Episode 1023 - Martial Things with Sensei Nick

In this episode join Andrew in a new series called Martial Things. This week he sits down and chats with Sensei Nick with a plan to talk about……. nothing. No plan, just a conversation to see where it takes them. Topics include technology, Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris, as well as nerves.

Martial Things with Sensei Nick - Episode 1023

SUMMARY

In this episode, Andrew Adams and Nick Taber discuss the evolution of martial arts, focusing on the impact of technology on teaching and accessibility. They explore how technology has transformed the learning experience, making martial arts more accessible to students.

The conversation also touches on the importance of small moments in teaching and the influence of iconic martial artists like Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris, discussing their unparalleled fame and recognition. They emphasize the importance of small moments in martial arts training, highlighting how these can create lasting impacts on students.

The discussion also delves into the role of nervousness in training, suggesting that it can empower students rather than hinder them. Additionally, they examine the use of music in training environments, sharing personal experiences and preferences regarding music during martial arts practice.

TAKEAWAYS

• Technology has significantly improved martial arts teaching.

• Accessibility has increased due to online resources.

• The role of the instructor has evolved with technology.

• Communication with martial arts icons is easier than ever.

• Martial arts training is more available to everyone today.

• The mystique of the instructor has diminished over time.

• Technology allows for better self-assessment in training.

• The martial arts community is more connected through technology.

•  We will never have another martial artist with the fame of Chuck Norris or Bruce Lee.

• Nervousness in students can be a sign of care and focus.

• Empowering students by acknowledging their feelings can enhance their experience.

• Music can serve as a distraction or a tool for focus in training.

• Understanding the emotional state of students can improve their training.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction and Team Dynamics
01:02 The Role of Technology in Martial Arts
02:56 Accessibility and Learning in Martial Arts
05:53 The Impact of Technology on Teaching
08:50 The Evolution of Martial Arts Communication
12:04 The Influence of Martial Arts Icons
14:56 The Importance of Small Moments in Teaching
18:38 The Legacy of Martial Arts Icons
22:09 The Impact of Small Moments
25:39 Empowering Through Nervousness
26:49 The Role of Music in Training
32:35 Personal Preferences in Training Music

After listening to the episode, it would be exciting for us to know your thoughts about it. Don’t forget to drop them in the comment section down below!

SHOW TRANSCRIPT

Andrew Adams (03:02.562)

Welcome, you're listening or perhaps you're watching on YouTube the next episode of Whistlekick Martial Arts Radio. And today we have Nick Taber joining us. Nick, how are you today?

Nick Taber (03:13.899)

I'm fantastic man better than I deserve on this beautiful day. Thank you for inviting me as always for what's got to be the three dozenth time I've been on here by now.

Andrew Adams (03:20.205)

Absolutely.

Andrew Adams (03:25.198)

I don't know, you're catching up to Craig and Victor. We're gonna have to maybe do some math to figure out who's been on more.

Nick Taber (03:32.097)

Yeah, I don't even know, man. I'm just happy to be here.

Andrew Adams (03:35.586)

That's great. Great to have you. But before we get into our chat here, we're going to make sure to let all of our listeners and viewers know, some of the things we do here at whistle. Okay. We do a lot. Obviously this podcast is one thing, which we released twice a week, over 1000 episodes at this point. all of those episodes are available for free. on whistlekick martial arts radio.com. You can go there and find out information on all of the episodes.

show notes, transcripts, photos, all kinds of stuff you can find there. You can also click our subscribe tab to get notified of all of the episodes as they come out. On YouTube, make sure you smash that subscribe button, that like button, like this video. All of those things really help us out in those algorithms. We know how important those things are. But this podcast is but one thing that whistle kick does. We also.

sell merchandise. I've got this whistle kick t-shirt that I'm wearing with hats and sweatshirts and training programs and events. And, you could, if you're a school owner, you could join whistle kick Alliance. There's so much stuff that we do and you can find all of that stuff over at whistlekick.com. And if you use the code podcast one five, you can save yourself 15 % off almost everything over there, including books. So all kinds of stuff going on over there. But today, Nick, you and I are here.

without a plan.

Nick Taber (05:03.747)

Yeah, just to be.

Andrew Adams (05:05.794)

Just to be, we're just going to chat, Marshall stuff. We, we, we both were at a major martial arts event for us this past weekend, a weekend, a weekend ago, as of recording this, we were at all in weekend. went through so much stuff there. And I thought, you know what, let's have Nick on and just do another Marshall things episode. And let's just talk Marshall stuff.

