Episode 830 - Mr. Dean Franco
Mr. Dean Franco is a Martial Arts instructor, practitioner, and host for the FMA Discussion Podcast.
I had no way of advertising it or releasing it or showing it to the masses. So I just continued developed it around my training partners and students. So what is Blade Tech today? It was very defensive initially and it’s now comprehensive.
Mr. Dean Franco - Episode 830
Learning martial arts before the internet was challenging, especially if you were looking for convenient ways to learn, such as video tutorials. Fortunately, Mr. Dean Franco was able to take advantage of modern technologies for his system. He discussed the impact of the early internet and DVD lessons on martial arts training, which he considers a crucial time for those looking to learn and study martial arts outside of traditional dojo settings.
Mr. Dean Franco shares how he discovered and fell in love with Filipino martial arts, which he now considers his major. He also produced the FMA Discussion podcast, creating a virtual library for the Filipino martial arts community.
In this episode, Mr. Dean Franco talks about his journey in martial arts. He emphasizes the importance of his TaeKwonDo background in his martial arts journey, which helped him appreciate the JKD philosophy and kickboxing techniques he later studied.
Show notes
You can follow Mr. Dean Franco on the following social media platforms:
Facebook - Dean Franco
Instagram- @dean.8553
Youtube channel - FMA Discussion
Show Transcript
Jeremy Lesniak:
How are you? And welcome. This is whistlekick Martial Arts Radio episode 830 with my guest today, Dean Franco. I'm Jeremy Lesniak. I love martial arts. I love traditional martial arts. I love all of you traditional martial artists. And that's why we make so many things to support the traditional martial artists of the world. And if you start your little hunt at whistlekick.com, you'll find a bunch of things, probably things that will extend your enjoyment of martial arts. Whether it's a training program for making your knees a little more bulletproof, increasing your flexibility, balance free, or maybe some apparel or protective equipment. Lots and lots of options over there. So go check it out. Go see what's going on. We got stuff for individuals. We got stuff for school owners. We got training programs for martial arts teachers. Like there's just a ton of great stuff. Use the code podcast15. Saves you 15% on just about everything that we do.
Now my guest today, Mr. Dean Franco. You may know him from his podcast. We talked about that. You may know him from seminars. From some of the people he hangs out with. We've had a bunch of them on the show, but what you may not know is how great a guy he is. If you've been around him, you know that. But I had such a wonderful conversation and I hope you can tell that I'm being very genuine here. I enjoy all of my episodes. I enjoy talking with all these people. I like talking to people, but I don't have as genuinely a fun time as I did with Dean. Such a great time. And I hope that comes through. This kind of felt like two old friends who really hadn't talked before. Sitting down and chatting. Maybe some of it is that he has a podcast, so he's quite practiced being on the other side of the camera and the mic. Have fun. So you'll have fun. And I'll see you on the other side. See you in the outro. Hello, hello.
Dean Franco:
How are you?
Jeremy Lesniak:
I'm great. How are you?
Dean Franco:
Well hey, I want to extend my humility and humble and honor for you to have me on. Thank you.
Jeremy Lesniak:
No, I'm glad to have you on. I've been paying attention to what you guys are doing. You're doing good stuff.
Dean Franco:
Try to, you know.
Jeremy Lesniak:
No, you are. You know, one of the things I said when we got this going was I never wanted it to just be us. I ground out this platform and now we have ground out this platform because nothing else existed, you know, when whictlekick launch, it wasn't a podcast in mind. It was let's sell some products. I couldn't figure out how to sell the product so we made a podcast.
Dean Franco:
Yeah. And you guys reach out to, I mean, the full gamut, you know what I mean?
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah. Yeah. We try to get all over the place. I mean, for today, Taekwondo, karate, Tai Chi, and I'm trying to remember what else I recorded today. I don't even remember. [03:12:7].
Dean Franco:
So you did four a day?
Jeremy Lesniak:
You're the fourth one I'm recording today, yeah. We don't record every day, but yeah. Cause we do two a week.
Dean Franco:
Okay. Okay. Awesome. Wow.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah.
Dean Franco:
Proud of you guys. Four a day. I'd be like oh.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I think you're, oh, it's taken years to get to the point where I can do this.
Dean Franco:
Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And there are certain things that I do like I haven't eaten. I'm about maybe 400 calories in, but it's all fat. Right, like there are a bunch of little things that I've figured out over the years that help me get here.
Dean Franco:
Yeah, to get through four episodes, yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I think you're going to be episode 830, something like that.
Dean Franco:
830. All right. I am marking it now.
Jeremy Lesniak:
We'll let you know when we commit to that. Well, sometimes we arrange things, but just to give you an idea of like where we're at, like this is...
Dean Franco:
No, that's pretty incredible. I mean, so...
Jeremy Lesniak:
We've been cranking.
Dean Franco:
So what do you do? So after that, you put it on there for folks to watch it aftermath?
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah. Yeah.
Dean Franco:
Okay.
Jeremy Lesniak:
It's just whatever we get, we put it out there. You know, we don't do a lot of editing. You know, it's, you know, if somebody coughs or you have to go deal with the dog or something, you know, edit that, but usually just kind of let it run.
Dean Franco:
Yeah. No, no, no. Sounds easy.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You want to dive in?
Dean Franco:
I'm ready if you're ready.
Jeremy Lesniak:
We can just dive in. Let's dive in.
