Episode 1151 - How Martial Arts Changes You Outside the School
Jeremy and Andrew discuss the ways that training in martial arts changes you outside of your school.
How Martial Arts Changes You Outside the School - Episode 1151
SUMMARY
In this episode, Jeremy and Andrew explore how martial arts transforms individuals outside the dojo, focusing on benefits like increased confidence, awareness, and stress management.
TAKEAWAYS
Martial arts training increases awareness and observational skills.
Learning to learn is a fundamental benefit of martial arts.
Confidence gained in martial arts extends to other areas of life.
Handling discomfort in training builds resilience outside the dojo.
Progress in martial arts is slow but cumulative, leading to lasting change.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction
02:27 Obvious benefits: awareness and learning to learn
04:06 Physical skills and their transferability to life
07:11 Confidence, boundaries, and self-awareness
08:10 Handling discomfort and stress in martial arts
12:17 Boundaries and personal limits
13:20 Martial arts and professional success
16:10 Long-term benefits and slow progress
22:14 Soft skills and life outside the dojo
23:33 Reflecting on martial arts' impact on life
24:22 Closing remarks and support information
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After listening to the episode, it would be exciting for us to know your thoughts about it.
SHOW TRANSCRIPT
Jeremy (00:06.264)
Hey, what's going on, everybody? Welcome back. It's another episode of Whistlekick Martial Arts Radio. And on today's episode, Andrew and I are tackling the topic of how martial arts changes you outside the school.
Stick around, be part of the conversation, and you know, yell at us to your heart's content as we speak. Or perhaps you want to reach out, you want to contact us. And if you do, if you want to get me, Jeremy Lesniak, you can email me, Jeremy at whistlekick.com. If you want that other guy, my good friend over there, Andrew Adams, you can email andrew at whistlekick.com and we'll get your emails. But if you want to share stuff publicly, you know, maybe this episode makes you think, hey, you guys are idiots.
You're wrong. And here's what I think the best place to go. We have a we have a page over on Facebook. It's martial arts radio. I know. Shocker. We we name things so crazy. And you can drop a comment on this episode, but you know, you can email us. there are also places to leave comments. Spotify. We got a good amount of comments on Spotify episodes. So you can leave stuff over there if that works for you too. Now, Andrew, I don't know that there's anyone out there.
Who thinks martial arts doesn't change them outside the school? Do we do we have to address that? Does anybody not think that?
Andrew Adams (01:25.922)
No, I I can't imagine anyone listening to this episode would combat that statement.
Jeremy (01:34.815)
Okay. All right. Everybody's with it. And and I I suspect that that's because most people join martial arts for those reasons. Right? I don't think anybody goes to class and says, you know, I just want benefits for the hour, 90 minutes, or two hours or whatever that I'm here. I don't care if it follows me out into the rest of my life. Now, whether that's self-defense or physical or mental, emotional, right? They're there we
Andrew Adams (01:56.333)
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Jeremy (02:04.332)
We've done episodes on the benefits of martial arts. And let's face it, if there's one thing that we probably don't need to beat into horse territory, it's the multitude of benefits of martial arts. But today we're going to talk about how those changes impact us outside.
Let let's talk about the more obvious ones first. You know, the ones that even someone who's been training, you know, a few weeks might notice. You know, what what are what are those things for you that you you see or you tell people?
Andrew Adams (02:40.59)
So i I think one of the th okay, it's obvious to me as the instructor. I don't know that it's as obvious to them right away, but is your ability to and we've talked about this on the show before, be a scientist, right? You're constantly observing and you're seeing what's going on around you. So I I think one of the very first things people learn is how to be more observant and pick things up.
Jeremy (02:48.11)
Mm.
Andrew Adams (03:06.208)
as without necessarily having been told what to do, because they just naturally see other people doing it, even if they don't underst did not understand what I wanted them to do, because there are others in the class that do it, because they did understand. Those new people, I think, the benefit of being able to pick up on those subtle cues, I think is is a big thing.
