Episode 1147 - Why Traditional Martial Arts Still Matter
Jeremy and Andrew discuss why traditional martial arts still matter? What purpose do they serve in the modern world?
Why Traditional Martial Arts Still Matter - Episode 1147
SUMMARY
In this episode of Whistlekick Martial Arts Radio, Jeremy and Andrew explore the significance of traditional martial arts in today's world. They discuss the definitions of traditional versus modern martial arts, emphasizing that traditional practices are not outdated but rather foundational to martial arts training. The conversation highlights the importance of structure, ritual, and respect in martial arts, and how these elements contribute to personal growth and community building. They also address common criticisms of traditional training methods and argue for the relevance of these practices in developing skills and character. Ultimately, they present traditional martial arts as a unique and adaptable approach to personal development and self-defense.
TAKEAWAYS
Traditional martial arts provide a sense of community and belonging.
Structure and ritual in training help instill respect and discipline.
Adults often need the lessons of traditional martial arts more than children.
The uniform serves as a psychological tool for focus and mindset.
Traditional training methods can teach perseverance and resilience.
Understanding the history of martial arts enriches the training experience.
Traditional arts can adapt to modern needs without losing their essence.
The belt system in martial arts provides clear goals and progress tracking.
Training in a group setting fosters a sense of accountability and motivation.
The 'why' behind training methods is crucial for meaningful practice.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction
04:15 Defining Traditional vs. Modern Martial Arts
10:43 The Importance of Structure and Ritual
19:28 Inside the Structure: Techniques and Learning
27:41 The Relevance of Tradition in Modern Training
33:32 The Unique Value of Traditional Martial Arts
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SHOW TRANSCRIPT
Jeremy (00:11.15)
Hey, what's going on, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of Whistlekick Martial Arts Radio. And on today's episode, Andrew and I are talking about this idea, answering the question, I guess, why traditional arts still matter? Some of you might get upset at this. Some of you might find this to be your favorite episode ever. And most of you, of course, will be in between. If you're new to what we do, thanks for being here. Thanks for spending some time with us. I'm Jeremy Lesniak. I founded Whistlekick because I love
Martial arts. And then because of that, I met Andrew. And now we're great friends. And now we do a podcast. Yay! Hi Andrew.
Andrew Adams (00:48.212)
Hey, how's it going? Andrew Adams, that's me. for those that were only listening you could not see that I was clapping my hands. No, I was cla this is this is clapping my hands if you are in the deaf community.
Jeremy (00:49.824)
Andrew Adams.
Jeremy (00:55.842)
Jazz handing. Your chess
Jeremy (01:02.86)
Is it really?
Andrew Adams (01:03.7)
Yep. But you wouldn't know that if you were only listening, so you should go to YouTube and you should watch us there. Cause and and if you do then I would say
Jeremy (01:05.398)
No.
Jeremy (01:09.056)
You should watch us.
Jeremy (01:14.926)
Hmm. See, what what we what we do on martial arts radio is we connect, educate, and entertain you. And this is another example of you receiving education that you didn't even expect. We work hard to give back so much more in value than you ever pay, right? That's why our best stuff is free. That's why if you come to our training events, they're free to get in the door. You come to Marshall Summit, there's four days of training.
Andrew Adams (01:15.935)
You would know what I said if you went.
Andrew Adams (01:40.502)
Mm-hmm.
Jeremy (01:44.162)
The training parts free. There's other stuff you might want to pay for. Martial Arts Radio. We give you two episodes a week for free. Might you want to support the show so we keep going? Yeah. And you can go to whistlekick.com and buy something or sign up for something. And that's the best way to do that. But if you want free options, just help us spread the word about what we do to others, you know, your your training friends, training partners, the people in your school.
Shout out to the schools out there that link what we do from time to time in their newsletters. If you want your students to stick around and keep training, giving them more options for helping contextualize their training into everyday life is a good thing. And there's a lot more that you can do than just share our shows, but it's an easy one.
Andrew Adams (02:19.221)
Mm.
