Episode 575 - whistlekick Live Season 2 Episode 4
In this episode, Jeremy presents the 4th episode for Season 2 of the whistlekick Live and he is joined by some friends of the podcast!
whistlekick Live Season 2 Episode 4 - Episode 575
Today’s episode is the fourth installment for the whistlekick Live Season 2. Jeremy answers questions, reads stories from you, the listeners, as well as some cool stories about martial arts. In this episode, Jeremy talks about his upcoming novel, Cobra Kai season 3, Master Ken and many more. Jeremy is joined by Craig Wharem, Lessy Trail, and Ando Mierzwa. We have a much-improved show, at least by our standards! Listen to find out a lot more good stuff!
Show Transcript
You can read the transcript below.
Jeremy Lesniak:
As always, I want to thank all of you who are watching live, if you're listening or watching later, join us at 8:00 PM U. S. eastern time or in this case 8:10 U. S. eastern time on Facebook. You maybe catch it later on YouTube and video or view the podcast feed. Shoutout to Gabe and all the great work that he does putting the show together. And all the other people who contribute. Frank with his jokes and all the other people. We're going to be doing something. So, where do we start? I don't know. Start along with a monologue, if I got one. I think I got criteria for how long my monologue was supposed to be. What's going on in the martial arts world? Gabe got some whistlekick sweatpants for Christmas. You know, here's the funny thing, like I say that they're the most comfortable sweatpants and people are like “Oh yeah, Jeremy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever”. No, they seriously are. Absolutely ridiculous. No, I'm not going to lie. I don't actually make the sweatpants but I spend a lot of time identifying the best sweatpants that we could use and that's what we print on. We can only give it on special times because we have to have enough. I'll be honest, we sold just enough that I got a pair for myself and we broke even with the shipping. And that was really the goal because I was running out. None of the companies that we use on demand, whistlekick.com are able to do the printing down like that. I think it looks so much cooler so that's what we do it that way. Cobra Kai season 3 released just a few days ago and I don’t know about you. I finished it today. I chewed through it. I don't think I started watching until 2 days ago so I chewed through it pretty quickly. I've got to be honest some great moments and some absolutely wonderful moments. Some moments that made me wonder if different writers were contributing because I'd like... I don't think they lined up the story but you know what that's the beauty of a show like this. We get to argue about it now. I'm not going to spend time arguing about here but it is good, not quite as good as the first 2 seasons but it's still very good. If you don't watch it, you should watch it. Check it out. Yeah, yeah.
So, if you come along for the First Cup, if you watch the First Cup which airs at 630 U. S. eastern time A. M. My First Cup of coffee, I've talked a bit about the writing process that I've been going through. I'm writing a novel and today I finished all of the grammatical spell check that sort of things I've got. Will move a little bit more some things that I got to go through and identify and then it looks like a couple read throughs as I edit as I read and then it should be live. So. I'm going to hope, 2 weeks and this novel will be available. And don't worry that we plan a promotion around it and yeah martial arts plays a strong role. It is not a martial arts book. Yeah, I'm glad you put this up. Sensei Ando said add those weekly workouts. He's been doing a great job. I've got a ton of respect for Sensei Ando. Great guy, great supporter of whistlekick. He's always been there whenever I've asked him for anything. I would consider him a friend. I hope it's reciprocated and he's done some really cool stuff with video. If you are not following his YouTube channel, he is a monster when it comes to YouTube. Just doing a fantastic job. So, make sure you're checking out what he's got there which is just right there. You saw it? What 9-12 videos and 9 videos and I'm seeing home workouts in episodes, and yeah, martial arts for beginners. Yes, just great stuff. Sensei Ando’s videos teach workouts for beginners but all more martial artists are beginners. Some of us have just been getting longer, that's a quote from J. R. West. least as it's attributed. And of course, you know it's a whistlekick because we make memes out of everything. Some recent posts in Marshall Journal. Marshall journal is coming along. I've got you know we... It's hard to know when the print versions are coming out and the digital accompaniment to that print version but just rolling along. It's coming along. Great.
So, some recent posts, we've got a book review of Fujita Seiko, the last Cogan Ninja. Marshall word Wednesday which is a series that says Sensei Richard Wilson's been doing which is super cool. Putting history on the meaning of words used in the martial arts. As well as the weapon of the month club which... Here's a little bit behind the scenes in the Marshall Journal editors' group which I kind of overseen. And really, I don't contribute much. I just say sarcastic things and sometimes they will respond to me. I think I was making a joke about: should we throw in? Actually, no. That might not have been in that group. That might have been something between Gabe and I. And I don’t want to give it away. So, I'm going to pull back on that. But what’s the last one? The world of martial arts and pop culture and vice versa? Hey, I wrote that. Justin asked me to write something on that. So, I did. Because he kind of told me to and I do what I'm told sometimes. So, the Albuquerque Journal recently published an article about Matt Page's new role in the Paper Tigers. Of course, Matt Page is who? He is Master Ken. The Paper Tigers is an action comedy that tells the story of 3 kung fu prodigies who have grown into washed-up middle-aged men. Now, one kick away from pulling their hamstrings but when their master was murdered, that much trouble. They're getting jobs, bad duties and old grudges to avenge his death. As I was putting this together for the show this is I'm assuming it in Gabe’s voice. What really caught my eye was the 5 random facts about Matt page they published at the end of the article. Here, they are. One, I was cut out of my first movie. Next, I got in the sag of the Screen Actors Guild by booking a one line roll on in the valley of Ella. I was nervous because I was supposed to say the lines with Tommy Lee Jones and Charlize Theron. I practiced 1000000 times. Sorry to keep you waiting, that was all I had to say. Everyone was very nice and I got to the scene just fine. I told my entire family and all my friends. I know where this is going… That I was in the movie. So, of course many of them want to see it on opening day. I was shocked when I knew it and made sure that my scene was cut out completely. After taking several phone calls from Lublin saying, “we didn't see you. Which part did you play?” I learned to stop telling people what movies I worked on until I am sure I made the final cut. I think he said that story when he was on Martial Arts Radio. That's familiar. Two, I delivered pizza for 7 years. I started at Domino's; nobody knew that I moved out to New Mexico. I switched to pizza because it was close to my apartment. All the jobs I've had outside the entertainment industry, pizza delivery was one I enjoy the most. I was a terrible waiter, was a terrible customer service representative, with this job I got to drive around all night, listening to the radio or chatting with friends on the phone in between deliveries. As long as the pizza wasn't insanely late, customers usually gave me some tips. I enjoyed not being stuck and I have all the time and always having a little bit of Kashmir pocket even though I was still really, broke. Let's do one more of these.
