Episode 1156 - Kristen Wrobel
In this episode Jeremy chats with Kristen Wrobel about her start into Tae Kwon Do, her pause in training due to a car accident, and the slow transition back.
Kristen Wrobel - Episode 1156
SUMMARY
In this conversation, Kristen Wrobel shares her journey into martial arts, detailing her early fascination, first experiences, and the challenges she faced along the way. She reflects on the psychological impact of physical limitations and the desire to find confidence and belonging within the martial arts community. The discussion highlights the importance of personal growth and the transformative power of martial arts in overcoming obstacles.
Kristen Wrobel highlights the importance of tenacity, community, and personal growth. She discusses how martial arts helped her overcome limitations, adapt to changes, and find joy in training. Kristen emphasizes the significance of showing up, facing fears, and taking the first step towards achieving one's goals, illustrating how martial arts can provide a supportive environment for self-discovery and resilience.
TAKEAWAYS
Kristen's fascination with martial arts began in childhood.
She first experienced martial arts in her twenties.
A pivotal moment was attending a martial arts tournament.
Life challenges, including a car accident, impacted her ability to train.
She felt a strong desire to be a part of the martial arts community.
Kristen's journey reflects the psychological struggle of physical limitations.
She recognized the importance of confidence in martial arts.
The sense of belonging in martial arts is significant.
Her experiences highlight the transformative power of martial arts.
Kristen's story emphasizes the importance of pursuing one's passions despite obstacles.
Martial arts can be a dynamic and welcoming family experience.
Nothing has to stop you from pursuing your passions.
Martial arts offers continual opportunities to face and overcome obstacles.
Fear is often the biggest obstacle we create in our minds.
Just take that first step towards what you desire in life.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction
01:37 Kristen's Early Fascination with Martial Arts
07:00 First Experiences in Martial Arts
15:57 Challenges and Life Events
19:55 Desire and Limitations in Martial Arts
27:28 The Journey of Tenacity and Perseverance
32:15 Discovering Community in Martial Arts
37:27 Overcoming Limitations Through Martial Arts
43:45 The Transformative Power of Martial Arts
54:10 Adapting to Change in Martial Arts Training
01:00:33 The Importance of Showing Up
01:08:11 Conquering Fear and Taking the First Step
To connect with Kristen Wrobel:
www.kristenwrobel.com
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Show Transcript
Jeremy (07:00.289)
Hey, what's going on, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of Whistlekick Martial Arts Radio. And on today's episode, I'm joined by Kristen Roble. Kristen, thanks for being here. Looking forward to our chat. And to all of you out there, thanks for being here. Thanks for spending some time with Kristen and I. Thanks for your continued support. Or maybe it's not continued support. Maybe this is your first time ever with Martial Arts Radio. And if it is, I would encourage you to check out our back catalog. We have well over 1,100. Yes, you heard that right, 1,100 and change episodes that we have done.
Over the last decade plus, we are the top-ranked traditional martial arts podcast in the world. thanks for helping us get there to all of you out there who continue to listen and watch and subscribe and contribute. And if you want to go deeper, whether you're new or not, whistlekick martialartsradio.com is the place to go. Transcripts, links, all that good stuff. And sign up for the newsletter. The newsletter is a a bit of a maybe not the right word, because what is the newsletter? The newsletter is here's the new episode.
Here's the new episode. Here's the new episode. That's what we do. We drop two a week and we're going to email you. And you can just click on the audio or the video right to your email. We're not going to hit you with a bunch of other stuff or really any other stuff. So do that. And with that, Kristen, thanks for being here.
Kristen Wrobel (08:15.971)
Good morning. Thanks, Jeremy. Thanks for asking me to be here.
Jeremy (08:17.591)
Good morning. Yeah, yeah. You know, it should have happened a while ago. And that's and that's the challenge, is that with with what we do, with what I do, we do one interview a week, and I meet far more than 52 martial artists a year. So how do we how do we balance that, right? And so to be honest, it used to be I asked people, and now it's more they reach out to us. And so that's
That's that's where that shift happened a few years ago. And it's kind of it's both an honor that they do that, but also it means I don't get to talk to my friends as often.
Kristen Wrobel (08:57.699)
Congratulations though for hitting that next benchmark. Those are exciting milestones.
Jeremy (08:59.703)
Thanks. Yeah. It is. It is. Yeah. now you are not a stranger. And that's a little different than most people that come on the show. Most people who've been up who come on the show, I might know of them, but I usually don't know them. you and I have hung out. We've trained. I've known you for years. I I I knew you at the school you used to be at. And now I know you at this other school that you're at.
And I see you at tournaments because you're also in Vermont. So I doubly don't want to suggest where we start. So I'll ask you, how do we start telling the martial arts story of Krista?
Kristen Wrobel (09:44.168)
geez. Well, I'd say the beginning beginning was had a fascination as a kid with martial arts. But as one of a posse of a lot of children growing up who also moved a lot, you know, there were natural constraints that, you know, Gen X, it's like go play outside. You want to learn how to do something, go climb a tree. Right. So always super active, but didn't get an opportunity to try martial arts for real until
Jeremy (09:56.151)
Mm-hmm.
Kristen Wrobel (10:14.316)
I was in my twenties and
Jeremy (10:17.913)
Now, when you say you had a fascination, what what does that fascination look like? Because that that could run quite the gamut. Are we talking, you know, you're watching Ninja Turtles and you're you're you're punching and kicking along while it's on TV, or you're going to the library and you're checking out books and you're convincing your friends to let you kick them? Because those are two very different
Kristen Wrobel (10:26.735)
You know?
Kristen Wrobel (10:42.051)
It.
Those are different levels of fascination. Yes, that's a good question because there are so many ways to, so many rivers, streams lead to the main river, right? For me, it just kind of on the periphery seemed super cool. There was just this mysterious intrigue, like, how do people do that? What are they doing?
Jeremy (10:46.528)
Yeah.
Jeremy (11:03.234)
Hm.
