What Is BLAB and Who Is It For?

The short version

BLAB is our strength and conditioning programming. It exists because combat sports ask a lot of a body, and because a lot of people want the physical side without ever putting gloves on.

It runs as its own thing, with its own progression, not as a warm-up bolted onto the fight classes.

Why it is a laboratory and not a class

The name is deliberate. Programming gets tested, measured and adjusted against what people actually do, rather than being handed down as a fixed circuit that everyone follows regardless of what they need.

What you do in a BLAB session depends on what you are training for and where you currently are, not on what day of the week it is.

Who trains in it

Three groups, and they overlap more than you would expect. Fighters who need to be stronger and better conditioned. People who train combat sports recreationally and want their body to keep up. And people who are here purely to get strong and have no interest in fighting at all.

All three train in the same room. Nobody is made to spar.

What a session involves

Strength work, conditioning, and recovery and mobility work that most gyms skip. The conditioning is built around the demands of combat sports — repeated efforts with incomplete recovery — which happens to be excellent general fitness too.

Do I need to do combat sports as well?

No. Plenty of BLAB members never take a fighting class. The reverse is also true, though most people who train the Four Arts seriously end up in BLAB eventually, usually after their conditioning becomes the thing holding them back.

Getting started

Book a trial and come in. A coach will look at what you can currently do and start you there, which is the only sensible place to start.