Episode 677 - Different Ways of Learning

In this episode, Jeremy is joined by Coach Danny Indio where they talk about Different Ways of Learning Martial Arts.

Different Ways of Learning - Episode 677

Coach Danny Indio is a certified Jeet Kune Do instructor and the author of the book Mixed Martial Arts Fighting Techniques. Coach Danny, a practitioner, and instructor of numerous Martial Arts disciplines, specializes in teaching how to use tools such as notebooks, visualizations, and other methods for learning Martial Arts and other combat sports.

In this episode, Jeremy is joined by Coach Danny Indio where they talk about Different Ways of Learning for people in Martial Arts, combat sports, and movement disciplines. Listen and join the conversation!

Show Notes

You may check out Coach Danny Indio’s book and other materials on his website at www.MasterYourMoves.com or linktr.ee/DannyMYMJIMI

Show Transcript

You can read the transcript below.

Jeremy Lesniak:

What's up, everybody? Welcome. This is whistlekick Martial Arts Radio episode 677. And today, my guest is Coach Danny Indio. And he's on to talk with me, really, I'm talking with him about learning. As a martial artist with interesting conversation, we went deep, and we gave you all kinds of cool stuff. I think you're gonna like this one. It's completely different from anything we've done. So, stick around and find out and let me know. If you're new to the show. You may not know who I am. My name is Jeremy Lesniak, I'm your host for the show founder of whistlekick, where everything we do is in support of the traditional martial arts. You want to know more about what that means and all the things that we do. Go to whistlekick.com check out everything, we've got going on over there. One of the things there, yep, it's a store. Yep, we sell stuff. And yet, you can save 15% with the discount code, PODCAST15. Check out all the different things we've got going on over there, from shirts to hoodies, to gear, and there's even some uniforms in there. So much stuff. So check that out. Now, if you like what we do, you might want to also check out whistlekickmartialartsradio.com. It's a whole separate website, because this show deserves its own website. 

Head on over there, get on the newsletter list. And you know, we talk often about all the different things you can do to support us and what we do here at whistlekick. Guess what, there's an easy list, whistlekick.com/family, we give you links to where to leave reviews, we give you all the different things that would be helpful to us. Some of them are really easy, most of them are free. One of the things that is not free, but I think it's well worth the money is our Patreon, patreon.com/whistlekick. Okay, and get in as little as two bucks a month. And the more you contribute, the more we give back to you. We just launched a school owners mastermind in the top two tiers, do the math, and it's a bargain compared to any other mastermind you're going to get in. So check that out. To those of you who contribute to those of you who support thank you, means the world to me. 

Now, let's dig into the episode. I'm not going to introduce it any more than I already have. Other than to say if you're listening to this one you might wanna check out there's a video version. Danny and I did it in video as well. So, here we go. Hey, Danny, welcome to whistlekick Martial Arts Radio.

Danny Indio:

Hey, Jeremy. Nice to be here.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Yes, nice to have you. You know, this is gonna be a little bit different. We haven't done one of these in a while where we have a guest on and we're going to talk first. Usually, when we have people on the show, we bring them on, we find out all about them. And then we kind of get close to the episode and then listeners will write in. And they'll say hey, can you bring that person back on to talk about this, that or the other? And quite often we will write but we met in, as far as I'm concerned, one of the least positive places on the internet, youtube. And you're commenting these like positive, thoughtful, clearly introspective posts on what we're putting up. And I was digging.

Danny Indio:

Well, yeah, no, you know, I came to your podcast recently. And I was listening to them, and I couldn't help but just, you know, ideas started percolating. I'm listening to you guys. The banter is really, you know, it's fun engaging. And, but it's also informative. And I was like, man, it's almost like, in my head. I was the third person on the show. And I was like, okay, this, you know, and I would chime in, and I was like, well, you know, I feel like, this is good stuff. You know, let's get the dialogue going. So, I commented, you know, and was really surprised, but also appreciative of the response, you know, you came, you know, and responded and it just made me feel like, oh, this is good. You know, this is what I like. The great thing about social media is when you have an opportunity to discover, you know, like I discovered your podcast, but then also engage and have a dialogue and learn from each other. So, I was excited.

Jeremy Lesniak:

The best thing about social media is also the worst thing about social media is the barriers can really exist. And, you know, there are probably a number of folks listening and watching right now because we are doing this one in a video that is saying, wait a second. So he found the show, and he started engaging. And Jeremy started responding. And then they pulled him in to do a show like this is not an uncommon path. If you hang around the outskirts of whistlekick and what we do long enough, like I'm going to grab you and give you something to do whether it's coming on the show or hey, go do that thing or go. Can you fix that? And it's kind of the beauty of what we do is that there, there's this mission, and people start to understand the mission. And they're like, oh, this clicks for me.

Danny Indio:

Yeah. And that's what I like, I mean, you know, I look at it as, or at least speaking for myself, I'm in a lifelong learning process, right? So, you know, there's no end in sight. No matter how many belts, I might accrue one day, no matter, you know, what, what, no matter what level I get to, and this is across the board, not just in martial arts, you know, like, there's always gonna be something new to learn. And so, I can't help but you know, listen to a show like yours or look up and see a video on YouTube. And, for me, like, I come with positive energy, like, you know, what can I learn from this? You know, maybe I might come across something and be more tired. I'm like, okay, there's a video that demonstrates some moves, you know, I know, 75% of it. But then all of a sudden, there's a technique or a different way of doing a technique. And I'm like, Okay, I'm glad to keep the open mind to, like, watch it. Because, you know, after watching the first part, I'm gonna go ahead and all this stuff, and then I skip it, I would have missed out on that, that one technique, or that one drill, or that one, whatever, that one piece of knowledge that now has made me I think better, you know. So, I can't help but like, just, you know, find, take that approach, you know, and I know that, unfortunately, social media does have, it's very tempting to just sort of be that critic and just say, oh, that's wack or, you know, that's corny, you know, and it's very easy to just be dismissive of that, because it almost makes, it lends itself to that. You got to be better than that.

Jeremy Lesniak:

And I think most of us are right, but it takes energy to stay positive, and to find value, and do as you say, keep an open mind. And then when other people are being essentially lazy, and being critical, because, if I say that's stupid, if I say that has no value, then I don't have to expend the energy to learn. Now, I just crossed that off. But what takes even more energy is to step out in front and say, Now, wait a second, why are you saying that doesn't have any value, right, like, and so this is where where I try to go, as I was telling you, before we started rolling, you know, I'm trying to get out there and remind people, hey, you know, don't be so dismissive. We are better together, we learn more, when we're willing to keep an open mind. And, you know, however you want to look at it, whatever, forces are pushing us in this direction, this isn't the way it's going. But I think, at least with our audience, and I think a lot more people there, they're willing to learn. And that's why I wanted to invite you on because you have some stuff to talk about, specifically about learning. And I know, we'll talk about other things, but that was the place the way you started engaging on our post talking about learning and how people learn, etc, that I went, this guy's got some stuff to say.

