Episode 614 - Mr. Kris Wilder
Mr. Kris Wilder is a Martial Arts practitioner, instructor, and author from Seattle.
My job (as a teacher) is to, as quickly as possible, come to some conclusion of what I believe the student’s goals would be and then to feed that. Because if I can feed that, what I can do is to remove fear and anxiety. If I can remove fear and anxiety, then I can take you to a new level where you can find that thing that you didn’t know existed…
Mr. Kris Wilder- Episode 614
Doing an interview with a podcaster is always fun because it means that anyone can ask a question, anytime. Mr. Kris Wilder certainly lived up to that he made the episode more dynamic throwing great questions to Jeremy. In this episode, Mr. Kris Wilder talks about his fascination with Johnny Quest as a child as well as his passion for teaching Martial Arts.
Mr. Kris Wilder is a former competitor on Taekwondo, Judo, and Goju-Ryu Karate. He is teaching Martial Arts at West Seattle Karate Academy, written a couple of books including the 10 Rules of Karate, and hosts his own Podcasts The Back Channel and Martial Arts & Life Podcast.
Show Notes
In this episode, we mentioned Iain Abernathy
You can reach out and find more About Mr. Kris Wilder on Kriswilder.com or Kriswildercourses.teachable.com or Stickmanpublications.com
Mr. Kris Wilder
Show Transcript
You can read the transcript below.
Jeremy Lesniak:
What's up, everybody? Welcome. This is whistlekick Martial Arts Radio, Episode 614. With today's guest, Kris Wilder. I'm Jeremy Lesniak, I'm your host here for the show founder of whistlekick, I love martial arts. And that's why everything we do is in support of the traditional martial arts community worldwide. What does that mean? Well, go to whistlekick.com, that's where you're going to find all the things that we're working on. And one of the things that we work on, we have a store, we have some products, it's one of the ways that we monetize this show and the other things that we do. And if you use the code PODCAST15, going to save you 15% off anything you find over there. Now the show itself gets its own website, whistlekickmartialartsradio.com, we bring you two new ones every week. And it's all under the heading of connecting, educating and entertaining you the traditional martial artists of the world. If the stuff that we do mean something new, if you want to help us out. Well, you got a ton of ways you can do that. You can buy something, you can tell people about what we're doing, you can leave reviews, somewhere, anywhere you could think of to leave a review would be great. You could buy a book on Amazon, or you could contribute to the Patreon, pareon.com/whistlekick, we bring you a new exclusive content on Patreon, each and every month. And depending on how much you contribute that impacts what you get access to you're never going to find the stuff that's on Patreon anywhere else. And well. People seem to like it because they don't stop contributing. Well, today's guest, Kris Wilder. I've known about Kris for a long time. It is completely on me that we haven't had him on the show before. I'm not sure why it just hasn't happened. But here we are. We're remedying that. And it's an awesome episode, complete. Now, not completely a little bit different than what we normally do. Because Kris is a seasoned podcaster himself. And really quickly, he was turning the tables and he's asking me questions. And so, I'm trying to ask him questions. And it was a ton of fun. I'm sure that comes through. And if you are watching this, you can see it is a video episode, I believe the first video guest episode that we've ever done and very fitting that we would do that here with Kris. So, enjoy. Hey, Kris, welcome to Martial Arts Radio.
Kris Wilder:
Hey, thanks for having me, man. It's great to see you again.
Jeremy Lesniak:
We had a lot of fun. We had a lot of fun. And what do we really set out as I think that was 595 on our feed when we did Part Two to the whole getting people in to the martial arts school. You Jason and I that was a great conversation. I don't want have fun with that.
Kris Wilder:
No, it was good. It was good. I liked it. Nobody stepped on anybody. It was nice.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Now, which is really hard to do. Even if you're not even if you're trying to give people space. Right? And that's the challenge like okay, am I going to go, are you going to go? It's like every group combat drill I've ever done. When you're the person in the middle, inevitably, you know if it's meant to be one person attacks at a time, either nobody attacks or everybody attacks.
Kris Wilder:
Yeah, yeah. Well, there's that phenomenon, and I forgotten the name of it. But it's a phenomenon that happens in groups. When there's a crime being committed with a large enough group, the group assumes that somebody is going to intervene, and then nobody does. And I have a name. I don't know what it is. Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah. And it's a concept I think everybody's familiar with, we've all been a part of that. We've all been in a group where nobody's the de facto clear-cut leader, and nobody steps up and nobody wants to go against the grain. And if everybody's doing nothing for you to do something you stick out. Yeah. “Hey, and I find”, Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead. I find those situations to be really potentially dangerous, because all it takes is one person with a little bit of confidence and knowledge that situation is ripe for hijacking. Okay, talking about hiding. Yeah. And the best example I have of that was in high school there. I was at a mock government sort of thing that we had, like 75 people, 100 people. And with a single statement, I turned it into a riot. Nice, there was violence and people were thrown out. While I did not read and it's only it took me a good 15/20 years to unpack what happened.
Kris Wilder:
Wow, that's, yeah, I've got a story for you. So hey, I've got a question for you. Yeah. If you were going to pick one comedian to live with you guys in a bunk together who you can live with?
Jeremy Lesniak:
For how long?
Kris Wilder:
A year.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Oh, so not Bill Burr.
Kris Wilder:
No, no. Exactly. I love Bill Burr but...
Jeremy Lesniak:
For 48 hours, I'll do Bill Burr. A year? No, I'm thinking of two. Chappelle because he's going to make me think and we're going to have amazing conversations. Kevin Hart, because I'm not going to get more done with anybody else than I would with a year around him.
Kris Wilder:
Yeah, the guy's got a motor. Yeah, he does. But yeah. Dennis Miller. You know, because, again, thinking, and I think that he's kind of probably be easy to get along with.
Jeremy Lesniak:
He can be intense. Oh, yeah, I know. I love intensity. I mean, don't get me wrong. But, you know, it's like, a Chacha. The dishes they need to be done wouldn't be late enough. You know, it's like, “Okay. Good, I'll do it”. You know, that would be it. But then again, my all-time favorite comedian have ever far and away is Norm Macdonald. Norm Macdonald. Norm has an ability to make a joke that has four or five levels to it. He understands. He understands negative space. He's also the guy when you tell him not to do something, he does it. You know, and I like that sort of impish quality about him. He's well read. He's thoughtful. If you get it, you get it. And if you don't get it, he doesn't care. Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah. He's a comedian that other professional comedians look up to him and respect. Oh, yeah. Yeah. If you follow the comedy industry, there are a handful. And what I find interesting is they're not the ones with the most commercial success. The name that comes up the most when people talk in that vein is Dave Attell.
Kris Wilder:
Yeah, yeah, I saw Dave Attell move 20 years ago, I think. And, man, did he crucify the front row. In the front row, though. I was a couple back. But, you know, there were some people who thought they could compete with them. And they couldn't they click on. Not a chance. He just destroyed them. I'll tell you a quick Norm McDonald story. He was at this casino. And we had gone to see him. And at the end of the show, he says, “Hey, you know, the show's been over for 15 minutes at light back there”. And when that flashes, that means I have five and then when it goes solid, you know, and it goes. And then when it really starts flashing, that means I'm way over. And you can see that guy over there. That's Joshua, the guy who's waving me Josh, what can I say? He's waving at me to get off the stage. Because you know why? Because they want your rubes back out there on the casino floor. You know, they call it your routes. You know, I'd go and I looked over and I go, he's not coming back. And he didn't care. And he didn't care.
