SPEAKER_01 0:38

Welcome to their fight.

SPEAKER_02 0:43

Hey Steve, how are you doing?

SPEAKER_04 0:44

I'm good, Patrick. How are you?

SPEAKER_02 0:46

I'm doing good. We've got a great guest today, Tim. Um we're happy to have you with us. Uh I know we don't want to go over uh a long story, but do you want to give us an idea, give our audience an idea of where you're from and what you do?

SPEAKER_00 0:59

I'm in a suburb of Buffalo, New York. Uh I've been doing Filipino martial arts since 1985. I do it as a primary, not a secondary or tertiary system. I was a direct student of the late Grandmaster Remy Precis. And uh I do a little social media once in a while.

SPEAKER_02 1:19

Very cool.

SPEAKER_04 1:23

Okay. So uh, Datu, the big question for this podcast, and with you as an authority on Filipino martial arts specifically in terms of uh Grandmaster Preces' style and in general, what do the Filipino martial arts teach us about how to make things unfair for our opponents?

SPEAKER_00 1:42

Well, uh to me there is no such thing as unfair. Uh it's all about making it home. And what gives us the advantage is that we're more of a conceptual program than a rote learned program. So where's a lot of innovation and uh adapting, and the concepts work just as well armed as unarmed, which a lot of people don't necessarily realize that, but um, you know, it is what it is.

SPEAKER_04 2:14

So tell us what you mean about conceptual. How would you describe that to the lame listener?

SPEAKER_00 2:21

Well, uh, we use formulas that reapply things. So let's say uh well, let's say I happen to have a weapon nearby. Oh, wait a minute, I do. It's a letter letter opener. Um, so let's say an attack came in, a swing, it could be a blade, a stick, someone trying to trying to throw a punch. And I'm not saying I would use a knife to defend myself against someone unarmed unless there was a need for it. But when something comes out, I can intercept, I can grab, and I can counter. I can do that with a stick, I can do that with a blade, I can do that open-handed. So uh we are not a rote learn system. We use specific techniques to teach concepts, and then we give people opportunities and options to innovate from there.

SPEAKER_04 3:11

Innovate meaning uh take what you've taught them and apply it to their own circumstances?

SPEAKER_00 3:18

Yeah, well, like you know, one of the things here is um it's okay, we do trapping hands, the big thing to us. It'll be slap, grab, and hit. Well, why does the hit have to be a back fist? That's the first thing we're taught. Why can't it be a hammer fist? Why can't it be elbow? Why can't it be a knee? Why can't it be a kick? So we teach the system the methodology, but you know, and I look at martial arts this way: there's the martial system and then there's martial style. Style is your swagger, the way you express yourself, the way you wear your hair, the way you talk and walk and dress and stuff of that nature. So you may have three people that learn a martial system from the same teacher, but one may really go more towards punching. Another person may be more towards kicker. Then you have another person who may be more well-rounded. Um, you know, you go to an MMA gym, you have, and we know there's no system of MMA. MMA is a sport, not a style, because you go and you, I will, here's the striking coach, here's the grappling coach, here's the this, here's the that.

SPEAKER_02 4:18

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

You know, you go in, I'm like, I'm more of a stand-up striker. I want to be that. Other people, you know, they might want to be cuddle with each other, and that's all good. Ergo the social media part of me.

SPEAKER_02 4:32

Well, it's so in in in the more traditional martial arts, we to typically wait until somebody has shown some level of mastery before they're they're encouraged to personalize. Do you know where does that bar come with in your training?

SPEAKER_00 4:46

Within the first year.

SPEAKER_02 4:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 4:48

Actually, it could even be in the first class.

SPEAKER_02 4:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 4:52

Although I will tell you, it is better to give them specific examples to start with. So, you know, when I started, everything was so our our main thing with the stick is called block check. I don't have a stick, but I do have big knives around the table. You have a lot of knives.

SPEAKER_02 5:10

Yes, I noticed that.