The number one. I found my first short film of Loose Change back when I was delivering pizza, inspiring to be a filmmaker. The only way to be taken seriously was to shoot an actual motion picture film. I looked on eBay and found an old super 8-millimeter camera for 600$. My mentor at the time agreed to pay half so I bought it and I figured out that it would likely need at least $1000 to pay for a film. Yes, folks. Remember if you're young, movies happen on film. Just like pictures came on film. It wasn’t always digital or wasn't digital back then. Processing video transfer to make a 7 minute will be $1000. At the end of every shift at Dominos, I always had a fist full of loose change. Asked the drivers to exchange the coins for cash instead. I changed out and every time I got full, I rolled up in coin wrappers after about 6 months, I saved 750 Bucks inside. That was close enough to shoot my first actual film. It was clunky because I was still learning but I actually got new, few film festivals. I like that behind-the-scenes stuff that great. That's a dedication then no surprise that Matt Page, Master Ken, was dedicated from the start.
All right let's please welcome Craig Wharem to the show. My good friend. Where is he. There he is. There he is. He’s coming. Where is he? Where is he?
Craig Wharem:
I'm coming.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Here everybody.
Craig Wharem:
How are you doing?
Jeremy Lesniak:
I’m great, man. You?
Craig Wharem:
Hey, not bad, not bad. This is like the first seeing you in months.
Jeremy Lesniak:
It is. it is. There you go. That's what I was going for.
Craig Wharem
It’s a little bit more fall, I think for you. And last fall for me. We traded.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yes. The beard is fuller and it's going to get trimmed up because you know what happened in 2020? A lot of it turned white. A surprise amount turned white.
Craig Wharem:
My mother pointed out my grace the other day.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Well, that was kind of her.
Craig Wharem
Well, I thought so. I wasn't great before 2020.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I've got the brown on the beard. I've got plenty of red in the beard and now some white. So, we can just call it tiger colors. That's part of our favorite color beard. Maybe I will change it now.
Craig Wharem:
That's perfect as is. I really, my hope for you is that your beard extends but you keep that shaved head.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Well, I'm gonna have to look in general because there's nothing there. There isn't enough there. If I grow it out, it looks weird. It's like you know, the pick, the photos of the monks. Yeah, and they shave like yearly. It's that without trying.
Craig Wharem:
See? You were destined to run the whistlekick. Apparently, I remember the first time we came down to the school. I don't know if you remember this. You and I had only chatted like on Facebook messenger, email and you came to the school. You’re like Wow, what a beautiful space that to look at. You go and I would kill someone to have your hair. If I had hair like that, I'd be great.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah, I don't know what it's all missing. I feel like if I had hair like what else could I do?
Craig Wharem:
Yeah, yeah. Cracks me up but after that I was like yeah, I know this guy and I know we're gonna be friends and that was it.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So, what do you want to talk about today?
Craig Wharem:
Gabe reached out and he said he wanted me to chat about instructor training.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Cool.
Craig Wharem:
Yeah, and to talk about this...
Jeremy Lesniak:
Not to say that… I didn't know that at 1 point ... But I don't remember and we've learned that the best part of the show is that Gabe just does what he's going to do and I just show up and do what I'm going to do. Which is super exciting for me.
Craig Wharem:
Did you remember I was going to be here tonight or was it a surprise? How much fun is that?
Jeremy Lesniak:
I think they told me like an hour ago. Or maybe it was… There like half a dozen emails back and forth today and I am in hindsight. I vaguely remember your name being in one of them.
Craig Wharem:
You know what brother, I'm glad we have the same memory. Yes, man because I'm getting ready and ramped up to do my instructor development here at the school and get my team going and I've pretty much after spending what sort of schools are being closed. This is our second day back from the holidays and I basically spent most of the time watching Cobra Kai season 1, 2 and 3 and I've decided that I'm just gonna make that required viewing for all of them. Yeah, nice yes. So, we're getting ready.
Jeremy Lesniak:
To set the tone. What is like instructor training in your school? What does that look like?
Craig Wharem:
Yes. So, the way I do it at my school is there's different levels of teachers. I'd very much operate under. Anyone can be a teacher in an aspect that everyone can be a teacher but not everyone should be a teacher. Right. Like you have to have a certain amount of empathy and being able to meet people where they're at. I don't care so much about what belt you are or anything like that. I care more about your ability to connect with people. A lot of people have been teaching for a long time. Sure, bunch people watching. As a teacher, I learned a lot from white belts. Right. Whether that is how to communicate better or how many different ways there are to do front kicks correctly. Right. So, I could care less about what rank. I care more about you having to have a spark one for education. I call instructor development most of the time, I call it teacher training but I feel like instructor and you have 2 different connotations of martial arts.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Andrew and I recorded an episode unpacking that today.