Nick Taber (05:27.407)

Yeah, I'm happy to do that, man. I did have a prompt on something that I was curious what your thought was. So small story on this. Years back, I was attending college graduation, and this was like right around 2006, 2007. You guys do the math at how long ago that was. I'm not going to.

Andrew Adams (05:35.597)

All right, let's go there.

Andrew Adams (05:49.492)

Dun dun dun dun dun

Keep going, Nick.

Nick Taber (05:56.4)

And the valedictorian gave the speech and one of the things that stuck with me is that this generation is the first to play Nintendo, last to play Atari. So yeah, really just symbolizing the push in technology. So my question with you, at least to start, I'm curious about how do you feel technology has improved?

Andrew Adams (06:10.786)

How interesting, yeah.

Nick Taber (06:25.487)

proved the martial arts teaching experience and martial arts in general.

Andrew Adams (06:31.726)

So that's a really interesting question. when we, we, meaning you and I, when we started training, cause we're roughly the same age, when we started training, there basically wasn't technology for martial arts, right? There was, magazines, there were, you know, some TV shows, the internet was starting to exist, but it wasn't what it is today for sure. and.

Nick Taber (06:39.767)

Right.

Nick Taber (06:57.839)

No.

Andrew Adams (07:01.338)

And even, you know, technology with video games, like there were some martial art video games, but it wasn't big. wasn't mainstream like it is today. Now, fast forward, you can use the internet in such a different way. I'm not going to say that you can learn martial arts strictly through the internet, but I bet some people have the ability to do that. Whether it's through watching YouTube videos or.

researching things, there's so much more available at our fingertips. And even, even the technology of, and those of you that are watching on YouTube will see that I'm holding up my phone, right? When I was a kid, cell phones were these big clunky things that you, you only had if you were super, super, super rich, like nobody had cell phones, right? More, they weren't even called cell phones. They were mobile.

Nick Taber (07:54.348)

We're out.

Andrew Adams (07:57.25)

And usually they had to plug into your car and it was this big honking thing. know, when I even fast forward, you know, 10 years later, like out of high school into college, when cell phones became more popular, it was a flip phone, right? My phone was a flip phone for years. You couldn't do on that phone what you can do with cell phones today. Right? So I can, I can use my phone in

Nick Taber (08:14.296)

Right.

Nick Taber (08:20.793)

Right.

Andrew Adams (08:25.674)

Even if it's just recording myself and watching it back later. So I think it has helped a lot. Now I think we would be remiss if we didn't talk about, the bad side of what technology brings to us today in that, it allows people to. Troll other martial artists in a way that isn't helpful.

Nick Taber (08:53.399)

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I see that a lot on TikTok, especially, you know, where I, if I put a Kada up there and, you know, like, is this, and I get the phrase McDojo or a lot of things come up and in reality, I just delete that, you know, and just say like, was not my thing. I, I want to add one thing to that, that I think has been an improvement a lot.

with it because with martial arts, I think the technology I feel has made it more accessible. And growing up, and I mentioned this sometimes when I'm on here and recorded, I got to get the actual book, but I have the book somewhere in this office that I was given the day that my original school at Giffords Academy when I was an underbelt, I was given, here's the book of all the forms.

written down and everything there so you have the ability to Look at it read it and then if you wanted to to go try to test for a stripe Or say I think I figured this out. Is this okay? There was an advantage there, but also I had I had a mild dyslexia issue at the time as well So I would sit and read a pre-arranged one step

or read the kata, or read the steps over and over and over and over again until I knew what it said but I couldn't visualize it. And nowadays when we do that, I've had students where in order for them to learn and sticking on katas for a moment where I had to, I would do the form and then they would go home and practice and then watch me on their phones and go, okay.

that's the next move. You know, and then they'd be able to, cause it's made us more universally accessible. And I also think one of the things that I've experienced, cause I've done this for, I've done this for a while. Quantitatively, I can't remember the exact amount of years I've quote taught, but you know, I've been in the martial arts since 1991.

Andrew Adams (10:50.147)

Mm-hmm.