Andrew Adams (02:38.729)
Yeah, yep. I also had this idea that we could to help those students of your audience okay, how do I describe this? Something if you are a school owner, you have them listen to the show, here's a way to help get keep them engaged. I wanna thank Bob for listening, Billy, Amanda
And I'm just randomly throwing names out. Event some some there people hopefully there are people listening that have those names. Frank, Bill, Mark, Steven, Paul, all those all you people listening. Like I hopefully I hit a lot of them.
Jeremy (03:17.855)
I I think you did. you're probably thinking of the same people with those first names that I am long time you know, you named some folks who have been on the show quite a few times. So we i you know, at some point we need to we need to na AI would make this easy. Who's been on the most? We should we should figure that out. That would be fun. That would be fun. Not not that it's about
Andrew Adams (03:35.262)
Mm.
Andrew Adams (03:38.985)
Yeah. It's gonna be down to two pe I know that it's gonna be down to two people. That's true. That's true, yeah. And you more than me.
Jeremy (03:43.371)
Yeah, you and me. Yes. so it could be a battle for third place.
Andrew Adams (03:53.759)
Okay.
Jeremy (03:55.724)
Ooh, would giving myself first place be the equivalent of self promoting to like tenth degree?
Andrew Adams (04:03.695)
No, because it's quantifiable. You c you have been on the most episodes.
Jeremy (04:08.725)
It's true. It's true. It is it is it is far more objective than that.
Andrew Adams (04:12.199)
Yeah, it's not subjective in any way.
Jeremy (04:15.785)
Alright. Now, with that diatribe, we're gonna talk about why traditional arts still matter. And let's let's set this up. When we talk about traditional martial arts, we are talking about
Andrew Adams (04:16.543)
Ha
Jeremy (04:33.869)
Karate and Taekwondo and Gung Fu and whatever else you might throw in, you the audience, as a traditional martial art. And why is that why do we have to let you decide on the definition? Because there are differences, right? For some people, boxing is a traditional art. For some, wrestling is not. There are I I believe there are ways to train any com combative.
In a traditional and non-traditional way. But we're not gonna get sidetracked on that. We're gonna talk about traditional versus the term that I hear kicked around more is modern. Traditional martial arts versus modern martial arts, not even though it's same acronym, not to be confused with MMA.
Andrew Adams (05:05.267)
Yeah. Yep.
Andrew Adams (05:24.647)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. And and to be clear as well, most people do not consider do not think of any of the M's in MMA as modern. Right? Yeah.
Jeremy (05:37.122)
Right. Right. quite quite often it's I think this traditional art and this traditional art and this traditional art. And and that could be a whole other episode. And to those of you out there, if you want that episode, let us know. Jeremy at Andrew at whistlekick.com. But we're gonna talk about traditional versus modern in the training approach. There are tr schools that are doing what most people would think of as traditional arts in non-trad excuse me.
non-traditional ways. And it is not the same art. The results are not the same. And so we're going to focus on why those traditional approaches are still relevant.
Andrew Adams (06:10.505)
Yep. Yep.
Andrew Adams (06:18.303)
Yeah. and I think it's important to understand that traditional doesn't have to mean outdated.
Jeremy (06:26.86)
Yeah.
To to me, and we should probably get get some version of a definition on the table. To me, traditional is this is the way it used to be done. It was done that way for good reasons, and those methods were passed down, but sometimes the reasons didn't make it along with it.
Andrew Adams (06:54.355)
Hmm. Yeah, so the official definition, like quote unquote definition of of traditional, describes beliefs, customs, or methods passed down through generations and long established in a particular culture or group. And I think there are lots of ways that traditional martial arts uses tradition in their in their training. and sometimes it's as simple as
Jeremy (06:59.77)
We're going dictionary. Yep.
Andrew Adams (07:24.755)
lot just the way you line up and start your class. Right? Everybody lining up sometimes by rank, sometimes not even by rank. I'm not even talking that, but just the act of lining up, everybody facing the same direction, paying homage to either the the people that have trained your instructor, you know, some sort of lineage. Sometimes in some schools there they there will be pictures on the wall, whatever.
and then, you know, in the literal sense, you know, asking paying homage to your instructor as well, but you know, saying, Teacher, please please teach me. You know, that in in a lot of martial arts schools, the the verbiage that's used at the beginning of class is often in another language, although not always, but often that
Jeremy (08:16.993)
Because that language was handed down with the techniques.