Danny Indio:

Definitely. excited me. Yeah, no, it is. I mean, it is exciting, because there's so many, you know, one of the benefits of being, you know, alive in this time and place is that we have access to so much information, you know, we have access to so many things out there that can enhance our lives, right, we constantly see, you know, blog posts and articles about, you know, life hacks and things that you can do to improve. And there are actual things out there that can improve how we learn and how we teach. You know, neuroscience and motor control studies have demonstrated, like a lot of things that we can do, that we can take from too, and we can incorporate into martial arts. I mean, we see it in professional athletes, right, you know, professional athletes, we know, have, I mean, granted, they also have, they can afford to hire the nutritionist, and they can afford to hire, you know, the physical therapist that will cater to that particular athlete. But you know, there's literature out there, there are things that you can read that you can incorporate into your own training, right. So like, you know, I mean, we all know, for example, the benefits of seeing a physical therapist and getting a massage for, when your body's aching from all this training, and we do that, right? So why can we do the same thing for things that can improve our brains or are ways that we can think that we can do that will enhance our brain's ability to learn? Right? 

And so, that's what's led me down the path and this has been a process of yours. You know, aside from, you know, when I was in college, one of the jobs that I did in school was work as a writing tutor. One thing that I found, you know, like, when I first started tutoring and writing, you know, I was like, okay, I can tutor people and, you know, people that write like English essays, literature and all that stuff. And because, you know, that's my forte. Right. And then I remember, I would have, the majority of the students that would come to me were grad students, and I'm at a college level, right? I'm just like, I think I was a junior maybe or a sophomore at the time. And I'm having grad students coming to me with their, you know, dissertations or whatever, like, whatever they're working on, like, heavy level stuff. And I'm like, I don't know anything about engineering. But what I didn't know was the principles of good writing, right? Like, the main idea and supporting details and that kind of thing. And so I was able to help them even though the person is significantly smarter than I am, especially when it comes to things like science and engineering. But the principles of effective writing remain the same. 

And one of the things that I that I that that, that holds, like, how is it that this person is so smart, but then is struggling with writing, you know, like they can, they can handle calculus, and they can handle but why it was just, you know, the writing is pretty straightforward. And, one of the things that I took away from that was motivation, the interest, they were definitely interested in whatever they were learning and physics and engineering, they didn't really care for the writing, like they were doing these writing assignments. Because, you know, it was like, they were part of their, it was necessary for them to get their degree. And that, to me, showed the importance of that motivation. When you're motivated, like, one of the key things about learning is having that interest, that motivation will drive you through the tough times. Because we all know how hard it is to learn something we all go through that hurts, you know, when you first learn something, or beginner and anything, and especially like in martial arts, it just seems overwhelming. It's like, man, I'll never be able to do, you know, that kind of kick or, or I'll never be able to learn, you know, these stick fighting routines or what have you. And so it seems, you know, like, like, I don't know how they can do it and make it look so effortless and easy. But it's really part of it is that motivation, that motivation is what carries you through. And I'm you know, and I find that from anecdotal experience, personal experience, and just in general, like the people that stick with martial arts, they love it, you know, that motivation carries and carries them through. And that's one of the things that I found that when it comes to learning is very key to a person's ability to get better at it.

Jeremy Lesniak:

You've got to have some passion, you've got to have a y that drives you, whether it's like you said, you know, it's it's pursuing an advanced degree, or martial arts training, if there's, if there's something that doesn't click for you, it doesn't have to be any one thing, it could be a lot of things. But if there's something that doesn't click for you, you're not going to last, you're not going to be able to overcome those bad days. And you've probably seen this in training. And I bet most of the people listening and watching have seen this in training, somebody starts they have some early success there. Maybe they're a natural athlete, and they're picking up movements, and they're going along and they're going along, and then, you know, six months, 12 months, 24 months in, they hit a stumbling block. And they're like, oh, this is hard. And they're out.

Danny Indio:

Exactly. Yeah. I mean, it's a common thing. And, that's where I find like one of the things like when you hit that plateau, where you're struggling, right, and we're not talking about like a person being injured or something like that, because you know, that happens, or somebody who, you know, is going through a life thing, you know, starting a new school moving to a different town. But like somebody, like you said, like somebody who's hit a plateau, and now they're frustrated. 

That's where the motivation that they have to really find that purpose. You know, like, what was it that got me into martial arts? Is it because I want to compete and fight? You know, do I want to start a fighting career? Or is it that I just want to, like, be fit, you know, because all you know, all these different things, you know, whatever, they're all They're all valid, like, if you want to do martial arts, because you know, it's a great healthy way to be, that's fine. You know, that's just as good as the person that wants to do martial arts to be a professional fighter one day, but I'd like but at some point, all those people are going to hit that plateau. And then that's where you have to maybe, you know, or might be a good idea to rethink, okay. Whatever that path that you were taking, you know, how can you re energize it, if it's that maybe, you've already hit your fitness goals, right. 

So, now you're starting to lose interest, maybe re energize it with a new goal. Maybe you want to achieve a belt level, or maybe you decide, You know what, I've never come. When I first started training, I was trying to lose some weight. Now I want to challenge myself and maybe do a local tournament or something, you know, and find that so that when you do hit the plateau, now you have a new purpose that will carry you through the next phase, whether it's six months, 12 months, two years, you know, what have you. 

Jeremy Lesniak:

Yeah, for sure, for sure. Let's get into I guess, methods methodology, because I know that's a part that you're passionate about. If somebody has got the why I mean, eventually they'll find success. You know, you bang your head against the wall long enough, and it will fall down but that doesn't mean it's the best way to do it.

Danny Indio:

That is true.

Jeremy Lesniak:

I think early on, you know, that day one, you step into training, you know, if you're a brand new martial artist, just showing up and just being comfortable or trying to get comfortable and not dwell too much in negative self talk is probably enough of an assignment for most people. But when you're a year, in two years, in 20 years in and you're trying to learn new things, whether it's, you know, your 74th form, or you've switched from, you know, Tai Chi or going, my body learns, is working so differently in this, there are ways beyond the the forehead on the brick wall, absorb that information. Talk to us about that.

Danny Indio:

Sure. So that's the first that traditional way, let's say of like, just like, do it, and you'll get it. It's worked for a lot of people, right. I mean, you know, and part of it is because, you know, for as long as you know, martial arts have been around, you know, the majority of martial arts, I think maybe with the exception of things of certain arts, like cup widow, or, you know, hearts like that the majority of martial arts started as a military discipline, right, like, this was a way that we're going to teach our soldiers to fight, right. And then, over time, it became, you know, something that was taught to the public. But because all of these martial arts have this military foundation, it also has that top down the teacher is right to do as I say approach, where it's where it's just like, do the drills, and then you just keep doing it repetitively, until it's absorbed. And that's benefited the the student that either has that physical capability, or can learn quickly, or has that that intrinsic desire to just like, you know, that that warrior spirit, let's say, as you know, it's benefited those, but I think about the the, the, the person that maybe has the the, the has the potential to become that but maybe needs, you know, an extra push, or maybe, you know, the way they learn is not as effective as that other person. Right, right. 