SPEAKER_00 5:13

Yeah, I have a few. So edge and impact weapons, that's my specialty. So we would do a thing called block check counter. We still do. So it block, grab, and then hit somewhere. Block, grab, hit somewhere else. Then you could hit with any of the 12 angles of attack. You could punya or the butt strike, whatever. So when I used to say, guys, you could just right from the beginning, just do whatever you want. People were hesitant because they didn't want to do something wrong. However, they could innovate quicker than most people. So what I would do was I've since then I said, all right, here's what we're gonna do. I'm going to give them a specific direction. So now I go block, grab, hit the leg, block, grab, hit the leg, block, grab, hit the leg. Once they're comfortable with that formula, now I'll sit there and say, hit somewhere else afterwards. Get another. Well, how? You know, you've been around. Well, figure out your favorite strike on this side, favorite strike on that side, and go from there. And then sometimes they go right for the head, you know, sometimes they go for the ribs, sometimes, but they got that one, two, three, and then from there we go, all right, well, let's let's change up, you know, like I said, it could be a hammer fist, it could be palm, it could be uh whatever you want to put in there. Like I said, I like elbows and knees, you know. So, but I might give them examples from day one, but usually probably three to six months down the road, that's when we really start to to push it more. But when I teach a new concept or new technique to using a new technique to show a concept, I will give them a very specific example. You know, follow it my way. Let's get this down and then rebuild it for yourself as we go. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:58

Now, when you're trying to figure out how to ask this question, when we start applying this to the subject of self-defense, legally there needs to be a threat. We also know that generally the person who hits first has a significant advantage. So, what do the Filipino martial arts teach about that? And I think I can probably guess what the answer is going to be.

SPEAKER_00 7:25

Hit first. That's what I thought. Well, I mean, listen, it's it's it's not a black and white answer, unfortunately. You know, um there's so many different things. Lately, uh, so I've been talking to my students about this uh as of late because um there have been some things in the news that that people have seen. And um unfortunately people uh are a little confused about what self-defense actually is. And um, you know. I I don't want to use I I hate using modern like so we have the uh Carmela Anthony situation where the kid um the kid used you know was used lethal force to to allegedly protect himself when there was no physical threat there.

SPEAKER_02 8:22

I I don't I'm not familiar with this case, unfortunately. Is it is it a New York case?

SPEAKER_00 8:26

This is in Texas.

SPEAKER_02 8:28

Oh, in Texas.

SPEAKER_00 8:29

Uh it actually uh they just the the the everyone's made into a race situation. It's not a race situation, uh, because there was minorities on the oh this is the kid that uh the the Texas team? Yes he went into the other opposing dugout and then not dugout, it was a it was an open tent that you could walk in and out of no problem.

SPEAKER_02 8:50

And he got shoved and then he stabbed the the kid who shoved him.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

He provoked he provoked everybody, uh had a knife in his bag, which was illegal, had his hand in the bag.

SPEAKER_02 9:03

Prepared, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:04

Touch me, see what happens. So his see what happens was pull a knife out and stab. He was never in, you know, he was never in danger of mortal danger. And the thing here too is, and I don't care because people said, Oh, it's a stand-your ground state, doesn't matter as someone who specializes in what we do, the door is the best way to go. He had plenty of exits, yeah. And it wasn't when they say it was raining, and that's why I was under the tent, there was hardly any rain going on. Uh yeah, people they showed footage of people walking around, but furthermore, it wasn't his tent. They have their own teams, they're supposed to go places. They kept asking to leave. He refused, and he was very according to testimony. He was uh he provoked the situation. You can't start a fight and claim self-defense.

SPEAKER_02 9:52

True.

SPEAKER_04 9:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:54

So that's a lot of so like right now, we've been focusing about those things. They go, listen, if there's an exit, you really gotta take it. Yeah, that's that's really the the thing here. You know, you can call me any name in the book. I've been called every name in the book. I'm the only one that gives any of those words power. So if I just sit there and you know, my job is to make it home to my family every time. That's what I do.

SPEAKER_02 10:19

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 10:20

Have I laid hands on people? Yeah, I've done that. I'm still here.

SPEAKER_02 10:25

Right.

SPEAKER_00 10:26

Because I know when to walk away.

SPEAKER_02 10:28

I and you know, the stand stand your ground laws, whatever you think of them, they're they're really meant to for you to be able to stand your ground in places you're supposed to be.

SPEAKER_04 10:38

Yes. So to look a little more broadly in terms of Filipino martial arts, what do they bring to the table when we're talking about making self-defense unfair in our favor?

SPEAKER_00 10:54

Well, when it makes sense, there's probably not a better system that uses edge and or impact weapons.

