Episode 780 - Kyoshi Antonio Fournier
Kyoshi Antonio Fournier is a Martial Arts Practitioner and Instructor. He’s the founder of Fournier's Leadership Karate in Maine.
Competing does have a way to keep you sharp. Because you always have something to move towards to. I had to learn that instead of thinking about competition, what can I do to make myself better…
Kyoshi Antonio Fournier - Episode 780
In baseball, if you throw a lot of walks, it would mean the end of your career. For Kyoshi Antonio Fournier, it signaled the start of his long Martial Arts journey.
Kyoshi-Sei Antonio Fournier began Karate in 1972 at the age of 13 and achieved his first black belt in 1978. This was followed by the title of Sensei in 1982, the same year he founded the United Shotokan Association at the University of Maine, Portland (now USM). He was a member of the USA Karate team from 1982-1989 and during that time won the gold medal in kata at the US Team championship, was voted outstanding fighter in 1984 as a bronze medalist in Budapest, Hungary, and was the Silver medalist at the USAKF Nationals. In 1987 he opened Fournier’s Leadership Karate Centers. He is constantly studying and learning new ways to bring leadership development to his students. Because of this, he has become a certified Law of Attraction Trainer, A John Maxwell Leadership Speaker, a certified public speaker with the State of Maine, and a verbal judo instructor for martial artists. He has always believed that karate goes far beyond just punching and kicking; and enjoys teaching both kids and adults alike how to achieve better confidence, focus, and self-worth through their martial arts training.
In this episode, Kyoshi Antonio Fournier talks about his journey as a martial artist and how he became a great influence on Jeremy. Listen to learn more!
Show notes
You may check out Kyoshi Antonio Fournier’s school at portlandsbestkarate.com
Show Transcript
Read the transcript below:
Jeremy Lesniak:
How's it going everybody? Welcome your tuned into whistlekick Martial Arts Radio episode 780 with my guest today, Kyoshi Antonio Fournier, someone I've known for a very long time. I really am excited for this episode. If you are new, maybe somebody shared this episode with you, you're not quite sure what we do here at whistlekick. Well, there's an easy way to find out. Go to whistlkick.com. See all the things that we're doing, all the stuff that we make, all the things that we share, all the things that we give you for free. Our best stuff is free. It always has been. It always will be. But if you wanna support us, because we have this mission to connect, educate, and entertain traditional martial artists throughout the world No matter what they train it. There are lots of things you can do. I bet you could come up with half a dozen right now. I'll wait. I'm just kidding. You could buy something in our store. Use the code Podcast one, five. It saves you 15% on stuff like apparel or training products or training programs. There's a bunch of great stuff over there. Check it out. I bet you'll find something that you like. Sign up for our newsletter. Share stuff coming off that website. There's a bunch going on there. And if what we do means something to, to you, if this mission to connect, educate, and entertain the traditional martial artist worldwide means something to you, please consider supporting us in some way. So whether you pick something up or you share an episode, or you sign up for a thing or you go to an event, you could also go deeper on all the things that we do. We get behind the scenes information and bonus content. And if you love the show, wouldn't you love more of the show? For $5 a month, you can support the show and get more of the show. patreon.com/whistle kick. There's even a $2 tier If, if you just say, you know Jeremy, I would just love to just kind of check a box and say, I support this show. It means something to me and I'd love to know who's coming up on the show. It's $2 a month. $2 a month, 25 cents an episode. Does this episode worth 25 cents to you? I hope so. Consider supporting us. It means a great deal. $2 does help don't of you pay putting in $2. Yeah, it goes a long way. Now, if you are one of our biggest fans, we call you family, and if you are family, you've been to the family page, or maybe you haven't quite yet. Maybe this is the day, whistlekick.com/family, behind the scenes information exclusives that are available, nowhere else as well as constantly updated list of all the things you can do to support us. If you say, you know, I love what whistlekick does, it's, it's awesome. How can I help? That's the place to go. It's all the things you can do, all the places to leave, reviews, all the things that we offer that you should be interested in or might be interested in, all the things you can share, all the other ways. There's so many things that we've got going on, so go check that out and I appreciate those of you who do. Alright, so today's episode is with someone I have known almost my whole life, despite not knowing him well, and despite probably not meeting him in person until I was a teenager, it'll become clear as we get into the episode.But this is a story about two martial artists from Maine and Martial arts, When I started training was a very small community, at least in my area. This is an episode I've wanted to do for a long time because there are a few people in this world who have had more influence on me. It's a, it's a small, it's a small list. This man has had tremendous indirect influence on my life, and there are a handful of people we can point to and say, you know, if that person wasn't around, there is a chance that whistlekick might not exist. He's not at the top of the list, but he's on the. And I'm super pumped to talk to him and bring you this conversation with Kyoshi Antonio Fournier. So how are you?
Antonio Fournier:
Awesome. I know, you know, COVID kind took a toll on, you know, seeing a lot of people and other than that, we just been kind of really focused on making sure the, the school survives during this time and now starting to thrive, which we wanted to do was for the last couple of years, just set up, uh, a system so that we knew during Covid that when we came out of Covid we would start thriving instead of still there trying to, you know, tread water. Um, yeah, so everybody was
Jeremy Lesniak:
I'm sure you're seeing that all over. Cuz you know, I know you work with schools too, that everybody at the beginning of Covid, we even put out like a bonus episode where I said this. I said, you've got a choice right now. You can either tighten your belt, buckle down and get ready cuz you're gonna have the best opportunity you've had in a very long time.Or you can just fall over. And the schools that did it. I mean, look at what they're doing. I've, I've got, I've got schools I work with probably do too. They've got the best numbers they've ever had.
Antonio Fournier:
Yeah, it's incredible because it is the rebound effect that they're coming in at. Yeah. Just people have been wanting to do something and the kids really need it.Cause what I saw for the two years that they've been in Covid lockdown and the covid situation, even coming back to school, is the lack of coordination and the lack of left and right or our knowledge of left and right. When you call it, it's always. That jumping back and forth. I said, you know, but then you know, Jo jokingly say to all the whole whole kids, it was like, Hey, you know when you gonna love me when you can pass your driver's test?Cuz you'll know your left from, you're right when you get done. So, you know, and they, they get it.
Jeremy Lesniak:
how do, how do you, how do you address that, how, you know, you've been teaching for, for a long time, you've been working with students for a very long time and you've seen how, what changes in schools changes what and how you teach. How do you adapt to that? How do you adapt to kids not knowing left and right. I'm gonna guess six, seven years old.
Antonio Fournier:
uh, no, .Older.
Jeremy Lesniak:
How old are these kids that don't know left and right?
Antonio Fournier:
8, 9, 10. Easily
Jeremy Lesniak:
10 year olds.
Antonio Fournier:
Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's why I shake my head too. Okay. And they, there's a disconnect that if their left foot's in front, that's their left hand. And if their right foot's in front, that's their right hand. They, they, it's a disconnect. Be, and that's the other thing that gets me, but that's the undeveloped brains that we're dealing with. And not in a derogatory sense. Yeah. But when kids get held back or they have a major trauma like this, they, the brains don't get a chance to advance as fast as other kids. So I'm, I'm not, you know, trying to be derogatory.
