Episode 1026 - Brandon Rousseau
Brandon (front) with his father.
In this episode, Andrew chats with Brandon Rousseau about his martial journey, drumming, and cross training.
Brandon Rousseau - Episode 1026
SUMMARY
In this episode, Brandon Rousseau shares his martial arts journey, starting from his childhood fascination with martial arts through his experiences in Taekwondo and Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. He discusses the importance of mentorship, the challenges of returning to training as a teenager, and the life lessons learned through martial arts, emphasizing respect, discipline, and the community aspect of training.
In this conversation, Brandon Rousseau shares his journey through martial arts and drumming, highlighting the discipline and commitment required in both fields. He discusses his experiences in competition and how drumming has influenced his martial arts practice. Brandon emphasizes the value of cross-training and the need for a well-rounded skill set in martial arts. He also expresses his desire to pass on his knowledge to his daughter, aiming to prepare her for a future in martial arts while fostering her love for the discipline.
TAKEAWAYS
Brandon's journey in martial arts began at a young age.
Returning to Taekwondo at 16 presented new challenges and growth opportunities.
He learned valuable lessons about self-defense and de-escalation through his training.
Brandon's experiences in Jiu-Jitsu opened his eyes to new techniques and strategies.
He believes martial arts is a lifestyle that fosters camaraderie and discipline.
He aims to pass on the values of martial arts to the next generation.
Maintaining distance in confrontations is crucial.
Drumming and martial arts share a connection in discipline.
Practice is essential for improvement in both fields.
Cross-training enhances overall martial arts skills.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction
06:10 Brandon Rousseau's Martial Arts Journey Begins
11:45 The Impact of Early Training and Mentorship
19:27 Returning to Taekwondo: Challenges and Growth
20:26 The Journey of Commitment and Growth
21:21 Experiences in Competition and Humility
23:39 Forms, Breaking, and the Art of Control
25:07 The Intersection of Drumming and Martial Arts
28:41 Discipline and Flow: The Connection Between Drumming and Martial Arts
34:08 Cross-Training: Expanding Horizons in Martial Arts
36:17 Current Training and Future Aspirations
39:06 Preparing the Next Generation: Teaching Martial Arts to Kids
42:00 Looking Ahead: Goals for the Future
Connect with Brandon Rousseau:
Brousseau421@outlook.com
After listening to the episode, it would be exciting for us to know your thoughts about it.
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Show Transcript
Andrew Adams (05:10.633)
Welcome you're listening or watching to the next episode of whistle kick martial arts radio. And today we're joined by Brandon Rousseau. How are you today, Brandon? I'm, I'm doing very well. We're excited to have you here and we're looking forward to getting into your story. But just in case we have any first time listeners, I want to make sure that you know about all of the stuff that we do. Obviously we have this podcast whistlekickmarshallartsradio.com is where you can go to find out all of the show notes about this particular episode and every one of the other
Brandon Rousseau (05:18.774)
How are you? Thank you for having me.
Andrew Adams (05:40.733)
over 1020 episodes that we've released here at Whistlekick Martial Arts Radio. On those pages, you'll find transcripts, you'll find pictures, you'll find contact information for our guests. And you'll also at the very top, you'll find a button that says subscribe and that's to subscribe to our exclusive Martial Arts Radio podcast newsletter so you can get updated on every episode that we have coming out and any behind the scenes things. You also get a free book, which is kind of cool, but
The podcast is but one part of what we at Whistlekick do. We also do so many other things. You can buy apparel. We've got shirts and hats and hoodies. You can buy books. We have training programs. We have all sorts of things. hold the host events and all of that stuff you can find at whistlekick.com. And the last thing I want to let you know, if you want to help support the show, you can go to patreon.com forward slash whistle kick.
And you can help support the show monetarily because we bring it to you for free, but it does cost money to happen. So we would love for you to be a part of that and help support this show. But Brandon, how are you doing today? I'm great. I'm great. I've been excited to sit down and chat with you for a while about this. We have met each other on a personal level outside of martial arts about a year or so ago. And
Brandon Rousseau (06:48.91)
I'm doing very well, how are you?
Brandon Rousseau (06:57.357)
Yes.
Brandon Rousseau (07:01.388)
Is it? Yeah.
Andrew Adams (07:06.593)
recently realized, Oh my gosh, you are a martial artist. How did I not know this? And I was immediately like, Oh, we got to get you on the show. So I'm really happy to have you here today.
Brandon Rousseau (07:17.816)
excited to be here.
Andrew Adams (07:19.883)
So everybody has an origin story, a start to their journey. you, like I said, I've known you for a while. You strike me as someone who is kind of into would have been into comic books as a kid or maybe still are. Yeah. Okay. So if we go to episode one of your comic book of your martial art journey, take us through that episode. Where does it start? How does that how does the whole thing happen?
Brandon Rousseau (07:34.606)
Could be.
