Episode 625 - Designing the Best Fighter in the World
In this episode, listen in as Jeremy and Andrew talk about Designing the Best Fighter in the World.
Designing the Best Fighter in the World - Episode 625
What if we could design the best and ideal fighter like Neo in the Matrix? Where we could just load up a module in a person’s brain to learn Martial Arts such as Karate, Taekwondo, Judo, and etc. In this episode, Jeremy and Andrew talk about what can they come up with in Designing the Best Fighter in the World. Listen and join the discussion!
Show Transcript
You can read the transcript below.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Hello and welcome! This is whistlekick Martial Arts Radio, today Andrew and I are here in person and we're going to design the greatest fighter in the world. Should be an interesting conversation, we've talked about this virtually zero. So, it'll be interesting to see how this all unfolds.
Andrew Adam:
And we're gonna put some stuff in the pod and mix it up.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah, we're gonna concoct a person like Frankenstein but with more... I don't know, maybe not. We'll just be Frankenstein. If you wanna see all the things that we do as part of this endeavor that is whistlekick, go to whistlekick.com. You're gonna find all kinds of stuff over there. Links all of the things that we do or projects, as well as our products. Yes, we have a store. It's one of the ways we pay the bills for this thingy that we got going on here. If you use the code podcast15, saves 15%. Let us know that the podcast leads to some sales. If you haven't been over there lately, please do. We're constantly updating things, I've put new stuff... I put something new over there last week. So, by the time this comes out, it will be three weeks ago. Check it out! Just constantly try to make improvement.
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Andrew Adam:
Okay. This was your idea.
Jeremy Lesniak:
This was my idea.
Andrew Adam:
Okay. We're going into this cold.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay, when we talk about fighters and designing fighters... by the time this comes out we would have two how to fight episodes there and those have been fun. We did the first one on Jeff Speakman from The Perfect Weapon and the second one we did [02:52.21] and it really got my wheels turned. We're taking this limited subset person, how would we fight them? If then when you think about the matrix where Neo just gets all the stuff uploaded into his brain and he's like... and he knows every martial art and he's amazing and not that trading is that rapid, but you can do that..."Oh! I have a gap in my fight game. How do I improve that? Let me go over here and train with this person. Oh, I'm still not so great here, let me go seek someone out who's really good at teaching that thing and get better." But what if you were to take a step back? This is the conversation that people have over drinks, the MMAs have gotten big, and people seem to think that they have this perfect formula. "Let me take my tie and you add BJJ." That's all you need and sometimes people add one other thing, you know, Karate or Boxing or Wrestling and then they do better. I heard this conversation and I'm not gonna say that that's a bad approach. The question is, how do you design the best fighter? So, is there a better approach? What do you think?
Andrew Adam:
It's a good question. If you look at the UFC for example in their early, early days, it was submission. That's what we wanted, so everyone was like "I gotta get really good at submission" and so a number of years that was UFC actually was, and then someone came in and it became “That guy won, and they didn't submit. It was all about striking." For the next number of years it became, "Oh, I can't get my striking game up" because that was a deficit that people had. So, UFC for a number of years was just striking... maybe I am generalizing, I know it's not exactly that but-
Jeremy Lesniak:
You’re illustrating the point that there has been a cycle of what was focused.
Andrew Adam:
Correct! And then people came in that have a good grasp of striking, a good grasp of submission stuff and they kinda evolve and they did what we're kind of talking about now which is designing what would work best in a situation and designing a great fighter. They looked at the weaknesses they have and added what they needed to.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Now, we're not necessarily talking about the best fighter to step into MMA.
Andrew Adam:
No, just a joke.
Jeremy Lesniak:
We're gonna say in general. Let's define that as across any number of rules sets or even none rule sets. You know the streets, or UFC rules, or point sparring, or whatever it is. If we were to think of versatility, I think that is an important aspect to being a fighter. Well, I can’t imagine being strong and fast as ever a disadvantage.
Andrew Adam:
I would agree.
