Episode 589 – whistlekick LIVE Season 2 (Episode 6)
Jerermy Lesniak
In this episode, Jeremy brings us the sixth and final episode of the whistlekick Live Season 2.
whistlekick LIVE Season 2 (Episode 6) - Episode 589
Today's episode is the sixth and final installment for the whistlekick Live Season 2. Jeremy answers questions, and reads stories from the listeners as well as giving out some cool trivia about the show and martial arts in general or anything under the sun. In this episode, we are trying to live up to the "LIVE" aspect of the show. Although this is the last episode of whistlekick Live, we are going out on a high note and Jeremy packs a lot of punch in this! Listen to find out a lot more good stuff!
Show Transcript
You can read the transcript below.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Break the sound barrier during a form...
That's overselling a little bit.
Hey! What's going on, everybody? Welcome to season 2 episode 6 also known as the series for [00:21:27] whistlekick live. That's right, this is the very last one. This is it. We're calling it quits. We're going out on a high note and that's what we're doing. So, as always, want to give a shoutout to Gabe and I point over here because he's on the computer over here. This is where I see him. Thank you to Gabe for all that he does in putting the show together as well as the other people who contributes. Frankly, this joke. I'm sure there are others who contributed to this one but I don't have a list in front of me. So, my apologies to anybody I missed.
To all of you watching or watching later or listening later, all of that, thank you. Thanks for joining us. Hope you have a good time. If you enjoy this show, maybe this is your first time finding this show, which is super disappointing that you're coming in on the last one...but if that's the case, make sure you're checking out whistlekick Martial Arts Radio and First Cup. All the other things that we do, go to whistlekick.com. That's where you're gonna find out right everything that we've got going on, tons of stuff. You can't get this shirt. We don't sell this shirt anymore. Maybe you get some [01:24:01]. That's where we're at.
So, we've got an hour of fun? I think there's probably going to be other emotions expressed during the show but we'll say fun, entertainment, and we'll where the show takes us. It's one of the fun things about this show is that I don't know what's going on. Gabe doesn't tell me. Not because he doesn't want to but because I don't want to know. I'd rather just experience it live and just kinda let it unfold. I think that's a lot of fun. It's a good time. I get to enjoy with you instead of planning it ahead.
I don't know what we've got planned first. I don't really have much of an opening monologue.
So, let's get into the first thing. What do we get, man? Where are we going? What are we doing?
Tell me about your biggest...
Tell us about your biggest martial art pet peeves. I'm conflicted with my pet peeves because some of them I feel really strongly about but then at the same time, I try to leave space for people to do things differently.
So, it's a bit of a contradiction and I need to learn to breathe in better.
This is why I yell ' cause I spend all my time breathing out and talking. So, fortunately, Gabe has some notes here from me of things that I find to be pet peeves. The first one on the list, high ranks with poorly tied belts. I have no problem when you're a low rank, new to training, and you don't know how to tie your belt but if you're a Red belt and you can remember a bunch of forms, if you've been training for years and you don't know how to tie your belt, I think that reflects poorly on a bunch of people involved. Now, if your instructor doesn't enforce you to tie your belt, then it's on them. It's not on you but it still irritates me. There aren't a lot of things that I think are important. You know, showing up. Relatively clean uniform that doesn't stink and having your belt tied right and showing up on time. Like these are basic rules of participating in society.
Yes, there's the next one, not bathing.
If you smell gross at the beginning of class, that's disrespectful to everyone involved. You know what, I can see circumstances where maybe it happens once in a great while. Something's going on, especially some of us who stress-release stinky armpits, fine. But if you're always smelly, you're being rude to everybody else in class. Takes me off.
Instructors who avoid demonstrating techniques so they'll look bad. That drives me insane. There are instructors who may be physically aren't what they used to be and they seem to think because they're not as good as they used to be, they would rather I don't know, not demonstrate techniques and have the mystique of their skills maintained. You know, have people whisper about them. That's just dumb. Don't be dumb. Show people. One of the things I find most admirable is when a high-ranking martial artist is willing to admit that they don't know something or do something imperfectly and they're working to get better. What better leadership is there than that?
Sharp and uncut toenails. Just stop it. I'll cut off your toes. And then the last one on my list, conscious disrespect. I think that one's pretty obvious. Do we have anybody else? Did you ask that question of anybody else whether or not they know?
Gabe's mom is on the chat. That's cool. I don't know if anybody else has pet peeves. I think Andrew wants me to talk about your new YouTube channel. Is this a good time to do that? Sure. Okay cool.
So, since the last episode I launched a personal YouTube channel, another one. There are several but this one's called Jeremy Lesniak Martial Arts. You can find it. We're not gonna link it from anything whistlekick. This is probably the only time this is gonna be referenced on anything whistlekick. Why are we doing that? Or why are we not doing that? Because some of the videos that I'm going to put out or going to say...here's how I think you should do this versus this is how I think you should not do this and that breaks one of whistlekick's rules of being style-agnostic. Whistlekick is style-agnostic, I'm not. So that's where we are. Some of the first 7 videos are here's some thoughts on teaching a front kick and here are thoughts of what arm-augmented or double arm blocks are. If you search for Jeremy Lesniak Martial Arts on YouTube, you'll find it. There are only a few Jeremy Lesniak and none of the others do martial arts.