Jeremy (03:26.424)
They're relearning how to learn, or you know, maybe their kids they're learning how to learn for the first time. Because let's face it as the statistically, once people leave high school age, they are unlikely to learn a physical skill. Again.
Jeremy (03:50.604)
Now there are plenty of people who work in jobs that require physical things, but it's not the majority of people.
Andrew Adams (03:57.858)
Yeah. Yeah. And there are s there are students there are people who graduate high school, go to college and learn some physical things, but I think that is a smaller percentage for sure.
Jeremy (04:06.722)
Yep. Yeah. Most of us we're, you know, when we're real young, we're we're learning how to walk and jump and crawl and climb. And then we get into school and we're learning different sports in gym class. And, you know, maybe we're playing sports in junior high and high school. But most of us when we go to college, we're not playing sports. And most of us are in college if we go to college for academic pursuits, right? So we're learning things, but they're not physical.
And those of us who go off into a trade, which again is is the minority, yeah, there's some physical things in there, but most of us aren't learning how to swing a hammer when we're twenty five. We've already connected the dots on how to do that. So it's not new.
Andrew Adams (04:55.394)
Yeah, and I think the people that are out there going, but wait a minute, there are lots of people that go to college and play sports. Yep, but they were already playing that sport before they got there. Yeah, exactly. And it's not most and those I don't think there are very many that go to college having never played basketball and say, I'm gonna learn how to play basketball now and join the basketball team. No, the people that joined the basketball team at college played basketball in high school and maybe even before. So I
Jeremy (05:05.063)
It's also not most, but
Andrew Adams (05:25.09)
I think we are s I'm in agreement with you, but I'm trying to combat people that might say, but but but
Jeremy (05:30.604)
Yeah. And and really the only reason we're we're pointing this out is that it brings to light that learning how to learn is actually relearning how to learn. And it's it's innate. It's something that we all have baked into us.
Jeremy (05:49.969)
One of the things that I notice first is how students carry themselves. I noticed that really quickly. And it's, you know, you could say, well, it's it's because they feel like they they have some skill. I don't think that's it. I think it's because they find something that clicks for them, something that they enjoy. And I think, you know, we've we've talked a lot.
Andrew Adams (06:00.749)
Mm-hmm.
Jeremy (06:22.304)
On this show about the various benefits of martial arts and how it's kind of unique in all the things that it puts together. But what we see is what I think this comes from, rather, is it's a difficult thing to do that they believe, start to believe they can do, at least some of, done around other people, but they're not holding anyone back, and no one's holding them back. Their progress is their own.
Andrew Adams (06:50.562)
Hm. Yeah.
Jeremy (06:51.426)
And that's a pretty unique combination. And when you start to find that, it's flexing those muscles of I'm doing something that is difficult, but I do see progress in it. And that makes me feel good. And that changes my relationship to myself, which changes the way I operate out in the world.
Andrew Adams (07:11.928)
Yep, and it boosts their confidence as well, which just exponentially helps what you're talking about.
Jeremy (07:14.86)
Yeah, yeah.
Jeremy (07:19.619)
For sure.
Any other obvious stuff we should go over before we go into the less obvious stuff?
Andrew Adams (07:26.85)
I mean, I don't know h I'm I don't know where this will fit, whether it's obvious or less obvious, but just that self confidence piece I think helps with so many aspects of people's lives outside of their school. Whether it's public speaking, which is probably one of the one of the biggest fears that most people have, when
Or even sparring, right? Having to change and pivot what you're gonna do, those things can help you outside in your life, not sp not fighting. I don't mean your sparring will help you if you get in a fight. I don't mean that. But help you when you're in a job interview, for example. Just being able to pivot and and deal with stress and things, yeah.
Jeremy (08:10.7)
Yeah, the the the ability and and I think this is one that if trained well never stops progressing. It's the ability to tolerate
Discomfort.
Andrew Adams (08:25.827)
Mm.
Jeremy (08:29.534)
One of the things that I I am and and I I know this comes from martial arts. I've been training since I was four. So I I I don't there aren't a whole lot of things I've been doing longer than I've been training.
