The Mat Manual Standard
The public version of the standard every Mat Manual article and guide is written and checked against.
Positioning
Articles are reference entries, not blog posts. Where the domain has a full list — a kata canon, a throw syllabus, a belt ladder — the full list is printed, never truncated into a top ten. Names, sequences, dates, and terminology must be correct, and where schools or rulesets genuinely differ, the differences are mapped rather than one version being presented as universal. Before drafting, an expert-detail check sweeps for what a knowledgeable practitioner would notice; if a reader could say "but what about…", the article has a hole.
How an article is built
Each article opens with the problem: a short, specific scene from real training. Then the definitive answer — definitions, mechanics, context — given away in full. Structure is made visible with tables wherever the domain has structure. A common-mistakes section covers how the thing actually fails and how to fix it. A companion-guide bridge names the article's guide and states plainly what it contains. Key takeaways close the piece. Topics are chosen from researched problems practitioners actually have, not from a syllabus outline alone.
Voice
Plain words, short-to-medium sentences, simple punctuation. Written the way a knowledgeable person writes for other people. US spelling, second person where natural. If a sentence could appear on any martial arts blog, it is rewritten until it could only appear here.
Titles are promises
No title claims totality — no "Complete Guide" or "Ultimate Guide." Honest framings are used instead: an overview, an instructor's view, a beginner's guide. A title that claims depth on one narrow topic ("Mastering the Mae Geri") obliges a comprehensive article behind it, roughly triple standard length.
The companion guide
Every article has exactly one companion guide, written at the same time: the training tool for the topic — step sequences, drills, progressions, checklists, practice plans, and trackers, printable and usable with a pencil. Guides carry data, not essays, and their size is reached with usable material only, never padding. Grappling and throwing guides carry explicit safety framing, and safety notes are never cut for space.
Audiences
The manual serves students and, in its own section, instructors. The two audiences are never blended inside one piece: a student article does not pitch instructor products, and instructor content is written from the other side of the class.