Episode 641 - Rapid Fire Q&A #7
In this episode, Jeremy and co-host Andrew Adams take on another iteration of the Rapid Fire Question and Answers.
Rapid Fire Q&A #7 - Episode 641
Jeremy and co-host Andrew Adams tackle a series of questions from you, the listeners, in the form of a Rapid Fire Q&A. Here are the questions they tried to answer:
Do you think kata or forms suffer PR problems for people outside of the traditional martial arts community? If you think so, how do we fix that PR problem?
What do you think of an exchange program, martial arts schools could have with neighboring schools on a regular basis?
Do you see Martial Arts as an industry in the sense of it's a business? Or do you see it in the other dictionary definition of “hard work”? And if so, why?
What are your thoughts on the standardization of the Kiai? Should it be the same throughout a particular dojo?
Do you find your Kiai differently if you're doing basics than if you're doing forms?
Do super fun movies like Kung Pow and Beverly Hills Ninja hurt martial arts reputation?
After listening and answering these questions, it would be exciting to know what are your thoughts about it. Don’t forget to drop them in the comment section below!
Show Transcript
You can read the transcript below.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Hey, what's going on everybody? Welcome. This is Whistlekick martial arts radio. And we're back. We, Andrew and I, we're back with another fun Q&A episode, we've got some questions that you all throw in. I haven't, I don't even know what's going on. That's the fun part about these episodes. So stick around. If you're new to what we do, you should go to whistlekick.com, you should check out the store, you check out the links to all the other things that we've got going our projects, our products, and if you use the code podcast 15 gives you 15% off, whether it's sparring gear, or a training program, or a shirt, some cool stuff over there. Now this website, this show gets its own website, hot, I told myself, whistlekickmartialartsradio.com bring you two episodes each and every week, all under the guise of connecting educating, entertaining you the traditional martial artists of the world. And if that means something to you, you can support us in a number of ways. You could buy something, you could tell people about what we're doing, you could follow us on social media or you could support our Patreon, patreon.com/whistlekick. We've got a bunch of cool stuff that happens over on Patreon exclusives including free merge we've seen some people posting pictures of the the stickers that came through as like a first round support. Andrew do you get your sticker?
Andrew Adams:
I did that I was I was looking for it but did.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I saw you looking around. I figured that's what it was.
Andrew Adams:
Oh, it's not in here.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah. And one of the downsides to Patreon is that I'm not part of it. So I don't get the stickers. But people said that that not only are they like really well done stickers, but they're really adhesive. And I know that that seems trivial. But if our name is going to go on something like it's got to be good.
Andrew Adams:
We want to be good. Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Got it. It's got to be good. Well, let's Q&A now.
Andrew Adams:
Yeah, let's do it.
Jeremy Lesniak:
We told people.
Andrew Adams:
So.
Jeremy Lesniak:
How they can help us. And of course, let's say now at the top of the show, if somebody has a question for the next Q&A, because we keep doing these email. This guy now this guy, the other guy.
Andrew Adams:
Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Andrew@whistlekickmartialartsradio.com.
Andrew Adams:
This guy right here.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That guy. That guy with the gray shirt.
Andrew Adams:
Yeah. With a ninja little ninjas on it.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Ninja shirt.
Andrew Adams:
Okay, so I've got five questions today.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay.
Andrew Adams:
Some for myself, some sent in from listeners of the show.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Nice.
Andrew Adams:
And so the very first one is going to be one from me.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay.
Andrew Adams:
I got my stopwatch ready here.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah. How much time do I have?
Andrew Adams:
Five minutes?
Jeremy Lesniak:
Five? Okay, five minutes.
Andrew Adams:
Yeah. And the question is do kata or forums 2:41 whatever your style 2:42.
Jeremy Lesniak:
2:43 patterns?
Andrew Adams:
Yep, yep. Do they suffer from a PR problem for people outside of the traditional martial arts community?
Jeremy Lesniak:
A PR problem. Now, if we think about a PR problem, to my mind that that means we're talking about a misunderstanding, a misrepresentation. And is that that's how you mean it?