Brandon Rousseau (07:47.918)
So it's kind of funny how it starts. My uncle had his own, I was born in Worcester and he had a Uconell and Karate studio. And we would go, he was a Worcester police officer. So he would use that in that, you know, in his job and in his duties. But my parents would always take me to his house, but they would never let me train. Now you couple that with, I'm watching Kung Fu with David Carradine.
In my three, four year old mind, I believe that my uncle can do everything that David Carradine could do. And sadly to say it, 52 now, it's like I realized a lot of the mystique and the, know, I'm probably never gonna be a real ninja someday. And so we left Worcester and it wasn't until the beginning of my seventh grade year. That's when I started Taekwondo.
and changed my life. I'll never forget how sore I was after my first class. Muscles hurt on me that I didn't even know that I had. And the good thing about that school is it was five days a week, two hours, two hours a night, and you could do a Saturday class as well. But Dennis had always started, if you were a white belt, you didn't, he was awesome because you wouldn't even get your dough buck if you didn't earn it.
You wouldn't even get your white belt. There was that certain step where he wasn't being mean, but it's something you have to earn. And I remember when he gave me my uniform, he's like, now don't go home and sleep in a uniform. You're not allowed to sleep in it. Cause I was so excited, you know, cause I'm like, man, this is it. This is where I'm going to learn this. And let's fast forward a little bit. In eighth grade, I had to stop. My parents couldn't take me. Dennis had moved to Enfield.
My parents couldn't get me to his school. And then about that point, I remember I had a red belt and I had, let's say from eighth grade till I could drive my sophomore year in high school. I couldn't get there. Well, I don't know if anybody else knows this story, but I went back and at the time it's obviously Mr. Skidary. I was 16 years old. You you always called him Sabinim and you always had the utmost respect.
Brandon Rousseau (10:07.084)
So I said, I want to train. want to get my black belt under you. And he had said, well, I have cancer. have lung cancer. I have six months to live. And at that point he was leaving his school to another student. And then there was a break off. Blue Dragon, you had two, three different black belts take off and do their own school. So I had trained with Jimmy Sirocco and Jim Calvi who were considered some of the top students that Mr. Scuderi had.
and it was there that I had earned my black belt, but it's hard because I always wanted to get it under him and he also had black belt classes and I'm still friends with his daughter and come to find out in those classes he taught Sambo sometimes he would teach samurai sword and I Had I got into a confrontation on the ground when I only had my black belt
I'm just gonna say I would have been in lot of trouble and I didn't believe that that would happen. It kind of was a, I trained at a gym in Granby doing weights and that's where my friend Dan Case was teaching Kempoh and then he taught, we just decided let's be friends and he'll teach me, I'll teach him and we'll train and that's where I really learned like in fighting because listen, I love taekwondo but I'm just gonna say the hands or at least the way I was taught.
A lot of hands, you're very traditional and the hands aren't probably the best. You're not going to try to take on someone in Kempo or a boxer. You know, you're to try to keep your distance and you're going to try to keep them on the out. so then I learned in fighting. Well, then I thought I was all set. so it was 1998, West Hartford center, Jim Hughes, Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. Now I didn't walk in with an ego. It wasn't that, but I just thought.
I had some very, I had some different misconceptions. So when I went in, I'm like, Jim, are we gonna roll? You know, you're gonna, can I roll with you? He goes, he's listen, absolutely after class. He goes, but why don't we start you with this guy? He's been here for six months. He goes, you know, we'll get you the basics. So we get on our knees and this, he was a 16 year old kid and he tapped me out every, whenever he wanted. And I was so blown away by that. I just.
Andrew Adams (12:30.977)
Mm.
Brandon Rousseau (12:36.522)
I never thought it was that bad, Every, I've learned in Jiu-Jitsu, it's like a game of chess. If I'm touching your ear over here, it's because I'm trying to get you to do something I want you to do so that I can get my will. it's been a journey because then from there, I went to just mix martial arts. I had trained under Brian Jones, who is under the Charlie and Walt Lysak.
That was kind of like the really, my last training formally. still, Dan still comes to my house, Brian, I go to his house and we all have like a training. wouldn't, definitely not belt oriented with either of those guys, but definitely learning to be well rounded. you know, it's one of those things where when I was a kid, I believed the, all the hype with, you know, Kung Fu.
Dennis always say it isn't Kung Fu theater. That's not how a fight looks, just so you know. But there was a part of me that wanted to believe if I concentrated on a penny, I could move it or all those things that you see. And then you come to realize like, love you watching UFC, right? I'm okay. So there is a sport element to it. I'm not a professional fighter, but again, I would believe if these guys were in an actual street fight, they would do different techniques than, know, cause in a real fight,
You don't know who you're taking on. You don't know what they know. there's no rules. There's no ref. If you know, if you're getting elbowed to the back of the head, you know, that's not allowed in the UFC. But in real fighting, you know, it's it's any anything goes. And that's that's really that's really been the biggest thing for me. And I did I also did 20 years as an auxiliary police officer. And the biggest thing I learned is this is your best weapon, your mouth deescalation.