Andrew Adams (08:20.158)
Yeah, exactly. Yep. And what that symbolizes is, you know, paying honor to the person that's about to teach you and to th you know thank them for doing such. Do schools have to do that to be a martial arts school? Absolutely not. Are there lots of different ways you can do that? Absolutely. But I think doing that is a traditional part of martial arts. and so
I think that's a good thing. I like that.
Jeremy (08:51.149)
And and I think we should be clear, there is no, you know, if you don't do this, you're not a traditional school, or if you do do this, regardless of the other things you do, you are a traditional school. It's it's more of a feeling, right? And because we're not labeling, we're not coming through and saying, traditional school, modern school, it doesn't matter what we think about your school. It's this this is about you hopefully
I mean, let's be real. The people listening to this episode are traditional martial artists who maybe they are are hearing from others and feeling some pressure about the the problems of traditional style training. Right? So that that's really what we're unpacking here and why traditional the traditional aspects are still relevant. And what you're talking about there with
the opening, the closing of a of a class. Often, you know, it's it's thought of as bowing, you're bowing in, you're bowing out. We're talking about some ritual, we're talking about some structure, and the ritual and the structure absolutely serve a purpose.
Andrew Adams (10:06.076)
absolutely. It serves a purpose for us as adults, but especially for kids. What is that teaching kids? It's teaching them respect. It's teaching them you know welcoming and thanking, welcoming knowledge coming in and thanking them at the end of class for for passing some of that knowledge on. it's teaching them when it is and is not appropriate to be loud and obnoxious in class. Like all of these things are are good things that we want children to learn and
Why would not why would we not want to show that to the children that the adults do it as well?
Jeremy (10:43.733)
Right. A and I'm gonna take small exception to the way you said that, because I twenty years ago, yes, kids were more in need of the ritual, of the structure, to learn the soft skills, the traditional martial arts, and this is a big part of what we're gonna get into, cultivates. I think ult I think adults need it more now. It is far more common for me to see disrespect from an adult than a child.
Andrew Adams (11:05.342)
Mm. Yeah.
Andrew Adams (11:13.577)
Interesting. Yeah, okay.
Jeremy (11:14.367)
Adults need what we offer far more than kids do these days.
Andrew Adams (11:17.982)
Hmm. Well, there you go.
Jeremy (11:21.597)
That's a whole other topic that we could get into. But when we when we think about the structure, the I think the importance of structure is it puts people into similar environments. Right? Instead of, you know, I'm I'm wearing this this these fancy clothes and you're wearing those fancy clothes, and now I gotta go out and keep up with you because you bought fancier training shorts.
No, we're all we're all wearing a you a set of clothing that outside of the context of training is utterly ridiculous. I would never wear it on the street. you know the chance the chance of someone being attacked and having to defend themselves while wearing a traditional martial arts uniform is, you know, pretty darn low. But yet why do we do it?
Andrew Adams (12:16.852)
I mean, quote unquote, it's tradition. I think in a lot of ways one of the benefits to having a uniform for your school, and notice how I didn't say Ghee or Dobak or whatever, uniform. Could be whatever, could be s matching sweatpants, doesn't you know, whatever. But I think one of the benefits to that is it helps to put the student in the mindset for we're going to do this now.
And there are lots of studies that have shown the benefit of this. S I I know that I I I don't know that I've talked about it on the show. I used to teach at a private high school and I had come from a public h school as a student, and I'm teaching at this private school where they had a dress code. They didn't have a uniform, but they had a dress code, and for boys they had to wear collared shirts and a tie, and dress they couldn't wear jeans, right?
And so it's not it wasn't a uniform, because it could be any shirt and any neck necktie, but it had to be a a a tie. And I thought it was silly coming from a public school background. I was like, well, this is dumb. And I started teaching and every day the boys wore a shirt and a tie, shirt and a tie, shirt and tie every day. And then there came upon a day where they had a dress down day where they could wear whatever they wanted to, and they paid a dollar and the dollar went to some charity.
And the kids absolutely acted differently on those days. They were less behaved. And the more I thought about it, when do boys, and I'm saying boys because I'm talking shirt and tie, which is traditionally what what men wear, boys wear, when do they have to be on their best behavior? Or w or rather when should I when do they have to wear a shirt and tie? Weddings, funerals, church, right?