Jeremy Lesniak:
We're talking about someone who spends time getting strong and getting fast. They're working on their ability to take and recover from damage quickly. Which again comes from being strong, being fast, being healthy.
Andrew Adam:
Cardio should be used.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yep, and a shout-out to fight conditioning program we designed because most people don't understand cardio and how cardio plays into fight. Go check that out, there's some video on and some other stuff that explains that. Go run eight miles and step into any kind of intense combative situation and tell me if you feel prepared. Not the same, they are different kinds of cardio. Balance becomes important, these are general thinks that I think most people are going to train indirectly, but what about training directly? Lifting weights, running sprints at the track, flexibility, getting recovery with massage, acupuncture, chiropractic, that whole thing there making sure the body is resilient as possible. I think it's a really important part. If you dig in each generation of fighters usually one or two people that will be discussed as being able to take a lot of punishment or that episode of Simpsons where Homer boxes. His whole strategy is to just get punched in the face until the other guy gets tired and then he just pushes him over. I think Mike Tyson was a guest in that. Are you with me so far?
Andrew Adam:
Yeah absolutely. I'm with you.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So, just general physical skill. We're probably... size does matter. The larger the better. There's no situation where... If we're talking about fighting, where being taller, stronger, faster, heavier is going to be a disadvantage in this context. If we’re talking about weight classes, then yeah it might be difficult to find somebody. I don’t care how good I am if I'm up against somebody who is 6’6” 320, I am not going to win. I'm probably not gonna...Out of respect for myself, I'm gonna carve a small chance out of that for me but not gonna happen and I am aware of that. Is there anything non-technique that we should dig into before we go there? Anything else?
Andrew Adam:
I think you might want to consider this technique but conditioning your body to absorb... not absorb but to be able to take hits. I’m thinking of like punching them like the [08:50:13] to like to straighten up your hand or kicking stuff that’s really hard to straighten up your leg. In Japanese martial arts we call it [09:01.14] like body conditioning like that kind of stuff. I guess you could use that technique.
Jeremy Lesniak:
It's really at the heart of it, it's really training the nervous system to understand what that stimulus means, and it is not necessary that you're dying. Anybody who can remember the first time they were hit in the face even if it wasn't full force, it's crippling because your body acts, "I don't know what to do with this" and there is something to experience in that context whether you're talking about punching someone in the face or getting a shot to the body, a shot to the head. It's that resilience but it's more than that. It's not just physical damage. It's the nervous system, it's understanding of what that stimulus means.
So, technique. All of them.
Andrew Adam:
Yes.
Jeremy Lesniak:
The more you know, the better. It doesn’t mean that your skill in all of them is necessarily equal but the more you know, the better because there's something to be said for a surprise. Here's my illustration of that if surprise did not matter. If only competency of technique matters, boxers would dominate MMA. Boxers have handfuls of techniques, and you got some variations on there, but you take a high-level boxer, they know how to punch rather than anybody else. They know how to punch, hook, jab, straight, hook, uppercut. Those are the four primary, everything else is really a variation there. I am not a boxer, if you're a boxer and you have an issue with my description of boxing... I'm not gonna defend it, that is my very fundamental understanding of boxing, as it has been talked to me. Boxers need more than boxing in MMA and it's not just because of rage, it's because of diversity. If you know that person has those four techniques, you could craft a pretty solid strategy even on the fly to deal with that.
Andrew Adam:
Yeah, absolutely.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So I would say, boxing for one's punches. Best punchers are boxers. Kicking, you got different kinds of kicking. You've got kicking to the head, that's probably Taekwondo. Not super applicable in most fighting contexts, generally pretty risky but if you want some diversity, I will say you're training some of that. Kicks to the leg, it's probably Muay Thai. Maybe Kyokushin similar there. If you want kicks to the body…
Andrew Adam:
Could be a number of Karate.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah, pretty much any martial art teaches kicks to the body. When it comes to grappling, it's Jiu-jitsu whether we're talking specifically Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu or incorporating some stand-up traditional Japanese Jiu-jitsu or Hapkido. There are so many ways that the body is going to move before it doesn't wanna go, right? And all of those grappling arts are applicable there. Wrestling deals with some things…
Andrew Adam:
Body movement.