You know just as some of my friends as they have a coconut smile because you know, it's martial arts is you know, I was when I watched the karate kid for the first time and Miyagi, Mr. Miyagi was like, you know He's just teaching, you know the de-escalation karate's self-defense only and I think that's the way it is, you know across the boards I have lived confidently because
Brandon Rousseau (15:04.77)
You know, I developed skills that I believe work. You know, lot of guys that I train with, they're like, take the meat and leave the bones. In other words, if some technique works for me, it may not work for you, but it doesn't mean it's right or wrong. And 100 % after that, after being in the Gracie Jiu Jitsu School and being tapped out every way to Tuesday, it was such an eye opener for me because, you know, I also, at the time, I love to lift and come to find out.
The way I would train is I pyramid my sets. So wouldn't you know, my arms burn out way faster. I start here and then they start going like this, like this. There's the big and they're heavy. Also, if you try to do some technique, like a rear naked choke getting under, it's too fat. And it's all those little things where you think that you can take on the world and then you slowly find out reality comes in and you, you know.
the ninjitsu stuff and all the stuff you grew up with as a kid. It's okay. That's Hollywood. But if we, if we got into like actual combat, it's, it's way different than I ever would have believed as a kid. And that's, know, that's just been the, that's been the best gift that I've ever learned is, and the other thing too is eye contact. I always, every one that ever taught me, if somebody is looking at you, you look them dead in their eyeballs just to let them know, like I'm not a target, you know?
And not, you aggressive by any mean, but just, you know, hey, I see you, I acknowledge you, spatial awareness and, you know, all that stuff.
Andrew Adams (16:45.395)
Now you mentioned, so you started training as a young kid in Taekwondo. And you said you took a break around eighth grade. Well, we all know eighth grade is, you know, 12 years old ish, 12, 13, right? Just getting ready to come into high school. A lot of things are pulling us as children, these different directions, whether it's sports or you're getting into
Brandon Rousseau (16:48.867)
Mm-hmm.
Andrew Adams (17:12.129)
uh, you know, significant others, boyfriends, girlfriends, all that stuff. And it's hard to keep students engaged at that point. And you did what some would say is an impossible thing, which was you took a break at eighth grade and it stuck with you. So what was it about that training from when you started as a young child till you were 12 years old that kept your brain engaged enough so that when you were a sophomore in high school,
Brandon Rousseau (17:26.318)
Mm-hmm.
Andrew Adams (17:40.929)
two, three, four years later, you said, I want to come back.
Brandon Rousseau (17:44.824)
So one of the things is I really, really loved Mr. Skidary. He was a fourth degree black belt. He was a black belt under Master Lee who had a ninth degree. And when we would go to tournaments, I get it's the sport, there's a sport element to it, but we would clean up and I would watch his black belts just like they'd go to states, they'd go to, lot of kids would go to junior Olympics and I always wanted that.
if you ever start a real black belt as like a red bell, you'd be like, this is insanity. It's really, and it's something that you, just like anything else, just like you play drums and I play drums. So it's really about the seat time we have on our drums. That's what's going to make us good. Well, same thing with, you know, George St. Pierre had said that he was never really athletic, but he would do the same technique a thousand times. And just that practice and that practice. And I just really,
wanted to say that, you know what? I made it. I did it. depending on levels, at least I would say it was about five years straight of like five days a week to get a black belt if you really wanted it. And the test was, it was grueling. You know, and I'm not saying that, because people want to get into the argument about how long should it take you to get a black belt? Well, it depends on your skill set. If you already have some skills, you're probably going to move along faster.
But that's something I always wanted to hang on my wall. That's something I always wanted was to say that, you know, under Dennis Skidary, I was able to get a black belt. Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way. But he was always just. He was your your best cheerleader, man. He would teach you stuff and he would show you stuff and he goof around and he would just I just remember some of the holiday parties for the for the school. There was a real community there and it was everybody would help anyone.
Like if you were in a tournament and so you were getting beat, you'd hear your guys screaming like, like they literally get around that little square in the gym and come on, he's tired too, hands up, let's go. And you know, that's a brotherhood that I think you can't, or sisterhood as well, you can't replace that. You know, if you share that with someone just like drums, but I think it's even more, it's a next level when you are.
Brandon Rousseau (20:06.21)
trying to submit somebody or you're physically in like I've seen some of the UFC fights where they hate each other in the beginning but in the end of a five round 25 minute fight you have there's respect and there's love because you can't do that without the other person and I think that's why I still to this day love the UFC so much my daughter is six now and I don't know I don't know if six is too young but I think I'm gonna start back down that road into
the MMA world, my nephew, he has Muay Thai fights, he had his second fight and he actually won. And so he's like, hey, come on down to the school, know, and even if it was just on a Saturday, I wanna see if she takes to it. If she's like me, she'll take to it.