Dean Franco:
Alright.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You know, I don't know that we've had an in-person conversation. You know, we've been in the same place, but I don't know that we've ever chatted.
Dean Franco:
No, we met not the year before April. My first, at Terry Dow's thing that was we met. No, we didn't get a chance to…
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay. I'm glad my memory is serving me. It doesn't always. So I've been looking forward to this, getting to know you a bit better, you know, if not training, your interest at least is all in FMA, Filipino martial arts. Is that fair to say?
Dean Franco:
Yeah, I would say that's definitely my major now. So previous to that…
Jeremy Lesniak:
I like that because I like academic metaphors. They seem to work.
Dean Franco:
Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Major. That's brilliant.
Dean Franco:
Yeah. So I started out Taekwondo and then, which I was enjoying. And I saw the first UFC 93 and I want to experience what I was seeing, you know, in the fight center. So in Connecticut, I was very fortunate. His name is Ron Kosakowski. And at the time he was offering BJJ, Jeet Kune Do and Thai boxing, and everything like that.
Jeremy Lesniak:
In the early 90s?
Dean Franco:
This? No. So, I saw it and I didn't get wind of him until like ‘96.
Jeremy Lesniak:
But even still, that's early.
Dean Franco:
No, he was a pioneer. Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Folks outside of New England don't understand that we often lag behind.
Dean Franco:
Correct. Correct. Absolutely a pioneer as far as Connecticut is concerned. Ron Kosakowski. 100%. Yeah. And so I went down there. So what's ironic is I went down there looking at the lens. I don't even know if it was called MMA back then. But just as a little here, a little there and there, you know, whatever they were calling it back then. But what I really found was my true love was basically, he offered Filipino martial arts as well. So,when I saw that, I still did the JKD and the other stuff, but I really, I kind of dove into FMA and kind of has been my major ever since and with specifics to edge weapons.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Now my background as I got it, as I found FMA, which I've not gone nearly as deep into as you have, of course, fully acknowledge that. But I'm wondering if the light bulb you had, if we can call it that, the moment you had when you saw it was similar to mine, would you mind talking about what it was like getting to experience that for the first time?
Dean Franco:
Yeah. So what happened was, I was doing a makeup class and that makeup class happened to be, which kind of fit my schedule was his Filipino martial arts class. So I didn't know what to expect. I mean, I knew he had that class but I couldn't tell you anything more than is on the schedule, you know. So I go there and he was doing, it just happened to that day, he was doing basically sticky hand knife, you know, you're coming at you, you're kind of monitoring, trying to keep cohesion on there, done, sold. I just, the way the beauty of it flowed and all that and the different movements and how you had to be center mass and vital targets aware and how do you had to move in concert and I mean, that was just so yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
How much taekwondo training had you had fire?
Dean Franco:
I got to second degree.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay. So more than a little.
Dean Franco:
Don't ask me to do it again.
Jeremy Lesniak:
But I think the context is relevant, right? You know.
Dean Franco:
Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So I'm guessing and I'll articulate my experience. When I saw brush grab strike, I went, oh, this is everywhere. It felt like the missing piece. It felt like that puzzle piece that had fallen under the table that you didn't…
Dean Franco:
Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Oh, and now you can see the picture. It made so much sense to me.
Dean Franco:
Yeah. Yeah. It definitely was a light bulb moment. Also, you know, the light bulb moment was also the range. You know what I mean? Like there was long, there was medium and then there was close. So Largo Medio Corto and you know, just it all, again it just, it was like I found what I was looking for without knowing what I was looking for, you know, is the best way I could put it. And it's not that I abandoned JKD. Matter of fact, I got to associate's level on JKD. I'd mostly use a JKD. Definitely some of the five ways attacks, but more of the open philosophy of like, okay, I'm not going to be, you know, I'm going to take here, integrate it there and if I don't find it's useful or my students, it's not used for them, then I'm going to remove it. So I definitely still adopt that JKD philosophy, use what's useful, discard what's not. But definitely heavily into the FMA lane.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And so we're, you know, cause I'm doing a little bit of math. You're fairly young when you find this stuff.
Dean Franco:
Yeah. So…
Jeremy Lesniak:
No, definitely earlier, I would say earlier than anybody I know personally.
Dean Franco:
Yeah. Again, I mean Connecticut, you know, as far as back then, I mean, again, we're talking ‘96, so when you think of FMA back in ‘96 and Connecticut, you we're not talking California, New York. You know what I mean? New Jersey. So yeah, so I was 30, 30 years old. Had the Taekwondo behind me. So, which helped with the JKD, my kicking. So that worked out nicely. And then when I got the FMA, there is an empty hand aspect, of course, in FMA. And yeah, so we got a 30 and still going.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah, that's awesome. So here's a question. I like the journey aspect. You know, most of the folks that we've had on the show have, even if they stuck with their original art, they end up cross-training, right? Just inevitably that tends to happen. What do you think would have been different about your experience with JKD and FMA and these other things you're learning if you hadn't had that Taekwondo background?
Dean Franco:
I don't know if I would have seen it. Because when I was doing a Taekwondo and again referencing, you know, ‘93 to first UFC, I was really looking then, you know, of course, I had a loyalty to Taekwondo. I never dismissed it and said, you know what I mean? It was my stepping stone and I still get absolute respect for that. But yeah, I don't know. You know, I don't think I would have found it as quickly as I have. And if I think of some years went past, who knows what would happen? Maybe I would have became disinterested. Maybe other events in my life would have taken over and thus I wouldn't pursued. So I'm very fortunate for Taekwondo that it did segue into these other arts.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So talk about those early years. You know, you come in, you're taking some classes.
