Episode 977- Is Martial Arts for Everyone
In this episode, Andrew is joined by Mark Warner and Victor Guarino. They sit down and discuss the question, Is Martial Arts for Everyone?
Is Martial Arts for Everyone - Episode 977
SUMMARY
In this episode, Andrew, Victor, and Mark explore the question of whether martial arts is for everyone. They discuss the various benefits of martial arts across different age groups, the importance of inclusivity for differently abled individuals, and the community aspect of martial arts training. The conversation emphasizes that martial arts is not just about fighting but also about personal growth, philosophy, and building a supportive community.
TAKEAWAYS
Martial arts offers physical and mental benefits for all ages.
Inclusivity in martial arts helps build community and compassion.
Training can be adapted for differently abled individuals.
Martial arts teaches valuable life skills beyond fighting.
Everyone can progress at their own pace in martial arts.
The philosophy of martial arts encourages personal growth.
Martial arts can help with emotional regulation and self-control.
Community support is vital for all students in martial arts.
Martial arts can be a stabilizing force for those with disabilities.
It's important to find the right school that fits individual needs.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Is Martial Arts for Everyone?
07:34 The Benefits Across Ages
14:05 Inclusivity in Martial Arts
29:23 Final Thoughts and Community Impact
After listening to the episode, it would be exciting for us to know your thoughts about it.
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Show Transcript
Andrew (00:15.418)
Welcome everyone you're listening or watching to Whistlekick martial arts radio and I am your host Andrew Adams and today I'm joined by two guests but I'm not going to say their names yet. You're going to have to guess who it is. Actually, you know I do this like all the time and then I realized that the graphic that we produced for the episode has your both of your pictures on it. So everybody knows that today I'm joined by Victor and Mark. How's it going guys?
Mark (00:42.405)
Awesome. How are you doing today, Andrew?
Vic (00:42.503)
It's going good, how you doing?
Andrew (00:44.498)
I am great. I'm great. And today we're going to talk about a fun subject. But before we get into it, I want to make sure to let all of the people listening or watching know that there are so many things that we do here at Whistlekick. Obviously, we've got this podcast, which is cool. This podcast has its own website, whistlekickmarshallarchradio.com. And you can go there to find other graphics for the show.
how to contact guests for Monday episodes, how to see transcripts for the episode. Everything you could possibly need for every single episode is listed at that website. But as I mentioned, Whistlekick does a lot more. We have books, we have training programs, have sparring gear, we have apparel. can, you know, stuff like sweatshirts and hats and... here's my hat right here. I my hat right here.
all kinds of stuff available at whistlekick.com. You can also find all the info on our events, free training days happening throughout the country, Marshall Summit here in New England, everything you're going to find at whistlekick.com. And if you use the code podcast15, you'll save yourself 15 % on almost everything, which is pretty cool. Who doesn't like to save money, right? mean, everyone does.
So today guys, we are here to discuss is martial arts for everyone?
Victor, yes or no? Mark, yes or no? Okay, great. Thanks for coming on the show, guys. Until next time, train hard, smile, and have a great... No, I'm just kidding. We're obviously gonna talk a lot more than that. So, Mark, this topic was yours, and I think most people listening to this episode or watching will probably look at the title, Is Martial Arts for Everyone?
Vic (02:21.275)
Yes.
Mark (02:23.343)
Yes.
Mark (02:30.75)
off.
Andrew (02:48.544)
almost everyone will probably say what we just did. Like, yes, obviously it is. But I want to dive a little deeper into that and talk about why it's for everyone and how it's for everyone. So Mark, I'll start with you. Give me a, like, yes, obviously for us the answer is yes, but let's talk about the why. So for you, why is martial arts for everyone?
Mark (03:12.902)
Why? Because in the never-changing society that we live in, aspects of the martial arts, in my personal view, are the solution to just about everything there is, whether it's physical or mental or whatever. Now, I think a lot of people are nervous about the martial arts because they think it's all kicking and punching and
headbutting and stuff like that, what they see in the UFC or MMA gyms. But it goes far beyond that. It develops, as I was saying, emotionally, physically, just keeps on going.