Kristen Wrobel (11:13.795)
with their bodies that how do they reach this level of excellence and skill in, you know, I was always athletic so I could run fast, I could jump, you know, and my friends and I were always very active doing whatever we were doing, if it was swimming or biking, but there was something so precise and dialed in and I couldn't put my finger on what that was, but there's kind of like this
it seemed like this aura that surrounded what my image of a martial artist was that was just, what is that? What is that? And I wouldn't say that I dug into it very deeply. It wasn't like I had friends who did martial arts. was like I knew Karate Kid existed. I probably watched it when it came around the cycles in the fall on TV, back in the days where you didn't even have DVDs.
or VHS. So it really was kind of this elusive, you know, like Bigfoot, like it's out there, maybe. But from the perspective of an athlete and an athlete's mindset and kind of a, I heard someone use the phrase once, a body junkie, like fascinated by what the human body can do. I'm like, how?
Jeremy (12:21.053)
Mm-hmm.
Kristen Wrobel (12:39.801)
How much of that is really possible? Like is this special effects? Like it seems like people are really doing this thing. So it really was just, you know, almost like this little dream on a pedestal on the periphery of that'd be really cool. And just did not have the opportunity. Like I said, until college, it wasn't like now where you can drive down the street and be like, look, a doje right there and went over there and turn them into bound. It was not just the places.
that I ended up with my family as a kid. It was not visible. And so it really had this mystery to it, but also this, you know, this combination of clear athletic skill, but as something else. And what was that something else? Like what made them different from say like a hockey player, you know, or other sports that I would engage in? There is something a lot more just grounded and
I couldn't even have a word. I didn't even know the word grounded then. But there was a thing that was different about a martial artist where I had an inkling. It was more than just the learning how to move your body. But I didn't know or have words to fathom what that might be.
Jeremy (13:41.282)
Mm.
Jeremy (13:58.446)
So you said your twenties. Was this college, post college?
Kristen Wrobel (14:00.526)
Yes. So this was college. I took the long, slow route through college. I thought I'd be a student forever, honestly, a forever student. So I'd go and I'd take a break and I'd go and I'd take a break. So it took me 15 years to achieve my bachelor's degree, which I finally got it at UVM with that kind of, know, because it's thanks to be a broke college student, right? So I get tired of being broke and I'd work for a bit and then I go back to school. And so somewhere in that
in that journey in the early 2000s, probably like 2000, 2001. I had a heartbreak. And so I had this weekend where, you know, you're in the aftermath of a breakup in your 20s. Like, what do I do with myself, right? The emotions, the open free time. And I pulled out Seven Days newspaper, the physical copy.
And I don't even think there was digital seven days then. And I'm like, what can I do with myself? And there happened to be a martial arts tournament at the Colchester High School. And it's open to spectators. And I don't even know if there was a cover charge or maybe it was like a few bucks. So college student friendly. And I thought, let's do that. Why not? Why not? Something to do. Let's show up. What is this? What is this? What is this?
Jeremy (15:20.097)
Let's show up. Yeah.
Kristen Wrobel (15:25.369)
So I found myself.
Jeremy (15:28.353)
Now now going into this, was this going to be the first time you were in a room where martial arts was being done live?
Kristen Wrobel (15:30.284)
Yes.
Kristen Wrobel (15:37.763)
Outside of one class, I got to watch once in high school and I never got to go back, which really was just, it was a very small thing. It did not leave much of an impression. So this really was my first introduction to a large group, a gymnasium full of athletes and artists of all different ranks, all different ages. It was honestly very,
Jeremy (15:42.517)
Okay.
Jeremy (15:50.124)
Okay.
Kristen Wrobel (16:07.02)
moving just to see the sheer numbers of people participating in this thing. It's like, whoa, there's, where did all these white uniforms come from? you know, cause Vermont is not overly populated. So it, it was a surprise. It was a surprise. And so it's like, huh, what's, what's going on here? Like, what is this? And I'll,
Jeremy (16:08.301)
Hm.
Jeremy (16:24.845)
True. Quite true. Yeah.
Kristen Wrobel (16:35.81)
I'll find the picture for you. Cause I got on film, film camera, a photograph. This was back in the days that, know, literally you take it and you develop it at the pharmacy. And so I, snapped one photo that day and it was of a little boy. He was probably like five, six years old with, I don't know, a whole bunch of colors on his belt, you know, all the rainbow stripes and he,
though he was about five years old, there was something that he had that I didn't have. There was something so present and grounded and comfortable in his body in a way that was, it was very subtle. And I don't know as if I could articulate it at the time, but it was like obvious this child.
had something that I wanted and they were just standing there.
Jeremy (17:37.87)
So here here Yeah. So you're in your 20s at this point, and there's a five-year-old, and and you're aware enough to recognize that this five-year-old has something that you don't have, something that that you want, and you feel compelled to take a picture of.
Kristen Wrobel (17:43.458)
Yep. Yep.
Kristen Wrobel (17:53.195)
Is it?
Mm-hmm.
Kristen Wrobel (18:01.368)
I just snapped it, I snapped a quick photo. Cause people were taking photos. So it wasn't like odd, you know, like, and so it seems, you know, not unusual. It seemed appropriate, you know, given the venue and he was one of the competitors, but, you know, now I'd recognize him as like, you know, like a little ninja, like, you know, with all the colored stripes. This was probably the very, very beginning of this kid's journey, right? At that age. And I've,
Jeremy (18:03.245)
Yeah.
Jeremy (18:06.893)
Right, right.
Jeremy (18:11.853)
Seemed appropriate. Of course.
Jeremy (18:24.053)
Mm.
Kristen Wrobel (18:30.508)
I've never been able to identify who it is and I'm not even sure whose tournament it was, you know, in retrospect. I don't know who had tournaments at Colchester High School in about 2001. But there was, it was also such a stark contrast to how I was feeling in life at that moment, right? I had just had a thing fall apart. You know, my heart's broken.
the carpet feels pulled out from under you. It's a very, it was an unsettled, like what next curve ball, what next, how do I next go about life now that I feel so blown open, so smashed apart. And then here was this just image of something else, like the opposite.
like someone who was so comfortable in their body and just so, just so present. And for a child, you know, that's also a striking thing when you see someone who's so young, but they're in control of their bubble, you know? And so there's, and now I would identify that as a confidence, right? Like the things that we build.
in martial arts, you know, the tenants were all there, you know, but the one that just one moment was like, wow, that's, you know, I already was, I was intrigued with martial arts. And I'm like, I want to feel like that. I want to feel like that. I want to feel like I can stand in the middle of an auditorium with a million people buzzing around who I may or may not know and just be okay in my skin. Like I did not feel okay in my skin.