Nick Taber (11:15.203)

You know, so 34 years roughly at the time of recording this. So, but when I started teaching, it's people went to the dojo and then there was like, there was a mysticism about the teachers or about the sensei. And naturally you put them on a pedestal and you find out something about them and that would cause some problems or something. And like, even like you'd say with wrestling, that's where like K-Fabe happened.

or something like that. So I think it's also made people much more accessible. You know, as where you could see this, but it's also, see a lot of shift in teaching because I'm not the sensei anymore. And you guys have done this with Whistlekick a lot. I'm not the sensei who has no issues. I've been upfront with a lot of things that I've had in a lot of my past. It's out there. I'm human.

Andrew Adams (11:50.637)

Mm-hmm.

Andrew Adams (12:10.36)

So you're human. Yeah.

Nick Taber (12:13.551)

Ain't that amazing? Ain't that amazing? I'm human. You know, but when we're human and we're human beings, we can show all that I've learned has led me to here. Where you could say, all that I've learned has helped me deal with a lot of problems and let me show you how to apply it. Which is a very different thing. What do you think about that?

Andrew Adams (12:18.883)

Yeah.

Andrew Adams (12:36.226)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, absolutely. I mean, you'd be hard pressed to not agree with that, you know, and it makes everybody more accessible. I mean, think of it this way. When you and I were starting out, there would be, it would be nearly impossible for us where we were living. Not impossible, but really, really difficult for us to communicate with someone like

Bill Wallace or Cynthia Rothrock or Don Wilson or any of these at the, know, I'm going to say at the time they're still big name martial artists, like they were the, oh my, they were on the magazine covers and like, how would I have as a kid been able to interact with those martial artists? It's not going to happen. There's maybe I write them a letter, the chances of them writing me back, maybe depending on the person.

their personality, maybe, but that would have been the only way would be to write them an actual letter. Cause email didn't exist, right? There's no Facebook didn't exist, but now these martial artists. Well, and pause, I'll even back up even further. Bill Wallace, I know came to new England and did seminars, but I wasn't in a school that knew anything about them. So how would I have known that he was in my area teaching a seminar?

My school didn't know about them. So even if they were in my area, I couldn't connect. Now these martial artists and not just those martial artists, like big time, like Jesse Encamp, right? He is a newer, you know, different generation martial artists, but he's quote big and famous now, right? Everybody, not everybody, karate nerd, right? Everybody knows who he is. And although it's not to say if I...

Nick Taber (14:07.129)

Yeah.

Nick Taber (14:29.763)

I do.

Andrew Adams (14:35.49)

find his email, email him, I'll get back. But just the fact that technology exists, I can look at his website and see where he's teaching and be able to go and then get access to him. And in some cases with these martial artists, yes, you can send them a message on Facebook and they might respond to you. So everything is so much more accessible, whether it's direct one-on-one talking with these people and being the producer of Whistlekick Martial Arts Radio.

You know, this is how I contact a lot of these people, which in the nineties would have been so much more difficult to do. And, know, getting access to them for their trainings, it's just so much easier because they can put on their website where they're going to be. And now I know and can get information.

Nick Taber (15:26.383)

I wholeheartedly agree with you and even just to get it at a more granular level, most of the people I've met even being affiliated with Whistlekick Martial Arts, I never would have been even possible. You know, and I believe in some way that the universe has laid out a few steps ahead. Even if, you know, even if none of this existed, some ways we would have crossed.

you know, like you and I, Andrew, or, you know, even myself, Jeremy, Jenny, Sifu, Steve, or even any of the others that, you know, that have happened. Do you think that's also one thing that has improved a lot? Because I'm thinking, like, when I was a kid and the dojos that I was in as an underbelt were a result of the fact that they were in the phone book and we

happened to know somebody. My dad was in a well connected industry at the time and the first one I went to he happened to saw him. He was the parent of one of the kids who went there was a customer his. And you know, he's like, hey, Tommy, you guys went to Tirburt and Taekwondo. Yeah, we're still there. How good is it?

And but it just so happened to be when I was, you know, driving down, there was a sign that had Ninja Turtles and I wanted to do that. You know, because it was on on Sunday mornings and the dojo was closed. So I got to watch the turtles too. But sad point. At least at least for that, I think, you know, when you have it as it's an embracing of what we have now as well, like with certain things that, you know, even like myself.

Andrew Adams (16:57.186)

Yeah. Yeah.