Andrew (03:56.29)
Yeah, Victor, how about you?
Vic (03:58.437)
Yeah, I like that Mark brought up kind of the UFC and things like that because that is what is prevalent in the minds of people when they think martial arts. And for just reasons, I mean, it has brought something that has been wildly through history, especially recent history, considered to be
Mark (04:10.237)
I'm
Vic (04:25.883)
You know, the secret back doors behind this little path. And then I find the secret training area into the forefront. But I was having a conversation with two of my students. if you were to walk into my dojo on, on a given day, you look at the students and you wouldn't see people that you would think, that's a fighter. But the conversation that I was having with two of my students, you know, we were talking about.
Andrew (04:49.07)
Mm.
Vic (04:53.831)
deeper philosophy of a technique that we were doing. I was like, hey, listen, I was like, this place is not just about fighting. If you want to just fight, I can do that. But that's a different class. That's, that's a different dojo. Even I was like, I don't want you to be brawlers. I want you to be philosophers in life. And those are the things that you learn here. I always tell my students that I've been training. This is my, this year is my quarter of a century year.
Andrew (05:04.802)
Yep.
Andrew (05:11.266)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yep.
Vic (05:22.543)
My year 25 for me. And in that year, I've been in two fights, almost been, almost been in five or seven, but it's the calmness, the serenity, the not caring about other people's opinions, all of those more metaphysical things that I've learned throughout my years of training that have gotten me out of those altercations. then.
Andrew (05:28.291)
Mm-hmm.
Vic (05:51.771)
you know, then, then the physical part of things. I've used that stuff every day. And as my wife always says, not everyone gets into a fight. Everybody falls. And so break falling and falling safety and balance, those, those physical things that relate to fighting, but have, don't necessarily have everything to do with fighting. Our students use all the time.
Andrew (05:55.054)
Sure, sure.
Andrew (06:03.458)
Yep, yeah, yeah.
Vic (06:19.813)
And everybody could use, because everybody's going to trip and fall and...
Andrew (06:23.054)
Yep, well, and I think we would all agree that martial arts isn't fighting. Martial arts can involve fighting, for sure, whether it's competition or whether it's on the street or whatever, but martial arts itself isn't just fighting. There's a lot of stuff there. But one of the things I think about when I think about is martial arts for everyone is there are aspects...
of everyone's life at every age of their life with the possible exception of, know, day one, the day you're born, I don't know you're gonna get much out of martial arts, right? But once you get into like being able to understand concepts and learn things, three, four, five years old, I think there are things about martial arts that you can benefit from. As you continue your journey through life into your teens, 20s,
40s, 60s, 80s, I think there are still aspects of martial arts that can benefit your life. in terms of is martial arts for everyone, let's talk about age.
with the exception of day one to like four or five, maybe martial arts isn't for you. But after that time period, there's something for you. Now that doesn't mean that one martial art will carry you through your entire life. I have a personal opinion that I feel there are a few martial arts that you can do at five years old and also at 95 years old. But I think we would agree that there are definitely some that you're.
You you're not typically getting, not that it's bad, but you're not gonna get a six-year-old usually to do Tai Chi. Now, you could, there's nothing wrong with that, but you, I think we would agree Tai Chi is not typically something a six-year-old would start. On the other end of the spectrum, you're typically not gonna get a 95-year-old starting BJJ, right? Or a 95-year-old starting Muay Thai.
Vic (08:28.775)
Mm-hmm.
Andrew (08:32.952)
That's not to say they can't, but it's not typically something that's done. Those types of sports are usually for a younger person's body. So do you have any thoughts on that? Victor, we'll go to you first.