Jeremy Lesniak:
He didn't care. But yeah, there's something to be said for reaching a level of success where you can do things like that.
Kris Wilder:
No, yeah, yeah. And, you know, he, he has the stories, I could go on about nor McDonald's for hours. But, you know, that's not really why we're here, but it's not.
Jeremy Lesniak:
But so, my style is that when a guest brings things up, I figured that tells me something about them. So, I'm going to guess that you bring a humorous element into your teaching style. Oh, yeah, absolutely. You bet. Is that conscious? Or is that something that your kind of accidentally fell into?
Kris Wilder:
It's both because I've always been a wiseacre. You know, I'm the guy that some and it not deliberately. But there are times that I'll say things that we were at a convention, and it was in the Midwest, and everybody come in, and the night before the convention took place, there were showed on need on, you know, all of the done examinations. And we're all up there. And the examination board says, that head guy says, “Is there anything we're doing in the organization that you think we should adjust? Change?" You know, and everybody was like, “No, it's really good”. It's all good and all this kind of stuff. And so, my turn came, and I said, “Hey, you know, that thing that got introduced that thing we're doing that I'll spare you all the details”, but sure, it had been introduced by the number two guy. And he's sitting there on the board. And I said, I'm not doing that anymore. I'm never doing that again. If we, do it, I will not participate. It is an abject waste of time. No, I'm not doing it. Were you that blunt about it? Yeah. Yeah, it was that blunt about it. And so, we finished, I finished my little dance. And I walk over and one of the de facto leaders of the group kind of stand over there, and he walks up to me, puts his hand on my shoulder, he says, “I keep pulling you out of the fire, you keep jumping back in”. And afterwards, that the guy who had introduced this new aspect of the training and so forth, he came walking over to me, and that was like, “Oh, he's got something to say to me”. And not wholly unsurprised, you know. Any kind of stopped in front of me, and I said, “Hey, I'm not apologizing for what I said.” I said it, and I mean it. And he said, and I said, “I know that you might find it offensive, but I'm sticking to it”. And he said, “You're the only one who told the truth”. And he said, and I respect that. And then he walked away. Okay. Yeah. And that was it. And it was of no concern going forward. There was no retribution or punishments or anything, it was just as we just had conversation.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And that's a really interesting thing about what we do as martial artists, isn't it that when a higher rank, system director school or whatever, implements something, tells us something, it can be really difficult to balance, respect with honesty. And I think a lot of people are on the side of, I'm going to be so blindly respectful and not criticize, but that's where the progress comes from.
Kris Wilder:
Well, yeah, you know, I'll also say that I've been guilty of being too abrupt, thoughtless and harsh. You know, I've committed those transgressions, when there were better ways to deal with things other than just spilling it out on the floor. But my tendency is to go that way, and to agree with you in that. I am not a blind allegiance kind of guy. Now, one of the things I learned about myself way back in in high school, was when I wrestled with like football. You know, wrestling, you basically got one or two coaches and football, you've got cadre of them. And I realized that there were some coaches that I respected. And I would run through a brick wall for them. And then there were other ones that I absolutely just, it didn't make any difference that they told me the sky was blue, I wasn't going to believe it, and I wasn't going to listen to them. And one of the coaches, I remember, he busted my chops all the time, all the time. Sometimes I had it come and I thought and other times I didn't, but I remember the last game we had finished and now I was on my FSU tour, because, you know, there was nothing that could be done. And he came up to me in the locker room, and he says, “Hey, you know, congratulations”, you won your last game. And he went to shake my hand, I looked at his hand, and I'm standing there and half my pads and I said, “I'm not shaking your hand, I hate your guts”. And he looked at me and he said, “That's okay”. You played hard for me. And he walked away. Well, years later, we run into one another and have a chuckle over it, my immaturity of not understanding that he had his eyes on me because he cared. You know, he was busting my chops, because he saw potential and he wanted to make me better. And that if he did not have that interest in me, then you know what? That's worse. And that's a lesson that I have carried forever with me. And I use that on a daily basis in the dojo. I'm paying attention to everybody. I'm paying attention to everybody because if I'm not paying attention to them, that means I don't care. And I don't want to not care.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And does your feedback, your motivation, whatever you want to call it, the way you engage. Is it the same for everybody or are you...? No, I would have expected. Yeah, some people need positive reinforcement. Some people need to be challenged, maybe even borderline on negative reinforcement, that really the best you can do, I bet you can't kick any higher, because you know, that's going to get the best results. And they're going to appreciate it, I'm guessing.
Kris Wilder:
Yeah. Well, everybody comes in to the school with a set of needs, wants and desires. And goals, even if they're not able to articulate them that's deep inside them. They're looking for an answer to something. And so, my job is to as quickly as possible, come to some conclusion of what I believe that to be. And then to feed that because if I can feed that, then what I can do is I can remove fear and anxiety. And if I can remove fear and anxiety, then I can take you to a new level where you can find that thing that you didn't know existed that was in you. But that's a block that thing that drove them into the dojo. It's not a motivator, it's actually a detriment. And you got to find out what it is, and then answer that, and do it to the best of your ability. So yeah, every student is a unique, different situation.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That's an observation that I think my initial reaction is to agree with, but I'd like you to go deeper on it, because I've never thought of it before. The reason someone started training is a detriment. Yeah, yes. Sounds like something you've considered quite a bit. So, can you unpack that a bit?
Kris Wilder:
Well, let's take somebody that is, let's say that they're overweight. And they've decided that, you know, karate is a good way to lose weight. Actually, it's not. It's not... There are other things that are far more efficient, and better to do that. But, you know, that's one of the selling points, you know, lose weight get in shape. Well, yeah, I want some of that for six weeks. And then I'm going to go back to my chocolate covered sugar bonds and Gilligan's Island. But the thing is, like, let's say that they come in, they say I don't want to lose some weight. And the you know, so you get out on the floor, and you start watching them move, you kind of ask a question here, there, and nothing's really very intrusive or anything, but something that might just lead to and you find out that, actually, what's going on is, they're under an inordinate amount of stress from multiple levels. Maybe they've got a job that they just detest, you know, and it's just pounded on him. So, they're finding solace in, you know, carbohydrates and sugars. Because it's a good blast, and it works for a few minutes and, or it might be too many carbs in those beers or whatever it might be. And so, you start to kind of address that kind of thing. Like, you just kind of walk by and you go, “Hey, you ever heard of any Tortorich?” You know, and they're like, “No, I don't know who that is”. It's this guy does this thing. It's called, no sugar, no grains, it's really a simple thing. I've been doing it for a while. You can check him out on the web, he's pretty cool. And you walk away. Yeah. And you just start kind of feeding those little things. And pretty soon, it begins to get traction, it's not an overnight, you can't repair something overnight that may have taken 15 years to get there. So that's just sort of a cursory top line sort of thing. And you could go through the same thing, if somebody said I want to be, I want to be more flexible, or you know, I'm really scared with the environment that's going on in my neighborhood, whatever it might be, and you can work that stuff. So that's the way I see it, I don't see it as a motivator. I look at the motivator is actually the negative. They respond to the negative the problem in most people, there's other people, you know, that come in. It's like, “Hey, man, I've been trained in martial arts for 25 years, and I just got relocated here and I've heard about you and let's get it on”. It's like “Great, let's go. That's a whole different deal”. Those are the easy ones. Yeah, those are the fun ones. It's like you know that you can, you can bump and punch pretty hard and it's going to be fun.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah. It's a good time. It's a whole different day. Well unexperienced. It's a whole different day. We're setting different expectations. Yeah, yeah. Now you talked about football when you were younger. You talked about wrestling when you were younger. Where did martial art enter the equation?