And this is then where I think, okay, so how would I train that person, because we all know that the person who either is a prodigy, or the person that has just like, has intense amounts of discipline, and just, you know, can pick things up quickly, like, that person is good, you know, that person could just, you know, handle the just repeat and repeat and repeat until it's absorbed for the person that you know, that other that other students, right, you know, we can assess motivation, goals, that's one thing. But we can also just say, okay, well, how does your brain work? Right, you know, and one of the things that I find, if I was to start a new practice, right, let's say, if I was going to start some new style, or, you know, one of the first things that I would do, because for me, what works is kind of getting the forest for the trees, right? Pennies, like this overview. So, you know, if I'm not at a new school, I would, I would get the syllabus right. And usually, a lot of schools nowadays, they might have like, the course outline, or whatever it is that you're going to do. And this is stuff that I also learned from learning academically, you know, you kind of get this big picture mentality, of the things that you're going to learn. And then you look at that and say, okay, from what I know, what are some of the things that are going to be the most effective, or the most talked to me in this particular course, or in this particular style? Not to say that, you know, what I'm doing when I do that, it's not to say like, okay, this is not important, like these other things. It's more of like, okay, what are the things that I should focus on when I start my training, right? 

So if I'm a newbie, like if, and I go into something like boxing, right, you need to learn, you need to learn four basic punches, right? You need to learn the jab, then cross the hooking up like that. That's like your bread and butter, right? So then, you know, other things like doing certain punches, or doing certain drills, like I'm not going to dwell on, I'm going to focus on how can I make sure that these four punches, you know, that I learned the form, right, so then that's getting the sort of overview of, of the course. So, that when I go in there, you know what, when I start, you know, my training, I have to have, like, I can make my goals to say, okay, I'm going to focus on these four punches, and the next month for the next two months, until I get them in a no in a way that that looks proper, you know, that my teacher can say, good work, or the coach can be like, okay, good, and then build from that. Because the other part of, you know, the other part of learning because we want to make sure that the information that we see in the short term ends up in our long term memory. 

So rehearse repeating, you know, rehearsing. That's one way to do it, but the other way is to link right so now. If I'm coming from this, I have a martial arts background, I can use the knowledge that I currently have to link the things that I learned in a new art. So, for example, if I'm doing something that says, you know, not boxing, but let's say, you know, it's something, it's eskrima, or it's karate or something like that. Now, I can take what I know about punching and boxing, and, and link things from the other art. So if there's a technique, same, or there's striking, right, it's not boxing, but I can link certain movements, you know, in my head, at least…

Jeremy Lesniak:

Like this, but I gotta change it in this way. Exactly. You're not starting from scratch, you've got a tool to refer to. Yeah, that makes sense. 

Danny Indio:

And that's right, exactly, that's what helps, I think, you know, that's why I find like, when you train and something, then it creates this baseline, but then you can inquire, you know, go to other arts, and use that for your benefit. It's really amazing how the brain works, you know, and part of it, though, is learning to sort of, you know, accept your limitations, right. So, here's a fun fact, right? Our brain, when we have, when we start, like, when we learn something first, you know, we go into what's known as a short term sensory store. And that's where for a couple of seconds, you have whatever it is that you just learned or something, whether it's something on the on the blackboard or movement, and you have about a couple of seconds words there, then, for it, to go to the short term memory, you have to actually do it, you have to, you know, your attention has to be on that. So if the teacher says, alright, you know, we're going to do XYZ, we're going to do these kicks, and then they demonstrate the kicks, right, that's in your short term memory, for as long as you have, you know, you're paying attention. 

And then for it to then go into your long term memory, aside from being attentive to actually practice it. But one of the ways that had said that it goes into your long term memory is repetitive repetition, but also linking, right, so you can link it to past knowledge, or you can find a way to link it to to, to even just like a crazy image, something, you know, that is memorable, you know, all of a sudden, that gets absorbed. And then, of course, you have to then continue practicing and practicing, because you know, you're not going to just learn it all in one day. But the key thing is linking and repetition, both things work together to make something that's difficult to learn easier.

Jeremy Lesniak:

I'm thinking about forums and learning forms, having taught forums to a bunch of people. And, you know, I don't know that I've ever heard someone breakout with short term memories, short term sensory store, and short term memory. I didn't know that those two were separate. But it makes a lot of sense. Because I've had people, myself included, who can follow along with a form where I show them. You know, two, three moments, they can do it. And 30 seconds later, I think you said five seconds that falls out, if you don't reinforce it, right, they can't do that same thing again, or I can take somebody's leg, they're not quite getting the sidekick, right, I can take their leg and I can manipulate it and have demonstrate for them with their own body, this is how you do that technique and do it a few times. And then they can start to do it. But if they don't practice it between this class and next class, they come back in, and they don't remember, they've forgotten, they haven't committed, they haven't shifted from short to long term memory.

Danny Indio:

Exactly. So one of the things that happens is that you can only store a limited amount of information in the short term memory, right? And it's about, you know, you know, different different sources will say anywhere between five and nine things, right meaning, if right now, if you were demonstrating, you know, certain techniques, and, and or the music and even simpler examples. So, like using boxing, right, if I were to say okay, for this drill, right now, you're gonna do jab, cross hook, right? That's three things that's very easy to remember, especially if you've already practiced the jab, cross hook, you can even visualize it. But now if I said, Okay, we're gonna now we're gonna do Jab, cross hook, left up, occur, right uppercut, pivot, cross, hook, cross, push off, you know, like, basically string like 10 things, right? And then even if you demonstrate it, you know, anything beyond about nine things, starts to like, you need to, you know, the person demonstrating has to repeat it a couple of times for that person, for it to sink in, and then they have to try it. And even if you're experienced, you know, marshaling kickboxer boxers to do these moves, you know, it might take a couple of stumbles before you get the drill to move smoothly, right.

You know, one of the things that that would help, especially like a beginner student is to not give them these long string of techniques to do back to back, you know, instead just focus on anywhere between five and nine things max, that they can, they can absorb that, and it'll make it easier for them to recall it. Right. And then when they go home, let's say, if they write it down, you know, that act of writing down the move, even if it's just writing, I did a job, and then I did a hook. And that act of writing down is almost like a mental rehearsal. Because, you know, just the physical act of writing makes a mind think, you're trying to recall what happened, that is an opportunity to, for it, to sink in for it to be absorbed into the long term memory. That's why you know, what's interesting about the brain is that it doesn't always differentiate between a physical rehearsal or physical reenactment of a movement, right? Which is what we do, or in the school, versus the mental rehearsal, the mental reenactment, right? It doesn't always, you know, kind of like, especially if you have a vivid imagination, and that can be trained. It's not like, you know, people will say, Oh, I don't have a vivid image. Well, you know, just… 

Jeremy Lesniak:

How much do you like?