I have a comfort with being uncomfortable. You know, fr wasn't that long ago, you know, just a few years ago, I had some friends say, You want to go run a Spartan race? Sure. Now, I had no illusions that I was going to win. I knew my knee was probably gonna get grumpy because it was on Killington Mountain. And for those of you not familiar with Vermont topography, nothing is flat. So it's a ski mountain in Vermont. So it's you know, it's just all up and down. And
Andrew Adams (08:46.904)
Mm-hmm.
Jeremy (09:11.81)
I've got a grumpy knee from from some things and
Jeremy (09:18.55)
I knew it was gonna I knew it was it was gonna be unpleasant. I knew my knee was gonna act up. I knew I'd probably be limping by the end, but I didn't avoid it because it was uncomfortable.
Andrew Adams (09:28.524)
Yeah. Yeah. It I think that being comfortable in the uncomfortable is an important distinction.
Jeremy (09:33.487)
Yeah. Yeah. And and so when you're talking about public speaking or the job interview or, you know, whatever the difficult thing is, it's difficult most of the time because it's uncomfortable. No one that is able to speak lacks the skill set to speak in public. It's not a skill question. In in most people going into a job interview.
Andrew Adams (09:54.381)
Mm-hmm.
Jeremy (10:03.874)
I'm assuming you're interviewing for a job that you are qualified for. So you have both the language and the knowledge to exist there. But what makes it difficult is there's pressure. The pressure creates discomfort. And I have found, and and I know many martial artists have found, those things don't bother them as much.
Andrew Adams (10:13.604)
Yeah.
Andrew Adams (10:24.14)
Mm, exactly. Yeah. I hadn't thought about the the not having the skill set. You know, like if you're if you feel uncomfortable public speaking, it's not that you don't know how to speak and be in public, which is what public speaking is. It's that there's that discomfort of not being comfortable doing it in front of other people.
Jeremy (10:45.514)
If I asked you to travel to
Jeremy (10:51.406)
Thailand and speak in public to a large portion of native Thai speakers in their language, you would have lots of re I I'm assuming you don't have some latent s fluency in in
Andrew Adams (11:11.013)
I am not I am not fluent in any language other than English and sarcasm.
Jeremy (11:15.586)
Okay, great. So you would have plenty of reason to be uncomfortable for that. Because you lack the s the required skill.
Andrew Adams (11:20.364)
Sure. Yeah, absolutely. Correct. Yeah.
Jeremy (11:30.546)
One of the boundaries that I see, I'm sorry, one of the I I already foreshadowed it. One of the benefits I see has to do with relationship with boundaries.
Andrew Adams (11:41.145)
Mm-hmm.
Jeremy (11:43.212)
I think that a lot of people in their in their day-to-day lives don't tend to fully stretch out within the boundaries around them.
But a good martial arts education encourages us to understand the boundaries of our own body, the boundaries of our interactions with others, the boundaries of our own expectations and understanding of what we need and how we work.
Jeremy (12:17.75)
And I think the easiest way to to sum that up, and I hope one day we will have the financial resources to commission certain studies. The first one I will do will be what percentage of
I don't know what it'll actually be titled because that's not my skill set. It has to do with martial arts, education, training, and how it impacts professional success later on. I have a theory that if we were to dig into the
Andrew Adams (12:47.044)
U
Jeremy (12:54.83)
let's say the the the Fortune five hundred, you know, corporate level C suite executives and look at what percentage of them had martial arts training, you know, more than than trivial training, I believe we would find that more that it it was above the average population. I believe martial artists go on to do more as a result of their martial arts training.
Andrew Adams (13:12.824)
Yeah.
Andrew Adams (13:20.482)
Yeah, that's interesting and I susp I I would agree I suspect that that is true.
Jeremy (13:25.934)
Now I'm not saying it's ten to one, but I'm guessing it's statistically, you know, beyond error.
Andrew Adams (13:31.928)
Yeah. Yep.