So we've got some highlight now from season 1 episodes 1 through 4. What's going on here? What do we get?
Episode 1 which was in front of the fire, me being awful. What's one of your funniest memories from training? My back sweat so much for those first episodes.
Gabe says, during a break at Karate camp, I walk by a group of girls standing over the [06:51:13] that's why I was thinking of putting blueberries in his ears.
Bret Callaway: By first day of Hapkido, an arm band was being performed on me during sparing. The guy squeezed so hard he passed gas really loudly right in my face. I accidentally called them SOB. My instructor was kind of upset with me until he smelled it and called him an SOB himself.
Oh that's wonderful. I love it. Any others? Most memorable testing experience. Gabe has like 7 windows he's managing right now and I don't want to step on him so hence the delay.
Pod may say, my husband who is also my student, decided on his own that he's test for Yellow belt needed to be epic. Epic Yellow belt test, setting the bar high so took off on a nearly 20-mile bike ride before his test carrying boards to break. Years later, came to his Black belt test which included the same bike ride and a Zumba class, I give him 2 rubrics cube to complete. One was the basic regular colors but the others was shades of gray and black. He was so wiped out that he could not separate what colors were which.
That is epic! That is setting the bar high. Kudos on that one. You know, I think testing's a great one to figure out what you're made of what is your capacity and then prove yourself that those rules don't exist. Of course, the higher rank you get, the more appropriate I think that is.
Matt says his pet peeve is arrogance. It's kind of generic, Matt. I'm gonna pick on you.
"What's your weirdest martial arts superstition?" Well, I paint my toenails before Black belt tests in Taekwondo. I don't know if that's a superstition. It's not like I feel I'm not gonna do well if I don't do that.
Do I have any other superstitions? Uhm, no. I do not. So we're gonna have breathing things so I yawn less.
Jenny says, "The night before a competition or test, I have to watch the Karate kid. Don't we all? The day of the competition, my uniform cannot be clean. That is, I have to have worn it to class at least once before the competition or testing day. I also need to arrive wearing my personalized black mamba t-shirt gifted to me by my chief instructor and warm up listening to Dream theater. But those aren't weird right?" Those are super weird, Jenny. Jenny's in the chat. People are laughing at Jenny. Good times.
Jamie says, "A uniform is not worth wearing until it's had blood on it. Really an old hockey superstition that carried over."
I , Jenny, had one friend in my dojo who had to wear a t-shirt inside out under his gi when competing. Our Sensei had made him flip his shirt inside out once because of the graphic on it and you know, he went on to win all his divisions that day. So, from that on an inside out t-shirt was a must.
Okay, hey, you do what works. If it works, you do it. You do it until it stops working or you come up with something better. Superstitions, maybe they're not superstitions. Maybe they're just experience. Maybe they're proof.
What is next? We're following up on Matt. Matt says his pet peeve is arrogance. He elaborated those...if you see me like looking weird, it's 'cause the arm from the camera is right in front of the screen so I can only see the words. He elaborated those who lacked humbleness, humility. Also, my computer is lagging. Great! I'm glad the technical issues are not on my end this time. That's awesome.
Alright, apparently, we're doing trivia. Once you see the first question, write your answer down. That's so much longer. Okay, once you see your first question, write your answer down. Don't answer out loud or in the chat and the answers will be revealed at the end of the show.
Okay, I'm ready. Let's do it! Hold on, I'm yawning. I'm gonna read the questions for the benefit of the people who listen in audio form later. What was the very first topic discussed on the first episode of whistlekick live? You write this like I should remember. We've covered a lot of ground in a year a half, Gabe. I don't know. I'm guessing. Are you advancing the slides?
Andrew says, "Oh my god. I hate you Gabe. That's an insane question."
How are martial artists sometimes like crabs? Oh, I know this one. It's a great picture of a bucket of crabs. Oh, "That's not a trivia question. I want you to talk about it." I thought we were running like 10 trivia questions in a row. I wrote down my answer though. Alright, how are martial artists sometimes like crabs? I'm sure the analogy of bucket of crabs, you don't have to put a top on it because when crabs start to get out, the others will try to get out and try to pull that one down. There are times when martial artists don't want to see other martial artists succeed. Unfortunately, even the last 18 months I have witnessed some of that people that had been friends or that I thought were friends, people that I thought I had the support of...As we've moved forward, as we've grown, we've done more things and push the envelope, they've decided that they don't want to be around. They don't want to talk to me. They don't want to be my friends and to all of those people, thank you. You give me motivation and you make it a lot easier for me to know who actually belongs to my life. Are we just rolling into this? Is this the answer to the question? No? There's no...just okay.
Gabe says, "I'm not actually flexible but training in the martial arts has helped me tremendously. This has nothing to do with being a crab. Gaining flexibility not only helps me kick people in the head but also with my job when I need to climb or step over something. Anyone else experience a non-martial art benefit from training in the martial art?"
The ability to close cabinets with my foot. The ability to break pieces of wood for kindling without hurting myself.
Daniel says, "I was running in an offer race last [13:47:25] and saw a guy a few meters in front of me trip over something. He barely even seemed to break stride as he hit the ground with the perfect rolling breakfall and pop back up and kept running. " That would be a great benefit to offset one's clumsiness which we all have clumsy moments. We all trip and slip and catch our toes on things and knees.
