Every page on Fighting Arts Health Lab is written by people who train, coach, and treat for a living — martial artists, fitness founders, nutrition professionals, and health writers who bring both real mat time and professional credentials to the page. Our health, injury, and recovery content is reviewed for medical accuracy by a practicing physician, so what you read reflects hands-on experience and clinical evidence alike. Meet the contributors behind the work.
Physician & Medical Reviewer
Dr. Pamela Fernandes is a physician and medical writer who earned her medical degree from Angeles University College of Medicine in 2007 and has spent over a decade across clinical practice and health writing. Her work centers on preventive health, women's health, rural medicine, and telemedicine — and she's an Aikido practitioner herself. At Fighting Arts Health Lab she brings a physician's perspective to the site's guidance on injury, recovery, and training safely with health conditions.
Holistic Nutritionist, Naturopath & Herbalist
Christina Major is a holistic nutritionist, naturopath, and herbalist, and the founder of Crystal Holistic Health, where she has spent over a decade helping clients improve their health through nutrition. She's also a lifelong martial artist — a 2nd-degree black belt in Taijutsu with 18 years of training, who studied under the art's Soke and senior Shihan in Japan. At Fighting Arts Health Lab she covers nutrition, recovery, and the demands of long-term practice.
Health & Wellness Coach
Ste Lane is a health coach and former MMA competitor who pairs competition experience with formal training in sports therapy. He holds a BSc in Sports Therapy from Edge Hill University, covering massage technique, human physiology, exercise and rehabilitation modalities, and is a Certified Health Coach with the Primal Health Coach Institute and a Certified Kettlebell Coach with Onnit Labs.
Founder & CEO, Hitback Evolution
Ryan Jansen is the founder and CEO of Hitback Evolution LLC, where he designs customized fitness programs for people training around a time-restricted life. A lifelong combat sports practitioner and published author of two books, he also competes in fitness and endurance events to raise funds for The Foundation for NIBD in Kids. At Fighting Arts Health Lab he covers practical fitness, conditioning, and training that fits real-world demands.
Freelance Writer & Martial Artist
Lisa Stone is a freelance writer, artist, and dancer specializing in martial arts, health, and fitness. She began training the week after a street attack left her feeling helpless — something intensive martial arts training reversed almost overnight. At Fighting Arts Health Lab she writes on martial arts practice and workout recovery.
Boxing Writer & Ring Ratings Panelist
Martin "Marty" Mulcahey is a boxing writer whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, ESPN, Stars and Stripes, and Maxboxing, and a member of The Ring's Ratings Panel — the body that sets the sport's official rankings. Trained at the DoD Information School, he has covered fights and fighters for over two decades. At Fighting Arts Health Lab he writes on boxing, combat sports history, and the culture of the fight game.
MMA Writer & Combat Sports Journalist
Jordan Newmark is a philosophy major turned MMA writer who has spent over a decade interviewing the greatest and the grimiest the sport has to offer — with bylines at UFC.com, UFC Magazine, and FOX Sports, plus Bellator and Strikeforce coverage. He's watched caged combat evolve firsthand from banned in the USA to a billion-dollar industry. At Fighting Arts Health Lab he writes on martial arts culture and the realities of combat sports.
Sports Writer & Managing Editor
Jordy McElroy is a sports writer, self-described sports junkie and semi-deep thinker, whose work has appeared at CNN, FOX Sports, Bleacher Report, USA TODAY, and BJPenn.com. Born in Germany and raised in Tennessee, he now serves as a managing editor at USA TODAY Sports Media Group. At Fighting Arts Health Lab he writes on combat sports and the culture around the cage.
Film Critic & Multimedia Artist
Éireann Mannino is a film critic at Philadelphia's Cinema76 (formerly Cinedelphia) since 2011, a multimedia artist with a BFA from Tyler School of Art, and Volunteer Co-Coordinator at the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival. With a focus on Japanese cinema and a fan's knowledge of MMA, kickboxing, and Muay Thai, they write on the cinema of the fighting arts and how combat translates to the screen.
Health & Wellness Writer
Sonia Ahmed is a health and wellness writer with over eight years of experience in fields where accuracy isn't optional, including medically reviewed patient education content. A mum and full-time professional writer, she focuses on holistic health that's sustainable in a busy life and in sync with the environment. At Fighting Arts Health Lab she writes on health, fitness, and lifestyle.
Chinese Martial Arts Researcher
Will Wain-Williams is a lifelong martial artist who has lived in China since 2007, traveling and training across Asia. In 2010 he became the formal student of Taiji Mantis master Zhou Zhen Dong in Yantai, Shandong, and he has spent over a decade documenting and researching old and rare styles of Chinese martial arts through his site and YouTube channel, Monkey Steals Peach. At Fighting Arts Health Lab he writes on traditional Chinese martial arts, their practice, and their place in modern Asia.