Nick Taber (17:20.491)

Some days my body might not be a hundred percent. And I think all of us were at that. I mean, you're at that point right now, but least we have an opportunity. We can go onto YouTube. But if I'm teaching something, even a basic sidekick front kick, and I'm like, okay, I can't do it, but here's how you do it. You know, and visually show, okay, see that technique. That's what we want to, okay. You know, then they can do that and still improve.

Andrew Adams (17:29.228)

Yeah, absolutely.

Andrew Adams (17:49.346)

Yeah, everything is so much more accessible. you know, you're alluding to the fact that I had foot surgery, right? I can't really walk much. mean, I can walk, but I can't, I can't do what I could before. I'm, I'm not currently able to go to class. My, my ankle won't allow movements of that caliber. And if this had happened when I was a kid, there are, there were still ways I could have been training, working my mind.

Nick Taber (17:56.503)

Yes.

Andrew Adams (18:18.158)

Podcasts didn't exist. Books absolutely existed, but there were way less of them then than there are now. And the access I had to them would have been, I hope my library has them, because the the bookstores certainly didn't carry a lot. Now, magazines, yes, there were a lot more. I actually would say probably there are a lot more magazines then than there are now.

Nick Taber (18:20.269)

Right. Yeah.

Nick Taber (18:27.247)

Yeah.

Nick Taber (18:34.158)

Right.

Yeah, if it's notic-

Nick Taber (18:46.639)

True.

Andrew Adams (18:46.666)

And when I, and I'm talking print magazines, right? There are probably way more online martial arts magazines now, but let's, I'm talking actual print magazines. there were probably more back then, but they came out once a month or in some cases, there's one I knew that came out four times a year. That's it. So if I was laid up at home, yeah, I could, I could read about martial arts. I could go to these magazines and read things, but the.

Nick Taber (18:49.207)

Right, right.

Nick Taber (18:53.966)

the whole

Nick Taber (19:05.753)

Yeah? Yeah.

Andrew Adams (19:15.064)

quantity that I had available to me was much, much, much more limited. Now I'm laid up at home and can't walk for, in my case, I couldn't walk for six weeks and then another two weeks I was only hobbling. So we'll say eight weeks of being basically housebound. I still had so much martial arts at my fingertips and available to me.

Nick Taber (19:33.486)

Right.

Nick Taber (19:37.645)

Yeah.

Andrew Adams (19:40.67)

And so many more books that I could read and so many podcasts that I could listen to that just didn't exist back then, you know

Nick Taber (19:48.974)

Yeah. Which is a good shift to my next point. Because you're, you're, setting it up real easy. I podcaster to podcaster. It's basically like playing T-ball sometimes we're fighting well. The ball's on the stick. Go brother. When you're teaching and as well as like with the martial art, I think, you know, we are not going to have a Bruce Lee type.

Andrew Adams (19:53.464)

Yeah.

Andrew Adams (20:02.894)

you

Nick Taber (20:17.931)

anymore. We're not going to have that figure. But I think people try to fill the void to be the grand martial artists to like envision of now I think the closest might be more lower than anything, but might be like something like Chuck Norris, you know, or anybody like that. But where we try to build the grand plan because we are the curators of the martial arts.

Andrew Adams (20:46.958)

Mm-hmm.

Nick Taber (20:47.609)

for as long as possible and then when we leave this realm of reality, next people take over and it evolves. Now we try to make the grand thing or make the grand seminar class that can really have that big impact, but would you agree that even with this day and age with technology that even the little moments make a more lasting impact than the grand plan?

Andrew Adams (21:18.614)

Yeah, I can, I can see, I can see that. I could, I could see that. I also think, you know, you mentioned the Bruce Lee thing. think, we will never, and this is my, this is just an opinion. I don't think we will ever have another Bruce Lee. I don't, I don't think anyone will ever get there. And I think you're making the correlation to Chuck Norris is probably the closest we have right now. And.

Nick Taber (21:38.263)

No, we can't.

Andrew Adams (21:48.332)

when Chuck Norris unfortunately passes, I don't think we will have another Chuck Norris. And I'm talking just the amount of fame and recognition that those two martial artists have. I don't think we'll ever be something that we would find again, ever. And it's not that I'm saying, and I wanna be really clear.