Oh, this is a good one. Is this from early on? Because I like this. Yeah. Sparring is just a mutually agreed upon assault. I love it. What I don't like is that I don't see any whistlekick here in that shot but that's okay. It's all good. I like the mat so they're colorful. What are mats always read and blue? Why don't we see other colors of mat? Black, I guess. You wouldn't want white.
"There's whistlekick stuff in there. You can't see because we're wearing it." Alright, that picture is from a Karate camp. Alright on. It looks like your school because I see the one person with the kick's logo on the back of their t-shirt. Nice.
If the martial arts were developed today, what would the weapons look like? Brooms, [15:20:11], rakes and shovels. Farmer knives. Answers from the show included [15:30:13], hammers, shovels, selfie sticks, knives, shovels again, scissors, and other things you have laying around. Knives! I don't think I have scissors handy. Are there scissors in here? No, no scissors in there. What about a pen? Stabbing people with pens. That was not a question too. I gotta cross it all out on my list. Those answers fit perfectly with this quote. I'm reading my own quote this is weird. There are only so many ways that human body can move and only a portion of that makes sense with the length of combat. Sometimes I've changed that last from the perspective of combat. But either way, it's the same idea. I said that and it's a picture of me. It's weird. It's me looking in a picture of me, reading a quote from me. This feels incredibly...well it's not arrogant because I didn't choose to do it...self-serving? And it also looks like I'm wearing a Brown belt which is totally funny. Something's off in the color of that but that's cool. It's the only time I've worn that red gi, I think.
Paul, "Three and old equally wise masters live in the top of the mountain and will offer advice to anyone who makes the climb but you can only talk to one. Who do you choose?" The one that started with nothing got 8 votes. The one who never had students got 1 vote. The one who is naturally gifted received no votes. And we had an addition, there is no need to choose any of them or seek advice if you know how to sense, observe, say nothing, ask nothing, just be present. I think the one that started with nothing because you get to learn about process and growth and I think those are important lessons. One of the things I've said in my personal circles is we need to be cautious of who we take advice from because not all advices is equal. Would you take advice on money from someone who has none and never has? Maybe you take advice on how not to do things but you're probably not going to listen to their, you know, investment advice for example.
[17:55:13] John: "The pencil is a weapon." I remember that. Be aware of who you're taking advise from and why. I think it's the moral to that story. Gabe said, "So did the Joker. Use pencil as a weapon." Yeah, pencil's a great weapon. I carry this little flashlight. It's bright, yay! And the battery's dead. There it is, okay. But it's metal, mildly waterproof and makes a great mini [18:31:13] right. Ahh, there goes my thumb so. You can get those like for 4 for $15 from Amazon.
"Anyone who's participating in martial arts for any amount of time knows that those who don't train, don't always understand what the arts are all about. What are some comments or funny examples of misunderstanding from non-practitioners?" We could have done a whole show on this and I don't just mean a whole episode. We could just make this the whole show. We could go out to the public and say, hey what do you think about martial arts and they would say ridiculous things that would be wrong. So, what do we got first?
Gabe says, "A few students and I were trading weapons in a park. We overheard a lady refer to our staffs as ninja sticks and it's been an awesome inside joke ever since." I think we should call Bos ninja sticks. I have a great name. That's like such a better name. If whistlekick ever sells Bos, we will call them ninja sticks somewhere in the description just for an inside joke.
Jenny says, " I was asked if I had to put that I was a martial artist at my passport application by someone who is sure they have read you cannot travel internationally without letting the authorities know you've been training in the martial arts." *makes sound* that's what I have to say about that.
Next trivia question, which episodes had significant technical issues? I'm taking a guess. Most of you are probably gonna have the same guess.
Jenny says she would totally buy a whistlekick ninja stick and she even trademarked it. We should do that. We should make ninja sticks.
Which episode/s had significant technical issues? Andrew said, "All of them". I suspect that's what most people are going to say. Most people never saw most of them. It's true. We were able to handle most of them significant technical issues.
Highlights from season 1 episodes 5 through 8. Martial arts problem #12: She can give you a romantic hug but your mind goes to the next step and it's someone with...I don't know if that qualifies as a hip throw because the dude being thrown is up there like...I guess it counts as a hip throw but it is a brutal hip throw. That is gonna hurt when he hits.
Gabe says, "I would call that a shoulder throw." I could see that but that doesn't appear to be the lever point. The hip still seems to be the...My guess is there is a step backwards and a big hip pop which created a momentum. That's my guess from my like, 8 classes of judo. So much judo. You know your martial artists if anyone around you let's try reading better. You know your martial artist if everyone you know avoids sneaking up behind you for of bodily harm and then the irony is that the team chose a picture of Sensei [22:00:23] from Aikido to use in the image. Of course, one of the most pacifistic martial artists. Probably best known for being a pacifist of all the martial arts prominent figures.