Danny Indio:

Yeah, exactly. I mean, if you tell somebody like, you remember that, you know, like, think of something that's a member, you know, like the birth of your child or something, they can recall that. So you have, everybody has a vivid imagination, that's just, you know, how much do you you practice it, but that mental rehearsal, that's another way for you to be outside of the classroom or outside of the dojo, the Academy, the gym, what have you, and for that to be absorbed into your mind and your brain so that then you can, next time you go to class, you can practice it, and practice it in a way that is fluid, more fluid than if you, you know, did it, learned that a couple days ago, a couple weeks ago, and then didn't do anything with it? Did it again, in class, it wouldn't be as smooth.

Jeremy Lesniak:

You've given me some ways to describe some things that I've always known and done, but now they're making so much more sense, you gave the example of like a 10/12 technique combination, you're talking about jab, cross, hook. Yeah, easy, I can do that. I can teach that. First 10 minutes of a martial arts class with no prior training, I can get someone to move in those ways. And then I was with you. And you know, you said uppercut, uppercut, pivot, and that's where my brain started to go. Oh, and it panics, because I'm trying to retain the first five. And I got six, and you went on you went on. But what I've done, and I didn't realize you're calling it linking makes all kinds of sense. 

If I was teaching that, it would be, you know, we'd get up to five, six techniques, you know, maybe I'm not throwing them at everybody at once. Maybe we do two or three, and then we add one, add one, add one. But one of the things that I'm fond of doing is relating it back to something else, okay. So and then it's like, one, two out of such and such form. And then we add this in this out of this other form. And it's, you're calling it, linking makes sense, referring back to something that they already know. So it's less novelty, right? to unpack. And I think it's rather instinctive. We tend to think that everything we experience is related back to things we've done, we determine whether something is a threat, based on past circumstances, it's a pretty well ingrained element of our psyche.

Danny Indio:

It is, and knowing that, you know, when I've taught people, I find that I get the best results, when I use vivid language, you know, some maybe humor, or could be, you know, even a curse word can sometimes help sink things in, right. And then on top of that, linking it to either a tactical benefit for doing a technique or, or some, you know, or linking to a story, like anything that creates this sort of memory memorable set of images have information that helps the that student, you know, and and I find, you know, like, it's always a good thing to do that. And because, you know, sometimes, when I've taught, and I just was like, alright, do this, and then left it at that, you know, for the students that already have some background or like, you know, let's say they were intermediate level, so they, they will find, because, they already knew what they had to do, and, you know, and maybe they're just adding a few more things, but for the person that is starting out, it's a challenge, you know, and that it's a part of like, the effective learning. 

A lot of that does depend as much on the teacher as it does on the student right. So you know what a lot of teachers of martial arts are used to, top down, you know, this is how we do it, this is how it's been done. And this is what works, they just do it that way. They don't want to hear any sort of pushback on what they know. And I think understandable because especially if you're dealing, I do believe in respect, respecting, not just your elders, but even within the school format, you know, you go in, you're entering to this place, you know, be respectful. But at the same time, the person that is teaching, a lot of times, you know, you'll find certain teachers that aren't as, say, concerned, or, I don't wanna say concerned, but maybe aren't as sensitive to the fact that for a lot of their students, you know, this knowledge is overwhelming, and, you know, and just because they've had results with the students that that are able to just, like I said, either have their prodigies, or are they just really good, or they have a background in something else. And so like, everything just clicks, or they're super motivated, you know, for the person that's starting out, you want to build for them. 

And I feel like, if you, as an instructor go in and you demonstrate a move, you know, I think there's a way to do it, that that actually will help them slip, let this knowledge sink again. So you go there. Okay, this is what we're gonna do, you make you demonstrate, and then before you start, hadn't do the drill, you say, okay, here are the fine points, you know, like again, you don't want to go and pick out 12 fine points, because they're not gonna remember, you pick a few, you know, three, five things to say, you know, you do this, and you throw this punch out, make sure that you lock and show your elbows out, or  raise your hand or whatever it is. And then demonstrate it again, because now it seems like just by demonstrating, explaining, demonstrating. It's been repeated, and they're seeing this, you know, and it's going into their, into their minds. And then, at that point, you might say, okay, if there's any questions, you could take some questions there. And I will demonstrate it a third time, I feel like a teacher demonstrating the moves three times. And you know, before having them do it is a great way for that, that students can see, absorb, and then be able to apply when it's their turn to practice the drill.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Totally agree. There's been a lot of improvement in caliber of instruction, the ability of instructors to learn how to instruct, you know, for the longest time, in a lot of places today, probably still in the majority of martial arts schools, at least in the United States, maybe the world I'm not, I'm less familiar with martial arts outside the US. All we need to do to be deemed a qualified instructor is learn the material, not how to instruct the material, but learning the material. So there are folks listening right now, who may be in the type of martial arts school that we talked about at the beginning, that it's, it's all it's based around repetition, it's the process is you show up, we're going to present material to you, you're going to do it, do it, do it, do it, do it. Whether or not that is the best learning methodology for you. So let's take these things you're talking about, let's twist them a little bit. Let's talk to the people who are at a school like that. And they don't have any ability to go to the instructor and say, hey, you know, the way you teach is fine for some of these people, but it doesn't work for me, and I think you saw, and I'd like you to completely change the way you teach. Now, obviously, that's not gonna go over well. But what they do have control over is their own body, their own mind, before and after class. What things can they do so they can be a more effective student and learner in that environment?

Danny Indio:

That's an awesome question. And I concur. Do not go to your instructor and say that. 

Jeremy Lesniak:

Even if you blame it on us, don't go and say, Jeremy and Danny said that you're a terrible teacher, because you do this. And if you do leave my name out of me and say, Danny sent you.

Danny Indio:

But you know, what I would say is look, before you even go there, like just if they really suck, don't train them, you know, like, there has to be a certain synergy between the student and the teacher, certain styles. There has to be a mesh on the emotional and physical and all that but, so I'm a big believer, I'm a proponent of being proactive, right? You know, you're going to learn as a person, the majority of the stuff that you're going to learn and then that I'm gonna use myself as exactly the majority of things that I've learned through self learning. What I mean by that is, I learned something, you know, reading a book or in a course, you know, and it's the stuff that I do outside of that. That class has helped me absorb the knowledge, right. 