Jeremy (20:27.435)
Were were you aware of that at the time?
Kristen Wrobel (20:27.63)
And it was so intriguing. On the periphery, I knew that, well, I don't think I knew how much I don't know. And every day I think that's more and more true. Yeah, how much I don't know grows. And the what I think I know, the tip of that iceberg that you see, it's like, geez, the ocean runs deeper than I realized.
Jeremy (20:40.405)
Hmm. Well do we ever? I don't I yeah.
Yes.
Kristen Wrobel (20:56.694)
And so I saw that and I'm like, I want that. And I watched people do stuff, whatever we do at competitions, know, sparring and breaking. And I don't know how long I, I stayed, I just kind of like milled around and, and I left with a, how do I get that? How do I get that? So being in college, the upside was there happened to be a gym credit. You need a gym credit. You have to do two, two credits, two classes.
And Taekwondo was an option. So when I saw that for my next semester schedule, I'm like, OK, I can accomplish a credit. can check out the box and I can try this thing. Right. So at that time, I was at UVM and it was Master Ernest Hart, who was running the Taekwondo club there and running the classes. And I.
I found myself like on this perfect island of misfit toys, like, you know, taekwondo or martial arts in general, think it draws from a cross section, a wide cross section of culture and interest and background. And so there was already a very automatic belonging. Like you didn't have to be a certain,
Jeremy (22:07.286)
It does.
Kristen Wrobel (22:22.894)
type of person or look a certain way or have a certain skill to be there. It was very welcoming in a way that I've, know, nine times out of 10, find, you know, Doe James and martial artists, schools are just so welcoming. And I got a semester of taekwondo under my belt. And then, you know, lot of life happened and I did not.
I didn't get to continue it at that time. I had a big gap.
Jeremy (22:57.409)
But what what what was it like in that semester? Because you went from, you know, observing one class that didn't do it for you, and then, you know, such a a dramatic contrast at the competition. And then, you know, life kind of here you go, here's your opportunity. And, you know, I didn't hear you say that you dropped the class. So what what was that what was that immersion like?
Kristen Wrobel (23:09.774)
Mm-hmm.
Kristen Wrobel (23:19.884)
No, no.
Kristen Wrobel (23:24.974)
It was enough to make me want more. I will say that. And if I think about the timeline now, let's see, I had that class and then it was summer. So the natural kind of summer break. And there were some summer get togethers with Taekwondo folks from UVM. And then when the fall hit, I had a car accident.
what it was. I had a car accident. I got rear-ended badly on Route 9 in Massachusetts and I messed up my neck and my back. So I was off of all sports because my other sport was hockey. I was playing a lot of hockey. But after that car accident, I was out of stuff.
Jeremy (24:16.129)
Did you grow up playing hockey or was that also a college endeavor?
Kristen Wrobel (24:19.468)
That was, I grew up skating, because my dad played hockey, he played at RIT and RISD, and so he got us all on Skate Super Young, but I wasn't allowed to play hockey because I was a girl. They said, you can do figure skating. I'm like, I want to do figure skating. Like that sounds, where's the grit in that? Which I'll tell you, there's a lot of grit in figure skating. I'm not dismissive of it, but I did not get the opportunity to play hockey until college.
And actually I started out at UMass and they had a club team and I'm just like, I'm doing it, I'm going for it. And within a year I went from third line to first line center and I was on the ice like all the time, all the time, like 32 hours a week, skates on my feet. So I got to play hockey. so I really got to enjoy it, you know, as a 20 something in college.
And then I, so, you know, I had the taekwondo class, I had the car accident, and then I just had a series of things that got in the way, you know, like doing my, my early 20s were rough, those first like, you know, I'd say 20 to about 27 was, was, you know.
We could write novels about stuff like that. Figuring life out. Figuring life out without a guidebook. And I just bounced around. I bounced around. I did school. I moved a bunch. Very chaotic, you know? But in the way where sometimes growing up is, you know? And life is. So it wasn't until I was in my late 20s
So I had kind of a serious gap between about 2021 or so when I took that first class, 2021 to coming back in and starting and staying, starting again and staying. I must have been about 2028, 2029, somewhere in there. Yeah.
Jeremy (26:40.525)
Seven, eight, nine years. And the
I don't know how we're gonna how how I'll characterize it in in question. Was the the the desire, did that remain throughout?
Kristen Wrobel (26:55.256)
The desire remained, it felt unachievable. I felt there was a big obstacle for the fact that I've had this accident and then I had a whole bunch of other accidents. I've had, know, knock on wood, I think we're out of those days, but car accidents and concussions and all these things that just kept getting in the way.
I started to feel, even though was only in my middle 20s there, that there were limitations to what I could do based on the pain that I had. Like running, for example, just jogging would aggravate my neck. And I went through all the specialists and PT and all the things they put you through when you have an injury. And I really...
did not have confidence and faith that my body could endure something as physical as a martial art. So the way I found my way back in was my then boyfriend at the time. We had been together a bit and I was looking for like, what's a cool gift you get someone when you've been together a while, right? You run out of things. And I'm like, you know.
He's mentioned Taekwondo before. What if I just get him a membership as a Christmas gift? So I scouted out gyms in Burlington and I ended up doing that, finding one that seems friendly and welcoming and got him the membership and he started going all the time and started loving it. By the time he was a Redbell, like I used to love the more like my alone time. I'm like, Oh, look, he's gone. I'm just going to sit and play guitar while he's at classroom. That's a hours. I got the house to myself, right?
And by the he was about Red Belt, his high red, his black stripe testing, he was kind of like, oh, this is like a big deal, you know, come to the testing. And I...
Jeremy (29:07.753)
And you and and despite your your past, you stayed away? See, that surprises me. I I would imagine, okay, so the the physical concerns. Was that difficult? Was that was that frustrating? You know, what what's the emotional load of that?
Kristen Wrobel (29:14.658)
I didn't think I could do it.
Kristen Wrobel (29:25.646)
Oh my God, Jeremy, for someone who is very active and always has been to feel like your body is out of your control to such a high degree and to feel so limited was psychological torture, honestly. And what do you do? It's kind of like if you've ever had an injury or you've been on crutches for a while, you're kind of like, well.
Jeremy (29:35.597)
Mm.
