That was the cuddle princess who sometimes make baby noises.
So now you know who makes them if you wonder what the sounds are in the background.
So anyway, this is my weekly book review and I read American Karate by Kyle Mitchem as I showed in the wild hunt video.
So basically I have another notebook full of little notes I took whilst reading the book.
So I found it really interesting.
The first part especially when he talks a bit about the MacDojo's unrealistic expectations, false sense of securities etc.
The second part is more about proper technique etc.
Has some tie boxing as well so thumbs up from me.
Now I'm Swedish for those of you who are just stumbling upon this video and this is obviously from an American perspective.
So it was interesting to see the differences between the two.
I've never really been into karate.
I watched, of course, Karate Kid when I was small and thought they were cool etc.
But I never really got into karate and tie boxing was more appealing to me when I came into my teens.
And I think tie boxing might be a bit more ingrained in Swedish culture over the last 20 or 30 years or so because, you know, a lot of Swedes have gone to Thailand for a vacation etc.
And it's a cool thing to do, whereas the United States have a closer tie to Japan because of war and trade etc.
So I think karate came to America before it came to Sweden and thus have a you know more.
It's more popular there.
Karate is, of course, common in Sweden too, but I'm just pointing it out there.
So basically, what I really liked with the book was the dismantling of Macdojos.
And when I say MacDojo is basically, you see a guy who has a club, a martial arts club, and he's a black belt and he has thinks he's really good etc.
But then he maybe he's fat etc.
He can't post physique and then, of course, if he can't really translate his skills into action, it doesn't really count for much.
So yeah, the author here is more focused on the no-nonsense style of karate.
So here you can see two karate practitioners, both wearing black belts for some reason and, as you might see, they have absolutely no clue what they are doing.
So I'll read a few quotes from the book to explain this a bit better.
So first and foremost in regards to the term self-defense I quote the author.
Many people seem to believe karate styles or martial arts in general are only for self-defense.
Martial arts isn't the way of self-defense.
It's the art of combat and warfare.
Yeah this is completely correct and again if we're talking about self-defense I put self-defense in the title of origin video.
When I say it it's because it sounds a bit better.
It sounds a bit more a bit less aggressive.
Same thing if you want to market a martial arts or a club to parents who will put their children in it.
You don't want to put extreme violence.
You want to put self-defense.
But of course if we're being realistic with ourselves you need to be able to attack an opponent as well.
Imagine if you're seeing an old woman being harassed on the street.
If you want to step in, yeah, you need to be the aggressor there.
You need to come in with some heavy blows or knees or a takedown or whatever it might be.
So, when we say self-defense, it's quite misleading because martial arts is not about just expecting an opponent to come at you.
You also need to take the offensive sometimes.
So, that was a good clarification in the beginning of the book.
Then, also, he talks a bit about the staleness of tradition in certain martial arts that you stick to something just for the sake of it.
But when MMA came into the scene, you saw what worked and what didn't work.
So, it can be a good idea now to cut out all of the things that do not really aid you in, you know, self-defense, if we were to use that term, but you know, street fighting basically, or MMA fighting, or whatever it might be.
Then, also, you know, different people they train for different reasons.
Some they really enjoy the traditional aspects of it because they're interested in Japanese culture or history, etc., and it's completely fine.
There is nothing wrong with it at all.
Some guys want to compete actively in karate or they want to compete in taekwondo.
But if you're there for self-defense, if you're there for street fighting, etc., or whatever we shall call it, it's important to distinguish between the different techniques.
Will this work in a predicament or will it not?
So, yeah, interesting and important clarifications right there.
Then, the author talks a bit about belts, you know, giving belts to children, basically.
So, you see parents coming to pay the tuition for a club, they want to see results, and the results are that the child gets a new belt and say, like, oh, now I have trained here, and here is my results.
But doing this gives, can give at least, a false sense of security.
If you have a child who can get a junior black belt and then he thinks he's good at defending himself, not really the case because he's still a child.
Or if you only know the techniques, only theoretical techniques, and then you say, Oh, I have this belt, or I've trained for this long, but you can't really apply it in practice, and you think you're really good.
And then, again, as I said in my tough guys video, then an aggressive boxer comes at you and punches you in the face, and you're completely you don't know what happened because you've only trained the theoretical.
So, that's why you know sparring is important.