Craig Wharem:
Yeah, no. That's awesome right.
Jeremy Lesniak:
It’s going to live in 2 weeks. Yeah see... When this makes it on the podcast feeds, so for anybody who's listening to it, I believe it would have been the third episode prior.
Craig Wharem:
So, for me, Jeremy you know, this where we’re teachers. We don't just put on it, we're not instructing in the way that we're just teaching movements. Right. Marshall arts as a whole is about a whole lot more than that. I don't need to, I'm preaching to the choir if I talk to everybody about that but to take the term, teacher gives people a sense of empowerment. I'm here to teach. I'm here to help you grow. So, what I do is I do it quarterly. Sometimes I do a little bit more frequently. If I feel we need it, I bring in the entire teaching team from my most beginning level teacher. My level ones, they're the ones that have tight belts and high 5. people right now call it the elbow bum kids. Right. But on the other ones, do that stuff for me and then my people who run the school and I'm not here, we all come together and we do a physical class of some sort. Either you are bringing a guest teacher in or something like that and then we talk about where we're at for teaching. We share goals for the year and things like that. I'm pretty big on including my whole team into whatever the vision that we have for the school is for that year. Which is something that you obviously, you know, it showed. You shared it with me a while back and I've done it and it's working. Evidence? I have so many people on the team invested in helping because they see the growth and they know we're all together. So, all right.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So that's the what and I think the why is in there. Yeah, let's talk about the how.
Craig Wharem:
Sure. I'll let you know.
Jeremy Lesniak:For people out there who have schools, have people that they're trying to bring up through. Get them some more competency in terms of teaching, helping out, bringing it. You know, creating that pipeline of future martial arts instructors' teachers. What are you working with them all like? What is the subject matter of these training sessions?
Craig Wharem:
Sure. So, first and foremost. Day one is leadership. How does this, you know like, what does it mean to be a leader and role model? Again, to go back because I think it's a really big point. You don't have to be a blackbelt to be a good teacher, in fact, you can be a high-level black belt but not be a good teacher. Right?
Jeremy Lesniak:
Any of us have seen that.
Craig Wharem:
Right. So, I think the key fundamental thing is to break down what is teaching. Teaching is guiding. Teaching is communicating. It's cheering on your students. It's realizing what you do is important. So, the first lesson that we normally talk about is taking the word “just” out of what we do. We're not just karate teachers. We’re leaders, we're role models, we're guiding students, everyone who sets foot on the mat to teach with the aspiration of teaching it whether I approach them and they come to me. And they stepped on the mat because one of their teachers went a long way to inspire them. And so, it's getting them to recognize that and recognize that they have the potential now to do that same thing. For those of you, who don't know me, the school that I manage now is the one that I started in as a kid. and I work day to day with my original instructor as a team. And I emphasize that I was never the fastest, the strongest, the best. I didn't learn well. You know, like it took me a long time to get stuff but persistence was the success. And where those come into mine.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah, persistence.
Craig Wharem:
I mean that, you know, Jeremy and I work together. A lot of you know how this works. I just sit there and I keep lagging until I get it. And so, it's teaching them that on the flip note, the other thing I would say is don't run it as a symposium. Right. We're not going to break down like oh, auditory visual kinesthetic this is how you break this down in the science of learning. One of the things I do which is the most fun and you guys can teach classes, you know the belts fall down all the time and the little ones don't know how to tie it, I make it a relay race. I make my assistants have to be the fastest one to tie a belt on to one of the other people in the workshop.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Make it fun for everybody. Yeah.
Craig Wharem:
And I time it and then we pretend that we’re a 6-year-old who just had a bunch cupcake. So the kids are all running around while they're trying to tie the belt.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Can you get a video of that? Yeah, even if we can't share publicly that sounds amazing and I want to see it.
Craig Wharem:
Yeah. It's so much fun and then another version that we do and I'll film this. I'll get it to you. It's that they have to tie the belt and answer every question that the other person's asking. What's your favorite color, what's your favorite food, what would you do this week, what's happening with you, what's your name, what's your dog's name and they have to try and tie the belt and answer the questions as they go as fast as they can.
Jeremy Lesniak:
How about trying to untie the belt against their will?
Craig Wharem:
That's a good one. I like that.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So, you kinda need 2 belts. You need something so the belt at least is partially attached. And then they've got to, like, you ju jitsu them into submission untie it. So, it's like it's grappling but its hog tying at the same time.
Craig Wharem:
I love it. So, I mean next to him should know…
Jeremy Lesniak:
They're not allowed to sue me. If that goes poorly, I did say that and if you use that idea, and it goes poorly, you can sue Craig. whistlekick does not endorse the tying belts against the ones will.
Craig Wharem:
So, the other 1 that I like to do is I make them do it with their eyes closed and so and what happens is for those of you who want to do teacher training, this becomes a point of contention in pride in the teaching team. So, I have different levels 1,2,3,4 and 5, my level 2s, we use the title Senpai. They are senior students and they call themselves the Senpai squad and they fight about who ties belts faster and I catch them doing it. Outside of workshops like they'll tie belts on each other just to see and now, at this point, they tie balls almost as quickly as I do.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I love what you guys are doing down there and I'm glad you came on what I want school owners to take away from this because we've got it. We've got a roll on. Yeah, what I want to take away from this is that the best source of future teachers and help is your own community. Yes, what we do here at whistlekick, it’s what you're doing there. It's the people that are around you that are most passionate about. What you're already doing, they're the ones you should be tapping as a resource. And you know, I know you're available to help on a consulting basis and answer quick questions and things like that. So, if we want to get a hold of you, what's the best way?