Jeremy (13:34.486)
And and why is that? Because you know, when we
Let's take the example of sparring. Most of us have spent time sparring, rolling, randory, whatever you're gonna call it, with people, and you start to push each other. And it's like, where's the line? Okay, well, I you know, I'm not trying to hurt you, but we're going fast, and that that kind of hurt. And and boundaries become kind of fluid. And we recognize, okay, we can we can start to to let that happen.
Jeremy (14:12.696)
And I can bring that understanding out into the world. I get I get because I'm more comfortable with that discomfort, other things start to become attainable that.
To a non-martial artist, they might not think it is. There's there there are some things that physically I don't think I would be able to achieve. I I don't I don't believe I would ever be able to develop enough skill at 47 years old to play professional basketball or baseball or or something like that.
But outside a fairly narrow set of things, I don't believe there's anything I can't learn.
Jeremy (14:56.236)
I don't believe there's there's any
Jeremy (15:00.998)
skill set, you know, I I I can't develop. Hey, Jeremy, go learn how to, I don't know, build houses. Okay. I I could do that. Build a house, electrical work, plumbing, you know, like like pick a thing you gotta learn. you
Andrew Adams (15:08.804)
Sure. Yeah.
Jeremy (15:19.042)
f you know some experimental physics, sure. I I can would it take a lot of time? Am I willing to do it? Is it worth the investment to me? No, because I would be doing it. But I don't believe I can't. And I think that that, and now that I've I've used way too many words, I think I've come around at what I I think I'll sum this up as. Martial artists believe they can.
Andrew Adams (15:41.645)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. And I and I think martial arts I think everybody listening or watching, you should go on YouTube, watch us on YouTube. for sure. everyone's gonna agree that martial arts changes your life, right? But I think it does that long before you can describe how it does. Right? We i it's
Jeremy (15:52.652)
You should watch. We are more fun to watch than to just listen to.
Andrew Adams (16:10.178)
It's easy to say, well, it does, but how does it? Like it takes a really long time for you to then start to recognize that, you know, there are changes in your life in you're building up your patience, your confidence, like all of those things you get, but you don't necessarily see them right.
Jeremy (16:28.78)
Yeah, it it's true. And you know, I have had students come to me and say, you know, this thing happened at work or at home.
Jeremy (16:41.678)
And I realized I handled it differently than I would have six months ago, twelve months ago. And I'm pretty sure that's because of training. And they're not even sure.
Andrew Adams (16:46.409)
Mm. Mm-hmm.
Andrew Adams (16:51.673)
Mm-hmm.
Andrew Adams (16:56.578)
Yeah. Well, and you for some people you're not even gonna notice that be until stress shows up, whatever that stress is, whether you know, God forbid that you get attacked on the street or the stress of being in a job where something stressful happens, right? But you handle that stress differently often because of your training. And you won't recognize that until that stress is put on you.
Jeremy (17:24.494)
Right. The this w because we become more comfortable with that discomfort, stress, which impacts all of us. I mean, we we all experience stress, but a lot of stress becomes less stressful. You know, it doesn't mean it doesn't exist, but we we handle it better. And that leads to better outcomes. Whether that is, the stressful thing at work happened and your supervisor noticed it and now you're being promoted, or it's
that stressful thing happened at home and you didn't snap at your kids or your spouse and you have a healthier relationship.
Andrew Adams (18:03.704)
Yep. Or that stressful situation that happened at work and you just froze up because you didn't know what to do. Instead, that stressful thing happened at work and you figured out how to move past it and get through and get past whatever the issue was.
Jeremy (18:18.978)
Now we've we've talked on the show that one of the challenges, I maybe you remember the episode number. There was an episode we did not too long ago where we talked about martial artists leaving their training as they were just starting to get good, so to speak. And one of the reasons we identified was it's easy to see your progress when things are new. But as you get better, the the hops between noticing progress.
Andrew Adams (18:37.924)
Mm-hmm.