Dean Franco:
Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You’re digging it. But of course, you took it and ran with it. You know, a spoiler alert, you know, you're not just a casual practitioner, but when does that tide start to turn?
Dean Franco:
Okay. So, ‘96, when I was doing FMA, I met my JKD instructor, Chris Smith, who was also a student at Ron's but was going on his own. So, while I was training with Ron at FMA, I was seeking Chris out for JKD. When I was with Chris, hee just gave me a lot of freedom. I really attribute him to so many things by giving me, if it wasn't for him, I don't think I'd be sitting right here and talking to you. And or have FMA discussion or create my own system. He actually instilled in me, create your own journey, your own version of you. Take your ball and I took the ball and ran with it. And where it started was I had an ACL repair. So I was just sick of sitting home on a couch and so I would go to school. I couldn't be in there doing JKD kickboxing cause I was a liability. My mobility was compromised. So I'd go on the wall. I'm saying, hey, can you guys mind just coming out of the knife? I just figured I'm going to do something. And light bulbs started going off. And this is actually the very beginning of how I started my system. It just wasn't the system back then. And I came to this revelation of two-on-one, cause I couldn't move. I couldn't like size, like I had, you know, I had to rely on this gross motor, you know, there, that's when, from that point on, I could say literally took the ball and just haven't started running.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay. And what did that development process look like?
Dean Franco:
So, it was very rudimentary, very rough looking, but as my mobility came back, I went from static against a wall to now moving, and it grew, it grew. And then I didn't, you know, so, you know, social media, I mean, we're talking very early internet. Who the heck is Dean Franco? I mean, so it's not like I guys I have this stuff, but I knew it was something special. And I’m going to get into this later where I how I know it. How I knew it then how it became. But I had no way of like advertising it or are releasing it or showing it to the masses. I mean, again, being in Connecticut. So I just continued developed it around my training partners and students. It was very defensive initially. So what is blade tech today is now comprehensive back then was very defensive-oriented. And so Carl Atienza, Atienza brothers, I was training with them. We're now into early 2000s. So he recognized I was really good at knife. He goes, hey, and I was out to Atienza rep back then. He goes, hey, you know, you should call your faction. He came up with this name and he goes play technologies. I'm like, okay. So it's kind of stuck ever since then and there . So that's how they began me taking a ball and run with it. Be also the kind of beginning of my system.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Alright. You mentioned early internet pre-social media.
Dean Franco:
Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You know, that was kind of the, there was a short span in there where I think it was the heyday of like DVD lessons. Because finally there was a way to find out about them, right? You didn't just have to, you just find them in the magazines. And so there was, maybe it was a five-year span or so where DVDs were flying all over the place. Were you in on that? Were you…
Dean Franco:
Oh yeah, I definitely got some. Oh yeah. I don't want to percent because you know, Black Belt Magazine was kind of a source inside Kung Fu and you look in the back and who's selling what are advertised. Yeah. At 100%, yeah, absolutely. Those were definitely referenced. And, you know, I was going to some seminars, like for instance, I mentioned the Atienza's. So, at this point, I'm still with Chris, but I'm really branching out into different systems. So,the system I got my first certification in FMA was through Chris Smith, which is the Inosanto blend. So, I got my Inosanto blend. So, what you do is, generally speaking, when you graduate JKD, you also get the FMA co-part of it. So I got there. So then, I went to go train with Seox and Atienza’s, and this is circa early 2000s, and started my own school. So there was a lot going on back then. Yeah. When I look back, it's kind of surreal. Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You know, it's, it's interesting talking about just the way you mentioned it, you know, training and JKD, but I was kind of going off and doing my own thing. And what I just kind of want to underscore is that that sentence doesn't happen in that way if a JKD was something else. You know, you don't generally say I was doing karate with this person. I was kind of going off on my own, right? Not that it can't happen. Not that it doesn't happen, but especially then it rarely happened. And if it did, I'm going to guess that your JKD instructor was like, yeah, go for it. I support you.
Dean Franco:
Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Whereas even when it does happen today, for the most part, it's at best neutral.
Dean Franco:
Yeah. You know, you just touched upon something very important and that is that open-door mentality. And the reason being is if you look at Bruce Lee, look at everybody trained with. Now you look at Dan Inosanto, look at everybody trained with. So, everybody that's kind of under there, it's accepted that you're going to go train with our people and you're going to take and pull and basically under JKD lens if you will put it into your JKD. Whatever it may be, it's Savate or you took, you went deeper into Mutai, you went deeper into FMA, whatever, and the conceptual end, JKD. And so you're absolutely right like it's not unusual when you hear this guy or anybody for that matter, circa late night, early two thousands, they were bouncing around. They probably were in some shape, way or form were affiliated with JKD, so you're absolutely correct. Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Which I just find really cool, you know. My original roots are in karate. I was very blessed with the instructors I had. They were very open and it wasn't until I started training in other schools that I realized that that wasn't always how it was. But FMA seems to be even today much more open. People seem to be more…
Dean Franco:
Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You do what you do. I'm doing what I do, but I really want to see what you do. Let's experiment.
Dean Franco:
It's true, but it wasn't always like that.
Jeremy Lesniak:
No? Okay.