Craig Wharem:
Either just shoot me a message share on Facebook or Jeremy if they reach out to whistlekick.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You can email me at all. I'll pass it on.
Craig Wharem:
Yeah, and feel free to message me here. I'm happy to help. Anyway, I can answer questions and help you set up the programs. Anything I can do to help.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Awesome, thanks man. We'll talk soon.
Craig Wharem:
I see my brother. Thanks bye.
Jeremy Lesniak:
All right. Well. Always great. You know we could probably spend an hour just unpacking what he and his school do in terms of teacher training. It's absolutely phenomenal. I've witnessed aspects of it. I think it was September. I took a couple days and went to Maine and stayed in his family's cabin. They were generous enough to let me stay there and he was running a teacher training in the same town at the same time. Mostly coincidence to be honest. It's just his family owns a couple properties up there just because that's what they all do on vacation together. And so, I got to hang out with them just kind of watch how that dynamic it was. Really interesting. Hearing what they were talking about, how they were talking about it and the recognition of that community aspect among the instructors. Really just bleeds back into the rest of the school. So, thanks for coming out, Craig.
What we got now? We got Facebook discussion questions and I'm assuming these are questions that Gabe got sourced from the event page. Okay, cool. So, those of you who are not paying attention to the Facebook events, we put up for these. This is if you have a question you want to ask, this is how you get it in there. Competition is a factor in training for some but for others it's the primary factor. What's your take on the pros and cons of competition? I love competition. I'll be very honest if it were not for competition, whistlekick would probably not exist. It was my love of competition and finding a place where I could excel as a teen. That led to likely my continuation of martial arts connections that I've leveraged to the benefit of whistlekick today. And let's face it, what was the first thing we washed? Protective gear. For whatever competition, I don't think it would have been as passionate about protective equipment that we don't have available right now. But don't worry there are plans. I think competition is something everyone should try. I don't think it is for everyone and that's okay. But I think the main reason for competition is the old adage iron sharpens iron. If you are still training with the same people over and over again, there is no more efficient way to get to train with other people to perform forms in front of other people. Get that anxiety up which translates to industry conversations. There's so many benefits and you know what? The vast majority of people in martial arts competitions are awesome people.
Next, do you think using trophies as incentive to continue training, whatever, be advisable? My instinct is to say heck no. But let me think about that for a moment. I think there are times where you can tie reward to performance that it doesn't take away from doing so. For example, I'm not a fan of participation trophies. But I could see an award, for let's say consecutive classes attended or if there's a fundraiser to benefit something. Right. Like I think there are creative ways you could use those. I don't think they should be the principal method. But I think that they can have a place depending on the culture of the school. And so, now we've got someone who plays a massive role in what we do here in whistlekick and I'm really excited she was willing to come on the show. Lessy. This is Lessy. Hey, I got it. I got it. There. She's here. I will just. Lessy, can you mute your Facebook window please?
Lessy:
Certainly. Sorry about that.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That's okay. It's only because I've learned the hard way. You’re here. Yehey. Well. Hi!
Lessy:
Hello there. What happened.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I don’t know. I give up on understanding technology today and it doesn't make any sense.
Lessy:
Right.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So, I'm. I don't know if everyone knows what you do. I'm going to say what you do because I'm afraid you're going to be too humble with it. Every time, for what? 2 years? It has been 2 years.
Lessy:
Yeah, I think February.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Just about 2 years every single guest that has come on the show, has come through Lessy. I don't remember how we got here. I think I reached out or put something out and said I need help and you answered the call because I was scheduling the guests and coordinating them getting me photos and all this other stuff that you need to be done and need to be done in detail. and I was exhausted with it. But by the time the guest got to the show I already had like half a dozen emails with him and now, Lessy does all that which is beautiful because I just show up. Do you see a pattern here? Gabe does all the work behind the scenes; I just show up. Lessy does her work behind the scenes and I just show up and it allows me to do what I do better. And I'm infinitely appreciative of that. So, thank you.
Lessy:
I am very happy to hear that you appreciate what I do and that it's been an amazing experience getting to know these people. Some of them are in different parts of the world. Different styles. It's just you know I made some good friends through all of this. And it's been a remarkable experience usually…
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yes, and immediately that was part of what I wanted to put on your plate because it takes you know half a dozen emails to get somebody scheduled and that can be really frustrating. But you also have the opportunity to have these kinds of back-channel conversations. I kind of envy you know; I don't get to have those anymore. You know, I get to have conversations with the guests. The before, the during, which everybody gets to hear the during, but also the after you got to be part of the after today. Yeah, that was a lot of fun. And it's fun, it is 100 percent funny. And I know that you're a little bit embarrassed about this but I don't care because I think it's terrible and I don't think you have anything to be embarrassed about sharing the story. So, I was finishing up an interview with today's guest and of course we use zoom here and Gabe had you know, Courtney and Lessy coming on and she was being a good soldier in making sure that she understood what she was supposed to do. And click the link and I'm sitting there talking to the guest and Lessy pops up in the waiting room. Recordings done. Let her in. So, she comes in and she’s like what's going on and what did you just let me into the middle of an episode. The horrified look on her face or what was going on. Great, it was really funny.
Lessy:
I was like oh goodness, I have to be professional.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I wouldn’t have put you into the middle of the episode. So, it’s 100 percent my fault.
Lessy:
That's true.
Jeremy Lesniak:
When Gabe and I talked about bringing you on, one of the things I wanted to know was you know, are there any stories are you mentioned getting to know some of these people that come on. Do you have any stories? Anything fun or interesting that would listeners, viewers might not be aware of with some of these guests.