So, I go to a class and say the class is an hour, you know, and I've learned, you know, the techniques of that class. But it's not that one hour of class where I learned the techniques that sticks with me, it's all the effort and work that I did outside of the class after that class, to absorb that knowledge and use it. So if I learned, you know, some stick fighting principles in this class, and then it's what I did in sparring later, it's what I did in practicing on my own solo training and mental rehearsal, etc, that when will we do that class again, let's say it could be three months from now, it could be next a year from now, you know, that those are the things that will help me excel in that class. 

So now, what I would, you know, if I was talking to somebody who was in that situation that you described, the first thing I would say is, you know, you need to own the fact that whatever advancement you're going to get, a lot is going to come from your efforts. So you have that, you know, tell yourself, okay, I'm going to be disciplined, I'm going to give myself and give yourself a time goal, because, you know, when we say, okay, I'm going to give myself a month to learn, you know, X, and I'm going to stick with this for six months, until I can, you know, get this belt level, give yourself an actual goal, something to strive for. So that way, it's measurable. You know, you can say, okay, you know, did I learn enough to achieve this rank, and that I do it in the time that it has to be a reasonable time. If your school doles out, you know, ranks, or not, those are but they can test every six months, you're not gonna do that earlier than that, you know, it’s gonna be like, wow, you know, this is an amazing suit, I'm gonna give you the belt like, that might have been in a movie. But you know, give yourself a measurable, realistic goal. First thing.

Jeremy Lesniak:

I want to poke at that measurable part, because when I hear people setting goals, it's the number one place they fall down. I'm going to get better at my kick. I'm going to have better psychics. How do you define that? How do you know if you succeeded? Right? Are you getting a lot better? A little bit better? Those are both better. Set a height target at a speed target, if you have, right, you know, some big heavy bag and you want to be able to fold it in half, right? Like they are definable, you said measurable. I love that word, elements to any goal. And I think if you can't measure the goal, unless you determine success or failure, it's not a goal worth having.

Danny Indio:

Yes. And to go along with that as to be specific, like you said, so if I'm just gonna say, you know, I'm going to improve my kick, you know, but what kick right, you know, depending on the style that you're doing, that could be there's tons of kicks, could be, you know, and then there's different height levels, you know, we're talking about, and are we talking about kicking for demonstration purpose, you know, we're talking about kicking for fighting, you know, in the streets, or in a competition, there's different rules for that. And so, you know, be specific, make it measurable. And, it's important, and this is why I would if I was to start at a school, or if I was told as the student that that is, you know, how's this instructor that does things our way we'll find out if there's like some type of syllabus or course outline, because that's where you're gonna understand, for example, how many kids you should learn in your class, right? Or, you know, you're starting out as a white belt, and you're trying to get to yellow belt, okay? Well, I'm trying to figure out how many measurable kicks and are trying to make measurable and specific goals. So, this says that the yellow belt, so the past the elbow test, I need to learn these five kicks. So now now you at least have an understanding of what are the the kicks that you need to focus on between now and that yellow belt says, right, so that's how you can set your goals and then, you know, it's very important to collect data and feedback about yourself from and some of it, you get from, you know, sort of like your, your own perception of things. 

So, for example, if you're sparring, right, you know, a lot of people think of sparring as like, oh, you know, I'm gonna go in there and look tall for or, you know, like, they mentioned that the results of a sparring session based on did they kick ass, or do or did they get their, you know, their bucket. Right. And, I mean, I guess that could be fun to some degree, but it really does, doesn't it. The sparring is not for that, you know, sparring is not about whether or not you won or lost, you know, the sparring is, hey, I went into sparring with this and I tried to do these specific kicks. Or and how did I do that? I do them and I do them. I spot somebody who's at a high level. then I am, you know, and if I couldn't do these kicks, that might be why because that person was able to block them, and just, you know, court or time it and catch me before I throw those kids. Or if I did against, you know, somebody who's I'm better than, and I do, I did all those kids and they were beautifully, right. But like, without assessing, you know, that data without saying, okay, I did all these pics greatly against somebody who's at a lesser level than I am, you might come with this sort of this notion that like. Man, I'm the man, you know, like, I can do this, and you know, I'm the best. But it's important to collect this data and feedback about yourself so that you can really assess what you're doing. 

So, I would definitely start with looking at like, the syllabus, and if there's not a syllabus in your school, then, you know, you can Google you know, you can search things, so if your school doesn't have some kind, of course, outline or even like, you know, things that you should learn, you know, up to your next level that you're trying to reach, you can talk to instructor about it, or you can you can search it and say, okay, well, you know, this art style, or this art form that I'm doing. These are the things that a beginner should know, you know, and again, like you take that information for yourself, you don't go, don't take that information, and then go to your instructor or your peers and say, well, this is the real truth, you know, like, no, it's not about that. This is about getting information that you can then use to act upon, you know, so that you can set your goals and your motivation, and then assess yourself as you go along. Now, after doing that, I personally believe that if you get to your class, and there's nothing you can start doing today, for any martial artist that is listening, to get better, to learn quicker and more effectively. If you start going to your class 15 minutes early, if you make that consistent, just get to your class two minutes early. It'll do wonders for your future training. I mean, you know, we've talked so much about that, that positive mindset that you need to, you know, the motivation right. Now, imagine, like when you get to a class late, you know, like you know, it happened to me, I get to the class late. And I'm like, you know, throwing all my uniform, I'm flustered, you know, I'm like, you know, I'm still embarrassed because, you know, the class is there. And you know, and especially as, as you were an advanced student, you know, I feel even like the burden of like, man, like, I should have known better than to like, show up in front of the like the younger students or the anyway, you go in there, your mind is not on the training, your mind is on everything else you're trying to catch up, you're trying to like listen, and your mind is not settled. If you get there 15 minutes early, though, one, you know, you have time to sort of get into the mindset that you need for the class, you can get a preview of what's going to be in the class, maybe the instructor or whoever's going to be teaching, whoever else is going to be teaching on one of the students, they might say, oh, it's never going to do, we're going to work on clinching. And you can take that information. And you can take like, a minute or two, a few minutes, however long you want. After you're dressed and everything, to visualize that visualize, we're gonna do the kitchen today. 

Remember, I learned, there's three types of clench that I know, you know, and you can just play it in your mind. And what that does is like, just like you physically warm up, you know, you're mentally warm enough. So, when you get into the class, you know information, you absorb it, right. So then, you know, we talked about linking earlier. So if you're in the class, and so and say, okay, you know, the instructor is talking about clinching and they demonstrate the first to be clincher that you already know, and then they say, okay, now we're gonna build on those trenches. And we're gonna do this or this, how you can find all those coverages. But now you're prepped, you're mentally warmed up. 