So, you know what happens if an object comes to your face, in this case, a fist or something, so you learn how to deal with it.
And this, of course, it's something you have to train up so you don't get completely in shock when something hits you.
So, the false sense of security, huge to point to, especially if you have this sort of belt system.
I'm not a fan of belts in the list, I think your skill is determined in how well you can actually apply it into practice.
Because martial arts, etc., it is about violence at the end of the day.
It is theoretical to some degree, but at the end of the day, it's how well you can fight, basically.
Then, he also talks a bit about clubs and coaches, etc.
So, for example, if you lead, people will expect to see your abilities.
It's an unavoidable fact of being a leader of any type.
You need not even be a teacher, though all teachers are recognized as leaders.
If others see you as a leader, then you are one.
Again, in terms of MacDojos, etc., you see a guy who's clearly unfit and he isn't really put to the test.
Yeah, why should others learn from him?
I've competed, I've gone one MMA match and that was primarily so I had more gravitas in teaching others because that's ultimately what I wanted to do.
I wanted to teach other guys how to better take care of themselves in a rough environment, which we are now in Sweden for example.
So you see it is good to have that sort of experience.
Now of course you can be a great coach anyway, but it lends a bit more gravitas if you actually have some something to back it up.
It's the same thing when I make Gainst Kitchen videos or training videos.
Yeah, you listen to me because I have, you know, clearly, clearly know how to apply it in practice.
And then also in terms of technique, and I touched briefly on this in my video, and I quote the author here.
Most of these vital strikes don't work.
Why?
They might work against someone who is standing motionless in class, relaxed, waiting to be hit.
They don't work against another fighter who is not going to stand still, much less when you get close to them.
Very good point.
Absolutely correct.
You need to, and this is also why sparring is good to do every once in a while because you know what?
Hitting pads is great.
Making techniques, etc., absolutely great, but you also need to be able to get a sense of what it's like to translate it into an actual predicament.
Same thing if you're rolling in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu or grappling Nogi.
Absolutely great way to just get a feel.
Would this work?
Does it feel natural to implement this technique in a situation?
So absolutely good point as well.
Again, he takes issue with his sort of nonsense, secret traditional techniques.
So yeah, it's a no-nonsense book.
And then the author goes on to talk a bit about teachers, etc.
And he quotes, a serious teacher never teaches for money.
I've never heard this quote myself, but I'm sure someone might have had.
And he takes issue with this, of course, as do I. I'm sure you've heard that one before.
Someone teaching for free must have a primary occupation that is not martial arts instruction.
And how serious can they be when most of their time is spent working for their day job?
This applies to anything in life really.
If you want to do something professionally, if you want to do something to the best of your abilities, you need to make money from it.
It's commendable if you do it in the beginning.
I've certainly coached guys for free in the past, but if you want to do it professionally, you need to charge money, simple as that.
Then of course, exceptions exist.
I've coached for free because I know the guys I've coached are the guys who will probably need those skills if they stand next to me in certain predicaments.
Yeah, as I said, we live in Gotham City, multicultural Gotham city, so you never know when it comes in handy.
But if we're just talking about this, doing something full-time, yeah, you need to make money, simple as that.
And there's absolutely nothing wrong with doing that.
So next point I wanted to briefly talk about is visualization.
He talks about it's good to visualize a situation.
You know, Conor McGregor talks a lot about this as well.
He visualizes everything he does, everything, how he moves in the octagon, how everything will develop.
Then you will be more ready.
If your mind is ready for something, your body will actually be more ready for it as well.
This is also when I train, you know, only in the gym.
I try to visualize the lift, the bench press, for example.
And the same thing if I focus more on grappling.
If we've done a technique in training, I try to visualize it again to really cement it in my mind.
Now another note that is somewhat related here is that if you have a vision in your head, you can have an actual physical response to it.
So if you think about all the things that are wrong in the world, you get angry and you get the opposite or relaxed, so to speak, and then you try to sleep.
Not a good combination.
So point being, if you're on Twitter, it might be good to not scroll through Twitter, see a lot of black pills before going to bed, because then your body will respond with a lot of stress hormones, etc.
So it's a quick note throwing it out there.
And then a last note as well is in terms of strict predicaments, etc., situational awareness is huge to get out of trouble or stay on top of trouble in certain predicaments.
So yeah, the book contains more gems of wisdom, but I just wanted to talk about these things.