Jeremy Lesniak:
No, it disconnect. It's, uh, kids learn through activity, through movement. And this, I mean, as, as useful as this is for you and I. Yes. I'm sure we both have plenty of other things that we enjoy in our day that are not this, that are not chair based.
Antonio Fournier:
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Any type of movement. I know, I know your background too is a, is a good athlete and, uh, knowing that this is the worst position an athlete wants to sit in, you know, it's really, it, it's like, Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Well, all right. I'm, I'm, I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around that 10 year olds that don't know, don't know left and right. How do, what do you, what do you do? I mean, I, I don't, I don't run a school, but we got plenty of people that, that do listing and they're go, what, what do you do?
Antonio Fournier:
So one of the things that we do is we really have drills just say left hand, right hand, and get them to kind of understand that that idea go, even going back to just, uh, if you were ever in a marching band, you know that the left foot starts on one. Even certain things like the left, right, left right type of idea. You break it right down to the simple part that they've gotta actually say the word with, with the physical action. Cause that's the only way we're gonna get it right. Emotion, motion, you know, creates emotion. Well, the motion is this, but the emotion has to be that that's my left hand. I have to be able to verbalize it. And that's the same thing with my right hand. And then hopefully a couple weeks, months down the road, they, they have that final coordination that if you say bring up your left leg or bring up your left knee, and the jump up kick with your right, they're actually understanding what you're saying.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So it's like anything else in martial arts. Break it down to the, the smallest possible parts. Drill the heck out of it and as they get it, stack.
Antonio Fournier:
Exactly. Bingo. That's it. And if it has to be even more broken down because of the way the kids have having to transition back in. Nobody's had to watch. I mean, literally, I, I can't get, be sitting back here, turn off this screen during classes. And you wouldn't know what they were looking like. Um, so that was, and so now that that's the kids that were getting in and they think they can turn off the screen, it's like, no, I'm still here so they can't hide.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Well, I wanna go back, uh, because so, so audience doesn't know this. I, I've known you my whole life, pretty much, certainly my whole martial arts life. Uh, and there, there's, there, there wasn't much of a, there wasn't much of a gap in between, you know, day zero and day one of martial arts for me, you know? So, but I. Despite that, despite having known you for that long, I don't know you well, and I don't know your origin story, so would you. Would you go back to that?
Antonio Fournier:
Sure. Um, it's, it is, you know, and thank you for asking this material because, you know, it's, uh, I'm not trying to be mysterious, it just nobody kind of really cares sometimes. So, but my kid, you know, the karate kids finally get it because, just because of the interesting background, like I'll say, you know, I trained under Bruce Lee. Um, you know, I was, he was on the third floors. On the second floor , it gets them, you know, and I, then I'll relate that I started in 1972, the same year Bruce Lee died, but it was no coincidence. I, it wasn't me. So, so now the kids get a chance to kind of figure out, hey, 1972 was a long time ago. So literally I started karate in 1972, it was an alternative to playing, uh, phis ed class. Believe it or not. It was one of the first Time. Just saw that. So I got a chance to do this eight week cycle of, uh, uh, martial arts and for exchange for gym classes.So it was twice a week a. King Middle School. Believe it or ot King Junior High School. Back in the day when I was, um, So I got a chance to do that. And then I had always been, always been interested in karate because, you know, I found my karate, my father's had karate books on the shelves and, uh, he had studied little when, you know, when, when everything was first kind of opening up in Portland, Maine. Cause that was one of the first styles that was here, was the chi system. Okay. Uh, which was kinda interesting was, but it was, it was kinda like, looked like an offshoot school. Uh, in, you know, when I finally went to a martial arts school, it looked, you know, bigger than their system, but their system is really cool. Oh man, it's great. So I sat in 72. Um, I, again, always gets interested, I watched my father, you know, see my father's karate books, read through them, get really, you know, motivated by that. Um, and then I, you know, I said, uh, I'll do this class. I did, I played baseball that year For King Middle School. No, king Junior High at the time. And afterwards, I, I, I was still young enough to be able to try out for ba uh, babe Ruth baseball. Well, uh, needless to say, when you don't bring your glasses to practice, uh, and you're the pitcher, you do bean, a lot of people Oh. So I was really. So, uh, that was the end of my baseball career. And, you know, my dad said, Hey, you wanna go to karate classes? I said, love to, you know, love to. So that's how, that was my introduction. First is Shulk. Um, it was originally with Tabata sensei down in Boston, and that's who my instructor, Reggie Graff was associated with back in that day. And Reggie though, he, he would jump, he would jump, you know, he would jump from being with the (inaudible) So we were constantly taking our material, relearning it, learning it again, relearning it cuz he would just jump back and forth.
Jeremy Lesniak:
We got some, we got some politics going on in there?
Antonio Fournier:
Oh yes, yes. Reggie guy. Uh, he just didn't, you know, I always got, I don't, I still don't understand people's mindset sometimes. And um, I'll go into that just for sec. I'll just give you Sure. So, you know, Reggie, Reggie, um, you know, was, was just jumping, but it was great. You got a chance to, I met some really great JKA instructors I met of course the Bobs people, just some really awesome come out they both still stylistically different but kind of them makes you, if you're smart, it makes you question why is this system different than this system of (inaudible). And then you start to see, okay, now then, then my thinking process is what? At that point, I wanna know what Puna Koshi knew. I think Einstein said, I wanna see how I wanna see things, or I wanna, um, I wanna think how God thinks. So for me it was just going back and saying, I want to see how Funakoshi got to this place and then why did this group go Schul Kai? This one was Schul Khan, the other one went Ken Juku system and you know, why did they do that? So that's, that made me start to think, okay, what was Funakoshi learning at the time? Then you get, go back to the shore and shore routes. And so on. So that was kind of my initial background and my thought with Shulk is to try to delve into the other arts as well. I got a chance to, I was adopted, uh, by Sensei Chink from Chin Sensei, from goju you know, the JK Association, chin Sensei was one of the last ones, uh, with sensei that trained with Miyagi, the real Mr. Miyagi. Uh, so he just took a liking to me and every time he, I'd see him at like a national event, the national tournaments, he'd always take me with them wherever they went and I would practice goju with them. So I got lucky to get some good goju practice with Chin and sensei. I had a good relationship, brought him, you know, he, I was bringing him to my karate school as well to train. So we, we've had some really good openings because of all the different martial arts that we've been able to do. And then, uh, so Ruiz was my instructor now he, um, The same thing. She threw aspect of martial arts really was kind of an interesting, cause to me it's a, it's an encyclopedia of all the different data if you can stick with it long enough to find all, all the different ones. But it was just, it's a beautiful art form to, to think about. Um, and that opened my mind a little bit more too to what Funakoshi was thinking. And how he got from where he was to there. So that was my initial. Then, you know, Reggie was also kind of visionary back in the day. He, he was the first one to brings, uh, Mr. Cha in from Korea. Um, Mr. Cha was a, um, you know, Che was his name, brought him over, I think in 1974. Frank Tito brought him over. Uh, and I always tell people, I said, I thought I knew what fast was until I saw him and there was a whole new level of fas that I've never saw before and we saw some very fast karate guys, but because his background, of course was TaeKwonDo, he was incredible. Absolutely incredible.. Fast hands, fast feet, fast body, fast mind. Uh, he, he just absolutely amazing and, and what he could do and how hard he could train you. So I got a chance to meet with him for a little while before he split off with Reggie. And then Reggie kind of just dissolved classes. So I kind of kept on, uh, I joined the National Karate Jiujitsu Union back in the day and, uh, I kept on expanding, you know, my martial arts as far as Haku, Iki, jiujitsu. So I have a first degree black belt and I wanted to test through two people. I wanted to test through my original instructor who was Shian Strout, uh, North Carolina. And then I wanted to teach with, um, get my degree with Dennis Columbo, who is. Who was my, uh, Kakadu instructor at the time. So I tested under Mr.Palumbo, got my first degree black belt from that, but it was always in my mind that I wanted to test also with, uh, (inaudible). So a couple years later I got a chance to get in front of him and, and show him and retask basically, but also to get my first degree under him as well. So that was my…
Jeremy Lesniak:
You're talking about cross-training when there really wasn't a lot of cross-training? I mean, we saw cross-training. You know, I've, I. plenty of folks on who, who were, you know, pushing up in age and they talk about the fifties and the sixties, you know, where it was just, oh, you know, a thing. And it was just very open. Right? Yes. Kind. And we're kind of getting back to that, but it seems like in the late sixties, it's definitely the seventies and the eighties. There were these rigid walls up and we had, you know, dojo wars and all this stuff that maybe it wasn't as bad as some people make it out to be, but it, but the culture was not, I'm gonna do this and this and this. It was, you do this with me and you kiss the ring, otherwise you're out.