Jeremy Lesniak:
…that I think are pretty valuable in terms of being able to close those gaps very quickly in a way that I- now, I am not a wrestler, or I've never been a wrestler, my BJJ experience is about that [12:45.25]. I am not aware of non-wrestling grappling arts teaching amenability to so quickly close as a priority.
Andrew Adam:
Sumo.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Sumo's interesting. I would need to consider Sumo makes sense because we're talking about this person being really big and really strong.
Andrew Adam:
And as soon as they go, the first thing they need to close [13:16:11].
Jeremy Lesniak:
And Sumo teaches you how to use your weight, your momentum as an advantage. I think that's a great one.
Andrew Adam:
If you've never watched high-level Sumo, I highly encourage it. It's amazing to watch.
Jeremy Lesniak:
People dismiss it because it's big fat people and they assume being a big fat person means you don't have any athletic skills. Who’s the gentleman that we had on who did Sumo and he's promoted Sumo again in this country? There is a hysterical video of him [13:50.08] . It was a really fun interview, but he's entered Sumo competitions and there was a- I believe we linked a video from that channel's page of him in a match, he's smaller than I am. In a match who’s not smaller than I am, it was fun. He obviously was okay because he sent it to us, but you can check it out if you wanna go down that road again.
Andrew Adam:
Well, that’s an instance where another martial art where closing the gap is super important.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Really important there. What else do we got?
Andrew Adam:
Knees and elbows.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Knees and elbows, I don't think there's anything better than Muay Thai with that.
Andrew Adam:
Yeah, that's one thing.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I think the only other thing that becomes really relevant is the ability to move. Your head movement, body movement, front, back, lateral movements, and you know, you're gonna get some of that boxing. You're gonna get some of that from pretty much any martial art but I think the one aspect to martial arts that we haven't incorporated in this discussion is the idea of straight versus circles. Most of the arts that we're talking about, even Muay Thai, if it's an elbow and we think of that as being a circular technique. To me that's still pretty much a straight technique. I'm taking my elbow, I'm putting it on your face or wherever as directly as I can but if we think about something like any kind of Southeast Asian martial arts, see the kind of history [15:28.24] or even a lot of Chinese martial arts. Circles need the ability to move in circles, not just your hands, your feet but your whole body to move and to be more fluid both to evade or to deflect, to absorb and reduce damage. I think it's a good thing, who wouldn't want that? Some of my favorite drills that we did in Karate were learning how to take a punch offset and just kinda go with it and show that as long as you're able to go with it at the right time then a really solid punch becomes a much more solid punch. Things that would over a few inches, they are gonna break ribs and done right if the person's not expecting it. They are gonna lose balance 'cause they're compensating. They are expecting that they are gonna get that force.
Andrew Adam:
Yeah, they are waiting actually to end that.
Jeremy Lesniak:
What about mindset? I think that covers all the technique stuff.
Andrew Adam:
Yeah, I would agree. Technique-wise I think we are good, so I think yeah mindset is the last part of it.
Jeremy Lesniak:
What do you have to be to be a good fighter? You have to be- I don't wanna say crazy but you have to able to prioritize the end result over physical pain, physical damage. There are examples of fighters who... somebody breaks their arm, and they keep going, especially in grappling matches. That's where I've heard talked about and I think that's not me. That's also why I am not gonna be the greatest fighter in the world no matter what matrix downloads onto my brain.
Andrew Adam:
And some of that might be adrenaline to some degree and they might feel it afterwards but-
Jeremy Lesniak:
Not everybody is able to do that.
Andrew Adam:
You're right, absolutely.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I think that there's a work compacity and a priority on understanding that getting the job done matters and this is where... I'm actually gonna suggest something a little bit atypical, which is cross fit. If you follow high-level cross fit, imperative CrossFit, you see a lot of people getting good at cross fit to come out of farming communities.