Andrew Adams (20:54.465)
Now you also mentioned that your uncle trained in Okinawan karate. So when you were doing your training as a child before eighth grade or even when you got into high school, what was that? I don't want to say relationship, but like how did his influence in doing martial arts affect you and your training at all?
Brandon Rousseau (20:58.902)
Yes. Yep.
Brandon Rousseau (21:15.128)
So I was literally, if you've ever seen a celebrity and been starstruck, that's how I was around my uncle. You you watch the David Carradine where everything's with his mind and he can do these things. And well, now if you hear Black Belt, or at least this was the 70s, and you just think like that person is like magical. And so it was something, that's where it started. That's where I was like, I have to do this. I want to do this. And then fortunately,
Dennis had a school in Windsor Locks at the town hall and it was seconds from my house. So my parents were like, yeah, let's do this, you know, cause they saw how bad I wanted to do it. And so I just, would say like this, just like drums, martial arts was in my blood. Just like when I wanted to do law enforcement, it was in my blood. And even to this day, like it was funny because we all used to roll around my living room when we were all training. I'm not going to do that.
at 52 because I'll probably be sore tomorrow and it's hard when you're a custodian. But yeah, it's I think my friend Brian, I said, hey, man, I go, I just feel like camaraderie amongst men is dead. And I want to bring that back, you know, and whether that's like a group of people getting together and just hanging out and talking, whether that's hey, can you show me this technique? Can you see where I'm at? Because, you know, if you don't if you're not training consistently, you don't really you know, you can
handle yourself, you just don't know where you're at. So, you know, and that's, we do that sometimes too. And, you know, I just really believe in the brotherhood that martial arts can bring to friends, to people. And I was taught young, it's a lifestyle, you know, it really is. And the respect, you know, there's, there's always gotta be a lot of respect. I don't care what these guys say who are professional fighters. I don't like this guy.
A lot of that's like building up the fight, but if you step in the cage and that cage locks, man, I couldn't even imagine how that feels. Like that whole like, okay, this is real now.
Andrew Adams (23:26.303)
did you ever get to train with your uncle at all?
Brandon Rousseau (23:30.208)
No, the most I ever saw was he showed my dad a back kick that my dad would listen to the back kick in my family. It was a thing. I knew how to do a back kick before I knew how to do excuse me, before I even trained the taekwondo and my dad would always do that. All right, I'm going to walk away and you'd go to get him and he'd boot you. Not in that part, but you knew like it's one of the most unpredictable things. If you don't know that's things coming.
As I trained me and my dad with Spar, he goes, I want to see how good you are. And I accidentally, I went to do a roundhouse and I think at that time I was like a blue belt with a red stripe. I had enough control, but not enough, but I caught him in the eye. I gave him a black eye. And you know, he was a police officer and he, did you get into a Nope, I didn't get into a fight. This is my son. We were goofing around.
Andrew Adams (24:27.617)
That's funny. Now you went back to Taekwondo after eighth grade. said you went back in high school 16 like that for a at that age. There's a huge difference in maturity level from a 12 year old to a 16 year old at most schools. I think for people listening, they'll agree 12 year olds are usually in kids classes. 16 year olds are usually in adult classes. Well, how did you handle that difference in training when you went back to when you were a kid?
Brandon Rousseau (24:31.192)
Mm-hmm.
Mm.
Brandon Rousseau (24:58.094)
So going back was tough because, you know, taekwondo's a lot of stretching. And if you're not doing your stretches and you're not doing your side stretch, full stretch, you may have the belt you have, but you're not at that level, right? So you know, okay, man, I got this red stripe and I want the red belt, there's people, red belts that have been going five days a week and you're gonna struggle to compete with them.
But you gotta get in it with them, right? You gotta just take it. I would say honestly, after the first month I started to get comfortable, but I also was very committed to just, I'm doing this, so I'm gonna go and I'm not gonna, you I was doing five days a week. And you forget a lot too though, because you don't remember how sore you are or how sore you were. So you're like, I'm gonna go every day and then you go on Monday, you really are hurting on Tuesday.
And then by Wednesday, your hands are tight again, because you stretched out, you know how the stretching goes. But, you know, patience with myself and just realizing that I have an, I had an overall goal. You know, because I grew up watching these, I don't know, just watching the black belts, because I would sit and I'd watch, those guys were just off the charts. Like I was like, how can I do that? Because they just were so good.
Andrew Adams (26:21.983)
Now you've mentioned competition a couple of times. Was that something that you were really into? Were you driven by competing the sport aspect of it?
Brandon Rousseau (26:29.378)
Yeah. Yep. So we, there was always the state championships for a Taekwondo and, I was able to get second in my first one. and then I got second in my next one, but I will say I competed in the nutmeg games for Connecticut and I, listen, they put me up against what I didn't know. So in the States, I fought with a blue belt with a red stripe.