All times where you are expected to be on your best behavior and not act out, the you your uniform in your school can help put your students in that same mindset.
Jeremy (14:27.477)
In fact, I was struck by the the way you're talking about it. Uniform. The answer is there. Uniform. It is a uniform. It is one person's uniform, but everyone is uniform. They're of one form. They are the same. Right? And and sure, there are there are, you know, and we've talked about this before. You know, we're not saying every martial artist should.
Andrew Adams (14:43.86)
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Jeremy (14:55.467)
Look and act exactly the same, even within the same school. But when you remove some of the the
Jeremy (15:07.617)
When you remove some of the psychological detractors from training, and clothing is absolutely one of them. And then you're that's exactly what you're pointing out, right? How you dress does impact how you act. And if you show up and you've been training for a little while, you know, most, you know, some schools, not all have people wear a uniform on their their first day. Not all do, but most people end up wearing a uniform.
in a traditional school pretty early on.
Because that clothing is never worn, you know, to work, to the grocery store. Maybe, maybe you do on you go grocery shopping on the way home, right? But very rarely are you, you know, you're not opening your closing going, you know, I think I'm gonna wear my my purple Dovak today to, you know, to the office. Doesn't happen. It means that that uniform becomes associated with a place and a time and an activity.
And a mindset. And it means that all those other things don't have to be thought of. Another way to look at this, Steve Jobs wore the same thing every day because the research on the psychology of it shows that there is a finite amount of decision-making ability. And if he removed the decision of what to wear, that was one more decision he got to apply to his work. And you can probably see where I'm going with that. I'm not going to belabor that point any further.
Andrew Adams (16:33.803)
Mm.
Jeremy (16:43.213)
How we operate the structure, the ritual simply around the training is an absolutely huge component. And I think that matters, we're gonna go I think inside that structure now, but all the stuff on the outside of that structure, the bowing, the adherence to time, the uniforms, the rank system, foreign language,
respect titles, respectful titles, all of that is a framework from which we can shed or at least put down temporarily a lot of the chaos that holds us back from the rest of our lives so we can be fully immersed in the stuff inside the structure that is the training, the the the kicking, punching, throwing, falling, etc.
Andrew Adams (17:40.5)
Yeah. And I think in general, human beings like and need structure.
Jeremy (17:48.438)
I I have a theory and and I'm not saying I invented this, I don't believe I did, but I've never heard it put in this way. I call it boundary theory. Human beings understand our place in the world based on the boundaries around us.
I am a martial artist. What makes me a martial artist? I do martial arts at times. I go to a place and I do martial arts. Now maybe I go over there and do martial arts, but there's a time and there are things that I do. And there is a, if not a literal box, a figurative box in my brain about those things. You are a musician. You do the same things. If you want to see what it looks like for someone to not have clear boundaries and what the results of that are, take a look at children.
A child a the majority of poorly behaved children do not have clear boundaries drawn from them for them. And without those boundaries, they act out in a progressively escalating fashion until someone draws them for them.
Andrew Adams (18:48.618)
Yeah. Yep. And I think a a the perfect way to showcase this would be using the music analogy, put a piano in front of a a ten year old that's never done piano lessons and say, Go ahead, have some fun. And they're gonna play around, they're gonna dink around and it's not in all likelihood not gonna sound great. And then put the piano in front of a ten year old who has had structure and
Learning on the piano and say play something, it will be very different. They're both playing the piano, but one has stra had structure and one has not.
Jeremy (19:28.717)
So let's go inside the structure.
Jeremy (19:33.334)
punching, the kicking, the throwing, this is where I think most of the arguments against traditional training come in. I hear people say, well, you know, bowing is stupid, wearing uniforms is stupid, right? Like it's it's broadly dismissive as if those things to some people are so obviously ineffective. And I I I hope we made a strong case for why it is exactly the opposite. If anything, I'd say
If you had to pick between the structure and the or the technique inside, I think the structure is the more important part, based on the goals that I see most people have. Right? Most people, not all. Okay. But when we get inside that structure, what do we see? We see techniques that no one's ever going to use in a combat situation. We see them arranged in ways no one will ever use in a combat situation. Forms.