Andrew Adams:
Yep. Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay. So to say that in another way, would people outside of traditional martial arts have a better understanding of the value of forums? If they had a better understanding what they were? Anybody who's been a longtime listener, viewer of this show knows how I feel about forums. I am I am all in on forums. I think forums are absolutely amazing. I think they are the pinnacle of martial arts training. And I'm not going to unpack what that means, because that's too long for my five minutes. But I think people outside have, I do agree they have a poor understanding of what forms are and what they're intended for, because when I hear people who are not 4:00 forums, talk about forums. The adjectives that they use suggest walking through the movements, that the key that the most important part is the memorization of sometimes non-combat effective technique. And if that's how you view forums, if that's how you do forums,
Andrew Adams:
Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
They're useless. But I look at it as okay, what if I could have one thing that I do? That builds my strength, my stability, my codifies my technique, and builds in some timing, some awareness, and some flexibility, right? Like just stacks, a whole bunch of things. That's forums, in the context of martial arts, that's forums. And one of the beauties of the fact that the pattern is pre-arranged, is that you don't have to think about it. Here's something outside of martial arts. One of the reasons that Cross Fit is so effective and now fF45, orange theory etc., as a physical training discipline is that people don't have to decide what they're doing for workout, they just show up, they just show up to a class and the coach takes them through it. Forums are kind of similar. I just do the forum, maybe I have to pick which forum I'm doing. But I just have to do the forum. And the more time I spend with it, the more I can find nuance to individualize it myself. But I can also, as I move past the memorization piece, really work on various aspects. And actually, we did an episode on, I think it was like 20 drills you can do with forums. If you take a forum and you just focus on stances, or you just focus on speed, or you just focus on power, you can get a tremendous amount out of that.
Andrew Adams:
Yep.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So yeah.
Andrew Adams:
I agree.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Is our problem.
Andrew Adams:
How do we fix that PR problem, then?
Jeremy Lesniak:
I don't think we do.
Andrew Adams:
Okay.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Because I don't I think the majority of people who are down on forums want to be down on forums, because they don't want to do them. Because they want to do the things within their martial arts training that they enjoy. And they are reverse engineering the excuse.
Andrew Adams:
Okay, good. All right. You ready for the next one?
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yep.
Andrew Adams:
Okay, this was sent in by Francis Cordon.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Hey, Francis.
Andrew Adams:
And this question is, what do you think of an exchange program martial arts schools could have with neighboring schools on a regular basis?
Jeremy Lesniak:
I really like that. I think it's a great idea. I think the question would be, what are the responsibilities of the people who switch? Right? When I think of a, like the exchange program we had in high school, when I think of the kids who came over from Germany, we had one from Argentina, and three from Germany, the very fact that they just lived and went to school and did sports with us, we picked up bits, they picked up bits from us, it was because it was immersive, it was effective. A martial arts school exchange is probably not going to be 24 hour a day immersive. So I think it had, it would have to have some parameters around it. I could see, you know, for hey for the next six months or three months, this maybe not the top instructor, but you know, number two or three on the on the totem pole goes over there, and vice versa. And they step in and they train. But then maybe at the end of every class, there's like a 10 minute piece with that person unpacks, the context, hey, you all spent the last 45 minutes going over this thing. Here's how we do that in our school. And I think in order for it to be valuable, it would have to be more than just a physical piece. I think it would have to also be discussion, I think there has to be conversation to really pull the full value. But I really liked the idea.
Andrew Adams:
Yeah, I think something that hasn't been brought up on this show in a while, but was when I first got on board was open, clear communication.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah.
Andrew Adams:
Right?
Jeremy Lesniak:
Well, that's your that's your buzzword.
Andrew Adams:
That is.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Your buzz phrase.
Andrew Adams:
That's definitely my phrase. So as long as there's super, super open communication about what's expected, I think it could be a really, really good thing and very useful and valuable, you know, as long as the because what's the biggest fear? Like, why would people not want to do this? In my opinion, the fear would be a whoa. Oh, if I'm the one of the instructors, oh, my students, Mike over there, and like that school better, like that would be the fear.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah.
Andrew Adams:
So as long as there's open communication about this is not what it's about. It's not about, quote, unquote, stealing students. It's about learning and education, you know.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Right. If the only thing keeping your students from going to another school is their knowledge of the other school, then you failed them already.
Andrew Adams:
Yep, yep. And, and I have I have pre COVID. I had been talking with my instructor about doing something kind of similar, which was setting up a once a month training at our dojo and having a different instructor every month come in and teach something.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I love that.
Andrew Adams:
And, and all of their only brown and black for collecting turns brown and black belts, only their upper rank students would be allowed to come. And that would be one of the reasons of that. Helping to ensure that we're not they're looking to steal students. If you're brown and black belts are going to stay with your school regardless, you know. Anyway, that was a good one.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I like it.
Andrew Adams:
Alright, so this next one is from Paul Wilson from the karate cafe.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Hey! What's up, Paul? It was a great episode.
Andrew Adams:
That was Yeah. Here's his question. On a few episodes, I've heard you let Jeremy refer to martial arts as, quote our industry when talking with other martial arts instructors. Do you see the martial arts as an industry in the sense of it's a business since you make your living that way? Or do you see it in the other dictionary definition of hard work? And why?