SPEAKER_03 11:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:03

Uh, we can pretty much touch anything and utilize this as a force multiplier. You know, the fortunately, everything on my desk is a freaking weapon. So let me uh hold on, hold on. Let me uh I can take my rope. I can I got my remote. I can do that. Um I've got my magic marker. Here's always a good one. This will get through all the metal detectors, um, my keychains and stuff of that nature. You know, um this is this is basically a Yawara or uh doodle doodle, but this could easily be a flashlight. Uh I keep uh I usually have uh pens and flashlights with me, depending on which parent pants I'm wearing, because I like having my own stuff when I'm out and about. Long before COVID, I like having my own pen. I like signing something like, oh, and you sign it's fine, boom. Um you know, I'm not a germaphobe, I just like having my own pen that I know that works. Now, does my pen happen to be a tactical pen? Sure. Yeah, is it any more lethal than anything else? No, I could I could do the same amount of damage with a pencil, with a wooden pencil.

SPEAKER_02 12:10

I mean cheap pick. Yeah. When when the Kubaton was popularized, that was something that a lot of people kind of was an eye-opener for a lot of people, that you could take something so small and and do so much with it. And it it seems like that's something that seemed like it would have emerged out of the Filipino arts more than it would from the Japanese.

SPEAKER_00 12:30

Uh we had the Dulo Dulo, but I don't know if the Dulo Dulo was a thing or was a copy of the Cubitan.

SPEAKER_03 12:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 12:37

Um you know, the the problem with Filipino martial arts is more is they were occupied by by 400 years of Spanish occupation, if not more. A lot of their history was erased, you know. So it's kind of hard to it's kind of hard to find out what's actually legit and what isn't.

SPEAKER_02 12:54

Um however, Okinawans have the same problem.

SPEAKER_00 12:58

Yeah. However, you know, um doesn't matter who who came up with this, they they know how to use things. So yeah, I use I can use this as a force multiplier. There's a whole bunch of things I could do with this. And I think that's the strength of the Filipino martial arts is that anything we touch, we can utilize if need be. And but the thing here is, at least my Filipino martial art, I don't need this to defend myself. I've got these. Um the problem I see with Filipino martial arts as a whole is that sometimes people forget that there's other tools out there, and um and and they and their own tools are the ones that they should be focusing on every day. To me, the weapon is the last thing. Now, I'm 61 years old. Um, I've got a bad I've got I've had reconstruction surgery and uh got an issue with my knee from a car accident, nothing to do martial art related. Um, I do have I have no problem though picking something up and hitting someone to defend myself because I'm a senior citizen. And if it's another senior citizen, I'll just punch him in the face.

SPEAKER_02 14:03

You know whatever protected class.

SPEAKER_00 14:05

But but most likely I'm not during COVID, I was misidentified as a police officer. And I got into it with somebody who followed me into a parking lot. I put me in in between my the passenger and myself. Um and the comment was I don't care that you're a cop. Call me a cracker and all this other stuff. I'm not a police officer. I've worked for them uh doing enrichment programs down at one of the academies, but I'm not a cop, which made me wonder what was going on because that was the height of BLM. Yeah, TSA agents were being harassed, driving home from work in their TSA uniforms because people were stupid and didn't understand that TSA had nothing to do with law enforcement, they just saw a uniform and they'd honk them or spit at him or throw stuff at him or yell out names and stuff like that. Um, you know, so um what you know, so there's just just a lot of stupidity out there, you know, and uh people don't understand. But like this guy came in the parking lot, I had a knife on me, I was ready to go. I didn't pull it out. I bladed, made sure that I could deal with the the kid what the kid was half my age. Yeah, you know, so well, I mean, and I'm looking at eyes, knees, throat, you know, elbows, knees, head butts, keeping it real simple. Um, kid was most likely stronger than me, which meant I had to come in close or stay away. So if I come in close, I gotta negate those punches. And that's the only thing I'm really worried about in the street, because less than one percent of the population does martial arts. So my strategy is all about somebody who I'm actually gonna get in a conflict with. Not some, not some mythological um fictional character that we watched Enter the Dragon one too many times, although I don't think you can watch it one too many times, but thinking that you're gonna have this showdown, and uh, you know, at the end of the day, it's gonna be a haymaker type punch. So now I do practice strategies against other trained martial artists because that heightens my skill. But you know, uh, I I one of the one my for those who haven't seen my video, look up the video I've put out there saying that that uh the UFC is not real. I talk about real context or real contact, not real, and then how they don't have real context. And here's the way, and there's gonna be a third video on this, it's gonna be real simple. When you go into a sports competition, you're not worrying about whether you're making it home to your family that night.