When I went to go to the nutmeg games, I had a red belt. So they put me against a black belt. Let me just tell you about how that fight went. This guy was about seven feet tall. Junji Charyupunye ready fight. He runs over kicks me in the back of head and I'm out. It was the first time he ever got knocked out. But you know what? It was a life experience that I loved. It humbles you if you've ever been knocked out. It humbles you oh so much because I don't remember it. Well, I I didn't feel anything per se.
It goes green, it goes black and you're on the floor. But I didn't feel myself hit the floor. And so you realize at that point, if you were to get into something and somebody catches you. Yeah, so that whole like getting up in something, you know, the 80s bouncer up in the get up in their grill. Don't do it, dude. Keep space, keep distance, keep, you know, use your verbal skills. Don't don't underestimate anything or anyone. And that's. Yeah, that was a it was a.
We figured out after I shouldn't have fought in that class, just to be clear, because they said you, whatever you belt you had in the States, you were to keep that. And I just had moved up. it got a little crazy. But, you know, I believe a lot of things happen for a reason. And that was, that's even to this day why, like, if you sense a confrontation, there's no up and there's, keep at least a foot, you know.
We always taught if you can raise your leg, keep them about that like two, three feet away from you. This way there's no like sucker punch or any, not that I live like a gangster lifestyle by the way, I'm not being attacked every day, but you know, if I should happen to be in that kind of situation.
Andrew Adams (28:39.977)
Now, what about forms or breaking? Was that anything you got into?
Brandon Rousseau (28:43.478)
Yes, so you had to, so the first form was called Keon and it meant heaven and light and that was your first form. And then was it eight? I think it was eight or nine other forms, but you also had one steps. Your one step is if you throw a punch and I block here, I block here and there were 20 something of those. So you did your forms, you did, and you had to do your breaking. And if you couldn't,
If you couldn't break, because some people, know, two boards is fine, but you get to the three, four mark. That's you got to, first of all, the control you need to have in the faith in yourself, because there's people that are standing there that you don't want to I never was, but to get back to the point there, I never competed in breaking, but that's funny because it's something that I still feel like I want to do.
My favorite move was I can throw a board in the air and hit it and speed break it. It's not a big deal. people don't expect it, you know? But it's, I don't know. There was one guy who could, they would hold the boards up and he'd do like a flip kick. He'd jump, he'd flip and he'd break them. This man was breaking like five boards. How are you doing that with, cause he's hitting with the ball of his foot like a front kick. My mind was blown. I'm like, that's just insanity.
Andrew Adams (30:07.423)
Wow. Now you've mentioned on multiple occasions so far, drumming. When did drumming come into your life in relation to martial arts?
Brandon Rousseau (30:13.464)
Mm-hmm.
Brandon Rousseau (30:19.04)
Sixth grade. I had heard...
Andrew Adams (30:20.95)
Okay.
Brandon Rousseau (30:26.686)
So you know how you go into school in the morning and sometimes they'll have the jazz band playing and whatnot. So the Edmund Dazze was the music teacher and he just happened to come down to my class and he's like, hey, you interested in playing anything? And I just I played snare drum at the time. I had to just a little just sit there and come to find out his brother taught drum lessons.
And so I started drum lessons in sixth grade, but also I wasn't in the jazz band yet. I wasn't good enough for that. That wasn't until the seventh grade, but the concert band aspect where you can, you can play the, used to play the song called Shirako. I'll never forget that beat will never leave me because it's just the same. And when I could play it, I thought I was the cat's meow. I'm I'm outstanding. you learn once you get to this goal, now you want to chase this goal. It's always, you're always.
chasing that better you. And so yeah, that started in sixth grade and I played all the way through high school. In high school, I did the jazz band. I did NCCC concert band. I was able to make it to the, I forget the name of the jazz band, but it's the Northern Regional Jazz Band. that was, so I practiced all the songs so, so like religiously. And then I get there and there's a conductor. goes, I'm gonna change all the songs. We're gonna sight read.
So yeah, no, thank God they were not awful. I'm like, dude, we're playing tomorrow. That's when the concert was. had like a practice and they were going to play, but we pulled it off. you know, that was, that was a good thing too. Cause my music teacher, Neil Rinaldi was a drummer who graduated from Berkeley. So if I got to pick his brain, I could pick his brain. Also Michael Savage of the Savage Brothers. Like those two people were people I could call if I was like, dude, I don't know what I'm doing here.
At least they can walk you through and you can breathe so that you can play. And that's still, yeah, so I, to this day, I back in, so I played in the cover band to 2015. So that was like from 2010 to 2015, I did the cover band world. Gotta say, I didn't love it. Getting home at four in the morning and you know, getting, then you sleep till eight o'clock and then you get back up and your sleep's all thrown off.
Brandon Rousseau (32:49.55)
And so I got out of that and then in 2018 I started playing drums for my church. And that was a blessing because there's clicks, there's backtracks, it's the most professional thing you're ever gonna do, but you're also doing something for God where it's like, okay, I like that. And it's only an hour. It's not an all nighter. I don't miss that.
