Year goals that they set for themselves at the start of the year. When this research first came out, no one was surprised. We all know people that talk a big game at the start of the year about everything they are going to do, but soon those dreams fade into the day-to-day grind of yet another year. You might have even been one of those people. Don’t fall into that trap again. This year, you can reach your martial arts and health goals, but you need the right mindset and the right plan. Here are some tips:
Set goals that are within your control.
Aspiring to earn ....
Read more
Learning from Failure

Growing up, I was one of three brothers. From as early as I can remember, everything was a competition. Who is the best at this video game? Who can get to the top of the hill the fastest? How punches hardest? Who can fit the most Warhead sour candies in their mouth? If you could somehow compare performance, it was game on. This competitive spirit has permeated most of my life. If I cared about something, I wanted to be the best at it. I had to compete, and I had to win. Winners got the trophies and the medals and the accolades while the losers were mostly forgotten. Unless you were competing with my brothers, then they’d gladly make your losing the butt of a daily (or hourly) joke. ....
Read more
Competition for the Pittsburgh Jiu-Jitsu Student

Jiu-jitsu in Pittsburgh is growing. There was a time when a jiu-jitsu tournament in our area was a rare blessing, and now we have three or four pop up near the city a year and can travel a relatively short distance to Ohio or West Virginia to compete in others. Even though the jiu-jitsu scene has improved over the years, we are still not as competition-oriented as cities like Los Angeles, Miami, or New York. This means that it’s easier for us to strike a balance between training for competition and training for the sake of training. Having that balance makes training much more accessible. We have students that are competition-focused. We have students that compete occasionally. And ....
Read more
5 Tips for Building a Jiu-Jitsu Gameplan

In jiu-jitsu, the suggestion to “have a gameplan” or to “stick to your game” is thrown around so often that sometimes we can forget to talk about what that actually means for your development as a grappler, which can be frustrating if you think you are supposed to have something but aren’t really sure what it is you are looking to develop. A gameplan is akin to having a strategy. You have a set of go-to techniques that connect together and support each other, ultimately creating a coherent “path” for you to follow. When a match starts, you know what kind of takedowns or guard pulls you are going to do, and for each position along the way you know ....
Read more
Everyone Needs Self-Defense

In the martial arts world, self-defense is usually tied to ideas like bully prevention or women’s self-defense. While these groups of people can certainly benefit from self-defense training, it can indirectly suggest that only someone small or not-exceptionally strong needs martial arts in their lives. Self-defense is for everyone—big, small, young, old, weak, strong, male, female, whatever. If you look at self-defense purely through the lens of winning a fight, you are missing the bigger picture: 1. Bully prevention is just as much about learning to defend oneself as it is about injecting positive influences into the community, for children and adults. Teaching people to ....
Read more
The Realities of Self-Defense Training

We often talk to people that are looking for self-defense classes in Pittsburgh. Some people reach out on behalf of their sons or daughters. Some inquire for themselves out of personal interest. And others want to augment their careers as security, military, or law enforcement professionals. For most Americans, an interest in self-defense classes comes about sooner or later. When we get these inquires , and they often include a variation of this question: “Do you offer a self-defense seminar or course?” While we teach self-defense in all of our martial arts class, we don’t offer pre-packed workshops because they give students just enough knowledge to get them into ....
Read more

Request More Information

By providing your number you consent to receive marketing/promotional/notification messages from Steel City Martial Arts. Opt-out anytime by replying STOP. Msg & Data rates may apply.

Blog | Steel City Martial Arts

Our New Competition Class, Tuesdays at 8pm

Leg Locks at SCMA (or Please Don't Be "That Guy")

Train Like a Family

How to Get the Most Out of Seminars

New Year's Resolutions

Learning from Failure

Competition for the Pittsburgh Jiu-Jitsu Student

5 Tips for Building a Jiu-Jitsu Gameplan

Everyone Needs Self-Defense

The Realities of Self-Defense Training

Request More Information

Charles B.

Chris C.

Mike S.

Request Information Now!