Kris Wilder:
Oh, for either of those.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Oh, really? Okay, that's not what I would have guessed.
Kris Wilder:
No. this is going to, I've said this before, and it's going to sound really odd. But you'll get it, you know, it just takes a minute to kind of dress it out. You know, when you're a kid, of course, you're credibly impressionable. And, you might think that I'm Spider Man, or whatever it is. But when I was a kid, man, it's 7:30. In the evenings, Jonny Quest came on. And race ban could fly any aircraft, shoot any firearm. The girls loved him, he could drive anything, he was always the guy who was they can do, let's save the day, I'm going to grab that rope and come swinging in like Tarzan and he wore slacks and slip Ons, which was just unheard of in my community. Yeah, just your slacks when somebody died, you know? And, and he knew Judo, as like, yeah, Race Bannon, and I want to be that guy, I want to be Race Bannon, and then it changed. You could say that it grew or it metastasized. You want to shape it, but you know, that it was like, oh, kung fu came on. And it was like, oh, man, and the stories of the levels that I had to go to actually get training and to do it. And just go on and on and on. And they're kind of boring in the sense that most martial arts, artists who have longevity, have got a similar story of a journey of burden loss, reconstruction, you know, all of those kinds of things. And there's no sense to go into the minutiae of it, because I think it's kind of boring. But, you know, in a grand scheme of we'll have, here's how the process goes, I think anybody that's had any time on the floor that has experienced those things?
Jeremy Lesniak:
I think so. And I think that the first two aspects of that burden and the loss, I think we all suffer those aspects, but not everyone gets the opportunity for, would you? Where did you use the rebuild? Yeah, you know, to explore that to get to the other side of that plenty of people do in plenty of ways that aren't martial arts. But as martial artists, you spend the time, you spend that time on the mat. Whatever, the mat, the floor, whatever you call it, whatever the discipline is, and you can really, you can only go so far before you have to base that stuff. Even if you try to put it aside. You know, whatever it is, it's going to manifest in your inability to remember a form or to handle getting punched in the face, or intense discomfort, whatever it is, it's there, and you got to push past it.
Kris Wilder:
I got it; I got a text from one of my old students who's now going to school at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. And he's like, “Hey, man, I can't find any [00:23:27-00:23:28]”. That's what we do. And I'm kind of thinking about maybe doing this or doing that and practicing. And I'm afraid my skills are, you know... And he was kind of, and I said, “Hey, this is the time where most people quit”. And you have reached out, you clearly don't want to go find something that answers this. It could be Judo, it could be Taekwondo, it could be whatever is available, but find the thing that answers for you, and understand that this is what everybody goes through. You've decided to push through, do it. And, you know, I said, “Go find a big cup and drink from it”. And he laughed, and in the text, he said, “Hi, I remember you telling me that I wasn't supposed to be a teacup waiting for you to come pour tea in me that I was supposed to go find it”. He said I will. You know, and it's like, “Okay, great”. And that's part of that journey. He's experiencing some of that loss. He's going to be fine. He's going to come through this. And he's going to do well. How many different arts Have you done Jeremy?
Jeremy Lesniak:
A bunch, let's say let's say a half a dozen. Seriously.
Kris Wilder:
Right, right. And, and it was like, “Okay, here now. This is what I have. And this is what I'm going to do now”. That it's not any more complicated than that. But people want to make it complicated and they want to try to recreate that situation that they had when they were it doesn't exist. It didn't exist when you walked out the door on Monday and went back on Tuesday. Because that's in the past, that moment doesn't exist anymore. You think that it does. And you know, people walk in and I've experienced this and you have to, and I know this is going to resonate with the listeners, somebody walks in and goes, “Hey, what kind of karate is that?” You do? We do [00:25:24-00:25:25]. I like to work closely related. Yeah. “Do you guys [00:25:29-0:25:32]. I really like that Kata. Yeah, well, I'm not going to say you can't practice it. I mean, please feel free. But yeah, but I was looking for what I want to say at that point, and I don't say, and this is an odd time that I actually do meter myself. I say, I mean, in my head, what I want to say is, quit looking to recreate something that no longer exists. It's gone. Go find something new, juicy, wonderful. And be a stud go. Yeah. And they don't they want to. Well, I've put so much time into this. Well, welcome to the sunken cost fallacy. To stop that, go be big, go live your life. I think the idea of having one teacher for the duration of your life is stagnating. And I'm not saying that it's an insult or anything. But people grow change and morph. I mean, look, man, everybody's world changes. As you grow older your palate changes. You know, who should? Yeah, yeah. I like you who? Well, I used to like [00:26:46-00:26:47] when I was 11. But now I like black coffee.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That's a great example. Yeah, that issue example, you know what I find? And I'll tell people this look, okay, so you had a school that worked really well, you had an instructor, you enjoyed a training environment. And you have codified all of that as [00:27:06-00:27:07]. And if you focus on that too much, you're going to end up “Yeah, you'll maybe find another issue school”. But the instructor is going to be different, people are going to be different, the culture is going to be different. And there's a very good chance that what you end up with is a bigger departure from what you had in want, then if you go train somewhere else, and look for a great instructor, a great culture, great students, you know, whatever, I look at the things that are most important and hone in on those things, not the style.
Kris Wilder:
I like the word you used departure. I think that's where you should look at. It is like, “Where are you standing?” And where are you going to depart from? And what is your trajectory? Yeah, that's it. I'm big on trajectory. I like goals. Don't get me wrong. I'm a big goal kind of guy. But I think that goals need to remain flexible in in this sort of environment. I mean, I look at martial arts goals, like a cone on a desk, you got your hand on the point, and there's that cone, and you can kind of roll it back and forth a little bit and that bigger end is sort of getting towards that. That's the way that it should be approached, because then you have an opportunity to get as much as you'd like, or leave as much as you'd like. And that comes back to the individual. I look at these huge organizations, you know, they got like 500 people in a gymnasium floor for their [00:28:48-00:28:49]. And that's great. The fellowship, there's a lot of attributes to it that are great. Absolutely. But what are you doing, you're just marching up and down the floor and [00:28:58-00:28:59]? You know, you're just doing your basics and marching up and down the floor. That's fine. But you know, no find the juice on the edges, they just always in the margins. It's always in the margins, it's in the transition points. You know, it's in the skinny places, the ineffable places, the transitions between this, between this forest and this marsh, you know, one is a forest and one is a marsh but that transition place. That's where the juice is. There's some unique stuff there.
Jeremy Lesniak:
If you think about environment, there are plants, you know, blackberries, raspberries, which you know, they're less of the country. Yeah, I don't know about outside the US, but they tend to grow on edges, roads, edges of forests. There's a whole ecosystem of plants and animals that exist on edges. There's substance there and we tend to think of those alone as actual lines that are hard and fast and nothing exists on them, it's one side or the other. And that's not the reality of life. Life is shades of gray. It's in between, it's overlap. Yeah, greener training.
