Episode 105 - Helping People Find the Right Martial Arts School

Lately, I’ve been noticing something that’s really starting to irritate me. Someone will mention their desire to explore martial arts, usually on social media. What comes back is a barrage of “my school is best” and “my art is best” posts.

Now, we’ve talked a lot about that but when we talk about it in the context of a potential martial artist, all we’re doing is turning them off from ever training. See, people don’t like to make bad decisions. And if multiple people that they respect offer contradictory opinions… they’re likely to make no choice.

And if you’ve been listening to the show for a while, you know that one of our goals here at whistlekick is to get more people to train. After all, martial artists make the world a better place.

So it really does all of us a disservice to answer that question – What martial art should I do – with such a direct answer. If you sold cars, houses or even cheese – would you even answer the question, what car, house or cheese should I get?

Of course not. You’d ask questions. In sales, they’re called qualifying questions. And guess what? If you’re even thinking of answering the question, you’re a sales person. And you have a duty to the person asking the question, the people you train with and the martial arts community as a whole to help them correctly.

Just as you shouldn’t teach at a martial arts school if you’re not willing to give your students the best instruction you can, you shouldn’t engage with someone on the question of what art to take.

Let’s now go through the questions you should be asking and how to handle this whole situation.

For full show notes, please visit:  http://www.whistlekickmartialartsradio.com/105-find-martial-arts-school/

 

If you’re involved in a school that spars, chances are you’ve clashed shins with someone. Man, does that hurt. There are plenty of shin guards on the market, but ours are the only ones that are comfortable to wear, light-weight, double reinforced and actually shaped to fit your shin. When I’m at events I demo them by shin kicking door frames. Seriously, these things are great. You can learn more at whistlekick.com.

 

 

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Episode 104 - Sensei Ashida Kim

Today's episode is with well-known martial artist and ninjitsu practitioner Sensei Ashida Kim. While I had heard his name before, I'll confess that I didn't know a lot about him. When a past guest suggested he would be someone good to speak with, I did a bit of research and found that this man's resume is pretty incredible. While much of the writings on the internet about Sensei Kim are very strongly opinionated - both in his favor and not - I was more concerned with his stories. As we always do on the show, we give our guests the opportunity to speak freely and talk about that which they want to. That's exactly what we did here - and it's a great episode.

Sensei Kim is a prolific author and has written a number of books still available. We discuss a few of them during the episode and you can learn more at his website, linked below.

Today's featured whistlekick product is our line of tee shirts. We have something for everyone, in a variety of styles and sizes. Check them out, and the rest of our martial arts sparring gear and apparel, at whistlekick.com

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Episode 103 - Muscle Memory

Muscle memory is when your body does something automatically. Muscles remember what to do by repeating something many times. Sometimes this is called motor learning. In martial arts, this is the ability to, say, throw a punch without thinking about all of the small things required - which knuckles to use, twisting the hand, the retracted hand, etc. 

There's a bad side to motor learning - like when throwing a technique, someone throws it to the same place without thinking. Every time.

There are ways to expand muscle memory and not be locked in to only a few patterns. Practice things differently. Routine is the enemy. It’s not that we don’t want muscle memory, it’s that we don’t want it to limit us. Work different heights, different body placements, different combinations. Strange combinations. Different speeds. When you slow things down you can focus on the movements and make adjustments. That's something we should all be doing anyway.

Jeremy offers his favorite drill for combatting the negative effects of motor learning.

Today's featured product is our sweatpants.

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Episode 102 - Datu Tim Hartman

 

"Martial arts develops character. Martial sports reveals character."

Welcome to episode 102 of Martial Arts Radio, where today we get to hear from Datu Tim Hartman. Datu Hartman is a living legend in the world of Filipino martial arts and has offered numerous seminars across the globe. As a lifelong practitioner of Filipino arts, Datu Hartman has watched the growth of the various disciplines, including arnis, escrima, kali and the various approaches and styles to these arts. We hear about the man's past, what keeps him inspired to train and why he's still so passionate not only about martial arts, but about passing on what he's learned to newer students.

 

Today's featured whistlekick product line is our suggestion. They're available in zip-up and pull-over, in quite a few colors and sizes. What do they have in common? Style, comfort and quality, just like everything we make.

 

For full show notes, including links, photos and video, please visit:

http://www.whistlekickmartialartsradio.com/102-tim-hartman/

 

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Episode 101 - Necessity of Having Different Styles

Necessity of Having Different Styles - Episode 101

Have you ever wondered why some martial artists get into such heated discussions over one style versus another? How about the difference between honoring the style as it was laid out, artistically, and personal progress in your martial arts? We talk about not only the benefit of having different martial arts styles available to those that want to train, but the necessity.

During the episode, we make reference to some past episodes on the definition of a martial art, Bruce Lee and our episode with Grandmaster Victor Moore.

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Episode 100 - Sensei Jeremy Lesniak

On episode 100 we hear from the whistlekick founder, and our regular host, Sensei Jeremy Lesniak. Throughout his martial arts career, he has achieved a black belt in no less than three different disciplines. A native to New England, Sensei Jeremy is a friend to many schools. Not just as a great resource for the best sparring gear, but someone you may see at a seminar, or as a guest instructor. Sensei Lesniak started martial arts at a young age but continues to demonstrate his passion for martial arts to this day. I've had the pleasure to work with him as a student in one of my seminars, and as a guest instructor in my home dojo.

~Daniel Hartz, host for Episode 100.

Today's featured product is our noSweat Athletic Shirts. You will notice how comfortable they are, and how they aren't too tight or too loose - they fit just right. They are great for working out, or wearing under your uniform. We have lots of colors and sizes to choose from, so take a look.

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Episode 99 - Why I Train

On Episode 99 host Jeremy Lesniak goes over the 9 reasons why he continues to practice martial arts. 

For show notes and other episodes, please visit:

http://www.whistlekickmartialartsradio.com/099-why-train/

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Episode 98 - Mr. Tom Bisio

Today's episode is with Mr. Tom Bisio, a practitioner and instructor of Ba Gua Zhang and Xing Yi Quan. We spend a lot of time discussing the martial arts overall as well as the internal martial arts, Mr. Bisio's focus both as practitioner and instructor. His background is diverse, though, and he's able to tie together a lot of the elements of martial arts, including some we don't typically think about around health and healing. It's clear from speaking with him that he's on an educational mission of sorts, making efforts to bring new and revised knowledge to those that are interested and in various forms.

 

For show notes and other episodes, please visit: http://www.whistlekickmartialartsradio.com/098-tom-bisio/

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