Lessy:
It was just a little moment like I remember one time what is one of the guests James Keenan, we had this wonderful phone conversation before the episode and he just was telling me these stories and he has this soothing voice and I’m just so carried away by this amazing, wonderful storytelling ability. I just wanted to record all of the conversations. Just like, oh my goodness. I should just. Amazing. He's had this especially with the people who had the really long Martial Arts journeys who've had a depth of experience and they'll just share this wisdom about it. It's just like I want to get all of his input on the server. It's still something you missed. You know some principle. Every actual example is getting my brain right.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I get the same thing you know. There those brief conversations before we go live and the bits after that. You know when I say cut and it's just the 2 of us, there are you know, rare occasions. The 3 of us on the show and I really try to treasure those moments. Now, what I do is recorded, you know, at some point after we all passed away, somebody might go through and edit all that stuff together. I don't know and I'm fine with that. But you know what? You get to have the guests and you know like I want to point out the fact that why are you on the phone because you were setting things up. You were making sure that the guest was comfortable and that's the thing that you do. That is so immensely valuable. So, by the time they get to me, they know what's going on. It reminds me of the way grandparents talk about dealing with grandkids. Like he does get you. Don't have to do the hard part. You show up yeah one and then you leave. Kind of what I do. You're like a mom. You do all the hard work.
Lessy:
The whistlekick mom, I like that.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Dojo mom.
Lessy:
Like one of the people at my school. So, that actually works pretty well. I actually want to share one story that ties all of this. About making people comfortable. Actually. I want to share my story of my first tournaments and I think I was a green belt. I'm going to say I had never done that in front of anyone other than my team. Small class. I was in the school and had real classes and I was in a very small group. So, I had never done a cross in front of a big crowd before. and I was literally the first person called in the first division of the day. So, I wasn't sure what I felt like. Every eye in the entire place was on me and I fret and got stage fright. It was terrible and [00:31:48-00:32:00] it was terrible. The judges were so kind. They were so nice and they made me feel welcome. They make me feel appreciated and you were one of the judges at that moment. You were one of the people. That was the day we met and you make me feel at ease and welcome and like I fit in there. [00:32:23- 00:32:29] I should be nervous. So, they were kind and friendly and good people and it made so much difference to my martial arts. [00:32:39- 00:32:41] one of the things that made me love competing is that warm, welcoming atmosphere. having kind people to connect with and it's one of the reasons I keep coming back. It's one of the reasons I kept your training and training for competition specifically. And you know I'm so glad that I can help do that for you now. You know with bringing the guests, to bring us our spirits of being welcome and feeling at ease and you know...
Jeremy Lesniak:
I remember bits of that.
Lessy:
You probably remember that really bad.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I don't so much remember the cut. I remember your self-deprecation and you being far too hard on yourself. That's what I remember and yeah, you were the first one up in the first weapons division of the day at a small tournament. And I'm trying to remember. What year was that? 2017? Who knows we’re going to become friends? And that's the part that I think is great. You know we had we just had some questions and one of the questions was competition, the pros and cons. You never know who you're going to meet. You know what? Competition widens your circles. It's not just the people that you train with. It becomes the people you train with and compete with. Other people they train with, now all of a sudden you exponentially increase the people that you have in your martial arts extended family and I just think that's amazing.
Lessy:
It is and you know I was trying to [00:34:30- 00:34:37] I tried to you know reach out to them and make them feel more at ease. Like what you did for me. Like the other judges did for me. It's amazing how much of a difference that those gestures can make is. Just talk to them and put them at ease and make them feel welcome and make it as one community. And it can help you with confidence in other areas too. I think you know just having a Sensei that you can go out with. There, you can start a new career by crossing a bunch of people. This is amazing and you know, just those little nudges can make so much difference in all aspects of life. And martial arts are a great example of it. Definitely.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So. we're going to do that. I'm going to let you go. We're going to move on. We've got a couple of things. We got one other person to bring on. Thanks for coming on and before you go, one question. If you could book any guest to come on to the show, who would that be?
Lessy:
Who? Let's see. She is someone that I admired for a long time. I mean obviously, the Jackie Chan on the big things but she's definitely one that I find really inspiring. She's that awesome. You know, she moves really well and she's got such an energy that I just love. So, she's definitely one of the people that I would love to talk and interact with and have conversation with. She would be fantastic.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I hope we can make it happen thanks for coming on. You know we talk just about every day. So, I'm sure I'll talk to you soon. [00:36:25- 00:36:31] Thank you soon. Bye.
Lessy:
Bye.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Always great to talk with her. If I can draw a line of, very thick black line, in the history of not just whistlekick but Martial Arts Radio and we can say before Lessy and after Lessy, you know B. L. and A. L. I mean she has really been hugely important and you can go back if you want to listen to a couple 100 episodes and check out the difference. Especially the beginning. Especially how it kind of starts. You know I'm able to hit the ground running in large part because of what she's done. So where are we now? okay what are we doing? We got a story time with Matt. Okay, you're listening. I don't even know where to start. Great job sitting on this Gabe. I don't know that I could have kept this to myself. All right. So, for those of you listening this is Matt and his wife and one of the kids. It’s sexually punching him in the head while he's in a horse stance and then the other 2 kids are kicking him and he's just kind of hanging out while the rest of his family beat on him and it's amazing and I love it. And it's just great. So, we've got 4 stories today from Matt. Let's bring him on. I'm going to read them. During a demo, we had one of the guys dressed as an old man with a Superman shirt underneath. When he was supposed to open a certain show, the symbol, he couldn't rip the buttons. So, to help break the awkward silence, is to unbutton it. What the other guys were like oh my god why is it taking his clothes off in the mall. It’s uncomfortable. Now, we all laugh about it. Have you ever seen someone? This would be going back a little bit but you know how Kogan as a professional wrestler is known for ripping his shirt, and if you ever saw someone thought they were cool. Especially after a couple beers trying to do that and realizing it's much harder to rip it, the shirt that hadn't been partially ripped. That's a good time. I’ll get some water. What about young dragons, 3 years old, like to call out and allow to call out and out loud often during class. I was trying to partner with a drill she said but I can't do that. I told her she could and did it like a pro. It was something simple like holding a pad for a partner. It's amazing. How will you little kids test what their boundaries are by asking us? And quite often when they're young, they learn how they interface with the world by everyone telling them, “no, you can't do that, you can't do that, you can't do that, you can't do that”. We don't tell a lot of little kids, “yes, you can do that. yes, you can do that” because their default is to try things but they often reach an age like this where they assume, they can't do things. And now, we've got to flip it the other way.