Kris Wilder:
You know, and if we want to get to 21st century about it, it's a Venn diagram. So, who doesn't?
Jeremy Lesniak:
You're the best. One of my favorite ways to describe things. In fact, I've described plenty of things on this show as being Venn diagram intersections.
Kris Wilder:
I got a question for you. If you know you love your martial arts, and you're doing still hypothetical, okay. And you, in fact, used your martial arts in defense of yourself or your family, and you did it successfully. Okay. But shortly afterwards, you found out that your instructor that you've been with for several years, is actually a fraud, that they made up the entire thing? What do you do? Do you leave? Or do you stay?
Jeremy Lesniak:
A great question. And I wish I'd asked it a view. So, when I think about fraud, in order to be a fraud, you have to misrepresent things, deliberately and deliberately. And it's if somebody puts together a curriculum that is substantive enough, that I'm able to utilize it and defend myself in you know, whatever vague way that happens. There's some merit there, there's some value. And I'm not a big fan of liars. I'm not a big fan of people who will say something is one thing, and it's another, you know, if someone says, I'm teaching you Goju, and it's not. Yeah, sure, I'm going to have an issue with that. It's not a huge deal. But I'm going to try to find out why. If someone, they earned a blue belt. They never got any higher than that, and trained on their own for 20 years and open the school and they nominate themselves as Grandmaster and put a bunch of stripes on their belt. I care what they can teach me. Doesn't mean I'm okay with it. But there's a lot of nuances, and there's a lot of why that I've got to determine whether or not, you know, before for leave an adroit answer. Yeah. You know, how would you handle that?
Kris Wilder:
I would leave.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Really?
Kris Wilder:
Yeah, yeah, I would leave. Because that that level of deception is unacceptable. It's just unacceptable. Now, you kind of changed a few things in there, where you said, “Well, blue belt, but they trained for 20 years on this kind of stuff”. Well, you know, there's people that have done that successfully. Matsuyama, did it? You know, I'm not going to argue with kyokushinkai. You know, so, yeah, there are those moments, but I would have to say that I would be, I'd have to leave because, because then I couldn't propagate what had been taught to me.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I think it depends on what was fraudulent. You know, there are varying degrees if some there or...
Kris Wilder:
If it's deliberately fraudulent, and it is made up of 75%. It's just made up, you're walking. You're going to walk?
Jeremy Lesniak:
Probably. Here's what I think. I'm having a hard time coming down hard and fast on that, is because at some level, every, let's say, modern martial arts style, and everything that's come out in the last, you know, 10/20 years has been an amalgamation of other things. Yeah. In the very same tradition that every art you and I and listeners have trained in, right? They were all amalgamations at some point, somebody that is their contemporary will point at that person and say, “You are a fraud”. No, have no lineage, they'll sling all kinds of mud at it. And I have some sensitivity to that, not because I've done it. I'm sure I've known people that have done it. But because I am very style agnostic and very much a free market martial artist. If what you teach works for you, you're happy, everybody's being treated. And this is where what you said becomes relevant, fairly openly. Honestly, if things aren't being misrepresented, doesn't matter, I don't care what you're doing. Works for you, do it. The fraudulence parts. I'm not a big fan of lying. You know, my integrity. My code, my personal code has very few entries on it. Lying is one of them.
Kris Wilder:
Yeah, yeah. Agreed. Agree. No one brought that up. Oh, I just thought I'd throw a hard fast win at your head.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Is it the head, is the fact that there's no hair, look like a ball? Well, what you're talking about my luxurious head of hair is compared to mine. If we were to draw it, like, I got a little, there's a little bit of right there. And I think my hairline would go to about here. So yeah, well, that's your headphone mark. That's what it is. It's recording all these years, it's going to be, I think, if we were to compare hairlines, your hair is much more luxurious than mine comparatively.
Kris Wilder:
Like that's one of the things I joke with some of the younger girls that come in the class, you know, they'll have rubber bands or scratches or something. And that is so weird. I almost wore my hair like that today. Yeah, they're just like, give it up.
Jeremy Lesniak:
For some reason, people with hair never, never find not hair jokes to be funny.
Kris Wilder:
Yeah. Well, at this point in life, you know, it's just it's proper hair management, trying to retain what you want in the right places, and, you know, suppress the inappropriate. So, I think that's all hair always. Yeah, possibly. Yeah, yeah, possibly.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Do we? Do we spend more time, effort, money on anything? That really doesn't matter than hair? I mean, we get into the psychology of it. It's pretty obvious. I mean, our cell phone display for others. But, you know, we really don't need to.
Kris Wilder:
I'll be calling you late tonight. While I can't sleep pondering that.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So please do, my phone is always on silent.
Kris Wilder:
Here's a question for you. If you had a choice just between two diseases, and you can only choose one of them? Would you? Would you rather have diabetes or asthma?
Jeremy Lesniak:
Diabetes one or two?
Kris Wilder:
Ah, we'll go with one.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay. And if I'm not mixing them up, type one is born with it. The liver failure? Yeah. So, you're not getting out of that. So, in that case, I'm going asthma. Yeah. Because I've known plenty of people who have conditioned their body to the point where asthma does not have much of an impact on them.
Kris Wilder:
I have met those people as well. Yeah. And that's pretty cool. That's pretty cool, then that people can do that. And those are really interesting people, because they have decided through the force of their wills and determination to try to and successfully change their physiology. That's just the coolest thing on the planet. Love it.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And it happens, it happens in there plenty of things like this. Like the best example I have out of my genetics, my grandmother's tonsils grew back, which is not supposed to be able to happen. Now, obviously, I wasn't there, and I didn't do the surgery. So, this could be some, familial tale, it's been passed down that wasn't really quite as accurate as its portrayed. But, you know, there's not a lot of motivation. It's not that great of a story. It's not like you're saying, “Oh, my arm grew back”. You know, there are things out there. You know, as martial artists, we've witnessed things we participate in things that do at times challenge convention. You know, one more kick, do one more kick. At what point are you not able to do that one more kick?
Kris Wilder:
I just flashed on this. This picture. And it made me laugh. Just a drunk Jeremy in college going. Yeah, my grandpa's tonsils grew back.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So, you're not entirely inaccurate sentences. I'm the real world. Wolverine. Yeah. Oh, well, there you go. I don't have adamantium but you know clearly generate. Yeah.
Kris Wilder:
So, let's remove a toe and see what happens.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Trust me. I've tried plenty of times on Tuesday as a recording date, not a great day. Oh, yeah. Well, I'd be able to record it on that much anesthetic.
Kris Wilder:
Yeah. You don't get any. We're going old school maybe. Right. Yeah. You know, you talk about that. That thing. You know, I'm older now. And I was at the dojo the other night, and one of the kids really are super kid named Alexander. He's just top flight smart kid. And works hard applies what you say, you know, and all this kind of stuff. And so, after class, he comes in, he goes, “Sensei”, I said, “what?”. He goes, I'm going to see how many pushups I can do. And I said, is that a challenge? And he said, “Yes”. And so, we got down on the ground and went to it, he died out at 38. But, you know, how old is he? 14. Still pretty young. Good. Yeah, not bad. Not bad. But I crushed him. And through, you know, because, you know, because I can. I kind of have to sort through another five on the tail end of it just to prove a point, you know, must his hair and told him to run along.