SPEAKER_03 16:42

Right.

SPEAKER_00 16:44

I've been in situations where I didn't think I was gonna make it home. I've been strangled, I've been choked, I've been I some guy tried to drown me.

SPEAKER_02 16:52

Um you're a popular guy.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:57

Well, so you you bring up an excellent point, which is if if you're in a combat situation, any any kind of situation, if you have any restraint at all, you put yourself at a disadvantage. Because, like the younger attacker, you might have the thing, well, you know, they're they're ignorant, but I'm gonna try to keep them from being hurt, that puts you at a much bigger disadvantage because you're trying you're playing to disable or or stop when they're they're probably playing to kill.

SPEAKER_00 17:27

So my mindset and what I talk to my students about, and I tell them they have to always make up their own mind because I I'm not gonna be there, they gotta fight their own battles. My my mindset is is always to make it home to my family every night.

SPEAKER_03 17:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:41

So uh I no, I have no problem with someone making fun of me, and I'll just take that. Fine, call me, call me a pussy, call me this, call me that, whatever you want. You don't like my hair, you don't like what? Yeah, you know, yeah, we were the generation that talked about sticks and stones will break your bones. But you know, um, but I also do sticks and I can break your bones. Um so but the thing here is you know, my if someone assaults me, my mindset is to cause as much pain as humanly possible, that they never do it again without causing permanent damage. To me, that's when you're hurting somebody. Pain is temporary, it goes away. Uh when I hurt someone, to me, in my mindset, that's damaging them. So I don't want to break or maim or stuff like that. However, once a weapon is involved, that concern is no longer in my mindset. Yeah, it's all about making it home by any means possible. Now, I'm not trying to take a life. By no means am I saying that. What I'm saying is if they get hurt, that's on them.

unknown 18:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:50

I I'm I'm my if there's a weapon in the mix, I'm sorry. You've just you've just taken off all the safety factors that I would have thought about. If I can do it without hurting somebody and causing permanent damage, I'm all for that. However, I don't know if I'm gonna have that opportunity. I don't think it merits that.

SPEAKER_02 19:10

I I think another aspect of that is and and the thing that probably enables that is when you have multiple attackers, like if there are three people surround you, you really can't, you've got to go full full gun. If they are using a weapon or or in countering, or or there's they're just there's an advantage there. In jujitsu, in Brazilian jujitsu, it's popularized that when you give up 10 years or it's it's 10 it's 10 years and 20 pounds, then you basically give up a rank. And and so, you know, you as you say, you've got to get back home, and that's that's I we know we used to say in the 80s, I'd rather be judged by 12 than carried by six. Um so I I get your point exactly. But there are no fair fights. That's the whole idea here is that you there's always your there's always a difference in you know how far someone's willing to go and all that stuff, and you can't take that stuff for granted.

SPEAKER_00 20:07

Someone's bigger, some is stronger, there's more numbers, they're better better armed.

SPEAKER_02 20:11

Yeah, you know, it's an ambush.

SPEAKER_00 20:13

This is not consensual combat, this is not a UFC match, which is make polite fighting. Very, very hard contact. No, no question it's full contact. But there's regulations, you've got safety equipment, um, there's referees keeping things going on. You can throw in a towel, they're on a soft mat, it's in a caged area, so no other people can jump in.

SPEAKER_02 20:42

They tap.

SPEAKER_00 20:45

You're not worried about glass on the ground.

SPEAKER_02 20:49

I'd go see that fight.

SPEAKER_00 20:52

I don't know. I keep getting challenges about this stuff. You might, by the way, these people are talking. All right, well, I'm still here.

SPEAKER_04 20:59

So to go specific again for a minute, we've been talking about multiple attackers. In your teaching, what do you teach? How do you conceptually approach the problem of multiple attackers?

SPEAKER_00 21:15

Well, that is a hard one. Um, you know, um we do scenario training. So we'll I'll I have my kids, you know, before they go for their junior black belt, which just means they've had graduated to the adult program. Um they they are go suit through multiple opponents where they fight one person, then two people, then three people, then four people at a time, depending on the size and stuff of that nature, who the person is. Uh the big thing is you if you're forced and you I mean, the first thing you gotta go, gotta go. This the whole exercise to tell them how out how how. How um how bad the odds are against them. Because really, you don't win, you win a multiple opponent scenario by getting out of the scenario.