My son was receiving his next belt. He had his arms raised and the instructor lean and wrap the belt around his waist. My son reached over and said “tickle, tickle” trying to tickle the instructor's uniform. These are phenomenal. Hello. All right, lord. I had a student who only cared about transformers. Was it me? I had to research and learn about transformers in order to get him to understand anything. After his next test, his mom saw the huge change in the kids' effort. She asked what I did. I looked at her son and said we have to help Optimus prime, the Decepticons are coming. It's. That's great. Kudos to you Matt for getting down there with the kids and reaching them where they're at. I think that's so huge. Yeah, I agree. So, we've got our final guest of the night. Somebody that we actually already talked about today. Let's welcome, Sensei Ando. And there he is with...
Sensei Ando Mierzwa:
Good evening.
Jeremy Lesniak:
With that smile. How are you my friend?
Sensei Ando Mierzwa:
How are you my friend? Happy new year to you and to the listeners.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Happy 2021.
Sensei Ando Mierzwa:
Woo! What did I miss? Is everybody in a good mood? You okay everybody?
Jeremy Lesniak:
I think everybody's in a good mood. I mean we had some talk stuff at the beginning but it's actually gone really well. Since we're trying to kill it. I'm thrilled with what's going on.
Sensei Ando Mierzwa:
Is it a bad form to say I'm doing great?
Jeremy Lesniak:
It’s not I. I think that's pretty on brand for you.
Sensei Ando Mierzwa:
That's right. If I came in crying and really depressed, I think I'd have to shut down the website. Yeah, I know. I'm doing very well, all things considered. Thank you. How are you?
Jeremy Lesniak:
I'm great. Just you know, just plugging along fine and finding new challenges to tackle day in and day out. You know, doing the show and all the other shows and working on a new show. And right now, just making content about the content factory.
Sensei Ando Mierzwa:
All right.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Well, you know, Gabe and I did put up a graphic of your YouTube channel earlier. You're killing it with those videos.
Sensei Ando Mierzwa:
Are you guys talking about me behind my back? What the hell?
Jeremy Lesniak:
I don't know if it's behind your back.
Sensei Ando Mierzwa:
I wasn't here.
Jeremy Lesniak:
It was public. It was live.
Sensei Ando Mierzwa:
Okay, okay. Well, I was busy, sorry about that.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay, that's okay.
Sensei Ando Mierzwa:
Yeah, thank you for noticing.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah, yeah how's all that going?
Sensei Ando Mierzwa:
Well to be honest, I mean yes technically we crossed the 300,000-subscriber mark but my views are nowhere. I don't know if you get 5 or 770 videos, you get 5 or 6 which I'm very grateful for. YouTube allowed it to be seen by people. And I'm pumping out new content. Also, they go nowhere. So, you know it's gambling.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I listened to a podcast once and the host was talking about how. You know, one out of every few videos would go really viral, a lot of it would be really low view counts and I think it was you, can you do an episode on that?
Sensei Ando Mierzwa:
Yeah, I did. I wrote down.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Don’t get bogged down that you know sometimes absolutely.
Sensei Ando Mierzwa:
Not just sometimes, most of the time. Like I said, I have 100 and I think 60 something 868 videos let's say, 6 of them, I would consider to break out like hits. 6. Now, even if I don't be spoiled and say some, you may never get one out of that. You may have 300 videos and still not have one that takes off but again your focus is on the wrong thing. If you're looking at numbers it has to be on, why are you making videos? Do you enjoy making videos? Do you think you're serving some purpose? If you do, then just put it out there because hopefully this stuff will be out there for a very long time beyond our lifespans. And at some point, you could catch fire or you just have to believe that the people who are finding it, they're the right people. And be happy with that. It's really all just a numbers game. Don't get caught up in it, have a second source of income, have another source of income and then do it if you love it.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yes, yeah. Hey, you know I like to relate everything back to martial arts into training. And you know, we show up to class and we put in the work and there's no one class that breaks out. you don't show up in class and have, maybe you do, I never had this resting powerful something, is where I suddenly said you know, I'm going to 400 classes in one. You know it's...
Sensei Ando Mierzwa:
Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Can I take issue wrap? Is that rude? You're the host.
Jeremy Lesniak:
No, go for it.