Andrew Adams (33:14.005)
Now, if there's one thing that Jeremy, the other host and I have noticed when we have guests on the show, there is a large percentage of martial artists who are involved in IT work and or are musicians. And I'm curious how you would talk about how your martial arts affected your drumming and how your drumming may have affected your martial arts.
So let's go, let's do martial arts to drumming first, because you did start martial arts younger than you did drumming. So let's go. How did your martial arts affect your drumming?
Brandon Rousseau (33:51.17)
Discipline. So I'm gonna say this, as drummers, don't think we like to practice as much as we say we do. I try to do 10 minutes a day, whether it's with my feet, my hands, a beat, and it keeps me up. That just keeps me. But I was able to, one of my friends is friends with the drummer from BrainKick Benjamin, and I said, dude, what's the key? He goes, seat time, and use the metronome.
He goes and know your stuff. goes, if you show up somewhere and you're not prepared, he goes, don't don't go. And so you take that element of martial arts. If I know I have a test coming up, you bet I'm going to be at home. OK, you're running through your forms. OK, what does Kian mean? And all the all the things that you know how to count to 10 in Korean. You're practicing and if you're not willing to put the time in.
I don't know, I just believe like if you're gonna do martial arts, do martial arts. If you're not gonna do it, don't do it. Cause you'll get hurt eventually if you kind of half do it. Same thing with drums, it's like, I was just blessed I had a good feel. People just would tell me that like you can, I can get the room moving just with a do that, do that. And I was blessed. I didn't, you know, I didn't really work on that. It's something that I was blessed with. And I think they both go hand in hand.
martial arts kept me very disciplined throughout my life and very much like my dad said, goes, if I'm going to get you a drum set, you're going to play drums and we're going to do this, right? Cause you don't want to spend the money on a drum set. And then it just sits. Um, so that was the thing that, um, martial arts taught me to be committed, but also to stay loyal to whatever you're, you're doing, you know? Um, and it's, it's been amazing, you know, just the,
Just the conversations I've been able to have with people who are martial artists like I never That was I was blown away. Not only do you martial arts, but you have a podcast I was like, how do I not know this? That's that's yeah
Andrew Adams (35:57.025)
Now, How do you think your drumming effected your martial arts?
Brandon Rousseau (36:07.982)
Flow. So There's a certain flow and I know you know what I mean when you you're not choppy and stiff and there's a certain flow to where you throw a punch you throw a kick. I think my drums helped me with a lot of finesse because when you play drums you have to have a certain finesse you got to know dynamics, soft, loud, quiet and there's also a timing to martial arts so you hear people say oh I got to time that guy you're checking his timing because if you can
figure out his timing, he throws, you throw, you're gonna get him. And I think that martial arts, or excuse me, drums help me with that. There's just a flow where the worst tempo I like to play is 60 beats per minute. It's horrifying, it's so slow. But there's a technique to it where you just gotta like drill it into your head. Same thing with the back and forth. And when it was Tae Kwon Do, it was a lot of back and forth. Back up this and.
when it would get to other moves, if you have a technique. I remember I did a keto for six months and believe it or not, that really helped me understand they do the moon steps where they get out of the way, which is not as easy as you think when you're a taekwondo guy who's like, well, I'm gonna just counter you. I'm gonna stay on center line. I'm staying right here. Never to think, get off center line where you see like a lot of guys.
Brandon Rousseau (37:35.48)
How was it Holly Holmes who beat Ronda Rousey? She was using angles and same thing with Connor. People say you can't. He first of all, he hits really fast and really hard and he angles. that's drums gave me that because it's all timing, man. You know how it goes. Like you want to do the best you can and you have the best game plan in the world, but sometimes it just doesn't go that way. But if you can start practicing.
practicing those offline things. thing with like linear, I love linear drumming. It is odd time signatures too. They kind of all, they all kind of blend and they all kind of have their own timing. Drums has their timing and so does if you're going to do martial arts. You don't want to be choppy, you want to flow, you want to finesse and also have the technique to be able to hit hard enough if you're going to in fact hit something.
Andrew Adams (38:28.627)
Now, one of the things that we see a lot in martial arts is students typically, martial artists typically stay with one style and they're very loyal to that one style. And then we have students that go off and learn and do all sorts of other things. And I think we would, you and I would both agree. I know you well enough to know that neither one of those is better than the other. one, you know, what works for one doesn't work for everyone.
Brandon Rousseau (38:56.878)
Alright.
Andrew Adams (38:57.159)
You clearly wanted to go in these different directions. And I'm curious how you came to that decision. And when that when that happened and talk a little bit about that cross training that you're doing.