SPEAKER_03 22:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:10

You know, there's stuff about movies. I mean, you know, that worked because there's a script. You know? I I I love Mr. Norris, but it wasn't that bad. Bruce Lee wasn't that bad. You know, they you you take, you know, you know, you do those fights using Bruce as the example, how he beats up all these people. It's funny how they only come at him one at a time.

SPEAKER_03 22:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:31

You would think there might be following a script. Oh, wait a minute. It's a movie. Of course it's a script. Um, I've been jumped. It is not a fun situation. Um, and I won the encounter by surviving the encounter, not kicking ass and taking aims. That's that's that's crap.

SPEAKER_03 22:48

Right.

SPEAKER_00 22:49

Yeah. Uh could I have are there situations where I where I felt that I could have dropped the two people in front of me? Sure. There's been situations where I'm like, yeah, you guys, if you if you step over the line, this is not gonna go well for you. And being mad and in a situation that I could have justified based on how things were, and I couldn't the exit was on the opposite side of them. You know, so once again, I'm cornered where I didn't have an option. So I'm thinking, all right, if this if they lay hands on me, this is going to be a very rough situation, and I'm gonna make it a very rough situation for them. And I have pulled hair, poked eyes, fish hooked, bit people. Um, you know, I this I was getting choked out one time, or I was getting choked, not choked out. Choked out means it was a uh grappling match, consensual. Uh and I bit the guy because it was the only way I could, you know what I was supposed to do? The only thing I had access to, and I bit him. Okay. Um, you know, it it wasn't a match. If it's a match, I wouldn't have been doing that stuff.

SPEAKER_02 23:54

Right.

SPEAKER_00 23:54

I have I been tapped out on the mats? Sure, I've been tapped out on the mats. But um I'm not you don't do that in the street.

SPEAKER_02 24:02

No. We always we have a saying in the military, um, I was I'm ex-army, and it was uh no plan survives contact with the enemy. And so even if you've got the pit the way to take people down, out is the best option. Because you never know. Funny bounce, somebody you you could you could take somebody out that has no chance against you, and on their on their dying flail, they take your eye out by accident. So there's there's no benefit to uh to exploiting the uh their weaknesses if you can just get away from it. I like I love that attitude. I think that's the right way to look at it.

SPEAKER_00 24:36

Staying, listen, there's three reasons why you stay and engage. The first, real simple, the exit's cut off. Second, you're protecting people that can't protect themselves. Third, it's your job, military and law enforcement. Even then, if they're insurpassable odds, you disengage, regroup, and come back with superior numbers and tactics.

SPEAKER_02 24:58

Right.

SPEAKER_00 24:58

What does that mean? Run away.

SPEAKER_02 25:03

Strategic retreat, we prefer.

SPEAKER_00 25:05

Strategic retreat. All right, but you know, the but the end of the day is there's there's a friend of mine went out up in uh Niagara Falls, we're on the we're on the Canadian border, drinking aids cheaper over there, went across, went out drinking, him and his buddy got jumped, his buddy didn't make it home. He got sucker punched, had hit the ground, that was it.

SPEAKER_02 25:27

Damn.

SPEAKER_00 25:28

You know, and now you you you take all the what we do and put it in a violent confrontation. How bad could that go? Shit can go sideways so easy.

SPEAKER_03 25:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:41

But most of the people that make comments like this never been in a fight, never lay hands on anybody. All they've done is played in the dojo where there was uh point karate, kickboxing, mma, bj, but they're white-collar combat combatants, you know. They just they do all the exercises, but they've never really applied the thing. And, you know, and would I want someone who's very skilled at that is to have my back, sure. But I'd have to be the general or the commander making the call saying we're leaving, you know, because I've got a lot of street experience. I grew up in an, you know, I grew up in South Buffalo, which it's like the south of any area.

SPEAKER_02 26:22

Right. Yeah, you know, and um just stopped at South.