We see them done.
In the air. Not even with a partner, sometimes. Sometimes it's just I'm punching and kicking in the air. We if if you're if you're not watching, I'm punching the air. Okay. Poorly.
Jeremy (20:50.401)
Why would we ever do those things, Andrew? What's the point?
Andrew Adams (20:54.89)
Well, I mean there are lots of reasons to do it. one is you're do it can be done in a group setting, right? It the instructor is having the class do it so everyone is doing the same thing and so you're using visuals to like try and stay with the rest of the group, right? That's one reason.
Jeremy (21:13.633)
So I I want to pause you there. So what what I'm hearing you say is there is efficiency both from the instructor perspective, but it also allows the students to learn from the instructor as well as the perception of those around them, both of similar, lower or even higher rank. It engages physical movement.
It helps them see what's going on. And because everyone's doing it, it creates this compliance that removes, again, decision-making ability. So we're not exerting that energy. Well, do I step and punch now? Everyone else is stepping and punching. I'm stepping and punching. And it allows for more efficient progress toward the result.
Andrew Adams (22:08.202)
Yeah, and we've talked about how martial artists are scientists, right? This is a perfect example. Like you you know, you've got someone who's been in the school a few classes, they're not gonna quite understand what's going on, but they're gonna follow along by like like by looking around and they're using their their other skills to innately figure out what it is they're supposed to do. So there's some there's some benefit with that. if the school uses
terminology in another language. There's some learning there, right? And so they're they're picking up things from maybe it's just even if it's just something is as simple as counting, right? You're doing these these punches and things in the air, but you're also learning some of another language if your school does that.
Jeremy (22:55.787)
The next benefit that I see inside that structure based on the way people train traditionally is the recognition that we can do difficult things. Traditional martial arts training is typically not easy. Now, maybe physically it's easy. Maybe you're in great shape. Maybe
you have a really good handle on your body and you know how to move your hands and feet through space even if you've never trained before.
But most schools expect a lot of you. In order to progress, you have to know all these things, you have to be able to do them with this level of competency. And as you get better, the expectations go up. So it actually, in a sense, gets harder as you keep going. But what's the end result of that? You stick with it and you realize I could do hard things. In fact, that is the summary of what I was told my original black belt was all about.
Andrew Adams (23:51.413)
Mm.
Jeremy (23:58.306)
We want to make sure that we that you know when you go out into the world, you've done this, so the other stuff is easy. You can get through this, you can do anything.
Andrew Adams (24:06.593)
Yeah. Yeah. All of that ritual and structure it it can still serve a purpose.
Jeremy (24:15.127)
And then the the and there's probably more, but we've done two of the three things that I thought were really important about the way we train typically in a traditional school within this this box of of structure and and ritual. And it's
Jeremy (24:33.193)
Whether an intentional or accidental, I doubt it was accidental, recognition of how people learn.
Andrew Adams (24:40.705)
Mm.
Jeremy (24:42.145)
So, one of the things that I see in most modern martial arts defenses is the traditional methodology spends too much time training slowly or without partners. It leaves too much of a gap between the training method and the way you would want to apply those skills and techniques should you need them.
in an actual confrontation.
Yes. Here's why that's important. Because you cannot learn new things when you are in fight or flight. You cannot build new neural pathways when you are in a sympathetic state. It is just, it's not going to happen. And if you've been training a while, you know I'm telling the truth. And
Andrew Adams (25:35.575)
Mm-hmm.
Jeremy (25:43.913)
Some people will argue this, well, you know, I don't find stress sparring to be stressful. So I I can go pretty hard. Yeah, you probably didn't start there.
Andrew Adams (25:52.629)
Yeah, you weren't that way on your first day of class.
Jeremy (25:55.106)
Right. And it takes some time to get there. And how do you get there safely? By sparring at a lower pace. By doing the techniques you're going to use in your sparring 10 million times in the air. By doing them in structured back and forths with other people. So you don't have to sweat. Am I going to hurt them?
Jeremy (26:21.011)
Is it the most efficient way to create a fighter? No.