Jeremy Lesniak:

Exactly, just as you know, you're talking about getting to class early, and it blows my mind how many people roll in at the last minute, they just want you know, they just want the class time. When, if you think about it, most of us have experienced this on a physical side, you're talking about the mental side, which I think is even more important. How many of us, especially as we age, take 5/10/20/30 minutes to physically warm up and be like, okay, right now, things are grueling. So, what do the diligent students do? They get to class 30 minutes ahead so they can warm up and shake it out, stretch whatever they need, right? So when class starts, they can get the most value out of that instruction time. Mentally it's the same thing. We've all had classes where it's like, oh, man, I was on, I was dialed in, I was ready to go and classes where it's like, I didn't retain anything. Right mindset that prep all these things you're talking about can set people up so that when you bow in or however class starts at your school, you're pulling the maximum amount of value from that instructor's time.

Danny Indio:

Exactly. And, the reality is, look, you know, you mentioned the example of how sometimes your mind is not there. and sometimes you know, that's gonna happen no matter what you do, because maybe you had a bad day at work or at home or just, you know, you're just, you know, had a migraine, or whatever, like, there's always gonna be those, you know, when we do these things, you know, let's say, these tips, what we're trying to do is just maximize the outcome, as much as possible, we want to maximize our ability to focus and our ability to absorb as much as possible. So like, if you do this consistently, then it minimizes those things from happening, at least within the context of your class. And you know, it just like your brain, they've done studies where they show that they have somebody to show how much of a relaxed positive mindset goes to actually learning, they've done studies where they'll have somebody before they're, you know, taught something like, they had them think about, like, they had them read a bunch of like negative words, or like, think about negative things for like, a few minutes. And then that was, and that was the control group was to think about positive things. 

And then they looked at the results, you know, what they were able to remember, I think it was like they had a list, they had to try to remember a list of certain words or something like that, the people that had that positive, more relaxed, minds away, but remember more of those, that list of words than those that had a negative mindset. And these were the same, you know, these were just all students, college students. So, it's not like that, it goes to show how much that positivity goes a long way to making sure that you can learn better. Another thing that I think is helpful is when we say, you know, you're teaching me certain moves or whatever, sure, before I start doing it, and especially if you've already demonstrated through times, and all that, the other one, before I start doing it, I would take maybe 10 to 15 seconds, close my eyes, and just try to visualize that, you know, just so that I can be clear, because, you know, I found that, like, when I would just start doing it, I would just start doing trying to like capture the moment. And then at some point, I would mess up, and I would still have to ask the instructor, but especially like, when there's been a lot of information thrown at you taking that pause, just taking a few seconds to just sort of okay, what I need to focus on. 

Now, you've given your mind sort of like this, I don't want to say tunnel vision, but like you've given your mind something to like, aim at, to try to do this, you know, whatever the move is, and to do it, and just that few seconds of concentration goes a long way. Also, if as you're trying to visualize it, you might even beforehand, just say, okay, I remember up to this part, I'm drawing a blank afterwards. And then you can also call the instructor at that point to help out. And then lastly, one thing that I definitely find has been helpful to walk from, to long term memory is writing it down. And when I say write it down, I don't mean…

Jeremy Lesniak:

I knew we were going to get here. This is yes. As part of martial arts instruction training, the entire educational paradigm that blows my mind more than anything else is the forgetting that you can write things down, or sometimes the resistance to writing things down, yes. Well, pull me away. Well, I stand here and continue to be frazzled over something that didn't just happen, but it's just, I'm bringing it up in memory. Talk about how important that is.

Danny Indio:

Yeah, So, it's interesting, like, it's so important. It's so helpful. And yet, there's a lot of, you know, martial artists, I know that don't write things down and tell people who are instructors. Now people have advanced and I think part of it is they have had success with their approach. And it worked for them, you know, and so, you know, when something works with somebody, right, you know, what's that saying? If it ain't broke, don't fix it. So like, I think for a lot of people, that's a certain mindset, and it's understandable, because at the end of the day, repetition is key to absorption, to be able to, like, remember it, but what I find is that, you know, and this might be just because, you know, I'm maybe you know, somebody that is a nerd at heart.

Jeremy Lesniak:

The best martial artists are.

Danny Indio:

Thank you, thank you. But I find that so, in writing it down. It was, you know, first of all, writing it down as an opportunity to mentally rehearse, right, it has the same benefits as actually doing the move. Right. So, you know, taking it down. But also, as I'm doing it, you know, other things pop into my head, you know, so maybe, you know, it could be like, this third drill, I really liked that one, maybe I'll use it in sparring next time. Or it could be that, as I'm writing the data, out of the five drills, I could only remember the first three, the fourth one, I only remember, like the first two parts of the moves. The fifth one, I'm drawing a blank, but now I have a record of it. When we do the next class, I can refer to it, and then because I remember the first three, now I can add the rest of the information for the other two, or the next day, I can go to the teacher and say, you know, yesterday, you know, you taught this. I just want to write it down, so that I can, and again, I was writing it down, it's mentally rehearsing. 

But you know, so the benefit of writing down is one, you're keeping track of the techniques that you're learning, which will benefit you when you are doing your own training, you know, when you because, you know, unless you some people are able to just be at the gym six days a week, I was that guy for a while, you know, but life happens. And then you know, you get older or whatever, like, just, you can't train on that level of intensity anymore, you know, you're working a nine to five. And so now you're training less, but if you know, all that stuff, that you were able to, for all that knowledge to sort of, like still stick with you, even if you're not training six days a week, writing it down as one of the ways to get to that. On top of that, you can use that sort of like to think about, okay, you know, from sparring, what are the techniques that I can draw, and you can look at your collection of notes and say, okay, I like I'm gonna, when I do the cleanse, I'm gonna try to do this, when I do, you know, my punching, I'm gonna try this combination. And you can practice that, when you're, you know, either in the bag or focus minutes, or whatever it is that you do, as part of your soul training or your training outside of the class. And you can also just reflect in general, when I was doing this form, or when I was sparring, you know I felt that I was getting, you know, popped a lot on the left side of my face.

I think my hand was too low or something like, you know, why, you know, and then you can say, okay, well what I need to work, like, it gives you things you can use to improve yourself, because at the end of the day, we're doing all this not just to learn and be, you know, the know it all or anything like that. But it's to improve ourselves, right, like, the things that we take from martial arts, at least, I find the things that I've gained from martial arts have been not just like, the ability to defend myself, and, you know, it's this  mindset of like, man, you know, I can overcome things, you know, I can you know, elevate my health, physical health, I can elevate my mind. You know, it's done wonders for my soul, my sense of morality, I think, you know, to me, martial arts is bigger than just, you know, the physical techniques. So, it's writing it down, I think as a way to engage with that, and to engage with what you're learning, and how it can become a part of your life.

Jeremy Lesniak:

I completely agree. And one of the beauties of this format is that we have this podcast format, folks who are listening in there going, man, there's been a lot of good tips here, grab a piece of paper, rewind to the beginning. You can even, depending on the player, set the speed to go, you know, 2/3x and listen to what we're talking about. I should do this, I'd like to do this. 