That's not, it's not that I'm saying we will never have another martial artist that is as gifted as they are. And they were both, both Chuck Norris and Bruce Lee were both very gifted martial artists. I'm not saying we won't have gifted martial artists. We absolutely, we have since then, there are lots of martial artists today that I think honestly are still as gifted as both of those individuals are. And some people might diff might feel differently about that than I do. And that's okay.

Nick Taber (22:38.147)

Right.

Andrew Adams (22:44.386)

But I'm talking about the fame and the recognition that those two martial artists have. I don't think we will find that ever again.

Nick Taber (22:54.805)

And that I agree with you. And I think from where we are, going from the metaphor of being the first to play Nintendo, last to play Atari, that thing, I think it's, we try to create these things or this school or we want to naturally do it so we can get to that level and we can do something like even Billy Banks.

Andrew Adams (23:04.43)

Mm-hmm.

Nick Taber (23:20.431)

as well, the type of, you know, who had, you know, like shot up and did really well. And then he's, you know, he's still out there. You know, people who may not know his name, but know when you have more aerobic style martial arts drills, it's most likely from him. Yeah.

Andrew Adams (23:39.342)

Sure. even, but here, here's where I would, I don't want to say disagree, but like, here's the thing to think about. I can go to a 16 year old kid and ask them who trains martial arts, who's Billy blanks? No clue. 16 year old kid trains martial arts. Who's Chuck Norris? They know who it is. Even, even someone who's in their thirties, who does not train martial arts, who's Billy blanks, even in their forties. And I asked this question of someone.

Nick Taber (23:46.479)

Hmm.

Nick Taber (23:58.98)

Yes, I agree.

Nick Taber (24:04.729)

Mm-hmm.

Andrew Adams (24:08.692)

recently, do you know who Billy blanks is? They're not a martial artist. And this person said, I, who's Billy blanks? And I said, he, you know, he created Tybo. It was, you know, kind of the first cardio kickboxing type program in the eighties. they're like, I kind of maybe vaguely remember that. And, but if you ask a martial artist in their forties, who's Billy blanks, they're going to know who they are. You ask somebody in their forties who Chuck Norris or Bruce Lee is, they know who that person is.

Nick Taber (24:09.551)

Yeah.

Nick Taber (24:16.175)

Right.

Nick Taber (24:26.531)

Mm-hmm.

Nick Taber (24:38.103)

Right.

Andrew Adams (24:38.304)

So I really don't think anyone has the recognition that those two people have amongst younger people, whether they train martial arts or not, they know who Bruce Lee is. They know who Chuck Norris is. I don't think we're going to get that again.

Nick Taber (24:46.543)

Right.

Nick Taber (24:53.985)

And with that legacy mindset, knowing that, you know, we're probably not, it's highly unlikely we're going to be here. Should we strive for the small impacts in the moment more than the, this is kind of a softball thing, but more.

Andrew Adams (25:09.398)

Yeah, yeah, I mean, I think for sure, think we, we as martial artists will be able to connect, I think better with our audience that's paying attention to us than trying to lob the big fastballs and, and, you know, trying to be, try and be the Bruce Lee's or the Chuck Norris. think, you know, we are going to be able to interact better with those that are closest to us. yeah, yeah. And, and,

Nick Taber (25:34.872)

Exactly.

Andrew Adams (25:37.704)

Some might see that as a smaller impact, but that impact might last longer.

Nick Taber (25:41.722)

And that, that small impact, if I can add to that, that small impact will resonate even further because, with you and Steve Watson talked about retention a bit. And I think I'm a firm believer that tiny moments build relationships and you can use a metaphor of small drop in the pond creates the big ripple or anything along that line. but I think.

Andrew Adams (25:48.738)

Yep. Yep.

Andrew Adams (26:06.177)

Mm-hmm.

Nick Taber (26:10.549)

When you look at what the lessons are with martial arts, there's like back to, know, when technology wasn't as abundant and democratic as it is now and democratize, I should probably say, but when it wasn't as abundant as it is now, you had to stride and, there was a mysticism to the art.

So you had this and you had to do it. think now we have to be more open about what the lesson is. So like when you shift and pivot, how that could translate to the next thing or shifting and pivoting in real life. And like, you know, to be open about that, I think would attract more. But then again, you know, going back to being more human as teachers. And I think that's a

Andrew Adams (27:02.19)

Mm-hmm.