Antonio Fournier:
Exactly. And that's, and that's how it was back in that, that day.Um, schools were against schools. It was not. You know, the kind of like the camaraderie now that we have, you know, that we can actually share stories talking to each other. You know, some of my best friends and unfortunately they passed away. This is Jeff, Jeff Woods' two year anniversary, uh, of his passing. So, um, John Jenkins Wells, it would be two, it was two years in last September. So, uh, these are great guys, but you know, we were at war with them. You know, there, there were not sparring pads at the time. The jewelry stuff did not come out at that time, so you, you had some really boy weird looking pads on your hands if you wore pads at all. Right. And the JKA was always no pads, you know, just all bare knuckle and you take the abuse and you keep on going from there and you get great side profiles and that kinda good thing. And it's, but it was a little bit more brutal and it was more personal. And that's, that's, that was a shame because it was, it took a little while for everybody to kind of open up, like even trying to learn how to do gold shooters, like, oh no, shoulder count's better, you know? (inaudible). Shoulder count is so much better. Right. And having that mentality versus saying, Well, you know, everything has a little bit of, you know, meaning to it. Uh, uh, one big opening eye for me as far as theJKA was concerned was, I think that's just a, it's just like a dog institution or everything else, but the instructors were not, and I remember sensei and I watching Domingo Yanos and this is when Domingo had just lost by like one, 100th of a point in the world's championships against Sugemoro. So I remember Nonaka and somebody had a video of him, you know, Domingo doing (inauble), but I watched my, the gentleman Nonaka sensing would not be bothered. He wouldn't, he was watching this. He did not wanna see anything else. He was really interested in what Domingo was doing. And that kinda opened my eyes that they're, they, they do kinda, they do want open their eyes a little bit more to different things. Um, and that, that was one of my big eye openers. It's like, it's not just this way too. You can appreciate, goju, you can appreciate (inaudible) and every, every system that's out there. And then, then we, of course we opened, I, you know, when I'm doing things, I started looking at Kali, um, you know, and doing that loosely cuz Chitoka is no weapon system. So I had to learn, we learned kabuto. Um, so we, we looked for a lot of different paths. And then I saw the value of Carl Maga when I first saw it back in 80, 81, oh, excuse me, take that back up. 90, 91. About that time slot as I'd seen value of crop, especially since Shon did not have at the time. A lot of application work to it. Um, you know, we, we'd come up, sparring was awesome, you know, kata was awesome, but it always looked separate from each other.. Um, until I met (inaudible) then you saw they actually spar. Like they, they do kata, which was really kind of fun, uh, table to be able to watch. Um, But I, you know, that they were separate between the content and the kuk, but, but you needed that, learned that application. To me, that application was what I was starting to find in the Ganar system as well with, um, Mike Lee Krik in the crop Maat to Israeli great system. So, so for me, that was a door open for me to kinda look at other styles. Okay. And see how it now fit into my (inaudible) So that idea of true (inaudible) for you originally get that and then start adding into the system and building the system and then showing people where in shudokan is the same thing. And that's what we're doing now with some Pencak Silat as well. Um, is to see show people that, look, this is, this is in your karate. This is not, it's not so foreign to you. I mean, I'm just trying to get it palatable. I have friends that,we both might like musical forms and we like musical weapons right. And I, you, you know, some of the friends that I know too as well that mm-hmm. , if you see them, the kids out there throwing a bow up in the. Yeah, same people are losing their mind. These kids are, you know, are doing that and it's like, oh my God.
Jeremy Lesniak:
As if, as if the ability to manipulate that bow in these dramatic fashions somehow means that they can't do any of the fundamentals. And somehow they found a way to jump over all that. And, and all they can do is twirl it like a batab. They don't actually have the skill to put the end of that thing in your forehead whenever they walk.
Antonio Fournier:
Exactly. Oh yeah. So, and you know what I, I, you know, I still had a few black belt holdouts of, you know, that mentality and I said, well, let, let's go take a look and thank off of YouTube. You get on there, you get a military position, tri unit with rifles, and you watch them. Why are they throwing that rifle in the air? Well, that's a perfect good rifle. Why are they throwing it? So if you look at the military drill units and what they're doing, you know, they're not there to, but the precision that they move is absolutely amazing. So when you take a look at the kata, and believe it or not, when you're watching that military, that's a kata. They're just doing some really beautiful kata. Um, but when you see them doing all those twirling up, catching up, boom, stocking, and that, and you're not impressed with that? Well, that's what I look at when we're doing our martial arts weapons and I see the kids doing that. You know, it's nice if they throw some actual martial technique in with. And that's one of the things I always try to stress with my people is that, yeah, you can do the open turn part of it, learn some, but learn the traditional art too, so that you have the traditional base. So if somebody says, what is this? You actually can say, this is what I'm doing and that you, you know, don't go well doing this. I'm throwing it up in the air. So we wanted to do both and then, and have the appreciation for the kids at Kentwell.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So absolutely, I we're, we're on the same page. Yes. On that, you know, Why do we learn how to do jump spinning kicks? Not super practical. Probably one in a million that I might ever use that in a self-defense situation, maybe one in a hundred. I would use it in a competition situation. But if I can do those techniques, I could probably do a standing one a lot better. I could probably do a a, a grounded spinning one better.I probably have a better understanding of balance and timing and all these other things that really do serve me no matter what the (inaudble).