Kristen Wrobel (29:52.825)
There's nothing I can do about it, right? You're like, I just gotta do my time and hope the injury heals well. And for me, that was just a long number of years of hoping I would wake up feeling better and physically capable. So I found other things to occupy myself with, but...
I, and I still was active. I would do, you know, active things, but it was very, you know, I had perceived limits of my ability and I was afraid to hurt myself again. You know, I really, as I started to feel like, I'm healing up from these things. I don't wanna, I don't wanna injure myself again. Like that was a painful stretch of time to, you know, to have to.
I don't know how many hundreds of hours I've spent in. I should be given an honorary physical therapy degree for the number of times I've been to PT, which today is a great benefit because you can pick a lot up. And yeah, yeah, yeah. So I was happy for him because he was meeting these milestones, but I started to get a little bit like...
Jeremy (31:00.001)
You can help you can help others and yeah.
Kristen Wrobel (31:13.452)
not jealous, know, there wasn't like an anger in it, but kind of like, like he's got a thing like, and he's got a community and
Jeremy (31:23.201)
It still sound you you're saying it's not jealousy, but it sounds like jealousy. Jealousy can can can be, you know, i i isn't just one thing.
Kristen Wrobel (31:26.702)
It's...
Kristen Wrobel (31:30.99)
It's good. It's true. True. So there was a degree of that, but I almost just didn't allow myself to even have those thoughts because I'm like, no, it's just something you can't do. You just can't even do that. So don't, you know, how you talk yourself down.
Jeremy (31:45.814)
Yeah. Yeah. But but he wanted you to come in and check it out in support of him. What was he sure, but was he aware of this this fr inner frustration at not being able to train?
Kristen Wrobel (31:51.502)
And support. Yep. Yep. But he wasn't pushy, but...
Kristen Wrobel (32:01.774)
I don't know if he really had any idea. I don't know if I talked about it really to anyone. It was one of those things that I just kind of...
Jeremy (32:12.543)
It was that shut out that you you didn't even talk about it. It was, let's pretend this is not true and hope I don't think about it.
Kristen Wrobel (32:19.976)
Yeah, and it wasn't like, you know, I was withholding information. Like, it was really like a personal kind of compartmentalization where it's like, this is just off the table. It's something I can't do. don't, you know, just place it over here. You know, and so I don't think he, you know, it wasn't like torturous, you know, by any means to be supportive. And I was happy for him as, you know, you're happy for anyone who's
you care about who's doing a healthy thing and getting good benefits like that benefits everybody. But it was kind of like it was was his thing. You know, it was it was was his thing. And I'm over here doing doing this thing. So I went to a testing and went to his his his high red or red belt testing, whatever it was. And I'm like, you know, huh, he's
I did start getting a little jealous after that. like, he can kind of do stuff now. Like he can do some effective looking like kicks and punches. Like, you know, you see just someone having a street fight, right? Looks a lot different than martial arts is not fighting. I mean, there's aspects that are sparring, of course, but it looks like he had some skills. And I was jealous of those skills. I'm like,
Jeremy (33:41.325)
Mm.
Kristen Wrobel (33:46.253)
This is, but again, I was still like, but I can't, you know, I just can't. And in a way that, you know, these are limitations, like psychological limitations that, you know, as an older adult than I was then, adult, that, you know, I have learned that many limitations are very self-imposed.
in a lot of ways and it's often perception that is the limiter. My perception is my limiter because if I really want a thing...
Kristen Wrobel (34:28.812)
What truly is stopping me from doing everything in my power to achieve my goals? And that is a tenacity and an indomitable spirit and a perseverance that now I feel I have much more of in comparison to where I started. And I gained that through my martial arts journey. So.
It was after one of his maybe like red belt testing and then there was a summer camp in Tunbridge. Good old Tunbridge summer camp for, know, that we'd go for the long weekends and that's where I believe that's where you first came on my radar as someone who you were a guest presenter at that camp and you were doing...
Well, the first one when I didn't know anyone in it, but the first one I participated in is the one where I met you. I guess I'm jumping ahead, but I'll say the first camp I went to, went as a spectator, you know, because it's like, so Taekwondo does the summer camp and he was going, we only tested at summer and winter camp for black belts in that school. And he was going for...
Jeremy (35:33.879)
Okay.
Kristen Wrobel (35:49.807)
his black belt. of course, I'm like, yeah, I'd be supportive. He's like, and all the families, families come and everyone can, so it's totally normal. Like you have other people to hang out with and I'll just be doing my thing and I'll test on Friday night and there's a barbecue and you can just hang out with people. And so I'm like, all right. So we put him like, you know, let's put our tent on the edge of the field, like not too close to people. And I'll bring my guitar so I can go sit alone. You know, I was, I did not have the, I was not committal.
Jeremy (36:16.341)
You were not committal. You you were you were so you were supportive but apprehensive.
Kristen Wrobel (36:23.226)
I was apprehensive, I did not have confidence, I was on the fringe. I wanted to be away so that no one could even hear me play guitar. I could just be in my own little bubble and occupy and entertain myself and sure, I'll show up at the barbecue, but otherwise, I'm gonna kind of just be over here doing my own thing and I'll clap and I'll smile at people, was not... I anticipated being an outsider. And what I discovered...
Jeremy (36:25.165)
Okay.
Kristen Wrobel (36:53.078)
was a whole community of martial artists and their families who embraced everybody who was there. There were no outsiders, whether you were practicing or you were on the sidelines or you were, you know, grandpa on a chair just watching, like there were no outsiders. And that was, you know, almost disarming.