Jeremy Lesniak:
There was a day, I was running classes way back; I was a teenager at the time. And I think it was teaching the kid's class. You know, it's probably, let's say, 16/15/16. And we're doing kneeling front kicks, you know, so you step back into a lunge, stand up, throw a front kick with stairs, probably can imagine that even if they've never done it. And typically, we would do 10, maybe on a rough day, we would do 20. And so, I declared, we're going to go until everybody taps out. And there was one really stubborn kid at the front of the line. And he wasn't backing down. And I'm dying. Absolutely dying. I'm going to fall over. I'm not going to be able to do adult class, my legs aren't going to work. And I think we got 50 on each side. Wow, and it was the only reason I was able to keep going. Because I had to. Yeah, because I put out a challenge. And, you know, as the senior student, I couldn't look like I didn't deserve that spot. Now, obviously, what I'm older now, you know, my egos a little bit more, a little more resilient. But, there's something to that. There's something to being put on the spot.
Kris Wilder:
Yeah. And, you know, that's the question. I learned this last year, you talked about being put on the spot. Years ago, when the Buffalo Bills football team was on their major run, you know, four consecutive Super Bowls. Their coach was Marv Levy, who was a very well-read intelligent man. And this just stuck with me. And they would huddle up, you know, just before they were ready to break for the kickoff, and he'd give them their last couple of words. And he would always say, “men, where would you rather be than right here right now?” Yeah, absolutely. Where would I rather be? I'd rather be here trying to do 52 of these, you know, yeah, I would rather be here. And that's the question that I think people should ask themselves oftentimes, in not just their martial arts, but just in life. Where would I rather be than right here, right now, if there's an answer, maybe you shouldn't be there. People. They create stress in their lives by doing things like saying, “Oh, you know, I wish I wasn't at work”. I wish I was doing this instead. I wish I was with my family doing this instead. Or you might be home with family going, “Oh, man, I really ought to be at the office getting that project”. Just don't do that. Just don't create that anxiety. Just do what Marv Levy said, “Where would you rather be than right here right now, if you don't have an answer for that, if you do have an answer for that, you should seek that go do that thing. You should go do that thing”. And you know what, what will happen is that as you go through that process, you'll start actually drawing boundaries in your world. And when people cross over into that boundary, making a demand on you for something that you would not want to do, you're able to measure it more accurately? And to say, I choose not to. I know it's going to sting; I know it's going to hurt, but this is a better choice, or vice versa, you know, whatever it might be. And so, you know, that's the question, where would you rather be than right here right now? I'd rather be sitting in the stands watching my kid play this sport than anywhere else, you know? Yeah. But I thought we were going to have Saturday class, not this Saturday. You know, because Saturday class, in my experience has been kind of an afterthought for a lot of people. You know, oh, it's like, there's...
Jeremy Lesniak:
Nothing else worth doing.
Kris Wilder:
Right? They'll show up? Well, no, you know, what, guess what? Today? We have, but I was really counting on it. Well, I'll see you next Saturday. You know, right, still train on your own. Yeah, there's nothing stopping you. And so having the boundaries in life, I would suggest to people that one of the ways to really begin to establish boundaries, in your own world for you to navigate. The scope that is our lives is to just simply say, where would I rather be than right here right now? What's your WHY?
Jeremy Lesniak:
You've been training a long time. Oh, nice. Teaching quite a few of those your years? Yeah. And you know, you're just talking about balance. And obviously, this is something that you think about. So, when you get to the dojo, and you have a class for the 1,000th time over the, however many years, it's still a place that you would rather be? Yes, at least most of the time. And so, the question is why?
Kris Wilder:
I think it's my responsibility. I take it as a responsibility, and not a burden. It's a responsibility, and I'm pretty good at it. I'm pretty good at it. I've honed my skills, constantly growing and evolving and changing and developing. And I should, and I think we all should. But it goes back to sort of a strange, it's not a strange, I shouldn't say that. It goes back to a code of ethics. That, I think that you should leave when you go to a picnic in the park, you should leave it better than you found it. You know? Yes, not my trash. So, what? Pick it up. And those kinds of behaviors make for a better society. And when you have a better society, you have better families, and you have better families, you have better individuals. And karate, for the martial arts doesn't make any difference if it's a judo or Tai Chi, or whatever it is, is an internal discipline, sort of work that schedule. The other way, from society, family, individual to work from individual family society. That is the underlying aspect of what tethers us to one another, and builds an opportunity for us to be better people to leave it better than we found it. Martial Arts, karate, Judo has done that, for me, it has broadened my horizons, and both the vertical and horizontal axis. And that if I can open that door and allow somebody to just step through and take a breath and go, “Oh, now I can go this way or that way”. And all of these kinds of things will make for the better individual. You know, the best laws, in any society, are not ones that come down from on high, but they're ones that the community has decided, are a pretty good idea. And then the government codifies them and says, “This is how we should operate this”. And that's the way that I look at martial arts, except not in the concept of laws, but in the concept of building individuals that have integrity and that indomitable spirit that you're talking about, you know, doing those 50 kicks, and, you know, going and doing those kinds of things and finding that your parameters are larger than you thought they were or were even told they were. Yeah, and it all happens at the individual level and I do not know, there must be something out there. But I don't know, anything that has the ability to transfer those qualities in such a way that martial arts and...
Jeremy Lesniak:
I totally agree.
Kris Wilder:
Yeah. And I mean, you know, hey, look, you throw a great Javelin on a solo sport. It's a solo discipline. Well, suppose karate. Yeah, it is. But you know what? Throwing the javelin is a solo discipline with a solo participation. Martial Arts is a solo endeavor set in a group atmosphere. And you know, as well as anybody. If you and I had never met, and we crossed hands on the floor, we're going to know each other's tone, heart, timbre, direction and intent in five seconds. And you're going to know whether you want to be around me or not. You know? Absolutely. So, that's one of the qualities that martial arts have. Now, he asked a very short question, why? That's a long answer. But your favorite kind, it comes down to a free. I took all of that, and I condensed it down, I decided, I needed to condense it down to just a simple mission statement, a personal mission statement. And mine is to help people find things in themselves that may not know existed. And that's my motto. That's my charge. And I don't want to make it sound like I'm coming down on high with the tablets wrapped in robes or anything. I'm just saying that if the time is appropriate, and I have an opportunity, and I have the ability that I should.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I think only people who have never, people who haven't spent much time training or people who have not been instructors might find fault with that anybody who spent time at the front of the room knows that. Yeah, you could describe it differently. But that is a very apt description for what goes on in the conveyance of martial arts to students. If you're not showing them things that they didn't know, were there, are they growing? No. And if your students aren't growing, you're not a very good instructor. Because that's the goal. Absolutely. You've got to help them find those aspects of who they are. My definition of martial arts involves the words, personal development, there's got to be that growth. And without it, it's a dance, we're just dancing.