Antonio Fournier:
and I'm, I'm a hundred percent agree because what I always try to tell them to understand is even if you can't do this, at least if you know about it, you're not gonna get hit by it. Right? When, when does a dog know that car is dangerous? Well, after it gets hit, well that's kinda a little too late. You know, if you're at least seeing the spinning jump spinning what kick and you can try to do the jump, you probably have less chance of being hit by it now. Cause you actually know what it's so if, if you have that other back part of it that goes with it, they gotta be able to have both.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Now, you know, even better than I do that the majority of people who start training don't keep training. And you, you, you could probably go back and actually get us some really good statistical information on where people drop out and everything. Of course you did not. And what I find when we have someone on the show has been training for a long time. There's usually, uh, uh, maybe not quite a moment, but a fairly short period of time where martial arts went from, this is a thing I'm doing to, this is who I am. Hmm. Yes. Do you remember that? Is, is there a story there or a time where he went, I get it now I see what's happening.
Antonio Fournier:
I think I was in my twenties when I, that finally started to kick in. Um, and had somebody interviewed me, it was on the press and I, and they said, they asked that question, what happens once your career is over? And I, but at the very end of it was that idea of, well, you know, my career might be over, but. I can also still be able to teach this, and that'd be one of the greatest loves I could ever do, was be able to give back what I've loved to do. And I think that's what helped me flip the switch, that this is a, this has gotta be more and stronger for us, uh, as educators in the martial arts to actually love what we're doing. And the people can see that we love what we're doing. Right. You know, Dr. Wayne, I used to say it the best. Love what you do sell what? You wanna be a great salesman. Very simple. So solution, love what you do, sell the love for that. So the same thing as an instructor. I have the absolute love for martial arts. I know you do as well. Um, Then let's communicate that. Let's show that love to the world, how much we love this, what you're gonna do. Uh, every great thing in my life came from me being able to get my black belt. So I want that same opportunity for you. And I know we also relate stories, you know, about my daughters, you know, being able to protect themselves. Well, I want the same thing for you. So at some point you're gonna relate it through all your life. And I think that's, we've been pretty lucky to be able to fly. But it was in the twenties, uh, after competing, and then somebody asked me that. What happens after, or if, you know, and that was a good thing, and again, I think you said it too, it's, it's because of what we've become. We're not just, you know, 20, 40 of the instructor. To me, I'm just, I'm an instructor. There's, there's no difference. Right. That's, that's, I think the, what we're trying to do is we just, we so imbued it that embodied what we're saying. That, um, it's, it's so easy for us to be able to communicate and then hopefully communicate them the same idea. Cuz a lot of times they, they, they don't see that. And we want them to permeate their whole life. Cuz that's one of the things that we had to learn. You know, that everything you do with karate has a mental benefit to it and you have to be able to find that mental benefit. And that's what I've been lucky with, um, since I met a gentleman named Greg Silva and Paul Gaia many years ago, was that idea of learning that the next step is to take the physical action that you're doing and find the mental benefit or the life skill, if we call it now, but the mental benefit behind what we're doing. And once I did that, that was another huge, yeah, key element in my training was, was to be able to now take it from that physical, take it more to that philosophical, and then hopefully bring it around to both.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And how did that light bulb, epiphany, whatever you want to call it, change how you teach and what you teach?
Antonio Fournier:
Yeah, it was, it's it from, again, what we taught, we had to be able to open up a little bit more avenues for people who just don't wanna do kata. And maybe they wanna do ka, maybe they wanna do color, maybe they wanna do, um, other things or sparring. And you know, if you're not giving 'em, um, that's little bit of a smorgasboard so they can taste a lot of different things then, you know, The slice of apple pie every day is not gonna cut it for them. So I had to learn that if I wanted to keep more people and keep 'em there longer, I could continually keep them training and then at the same time give them something new to always look forward to. And uh, that's kind of. The, the idea of what I'm trying to do now with everybody, uh, just so that they see it. It's like, okay, I gotta do this, this, and this to help keep my school growing and keeping the kids interested and the adults interested. Uh, that way they'll keep on coming back.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Nice. So you, I I, I think you buried something really important in there. You're still learning, you're still finding new stuff. You're still training in other different stuff. I would assume both for your own personal interests, but also to bring back more to your school.
Antonio Fournier:
Absolutely. No, I, I think I, I, I like what guru Dan and as Santo Dan, I mean he grad, he just recently got what, in the last three or four years, his black belt and Brazilian juujitsu. So , you know, it's like the guy has so many credentials, but you know, for the fact that he wanted to be a, have that beginner mindset was a huge thing for him. And it's a huge thing for me thinking, you know what, I've always wanted to get a black belt or belt right now in other than just white. Uh, and then again, so I can bring it back.I think the Taiki Katas on the Hachi Nachi forms are all grappling forms. And the more vision I have in seeing that type of grappling set of the standup, I, I got that with with a haru and some of the other disciplines I got a chance to train with in jujitsu. But now what? Above the ground, you know, if I'm laying on my back, my legs are open like this, like I'm doing a, you know, an open horse riding stance at that time. Well, that's an open guard, right? X stances, you're crossing your legs on top of them, you know? So I wanted to be able to see that and really bring that more to my students because of being able to see the difference. It's one thing to be able to look this way, but to try to see the moves this way is a hard thing to do. But I love learning.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And that's awesome. I, I think that's the difference between, I'm gonna say a joke there, there I've had the, the pleasure of, of having these conversations with so many folks, and you could tell you, you could, you could, we could find a way to strip out tone of voice so nobody could tell. But if you look at the words, if you look at what I call, you know, a white belt mindset, you know, very much this, this attitude that, that I. Santo if he didn't pioneer it. I think he is best. The best known example of it. Absolutely. You can tell for what people say and then we could find a way to score, rate martial artists and you're, I think you're gonna find it, the ones who have that attitude. What else? Where else? Who else? Give me more. Even if it's not because I wanna formally cross train and earn rank over here, but just so I can better understand my art, what I do. There there's a lot of development in that.
Antonio Fournier:
Yes. And, and I think that's a huge thing is, you know, if your mind's not constantly expanding, then you know you're contracting.Right? That's, that's it. So, you know, the best phrase is that, uh, your mind is like a parachute. They both work better when they're. So for me, I just wanted to see different things now. And um, and, and, and again, like you said, being able to bring it back into my, my own kata and, and for my own edification, why did, uh, going back to Choy, multiple sensei only had to know those three katas, but he was wor considered the world's greatest fighter. Uh, there's something in it more that we're not necessarily always seeing. And I, I think that is a, uh, interesting, always interesting for me. Why aren't we getting that? Why don't we understand that a little bit better
Jeremy Lesniak:
Now, you, you brought up your daughters. A couple times, yes. Lovely. And grandchildren. I know them. I know them a little bit actually. I've watched your grandchildren Born on, on social media essentially. Yes, yes, yes. I've gotten to see that. So that's kind of cool. Was it important to you that they train? Was it an option? Or did they have to?