Vic (08:48.509)
yeah, this is a conversation I was just having yesterday with my wife and some of our students. I teach a class called Zen Movement. It has become less Tai Chi and it has become more linear Bagua just because of I don't know Tai Chi. So it started out being slow karate, now it's linear Bagua. But we were talking about our adult students versus my wife who teaches our
Wolf cubs, which is, we, it's supposed to be five to seven, but we have two four year olds in that class because those four year olds were part of her toddler and me program, which is 18 months through four years. But those two four year olds were getting too good for the toddler things. So we force graduated them up. We talked to their parents and we're like, Hey, we think that they can handle this. And me, my instructors never really taught, taught older than eight and a half.
or sorry, then six and a half. And that was on rare occasions. I like the middle school, high school to adult age range. That's just because I tend to explain a lot, but my wife brought up a great point as I was talking about watching how people have spent years of their life walking wrong and how it takes twice the amount of time to go backwards and to re-correct what their body has learned.
Andrew (10:15.246)
Interesting.
Vic (10:16.443)
Without fail, Karen goes, that's why I like the four year olds. They have no muscle memory because they just started. So everything that I give them is brand new and they earn their muscle memory. And I sit and I watch her teach these four year olds. And I'm like, these kids are going to make me have to consider dropping my age for tying black belts around people now, because I already see within the four year olds and one of our five year olds.
Andrew (10:22.892)
Mm. Yep.
Vic (10:45.511)
And we have one who's six, who's about to test out of that class. Like he's about to go through all of the curriculum. So he has to be in the youth class. I'm not like, I'm like, all these kids are going to be ready and through our curriculum and good at it. Well before my mental age, 16 range, because when you start teaching at six and a half, that's, that's just the natural age of, okay. This is when they're going to be at that level.
Andrew (10:50.286)
Mm-hmm.
Andrew (11:04.782)
You
Yep. Yep.
Vic (11:14.363)
But when they- she's right. When they have no basis, it's like a blank slate and you don't have to ask them to forget anything. I still don't have the patience for it, but...
Andrew (11:19.96)
Yeah.
Mark, how about you old? Yeah, you know you I don't want to
Mark (11:30.942)
I go ahead. I'm 66. It's okay. I'm going to go to the other end anyways. I'm going to go up around my age because I loved everything that Victor said. And I see, I see ages divided up. we now have the age group that Victor's been talking about that the younger and everything he said is true. You give them a point to start. They're going to stay on that point. Usually what I see is I've, from my point of view, as I see physically, we keep
Andrew (11:36.334)
Awesome, great.
Mark (12:01.022)
developing until we're like 35. When we hit 35, we start to maintain. We're still continuing in an upward fashion, but we're kind of maintaining. When we hit 50, that's when we strive to maintain. Now for myself, I've dabbled in many arts. I'm 66 now, so.
I have seen, actually most of my students are 40 plus, my adult students, probably something to do with me. I have seen that it becomes more of a mental, emotional, spiritual type of thing as you get older. We still have many of this, we still have all the same emotions and my teens all know I can still kick their butts. But as you grow older,
changes, develops more of your physical, more of your emotional attributes. Where am I going with this? ran off. Anyways.
The older martial artists, you start to develop a lot of internal arts, a lot of the internal. Up to a certain age, you're only cemented in the, mostly in the physical. Once you're at a certain age, you start to develop sensitivity. I knew a karate guy once that shocked me because I thought all karate guys did just physical. And I started working hands with him and he was very sensitive. that was you Andrew. You were very sensitive. I remember that.
Andrew (13:05.208)
So.
Mark (13:34.686)
That was a long time.
Andrew (13:37.486)
That's only because I've trained in lots of other things, right? It's not, I mean, most of my training has been karate, but I've trained in other stuff as well. I mean, and I hear your point, Mark, right? The training that we do in our 60s might be different from the training when we're in our teens, but there's still stuff to learn and there's still aspects of that for everyone. So let's go to a different coin.
Our coin might have multiple sides, more than two sides. But another side of this coin would be students who are differently abled. You have a student coming in the dojo that has some sort of disability or some neurological...
pathways are different and they learn in a different way or they have a disability like is martial arts for them as well? And again, I'll answer for all of us. Yes, obviously it is, but you know, we've all had experiences with them with students like that, students that learn in a different way or have different way of picking things up. How can martial arts be of benefit to those students? Mark, we'll go to you first.