But if you want to become a fighter, you're probably not showing up at a traditional martial arts class. You're probably going to an MMA gym. And this is where it becomes really important to identify the why. We've talked about that on darn near every episode we've ever done. Why your training determines how you train.
Andrew Adams (26:35.233)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. And
Andrew Adams (26:45.385)
Exactly. And I think that's the I don't want to go down this road very long, but like that's one of the the issues that I see a lot with people complaining about the traditional martial arts is it's it it's not gonna work in a real fight, but most people aren't training to get into a real fight. You know, it's not they're not trying to be fighters. Their why is not to be a fighter.
Jeremy (27:08.845)
Right. From for most people, learning some practical self-defense is somewhere on the list and they want to get some other stuff out of it. If if you want the most efficient, effective way to protect yourself on the street
Practice running.
Andrew Adams (27:33.729)
Yeah, that's not a bad idea.
Jeremy (27:36.183)
Just go run.
Andrew Adams (27:38.027)
By he running.
Jeremy (27:41.59)
Not my favorite.
Andrew Adams (27:42.772)
No.
Jeremy (27:45.374)
There are there are certainly times where tradition can can get in the way. And I think that we would be remiss to not acknowledge that. I I think one of the places that that happens is traditional martial arts schools wanting to be everything to everyone and not being willing to draw a line and say, you want to be a fighter? Sure, we'll train you.
Andrew Adams (28:09.311)
Mm.
Jeremy (28:12.272)
okay, is there really not a better choice? Do you really want to bring that energy and that goal in? Because that goal is gonna be in conflict with the goals of most of your students.
Andrew Adams (28:21.44)
Mm-hmm. Yep. I I think the other the other way that Trent schools can do a disservice is
Andrew Adams (28:31.614)
Not everything again, and we talked about this before, traditional doesn't have to mean old. There are ways things were done, quote, back in the day, that we don't do today for good reason. you know, how many people listening that have if you've trained for a long num a number of years, you likely have been at or know of schools where the instructor would walk around with a wooden chennai, bamboo shinai.
and would hit you if you did things wrong. That's that's Yeah, but but that's that's quote traditional. Well that doesn't mean you have to still do it, right? So tr traditional doesn't have to mean everything that was done before.
Jeremy (29:04.225)
Yeah. Or even if you did things right. Yeah.
Jeremy (29:21.697)
No. I I think the key in carrying forward a tradition is having an understanding of how that tradition fits in. Why is it done? Now, ideally, understand why it was done and why you're still doing it. But if if you can't connect those two dots, at least come up with one. They used to do it for this reason, and we're doing it to to honor that tradition, to carry forward some of that culture. Fine.
there there are trying to think of a of a good ex here's one. you'll probably be more familiar with the term than I am. Hojoondo, the the traditional is it Okinawan karate weightlifting. I'll call it weightlifting.
Andrew Adams (30:03.786)
Mm-hmm.
Andrew Adams (30:11.446)
Training yeah, training tools, basically. Yeah.
Jeremy (30:13.943)
Training tool. Okay. you know how I know those are not the best choice today? Because no one that trains to be stronger for their profession is using those tools. There are more efficient ways. But it's kind of cool. It it's it gives you some understanding of of what they used to do. And there may be some nuance in there that connects for you. Awesome. By all means, do that.
Or you could, most schools do this, say, you know what?
Jeremy (30:52.961)
We're gonna get stronger by doing some calisthenics. We're gonna do some push-ups, we're gonna do some planks. I know some schools that have actual apparatus. I know a number of schools that have ab wheels because they're they're great ab devices, they don't take up much space, they're fairly inexpensive. I've never seen a picture of Funakoshi with an ab wheel.
Andrew Adams (31:13.46)
Yep, yep. Great point. Great point.
Jeremy (31:15.607)
But I would imagine that if he saw that, he'd say, Yeah, that seems like a great tool by all means. I'm over here, you know, doing planks or sit ups.
Andrew Adams (31:25.12)
Yep, absolutely. And you know, same could be said for any of the, you know, the the Hojoondo tools. The the one I'm thinking most commonly seen is the Chi Ichi or Chi Chi. It's a a a wooden dowel a few feet long with a weight on the end. Right. And you use it, you know, train your wrist or your arm or your shoulder or whatever. and they're fun and and when we go to class we use those. That's great. But you're right.