You know, because I came with my like, I'm just going to be alone over here and be supportive that I'm here. But, you I'll swim in the stream on my own, you know, and I really was was welcomed. And it was that that weekend of immersion where I'm camping and I'm watching and I'm meeting people and and I've really got to see.
a wide range of what martial arts can be. Because I'd had a class with some other students who were there for this little short window, and that was UVM. And I'd seen a competition for an hour or two as an outsider. And so I saw what competition can look like. But this was like the whole package. It's like we've got
social stuff and there's sparring and there's fun and games and there's trick kicks. You you used to do the trick kicks seminars. There's all these other aspects. We used to do the tape on your nose if it was your first time at summer camp. You got the tape on your nose and so you get the little sunburn with the tape marks. Everyone knew you were a first timer so they could welcome you, right? They could really make you feel welcome. And I saw this is
this is so dynamic and so much of a community that I was blown away. Like I honestly was blown away by how big of a family and a community the martial arts world could be. And these were, you know, we had schools from multiple areas that would come to the summer camp and
Kristen Wrobel (39:15.214)
I'm like, wow, these are people that don't even train together regularly and they see each other twice a year at camps and and Look at this connection. Like I've never experienced anything like that. Like I didn't go to summer camp as a kid I didn't know the beauty of a thing that you did consistently where maybe you only saw people at tournaments or camps but where you develop those bonds, I didn't have a reference point for that and and it was
It blew me away. Like, wow. And I thought, just enough, blew me away enough that I was like, maybe, maybe I could, maybe I can run around barefoot. Maybe it'd be okay. Maybe my neck will be okay. Maybe my spine won't hurt. And of course my boyfriend was encouraging and everyone was, know.
Jeremy (40:05.335)
Hm.
Kristen Wrobel (40:11.598)
As we do when we hear someone is interested, we're like, come on in, try, come on in, just wear your sweatpants. We don't care. like, get in the door, like overcome that first obstacle of getting on the mats. And so I very, you know, with much trepidation and thinking like, okay, at worst I'll come home and I'll take some painkillers and I'll lay on ice packs all night. Like that's, that's how limited in my mind I felt that I was.
And I actually found the opposite. Come to find out running around barefoot was the perfect cure for the pain, the lingering pain and stiffness. I was moving in a natural way. I was moving barefoot. Whatever the combination was, it was magic. After I got in the door and had that...
that really like, okay, I could be really digging my own grave here. Or I didn't even want to hope for more, you know?
Jeremy (41:19.393)
But you are aware pretty quickly.
Of the ore, that this was not digging your grave.
Kristen Wrobel (41:27.182)
Jeremy, from the onset, I was hooked after I got through that. Like, okay, I can do this. don't feel bad. Okay, well, I'm gonna do it again tomorrow. And I'm like, all right. And learning to kind of recognize your body's pain signal. How hard can I train before I have to dial back? Like all those things we learned while doing.
you know, as martial artists, like where am I? Okay, what are my limitations? And it was, it became less about what are my limitations? Okay, those are my limitations. And the journey and the culture and the everything about martial arts shaped that into how do I overcome my limitations?
to achieve my goals. And it's actually kind of cool to have an opportunity to talk about it because I've never really, I think, paused to appreciate that that really has been an underlying theme of my journey is how do I, how do I overcome what I perceive is,
is holding me back.
Jeremy (43:02.913)
How important?
Were those injuries to you being able to see that contrast? Would you have been as immersed as quickly your third go around? However, however we want to characterize this, this, this post-camp endeavor.
Jeremy (43:31.048)
You had what what I heard in in your voice was with a bit of reluctance and maybe some some concern, said, Okay, I will give this a try. I really want to try it. I'm willing to sacrifice my body. You were open to that being a condition to you doing this. And you saw the opposite. It improved the physical symptoms from.
Kristen Wrobel (43:49.198)
You're good. You're good.
Jeremy (43:59.756)
These injuries.
Which I have to imagine made you even
Jeremy (44:09.557)
more dedicated very early. So my question is, because you've been around long enough, you know that there are plenty of people who start training and it's the best thing in the world and 30 days later they wash out for whatever reason. You clearly did not wash out.
Kristen Wrobel (44:12.142)
Mm-hmm.
Jeremy (44:27.891)
If you had not had those injuries, providing that contrast with the feelings in your body, do you think it would have been different?
Kristen Wrobel (44:38.04)
You know, that's a really good question. I don't.
Kristen Wrobel (44:47.852)
It's hard to say, you know, what you don't know, you know, would it have been different? I think that it was really just, that was one of many things. There were so many things that kept me coming back. That was a big one, but there was just almost, I wouldn't say an addiction to, but a...
thirst for how much better can I feel? How much more could my body do that I'm not, if I can do this, what else could I do that I didn't know that I could do? And there was something so freeing and maybe it would not have stuck with me as...
as deeply, you know, I don't know, there's a lot happening there. So I want to say something would have kept me in martial arts. There's a lot that happens here. But there was something so just so freeing, like I'd been in a shell for so long and it felt like I can I can move my body in all these ways. And and like I said, my other sport passion was was hockey, which felt you know, there's there's a very freeing aspect of skating really fast and
Jeremy (45:56.077)
No.
Kristen Wrobel (46:10.478)
And you really do get to engage your body in a very whole body way with ice hockey. But you're encumbered by all this equipment and all this gear. And I remember saying to my brothers, like, it's like, it's like, imagine the awesomeness of hockey, but you have no equipment. It's just your body. You don't even have to wear anything. And you can just throw your arms and legs around. And it just felt, it felt magical. It really felt magical. And I'm like, almost like being a
human in my body for the first time, you know is in discovering like My leg can move like that. How do I move my leg like that? Because if you you know watching a skilled martial artist Just just move through the world, let it you know move through the world and then and then perform techniques Your arms and legs you don't realize how
they actually hinge and pivot and rotate until you see someone using their body in a way that's like, that's a full range of motion. You know, that's a possibility. So it really was just, you know, kind of a whole combination of things that just, I was hooked. I was hooked. I was there. I was there. I was there. I was there. If there was a class, I was there. And, you know, I had a desk job all day.
in the boring world of like software and engineering and I just couldn't wait to get to class even though it struggling to find parking on Main Street downtown and fighting with the traffic and not wanting to be late to class because these were the days where if you were late to class like you almost may as well not even go because it's so disrespectful to be five minutes late. You do your 20 push-ups at the door before you come on the mats and everyone gives you like a
You know, like, we're all going to suffer for you being late. It was a different, you know, a different culture, but our atmosphere, I should say. I loved it. I loved it. And once I got a taste of that, there was nothing that was going to stop me from doing Taekwondo. Not babies, not injuries, not you name it. Because life continued to happen.
Jeremy (48:01.293)
Mm.
Kristen Wrobel (48:29.366)
And it's not like, just got fit, felt better. The end. That just progressed. Like my journey, you know, has had a lot of life in it. you, you know, I've been able to to take so many things from Taekwondo, from from practicing and sticking with it. But one of them is
One of the big ones is nothing has to stop you. You know, I sent some photos in ahead of time. I love the pregnancy photos. Me training like super duper pregnant. I was like seven months pregnant when I trained for my high read, my black straight. And I did 90 pushups that night. My stomach hit the floor 90 times. did everything but sparring.