Jeremy Lesniak:
I'm at risk of not answering the question. The reason I've fallen into using the term industry is because I haven't found a better one. But the word that actually I think works best, but it doesn't roll off the tongue. Well, for me is realm. In the realm of martial arts, because, yeah, our industry includes a lot of people who are doing a lot of things and there's, there's no money involved. And then we think of industry in that way. And that really is close to closer definition of what I'm meaning rather than the hard work industry, industrious, industrial definition. It because it's a word more of us use. It just it sounds better to me, but I don't like it. And honestly, every time I use it, I don't like it. It hits my ear wrong. But it's one of those things that, you know, it's very similar to when people use the word kata, as a generic term for forums. I don't like that. And I don't do it because I found the word forum, and I think forum is equally applicable. But I haven't found a better word for industry than realm. But if I say, well, Andrew, where's the first place your mind goes?
Andrew Adams:
Fantasy?
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah. You go to some kind of D&D fantasy ask people place that I think some may perceive as disrespectful. At the very least detached?
Andrew Adams:
Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
From where we are. And I don't want to go there. And I've actually spent like, time thinking through this realm, hobby.
Andrew Adams:
Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Lifestyle. Right. Like, there's no great words. Why? Because our why, because our why's are so different.
Andrew Adams:
Well, and because for some people, it is a hobby. For some people, it is a lifestyle.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And for others, it's a job.
Andrew Adams:
You can't use that word interchangeably, though,
Jeremy Lesniak:
Right. Right. And so I'm going to continue to use industry until I come up with a better word, or somebody gives me a better word.
Andrew Adams:
Gotcha. And maybe Paul will, maybe he.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Maybe Paul has a suggestion. And anybody that's got a suggestion, you know, help me out.
Andrew Adams:
Excellent. All right. This next question, wasn't it? I'm going to say it was coming from me, but it was really on a forum, it was being discussed by a lot of different people. So I.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay.
Andrew Adams:
Don't remember who really brought it forward. But what are your thoughts on the standardization of the 13:00? Should it be the same throughout a particular dojo?
Jeremy Lesniak:
No. Absolutely not.
Andrew Adams:
And then what are your thoughts on the 13:11 or.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So.
Andrew Adams:
Key up? Or.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah.
Andrew Adams:
Whatever you’re think is your style.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Spirit yell shout. Different people at different levels of training in different schools have different understandings of what that action is. I find it to be immensely personal, powerful expression of energy that I use, at that level solely in the context of forums. Because I cannot gather myself and express it fully in a sparring match with a 13:50 like not going to happen.
Andrew Adams:
Okay.
Jeremy Lesniak:
The reason it should not be standardized is because we cannot standardize the gathering of the energy, the preparation, and what to me feels like an emotional expression. So what would we end up standardizing? The tone. And that's silly. Because the tone is going to come out of my mouth with a well projected. I grew up in karate. So the term 14:24 resonates most for me key up second for my Taekwondo time, but a well-placed expression of that that sound into your sound is going to be completely different. It should be because our speaking voices are different. Our diaphragms, the resonance chamber that this comes from, is different. And if we try to standardize on them, it becomes a race to the bottom. And there are schools for whom the why is very different. It's about expelling air in an audible sense. Hey, hey, hey, hey, rate, we've. Some of you may attend a school like that. It's not a judgment. This is yet another place where I am style agnostic and libertarian, libertarian free market. As it comes through, if it works for you, it works for you. I love a well-timed, well performed, expressed, I think is the word the verb I like most 15:26 in my forums, because I'm going to own that I don't care how big that room is, I'm going to own that room. That is my goal. Every time I make sure that no matter what else is going on, everybody in that space is going to turn and look at me. That's the goal for me. But when I when I do that.
Andrew Adams:
Yep. I think it's definitely individualized. I think it.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah.
Andrew Adams:
Would be hard to. It's hard. I know, it's hard to enforce. I mean, if you're an instructor and you want everyone to 15:52 this way, I mean, you could do it. But it's just such a difficult thing to do.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yep. State standardization sounds like a good thing within a school just like you might want to standardize a forum or the way a technique is done. But that's not what the standardization would become. Instead, it would be standardizing the equivalent would be the length of time the forum takes, or the amount of ground covered, which varies based on leg length, or the amount of power generated out of a certain technique, which varies based on a whole bunch of things. Because we're not going to be able to measure emotional energy, we're going to end up measuring volume and tone. And I think that that completely misses the point.
Andrew Adams:
Yeah. Slight follow up. Do you find in thinking of this question this week, I've been thinking in my own 16:47 myself, do you find you 16:50 differently if you're doing basics than if you're doing forums?
Jeremy Lesniak:
Oh, absolutely.
Andrew Adams:
Yeah, I do.
Jeremy Lesniak:
There are a lot of schools that I've trained that want a 17:02 at the end of every 10 you know, hutch kuju, right? I don't have the stamina for a full blown 17:11. Every 10 when I perform in a in a competition or something, those two or three 17:18 are just as exhausting for me as the rest of the forum.