Kris Wilder:
You know, I agree. And that drill that you go through, like, you know, you're working for a company or something like, what we're going to do a team building skill, we're not talking about the trust form. But you know, it's like, we want you to write your own epitaph. What's going in the paper, what's your epitaph, you know, so you write it, it's like I did this, I did that, you know, this kind of stuff. And I thought it was a rudimentary drill that was condescending, and I didn't like it. I'm not surprised. Yeah, I'm sure you told someone. Yeah, I think it probably did. But I thought about it. And I said, “Well, wait a minute, instead of just discounting this, let's reshape this and see if we can find some value in it”. So, I did reshape it. And it was whoever happens to come to my funeral. And they're standing at the side of the grave? Whatever, you know, permutation that takes. What are they going to say? My goal, and I don't, I'm not a big believer in hope. I don't like hope. I don't like it. Hope means that you've exhausted what you think are all of your opportunities and actions and your hope is not a plan. I don't hold the word in high regard. I trust that I have done a good enough job that every person standing around that grave would say I was better for having walked through the door of that dojo, didn't say how I'm better. That would be my goal, because then that feeds that that larger diatribe about, you know, the status of people within society and community and individualism and so forth. That's the thing to push it forward. What was your great grandfather's name? I don't know. Exactly. But you carry his genetics, you carry some of his behaviors in both genetic behaviors, and learned and traditionally passed down. You just don't even know it. Question is where those good things that he sent your way? Or were they not? You know?
Jeremy Lesniak:
So, hopefully.
Kris Wilder:
Yeah, all the good things we've seen. You're using that word.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I like that word. I don't have to say. We could probably do a whole episode on that. I bet we could.
Kris Wilder:
Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Because to me. Now, I'm not even going to go there. Because we're going to get really sidetracked. So, let's continue in the vein of forward thinking, you know, looking ahead, you know, not so far that you're gone. But time, you know, you carry, as you put it, the responsibility of your school of being able to pass on martial arts to the next generation of helping foster these people who walk through the door and hoping trusting to make their lives better. Right, right. Yeah. Does that have an endpoint for you?
Kris Wilder:
No, no. I've told the story. And I'll tell it again. My Judo instructor Kenji Mata was an interesting man, he was complicated, like many people, but he was also just a demon on the on the mat. And he had died. And I was in the Yudansha locker room with one of the guys had trained with him since he was five. And Bo and I are standing there now we both knew this guy. And he had an enormous impact on both of us in many different kinds of ways. And I turned and I looked at the pegboard, where people hang their belts and their keys and stuff. And I said, “Bow, look at that”. And it was Sensei [00:5728-00:57:29], red, white belt, hang in there. And both said he was coming back. And I said, “Yeah”. And that's the way that I think it should be done. I believe and to be perfectly frank, towards his later years, he was serving more of an executive capacity. But that didn't mean that his knowledge had diminished in any way. It was just that his body was not what it was. Okay, fine. But, you know, do you want to? Do you want to be a flashlight inadvertently left on the kitchen counter, and fade away? Or would you rather be that candle that flickers, and then it's gone? I'd much rather be that candle. And so, the martial arts, I don't see an end to it for me, there will be an end because there is a termination of the physical, that will happen. But, you know, “Hey, I just crushed it”. I just crushed a teenager and pushups the other day. You got some time; I got some time. And, you know, I realize externally that my art has changed because of my age. I'm still in pretty good shape. I'm 60. And I can, iMac will go out and I can have at it. That's not a problem. But I'm also a lot smarter about it, you know, we went and had a visit with another dojo a while back and the head instructor started going through some traditional karate warm-ups of which I have sort of discarded because of my time with physicians and physiologists and so forth. And some of the things are just not acceptable anymore. But he was, you know, going through that, and a couple of my brown belts were in the back. And I was kind of in the front, I'm doing my thing and it kind of busted up. And afterwards we were kind of, we were sitting around talking and they go, that was hard, you know? And they said your face didn't change, man, you didn't look like you were working hard. Well, that's just age in a good way, I know what's coming. I know how long this is going to be, I know what we're going to do, I'm able to meter myself, I'm able to do what needs to be done. This is all new to that. They're just, it's a big energy expense. And for me, it's just like, okay, I've done this 1000 times, but I'm going to do it 1001 you know, nothing to prove. But there is that. And I have to say that I was really thinking about this the other day. Because I used to think this way, I'd say, “Can I beat? Can I beat myself today? Can I beat my 30-year-old self?” And the answer is, yeah, I could because I'm smarter. I'm smarter. I'm not what I was when I was 30. I mean, that's just, that's immutable. But still got some gas in the tank, and I'm still feeling pretty good. I don't really have any pain in my body to speak of for all of the injuries that I've had. And yeah, I think I would, I think I'd give my younger self a pretty good go. And I don't think it would last very long. And so, you know, that's sort of one of those things where you sort of measure stuff in your mind. I fought my last open Judo tournament and open means all commerce. At 40, I was fighting guys that were 20/21. You know, and it was cool. Yeah, that's fun. I was like, I'm walking into the end of the mat. And there's this one guy that we always wound up. Like, in the quarterfinals, seeing each other discuss, Ron, you know, Ron, and I were always seeing each other, you know, and, and I never lost to but it was always close. And so, I'm walking into this tournament, that last tournament, and I got my bag and ronstan in there, and you know, blue blazer and a white shirt and a blue tie. And I go wrong. What's up with that? He goes on wrestling. And he looks at my duffel bag and goes, “What's up with that?” And I go on fight. He shook his head a bit. I shook my head.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah, there's an attitude that I've heard from some of the longest functioning people. Not just in martial arts, but just in general, just the moment you stop acting like a kid, the moment you stop being curious and asking why and being a pain in the butt and doing all these childlike things, you start to fade. And if that's the case, then I'm going to be in good shape for a very long time. Yeah, I'm still a major pain in the butt, I get the sense that you have remained, I mean, you kind of described yourself as such at the top of the show.
Kris Wilder:
Oh, yeah. Oh, well. But you know what, I'll tell you. So, like, let's take today. This morning, I got up at 5:15. You know, did a little bit of work on the computer and everything. Then my timer went off. And now it's time for me to do my Wim Hof protocols. So, you know, I do my breathing, I hit the cold shower. And then I do a wall sit, you bend your legs, you sit down. And so, then and I have various cycles, and I track all this stuff on my spreadsheet. And sometimes it's the DMT breathing, sometimes it's how many Hindu squats can I do on empty breath? How many pushups can I do on empty breath? What is the new yoga pose I'm going to challenge myself with, and I don't go through like a whole, you know, yoga protocol? It's like, I got this big book, I flip it open, and I go, man, that looks like a bitch. I'm going to try to. And so, that's part of that, that you talk about that youthful enthusiasm. It's like, “Yeah, what do you got”, you know? And I got into the Hoff breathing, maybe six or seven years ago, maybe it was seven. And I download biggest PDF and all of this kind of stuff. And then one of my students says, “Hey, man, Hof’s going to be in Vancouver, BC”. It's like, “Yeah, let's go”, you know. So, talking about being on the edges. We showed up early, deliberately, because this is the time you know, and sure enough, I got some time with him. You know? Got to talk and you know, very cool and I got to really see if he was what I thought he was. And he was 100%.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah. Anybody who's listening who doesn't know who Wim Hof is, check this guy out. And here's the thing. If this is the first time you're hearing about him, you're going to do a little bit of research and you're going to think there's no way. There's no way this guy is legit. But the best test I've seen documented, and apparently this this, you can find this. He is so he has so much faith in what he does that he's been injected with E. coli.