Oh, let me slow this down. Let me listen to this part again, right. And you can start to extract the information. That's when we talk about the show, I say in the intro, connect, educate and entertain. Right, we've connected and hopefully, our conversation, I'm enjoying it, I'm assuming you're enjoying it. If somebody's still listening, they're probably enjoying it at least a little bit. But there's also the educational component. And that's one of the great things about this format versus so many others is the ability to rapidly internalize in your own method, the information being presented.

Danny Indio:

Yeah, I agree. I agree. So and, and what I love about this, too, is that hopefully the people listening will try it. You know, and experiment with it. You know, and even if you don't, like if you don't say you don't agree, or you know, you think oh, well. 

Jeremy Lesniak:

I'm not gonna visualize that stupid.

Danny Indio:

Yeah, exactly. I don't need to visualize, you know, like, I've been able to make it this far. Without, I have fun. And you know, at the end of the day, you're gonna do what you think is right for you? And if it works, it works. But try it, you know, and try it because you might be surprised. You know, but also, I'd be curious to hear from this person like, okay, why didn't it work? If you don't think it works, you know, what was it that didn't you know, connect because, again, like, I'm still learning from these things and I'm still I find like that keep an open mind and you try it and see how it works for you see, maybe the benefit for writing it down is not so much that it helps you remember the technique, it might be that it's the self reflection, or it might be that it helps your fight strategy, you know, or might be just logging that, like, for example, my arm reach, my left hand is about 30/30 inches long 30.5 And my right is 29.5. 

And before, you know, before I measured my reach, I always wondered, you know, like, when I'm sparring my job is just really good, you know, I'm always able to keep you know, no matter their height, whether they're tall or short. So, I was like a Jabra type of guy, like when I would come home. And family makes sense, you know, the data, that data, knowing that my left hand is slightly longer, you know, by almost, you know, by an inch. Makes sense to me why it's more effective, you know, and it might it could cut it, like if I was competing, you know, if I was a professional boxer or something like that, knowing that or I would want to work with my coach, then what are the ways that I can use my long reach, you know, in a fight against, you know, this type of opponent.

Jeremy Lesniak:

I would guess before that before knowing they were a different length, you might have blamed your pivot. I'm not pivoting right, there's something that cross come forward enough.

Danny Indio:

Right, right. I might have been like, oh, you know, I'm like, you know, or I'm telegraphing, you know, like, I'm telegraphing so there, but, popping or something like that. And maybe it was some of that too, you know, it could be a number of things, but the point of like, doing these, you know, it's so much of like the work that you need to put in as an individual into your training to constantly improve it. Right, you know, that there's a tendency, has this quote, and I'm gonna paraphrase, because I can't remember. But it was the condition of the artist to never be satisfied. And the way I took that, and I think up, he came up with, he wrote that somewhere, after the success of a Streetcar Named Desire, one of those plays that, like, launched his career and like, took him, you know, made him a big rich guy. And the what I took from that, though, is the condition of the artists, the condition of the fighter is to never be satisfied. So like, you might be the champion right now. Right? Don't settle for that, like, they're still, you know, first of all, you know, nobody's a champion forever, eventually, people are going to figure out your game, he catches up with you, for whatever, like Tom Brady is like in his 40s, and, you know, winning Super Bowls, so, you know, he might have his limits, or he might not be as as limiting as one might think. But the point  is don't be satisfied and just content like I made it, I'm a black belt now, and I'm done. He might do something else to learn, you know, you can refine meals to learn, yeah, you can change your strategy, or you can learn something new, and now you're a beginner again, and that's fine. You know, it's humbling, but at the same time, it's just going to expand, you know, so I like that idea of like, always be, don't just settle, don't be satisfied, like, strive, you know, do better. Try better.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Never said about it. 

Danny Indio:

Forget the word. 

Jeremy Lesniak:

I heard that. 

Danny Indio:

So, all right. 

Jeremy Lesniak:

There, we could probably go for hours more. And there's so much and we hit the surface on a lot of this stuff. But I think it's a good place to circle back and start to wind down. Because I'm going to hope that based on this experience, you'd be willing to come back at some point in the future. So, my request to the people listening and watching is to go through this information. Try to work with it. And if there's stuff you want to go deeper on, let us know, you know, especially if it's something more specific. Do we want a follow up episode on visualization for martial arts or taking notes for martial arts? I take notes on each and every episode, because we need them on the back end. If you're not taking notes, then you're probably not getting as much as you could out of it. And there are all different ways that you can take notes and you have a maybe this good time to throw it to you. 

Danny Indio:

Oh, yes. 

Jeremy Lesniak:

Throw things behind you.

Danny Indio:

Yes. So there's definitely this jimi book journal of instant memorization and it's a notebook tailored specifically for martial artists. I went, one of the things that's cool about it is that it has its root page on one side and a blank page on the other side because , like you mention, there's different ways of notetaking, right? We all know the traditional, you know, write the words down, but maybe you want to use flowcharts. Right? You can see…

Jeremy Lesniak:

Maybe one of these flowcharts, I can see that you drew some stuff on there. 

Danny Indio:

Yeah, so this is like a flowchart, especially like in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, people like to say, what are the different, like, all the different things, if I'm on the Mount, the different ways that I can, you know, if I do this, and then that person, you know.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Create the mount to triangle to... Exactly.

Danny Indio:

Yeah. And then, you know, but there's also Mind Maps, you know, people are familiar with Mind Maps as a way to, like, take a lot of information, especially from you know, a lot of pages and put it into one page. So, it's almost like, at a glance, you get this overview picture. And there's also a shorthand system. Right, this shorthand system means that sometimes people don't want to write notes, because I know you can't really see them all, you know.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Give us an example of a couple of those. 

Danny Indio:

So a short, like, a basic one is think of the jab, right? The word jab, instead, you can just write J, you know, for the cross, C, and for, you know, the hook in age, so then when you're writing, like certain combinations down, what you could do, instead of writing, you know, jab, cross hook cross hook, you can just write, you know, you can just put the J, the C, the H, and make it like that. So that way, you know, in part, because when you're reviewing stuff, you know, it's nice to also be able to see something that you know, like, if it's too messy, kind of, can be difficult to read. So, even if just like, at a glance, you can look at it okay, oh, left, right, you know, high hook and whatnot, if you can see it quickly, you know, and it also helps to, you know, I can put this on the floor, you know, it lays flat, so I can leave it on the floor, and it's not spiral bound, it’s binding, okay, it's great because it lays flat.

So, this is perfect for when you're like training at the gym, you know, you can just look at it, you know, page through what you need to do. It's got an index in the back, because part of also getting what I think is useful with a notebook, when you write things down is to be able to find information easily. If I was to, you know, keep track of all my, if I was to write, fill up the book, and then I wanted to find, you know, the, say some techniques that I learned that a quenching class, how am I going to find it, I have to flip through pages and try to remember that's what the index is for. So as you're working on your book.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Really thought this, I'm hooked. And just as a reminder, for me, it comes in later, we don't get paid to bring people on. So, when I say what I'm about to say, where do I buy this, because I want to go buy one right now. We're not receiving anything from this, I am genuinely interested.