Andrew Adam:
I could see that.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Because there's an attitude that the work has to get done and so they bring that attitude of the work's gonna get done into that training domain and they just get really good. They're able to go to that dark place or something people often talk about, and I don't have that, I was never great at cross fit, even in the early days when nobody was doing cross fit. I was still always at my best, I was just kind of okay because I couldn't go to that dark place ...Maybe I'd fight if I could.
Andrew Adam:
But if you had to-
Jeremy Lesniak:
If I had to but others are better able to turn that off and on and I think there's something there... And I think along those lines, maybe a why? Think about the Rocky movies, Rocky is able to do what he does, million-dollar baby. In any of these fight movies, there's a why? If we're down and out, they've gotta get through whatever this is. I don't care how good of a fighter you are if you don't have a purpose. You're probably not gonna be a great fighter. Anything else?
Andrew Adam:
No, I don't think so. That's a pretty intensive list.
Jeremy Lesniak:
There's a lot there so if you wanna be the best fighter in the world just go do all the things we told you to do, and I'll see you in 50 years when you are however old, and nobody would give you a fight. You won't get any profession.
Andrew Adam:
Because as we discussed before, martial arts helps make non-violent people.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I think this is an interesting mental exercise, I think that the extension of this would be to take a look at yourself. If you were to take you as you are at this age, physical capacity, the training you've had... What would be the next thing that you would plug in? I’ve always said that I see martial arts kind of like trivial pursuit and the first thing you train in of any substance of time is the base piece of that pie, the biggest wedge and then as you add more training, disciplines, school, etc., you're rounding that out, it's never full. What would be your second biggest trivial pursuit piece? For me, it's probably Kung Fu. How about you?
Andrew Adam:
For me, it's Karate.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Really?
Andrew Adam:
Yeah, I've done other martial arts. I've studied Sumo, Judo. I've studied some Jiujitsu, Aikido but the bulk of my training has been three different styles of Karate.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Maybe I didn't ask my question right. What would you add?
Andrew Adam:
Oh, what would I add? What would I add more? I would add... I would want to get better at Jiu-jitsu. More grounds stuff, whether it's BJJ or traditional Japanese Jiu-jitsu but because the bulk of my training is Karate, I mean I don’t want to branch out more.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So, there you go. There's a fun mental exercise, I hope that was helpful for you and I hope that you will think about it. Think about rounding yourself out, think about being a better martial artist even if you're never going to be a fighter. Even if the idea of fighting appalls you. Still understanding where the gaps in your training and in your game is a really relevant exercise. If you're an instructor, this would be a wonderful opportunity for a class discussion. A lot of schools have a match hats for kids, I don't know many adult classes that do it and I think it's really valuable. Anything to add before we roll out?
Andrew Adam:
No.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Thanks for watching or listening. If you have a topic suggestion/guess suggestion let us know, there's a form at whitslekickmartialartsradio.com. While you are over there, you could also sign up for our newsletter. Check out all the episodes that we ever done. Keep in mind we have photos, videos, links, and transcripts. All kinds of good stuff over there, if you like the episodes that we do, you could go so much deeper on them if you check those out. Sometimes we take those transcripts, collect them, do other things with them, throw them into a book! You could grab those at Amazon.com. You could also support us in a variety of ways. You could make exercises at whistlekick.com. You can grab a program at whitslekickprograms.com, you could tell people about the things that we do! That's free, leave reviews. Or support Patreon –patreon.com/whistlekick. We're gonna give you back whatever you’re willing to contribute, we’re going to give you back far more than that in value. So, go check that out and you'll see what I'm talking about.
Andrew Adam:
We're good.
Jeremy Lesniak:
If you wanna email us, andrew@whistlekickmartialartsradio.com, jeremy@whistlekick.com. Our social media is @whistlekick, everywhere. Thank you for your time today! Until next time…
Jeremy Lesniak and Andrew Adams:
…train hard, smile, and have a great day.