Jeremy (18:48.424)
Becomes longer. And I'm not just talking about rank. You know, you kind of look one day and like, I guess that kick is better. I guess I am doing that technique, that form better. And I think that a lot of this the skills, the things that we're talking about that leave with us when we go outside our training, these life impacts, they too also happen slowly over time, which makes it easy to miss.
Andrew Adams (19:15.97)
Yeah. Yeah, that episode number by the way was one thousand one hundred and twenty nine. Why many martial artists quit just before they get good.
Jeremy (19:27.33)
Yeah. So about six about six months ago, as of recording this Yeah. Okay, not quite that long.
Andrew Adams (19:31.166)
Mm back back in May, yeah.
Jeremy (19:39.054)
And and I I think one of the the easiest ways to spot it is you get somebody who you don't spend every day with. You know, a friend that maybe you see once or twice a year and they're like, Hey, you're different.
Andrew Adams (19:53.315)
Mm.
Jeremy (19:56.857)
But I think you can also, as an aside, you can kind of cultivate that. This is this is one of the benefits of journaling or something, right? You can ask your this this is a strategy I've used. I don't know that we've ever talked about it on the show, but for for those of you out there, having daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annually check-ins. Right. And it can be open-ended, you know, where you ask yourself questions. But I also recommend
thinking of the things that are important to you and scoring them. And then you can look back over time and see changes. it's actually there are things similar to that that some martial arts schools do. So, you know, those of you with schools, you could you could consider that. It's the the word that I would use is is normalized. We get normalized to what is always there. And if you're getting better at something,
Andrew Adams (20:32.867)
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Jeremy (20:56.362)
slowly over time, you miss it. But it doesn't mean it's that not there. And I think that a lot of people notice that contrast when they stop their training. Because things build quickly. They can come back quickly.
Andrew Adams (20:59.256)
Mm-hmm.
Jeremy (21:16.11)
I'm sorry, things build slowly. There we go. They come back quickly because but we lose them quickly as well.
Andrew Adams (21:17.902)
Slowly. Yeah, yeah.
Andrew Adams (21:21.986)
Hmm. Yeah. Yep. And the change that you often get within martial arts is slow so and so you can miss it sometimes. You know, it takes a while to get it, but you can once you have it, it's yours, but you can lose it quickly.
Jeremy (21:45.023)
I believe that it is the things that benefit, it is the benefits we receive that are outside of our training that are the most important. I believe that very few people would train if we didn't have those benefits. And I think for those of you out there that have schools, if you're not fostering that and helping your students see those benefits, I think you're missing out on an opportunity. When
I do the advertising work for Whistlekick Alliance. I see the ads that people respond to the most because we're constantly testing ads. And it is always what most of us call the soft skills. It is never the self-defense get in shape. It's not the get in shape anymore. That's shifted over the last few years. It's always the discipline, do hard things, community,
Patience, you know, for kids and adults that people are most resonant with.
Andrew Adams (22:51.608)
Yeah, good point.
Jeremy (22:54.978)
Are there any others we should we should chat about before we invite them to tell us what we missed?
Andrew Adams (22:59.808)
No, but I would love to hear from our audience to tell us what what what did we missed. Go to go to YouTube and and post a comment as to to what we missed. What benefits have you seen from your changes in your life through martial arts outside of the school? I'm not I'm not talking about I can do my stances better now. No, we're talking about in your general life.
Jeremy (23:01.763)
Yeah.
Jeremy (23:22.574)
How has your martial arts training impacted your non the non-combative aspects of your life?
It's important. It's important to reflect on. Most of you are not going to reach out to us and tell us that's okay. But I hope every single one of you takes a minute and considers the answers to that question for yourself because your awareness of those benefits is really important.
Jeremy (23:53.9)
Remember, you can always email us andrew at jeremy at whistlekick.com. Whistlekick.com is the place for all the things we do, but whistlekickmartial arts radio.com is the place for specifically martial arts radio. Where what will you find there? You will find transcripts and links and show notes and all the stuff for all the episodes, the video and the audio versions. But most importantly, you will find the easiest way to keep up on every episode because we drop two a week.
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Andrew Adams (25:08.334)
Smile and have a great day.