Danny Indio:

Awesome. I'm glad to hear that well, to buy it. This is actually just going to the website, masteryourmoves.com. And there's a discount for the podcast listeners, if you put in whistlekick21, you'll get $5 off free shipping from a handler in the United States. 

Jeremy Lesniak:

Hey, well, let's make sure here, see, I'm taking notes. whistlekick21 code. There we go. All right. Okay, and you've got another book.

Danny Indio:

So, yeah, so this is something you can find on Amazon. This is a book I wrote about 10 years ago called Mixed Martial Arts Fighting Techniques published by Tuttle. And basically, it's a hold in my hand. So it's taking techniques basically from my background, which is a Jeet Kune Do. Taking a lot of what I learned you can go and incorporate it into, you know, how you can use it, whether you're competing, say in MMA, or fighting in the streets. So the idea is, you know, each chapter is a segment of the street fighting an MMA, so like the first part of striking, right. Punching, you know, I think that you can do for the streets, you know, like some of the dirty fighting things. And then stuff that you can use in the ring, or, or on the mat. Same thing with grappling, there's sections on knife fighting. And the idea is, how, you know, you can train for both, and then say, if you want to train for competition, you know, these are baseline techniques that you should know. And then if you want to then add sort of sort of like a street reality based scenario to it, you know, fighting against somebody with a weapon. You know, you can still use some of those techniques and just modify it for those types of scenarios. And so that's what's in this book.

Jeremy Lesniak:

And where's that? You said, Tuttle published that so I'm guessing…

Danny Indio:

Publish that, you can get it on Amazon? Yeah. You can get on Amazon. 

Jeremy Lesniak:

Awesome. And we'll have the links to all these things in the show notes so people can check out there. I've got a feeling we're going to talk again. Something tells me that definitely not our last time but I do have one more question. So the acronym for the notebook was JIMI. So did you start, if you're watching, you know why I'm asking this question. Did you start putting together the acronym and go and get really excited? Or did you start with [01:05:31-01:05:33] and reverse into it?

Danny Indio:

So, it's funny. I'm trying to like sorting so that I don't like, go off on tangent walkers. So you know, my nickname is Danny Indio. And my actual name, my real name is Danny Jiminian. So it is [01:05:54-01:05:55] in that. And but I'm also, you know, some people think I'm a Jimi Hendrix fan. I don't know why they would think that. But, seriously, it kind of works. Because, you know, it's related to my name. And then, you know, and I think maybe in my subconsciousness it was like, Jimi, but it's meant to be. Yeah, I think I worked. I think it came out sort of like, How can I take this part? You know, actually, I don't know what to think about it. I don't know, if it was sort of like, matched, you know, I got a journal or notebook. And then as I was trying to think, okay, like, what is? And then oh, wait, it's the memorization, Jim. Jimi, you know, I think it was kind of like this hybrid? 

You know, I don't think there was like, oh, jimi, how can I turn this or I think it was a hybrid. But part of what I'm doing, I am trying to put together like, either, or I'd like to put like a webinar, or some kind of like, video course on some of the things that we were talking about. And so if you also go to the website, and subscribe to the newsletter, you know, once you know, I'm in the midst of putting that together, once that's up and running, you know, your listeners can.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Oh, nice. Let us know what happens. And we can share that out with everyone. 

Danny Indio:

Definitely. And then of course, you know, I'm on Twitter, Mastermoveone, and Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube, Master Your Moves. So you can just, you know, search that and you'll find, feel free to like and subscribe, I put some actually I put some visualizations on the YouTube channel, just like so that you can listen in to meditate. It's almost like very meditative. But again, if you for anybody out there that feels like, you know, maybe I need guided visualizations to like, help me work on these visualization aspects. Feel free to take a listen and you know, find out or figure out what you know, for yourself, then how you can do it and incorporate your own training and your own style into it.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Awesome. Well, I appreciate you coming on. And if thanks for having me, Jeremy. Yeah, this has been a ton of fun. And you've got my mind. I mean, I'm churning right now. So many of the things that we talked about, are floating around, not only in the way that I learned, but the way that I teach and things that we've got going on. You know, when we talk about this subject, typically, we're talking to instructors, and I like the fact that, you know, we get the opportunity to talk to everyone on this show. So, I'm going to say it this way, and then I'll invite you to kind of close up. We're all responsible for our own education, we are my own best teacher, you are your own best teacher. And if you just kind of lay yourself in front of your martial arts instructor at a class for one to three hours a week, and expect to have it knowledge jammed in your brain. There's probably a better way.

Danny Indio:

Yes, I agree. I think. And to echo that, there's definitely a better way. And it's also like, you want to get to a point, I mean, I think a valid, worthy goal to achieve is, if you want to become somebody that can self teach, right? So, when I think of like what my teacher has taught me, it's not just the actual techniques and drills, you know, the best teachers that I've learned from are the ones that have taught me how to then continue teaching myself, you know, how to continue, you know, taking what they've given, whether you call it critical thinking or whether whether you call it you know, a way of looking at things so that then then it fits into mine approach, and then I can use that and keep growing because no matter what, you know, it's rare that you stay with one school, you know, for the rest of your life, so like, say you're in a school for one or two years, you know, great, you know, like you I'm sure during that one or two years, you're gonna learn a lot of great things. but then you want to carry that with you. 

And also that like if you, for example, had to move, now you're in Hawaii somewhere, you know, you left New York and Hawaii, you can still remember, you can still practice when you had learned, you can still use that in whatever you think is doing out in Hawaii. And one of the ways to do it is, you know, you can look at your notes, you can reflect on the thing that you learned, and incorporate that in so that it stays with you. So that it's not just like, that was when I was young that I did. I know it can be some, especially in something like martial arts, which has so many health benefits and can also protect your life. If you're ever in a situation that requires you to defend yourself, take that and make it your own.

Jeremy Lesniak:

I want to thank Danny Indio for coming on the show with a wealth of knowledge. I'm really looking forward to building more of a relationship with him. This guy's got some good stuff, make sure you're checking out the things that he does. And the notebook, the book, I mean, really, it's rare that I start off on such a great note with someone but the comments he was leaving on our YouTube posts, just like ridiculously good. And I think that's why today went so well because I went into this knowing this guy and I were on the same page. You're on the same page. Check out the show notes, check out what he's doing. Check out whistlekickmartialartsradio.com, check out whistlekick.com and use the code PODCAST15. If you want to support us, you can do so many things. And they're all listed at whistlekick.com/familym, reviews and Patreon and all that good stuff over there. If you have suggestions for somebody to come on the show, let me know, Jeremy@whistlekick.com. Our social media is @whistlekick. And that brings us to the end. So until next time, train hard, smile. And have a great day.