Mark (14:55.56)
martial arts can be very stabilizing for no matter what your melody is. Myself, actually, I have scoliosis, I've had it all my life, which really tightens the back and it even gets into the legs. That's a minor melody. But martial arts has helped and continues to help me develop attributes that get me to circumvent my melody. Now when you go cerebral palsy,
ADHD, mental or physical, martial arts has something we can do with any of them. If you're saying we're going to jump up and do spin 160 hook kicks, maybe not. However, we can all progress through the system. I do a lot of lower kicks from my Wing Chun and everyone is capable of that. So that's the physical aspect. Everybody has something they can put into this. We have a good friend,
I won't mention his name because he's not polite, but he has a whole program. He's a sensei. He does awesome stuff. And I've seen him work. It's phenomenal what he does. So this is the reduction everybody can go. I think a lot of people are a little skittish because they don't think they are capable, but yes, you are capable no matter who you are.
Andrew (16:19.042)
Yeah. Victor?
Vic (16:21.831)
So at two days old, I had open heart surgery. I was told I should never do physical sports. I should never lift weights competitively. This was something that at age 12, when my mom signed me up for karate, I hid from my instructor for almost five to seven years. I mentioned something about my heart being backwards and leaky a little bit. And he goes, I'm sorry, what?
And goes, yeah. And I probably should be wearing a chest protector when we spar. And he goes, how come that's not on your paperwork? I'm like, it's never been a problem. It was a problem in the beginning. But now my, my first instructor is a hard style karate guy, but some, like, like you said, Mark, some, some hard style karate guys understand softness a little bit and breathing exercises in that he, I took the things that he showed me as a white belt.
Andrew (17:03.086)
Mm-hmm.
Vic (17:21.329)
to control my heart rate, to breathe steadily. And when I went in, probably as a young adult, right before I graduated high school for my final cardio checkup, the doctor told me that there was no sign unless he took an x-ray or cut me open and looked in, there was anything wrong with my heart. One of the things that I love about martial arts, and I have many students, both currently and over the years, who are
not neurotypical. In fact, that is generally speaking what I have had more of. Maybe not so much in the physical differently abled type of person, kind of like neurologically how they learn differently. I've had lots of those over the years to the point where I'm pretty sure I am that way too, just not diagnosed because of the time in which I grew up.
Mark (18:16.67)
.
Vic (18:18.231)
Because some of my students will be like, this is how I learned. I'm like, that's how I learned. OK, I guess. OK. But even so, the fact that I have never realized it and can function in your typical society and have found my different ways are all martial arts techniques. There are all different ways that I have found to cope with things that make me uncomfortable, to cope with things.
Andrew (18:31.325)
you
Andrew (18:38.507)
Yeah, absolutely.
Vic (18:45.783)
that I don't necessarily like to do or have high anxiety about all martial arts techniques. And I love teaching martial arts to all different people, both in group settings, but also on more one-on-one settings, because then you can really hone in on their learning style. Because martial arts, and it's been said on this podcast before, it's been said in our private groups before, martial arts is an individual feat.
Andrew (18:49.826)
Mm-hmm.
Vic (19:14.14)
that you practice in a room with other people. Everybody is allowed to progress at different rates, in different ways. We, our dojo has had different siblings and family members and housemate members. And I love watching them all encourage each other because with few exceptions, nobody is competing with that. I'm going to get that next belt before you. It's, that's awesome. You got your, you know, you got your stripe for knowing your form. Great.
Let me help you with this thing now. Or, hey, do you know, can you help me with that thing? Because I don't have it yet. And it really, like, it lets everybody progress with what they need in the timeframe that they need it. And I love that. That's one of the reasons why I say everybody should do it. But maybe not, you know, one of the things that, and maybe we could talk about this more, that I've always said, and this is why I try to have relationships with other schools around me, because I'm not for everybody.
Andrew (19:45.79)
Mm-hmm.
Mark (19:54.643)
Yeah.
Andrew (20:03.01)
Yep. Yep.
Mark (20:09.278)
Okay.
Andrew (20:14.158)
Sure, no absolutely.