Brandon Rousseau (39:08.866)
Yep, so it happened, think, let me think, was I 19, 19 or 20 years old? There was a, my friend Josh trained weights at a gym in Granby, Connecticut that also had a Kempo school attached to it. And that's where I met Dan Case. And Dan, you got, he's just an awesome person. Just he, I love the way he teaches. He gives you, process the information and he would come and goof around with us. He'd be like, hey, Brando, you want to see some weapon destruction?
So he would show me like some Filipino Kali move. And then he'd show me like a Ed Parker Kempo move. And that's when I realized, I was like, you know, I should work on my hands. Listen, nothing. When I walked into Taekwondo for the first time, I thought it was the best thing in the world. This is all you need to know. When you slowly start to learn, that's not true. That's very hard to process. But I started to learn that because Dan would be like, hey man, do you want to throw some boxing gloves on and just, and.
If I didn't have my kicks, that dude was, he was tuning me up. He was on the inside and you know, just his boxing was way better than mine. And so it slowly started there. was like, okay, all right. So I need to be well rounded. And Dennis did always say that. I didn't really know what it meant, but he's got to be well rounded. And then from there, you find that I never forget my friend, Fred Bushy, phenomenal tank pseudo guy. just was like, he competed in Russia.
and we wanted to just throw down one day and see what would happen. Dude, we ended up wrestling. It turned into, like we were trying to hurt each other, but it turned into like he was getting me, so I just grabbed him when I threw him to the ground. And that's where I slowly started to realize that there's a little more to all of this. You know, I would believe that if I was whatever, eighth, ninth grade, if I had gotten into a fight with one of the wrestlers in high school, I would not have done well, which is hard to say, but knowing what I know now.
Andrew Adams (40:40.865)
you
Brandon Rousseau (41:05.398)
If I didn't get, if my game plan failed and I missed my initial counter or whatever it is and they got a hold of me, that's, that's going to be a tough day at the office.
Andrew Adams (41:15.745)
And what's your training like now? Like what are you doing now these days for training?
Brandon Rousseau (41:22.264)
So recently bought a stretch machine and I've been working on my stretch. When I go to the gym, my gym has a heavy bag. I'm slowly starting to, the tops of my feet because of the years of kicking. Like if you saw the X-ray of my bones and the top of my foot, they're all mini fractures. And the first time I went back, I kicked the bag as hard as I could and obviously dumb move because my foot was black and blue. And I was like, yeah, dude, we didn't do this overnight.
So it just taught me to, you know the tip, just start slow. It was funny because I couldn't tell you the last time I threw a punch, but there's that 99.9 % lockout where you lock it out, you forget that too, the hyper extension. But also, I used to have a really good hook kick. And I can still do it, but you gotta be careful because you can pull, you throw it as hard as you know you can throw it, and you're not stretched properly, so.
I'm slowly working my way back. it's, my friend Brian, he's got a gym in his house and he's got a mat. He's just, that dude, it's like a freight train, but he also, you know, it's great because you get to pick his brain and it's kind of a combination of everything. He always says, man, you got heavy, heavy feet. Cause yeah, taekwondo, if I kick you in the thigh, right? But now it's just more.
I believe I'll be back in official school at some point because I just feel I'm being called back that way. But now it's just getting together with Dan, doing the Kempo stuff, getting together with Brian, we're doing the MMA stuff. Even my nephew, we got together and we were talking before he had his Muay Thai fight there. So just there's little pushes where life is nudging me back in that way. Or I'm like, okay, I see. It's just something you love. Listen, I never was shy. If you tap me, you got me, I tap.
You know, I don't need a pop meniscus or whatever. just, you got me. So, but I would always be like, hey, can you show me what you did? Cause that just, if we can learn from each other, cause that's what the, whether you're sparring or whether you're rolling, I feel like it's our job to teach each other. If you, if you're phenomenal at something and you can help me figure out what you did or, and or counter that's what, that's our, and that's what a school is about. That's what the camaraderie is about. And that's, that's what I miss. You know, I'm not.
Brandon Rousseau (43:42.414)
I'm not a tough guy, nor would I want to go to a school where it's filled with tough guys. oh, you know, some of the most professional fighters in the world are some of the most humble people. And I love that. I just, the humbleness and the, they're not worried about what they, they're not worried about what you can do to them. They're worried about what they can do you and they know it. And so it's a different ball game.
Andrew Adams (44:06.783)
Now you mentioned your six year old daughter, eventually looking to get her involved. You yourself have trained in a lot of different things. Where do you think you would start her at and why?
Brandon Rousseau (44:08.845)
Mm-hmm.
Brandon Rousseau (44:16.11)
Mm-hmm.
Brandon Rousseau (44:19.874)
So if I was gonna start her, I would start her with her front snap kicks. Just, you know, there's four counts up, out, back and down. Probably just, you know, if she doesn't understand the fighting stance, because, you know, Kenpo has a different fighting stance from Taekwondo, Taekwondo has different from MMA. So it would be like, I'd want to teach her more of like an MMA fighting stance. But if she didn't have to see what she grasped, I think she would understand.
a front snap kick because it's one of the easier ones. And then I'd probably show her a roundhouse kick, but always teach her to keep her hands up. You know, because I did.