Owner & Head Coach, Enso Jiu Jitsu
Ogi Dzabirski is a martial artist from Skopje, Macedonia, who has trained since the age of five. He holds a purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, training and coaching at a Gracie Barra affiliate under Master Carlos Maia, a Carlos Gracie Jr. black belt, and a black belt in Shotokan Karate. He takes particular pride in teaching the kids and beginners classes at his academy, and having stepped back from competition due to injury, his focus is now on becoming a better teacher. His wife is also a Karate black belt and high-level competitor.
Fitness Trainer, Yoga Instructor & Dancer
Valerie Taylor is a professional fitness trainer, yoga instructor, dancer, and freelance writer based in Japan, where she studies movement and pedagogy at a Japanese university. She has studied dance alongside exercise physiology and kinesiology, working to combine the two, and has practiced martial arts since childhood — including karate and kendo — drawing on those movements in choreography and movement therapy.
Historian & Writer
Theodoros Karasavvas, J.D., M.A., holds a cum laude law degree from the University of Athens and a master's in legal history from the University of Pisa. He has worked as a staff writer and researcher for Ancient Origins, List25, and Today I Found Out, with work published at Ozy, Gizmodo, Mental Floss, Listverse, and Greek Reporter, as well as in magazines including Paste and Beckett Media. He writes on ancient Greek history, the Byzantine Empire, and European and twentieth-century history.
MMA Culture Writer & Karate Black Belt
Lewis Budden is a culture writer based in the north of England, where he reports on the strange and wonderful stories of MMA across Northern Europe. He has trained in Shukokai Karate for twelve years and holds a black belt in the discipline, with a particular interest in how traditional styles like Wing Chun have taken root in British cities.
Design Researcher & Writer
Adriaan Odendaal is a writer and design researcher from Cape Town, South Africa, now based in Rotterdam. He holds an MA in Media Arts Cultures from Aalborg University and co-runs internet teapot, a Rotterdam design research studio focused on digital culture and critical design. He has published short fiction, travel writing, and essays in South African publications, and has practiced Wing Chun and Tai Chi for a number of years, with a particular fondness for old Golden Harvest kung fu films.
Martial Artist & Kung Fu Instructor
Carlos Alberto Romay lives and trains in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with more than four decades in martial arts. He began with judo at thirteen, then trained in Zen Sho Shorinji Kenpo karate under Hanshi Shigeo Nakazato, before moving to Hung Gar kung fu and its five-animal system, which he went on to teach. Along the way he trained in full-contact fighting, aikido and sipalki under Jose Maria Goncalvez, boxing, taekwondo, and MMA at GOA Academy under Favio Martino. After twenty-three years of formal training he turned to directing his own practice.
Kickboxing Instructor & Editor
Lemar Morgan is a kickboxing instructor and writer, born in Hampstead, North London. A CELTA-qualified English language teacher who has taught children and adults from beginner to upper-intermediate level, he now works as an editor and contributing writer at CoverStories.Online. He's passionate about reading, learning, and living healthily, and writes to share news and views by telling the real stories behind them.
Writer & Researcher
Nicholas Vrchoticky has been a professional writer for over a decade, with work appearing at Grunge, Looper, Cracked, Listverse, Glossy News, and Points in Case. He holds a dual degree in religious studies and philosophy, alongside studies in engineering, biochemistry, anthropology, and the medical field. He writes on culture, history, and the stories behind the things people take for granted.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Practitioner & Freelance Writer
Chris Davis is a dedicated lifelong learner who travels the globe to train in martial arts. He currently focuses on honing his Brazilian jiu-jitsu, an art he approaches with more persistence than natural talent.
Founder & Editor, Fighting Arts Health Lab
John Wes Green began training as a teenager in Isshin Ryu Karate before taking up Aikido in Guam under Shihan Benjamin Garlarpe. Returning to the U.S., he continued his study under Shihan Yoshimitsu Yamada, Shihan Donovan Waite, and Shidoin Jason Perna, and has served as a staff instructor at Old City Aikido in Philadelphia. He rounds out his practice with striking and BJJ seminars, and founded Fighting Arts Health Lab to bring together the training, health, and recovery knowledge that martial artists actually need.
Editorial Methodology
How we research and review — Our articles pair peer-reviewed research and established sports-medicine and training literature with the firsthand experience of coaches and practitioners who've spent years in their disciplines. Health, injury, and recovery topics are reviewed by a qualified physician before publishing, and we cite primary sources for the claims we make so you can verify them yourself. When the evidence changes — or we get something wrong — we update the guidance.