SPEAKER_00 26:25

Yeah. So we hang out, we see what's going on, we assess the situation. Whether, whether I was involved or witnessed, I mean, I've been I've been uh a victim and a witness of violence throughout my life. And whether someone going hands-on with me or watching things blow up at a moment's notice, I've seen more action than have actually been in there. I'm not gonna, by no means am I gonna try to say I'm some of this, you know, John Wick type nonsense. But the thing here is that being around it, you learn things. Whether you're in, and I'm not saying that's how I became a martial artist. Uh, what I'm saying is there's something about knowing when to hit the door, getting the signs, oh, that guy's about to get lit up. Watching one two people square off and watching his buddies come around the side to throw a sucker punch at him. I'm like, you know, oh, that's not fair. People are pussies. Yeah, well, that's the way life is. Yeah, you know, and if you're walking around thinking that it's gonna be fair, well, you you're a clueless freaking moron.

SPEAKER_02 27:31

Yeah, or you you've never been in a bad neighborhood.

SPEAKER_04 27:35

I think that's probably the best summary. Uh Dati, this has been really quite interesting. I want to throw one last question at you. I'm gonna change gears just because we have you. Um, your teacher, Remy, is one of the most impressive martial artists that I've ever seen. I would like to ask you, what do you think people understand the least about him? About uh Remy and his teaching.

SPEAKER_00 28:02

Uh well. We don't have that much time. No, um it's I think it's more the saying. I'm not gonna say, you know, listen, I would say 95% of the people practiced the art within your art, which meant they were cross-trainers. I ran a full-time I at the time of his passing, I'm the only one that had a full-time modern earnest school. Um, I've got the longest-running Filipino martial arts school. I started in Filipino martial arts, I didn't start in karate switching over. So my perception of things were a lot different than my classmates who were doing karate in Taekwondo first. So I want to preface that before the rest of this. So when I hear the saying of make it your own, because he used to, oh no, learn this and make it your own. Uh it's about adding your style to it, not mixing everything under the sun with it. You know, okay, uh, you know, like going back to the trapping hands, slap, grab, hit. Oh, I'm more of an elbow guy, I'm more of a headbutt guy, I'm more of a knee guy. All right, it's the same formula, and we can we can have he wanted us all to be able to innovate and make it our own, have our own personal style thumbprint on this. Um, however, what a lot of people go to say now is that oh, making it your own is blending with all these other different things. There's no need to blend it, there's plenty there. Uh, there's no patchwork needed. You just need to do your work. And I'm and I'm and when I say this, I'm not trying to sell those who've done the art within your art methodology. It's just trust me, someone who's done all the flight time as a standalone system. I I might have a little leg up on some of these others knowing what the art actually is. You know, like I do other systems, I cross-train, and I always defer to my classmates in that system because they're in it full time, I'm just there part-time, and that's what cross-training is. You're doing a system as a secondary or tertiary art, you know. And different lens. So a lot of times I don't think they understood things because well, and the other thing too is back Remy died in 2001. Okay, we didn't have Google Translate, people didn't understand Filipino culture. Uh, we didn't have cell phones that could fit in your hand, they were in a suitcase. There was no YouTube, the internet just started, you know. So there's a lot of things that we don't have today. And when people ask, well, why, you know, how could this be? You weren't there. We were we were the stone ages in all comparison, you know.

SPEAKER_04 30:50

So all right. Well, is there anything that we haven't asked about that you would like to add to this discussion, either about Remy or the previous material on self-defense?

SPEAKER_00 31:01

Listen, the best art is the one you do, the best training, that's what it boils down to. Go out, get out there and do something. There's martial art, martial sport, martial combat. You've got to figure out what you're there for. If you're there for art, art is the artistry, the technical precision, history. It could also be you there's fitness, form, and function. Fitness, physical attributes, form, technical precision, function, what works. You may not care what works. You might be there just for the social interaction, stuff of that nature. So if you are training, be the best possible training partner for the people there. Know what you're looking for and what you're wanting to do. Talk to your teachers about this, make sure everyone's on the same page. Because a lot of times when things about things don't work and stuff like that, it's like, well, it's not that it doesn't work, it's not working what you think it's working. But you don't know if you don't have a dialogue. So if you have any questions, you gotta ask.

SPEAKER_02 31:51

And that's great. Great advice.

SPEAKER_04 31:54

Well, thank you very much. I really appreciate it here.

SPEAKER_02 31:57

And it's great to finally meet you.

SPEAKER_00 31:59

Not a problem.

SPEAKER_02 32:00

See you everybody. Thanks. Bye later.