Gabe's favorite story of all time, "Jeremy was deployed as a weapon against the goose." Am I retelling the story? Is that what I'm doing? Alright, I just told the story not long ago. I don't think it was in a martial arts context so I like the story. So, I grew up in Maine and as you might imagine there are farms all over the place. My mother had a business partner who lived on a farm. Her husband was a farmer. They farm primarily cattle but there were pigs and it was a big farm. And the farm's all gone now. I think the house is there but all the outbuildings are gone. Super weird. There was a goose. There are several geese but this one goose was super-duper mean and hated people and wouldn't just like honk and kinda be aggressive. It would actually come and attack you. SO, we would pull up to the house to go inside and I am young. You know, this is the early 80's so booster seeds weren't really a big thing. You know, I'm sitting in the car, in the front seat where everybody's gonna die. I survived. Part of the routine was I would look for the goose so my mother would park as close to the front door she could without blocking it and we'd look for the goose. If it was safe, get out. So, do you see the goose? I don't see the goose; she doesn't see the goose so we get out. And the goose comes running out of the bushes like a velociraptor at Jurassic park and she picks me up by my arms and swings me like golf club style, tees off, and clubs the goose in the face with my feet.
Dennis Campo saying that the throw a couple of slides back looks like [24:01:14]. Dennis, what is the English translation of that please?
So yeah, you can use your children as weapons in a self-defense situation. "There are the stuff of movies, mists and masters, challenge fights. Did they really happen? Should they happen today? What are your thoughts?" They should not happen today. That's just silly. Let me say, here's a pet peeve, Logan and Jake Paul for being boxers and that thing *makes sound* stupid. Just a bunch of stupid.
Oh, Dennis says shoulder throw. Gabe was right. Dennis outranks us both so if he says it's a shoulder throw, it's a shoulder throw. He actually knows what he's talking about.
Matt says, "At one point, I was running a school in the intercity and outside people would come in to start a fight or challenge. It happened a few times a week so I wrote up a special waiver, charged them whatever special is running and allowed them to step on the mats. Very few went for it but I enjoyed having it." Nice. Yeah, I just...it's ego. I'm not a fan of ego leading action. If your ego is so fragile that you need to take action in an aggressive way against someone else, you are a bully and you deserve to have your face squashed. That's just how I feel.
Whistlekick live season1 episode 7 was the first episode after the lockdown started. Here are a few topics from what unintentionally became our stay-at-home episode. We've been doing this...it's a year. A year of that. "What have you done or will you do to adapt your training to your current situation? What are you hoping to accomplish by just stuck at home?" We all had these grand plans of all these things that we were gonna do for like the 30 days we were gonna get stuck at home and now, I feel like so many people's at home training has just become...I washed my gi, I washed my uniform, I kicked the wall. That's pretty much my training. What I say...I think a lot of people know that I kick things constantly if I walk by certain walls, door frames or my standup bag. It adds up to a few dozen kicks every day that otherwise I wouldn't get. That's pretty much still the majority of my training.
Jenny says, "Luckily, I married one of my instructors so I'm still able to learn curriculum when the school is closed. I'm well aware of the privilege I have and I have no shame." Yeah, and now there's a baby.
"Many schools moved classes online while other suggest class sizes out of a heart to help. What can the martial arts community do to not only help ourselves and each other but also the general public?" Am I speaking to this from past tense or current tense? Whatever you want, okay. You know, one of the things that I've seen is that some schools opened up their zoom classes and some of them made it free or donation or pay what you want and really just try to use it as an opportunity to give the community something else to do and I really like that. I think that was great. For some areas of the country where the stuff is going on and going on strong and they're still not in person stuff, consider people's...consider where they are at. People in your area, they're going to be looking for things to do that are different. Don't be afraid to make martial arts one of them.
This lockdown has forced us to rely...Gabe's typing is not always accurate so I'm guessing what he's typing. On other martials artists...yeah absolutely. I had an interview today with someone that I started emailing. He emailed me the first time right around...I don't know how long you've been listening but started emailing right around those bonus episodes I did around the lockdowns - my recommendations, schools, and just to martial artists. You know, what to do as we go through this and I think much of what I suggest it really came to pass. Most of my predictions came true and one of the things we talked about was how important the stuff that we put out has been to so many people. I mean, myself included but I get email from people...I'm not gonna say constantly but frequently to say thanks for what you're doing. It's helping me get through this. You know, that's why we do it, why we'll continue to do it. So I will continue to do it.
Jenny says, "Those two facts are unrelated. I was pregnant before lockdown." I wasn't quite connecting those dots but thank you for doing it for us.
Ana said, "My studio is resorting to online lessons and more Kata-based learning. We also have this opportunity to use YouTube for additional knowledge." Want to learn a fun dance and bring it back to your school? I say, do it. Have a testing coming up? Find something new and creative to bring back and share so everyone can learn.
This is why I don't know that I would ever be able to be on like a network show. Look at me. I can't breathe properly and not yawn.
Alright, our next trivia question. Thank you for the warning 'cause I might've guessed something else was trivia that wasn't. So I'm ready. Let's do it. Who is the first guest we had on the show? Aw crap. Remember not to answer in the chat. I'm just gonna guess because it's usually this person with everything I do. Like there are a handful of people I reach out to for everything and it's probably this person. Yeah, I think it was this person the more I'm thinking about it.
What non-martial arts movie quotes would be hilarious in the context of your training? All of them. Pretty much all of them. Here's some good ones. You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it means from the [31:21:28]. Resistance is futile - the Borg from Star Trek. You're gonna light alright, alright, alright from Kevin Hart standup comedy. It's all in the hips. Yeah, it's all in the hips from Happy Gilmore.