Kris Wilder:
Yeah, yeah, they did that in Denmark. And it was fine. And, and I think it was 12 controls. We get 24/12 control. 12 had learned how to and all the 12 that had done his breathing through off the E. coli. Yeah. No, yeah. That's pretty cool. Yeah, yeah. And, and let me tell you a story. I had a detached retina because of judo, you know, oddly enough. And so, I go in to get it fixed. And they prepped me for surgery, and the nurses will, it's going to be about 40 minutes, you need it not good. Because the screen, she leaves me hooked up to all of the machines that go pain and everything. And I thought, well, you know, I'm here. I got hooked up. Let's give it a go. And I don't know, probably about four or five minutes later, the curtain flips open and the nurse goes right to the machine. And she goes, “are you okay?” And I go, “Yeah, I'm fine”. And she goes, “your heart, your heart rate set off our alarm”. And I got
What is it?” She said, 41. And I went, “Okay”, and she goes, “are you doing that on purpose?” And I said, “Yeah”, and she'll stop it. I go, “you want me to bring it back?” And she said, “Yeah”, and I went, “Okay”, so I brought it back. And she watched it, numbers come back up, and she goes, “that sets off our alarm at the nurse's desk. Don't do that anymore”. Like okay.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I love it. I love it. Did you do it again? Because why? I would have a hard time not.
Kris Wilder:
No, you know, at that point, I acquiesced to the authority and went “Alright, well, maybe”.
Jeremy Lesniak:
They were going to do surgery on you, I guess it is a good idea to stay in there. They're favorable.
Kris Wilder:
But you know, the half stuff. And I've done a lot of things I'm because I'm always exploring stuff. I mean, I've done just tons of things that are some of them are really out there. I've done some real out their stuff. You know, I remember one New Year's, we went down to a lake and we walked into the lake and broke the ice with our bodies, just a thin sheet of ice, you know, in this little lake, someone call it [01:02:01-01:02:02]. But we walked out there on New Year's morning, breaking the ice, went up to her nets, did Sanshin and then walk back out. And what happened was is I remember this so clearly, Jeremy. I was like, I'm walking out of here. And I started when I was done and I started walking. And several other people started to run out of the lake and Sensei yelled out to me said rock, you know, and they stopped and it was like, Yeah, that's right. You walk, you don't run from this, you walk from it. You know? And so, you know, lots of things. I'm a huge, huge believer in Hof. I've had some incredible experiences with it. Some major successes, just great stuff, you know? And so, you know, I do those things. I'll tell you this. You know, bulletproof coffee, right? Okay, so I'm a big believer in that too. And so that I built my own little concoction. I just kind of it's a cold version of it. So, what I can do is I can use it like at a seminar. So, I'm in England and in Abernathy had brought me over and we were doing a double team. He does the first hour, I do the next week like this, you know? So, I said, well, in tomorrow morning when you come pick me up, you know, I said we'll get that, we'll show you how to put that stuff together that we bought at the store. So, I make up this elixir for him and we chug it down and I go, you're good for the day, baby. You're good. And he's like really, really make sure. So, about three o'clock in the afternoon he comes up to me he goes, stuffs amazing. It's like, it is. He goes “yeah, it's amazing. So, because you got to give me that recipe”. Well, it involves about three tablespoons of instant coffee. And he sends me this email, he goes, “Hey, would you send me the formula again?” So, I actually drew pictures of this, this goes to this, this considered, he's like, “Oh, I can follow that”. And he goes, that explains something and I go, “What?” And he said, “I use like seven”. And he was up for like, two days. And his comment was, he got a lot done. I tell that story on end. But when you get to a certain place, you start getting into those realms of challenging and exploring and finding what works. And I'm sure that you have done similar things. You're like, you know, “hey, I think I'm falling a little short here”. What's out there that might remediate this? What might fix this? What might even prevent a band aid? Because that's all I need for a short time. But what have you done that would be considered sort of out there and a little bit wacky that has put you on the floor longer, better and more vibrantly?
Jeremy Lesniak:
Well, the number one thing is I refuse to acknowledge my age. Okay. Not in the sense that I won't tell you I turned 42 next month. Oh, I remember. 42 whatever. I don't look in the mirror and see 42. I know, I don't act 42. Nobody seems to think I'm 42. I mean, I've got a couple of white spots in my beard, you know, but that's about it. I am in the best shape of my life. And so how do I do that? It's constantly testing and revising the things that I do. You know, like, here's a big one. First thing I do when I get out of bed other than you know, hit the bathroom, big glass of water. Raises your metabolism. I throw a little bit of salt in it.
Kris Wilder:
And are you using non iodized? Are you just using regular table salt?
It's Himalayan salt.
Okay, I was going to say, okay, candy jar?
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yes. It's in the sunlight. Yep. You know, tons of water, you know? Yeah, I get the sense that we run a lot of the same kind of alternative health circles. I've done a bulletproof coffee thing. I tried to save my carbs for dinner, not that I'm militant about that. Magnesium, actually, we've got a book that we're working on. That is some of the things that I do organize into a really simple 12 month, you know, each month you add a new simple thing, you know, like the glass of water is the first month like, build that habit. Right? Right. Yeah, the benefits of...
Kris Wilder:
What have you discarded? What have you tried, and then just said, “No”, and discarded? And why?
Jeremy Lesniak:
I'm not as big on intermittent fasting as I was, I will use it periodically. But there was probably a two-year period where I was really big on that. And it just, it didn't work for me. Now, it doesn't mean it doesn't work for people, but it didn't work for me. The other thing, I think the biggest thing, my biggest kick right now is separating movement from exercise. The distinction between what I mean, think of it as walking or whatever it is the difference between expending calories when in a parasympathetic state versus a sympathetic state, I believe in the next 10 to 20 years will be a huge research area in science and something we will say, “Aha, this is a thing”. We lumped it all together, and we shouldn't have.
Kris Wilder:
Boy, I agree with you on that. I agree with you on that. Yeah, you know, the intermittent fasting thing didn't really resonate with me either. And this is just me talking. I'm suspicious that it has to do with you know, mesomorph versus ectomorph vs endomorph. I have a tendency to believe that and I forget what the Arabic terms are, they're like pit and I think Veda but you know, I'm a big believer that there are certain things that simply do not resonate with your body because your genetics and your structure the you know, that there are foods that digest. I have no business being around. It doesn't work it. It kicks my butt. No, you know what will happen is that, like if I eat a McDonald's hamburger, and now, I know what we're saying here, but you get the picture, I eat a McDonald's, hamburger, my knees and my hips hurt, and my nose run. That ought to be a signal that I'm not stopping at the Golden Arches anymore.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Right? It's your body saying, “Hey, I don't want this”.
Kris Wilder:
Yeah, I don't want this. And so, you know, for me, the big kick is it right now for me is to actually get more protein than I really think that I should have to satisfy me. And, you know, there's a lot of people walking around protein deficient when we can get all into that. But you know, you're talking about that glass of water in the morning. That's cool. I'm going with the bulletproof coffee with protein in it. And I've got a really clean protein that I use called the jarrow.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I've heard of it.