Dean Franco:
For instance, there like if you look at the haven of FMA Stockton, California. I mean back then, there were some like you either, you know, not all of their course, but there was definitely some tribal, you know what I mean? Now I'm definitely seeing that for instance, and I can attest this cause I've actually seen it just unfold in front of me. So when COVID kicked in, I'm doing a podcast and all this, and I'm seeing folks resorting to Zoom to teach their lessons. Well, the byproduct of that was, hey, what do we do a seminar together? Hey, you bring your students. I'll bring mine. Now you're seeing this cross-pollination of different systems. And in lieu of that, now I'm seeing that continue, I think it's a wonderful, great thing and I'm glad it's happened. But pre-COVID, it wasn't happening online, and geographically speaking of States, nowhere's as much as now. So I think COVID had a huge piece.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Pre-COVID, you can't learn martial arts online, right? You can't learn martial arts online. I'm never going to teach martial arts online. Oh, wait, my school is collapsing and I have zero dollars. So, we're going to do martial arts online. Yeah.
Dean Franco:
Yeah, it's so funny. Like, you would see these diehard guys. And I've seen an FMA committee and before you know it, like, because I've asked for a discussion, I let everybody post there because I want everybody to get opportunity and all that. Wow, he's teaching online. I mean, it's just like people that you wouldn't suspect by much to your point when the bills start coming in, change of tune.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That’s right. Alright. So as you dig into late tech, you, you mentioned that you don't know if new or suspected there, there was, there was some instinct that you were on to something that you said as time went on, you were able to kind of concretely define. And I'd love to hear more about that.
Dean Franco:
Yeah. So, okay. So I opened up my school in 2002, 2003. And so during that time, I'm still, you know, refining this and creating and that and it you know, it took off from so machine to over an attack into random slashes. Again, definitely heavily on the defensive side. And so come, I sold my school 2012 or ‘13 because I want to become a student again. And I was just so wrapped up in the school teaching and I just couldn't be a student.And I really missed that. So I go to be a student again. So 2014, I see Burton Richardson and a pitcher sewing machine doing this. I'm like, you gotta be kidding me. I'm like, that's what I do. So that just substantiated and just immediately gave just credence to all these years I was doing when I first started, like, it was 1998. I just didn't have the name of Burton Richardson, or the notoriety of you know, Burton, who's actually my teacher now, so it's been wonderful.
Jeremy Lesniak:
He's great. He's been on the show. There was a fun moment. Yes. Pardon me, I hear extreme wind, and I'm just double-checking that my house is not falling apart on the camera. But he came on the show.
Dean Franco:
Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
It was driving me nuts. I knew of him and I couldn't place it and there was a moment and if you go back and why I think if you watch or listen to the episode, I think it comes up in the episode where it was just like a ton of bricks, it was a black belt cover. I was like, I remember the cover. I remember what he was wearing.
Dean Franco:
Defense instructor of the year?
Jeremy Lesniak:
I think he's wearing like a red shirt. I think it's like red and yellow.
Dean Franco:
I'm pretty confident it was defense instructor of the year.
Jeremy Lesniak:
It tripped me out that, you know, cause it was quite a while ago that he did that cover, and it stuck with me.
Dean Franco:
Yeah. I can't say enough things about him. Yeah, I mean, he's just a gem in some respects. But so I see this pitcher and he's coming to New York and I'm seeing this flyer, I'm like, I gotta go see this guy. Like I need to know how he came up with this. What was his findings? How did he get there? It was 2014 or 15 and I meet him and I said. I can't believe you're doing this and there was a subtle difference between what we did, but so close, so close. And been his student ever since and it really just validated everything I was doing up at that point. Because I'm not, have you heard the term tapping on FMA? Knife tapping where you're pairing?
Jeremy Lesniak:
No, I think I know what you're talking about, but maybe not with that.
Dean Franco:
Yeah. So, tapping is a very, it's one of the defensive movements, a lot of FMA systems use. And basically, what you're doing, the knife is coming here. Imagine the knife guy's arm.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That's how, you know, you're an FMA practitioner. You just happen to have a training blade on your desk.
Dean Franco:
Incidentally. Yeah. So you parry it down like that. And so most of the community did that. So I was kind of an outsider like I'm just going gross mode and move it biological response. Boom! Right? And it was so wonderful that somebody else like validated, not just somebody else, but somebody else on hierarchy far is you know, notable…
Jeremy Lesniak:
Sure.
Dean Franco:
I mean, figure in FMA. So it just validated. It was just so gratifying because it just validated all this work that just wasn't doing something aimless, you know what I mean? And yeah, so it was wonderful.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Cool. Okay. How has your system changed?