Sensei Ando Mierzwa:
I think it's exactly the same as that. I think let's say you pump out 50 videos and then you get the breakout video. I'll look at that. I think that's exactly what most class experiences like most of us. This grind, you're not sure if you're making progress. You get frustrated and then something does happen. Where you got a point on that guy, never got a point. Suddenly the form just fuels electricity that night. And you do feel like you jumped a level and then it may take another year or whatever depending where you are. Do you have that feeling again? but I do think it's a very stepped-up plateau and a step. And a long plateau and then a step. So, I think it is a numbers game. Same thing with classes and practice. You just keep trying to think about the numbers of the results are the breakthroughs. And I want more. No, no. Just do the work, produce your content, practice and then happy things happen. Yeah. Just be around for them, don't quit.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Coming from the same place but we're saying it differently.
Sensei Ando Mierzwa:
Yeah, okay.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Hey, you are free to disagree with me if…
Sensei Ando Mierzwa:
Usually when I listen to your podcast that's all I do.
Jeremy Lesniak:
But you're listening. That's what matters.
Sensei Ando Mierzwa:
I'm a fan.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So, it is not consistent fashion. I don't know why you're on the show. Why did Gave ask you to come over? I told him I said I want to make sure that we get you on.
He said “I want the best-looking podcaster in the world” and I said “I can do that”.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Great!
Sensei Ando Mierzwa:
We're going to talk. Maybe, I don't know. actually, I talk about anything you want, what's on your mind. But the home training I know was and a topic that's been going around a lot lately
Jeremy Lesniak:
Let's talk about that, It's a subject that... Given what you do, what you've gone through, I know that you know there were some challenges with schools. You know, we talked about that.
Sensei Ando Mierzwa:
I lost my school. Yes, I closed my school.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yes. I was going to put a fine point on it but I'm not.
Sensei Ando Mierzwa:
It’s okay.
Jeremy Lesniak:
How do you see home training now? You know, obviously you're supportive of it. You're putting out videos.
Sensei Ando Mierzwa:
Heck yeah. It’s been 9 months, right? Since we all had a great time figuring out other things. Not everybody. Some people, I still see pictures all over the place of Instagram, big Brazilian jiu jitsu groups all having fun and doing belt ranks and I’m like okay but that's not my choice. I have secluded myself and play it that way. I respect my wife mostly but yeah, I had to close my school and I haven't had much contact with other human beings in 9 months. However, it's been a blessing because I find that we can often get it, I say ‘we’ because I put everybody on this, not just me, maybe this is just me. We can get trapped in our training. We have a routine in the first level of being awesome. Is that you stick to that routine, you keep showing up like we just said you grind it out. However, when you are in a routine, even a good routine, it can stop you from approaching your training in other ways that could be beneficial to you. It could accelerate some of your progress where your kind of stuck otherwise. So, training at home and taking away from partner practice has obviously given me far more time to focus just on me and I would like to say that's kind of shifted me from using kind of hackneyed terms. But like external training to internal training, I feel like I've made huge amounts of progress that I would not have made had I not been given this opportunity. Just in a sense, go off into the mountains on your own for a year and train on your own in the waterfalls, in the wilds and live off the land and do this kind of a rogue warrior thing. And I only hope the reason I started producing the videos for home workouts, what I'm hoping is that everybody's in on this. If you're not, then at least maybe the video follows me for 40 minutes. Maybe, that'll help but I do hope everyone's already figured out a way to really keep advancing because I'm on fire. I think right now, I can't wait to get back and experiment more with people to see if it sticks.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So, here's the important question that if you found that home training, that soul training to be that valuable when things do open back up, when you are able to train with people, are you going to do anything differently? Is there going to be a different balance to what your training works on?
Sensei Ando Mierzwa:
Sure. Absolutely. I mean well of course a lot will depend on the economy and how much free time I have. I have to work a little judiciously somewhere that may take up some of my time. I don't know but in an ideal world, yes, I have a far greater appreciation for some of the projects that I've been working on. And I see even increased value. I mean, I've always believed that you have to train someone your own and some with partners. Sure, there's your homework and then you come to class and you present your homework and see if it sticks. So, you're always getting feedback and you go work on something with that feedback. So, that's always been part of it but like I said, whereas before, it might drive 40 minutes to get to a Brazilian Jiu jitsu class role for an hour. You have to drive 40 minutes home if all of that time instead. I can think, you know, that I'm going to work on footwork for 3 hours. And I can do that. Well, you're going to get better at footwork for sure. Let's say, there is no downside, you're going to improve something. If you're using this time, just to keep showing up. Whatever that routine is that you weren't showing up 3 times a week for an hour in some class, grab a little drive timer, lock room time. There's no reason why you can't keep that exact same segment of time at home and fill that time with something productive. I'm getting a lot out of it. I hope everyone is good. How are you doing?
Jeremy Lesniak:
I'm kicking everything in sight. I’ve gotten…
Sensei Ando Mierzwa:
Where’s your cat? Don't you have a cat waiting?
Jeremy Lesniak:
The cat’s fine. She was in the corner. she's hanging closer to me lately. So, now, she's old. I was part of the cat anymore. She doesn't think it's funny anymore. But my major primary drill honestly that I sprinkle through the day is I'm standing here. I want to hit that spot. Okay, I can do that with a roundhouse kick easy enough okay. What's a more challenging technique to get from here to there? How do I have to leave my body, shift my feet, etc. make contact and sometimes it gets weird. Sometimes, I've got to take some funny steps and that is the thing that has been most interesting to me in my mind. Are not terribly applicable to trading space but it works. You know anything is better than nothing.