Antonio Fournier:
They constantly had to be in the dojo, so they might as well be training. So both of 'em did get their black belt. Uh, Maria just loves, you know, she's on the floor with me. She's probably more, more, quote unquote call a business partner now versus just somebody that's, you know, my daughter. Um, so that type of idea, making sure that we always leave things in good hands. And then my other daughte y ou know, it was kind of not that much fun until she started learning how to compete. But once she started competing, uh, we couldn't keep away from tournaments. She was training hard. She always, you know, she liked to do the demo team practice, the demo team competition, but then she, she loved to do sparing. So, you know, that type of thing. But then her desire was to become a hairstylist. She works for Madeline's hair replacement. This is no reflection on, on the quality of work . So, uh, yep. But that was a creative. You know, didn't think of it that way. I don't know how much super glue they would've to put on a heads. That's the only thing. It's like, I dunno, it'd be hard. But that, that was, that was it. They had to, my wife is also a black belt too. Uh, her biggest hurdle was bound to me. So you know that I, yeah, I said what? I said bow, it's not like obeying I, you know, blindly. It's just a sign of respect for one another. Like they do in the military. They salute, we do handshakes, we, you know, I said, so we just bow's a sign of respect. It's not obedience. Yeah. So, Getting past the, that was a high hot hurdle, but when she did, she ended up getting her black belt as well. So it was, it was like to have a whole black belt family. Um, and, and you know, that's, and that's helped them with a lot of things in life cuz they learned how to have a work ethic. They saw me have to work a long time. I had to work at my father's donut shop. Um, it was a seven day a week operation, so I was there seven days a week. So learning about making the world's best donuts, which ware and still are. We still have great donuts. Uh, so I'm not there making 'em, but, uh, other things to do so, but I learned a work ethic and that was one thing that I always try to pass on to. Excuse me, my daughters and everybody here and all of my karate students as well. This, I, now, I, at that time, you know, I hated working seven days a week. Hated working double chefs because you know, you're a family business and if somebody doesn't show up, you gotta double it up. Or you're so busy that you know, you're really doing the work of two people even before the day begins. Um, So I, they, they got a chance to see that you could, you could, you could work through these things. I figured out by the time I was done working seven days a week, I said not liking it, but you know what it, as far as my competition was concerned, if I knew my competition was working six days a week, I could work seven. I already know I can. Yep. right. And I could keep on doing that whole thing and I, I don't care if you want you, if you're up at three, you know, at, uh, if you're up at 5:00 AM I'm up at 4:00 AM working. I always understood to do that little extra. And that's what I got from the business skills of just having to work seven days a week when the only day off we had was Thanksgiving. And that was the only day I would set my alarm because I could roll over and go. Turn that thing off. So the rest of it, I was always up and, and going. That was the only time. So at 3:30 was, you know, that just like the commercials, time to make the donuts. Mm-hmm. , uh, that was it. But again, it did teach me to have a great work ethic. Um, I missed a few things and, and that maybe would, would've been a good thing and, you know, uh, but again, family responsibility. Like I was one of the first athletes to be chosen to go to Colorado, uh, at the, at the training center before karate. In the Olympics, but you know, my daughter Marie had just been born. Um, you know, I got, I was running the karate school plus banking donuts in the morning, you know, for my dad. And, um, so there were just family obligations. Were not allowing me to go to the training center, but it was. It was great to have that offer. And like I said, maybe it would've been a good thing, maybe not. So can't worry about it now. It's a, that's what I always tell, right? It's in the past. And I don't live regret, I have no regrets for anything. Um, and I think I tell everybody this too. One of the great things is to, uh, two types of discipline and the two types of pain. We're all gonna, you know, suffer in life. The pain of discipline and the pain of regret. Um, I choose not to live my life with regret. You know, I do sometimes have a little bit of remorse, but no regret. Of anything good, bad, ugly, whatever it is, no regrets. You know, if I have to make atonements to people, I can constantly, always try to work on making atonements to people that have ever wronged in the past. Um, but again, I don't wanna sit there with regret. It's just too heavy. Just too heavy. I'll just keep on discipline myself to do the things nobody else wants to do.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Exactly. And, and. I'll be, I'll be delicate with this. You've been training for 50 years, so folks can infer whatever they want from, from that and, and adding numbers together. You're not slowing down. There's nothing that I'm aware of with you where you're slowing down. Maybe you're not getting up at 3:30 in the morning anymore. 5:30, but 5:30. Okay. Still earlier than the vast majority of the world. Why?
Antonio Fournier:
Good question. So here we coming up the January, we got great goal, goal setting. I set crazy goals for myself. So the why is very simple. I wanna be at my great grandchildren's wedding. Now my grandchild, uh, Sonny, the oldest one is five. My granddaughter's three and my other grandson is nine months. So, you know, that's 20 years of their life.They have to live. So now that's 20 on top of 64. So now I'm, I'm up to 84. And then by the time their children, they have children and their children get to be that age, I figure I gotta be 128 and still be at that wedding. That's my crazy goal is to be at my grandchildren. My great grandchildren's wedding. The second one, I, I like working out because it, um, this is why I used to like competing. It wasn't the fact that I wanted to compete anymore, but it competing does have a way to try to keep you sharp because you always have something to move to. So I had to learn, uh, instead of thinking about competition, what can I do to make myself better? And that's, that's what I try to do. So my competition is always daily. Do I get in that gym or I don't get in that gym. So at 64, I wanna be able to keep on cranking.
Jeremy Lesniak:
No. And, and, and if folks, if folks are listening and, and not watching, I dunno if we're doing this one in video too, but that's, uh, that's a substantial bicep.
Antonio Fournier:
Thank you. Thank you. And, and it's one of the things I love doing. I, I love, at this age, I want to be, I wanna be that guy when he takes off the shirt and everybody goes. Jesus, he looks like he's 90. Right. You know, that's, that's the look that I, that, that I've always liked is that you're like, but if I needed to, to to work, this is the other thing too, in which it does, and it's still muscle to chew full muscle. And that's really what I wanna do. It keeps me sharp, keeps me faster than everybody else. Um, and, you know, Reaction time doesn't have to slow as much as we want to. This might, the chemical electrical simulation might slow down, but if you keep your muscles at a high rev and a high, you can react to situations better and faster. Oh, I'm just gonna say better than people that are sedentary.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Exactly. I, A lot of what we chalk up to you, you not only know this, but are clearly illustrating this, A lot of what we chalk up to getting older is. Living poorly. Yes. Poor food choices, poor activity choices, poor lifestyle mindset choices.And it takes a toll on you. Yeah, you can, you can live on junk in every way. You could mean that when you're in your teens and twenties. Yes. And the deterioration doesn't become noticeable. But the opposite is also true. If you stay healthy. I mean, I'm 43 now. I know. I don't act it. Most people think I'm in my early thirties, so I, I'm, you know, uh, I don't have the specific, you know, 128 great-grand children's wedding, but I, I'm, I'm along for the same sort of ride. You know, I, I like being able to step out on the floor and hang with the, with the 20 year olds and say, you know what, yeah, I can hang, I can hang with you physically. And I got 20 years of training. .