Dean Franco:
Okay, so again, it went from primary defensive system and this actually happened at last six months. So through my journey and all that becoming a student again, and so I'll blend say I got to answer preschool at now going through school. Post school, after selling it again, again, fully wanted to be student-role. And so I got certified in a Burton Avenue colleagues. I just went full heart into being a student. Looked at Piper knife, African system became instructor in that, and a colleague illustrious mo in there. And so with my students were seeing is so I had all these different systems and they just saw like what I was doing offensively in conjunction with the defense. So they go, why? And so this two years ago, three, like, how can we not come in your system? How can we not come in your system? Well, you know, I'm still being a student and I just want to really make sure and kind of formulate this stuff. I was getting the defensive stuff. And finally, six months ago, I'm like, you know what? If I don't do it now, it's just never gonna happen. So I finally compiled all offensive levels in conjunction with defensive levels, how hence now it's a comprehensive system. However, it's heavily stressed so we had the offense and defense, but the pre-violence stage, I direct a lot of attention there and mock drills. In other words, outside of ambush, somebody jumping out of a tree, how did a person get there? So I go through a lot of mocks up not to let the person get there forsake distance. This is giving you time. Time give me options. Less distance, less time, less options. So there's a precursor before they even go into training defensive or anything like that. So there's a lot of stress and material in the pre-violence. So they got the pre-violence, the actual defenses, and then the offense.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And how about for the folks that haven't done any FMA? You know, probably have a lot of folks who come in with a, you know, a taekwondo background or karate background and they're probably hanging with us and they're going, okay, I can see some of this stuff conceptually, but maybe you could talk about some of the differences, not just in FMA in general, but, you know, what you found and you said, you know, I need to do more of this and less of that. Really, because that's, you know, there are only so many ways to move. And I imagine that the majority of the things you were doing were, you know, your system is more of and less of as compared to others.
Dean Franco:
Correct. So, I'm heavily in the attribute development lane.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay.
Dean Franco:
Meaning, like, I have nothing against drills, and I do have some drills. But within those drills, there's an aspect of attribute development. And so, I use drills, I call them platforms. So, for example, me and you are standing across from one another. Okay, for starters. And I can touch your hand, but I can't get to your center. While I'm trying to go for your hand, you're going to move your hand or slightly move your body, and then you're going to look for first counter. So, I'm trying to instill in the student these attributes of developments, hand evasion, for instance, but also looking for the counter, pending on what's going on and all that. However, in conjunction that there's a high dose of like, what's your moral compass value system legally defensible? So I really stress my folks look you're using this because there's multiple people, somebody broke into the threshold of your house, but obviously in lowest parking lot somebody calling your name. No, I mean, so I mean that's thoroughly covered. So I don't use the word drills I call it, you know, platform drills, you know, and again, heavily on the attribute development. So what are some of those attributes? Speed, nontelegraphic, accuracy, power, position, stuff of that nature that I'm trying to cultivate in a student. And so regardless of what their background is, it's still for them easy to be accessible to them because there's levels, incremental levels of development. So in other words, if a new student came in, he's going to move around with somebody, but it's going to be at a very beginning level and the advanced student may be working on his material, but not so far where he's going to make it impossible or difficult for the new student. So both are going to get something at the exchange in there.
Jeremy Lesniak:
It sounds very intellectual. It sounds like you sat down with a lot of pen and paper as you were putting this together.
Dean Franco:
Everybody said, it's funny you brought that up because I don't think I'm anything special. I'm just a hard worker. But everybody said it was like, because they were, I was showing somebody kind of like the outline, a couple of my students actually. Actually, you know, cause I have three levels, level one, level two, without getting carried away 10 levels. I mean, and where you start to lose what really happens out there. So level one and two, and they're looking at it and they're looking at the systems that are incorporated. They're looking at the very detailed, the levels, offense-defense, the pre-violence stage, the mission statement, and they were just like, wow, how long did it take you to do this? I go, well, it's been up here for a couple of decades. It just finally took from here and put it on paper, you know? Yeah. So to answer your question, the short or long, yeah, a lot of time up here and finally the time and the confidence to put it on paper.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay. Why do you still train?
Dean Franco:
Great question. Multitude of reasons. One, I want to be a role model for my students. I want to be in the trenches in there with them. This is not just me on the sidelines telling them okay, you know, they're like I'm in there with them. I'm experiencing failures with them and there and all that you know, I'm part of them. One, to be relevant, I don't want to ever be stagnant. I feel if you're a teacher and you have students and you're not still being a student, I think there could be a death within a group there because you're not going out and bettering yourself or in there to me always a student, you know. And I tell my students maybe I cross a few more bridges than you but at the end of the day we're all in this together and we're working. And it's something they really appreciate because I don't put myself on a hierarchy here. You know, literally I'm in the trenches with them, you know.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Let's talk about weapons. Let's talk about the influence that Filipino Martial Arts has had on the weapons conversation, right? Because prior, right, prior to most people's experience with Filipino Martial Arts, weapons generally meant Okinawan weapons, right? We're talking bow, we're talking nunchaku, we're talking Aku, the oar, we're talking sai and kama. And they're interesting, but with the possible exception of a bow, kind of impractical, you know. People aren't generally, I know people who have, and they've successfully deployed nunchaku that they had carried as a self-defense tool, but you're probably not walking down the street with a pair of side.
Dean Franco:
Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Probably not walking down the street with a pair of comma, but knives. I mean, knives are everywhere, right? Like there's a knife on my desk. They're all over the place and I feel like we suddenly ended up with a more contemporary perspective on weapons and how they interfaced with this stuff that we've been doing for a long time.
Dean Franco:
Yeah, I think it goes back, if you look at the Philippines, a country that's been, was constantly being invaded. I mean, so you're going back to, you know, the Moros from the bottom coming up and trying to invade, you know, the Midland. Then you obviously had the Spanish, Americans, and then the Japanese. So, and natural I'm sure in fighting. So, yeah. so I think what it was during all these wars and invasions, I mean, that it's a system that was based, you know, obviously on weapons and I think the practicality came because, you know, they couldn't, in other words, you know, they would do like an abridged system, Cinco Tero for instance. So Cinco Tero was basically 1, 2, 3, 4 thrust, right? So I mentioned that is because they had to get people ready to fight, okay? So there wasn't, so the art, no, I mean, so in other words, it was tactics. It wasn't really the art like you're seeing today. You know what I mean? And nothing, that's nothing wrong with that. I mean, evolution like anything else.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah. It sounds similar to the early-day philosophy of Krav Maga. We got to distill this down. We got to teach people this stuff in days and weeks, months and years.