Don't act like you're not impressed from [31:39:08]. I've been saved by my Pinterest of power from the Goonies. I have spoken and this is the way from the Mandalorian. I feel like pretty much like any prominent quote would work.
Frank is sending me...hold on, I lost Gabe. Frank is sending me the quotes for tomorrow's episode of First Cup. Make sure I have those, I appreciate that. Make sure you check our First Cup, 6:30 am US Eastern time, every weekday on YouTube.
A funny story from [32:18:29]. "When we practice for tournaments, sometimes I will introduce myself to judges. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." See, in a lot of martial arts circles, the introductions have gotten long and dramatic and they add a lot of time and they can be frustrating to people. I think they should be fun. I think they should be ridiculous and if I ever get to compete again, I'm not probably gonna take any of it seriously.
Story time with Matt. We've got two stories today. Cool!
"I was doing partner drills with my buddy, Steve, in class one day. We had stopped for food before. I got a hotdog that was seemingly fine (a little bit foreshadowing). As we started doing drills, I kept hunching over. The instructor came over and all I can say was 'bad hotdog'. The instructor took it as I hit in the groin, picked me up and dropped me on heels a few times. Steve laughed hysterically as I tried to stop him and explain I was feeling sick."
The next time a guy gets hit in the groin, I'm just gonna say bad hotdog. I love it. And the second one...
"My buddy, Joe, was doing a mat chat at the end of the class. He was talking about nutrition. As he gets to the end, he realizes that the kids are staring blankly. He got a little frustrated and said, 'basically, stop eating crap' and in an attempt to recover, her just kept talking. One of the kids raised their hand, nice and slow, and called out "I heard that."
Yeah, you can't say anything anywhere close to a bad word in front of a kid. They're gonna...they know. They will call you out on it. Kids are the worst.
What's one of your funny or weird training injuries? I broke this finger. I broke this tooth and it cost me a lot of money. That's not funny though. I don't think I have any funny ones.
Oh, I like how we've given Jenny a new name. Jenny says, "This happened in a 4 on 1 sparing match wherein I was one of the 4 and Matt was the 1. During the match, my other 3 team members were holding back but not me. The big bad, 8th Gup that I was..." For those of you who are not Taekwondo, remind me Matt and Jenny, do you guys count up or down? Ah, it's gonna be too long of a delay. I'll chime back in when I get a response. "...I kept working my way and trying to get some strikes in. At one point, I cup between two of my partners and slid in to land the sidekick. As my leg was coming up, Matt planted a sidekick of his own right under my left arm, nailing me in the rib cage and taking my breath away. He paused for a moment to make sure I was okay and we finished the match. Turns out, that kick cracked a few ribs. He and I had just started dating so we tell everyone that was the day he kicked his leg into my heart."
Okay, yeah. That's what I thought. They count down so 8th Gup would be a fairly low rank. Wow. I remember this feeling when I read this could've felt that I read this story. So, reading it again yeah. Matt, it's a good thing she kept hanging out with you. 8th Gup is roughly 6 months of training. Pretty aggressive, she was trying to make an impression, I think. Matt also pointed out that the original word wasn't "crap". Ahh, in that nutrition story. Much more significant story.
Remember the stay-at-home Kado challenge that Andrew and Gabe put together? I do! This was fun. Are we gonna watch that video? Yay, okay. I have to do audio. Unmuting my microphone. Go ahead when you're ready or I can press it. Here, you do it.
For those of you who may be listening to this, it's Andrew with a hand broom and a dustpan and Gabe with a hoe. I love it, I love it! You guys should do something like that again. That was so much fun. That was a ton of fun. I'm having a little bit of work done on the house like little stuff. You know, when you live in a house for a decade and you're like oh, maybe I should fix that broken thing over there and replace that piece of trim there. It's a bunch of little stuff like that but starting next week, it looks like we're gonna get some stuff in the upstairs of the warehouse finished off so I can actually do some more training and video up there.
Here comes your next question. Alright, bring it on. What's the next question?
Okay, what was the first color of the gear that whistlekick produced? I know this one! I can even tell you the skews. I feel like I'm cheating on this one. It wasn't pink. That's the only hint you’re gonna get.
Highlights from season 1 episode 9 through 12. Episode 9 was the episode we went from martial arts radio live to whistlekick live. That was a...we spent a decent amount of time talking about it because the show had kinda grown into its own thing and rebranding it and giving it its own voice. We talked about a lot of different things that we would do hopefully in the future. I think we did all of them and much, much more. You know, I remember...was this the first episode where we had the new logo, Gabe? Episode 9, yeah. So, if you're watching, you see the variation in the whistlekick logo that we made and we kicked a bunch of versions back and forth. Gabe made this. This was his idea and it was a lot of fun to collaborate on this and think about how it was going to become its own segment within the whistlekick universe, I guess. Yeah, rock on.
A fascinating thought from Gabe: "I find it interesting that under belts strive to have the Black belt mindset while Black belts strive to have a White belt mindset." Oh, that's pretty poignant, man. That's good stuff.
If you were a different type of person who indulged in substances, I would think that that was a thought that came to you while indulging in substance. I dig it. And the next shot is a picture of him with a whistlekick shirt that on the back it says, "A Black belt isn't something you wear. It's something you become." I think that's one of the shirts that we've done that I don't own. I don't have examples of every shirt that we've ever done 'cause we've done a lot of shirts. We haven't done anything in a while. We'll do something soon.