Nick Taber (27:04.591)

big part of it and there was like a story and one person in the event we went to with All in Weekend gave me permission to talk about it. I won't use her name, although we both know who it is. So young girl coming in operates very high strung, very nervous. And she came to me and she's looking and you know, we partnered up. We started doing a tagu-me drill and she's like, okay, oh dear, oh geez. And then I said, you nervous? You okay?

She's like, you know, I always operate very nervously and we're going through it. said, okay, let's work with each other. I'm nervous too. And at the end of it, we bowed and said, hey, nervousness shows you care. And you could see the look in her eyes. Suddenly she got really wide eyed and the boundaries went down. And that little moment of shift and a little shift in perspective.

Andrew Adams (27:47.746)

Mm-hmm.

Andrew Adams (27:56.012)

Yeah, yeah.

Andrew Adams (28:00.746)

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Nick Taber (28:01.471)

It was just why you shift when you want to punch, why you shift the throw your body weight because you have more power now. You shift the perspective and then change that way.

Andrew Adams (28:12.994)

Well, and I think it's important when you give someone permission to have a feeling, it empowers them. You know, I tell students, I tell students all the time, whether it's martial arts or drumming or whatever, that it's actually, I think it's okay to be nervous. You know, like you said, being, being nervous shows you care, right? you want to do a good job. Okay. I get that.

Nick Taber (28:22.574)

agree.

Nick Taber (28:31.855)

Thank you.

Andrew Adams (28:39.254)

I think the problem that some people have is that nerves can turn to fear and fear brings on either fight, flight or freeze. Right. And, know, fear can be cripple. But nervousness can actually help focus people. And I think when you give people permission to have those feelings, it changes something for them, for sure.

Nick Taber (28:44.729)

Exactly.

Nick Taber (28:49.711)

Exactly.

Nick Taber (29:04.875)

Absolutely, absolutely. And you mentioned drums and one of the things I did want to ask you about it from your perspective as a musician, is there value in using music when you train?

Andrew Adams (29:16.696)

Mm-hmm.

Andrew Adams (29:24.28)

So that's interesting. we, know, if you listened for those people listening right now or watching, if you listen to my Marshall things episode with Sifu, Stephen Watson, we talked about music and I have never come from a school that uses music in the dojo. And so, you know, we, as students learn what

You know, we pick up what we learned in the, in the dojo. And so I never came from a school that had music in the dojo. And so for me, when I'm teaching, it's very, maybe off-putting isn't the right word, but I have been in training environments where music is happening and it, it's a little unsettling for me.

Maybe it's because I am a musician. I focus on the music. And so if I'm listening to the music, I am not paying as close attention to the person teaching. And I think it pulled for me, and this is a personal thing, it pulls me out of the training in a way that I don't like.

Nick Taber (30:19.715)

Yeah.

Nick Taber (30:28.419)

That's interesting that you say that. I I listened to the episode and you said some things like that. And I think if we get a little more like at the granular level of it, where I was the same way. You know, we, I went from one dojo that was completely quiet, you know, and you you could hear the, was the first one, the first iteration of it was,

Andrew Adams (30:42.254)

Mm-hmm.

Nick Taber (30:57.813)

in a town, Tiverton, Rhode Island, middle of nowhere, you could hear the activity in the woods, you know, across the street. You you could hear that. Then going to a dojo that had music set up. know, would have, know, and Sensei would be more concerned about what CD to put in sometimes. But I'm not going to get into that, you know. And I think when you look at it,

There's things with, you can also teach an application from technology is where the element of distraction could come in from where your focus is, but it also takes some prep. So I would do this and I started doing it. There's a couple of songs that I use. And by the way, with anybody perspective who would teach for me, like any kids who teach.

The parents get a set list of everything always. So it's like, if you have any objection to it, tell me. If not, I'm using it. But an open, honest conversation, which again is another way technology is interesting because text messages can happen in the middle of a dojo, you know? In the middle of a lesson, you know? But you know, has to be the boundaries have to go up. I have a class where I teach, I teach a couple of teenage boys.

Andrew Adams (32:02.542)

Mm-hmm.

Nick Taber (32:23.203)

So in order to do that, and I did this the other night, we're practicing sidekick drills and there's a ballet bar on the wall. And you know, so we use this, we're practicing sidekicks and I throw Taylor Swift on. It's okay. And naturally you're probably thinking with the dynamic, teenage boys and Taylor Swift don't mix. At all. Don't mix. And it did not. Like...