Dean Franco:
Exactly. So in other words, like. And this is kind of documented. I'm talking to a few folks, the FMA discussion interviews. So let's look at the sign region, the middle region of the Philippines. So you have the morals coming up and trying to like, you know, basically invade. And so the Spanish friars at time were giving you know, the Filipinos at that point, some basic stuff. But again, it was based on, you know, swords and all that, you know, edge weapons, bane on attack. So I think it's really heavily due just to you justdefending their homeland, defending their country, this constant invasion of people coming in. Now, there's definitely influence of China, Indonesia, all kind of Spanish. Absolutely. Kind of there, especially when you look at Luzon, the upper area emphasize region, the middle. Mindanao, heavily Muslim, you see a lot, Kuntao, kind of there. So to me, when we look at the weapons today, the knife and the use of the blunt weapon or palm stick, it's because practicality, you know what I mean? So maybe you're not carrying a stick, but maybe it's a collapsible baton, you know what I mean? And so, yeah, so I think people, it resonates with people because they could see the practicality of carrying use and all that. I mean, I love the bo staff fascinating, you know, something I just started, like, really trying to get better at, you know. But we know walking all the bo staff, it might, you know, might not be the money, you know.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You might get away with a cane or, you know, a rock and stick of some fashion, you know. People are going to call you Gandalf, but, you know, we still do it.
Dean Franco:
Yeah, exactly. So I think it's practicality. Knife obviously, or a palm stick or something like that. Accessibility, you can carry it, you know. Weapon translation, okay, stick seeks bone. Alright, rolling pin, frying pan. You know what I mean, that translation into seeking bone. So I think, you know, that would sum it up. If you, further expand on the answer, but kind of digress. No, I don't want to say digressing but kind of switching gears into systems. So let's look at Piper South African System. Let's look at Medusa American Night Prison System. You want to talk about relevance now. These are attacks that are going on as we speak you know. I mean, whether it's in South Africa, whether it's in any penal institution, and then Latin America So those are two systems I've become certified in because I want to give my students I want to be relevant. You know, something new comes out. I want to be able to give them the best version of myself so they could be the best version of themselves. So I try to maintain relevance and what's coming out. So alluding to the systems I just mentioned Piper and Medusa.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah, I'm unfamiliar with those.I don't even think I've heard of them.
Dean Franco:
Yeah. Okay. So Piper is basically a South African System. So Piper is a melting pot, a sea lot Queensbury boxing, some African stick, and Zulu stick and shield spear and shield. And so the moment is very, very different. Very, very different. And that it's a very heavily tactic-based system and the offense is sort of the defense. Now there's a criminal, unfortunately, a criminal element to it. You know what I mean? However, I'm fascinated with methodology. And I look at it as not hey guys, I'm going to give this and obviously not embracing the criminal mentality but Extracting like for instance in my level three in blade tech. It's up and close. So hey guys, this is why we don't want people up and close because Piper relies on these pieces of resistance reverse attack, heavily thrusting, and now they're on top of you, collapsing into you, and boom. They have movements like what they call the major twirl, there, where now you don't know what's coming in there, a lot of distractions, and stuff like that. Very different, very unique, I find it fascinating, even though I don't embrace the criminal mentality, I look at it from a tactic point of view, a methodology, to again, further my understanding against, and being against knife, God forbid, if I were to see that and be, you know, be in front of that and for my students, that's kind of a Piper roll. Medusa is basically an American prison system. The founders basically interviewed prisoners that got released and kind of interviews you know what they did far as tactics. So Medusa is heavily based on I shock you. I hit you. I hit your eyes. I hit your throat. I hit your groin. After I shock you, I latch. I get an overhook, an underhook, or a collar tie. And now whether it's you know reverse grip or standard grip, now comes the knife. Okay, so when I see these This is stuff I incorporated in my love of trade that I've been close in there. But they're very relevant because again, these attacks are going on every day. Whether it's Piper in South Africa, muggings, robberies, intimidation to gangs or again, the penal system, you know, in America. And so why I don't embrace, obviously, and I make sure, and I definitely am very careful what how I explain this to my students and when I'm giving them and my explanation and say, look, I want you guys to look at this. This is where it comes from but I want you to understand this from how dangerous that let somebody potentially get close to you that you don't know and what could go wrong terribly quickly. You know what I mean? So it's not like, hey guys, I want you to be these offensive machines hardly. It's more from the defensive aspect extracting that. So they are creating good habits. What are good habits? Well, don't like just anybody get close to you that you don't know because we're all could go wrong in there. So very unique systems. Both heavily thrust oriented, no slashes, ased on getting close to you, engaging you and getting close. So now they can, you know, just get on top of you.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Interesting.
Dean Franco:
Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Wow. Did learning those systems create any significant light bulbs for you in your own stuff?
Dean Franco:
Absolutely.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay. What’s an example of something that you either added or change that is dramatic?