Jeremy (49:20.589)
Ha
Kristen Wrobel (49:23.63)
And I'm like, nothing will stop me. Nothing has to stop me. There's a way to, sometimes you have to modify because you're pregnant or you got a broken toe. So you have to get special permission to wear a walking boot and a shoe on the mat because you don't know shoes on the mats. So you can be there still. But I really, I've found so much.
just life and joy and meaning and purpose and direction in sticking with something through really hard episodes of life. And I don't know where else.
Where do people receive this kind of environment? Where else can you find this? This environment that offers continual opportunities to face obstacles in yourself and overcome them. I feel like any obstacle you think you have, martial arts could solve it. It doesn't matter if it's physical, psychological, emotional.
confidence, you name it. There's a one prescription. It's martial arts.
Jeremy (50:50.613)
I I agree. And of course solving it doesn't mean the removal of the obstacle necessarily. For for some obstacles it might be that. But for others, right, it's it's it's adapting, it's overcoming, it's moving around, it's acceptance, it's any one of a variety of things. And sometimes the the prescription leads to a a I don't know what a different dosage or or side effects or I don't know, I'm struggling.
Kristen Wrobel (50:55.499)
Absolutely not.
Jeremy (51:20.823)
But it doesn't mean that it's not still universally valuable as we know.
And so a as as we you know, as we look through this arc of your journey, let's let's kinda let's come to now. You know, and you're you're still training, you're still at it, you're you're doing it a little differently than you were.
Kristen Wrobel (51:44.598)
It's, yep.
Jeremy (51:45.357)
And and you know, maybe you can you can speak to that and how that feels.
Kristen Wrobel (51:54.063)
I'm loving life, Jeremy. Not that I don't get up every day and I have the bucket of troubles that immediately flood into my brain and I'm like, okay, what are the obstacles, all these obstacles for today? But.
But how can I be anything other than extremely grateful for the opportunity to be involved in something that has helped me clearly so much. And you stick around long enough that that turns into I can help other people. And so now I have, know, in kind of my journey, I stuck with that.
you know, that same school, which I was, I was at Blue Wave with, with Master White, Master Gordon White doing World Taekwondo in South Burlington. And I did that through the COVID era when, and then everything shut down.
Jeremy (52:57.089)
I gotta pull up the episode he was on 'cause it goes back. Thirty. Yeah. Gordon was episode thirty.
Kristen Wrobel (52:59.978)
nice. He was episode 30. So it's like a decade ago. I'll have to check that one out. So that was one style, one school and one way of doing things. And I had my people, I had my community. And then when the world shut down for a couple of few years, life pushed us out of town and to find housing, we ended up much more north.
Jeremy (53:06.433)
Yeah. Yeah. I remember.
Kristen Wrobel (53:29.6)
Franklin County, Vermont, up near Canada. So, you know, there were obstacles to, well, Blue Wave had closed for a little bit. They were doing like digital training. coming up here, there was a school in town and they were doing taekwondo, but it was international style. And I showed up to Shedrick's Martial Arts.
Jeremy (53:30.157)
Yeah. Yeah.
Kristen Wrobel (53:58.457)
because my, you know, my son was also interested in doing Taekwondo and he'd kind of been in and out. And I got there and I'm like, what is happening here? This is not Taekwondo. I'm sorry. What are you people doing? Like it was.
Jeremy (54:16.471)
For the for the for those for those of you out there who do not understand the differences between what was WTF now WT and ITF Taekwondo.
Kristen Wrobel (54:25.326)
Whew, it's a whole episode.
Jeremy (54:27.467)
The the Yeah. Yeah. I w I would sum it up and Kristen tell me if you agree. The
The only thing they really have in common is that they're both from Korea.
Kristen Wrobel (54:42.766)
I would say yes, yes. And the similarities, yeah. The similarities, they've gone out of their way to call them something different just to be different. So, you know.
Jeremy (54:45.672)
The they are
Jeremy (54:50.871)
Yeah.
Jeremy (54:54.983)
Yes. And and you know, there there's some history in that. You know, folks, you can go back, you can we we keep talking about this book, A Killing Art by Alex Gillix. Alex Gillis, Alex was on the show. We talked about that years ago. but here you are, and I'm gonna guess you didn't realize how different until you stepped in. Like, it's a different flavor of Taekwondo. How different can it be?
Kristen Wrobel (55:15.85)
Absolutely not. I had no idea.
Jeremy (55:22.965)
Ha ha ha.
Kristen Wrobel (55:23.886)
Everything, everything, everything. it's almost like, okay, there's ballet and then there's hip hop. Both are dance, right? Both are dance, but very, and that's how it felt to me. Like world was very, world Taekwondo, precise. There's, you know, they're both precise and like there's a one way to do things, but they're...
Jeremy (55:26.018)
Yeah.
Jeremy (55:35.937)
Yep. Yep.
Kristen Wrobel (55:52.611)
there's the training is so different. It's so different. And just the nuances of what makes something look good as a higher belt. I came, you know, but at this point I was right before COVID I tested for my second degree, my second dog. And so I came in as someone who'd, you know, been practicing a while was at a level where you're working on the nuances to make your pattern look good.
Jeremy (55:53.175)
Priorities are different.
Kristen Wrobel (56:21.666)
you know, the little things and in world that's like, is your head level unless you're doing a kick like you want to have like you're walking with, you know, train out the sine wave by all means. That's the first one when people came in like your head does not go up and down. Like that's one of the things you kibosh in a white belt. Come on over to ITF and their sine wave is is like one of the biggest elements of that style.
Jeremy (56:49.503)
It's a thing. It's a pri it's a priority, yeah.
Kristen Wrobel (56:52.702)
It's a priority and I characterize the difference. Where in world you're always like, you're moving forward. There's an attack, you're moving forward. Sign wave, you're always coming to center before progressing. Even just philosophically, it's very different. And to me, it was so angering and frustrating that...