Antonio Fournier:
Exactly. And that, that's a great opportunity for us too, to be able to stay sharp. That's why I used to love going to tournaments cuz I got a chance to be able to stay in my division, but at the same time then work my way down, getting toward the grands. And then you gotta be up against the kids and you, you gotta figure out what they're doing and how they're doing it. So that was the other thing too, is to watch what everybody else is doing on the circuit and then just try to figure a way to shut that down as fast as possible. Uh, and then, and pass that on to the students as well. So I, I, I still love doing it. I love competing. Um, but I, I do set crazy goals. I want to be able to do a pullup with my wife on my back. I don't know what that means, but, uh, you know, the, the, the highest weight I've ever done is I did a one pullup with an 80 pound girl on my back. So, so if I, I can either get my wife to lose weight or I gotta get a little stronger , so the losing weight's not gonna happen, and she's not in the house right now.I can get away with this and she won't know how to go unless she listens.
Jeremy Lesniak:
somebody's gonna tell her, Hey, you gotta listen it, you know, this time. Yeah. You can blame, you can just blame me. You know, we, we, we edited it in, we took some pieces from elsewhere. All my fault.
Antonio Fournier:
But I'm, I'm with you because I was starting to watch even my, you know, 20 years ago before, and again, I'm a, you know, health coach through opt, via an independent health coach. Um, not trying to sell anything, but that's one of the things I do and that's one of the physique changes I've had is because of (inaudible) I started getting that, I hate to say it, you know, when you're hot, it gets bigger than your wrist. You know, it's one of the things, you know, I see people's hot as get bigger, bigger, but the risk gets smaller. I've been fortunate, some of my instructors were big around here, are afraid they had massive rest like this. So, you know, they had the, they had a beautiful power plant, but they had the transmission line, so that would just knock you into next week. And then I just start seeing, you know, other instructors just get big, but they're, I've never seen this pro. You know, in other words, they're not working out, so everything's starting to shrink, but everything else starting to get big. And I said, I never want, I don't wanna be there. Yeah. Literally. I don't wanna be that instructor. That looks like that. And, you know, I'm not trying to pick on anybody. I know everybody has different circumstances in life. Um, they need help. We can help them if they, you know, they can just find a good, proper health program for everybody, because it's important to stick around for the ones you love. Really is. And my other big thing about about getting into the health program that I got into was the idea that, uh, my grandson at the time was three. And if that bugger took off running, I couldn't catch him.
Jeremy Lesniak:
There's a safety component in there.
Antonio Fournier:
It was, I said, I gotta change. So, you know, getting on the program, I've dropped, you know, I dropped 30 pounds.I've been able to keep it off. Um, I still work out a lot, but not, you know, I'm, I'm, I don't spend a lot of time at the gym., I don't know about anybody else. But I'm there for a specific reason. I do one body part a day, and then if I'm, you know, trying to take no days off in between, then you know, I'm gonna get double chest, I'm gonna get double back. I'm gonna get, you know, in one week I'm gonna get double legs. Right. So, you know, that's my training method. So I'm in the gym 20, 30 minutes at the most, and then the next time I'm in 20, 30 minutes at the most. So, you know, I feel it's a better way to utilizing your time. And here's a big health tip for everybody too. Don't get on that treadmill first. Get, get into your weights first, then get on the treadmill. Especially if you're getting close to 50, 60 years of age.We do it backwards. We throw everybody on the treadmill. Don’t.
Jeremy Lesniak:
People, I'm sure you know this, A lot of the audience may not know this. This is something that I, I've been trying to advocate for years. Cardiovascular training, if that's all you're doing, slows your metabolism. And this is why you see people who, who run exclusively, they stop running. They lost, they ate the same, so they lost weight cuz they were running brand calories. But now their heart's really efficient. Doesn't beat as much, doesn't take as many calories to run. They eat, go, they're eating the same amount, and now they weigh more than they did before they started. But building muscle is the opposite. Muscle is calorically expensive. That bicep on your arm takes, you know, takes a lot to run and keep that there Otherwise, you starve yourself, your body will get rid of it. Cuz it's expensive. If we were to just focus on weight training, and this is something that I, I try to get martial arts schools to understand that if the extent of your fitness program is just getting the heart rate up, you're actually not helping anybody.
Antonio Fournier:
You're not, you're not making anybody healthy that way. You know, they, cardiovascular wise, yes, I got that. But like you just said,, it's a perfect example is what happens. Your body gets very efficient at doing things. Don't take in enough fats, it stores fat. Don't take in enough water, it stores water. Your body is highly efficient at being able to do that. Don't breathe enough. What happens? Is gonna make you have to breathe enough cuz you're, you can't get lightheaded. So these are all things that that, that, that need to, you know, be thought of other than, cuz once you start doing the cardio trail and you're doing what you're doing great, that's fantastic. But it's true. Your metabolism just slowed down cuz it doesn't take so much cuz you are, you know, your Creb cycle's working to its best advantage. Everything's just going for you. But now you just kind of slowed everything down. Now your weight's getting back up and you never adjusted your eating habits and it's all the eating habits. I never thought I was, I was a two type of day. Either I would have a peanut butter cookie and peanut, uh, chocolate chip cookie with peanut butter in the morning, and then at noontime I might have a shake, you know, a protein shake. And then at nighttime was my real meal. So, you know, I was probably overeating on the nighttime meal on the reading throughout the day. So I mean, I completely had to switch my mindset, uh, of doing six smaller portions or five small portions, one larger portion.
Jeremy Lesniak:
and that's not convenient. But you have a strong why.
Antonio Fournier:
Exactly. And once you have the strong enough, why, especially coming up to this, everybody puts goals. You know, goals are great, but at the same time, you better have a strong why behind every one of 'em. And then have a secondary why. Of why that. Why is why? Because a lot of people, I don't think get past that first why? And they hit that. Why again? And as a life coach, I would be say, okay, why? And then really gets down to happiness. You know it. And it gets down to, well, I wanted to make more money then I wanted to do this, then I wanted have this, I wanted to do this. And what do you get? Well, why, why, why, why? All the way down, all of a sudden they're going Cause it's makes me happy. I said, oh yeah, there it is. You just had ask enough whys.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Sure. You talked about your daughter, Maria, sharing the floor with her. You've referred to her as more or less a business partner. What's it like taking this, this pursuit, this endeavor of martial arts, teaching martial arts? Of course, you raise her as a child, you raise her as a student, and then the opportunity to work alongside her. What's that? What's that like?