Dean Franco:
Okay, so one of the things that Piper does really incredibly well is distractions. So it could be I'm coming here, I just get your eyes go up and now I'm coming behind this. It could be a footstop in there. It could be that. So I think their application of distractions is just incredible. I mean, they're empty hands up to be stuff like that and now they're on top of you.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And coming out of, you know, kind of old school traditional arts, you know, those are dirty tricks and we don't do those and yet, you know, if you had anybody back in your taekwondo days who messed around like that, they ate people alive.
Dean Franco:
I think about it.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I mean, my karate instructors son, Sean would put his hand behind his back and wiggle his fingers. And you'd look and he'd be on you and you get you with it every time.
Dean Franco:
Because think about it, if I can get your eyes to go up or down, depending on where the distraction is. I mean, and you capitalize on that moment of time. Now you're behind the curve of reaction. You know, the reactionary gap. That's the whole thing, getting you behind your action gap. I distract you, now on top of you. Now you're playing catch-up. But the problem is you're playing catch up with this. So it's not punches. It can be punches. But worst case scenario, it's a weapon. Now you're really behind the curve. You know what I mean? And so yeah. So distractions, the broken rhythm is, and Piper is incredible. It's so I take in distractions of broken rhythm and further enhance my FMA are sparring. The movement. So a lot of the movements is I'm aligning my shoulder with hip. So for example, let's say if I were to want to escape, like there's a threat in front of me, I escape, I'm going to turn my whole body, right? And then I'm going to go, generally speaking, right? However, if I take my shoulder and hip and I dip there, it propels the direction and it propels as far as the velocity of you able, depending on the direction you're going. So as far as the economy of motion. So we align shoulder and hip. So if I'm standing right here and I want to go to my right instead of turning like this and going, I'm going to shoot off that way like that. So it's a unique way of movement, but you're able to get places much more quicker than there. So I found that fascinating. There's intentional off-balancing. So, you know, we're always told hold your balance, be on balance. I mean, we've all heard it, right? And Piper, they're on the balls of their feet and they're falling into you. And the reason being is they want to collapse your balance and this coming behind it, which makes it very difficult to recover from. Because now the person's collapsing into you and then tonight, and they're able to regain their balance by using what we call two points of contact. In other words, you're becoming the second point of contact. I fall into you. If I'm on one leg and I could put my hand on your forehead, I'm going to have balance. Two points of contact. So when I'm falling into you, I'm going to be able, keeping that in mind and knowing that, now I can regain my balance. It's just stuff so unique that just, I'm not saying these are not in other systems. I'm saying I just have not seen this stuff as opposed to what in Piper.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah, okay. Alright.
Dean Franco:
Fascinating system, fascinating. Unfortunately, bad name because of the criminal mentality the gangs. But just the stuff that I've chosen to extract from is just yeah been very very helpful. And my students enjoy it because they're seeing from the lens of the fence, you know what I mean? Like, I don't hate the guys, you know, nothing like going at them or anything like that, you know?
Jeremy Lesniak:
Are you more, less, or equally fascinated by martial arts now as let's say 20 years ago?
Dean Franco:
Absolutely. Absolutely.
Jeremy Lesniak:
More?
Dean Franco:
You know, like one just maturity able to absorband see the value in certain things back then, I didn't have the maturity. You know, you think you know something back then and then when you look back at your 20-year back version of yourself and you're like, it's just, yeah. I mean, maturity to look at things and extract where now I really have that and I'm very happy with it that I don't just miss something I, you know, I look at, there's gotta be a value in there somewhere. I'm sure. You know what I mean? Definitely more open-minded and I think it all just falls under just overall maturity, just going through the journey. And you know, all the people I've met through FMA discussion, all this far, like if I, you know, if I, and nothing against Taekwondo, but if I had stayed in Taekwondo, and not that that would have been terrible, I would have nowhere met the phenomenal people that I have met, you know,
Jeremy Lesniak:
You might have met some different phenomenal people. But I believe that, you know, the more we cross-train, the more we experiment, more likely we are to find something really resonating.
Dean Franco:
Yeah, I totally agree with you. I totally. And the thing is, like I share with my students, I give my students like cliches. I mean, just stuff that I hope stick with them. And I'm like, you know, being, you know, the best version of yourself. Like, I need to be the best version of myself as a teacher. So in order so you could be the best version of myself. Well, to be the best version of myself as I want to be exposed to as much as humanly possible so that I can give you and that. And that goes with, and I can tell you 20 years ago, I didn't have that frame of mind, you know. I wish I did, but I didn't, you know.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah. Let's talk about your podcast. And I love having other podcasters on the show because, you know, I don't have to work as hard and just say, all right, so you're going to show up and just, you know, we're going to chat and yeah. But I think a big question, cause you've been at it for a bit. You've definitely outlasted most.
Dean Franco:
Yeah, that's a good point.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And so my question, because I know, you know, as we talked about the beginning, I know how much work this is. Why the heck would you do this?
Dean Franco:
Okay. So, alright. So what happened…
Jeremy Lesniak:
We both may need therapy.
Dean Franco:
Yeah. Well, I mention this time cause I'm gonna tell you something. There's some funny stories in the beginning when I was running by these people and they were saying, you're gonna run a podcast covering FMA systems? You know, laughing cause of the politics and all that, but so are you familiar with Dwight Woods?
Jeremy Lesniak:
No.