I had to tell myself, this is not Taekwondo. I'm like, call it in my brain, whatever else you want, this is not Taekwondo, but I gotta do a thing. Like I have to do martial arts. This is the school that is available. My kid likes it here. He's having fun. There were not a lot of adults. I was one of the few adults like this was, cause I'm like, win sparring night for adults. You know, they're like, wow, we got a lot of kids. So, you know, I didn't have like,
You know, it was like a lot of kids, a lot of kids. And they were having a lot of fun. And it was not like blowing a whistle and giving you like pushups at the door, which is also, you know, a different time of Taekwondo, not just different schools and different styles, but things have changed. This was like, there's a lot of like fun, like they're having a lot of fun. And at first I was like, that's not very martial artsy of you.
Jeremy (58:00.59)
Mm-hmm.
Jeremy (58:13.133)
How dare they have fun. Yeah.
Kristen Wrobel (58:16.278)
How dare you be talking during warmups? like, but come to find out there's, you know, there's, many ways to go about a thing. And, and before you know it, I'm having fun too. And I'm training and I'm progressing and, but I really had to let go of there's one way to do a thing. This is the way everything else was ridiculous, which was honestly a really great.
growth opportunity for me. But it was like, okay, look, if you want to keep doing martial arts and this is, you know, and you like the people, like I like the people, I like the instructors, I like, you know, the community. I was like, yeah, get over yourself. So learn something different. What's the worst that could happen, right? Call it cross training, call it MMA in your head, call it anything else, but.
just keep going and do the time and see what might come out of it. I was certainly enjoying myself and just cause they were calling it a turning kick instead of a roundhouse. Okay, that's fine. know, it's a downward kick instead of an ax kick. Okay, that's fine. I'm still kicking things and progressing and building community. And so that was about five, six years ago that I switched over to.
to train with Master Shedrick at Shedricks and Master Mletek, my other instructor. And in that, I feel like I've honestly had the most growth in these past five, six years. And perhaps that is just the stage of the journey. Would I be anywhere? But I've grown up as an individual through martial arts. Like I am not the same person in...
in so many ways. And in a way that like, I feel, you know, we kind of miss culturally, in just the way the world is right now. Like, when I was a kid, you know, you drive down the street, kids are playing outside everywhere. No one had screens. If you did have a Nintendo and you were stuck on it, you were a weirdo, because it's nice out. And...
Kristen Wrobel (01:00:41.74)
And not only, you know, were people just outside and together, but there was more of that. Like your neighbors watched out for you and it felt like a big family, you know, a big net of community outside of just your household. And today I feel like in general, you know, in the Western world, like we struggle with what has become a very isolated life where people feel like, as soon as I get out of high school, I better move out of the house.
and go make my own unit over here. And that can be just so isolating and can create a lot of struggles and challenges that I just feel like didn't have to deal with or weren't as prevalent when I was a kid, because it was natural to just kind of be out in community with people and develop your tribe. So as an adult in the year 2026 to find
a place where you can go and be adopted. know, it's like you can be adopted as an adult into a community, you know, through a mutual appreciation of shared values, like the tenants, I think. To me, the tenants are a life plan. I didn't know this when I got to Taekwondo. I didn't know this when I was coming in. You know, I came in the way that I described.
and thinking, okay, I'm do cool things with my body and maybe I'll get to feeling more like that kid who looks like he's got it together. But I did not, I had no idea that this is actually a comprehensive curriculum that can carry you through all the things that life throws at you and provide such a beautiful
training ground, atmosphere, fertile soil for you to develop as an individual and get better at the things that I don't know where else you would practice them in the world.
Jeremy (01:03:00.001)
We can do hard things, right? That's one of the things we we tell the kids in in our school. We can do hard things. And I think so much of what you're pointing at is we've reached a point in society where most of the hard things have been removed from us. And
Kristen Wrobel (01:03:15.63)
Whoo, yes.
Jeremy (01:03:19.955)
Overcoming hard things is a skill.
Kristen Wrobel (01:03:23.137)
Absolutely.
Jeremy (01:03:24.053)
And most of us don't have the opportunity to practice those. And I think that, you know, w one of one of the businesses that I look up to a lot is Spartan Race. And, you know, for for people out there, most of you know what Spartan Race is. And it's it's a bunch of people spending money on a Saturday running around doing really hard things. And ironically enough, also found it in Vermont. And
There are other things like this. When you look at the rise of so much of what we do and what we're interested in, it's people doing hard things. Because day to day I don't think we have enough hard things.
And
Jeremy (01:04:09.825)
I think we crave it. I think we need it. I think it's part of our humanity to, you know, we were we were built to survive. We weren't built for screens. You know, how however you think our species got here, it doesn't matter. We didn't have these things when when we started, whatever that origin is. And we need I think we need those hard things. And I think that's why for so many of us, martial arts clicks. Cause it's like, here's a place that I can do hard things safely.
Mm of course safety is relative.
Kristen Wrobel (01:04:40.696)
and
Kristen Wrobel (01:04:44.01)
It's true though. I agree 100 % that there's just so much value in overcoming what you feel is holding you back. And the what that is, you know, it changes. And as, you know, the calendar keeps flipping, you know.
Every year there's a new challenge. There's a new challenge. And some of those are, know, like it's, my knees, you know, sometimes my knees, like really freaking hurt. My body sometimes really freaking hurts. If I don't stretch every day, it really, really hurts. And it's like, okay, I guess on one hand you could call that aging, right? Our bodies.
fight back, the grace period is smaller. Taking two weeks off at 25 is different than taking two weeks off in your 40s. And so that margin of error gets smaller. And it's also, but it's motivating because it's like, okay, I don't.
Jeremy (01:05:51.458)
We don't.
Kristen Wrobel (01:06:05.848)
I know if I don't do this, if I don't keep on top of it, if I don't stay active, if I don't keep stretching, if I don't keep showing up, it's only just that much harder, that much quicker. And my body's gonna age and hurt either way. I may as well be actively participating in slowing that process down and being as comfortable in my skin for as long as I can and my body for as long as I can.
There's nothing saying that I can't be training right on up to my deathbed. Sure, I might not be sparring teenagers in 40 years, but I can still be participating. who knows? Like I look at my grandmother, she was a great example of age does not define your ability or your opportunity or your options. And into her 90s, she called it going to the spa.
It was the gym, which is called the spa. Going to the spa and she would go and she would walk the track and she would do machines. you know, sure, she wasn't bench pressing 150 pounds, but she was, I saw her get up and show up and suit up and show up. And I think that, like, there's a huge magic, that could be a whole episode, right? In the magic of just suiting up and showing up when you feel like it, when you don't feel like it. Cause, cause you,
Jeremy (01:07:29.335)
Yeah.