It did not at all. So they're doing this, but then showing them, when that is, you're either going to find the rhythm to do it at a certain speed, or what you're going to do is learn how to block that out because in the day and age now, you're going to have distractions. You're going to have something come up in front of you that you're going to have to pivot, shift, and move somewhere else. So get used to it now because, and I'm like, I'll usually joke about it. Get used to this now because this song is absolutely fire and we're going to pull it louder.

You know, and we're going to put it louder in the other places in the space that I rent, you know, look at it and then some instructors will look kind of straight, but then get later. You know, it's also good because I use one song like David Brubeck's take five. You know, if you're a drummer, you probably know that song right away. You know, so do you hear that or people who don't go out on your Spotify, type that in and you'll hear what I mean.

Andrew Adams (33:35.79)

Mm-hmm.

Andrew Adams (33:41.132)

Yep. Yep.

Nick Taber (33:48.324)

But if it's what I want them to do it slow or if I'm teaching sparring for the first time, I'll put that on to just decrease the, you know, the egos.

Andrew Adams (33:49.675)

Good.

Andrew Adams (33:58.562)

Yeah. Yeah. And, and there's, you know, we, we talked about this at all in weekend that, know, ha to taking different variables or scenarios or situations or putting you in different scenarios and situations, and changing some of those variables, absolutely change things. So, you know, you mentioning Taylor Swift, we're going to turn it up louder so you can learn to block it out because in an altercation out in the real world, it's not going to be silent. Right? Sure. Absolutely. That makes sense.

Nick Taber (34:14.094)

Yeah.

Nick Taber (34:25.515)

Exactly. Yeah.

Andrew Adams (34:28.362)

and on that same vein, when you come into, and I've done this with students and I've been in classes where my instructors done this, there is zero talking. Like he actually dimmed the lights. So it wasn't pitch black, but it was like dimmer, you know, was mellow. felt mellow and there was zero talking and everybody picked up right away. What? Okay. What's okay. Great. Okay. He's not talking. He's teaching.

Nick Taber (34:37.87)

Right.

Andrew Adams (34:57.432)

but isn't giving any verbal cues or commands whatsoever. And it changes your mindset and it allows you to focus in a slightly different way. And I think that's an incredibly valuable tool. So yeah, I totally get it. I agree wholeheartedly.

Nick Taber (35:04.367)

Right.

Nick Taber (35:18.351)

Nice man, nice. So my thing that I want to ask the musician as well, what is a song that you would use to train for yourself?

Andrew Adams (35:26.638)

Mm-hmm.

Andrew Adams (35:35.436)

No, that's interesting because again, it's such a foreign concept to me to have music on while training. because it's just not something that I'm used to. And so I'm, I think I would have a hard time answering it. I mean, it's, it's going to be music that I enjoy listening to. I mean, what do I enjoy listening to? I think I could probably answer that question better by saying, what do I not enjoy listening to much? Right? I'm not a big country fan.

I'm not a good modern pop fan. you know, Taylor Swift, for example, it's modern. I'm not, I'm not into that. I'm, I'm a, I'm in my late forties. So I'm a classic rock guy because, because I'm involved in the Celtic music scene, you know, Celtic rock, Celtic folk, that kind of stuff. I enjoy quite a bit musicals, believe it or not. love

Nick Taber (36:16.633)

Yeah.

Andrew Adams (36:31.988)

Listen to musicals. I think they tell such a great story Not into like electronica edm electronic dance music that kind of stuff. I'm not into rap

But I don't know that I could give you a specific tune. It's like when you work at a, okay, back up, young people listening, there used to be these stores that you could go to and you could rent a movie, whether it was on a VHS tape or maybe a DVD. Okay. Those existed back in the day. And I used to work, I used to assistant manage a VHS store and

Nick Taber (37:05.359)

Yeah.

Andrew Adams (37:13.994)

It was a rule that you were not allowed to ask us what our favorite movie was. You can't ask someone who works at a movie store what their favorite movie is. You just can't do it. On the same vein, you can't ask a musician what their favorite song is because it's too broad. So I don't know that I could give you a definitive answer on what music I would train to solo.

Nick Taber (37:23.577)

Right.