Andrew Adams:
Yep.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And I need 30 to 45 minutes to recover from that. So if I'm going to 17:30 like that I'm done in the first five minutes class.
Andrew Adams:
Yeah. Got it.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You got to tone it down. Just like I'm not throwing my techniques, full power every single time. I can't stammer.
Andrew Adams:
Okay, last question. This question comes to us from our very good friend of the show. Lesi.
Jeremy Lesniak:
What's up Lesi?
Andrew Adams:
And her question is, movies like Kung Pow.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Hmm.
Andrew Adams:
Beverly Hills Ninja.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah.
Andrew Adams:
Spoof movies. Super fun. Are they hurting martial arts reputation?
Jeremy Lesniak:
They're not helping it. So the question is, is it having an impact? Because if it is having an impact, it's a negative impact. And is that impact substantial enough towards it's not having them. I don't think too many people are watching Kung Pow or Beverly Hills Ninja, and saying, you know, I want to go train. But we know that legitimate martial arts movies are received at times poorly. And here's the best example. What is the single most sarcastic response anyone ever has when they find out that you do martial arts of any kind?
Andrew Adams:
My guests go to would be from Karate Kid Three. That's my guess. Oh, you do you do martial arts? Oh. Oh, does.
Jeremy Lesniak:
He might see my, what I've experienced most is Karate Kid One. It's pulling people pull up in a crane kick.
Andrew Adams:
Oh, yeah. Okay. Same. Yes. Same sort of thing.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So there's a movie that as an industry? Well, we love it has been transformational. You know, it led him to Cobra Kai. I mean, come on. Like there's a lot of a lot of substance there. And people still pick out this certain part that or parts that maybe are less legitimate, less professional, less substantive. I can't stop that. If somebody wants to make fun of something, they're going to make fun of something. So I think about I actually talked myself in a circle. And while to the rest of the world, movies like compound of Beverly Hills Ninja.
Andrew Adams:
Beverly Hills Ninja.
Jeremy Lesniak:
May not be helpful to those outside the martial arts, I think maybe they are beneficial to us inside. Because it helps us poke fun at ourselves in a more positive way, because we're, you know, we're pretty good at tearing each other down. Here's an opportunity for us to not do that. And you've got movies that kind of ride the line like Kung Fu Panda.
Andrew Adams:
Yeah, yep. It's a great example. I think that I think most of the time, the non I'll say non educated, I don't mean non educated, not non.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Training
Andrew Adams:
Trained individuals see movies like Beverly Hills Ninja and realize that this is clearly not meant to be a martial arts movie.
Jeremy Lesniak:
It's satire.
Andrew Adams:
Yeah. And I think that that most of those types of movies do a pretty good job of setting that up. And so I don't know that.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I would agree.
Andrew Adams:
Hurts us a whole lot.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I would agree. I think it's probably, you know, I, I have noticed I get really protective of the martial arts world. And I put a little bit too much energy into pushing back on someone who's doing something that I think portrays us in a poor light. But most of the time I think the negative things are really just silly. And as long as it's clearly silly, I don't think it's that big of a deal. It's having fun.
Andrew Adams:
Yep. That's correct.
Jeremy Lesniak:
We have fun in class, sometimes. Sometimes the fun supersedes the training. And that's okay.
Andrew Adams:
Excellent. That's it.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Alright.
Andrew Adams:
That's all I have.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That's it. Wow. Got through this pretty fast.
Andrew Adams:
Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay, I'm getting I'm getting more efficient. Well, thank you. And thank you to all of you who wrote in questions. And again, throw some questions in for the next one. Andrew@whistlekickmartialartsradio.com. don’t send them to me. I'm not allowed to see him beforehand. This is all this is on the flight helps make me better. I appreciate it. I appreciate the opportunity to just kind of roll with the questions as they come up. If you want to check out the other episodes, we've done like this, go to whistlekickmartialartsradio.com, or check your podcast feed there. They're all in there. Every episode we've ever done is available for free, because that's what we do. And if you head on over to whistlekickmartialartradio.com you can check out transcripts and links and photos and all that good stuff. You can sign up for the newsletter. We do newsletters once a week based on different things and you know what, people like people open them. I work in the marketing world. I don't know if everybody knows that. So I know whether or not people like our stuff, and people like our stuff. If you do like our stuff, you should consider buying something or telling people about us, help us grow help spread the show and our mission here at Whistlekick. And of course if you want more deeper exclusive behind the scenes, all that good stuff, Patreon, patreon.com/whistlekick and you can jump in for as little as $2 a month and it goes up from there. Okay, I want to thank you all for watching or listening. You want to follow us on social media we're at Whistlekick my email Jeremy@whistlekick.com. Until next time.
Jeremy and Andrew:
Train hard. Smile and have a great day.