Antonio Fournier:
It's an absolute blessing, really is because that was something that, uh, I love. I love my family. I love spending time with my family. Um, anywhere shape or form. So on the martial arts floor is great. You know, during the karate tournaments when they were younger, they all wanted to go to the same karate tournament. So they met great new friends, uh, ULA Hawleys, uh, love them all. Hi guys. So if you're on here, . Hi everybody. Merry Christmas. Uh, but they, we love sharing time with that group. Um, so my daughters were, We're in it as well. But sharing the floor with my daughter, Maria, every day is a blessing because you know, a lot of people don't, you know, a lot of people don't see their daughter. They are, you know, the children, they move on the opposite side of the coast and you know, then they have children on that opposite side of the coast and it's like, You know how I don't, I, I gotta, I gotta be near them. And, uh, for me it's, it's just been an absolute blessing having her with me. And that was one of the things she's always wanted to do. She always wanted to be a cardio instructor and nothing I had to force her into doing this is something that she wanted to do. And sharing. It's just an absolute blessing. And I'm sure anybody that's here or on here that might be listening or you working with, uh, one of your, your prodigies if you want, um, is you get the blessing of being with them every day. You get the blessing of also being able to see your grandchildren more frequently, which I do. Um, so these are the things for me that just, it's been an absolute benefit. And watching her grow professionally is, is, is, is huge. I mean, she, you know, Um, very smart girl. She's still a very smart girl, you know, graduated degree in economics, so, you know, she understands a lot of things, but just to see her become what she has become so far is it's a priceless thing to be able to see it on a constant basis. Priceless.
Jeremy Lesniak:
How has she made you and or the school better?
Antonio Fournier:
Very simple. If, uh, she makes me better, uh, because she's part of the kindest hot person. In this world and you know, uh, far Line Maria would be the closest I could think of. If you could go to the Sound of Music. You know that is Maria. You know, she has that same (inaudible). Maria, fun. When kids see her, she's, they're lively. They, they see me show up. They, they start shedding tears. Uh, but she is just, uh, she is just Maria. So, um, that, that's just been, you know, one of the great things that have made me better. Because when I see everybody else's children's faces, I then imagine Maria's little face in their face. Hmm. So I, I caught, that's how it made me better at the beginning. It's like, what kind of instructor would I want in front of my daughter? What kind of instructor would I want in front of my parents? What kind of instructor would, would want in front of my siblings? That's the instructor I always wanted to be. And by having her literally there, Boy that just, it literally changed everything cuz her little face, you know, when she was five and actually three years of age and starting to learn how to do karate at that age. But thinking about all those years and then thinking, now looking at the faces of the young kids that are coming today and sa thinking the same thing, that's still, you know, little Maria's face. So just, you know, that's all. Project that into them. Now when I look at the little kids, I now can see my grandchildren's faces. Cause both, uh, Sonny and Sophia, uh, are doing karate classes as well. So it's easy because now I can look at everybody's children. Like I look at my the faces of my, my own children.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So that's how, how does that change you as an instructor?
Antonio Fournier:
Oh, because it makes me like, okay, if I'm this kind to my daughter, then I should, you know, if I'm not kind to my daughter, you know, you just, you look, go whatever I needed to be or the type of instructor I wanted in front of my daughter. That's why I wanted to be. So for me, it changed me to have to be more patient, not looks. And here's the other big thing too. It took me a long time to figure this one out. Um, I used to have a test for all the kids, you know, karate when I first started teaching it, you know, okay, here's a low block, and on that test I had everything a person could possibly do wrong. Same thing with horizon block, same thing with an inside block, outside block Chito, you know, and it, that list was really, really long. And then I just had that epiphany one day. Uh, wouldn't it be easier just to kind of stop check marking them on what they're doing right. And kind of figuring that one out. Um, and that was an epiphany for me is that I was living my life as a, uh, negative person . So for 27 years I lived my life as a negative person. And I think once my daughter started coming around, you know, being actually was born in 89, by that time it was like, wow, I gotta learn how to change my life around. I can't be a, you can be very positive.
I'm gonna tell everybody right now, you can be very successful being a negative. The difference is you're not gonna enjoy the journey. And you're not gonna like the outcome and you're gonna get burnt out. So you can become very successful. But what I figured out is I gotta, I gotta flip the switch. I can't be looking for the negative, negative, negative, I just gotta stop looking for the positive, positive, positive. Cause if you wanted to raise a positive child, you better stop learning how to do that at that time. Uh, and that's how it changed my teaching is that I, I knew that I had to stop changing into a more positive role model. And plus the other thing that I started seeing, I started seeing a lot of, um, motivation from people who had disabilities. I think they kept on having the person that, um, I think I first heard it with Tony Robbins, was one of the guys who had, you know, been in a plane crash. Um, and then. Nope, he was a fried Crip, so he was in a car accident. The gas tank exploded. He's burned 90% of his body, uh, survived. Then took the proceeds and opened up a wood stove. So cuz he is afraid of fire. So he sure faced the fire. Then he was, uh, flying an airplane, got his, you know, license and he crashed the plane. And I remember reading this story. Now he's crippled. And his wife had, you know, while he was still in the bed, said, uh, I can't do this again.I can't live with a fried cripple. And that's what she said. And that motivated him to get up and become very, very successful to what he is doing. But I think he became, uh, like a lieutenant governor, um, and state politics. And this catchphrase was open me and you'll never be another pretty face. So he, that was, Eyeopener is about focusing on what people can do and not focusing on what they can't do, and then really how to, to manipulate that. I mean, I've had students come in, uh, with no arms past here and no legs below my knees, so now I gotta create kata. I gotta create a kata that's that can fit them. Yep. You know, the same thing. I had a student with a wheelchair and all he had was his electronic control. So we just learned how to just use this wheelchair as an object, uh, and as a weapon. But you have to get creative with your mindset. So that was my first big thing in it, was knowing that I had to switch my mindset. That's what my daughter did. I, you know, instead of the negative mindset, I gotta stop looking for the positive than everybody. You know, you're still gonna see the bad. I mean, I'm not blind. If a kid's got a bad looking forward stance, it's like, I, you know, I'm gonna work on that and we're gonna make it better. And it it, the thing too, as somebody's with you for 20 years, they, they bet they're gonna look good, you know, even if they might have a rocky one or two years at the very beginning. Uh, but if they keep on training, they're gonna look very good by the time.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah. And, and you know, one of the things that, that we've talked about on, on the show is this arc of, and, and you've seen this, you get the kid that starts 8, 9, 10 mm-hmm. , and they're physically very gifted. They're wonderful. They've got proprioception, you know, they, they're probably playing some other sports and they come in and they just, doesn't matter what you show 'em, they get it. There's, you know, they're the yellow belt that's doing the jump spinning kicks, you know, they're, they're breaking twice the wood. Everybody else's, they go to competitions and they yawn and they take first place. Yes. And everybody thinks that that's the next black belt. They're gonna get it. And then two to three years later it gets hard. Yes. But they haven't built the muscles around persistence. And so they quit. And the other kid that started at the same time, same day, lived in their shadow. Just kept showing up, just kept fighting and, and their why wasn't about being the best, cuz that was, that wasn't an option. It was about, I'm gonna try to have fun. And now 20, 30 years later, they're opening a school and they're amazing.