Vic (20:14.823)
Mark said, you know, Mark said that like a lot, you know, talked about the demographic of a lot of his adult students being that quote, because probably him. I look around at my students and then I look at my wife and I be like, like this isn't surprising. I know the type of, I know the type of guy who probably will not walk into my martial arts school because I am a five, 10, a hundred and
Mark (20:32.67)
you
Vic (20:44.679)
45, 50 pound skinny slight guy. This is not the demographic of what a man looks like, you know, quote, in the region in which I live. That's not like the neuro-typical Midwestern guy. So it's interesting. think that like, there's this elite-ism where I've been coming across it a lot in some martial circles recently online about how well,
Andrew (20:56.942)
Sure.
Vic (21:14.043)
Well, I guess, you know, martial arts isn't for them. Well, no, maybe your school isn't for them.
Andrew (21:19.34)
Yep, yep, yeah, absolutely. you know, the, I'm really glad that you brought up the students who are neurotypical or who are on the spectrum or who have difficulty controlling themselves or blurting out or things like that. You know, I have found that I've had parents come in whose children are like that and are worried about how they're going to disrupt class. And I think.
you know, I feel confident saying that when they're first starting out, sometimes it can be a distraction, but those students tend to get more from martial arts than the students that don't because they learn to use the skills to help regulate themselves in a way that other students don't need, quote, need to, right? And so I think that's an important distinction to keep in mind. And, you know, in terms of the physical
training. If you have a physical disability, Mark, you mentioned the friend that we all have that has cerebral palsy and owns his own school and teaches his own students. We have all, I suspect, known black belts who are in wheelchairs. You know, the fact that someone could say, well, that person shouldn't have a black belt because they're in a wheelchair. Well, why should that make a difference?
Mark (22:23.422)
Mm-hmm.
Mark (22:36.872)
Mm-hmm.
Vic (22:37.255)
Mm-hmm.
Mark (22:46.888)
Happy.
Andrew (22:46.958)
That's just because you were in a wheelchair doesn't mean that you can't have martial skill. You know, we've likely all known students who have Down syndrome, for example, and they certainly move differently and they progress in their training differently. But who's to say that that person can't quote, can't get a black belt because of who they are? I think that's absurd. And I think we
as a group of martial arts owners, not we, but the global we need to recognize that everyone learns and works at their own pace and there is no limit to what anybody can do.
Mark (23:31.324)
I think that we've all been hitting on it, I think it's the feeling of community, especially for these children that we talking about, some of the adults as well. Well, I see it all the time. I ran a Thanksgiving camp where I had some of these kids in here and they were having a blast and they were having a blast on their own and it was just a big part of the community. My instructor core demonstrated
Andrew (23:38.52)
Mm.
Mark (24:00.294)
Yeah, I decorated my school the other day. Yesterday, in fact, that really showed community. They were having a blast. Every class like that, people walk in and smile. And as you were saying, some of these neurodivergent children come in, they don't know what's going on. The parents don't know what's going on. And then they become part of the family, part of the community. So I think that is one of the largest, largest pieces of the puzzle right there, that the whole community asks about.
Vic (24:26.853)
Yeah, we, we, we say a lot in a lot of our marketing and stuff. and we have different classes for different age groups. And because I teach three different styles within the school, like, you know, it's kind of like subliminal, but you know, above our, you know, class list, it's just as fine where you belong. It's not like where you belong and like, what will work in your schedule. It's more of the holistic like.
find where you belong. We've got one of our toddlers who's been with us since our first Toddler and Me program last February. And even now when we are on break, his parents have paid for him to continue doing private lessons with Karen because he was told he'll never walk normally. He has spina bifida. This kid, I have a picture of him standing on one leg.
Andrew (25:19.438)
Hmm.
Vic (25:26.971)
by himself with no support, balancing. And to top that, just when I thought, and like every adult in the room was just crying, myself included, because this is a kid that when his mother was pregnant was told, he's probably not gonna be able to walk or use his legs at all. And I thought that was gonna top it until a couple, like until last month, you guys had those air shields that are curved. Well, Karen likes to put them on the ground and have the kids walk over them.
Andrew (25:42.072)
Hmm.