I don't see modern weightlifters using those to train themselves. There are better tools. It can be fun to do, but but it doesn't it doesn't necessarily mean it's the best.
Jeremy (32:03.469)
Right. But that's where the why becomes super relevant, right? If if you didn't have a why, if you were at a class and the instructor had you moving the these these weighted clubs around and didn't tell you we're doing this because this is, you know, what they used to use, and they didn't have you do it because
They were actually trying to make you stronger. If you were just doing it because it's emotion and it kind of stinks and it makes you hurt, it's not a good reason. That's going to disconnect you from your training. That why is super important.
Andrew Adams (32:33.3)
Hmm. Yep.
Jeremy (32:44.119)
So let's let's kind of start to wrap on on this last point. And what is it that traditional martial arts have, either in the structure or in in the training, that's difficult to replace, whether we're talking about modern interpretations of martial arts or other physical activ or even non physical activity.
Andrew Adams (33:07.304)
Mm. Well, I mean, I think the the learning of the past is useful for understanding where things came from and where they go. And if you pay no attention to that whatsoever, I think you're missing what could be a very important part of your martial art training.
Jeremy (33:32.107)
The place that my mind goes in answering this question is around other things that start to look similar. Group exercise classes, you know, yoga class, you know, some some functional movement crossfit sort of class.
And what
What tends to happen in those classes, if it's a great instructor, they help, they will push their students, they'll help them progress. But without the belt system, it becomes a lot more subjective on what people should be working on and what progress looks like.
Andrew Adams (34:16.317)
Mm. Well, and often they don't quote unquote work on anything. They just show up and they do their class and they're they're they're happy to do it, but they're not looking at progressing.
Jeremy (34:22.935)
They just show up. Yep.
Jeremy (34:34.731)
What would if if you've been around for a while, you know that I did CrossFit for many years, and a lot of what I think about comes from the contrast between martial arts and CrossFit. What would CrossFit look like if there were belts? Right? You start and you can, you know, bench press this much. Well, sorry, we don't bench press and CrossFit. squat.
Squat in cro in crossfit, you you can squat this much. Okay. So to earn your yellow belt, you have to squat this much. You have to squat this much for your blue belt. Now things start to look a little differently. Because martial arts, traditional martial arts, the most beautiful thing to me is that it is an individualized approach using more or less the same tools. It is an individual sport done in a group.
Andrew Adams (35:11.927)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Jeremy (35:32.17)
environment and it leverages the best of both. You and I can be lined up next to each other in the same class, having trained for the same amount of time, and get very different experiences out of it. Because you're thinking about getting better at this because your why is that. And I'm and I'm prioritizing something else because I've got a different why or set of whys. And I am unaware of anything that
Andrew Adams (35:57.587)
Mm. Exactly.
Jeremy (36:02.611)
is more efficient at accommodating all of these needs. I call traditional martial arts the magic puzzle piece, because it will fit in to solving
I didn't say it completely solves, but it fits into solving any problem you can throw at it. And I don't know anything else that does.
Andrew Adams (36:22.282)
Yep, yep. I love that.
Jeremy (36:25.237)
Okay. Now if you like this episode, I'll throw out a few more that we we checked on beforehand. Episode 911, Preserving Legacy and Evolving Your Art. 83, sport versus traditional martial arts. 1081, traditional forms, is it okay to change them? And 500. What advice would you give to martial artists a hundred years from now? That was a clip show where we had there's some people that have passed away.
That submitted clips to that. That's a great episode. If you've never checked that one out, check it out anyway, even beyond the connection with today's episode. And if you want to sign up for the newsletter, so you make sure you get every single episode that we do sent to your inbox, video and audio versions, go to whistlekickmartialarts radio.com. Sign up for the newsletter right there. And that guy, Andrew, is gonna make sure you get it, because that's one of the things he does.
Jeremy (37:21.505)
Anything else we we gotta we gotta tell Cool. Alrighty. Thank you for your time today, everyone. We appreciate you spending some of it with us. Until next time.
Andrew Adams (37:23.166)
Nope. No, I think we're good.
Andrew Adams (37:33.814)
Train hard and have a great day.
Jeremy (37:35.241)
Smile.