Strength & Speed

Strength & Speed is opening the application window for their 8th S&S Developtment Team. Each year has brought success to our athletes with a list of different benefits that change but also expand slightly every year. In the past the team has included accomplishments such as athletes getting their first sponsors, several becoming ambassadors for brands and many hitting new PRs including first Ultra-OCR win, first win, first podium at a national series, first c...

After deep diving into Tiga Tactics’ suite of online courses over the last year, I decided to attend one of their in person seminars May 14-15 in Baltimore. While I’ve trained at several different martial arts gyms and been to seminars held at those locations, this was my first time traveling to a seminar. Here’s how I thought it went, some takeaways and if you should attend one...

Martial arts training in the military has evolved several times over the years. One of the most iconic knives from the military appeared in World War II, the Sykes-Fairburn knife. Usually sold as an all-black dagger, the outline is identifiable easily to anyone that likes knives. The knife was named after two men, one of them being British Lt Col William Ewart Fairburn, who made a knife fighting training video. Than...

No doubt if you have been to this website before you have seen the teaser trailer for the Ultra-OCR Man documentary that is on our main landing page and is the banner of our Facebook page. After a slow 2020, shooting has finally concluded in 2021, so we wanted to share a quick update with you on the documentary filmed/edited and produced by Bobby Ross from Stoke Shed.

According to journalist Malcolm Gladwell, it takes an average of 10,000 hours of practice to achieve mastery. Whether you are practicing for sports, music, Obstacle Course Racing or in this case, martial arts he believes this 10,000 hour rule applie.

Critics like to point out examples where people achieve mastery with less practice. However, looking into the theory you’ll notice it states “on average 10,000 hours of deliberate practice”. As an average there will b...

If you’ve been following Strength & Speed for any amount of time you are likely familiar with owner, Evan “Ultra-OCR Man” Perperis’ charity events. Each year since 2016 he’s done a self-created endurance event for charity to raise money for Folds of Honor (scholarship money for kids whose parents were killed or wounded in US Military service). He’s...

Daily life isn’t always conducive for martial arts training. I can’t get up in the middle of my office and start spinning the broom in the corner to practice my bo staff training. I also can’t train all day because I have other things to do and because honestly, it can be tiring. However, there are other options to make you a better martial artist that are available that can build upon physical practice. Let’s dive into mental training:

I fully expect a string of “No” in the Facebook comments of this article without them reading beyond the headline.  That’s fine, they can go back and read it after they hurt their lower back.  Weight belts are typically associated with bodybuilders, strongmen, Crossfit athletes or powerlifters.  However, they do have a place in Obstacle Course Racing (OCR) training when used appropriately in a training environment and here’s how...

I...

Obstacle Course Racing (OCR) is so heavily focused on grip strength that the use of something like lifting straps seems to be the opposite of what you want.  After all, lifting straps are cloth or leather loops you wrap around your wrist to take your grip out of a movement that involves weights.  That’s the opposite of what we want to do….most of the time.  Here’s a couple of reasons you may want to add lifting straps into your strength training and why you sh...

Strength & Speed is opening the application window for their 7th S&S Developtment Team. Each year has brought success to our athletes with a list of different benefits that change but also expand slightly every year. In the past the team has included accomplishments such as athletes getting their first sponsors, several becoming ambassadors for brands and many hitting new PRs including first Ultra-OCR win, first win, first cash podium, most podiums in a year and more. To check out som...