Andrew (25:50.85)
Mm-hmm. Yep.
Vic (25:54.821)
And she calls it her silly bridge because it helps him work on balance. I have a picture of him standing on one of those one foot, throwing a front kick. He's like not even like, like I think he just turned three and here's a kid who, and we, and we've had people in the past that she has brought and she loves it. his physical therapist says, keep him in, in that class because it is doing things for him that
Andrew (26:05.101)
Wow.
Mark (26:05.638)
Wow, incredible.
Andrew (26:10.102)
Mm-hmm.
Vic (26:24.377)
It's giving him confidence, but he's not in a class by himself despite his different needs. And I'm going to go on a little bit of a rant as a public school educator a little bit. I hate how public school is one of the reasons why I'm not a full-time teacher. Separates everybody because I've had people say, well, do you do a special needs class? No, because after school age, life's not like that.
Andrew (26:53.548)
Yep. Yep.
Vic (26:53.649)
There is no special needs town that we send everybody who is differently able to. They live in society. So just as it is important for my neurodivergent, differently abled students to be in class and to see that they can do things that they didn't think they could, it is equally, if not more important for my neuro-typical students.
and the regularly abled, and I hate that term too, those that society has deemed normal to be around people different than them to learn compassion. It's hard for kids. I see it. We have one girl who she's very shy and she's in class with some students who have some special needs.
Andrew (27:28.654)
Yeah.
Andrew (27:39.95)
Thank
Vic (27:51.589)
And it makes her uncomfortable because she's like a child and she's never come across someone who's different than her in that way. But she's learning. We communicate with the parents why we put them all in class together. And now this young child's going to grow up and be like, wait, I remembered needing to show compassion in this way to someone who sees the world differently. And that changes someone from a very young age. When you separate everybody, you're teaching
Andrew (27:59.628)
Mm-hmm. Sure, sure.
Vic (28:20.881)
kids, young kids especially, if this person is different than me, they belong in this class over here, not with me. And that's just, do we curse on this show? That's just bull. We don't curse. So I'll just say that's malarkey. That's what that is.
Andrew (28:26.83)
Yeah.
Andrew (28:32.622)
No.
Mark (28:34.471)
Yeah.
Andrew (28:36.782)
You
No, I totally get what you're saying. I think I don't know of martial arts schools that do that, that have separate classes, because I think there is a lot to learn that compassion and making it, as you said, Mark, a community, right? This person comes in and is differently abled. They're still a part of our community. And so I think it's important to include them. So I couldn't agree with you more.
Is there anything we missed about this discussion? Is martial arts for everyone? We've said yes, but is there any topic in here that we've missed?
Andrew (29:23.566)
I'm seeing blank stare, so I guess we hit it all.
Mark (29:28.388)
I believe, I had a list, I believe so.
Andrew (29:31.032)
So I'll throw it out to the audience. Is there something we missed? If there is, let us know. You can contact me at andrewatwhistelkick.com. Go on YouTube. Give us your comments on YouTube. Go into our Facebook group, Martial Arts Radio. You can let us know your thoughts there. Because maybe, you know, I'm not perfect. Maybe we did miss something. And if so, we'd love to hear from you. We thank you for...
Joining us and listening and watching Hopefully what we chatted about today made you think a little bit and if so, then I think we did our job Well, so that's great Don't forget to head to whistlekick.com to check out all the stuff we do if you're a school owner You can check out whistlekick alliance a great program for you to be involved with to help your school You can while you're at whistlekick.com check out any of them
many multitude of books that we have check out marshalljournal.com if you're looking for an online magazine for things to to read about And I think that's it. I want to thank you guys for for being here mark victor. I appreciate it Yeah, and let's see how all three of us can do this we're ready This I think this is sometimes my favorite part of the show is editing this together at the end
Vic (30:43.505)
Thank you for having us.
Andrew (30:57.11)
Ready? Here we go. Until next time, train hard, smile, and have a great day.
Mark (31:00.488)
Train hard, smile, and have a good day.
Vic (31:00.679)
Train hard, smile, and have a great day.