Antonio Fournier:
Yeah, and that's it. You know, hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard. And again, and I, and I also tell this to the kids too, even the ones like we were just talking this some, the Superior League just gifted. And I said, I'm, and I told them right now, I said, you know, I'm gonna look for something that's gonna make you struggle because I think you need to understand it's not a bad thing to learn how to struggle. And if you struggle now, you'll always know what to do when you do really have to struggle. So I'm gonna find that one thing that you might not be good at, but I'm gonna try to make you use it, struggle with it so that you know how to work past the struggle. Cause if you never do, they're gonna quit. Just like you said, you know? And here's a bad thing about this. And from all my years of teaching, I had one student that was very, very gifted. Um, he was really good. His karate was really good and, and as a kid. As a kid, but it made all the other sports. He was playing better cuz he was really, you know, the karate has really helped him, became, become a superior athlete. Then of course, as his baseball guess, I think it was because his baseball became more prevalent in his life. In other words, things started, you know, there's gonna be more games, more practice, and so on. His karate practice started to wane. So his parents said, well, you know, we can't do both, don't you just do baseball? So what happens? You take off the skill of the karate. The kid that's doing, you know, all of a sudden his skills in baseball aren't the same,, he's starting to slip, slip, slip. Then all of a sudden he's out of that too. Um, and then he goes in a spiral of never being the same as he was when he was in karate. It did lead to one of the kids that I know end up in jail because never got that past up that point.This martial arts is what gave him the physical gifts to stay with everything else so it’s truly a shame. I always tell parents to you gotta stop making sure if he’s playing hockey. He’s saying I’m a good hockey player, im a good hockey player coz wants you get injured there’s no identity. Let the kid knows he’s a great kid who plays hockey, he’s a great kid that be a great at hockey, if hockey falls out of his life, still great kid so you can make sure to use the right words between your kids.
Jeremy Lesniak:
One thing I wanna add on about the multisport thing because it blows my mind that parents havent figured this out. I you talked to any college or higher level strength and conditioning coach. Every single one of them will tell you that they have better results and pure problems with multisport artists that the earlier you specialize, the more you setup your children for injury and lack of success
Antonio Fournier:
Exactly because they never been able to you know they should be able to cross hemisphere cos that's why all the sports are really doing is making the hemisphere of the brain have to talk to each other better so yeah let let them cross train and cos I do this with my my black belt kids now their boxing they you know they do a 3-month rotation of boxing they could they do 3 month patient kickboxing uh now into Muay Thai kickboxing and you know then we're going to learn take it to the ground you know I have one young man who's really good Nick Miles I'll give him credit he goes down the Dover he goes down to no system May trains hard loves them um but he loves karate it shouldn't and but he's the one that's it will take the kids down to the ground and show him what to do cos he's a no-gi he loves fighting and he’s a sponge, he takes everything in um but that's one of the things that that we digress on as far as doing it but that's what we like to do with the kids too so the cross train and the hemisphere and if they don't then yeah gonna have an like you said a lot of sports injuries are the same repetitive injuries and talking about strength and condition and coach my coach for optavia actually works for two lane he's also one of the greatest martial artist in his trucks instructor is, I remember a senior a senior sorry Mr James a senior so Samuel that was his instructor it still lives as a instructor and I said and I was talking to him so my god your your instructor's legendary I mean everybody knows uh of of sensei even though I'm not an issue guy I do know cos I I love the art and I love watching it and um but he's besides being a great martial artist he's also the strength and conditioning coach that helps out in Tulane.And you know he said the same thing too let your kids gets cross trained and let lots of different things not just specialize yet let that brain get out there and develop into something other than what they're doing but it just shows you that you know you can be a martial artist. Andre Tippett was a beautiful martial artist um and ferocious ferocious on the field but gentleman but he he was ferocious in the ring too so uh it was fun to watch him actually do and it's compact from me on his size gorgeous the way she's saying yeah just beautiful so right on one trip all the way wrong
Jeremy Lesniak:
If people wanna get a hold of you how how would they do that?
Antonio Fournier:
hey can do it through my website or should don't even follow my website go and go to flkc123 uh four years leadership provide some of the the flkc and then the 123 at @gmail.com um yeah they can call the karate school 207-797-0900 leave a message for me if you just want some more coaching and life or just need a little bit of motivation uh one of the big things I you know I this time of the year is that the the hardest thing to get people to understand about their worth so during this time of year you know everybody should understand their worth you know the the I love this phrase to um you know when he appeared the sole felt it's uh the sole felt it's worth right you know from O Holy Night it's just one of the most beautiful verses that they says in there is that when he appear your soul felt it's worth it didn't say it felt itself esteem you've got to know your worth and I always tell my kids this and say if you understand how much you're worth you're not worth I said yeah minimally you're worth 98 cents you know so yeah but if I if we go to molecular biology and I when hydrogen atom split that one hydrogen atom I can power the city for 2 weeks and you have billions of hydrogen atoms running through your body's basis of water I suppose so you're not worthless you're not 90 cents comprises right this is no amount of money that can do that especially and I always tell them specially to your parents this time of year you know your price list your teachers your price list uh just know that you you have that especially this time you're for everybody you have value if you're alone you still have value right how do I know that God made one of you. If you don't want you to have worth and purpose who would make $20,000 of you so if I'm a message to everybody here that you have worth I don't know what you have to find it and that's I think what we do at karate at martial arts as we clear the lenses so you can start to see yourself a little bit more clear and I think that's one of our goals and for everybody this time of year if if you're suffering I feel you alright 7970900 if you need deeper help than that trust me I know from experience call it suicide hotline call it suicide it's been hard 2 years for a lot of us but uh for other things that we'll just keep time slot you and me ok uh but for everybody here I understand is so if you need more help please reach out call the suicide prevention hotline I know martial arts guys so some of us think uh you know we got a burden everything on our shoulders no you don't you can let it go there's other people to help but no you have worth..
Jeremy Lesniak:
well if you're still here that means you probably dug the episode and I really appreciate you sticking around. Thank you for watching or or listening to this depending on what format you chose I had fun I had fun talking to we we kept talking after we stopped the show I think we talked to another 30 45 minutes uh this is someone who I just they're contributions to the martial arts world are well-known to those who know but to everyone else kind of quiet and he's not alone there are so many people who have invested their lives in bettering the martial arts world in their community and in the global community and I take a lot of inspiration from that. So, thanks for coming on I look forward to seeing you again soon hopefully soon audience thanks for coming bye. Please consider supporting our work we give you all of our best things for free and we hope that you find enough value in what we do to consider supporting us whether that's making a purchase or joining our patreon or telling friends about us whether you're willing to spend money or spend time both are greatly appreciated and well there are different times that we prefer different ones right. I'm looking at the checkbook the money is nice but if I'm looking at the community and the numbers as the Show continues to grow the time sharing this episode with someone that you train with probably the easiest and best thing that you could do for us truly.
Now other things that you could do you could have me and to teach someone at your school do you know the stuff that I teach it's kind of cool it's kind of unique and it's something that is really impactful in fact how do I know it's impactful because most of the places that have me have me back that's how I know I'm doing something right and don't forget if your school or school you know would benefit from some consulting work with the whistlekit philosophy it's available to go to what's ok com go to section, check out the consulting page and I'll tell you more about it everything you've got to know no obligation. I think that's it our social media is at whistlekick, my email's Jeremy it was still kick.com until next time train hard smile and have a great day.