Kris Wilder:
It is it is amazing stuff. And I've been through a pile of proteins over the course of my years. This does not cause any bloating, or just mention anything, it's just super clean. Then I'll follow with the glass of water because you know why? I am a caffeine achiever, I use it. And when I'm getting ready to be creative, I'll actually build my day, where I know that I don't have anybody that I'm really happy to interact with or anything. I'll build my day. And so, like on a Saturday evening, you might catch me at six o'clock, having a triple espresso, because I'm getting ready to go in because everybody's doing their Saturday night stuff. Yeah, they're going to leave me alone. I can put the music on in the background. I and that caffeine kicks in, and I can be really creative for a long time. And then I'm done.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Do you ever use [01:17:24-01:27:25] in your caffeine?
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah, I take it in capsule. I just take it in capsule. I have. I've played with a lot of different things. But I stick with that. I use that and I use a pretty high dosage. And I'm into the... I don't know the technical name of it. But I'm into the broccoli sprout extract now. I can't remember exactly what it's called.
Jeremy Lesniak:
It's ringing a bell. I've caught some stuff on some, you know, some of the, the knock light, dirty, heavy podcasts that I spend time with. And they've talked about it, but I haven't gone down the rabbit hole.
Kris Wilder:
The woman that turned me on to it was the woman, I believe she's a PhD from Stanford, and a surfer. But she was the only person years ago that I found on the web that could actually physiologically and biochemically explain how the Wim Hof Method worked. It wasn't by guessing by golly “It was like this receptor does this that that okay, that CO2 level cuts this off and doesn't allow the ball and blah blah blah blah”. It's like okay, well she starts talking about the broccoli extract and it's like yeah, your work solid, I'm in.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Well, let's start to wind down here because I know if we don't put a pin in this year...
There is still sun in the day, it’s still sunny here.
There is. There is. Why? You may have noticed, you know, I had my phone I was averting my eyes a little bit, I got us another 15 minutes. Oh guys, I know we've got some stuff that we're going to chat about after but I had a 4:30. Oh, I didn't expect you to go this long. And I mean that in the best possible way. You know, you're not at Patrick McCarthy level who holds the record on our show of 3:45. But this is this is this has been great. So, let's do the stuff that we got to do. Let's do the housekeeping stuff. Sure. If people want to find you, where are they going?
Kris Wilder:
Kriswilder.com, you can always reach me at kriswilder@kriswilder.com. And if you want to explore something, Kris Wilder is the portal that will take you into the podcasts and you know the teachable, the online courses and so forth. You know, I have a set called Brutally Simple, simply brutal. And it breaks down applications in Kata, with everything from anatomical sketches to flows of power and you know, responses and all that kind of stuff. Because I think the world deserves that instead of some of the hokum, I know that's been pushed out there. And, and I'm not the purveyor of all that's right and true. But you know, if you want to go check it out, you can preview everything, and there's a 30-month guarantee, blah, blah, blah. But there's some free information there too. Like, you know, there's plans on how to build a [01:20:39-01:20:45] And in some other things like that, but essentially, kriswilder.com is the portal, that'll get you into the podcasts, the blog, the newsletter, the teachable, the Twitter, Instagram, Facebook is kind of more of a familial oriented type thing for me, but yeah, kriswilder.com. Or, Kris Wilder, kriswilder.com. Easy? Yeah. Easy. I hope so.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I'm sure that we're going to have you back. Because, you know, I don't think we even scratched the surface. And, you know, listeners, you could tell that there was a little bit more of a back and forth and then we typically have on an interview episode, and that's fun for me. You know, and it's because you've done what I'm doing and so, your desire to not talk about yourself is probably similar to my desire, not talking about myself. And that turns into a conversation and that makes it a lot of fun.
Kris Wilder:
You know, it's kind of funny. I mean, you talking about talking about yourself? I think there's a lot of people that claim that I'm an extrovert, but I think it's really, you know, that Venn diagram are talking about these gradations. But my friend, Rory Miller, which if you haven't had him on the podcast, get him on the podcast.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Absolutely.
Kris Wilder:
Rory always declared that I was the most extroverted/introvert he'd ever met.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That's quite a compliment coming from him. Yeah, he refused to. When we had him on, it was back before you did have him on. Oh, yeah. Yeah. This was years ago. This was before. He was the first person that adamantly refused to be referred to in any sort of title. Yeah, you know, he's like, “call me Rory” was like, “how about Mr.” “Nope, Rory.” “Yes, sir”. “No, no.”
Kris Wilder:
He's a good dude. I want to tell you really quick. Roy. I was talking to him a while back; I think this maybe a year or two ago or something. Now, you know, he's stayed at my house. I've stated his we know each other, you know, I mean, we've, we've rolled that we go back a long way. And it was talking to him on the phone. And he goes, “Yeah, we found a we found a body in the house”. It's like what, you know, because it's Rory, you don't know what that means. And it's like what, you know, because they've lived in this house for 25 years. And I said, “Well, wait a minute”. You got to back that out, man. When he goes, “Well, that little cabinet that's sort of above the vent, above the stove, and everything and go”. Yeah, and he goes, we found somebody ashes tucked away back in a sort of a little cubby hole. And I'm like, “Okay”. “Name?” “No, no name”. “What about the previous owners? Now?” They never said anything. Like, okay, he goes, “Yeah, we got to figure out what to do with these human remains”, like but there's a typical day in the life of Rory Miller, we found a body in our house.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I think the we have to figure out what to do with these human remains. I think that should be the title of a book he should write. Oh, I know what the substances but yeah, well, you know, if you people could get away with that title. He could.
Kris Wilder:
Yeah, we have to... That's a good one and that's a fun game to play to is to come up with book titles and then try to write a book behind it. You know? But yeah, that's the fun Rory Miller story and there's a few others but you know, I'm sure.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah, we’ll have Rory Miller day or something. Yeah, get people together. We'll roast Rory Miller,
Kris Wilder:
He will not find it pleasant. Because you're talking about him and he's doesn't like that. That's the part he will find unpleasant. All right.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Well, what else do we need to wrap up the last thing as we as we go to the outro. Yeah, I asked everybody to give some parting words, you know, and then I'll record an outro later. So, what are your parting words to the audience? Hmm.
Kris Wilder:
I would have to say, my parting words would be, do not live your life by convention. Question? Be responsible. But don't live your life by convention. Question, be responsible, own it. But don't lose by convention.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Wasn't that a great conversation? Great episode. I really want to thank Kris for coming on the show for just being the awesome guy that he is. We're talking about doing some stuff on the side stuff that I am sure if we can get some momentum behind it. Not only are you going to hear about it, but it's going to be awesome, because he's a good dude. Thanks for coming on the show, Kris. And thank you to all of you for watching. Now, if the work that we do here was okay mean something, you know, help us out, support us contribute Patreon, reviews, books, tell people any of that stuff works. And of course, if you want to go deeper on this episode, check out the links, the transcript, which you know, runs a little bit behind, but they come up fairly soon, you can go to whistlekickmartialartsradio.com. And don't forget, we've got some training programs, whistlekickprograms.com, we've got a program that will help you get stronger, we got one that will help you get faster. We've got one that will help make you better condition for a competition or maybe a testing some kind of event. So go check those out there. They're far more affordable than you would think. And you need virtually no equipment. Some of them you mean you need literally no equipment. So, check those out. If you have feedback, topic suggestions, guest suggestions, just you want to tell us we're doing a great job. You can email me jeremy@whistlekick.com. I appreciate each and every one of you. Thank you for your time today. So, until next time, train hard, smile and have a great day.