Despite the somewhat philosophical intent of the previous picture, Jeremy used it to point out that he thought Gabe was going bald. Aww, man. What a jerk! That Jeremy guy is the worst. And who am I to talk? Look at me. I got like 8 hairs between my...across my whole skull.
What was the question? I see answers but what was the question? Oh, this is jeopardy style. Okay, is this a trivia thing? No, okay. So, here are the answers and you have to figure out what the question is. I said learning how to talk to people. Matt said a good work ethic. Gabe said gracious confrontation and flexibility in everyday life. Dove said, "My migraine is a teenager and thanks to [41:31:26] we do enough meditation exercises so that I was able to relax in the middle of my migraine and relieve some of the tension."
So, the question. Am I supposed to provide the question now? I never expected the martial arts to help with...Okay that's close. I would've said things I didn't expect the martial arts helped me with. Right on.
Next trivia question. What's Jeremy's favorite martial arts movie? Again, I feel like I have an advantage here. I better get this one right. What if I don't get this one right? Who gets to determine the right answer to this? If I put down an answer that is different than what Gabe has, am I wrong? That would be funny. I don't think that's gonna be an issue.
A typical day in the life of a martial artist. Gabe, I was talking to a friend who doesn't train in the martial arts and he told me he didn't think training was so-called ancient weapons like swords and staffs was effective. So, I picked up a 4-foot paint roller instead and handled him with it. He subsequently agreed with me. Yes, when someone disagrees with you, use violence to convey your opinion. That will always work. It's a great choice, good job.
Oh, what's going on in this chat over here? I don't know. Let me move back. All these good parts. See, this is what the hard part is. The chat, for those of you who never had a chance to join us live...the chat is fun and everybody who's been on the chat knows this is like a significant piece of this show and I don't really get to engage with it the way 'cause I'm doing this. If I stop and I do that then I can't do this.
I'll tell you what Andrew said in the chat in a few minutes okay. Oh, I know it! Andrew, you're fired! What's the craziest thing you seen happen in a tournament? What is the craziest thing I've seen happen? I don't know that I can answer that with any of the good stories that I have without throwing someone under the bus. You know, martial arts in New England...it's like 2 degrees of separation. Anything that I say would be very easy for people to figure out who we're talking about so I'm just not gonna go there. But let's see what answers Gabe has for us. Jenny said, "I once saw a guy's windpipe collapsed by a jump spinning back kick. Three paramedics rushed over and performed tracheotomy. They were rushing to the hospital. We heard a couple of weeks later that he was alright."
Gabe says, "I saw two moms getting a fight over their kids sparing match. Kids were under ten." Yeah, um, you shouldn't have children. Jason says, "I saw a mom changing her child's belt between divisions. I asked her what she was doing and she said, 'oh, my son is only a Green belt in this division and a Yellow belt in this one." Oh, I've seen that too. I don't really agree with that but it takes all kinds.
When you tell a non-martial artist what you do, what word do you use? For example, I do Karate or I practice Kung Fu. I think I typically say "train". If you listen to Martial Arts Radio, you know, last year and a half we've had several people on the show who used the word "play" which initially I was resistant to but I actually kind of liked it.
We've got this great meme and it's the little blonde girl and the pink jacket with the pigtails. My face went somewhere else. What do you do for fun? I don't know. Kick things? Yeah. I like kicking things. It's fun.
Andrew's answer, I do martial arts. Matt says, I teach Karate and martial arts. I tend to say "teach" more than "train" or do. Laura says, I break or kick stuff and apparently, I said play. Hey, I'm consistent. That's cool. It's nice to see that I'm consistent. I think the verb can change. You can train. You can play. You can do. You can play. You can practice. You can teach. You can be. I think, even though I would use the word play as the verb for most part, I think my general attitude is it's not something I do, it's something I am. I am a martial artist not so much I do martial arts.
I think this from the tournament thing. Dennis says, "Two guys throwing around horse kicks simultaneously slamming their shins together and both legs broke." Ahhh, ouch. That hurts. That hurts me thinking about that 'cause I know how much it hurts to not break your shin doing that. Shin bone's hard. Holy crap. What would've happened if they hit somebody's skull? Not okay.
What's the strangest place you've ever done a form? It's highly suggestive in the way that question was asked. Um, let's see. Beach, state park, backyard, hotel room, hotel hallway...roof? Matt says, "my desk when I was in high school. Outside of [48:01:01], restaurant, retirement home, courthouse." Gabe says, "my daughter and I did a Kado in Disneyland once." Lesley says, "outside the Eiffel tower, Tokyo tower, on top of a mountain in Switzerland, Dublin castle." So far, I think Lesley wins. Andrew says, "at a resort in Jamaica. I told all the students in the dojo that I'll still be practicing every day. I recorded the Kado from a different location resort every day. The [48:21:18] was in a wall inside of a pool. The wall was 1 or 2 inches below the surface. It was about 8 inches wide. I did [48:27:20] also called [48:29:24]." Jason says, "that would have to be during the parade for me. The parade kept stopping so I had the kids start doing forms." Laura says, "a cruise ship."
Yeah, I 've done forms in a parade. I don't know if I've done forms on a cruise ship. Yeah, I'm trying to think if there are any others. I don't think I have any other good ones.