Nick Taber (37:36.622)

I think that's really super interesting that you say that because my thought always is when it's something that is super important to me and like if for example when I was training and when I haven't competed with tournaments for a while saying this as the tournament director for whistle kick martial arts I haven't competed in a while I've administratively a few and judged a few but

It's, I would always train to something that I did not like in order to use that. As I said, with Taylor Swift and my kids, you know, I would do something in order to block it out so I could be in my own thing, you know, in my own realm. So it's something like back in the nineties where it would be some form of gangster rap on my walk.

you know, which would mean I also had to do this. And I'm going to one up you when you said, now kids, right? Now kids, there were times where you had a Walkman, which had a CD. A CD was a disc where you had it. You couldn't go on there and tap on Spotify. You had to pay for that. Had the Walkman, which had your phones attached to attached to wire into your pocket.

Try doing a roundhouse kick and keeping your ears in place. Barely happened. Barely happened. But I would buy that single CD. Now kids, I would buy that CD with one song that would have, know, probably for three, four dollars and play that one song over and over again. Or something along that line.

Andrew Adams (39:12.782)

you

Nick Taber (39:27.105)

Or whatever that happened. And sometimes I actually, I'm not a fan of country either, but I would find the guttural country. You know, my wife, my ex-wife walked back into my heart, but never wiped her shoes type, you know, or my truck died yesterday and now I'm going to its funeral type country. You know, you know, I'd find that and you know, then would be able to focus better. And I think, you know, really going back to like with technology, I think that also

Andrew Adams (39:34.178)

Mm-hmm.

Andrew Adams (39:40.398)

you

Andrew Adams (39:44.055)

Yeah.

Nick Taber (39:56.176)

opens up the perspective as well. I could bet I would perform using that same method that I did. I would probably perform better at a tournament as a competitor now than I did back in, you know, 94 or wherever I may have done that. 94 random.

Andrew Adams (40:10.563)

Mm.

Nick Taber (40:18.991)

But it's just, I'm curious about it when I said that and I don't ever ask a musician about it. It's like never ask you, like asking us at a file what the favorite movie is or asking a martial artist, have you seen Jackie Chan? Yes, we have. This was great.

Andrew Adams (40:25.518)

Thank

Andrew Adams (40:32.822)

Yeah.

Awesome. This was fun, This was fun. Thanks. Thanks for coming on. really, I really appreciate it. It's always great to sit down and chalk chalk to talk. I was going to say chat. So chalk is a combination of chat and talk. it's always great to get together and chat with a martial artist, just about martial stuff. That's the whole, that's the whole thought process in doing these martial things episodes. And so I definitely want to thank you for coming on.

Nick Taber (40:49.507)

you

Nick Taber (40:56.525)

Yeah.

Nick Taber (41:05.111)

And now kids, what shock was, the thing that you had to write on the wall with when you were kids.

Andrew Adams (41:11.852)

Yep, and the best job ever that you could be given in school was to take the chalk erasers and bang them on the side of the building outside. Nick, thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate it.

Nick Taber (41:16.825)

Yeah.

Yes. But, well, Andrew, thank you as always. Anytime I get the opportunity when he's like just technologically tapping my shoulder saying, Hey, can you come on? I'm in man. I'm in as always.

Andrew Adams (41:37.908)

Awesome. hope you, the listener got something out of this episode. certainly rambled. We ran around a bunch of things and, you know, maybe it made your gears turn a little bit and thinking about, you know, your training and music or how technology is involved in your life now in regards to your training. Let us know what you thought of the episode. If you're on YouTube, first off, after you've hit the subscribe button, after you've liked this episode.

Put a comment put a comment in the on YouTube about YouTube about what you thought of the episode. We'd love to hear from you if you are So inclined head over to whistlekick martial arts radio comm to find out all the stuff about this and all of our episodes Subscribe to our new newsletter. It is only for martial arts radio Every episode that comes out you'll hear about it and I will be sending some really cool

Extra bonus special stuff. you do get a free book when you sign up right away. So that's cool. and then whistlekick.com for all of the stuff that we do, whether it's training programs, books, apparel that you can purchase, all of the different events we mentioned, Nick and I were at all in weekend, Marshall summit, free training day, all free training days, all of these things you can find at whistlekick.com. So

Nick Taber (43:04.815)

And tournaments too.

Andrew Adams (43:06.337)

What's that? And tournaments. That's right. We now have tournaments as well. So stay tuned for more of that stuff coming soon and until next time.

Nick Taber (43:16.719)

man. Train hard. And have a great day.

Andrew Adams (43:19.65)

Smile.