Sensei Ando Mierzwa:
If I may, the word that really struck my ear, there as the best word was ‘weird’. And that to me, is exactly what I'm talking about being trapped in our normal training because when you go to class you are rigid whatever your situation was, when you go there, you have an expectation always. Does it make your forms look a certain way because the teachers are watching, where your fellow senior students say what you want, your next, you have to do this and that. You always kind of work within this template and anything that's outside of that template is weird, wrong, you got to be corrected, you got to stop that we train at home and your teachers are not watching, and your senior students, no peer pressure. You're trying to impress the new people. All of that's gone. You are kind of like just dancing in the dark that allows you the freedom to be what might feel as weird at first but then you find out it's not weird. That's you. You're the weirdo and at some point, that doesn't mean anything to you anymore because you're just moving and exploring and connecting with your moves in a way that you probably didn't, if you're only practicing or mostly practicing in front of other people. Where there are templates and expectations. So, I'm a huge fan of again for this homework out stuff because no one 's watching. You take advantage of that and be weird, try stuff that you've never tried before. Fall, fail. There's no pressure except for what you're giving yourself in this ultimate fight and it's not a bit about you versus other people. It's you versus you. So, if you can't even train on your own and try new stuff and it'll be weird on your own, then you really got a problem.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I agree. I agree. If we have people watching or listening, we are familiar with what you do? Where would they find you and your podcasts and videos, etc.?
Sensei Ando Mierzwa:
Hopefully, if just typing ‘Ando’ in Google will bring me up. That would be nice. I'm not sure. happylifemartialartssenseiando.com or fightforhappylife.com, I got some free weekly workouts every Sunday into 40-minute workouts on YouTube. I really don’t watch email. I don't care, come on let's just, we're starting with some basics and they're going to get a little more intense but yeah, I hope everyone's working out at home. And making the most of these opportunities that we have we didn't ask for.
Jeremy Lesniak:
But we got it, so, let's make the most of making lemons out of lemonade.
Sensei Ando Mierzwa:
Well, wait a minute. Is that right?
Jeremy Lesniak:
Lemonade out of lemons.
Sensei Ando Mierzwa:
Hey, you do it either way. You need to make what? Lemon?
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah, yeah that'll make a... Thanks for coming. Happy New Year my friend.
Sensei Ando Mierzwa:
Happy New Year
Jeremy Lesniak:
Talk to you soon. Bye.
Sensei Ando Mierzwa:
Bye.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Can you say that I'm getting tired? Man. What is happening? What is going on? Always great talking Ando. What a great guy, good friend and you know just again, you know, one of the things I appreciate most about him and you saw right? The ability for us to have a conversation to kind of disagree in the moment and do so in a conversational respectful way. And that's one of the things I appreciate. I appreciate him most. It’s the reason I listen to his podcast. I don't listen to all the martial arts podcasts. There are too many of them and not all of them are good but the one that I feel keeps me challenged to keep the show advancing, is his show for a happy life. Do we have time to do the trivia? I was looking forward to that as it will do trivia. No one will, we'll call it a night? Okay, all right. So, the last what? 2 episodes. We had trivia. I had to get through a certain number of questions over as many as I could. Determine a time. Gabe’s flipping it on me this time. I have to get to your twenties as quickly as I can. And apparently, Gabe’s wife Jenny, got through. All of them and 14 of them right in a minute 32. So, no pressure there. How do I know if you put these questions together? How do I know that you didn't give her inside access? This feels rigged. All right, let's do it. There's even a timer in the corner. I'm going to read the question then give my answer. What book is considered the Bible of karate? The Bubishi. In taekwondo, what is the name for the training? [00:55:36-00:55:38]. What is a green word used to refer to a belt or rank? Pass. Name one of the Okinawan styles of karate. Isshin-ryū. What is hakama? It says this skirt often trains with kabuto. What do you call credible Japanese? An obi. Name one of the animal styles of kung fu. Mantis leopard tiger. [00:56:05-00:56:11]. What famous martial artist and actor got a starring creel stationed there with the Air Force? Chuck Norris. Who wrote the book 5 Rings? Musashi. Who is the highest-ranking court martial artist in the world? Master Ken. Usually, a Boselli is 60-long. What is it called if it's shorter? generally a Joe. Founder of Kyokushin? Maso Yamma. Famous 50-60 positions received a black belt under Parker? Elvis. [00:56:50-00:57:01] was used by the Japanese as a shield? Turtle. What is the armor called? Armoring kendo called? Kendo armor. What do you call a judo practitioner? Judoka. What is a Storey building in Tokyo dedicated to judo training? If I wasn't tired, I would get this one. Here we go. How many did I get? I don’t know what’s going on. He's going to type something. Recounting now. Some of these are going to be wrong and I wouldn’t argue. 1, 2. [00:58:08-00:58:10] Baggy pants. I'm giving myself that one and that 1, 4.5,6,7,8,9,10,11, 12, 13 14, 15, 16, 17 for how long? What was the time? 205. Right. I don't know if the priority was to get it right or time but I'll take it. Well, that was fun. You know I was going to get that rough one. That was a rough one. Yeah, yeah. I've got like half a dozen words, Portuguese words from my time. A couple of what lodged in my head. That's fortunately one of them. Well, I want to thank everybody for coming by watching. I do have a lot of fun doing the show. I appreciate all of you coming in and watching, listening. I have no idea what went on in the chat today. That was something that I felt completely detached from. Do we have people watching, Gabe? Yes, okay good. What are they talking about? Their conversation had to be good. Do they all hate me? No, there's no hatred. Good. We'll do it again in February. So, if you want to get more involved, do search for whistlekick live or go to the whistlekick Facebook page. Look at the events. You'll see it. We'll put another one up for season 2 episode 5 and that’s it. So, thank you. I appreciate you all. Support the patreon. You can help offset the costs and all this stuff. Shout out to Craig and Lessy and Ando for coming on. Shoutout to Gabe. Shoutout to Frank. Shoutout to Jenny and Matt and everybody else to make the show possible. I'm going to go ahead and take care everybody.