Andrew Adams (44:57.365)
Now, I was thinking more stylistically, like would you put her in a Okinawan karate school or would you bring her to Taekwondo? You yourself have trained in lots of different things. Like where would you start her at?
Brandon Rousseau (45:08.918)
So it would be an MMA school, but to be honest with you, I'd probably start her in Muay Thai. Just because I wouldn't want to set her up to not have good hands. Muay Thai has hands, right? So if we can start her somewhere where she's got feet and she's got hands, and as she gets older, they also offer, you can do jujitsu or I don't know. I think it's Brazilian jujitsu, I think. But I want to set her up.
to be as well rounded as she possibly could be. But I just feel, wouldn't wanna, I love Taekwondo. It's great. And I will tell you that you can defend yourself with kicks. But there's, you know, there's very many different angles to that. But I just believe Muay Thai has the hands, the elbows. It's, you're gonna use that a lot more. If she can get the kicks and the hands, and then we get her the ground.
I think, you know, and again, it's all based off like, does she love it as much as dad did? Cause I loved it. just, the first time I saw it, was like that, I want to do that. you know, we'll see. know she, listen, she has a phenomenal single stroke role. She can sing karaoke in time. So she's got a lot of things where I'm just trying to throw as many hobbies at her as possible. And,
Let's see where it goes, you know? But obviously as a father, you want your daughter to be able to defend herself, right? Nobody wants to see their daughter upset or hurt or whatever the case would be. So yeah, it would be the Muay Thai into like a combination of also the ground stuff. So I think that would be the plan if it works out that way.
Andrew Adams (46:54.273)
All right. So the beginning of this interview, we talked about where you started and where you went to, and we talked about what you're doing now. Where do you want to go from here? Let's, let's say you and I get together in five years and we talk again and have another interview and we talk about what have you done in the last five years? What do you hope to be able to say?
Brandon Rousseau (47:00.142)
Mm-hmm.
Brandon Rousseau (47:18.03)
Well, first, my actual, well, I wouldn't say competing weight, but I really belong at about 170 pounds and I'm like 215. Martial arts will teach you really quick how to, where you should be in that, in that game. If I could plan it perfectly, it would be just back in with a bunch of dudes who like to train and you know, belt, you know, I don't.
If there's belts involved, great, but if there's not, that's okay too. you know, it just really would be nice to have perfect world. My daughter in a school with a bunch of great dudes who just, we all have each other's back. It's like a brotherhood. It's, you know, we, don't care about who can beat who. We care about who can better who. You know? And so that would be, you know.
that would be the ultimate plan for me. I still weight train and all that, that's not, you understand that it's different. Weight training is, if you don't weight train the right way, you're gonna hinder your progress. So I believe that doing some weight training, but also doing it a different way would be beneficial. yeah, 52, you're just like, I wanna be the best as I can be.
Eyes forward, don't look back, let's start it again, wherever we are, are. But do it because I love it, not because I wanna, I feel like it's just like when you play drums, if you try to be good at it, good luck.
Andrew Adams (48:59.677)
so if someone listening wants to reach out to you for whatever reason, they, you know, resonated something you said resonated with them. can people reach out to you? And if so, how should they do that?
Brandon Rousseau (49:10.606)
Absolutely, if they want to send me an email, it's the BRUSO, R-O-U-S-S-E-A-U, 421 at Outlook.com. And if it goes further from there, we could even exchange numbers, know, just see where it goes. that's the, I love martial arts, I love the martial arts community. So yeah, that'd be phenomenal.
Andrew Adams (49:33.025)
Awesome. So I'm going to throw it to you here to close us out here in just a second, but I want to make sure the listeners and maybe viewers, if you're watching on YouTube, if you are watching on YouTube, hit that like and subscribe button. That really helps us out. Share the episode with a friend if you really enjoyed it. That certainly helps the algorithm. If you're listening on any of our podcast players, any of your podcast players, please leave a review for us. We definitely appreciate that.
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Over a thousand now that we've done that we've brought you all completely for free and you can be a part of that and we would appreciate you doing so but Brandon, thank you so much for being here. How do you want to close us out? And what do you how do you want to leave this for our audience today?
Brandon Rousseau (51:12.206)
You know, man, for me, just do the best you can at anything you're doing. Do it because you love it. There's gonna be ups and downs, good times, bad times. But yeah, if you keep your passion, somebody said to me about anything, they go, it's not that you have to do it, you get to do it. So in other words, I get to train, I get to go to the gym, I get to do these things. And I just think,
How you look at it mentally is your mind will give out way before your body will. And your mental fortitude, that's gonna really direct a lot of things. So stay positive, train, play drums. If anybody wants to talk any of those things, that's outstanding. They're just things that I love. They're very dear to me.