Alright, our 6th trivia question. What discussion topic or game we talked about in more episodes than in any other topic? I think I know this one. Maybe someday, whistlekick will reach the point of notoriety that we will have Wikipedia pages on all this stuff and someone will go back and fact check all these things. That would be interesting.
Alright, highlights from season 2 episodes 1 through 4. We're coming to the end. Pick your favorite end of the world movie? Too much talking without inhaling. Put yourself in that movie as a martial artist. How do you fair? How do you affect the plot or outcome of the movie?
I probably said Zombieland 'cause that's what I would've thought I would've said and I think zombies are not gonna be terribly responsive to martial arts unless that martial arts is Kobudo. You know, weapons based. I see a strong opportunity for forms in there or I'm sorry, for staff in there. Matt says, "Knowing or 2012." Unfortunately, I don't think my skills would take effect. Not sure I noticed the pattern in knowing so that it would be boring. In 2012, I might have only gotten a boat if they'd pick me to train new world military. My family alive might be a cool foot. [50:17:28] is the world crumbles. If Zombieland counts, that would be my favorite and I'd do great. I have less one-liners but I'd be fun to watch. I'd train those I keep with me. Stacy says, "I'm Eaten Alive by the bugs" And then Gabe says, "Stacy, I totally see you going crazy on those bugs Wreck it Ralph style." I love it. We've got a gift of Wreck it Ralph wrecking things.
Mr. Miyagi had wax on, wax off, sand the floor, paint the fence and paint the house. Mr. Han, Karate Kid in 2010, had jack it on, jack it off. What drills have you seen or done that are like these? Scoop and throw so teaching what I grew up calling the inside block or inside foreign block. So, imagine you have a shovel, a hand shovel, and you scoop and throw the dirt. I could make an argument for keeping your knee level like on a front kick and imagining a plant. I think somebody somewhere along the way said imagine there's a plant on your thigh while you're doing a kick which actually at this point, I disagree with that logic. Matt says, "Serve the pizza, look at the mirror, stir the pot, spin over 15 years. I can't remember all the names but we used to name all the kid's self-defense like that instead of they by the grab to help them." [51:58:06] says, "My wife used pizza stop sign to teach guarding block with a knife hand." Okay, pizza stop sign. I often use stop and shop for a wrist grab counter and strike.
Last question! Here it comes. Okay. What martial arts myth has come up in at least 3 episodes? Got it! Oh, Frank's in the chat. Hey Frank! "For one clinch move, we say stir the school bus in Muay Thai." I like that. Matt says, "I didn't think of Zombieland as end of the world. Someone else said it." That's entirely possible.
So, we got the answers to the trivia questions. Let's see how you did. Alright, I'm ready. I wrote them down.
Number 1, what's the very first topic of the first episode of whistlekick live? Submitted by Andrew Adams - Who should be allowed to attend Black belt tests? I wrote down earliest training memories. I got that one wrong. Boo!
Next, which episodes had significant technical issues? Season 1 episode 8 we had ended about 15 minutes in because of internet loading issues and did the full episode a week later. Oh, that's right. The episode that cause Jeremy to spend 3 times as much on internet access. Season 2 episode 1 couldn't hear Justin during his interview because I didn't turn the audio on. Season 2 episode 4 almost didn't get off the ground because many came in Zoom were not working together but the last reboot solved it. So don't forget, kids, when in doubt, reboot. I wrote down all of them.
Who is the first guest we had on this show? Justin. Aw, I wrote down Jared. It's usually Jared. I usually ask Jared to do stuff but I do remember that now. Was it Justin then Jared was the second one on that episode? No? We didn't have Jared that time? Do we get partial credit? No. No partial credit. We didn't have a second guest. Okay...because of the sound. But was it going to be Jared? No. Andrew was going to be the second one.
Alright, I got this one. First color of gear? Black. In fact, there wasn't even color in the skews. In all the other skews, stock keeping unit for all you retail nerds out there.
Gabe, I hate you. What's Jeremy's favorite martial arts movie? It's not Best of the Best. It's Crouching Tiger. I'm giving myself that one and you're all wrong. You're all fired. Not really, I need your help. Thank you for your help.
What discussion topic have we talked about more episodes than the others? Self-defense. If you were attacked right now, at least the episodes. Season 1 episode 5, 6 and 2 episode 5. I wrote down the improvised weapons yeah. So I got that on right. Whoo. I'm on a streak. I got three.
Let's see. What martial arts myths have come up in at least 3 episodes? Having to register your hand as deadly weapons. The need to register hands in Black belts. I got 4. Anybody beat me? Jenny got Crouching Tiger. This was fun.
We're doing rapid fire trivia too. Okay! I don't know why I'm stretching. Hold on. I like that rapid fire trivia has pictures of square cuts, specifically super soakers. Andre got two. Alright, let's do it. The person you're playing against got zero right in a minute twenty. That's setting the bar low. Alright, I've taken every question you've got wrong from previous episodes and put them all on one. I hope you've been studying.
You're like half of my high school teachers. Alright. The finalists all the questions you guys did terribly on throughout the year. Let's do it. Ready, set, go.
What year was the Karate Kid released? It was one year off last time. Uhm, I think I said '83 and it's '84 or '84 and it's '83 so '83.