Kristen Wrobel (01:07:33.55)
Because you said you would to someone else or to yourself. Suit up and show up. And the what I get on the days that that's easy, pales in comparison to the what I get on the days when that's hard.
And there are days when life is so much, I might be crying on the way to class for whatever reason. And you walk in and nothing better than to be like, Ms. Robo, like the little kids, I love it, I love it. There's nothing better than someone who's happy to see you and getting to be a character in their journey.
Jeremy (01:07:50.269)
Yeah.
Kristen Wrobel (01:08:15.86)
We're all the star of our own show, The lead of our own novel, the hero. But to get to be, play a side role in someone else's journey and help them to find the best in themselves.
What more is there? How better can we help each other than to be supportive? this martial arts and getting to teach and be involved with all ages is such a beautiful way to feel like this human existence is worth it. know, like what more good could I be doing than?
to be helping someone else to find the best in themselves, whatever that might be. Like, ugh, I love it. I love it. I love teaching. I honestly love teaching. I love sparring, but I love teaching.
Jeremy (01:09:20.301)
Sometimes those both happen at the same time.
Kristen Wrobel (01:09:25.354)
They do. Sometimes, you know, I won't say when and where or what school I was at, but I've definitely been given the nod to like, okay, you can smile a little extra hard on this one today. like, okay, okay. Within, you know, within friendly reason, but it's a place where this is safe, you know? And this is the kind of thing that, you know, when we were kids, you acted up too much.
Jeremy (01:09:42.241)
Right. I understand. Yeah.
Kristen Wrobel (01:09:54.863)
Lord of the fly style, you worked it out yourselves and sometimes someone got hurt, right? But where now in the world do we have that kind of feedback from other people directly? Because as you mentioned before, like it's removed. Like in school, someone says the wrong word, you're ending up in the SSC. know, like immediately an adult is involved, the situation is...
handled for you and what's lost is the ability to figure out how do I handle that within myself? How do we handle that person to person one on one? And it's just such a beautiful thing to be a part of. And I don't know where I would be or who I would be were it not for the role that martial arts has.
has played in helping me to adult, you know, and be a worker among workers and just a part of the human race and community in a way that feels meaningful beyond my bubble, you know.
Jeremy (01:11:14.497)
I can relate to that.
Kristen, if people want to get a hold of you, how do how do they do that? You're online somewhere, aren't you?
Kristen Wrobel (01:11:21.838)
I'm online a bunch a bunch of places the easiest way to find me because my spelling of my name will be in the title here crisp and rollable comm so you just go to my website Everything's linked there YouTube Facebook Instagram and if you don't do any of that you just want to send me an email scroll to the bottom of the page and there's there's a block to just send me an email and That would be the the easiest way to reach me and and don't be deterred by
You know, it's very music oriented when you see it. It's still me. It's still me. Same person.
Jeremy (01:11:56.175)
Your your other love that for for context purposes we really didn't get into.
Kristen Wrobel (01:12:01.339)
Yes, yes, my dual passion, my instructor's instructor, Master LaPlante, Guy LaPlante, he said once, pick one thing. He says to everyone, pick one thing. You know, don't want to be like Jack of all trades, master or not. like, pick one thing. You want to get good? You want to your teeth in? You pick one thing. That's what you get. He said, some exceptional people may get two passions, but everyone gets one.
And of course, you know, thinking I'm going to break the mold, right? And I'm like, hmm, I could have two passions. I will tell you, it's hard to balance the time. But the reason that you will go to, you know, go to my website, if you go to my website to reach me, that you don't see, you see heavily music and not heavily martial arts, even in my other online presences, is this is not, it's almost like a religion.
in the sense of it's very personal. I believe very much in attraction rather than promotion. And though I share some highlights and some motivational content to, you know, to share milestones and to help other people progress in their journey, I do share some Taekwondo content, but it's a very personal thing that I sometimes feel
I would do a disservice to the martial arts to overly promote it in like a super flashy way. And this is just, you know, for me and the way I feel I fit into the world and the community. It's here. I'm open to talk about it. I'd love to share about it. But it's not something that I project super loudly because
I would like someone to, I'd rather someone ask me because they've read something resonates and they're interested and draw them in than be out there trying to drag everyone and their brother in. I feel that sometimes that can be a disservice to the community and the right people find their way in the door.
Jeremy (01:14:20.093)
Sure. Right on. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you for being here. Thanks for thanks for such an open conversation. I I I suspect there'll be some folks out there that
Maybe they don't have some of the words either. You talked about some of the things you didn't have words for, especially early in your journey that they'll point to those things and say, I I know, I know what she f she's talking about. I know how she feels. I felt that way, or or maybe I still feel that way.
But how do you want to leave leave this? How do we how do we close such a great chat?
Kristen Wrobel (01:14:56.43)
That's such a tough question, Jeremy. Yes, good, good.
Jeremy (01:14:58.871)
So I saved it for the end.
Kristen Wrobel (01:15:04.704)
I would say that...
Kristen Wrobel (01:15:11.09)
Fear, fear is a mile high and a mile wide, but it's paper thin. So all you have to do is walk through it. And whether it's a desire to try a martial arts class or some other desire you have from life.
If it's simply fear that's holding you back.
realize that often the biggest obstacle is just that first step in the door and everything else takes care of itself. If it's martial arts you're interested in, that. Schools will give you a free class. You can show up in sweatpants. don't know where, no place is gonna kick you out if you just walk in the door in sweatpants and say, I wanna try this, no matter how old you are. That's as far ahead.
as you need to think and plan and do. Suit up and show up, just walk in the door and let the magic happen of whatever that doorway represents to you. Because I think we often don't realize that the obstacles are ones that we have made in our minds and they're not as big and scary as we've maybe.
created them to be. So just take that first step in the thing that you desire to get out of life. Because you have one life to live. And what do you got to lose? You can always go back to what you're doing right now because you already know how to do that. So try the thing. Try it. Take that leap. And my experience is that you will often find that the hurdle is much smaller than you may have painted it to be.
Kristen Wrobel (01:17:04.942)
So that's my hope. People just try, try to achieve your goals. Just take that one step.