When did Bruce Lee die? Uh, '65.
What famous martial arts actor is also a professional bowler. I don't know.
What state is most martial arts schools per capita? Florida.
First martial art in the modern Olympics? Judo.
Who's considered the most famous Samurai? Musashi.
Who's the first American to teach Karate in the US? [57:53:29]
Why is a Karate gi white? I don't know. It symbolizes purity or something.
What is the color Black represent on the uniform of Taekwondo? Wisdom.
What [58:06:04] is called a uniform? It's a gi but you called it a kimono when we did this last time.
Korean word used to refer to as a belt or rank? Geup.
What does Aikido mean? Gentle way.
The armor used in Kando? I don't remember.
Name one of the four founders of Kajukenbo? I just looked in the list and I don't even remember them. Pass.
Where is the American Taekwondo Association found? The ATA, um, Illinois.
Name a style with no strikes? Judo.
What does Judo mean? I don't know.
What does Shotokan mean? I saw it on a patch before that's something to do with pine trees.
That's all. Let's see how we did. It's the Looney Tunes end graphic but my face in the middle of it. It's very flattering.
Karate Kid was released in 1884. I don't remember what I said this time.
Bruce Lee died in '73. Way off.
Jackie Chan is also a pro bowler
Rhodes Island has the most martial arts school per capita.
First martial art in the modern Olympics - judo. I got that one.
Most famous Samurai? Musashi. I got that one.
Ah, Trias! That what I was trying to think of but I wasn't getting there. First American teacher.
Why's a gi white? It's the undergarment.
What does the color black represent in Taekwondo? Knowledge. I said wisdom. I don't know if that's the same thing.
[59:41:19] practitioners call their uniform a kimono.
So what am I? I have 4, 5...
Korean word for belt rank is geup, I got that one.
Aikido - the way of the harmonious spirit. I didn't get that.
Kando armor - Bogu. Definitely didn't get that.
Founders of Kajukenbo - Adriano Emperado, Yil Choo, Jo Holck, Frank Ordonez and Clarence Chang.
Where is the ATA founded? Omaha, Nebraska.
Name a [1:00:07:06] ...Judo or Jiu Jitsu. I got that.
What does Judo mean? Gentle way. I got that. Didn't I? I think I got that.
What does Shotokan mean? School of waving pines. I sort of got that but half skipped it because I kinda saw the answer. So, I'm not gonna take credit for that.
So, I got like 5, 6. See, I learned. I can be educated. I can get better.
Alright, and that's a great place to end it. So, those of you who have watched. I don't know if anybody's... I know that at least two of us have been here for every episode. Gabe and I are here for every episode. I'm gonna guess that some of you in the chat have been here for every episode. I'm curious if there's anybody out there feel like they've been to every one of these. If so, I definitely want to recognize you by name. Those of you watching or listening later, watching now, thank you. This show's been a lot of fun. It's been a great opportunity. Gabe and I are far better friends than when we started. We both learned a ton of stuff about the technical side about how all this stuff works and I've said it before and I will say it again. I don't know if I've said it on the show but I definitely said it to Gabe a number of times. When you look at what we've been able to do with relatively little resources and comparatively low investment of hours, we've put together a pretty good show.
Look at every other kind of nighttime show that we're competing against. There would be dozens of people working full time to produce a single episode so if you think about the economy of what goes into this versus what comes out, I think we've done a pretty darn good job. I'm really proud of it. I'm thankful for all of you for joining.
Andrew said he missed one. Matt and Jenny say they made it to everyone. That's awesome. I'm super excited. Thank you, guys. Thank you for your support and I really wish...there you go. Anybody else? Matt says, I'm missing your ugly mug each month. Matt, you have 20 opportunities a month to watch me at First Cup. There are at least ten hours of programming in video. Not to mention, Andrew and I doing the video episodes of Martial Arts Radio so you can see my face plenty of times. Look at you, Matt Nather with your goofy stories.
I want to shoutout Stacy and Laura, team smashy smash. They're like breaking TikTok with their videos. Between Laura and Stacy, they're in the literally tens of millions of views and I think they started a month ago. It's kinda ridiculous. Matt saying that he can't watch First Cup because he's on baby duty. I have no idea. The show gets recorded, man. You can watch it later. Sounds like BS to me but yeah if you're on TikTok look for what is Laura's @smashynapoli and hold on. I want to see if I can find Stacy's. I want to make sure I get these right. Bear with me. Where are we? Okay, Laura's @smashymapoli and then Stacy is @sulasdracarys. Yeah, it's a ridiculous number of views between the two of them. Millions of likes, tons of comments, and they're just doing a great job. They are...they're doing on TikTok what I would hope we do with TikTok so check them out. Make sure you add them. Make sure you're following us on social media. Make sure you're checking everything out. If you've been looking at one of the programs we have, grab them by the end of the week. We are raising prices starting next week. They have to go up. They are too cheap. I'm getting flaked from consultants that we need to raise those prices. Once again, I want to shoutout to Gabe and thank him for all of the time he invested into the show. We absolutely killed it. I appreciate you, my friend. We're gonna have to find something else that we can work on now that we are putting this to bed. So that is it. Thank you and I hope to see you around in some other way. Don't be a stranger. My email address - jeremy@whistlekick.com. I wanna hear from all of you.