Dean Franco:
Okay. He's a major JKD, he runs a podcast JKD and does it very incredibly well. Well, Burton in the summer of 2019, Burton say hey, look, you should get Dean on what he's doing with the kids and FMA is fantastic and he's incorporating a lot of JKD principles and philosophy. So I went on there and I was, you know, humbled and honored that to go on there. I mean, he's got major JKD guys on there. Chris Kent, I mean, Burton's been on there. I mean, just Paul Vunak. I mean, you know, so I'm on there and I was more enthralled by his role than me being interviewed. I just found it so neat that this guy is talking to people about something that he loves and he wants to perpetuate and he wants to share. Coincidentally, nobody was doing this in FMA. There was a void. So that fall, in October, I got off kicking and running FMA discussion. Now, I had, you know, nobody to basically promote this with. I couldn't attach myself to groups. I was basically just, I'm gonna do a few. I'm gonna interview my instructors first, just to get my feet wet and get better in there, more refined in the craft, and I'm going to form a group where I could put the videos in there and also kind of create a discussion group where people could share content and all that. And then the channel YouTube, putting them on a channel came third, I believe. But anyway, so it started late October, 2019. And my first goal was anybody could even listen to me. I mean, like, you know, I didn't have like high aspirations or goals. My first goal was anybody listen to me. So I got my instructors on who are well known. Burton was one of them, Bong Abanir and Tom Sotis of a muck. And so they went well, people were like, man, this is great. You're coming to FMA. And it just kind of slowly took off. And by. I would say year three, like, you know, really, but I tell you, I think what really perpetuated the growth was COVID. Because people are home. And so what happened was all classes got shut down as you, as you know, so I was only doing once a week. So I'm thinking like not having much going on, hey, why don't I do twice a week? And so during the whole COVID I did twice a week. So now I'm gaining more popularity. People are seeing it, more exposure, the group is growing, and so with COVID 19, I'm like, well, I can't, the one of them's here, I don't know if I could just cut back, you know, I know that. So that's kind of the inception to present day. But I think, you know, I feel the niche. I just think there was a missing voice and I think I filled it. Hence, I think the popularity, I think it was really due to just, nobody was covering it.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And if I remember correctly, cause you've done a bunch of these, I catch some of them live on Facebook. And you've had somebody recurring that we had on the show quite a few years ago. He's a character and a half, if not, you know, a full two characters, Tim Hartman.
Dean Franco:
Tim is, yeah. So I have a really wonderful relationship with Tim. One, yeah, I can tell you, he gives people opportunity to be part of seminars. I mean, I got part of Terry Dow's seminar there via Tim. Like Tim suggests. So, I mean, he is incredibly instrumental in every…
Jeremy Lesniak:
He shares. I think he's willing to share.
Dean Franco:
He really does. Yup. And I tell you, he does it better than anybody in the FMA committee. So I try to get him on to highlight that and and we work well. I mean, we're not the same personality and, but that's probably why it works well. And a matter of fact, I was just on his show last night covering for a tie with him. So I'm like the backup to FMA talk. But yeah, so yeah, he's a gem. Definitely. Yep. He's been on. He did great episodes on how to run an FMA school. I thought it was incredible. So in other words, I interview people like, okay, so, you know, knowable FMA teachers, practitioners, right? In conjunction with that, though, I do what I call theme episodes. So the theme episodes is, let's say for an example, blunt weapon versus edge weapon. What is the better of the self defense weapons? So we'll talk about, I'll get two guys that are pre season, been around, and they can share some of their opinions. Give some insight. Okay. And I love them because you can really get some good conversation out of that depending on the subject matter. One was I just referenced like how to open a successful FMA school there. One is what do you look for like maybe for a teacher? One is you know, edge weapon. You know, self defense, I mean, you know, you can get really creative and dial in into something as long as it's kind of, you know, within the framework of FMA. But there really can be really insightful and educational if you get the right people on there talking about it, you know.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Absolutely. You know, that's been my experience too. You know, some of the best episodes are episodes where we just, we're batting stuff back and forth, you know. And it's often our Thursday episodes, which are, you know, you call them theme. We call them topic, but sometimes it happens organically out of a conversation, you know, with our interview episodes.
Dean Franco:
Right.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Which we do on Monday. You know, you get the right person across from you and you know that you can poke a little bit…
Dean Franco:
Absolutely.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Without offense and now it's back and forth. Oh, you have a different perspective on this. Let's, take this very innate element of martial arts, which is to iterate together. Let's go, let's experiment or play or whatever verb you want to use and see how these two ideas work out. You know, you could take you know, a variety of blood weapons, a variety of edge weapons and play out some scenarios. You can also talk it through if you really, if you've got the experience and that way you can talk, not just the literal, but you can talk the theoretical.
Dean Franco:
Absolutely. I mean, you know, I totally agree with you. Those are some of my best episodes because you get really just dialed in plus you can get a different perspective. I mean like, you know, one thing there's been so many benefits from doing this channel. I mean one the phenomenal people I've got to meet number one. Number two, it's given me opportunity. There's no way I could deny that. Number three, educational. Like there's people I've had on, I might know the system name, but it doesn't mean I know the intricacies or what they specialize. So it's been educational opportunity and just meeting again, just absolutely just, you know, wonderful people in there. The other thing that we know, you know, we give people opportunities. So they'll come on the show, they might really resonate with a few people, now those people contact them maybe for lessons. So I know for a fact that people have gotten business out of this, you know, whether it be, you know, they've gotten students, a seminar, or we promoting their book that they just wrote. Now people are buying their book, you know, and so there's that aspect. The other aspect is that we run charity events. So people come to us and they'll be like, hey, cause there's 12, 000 in the group. And so they'll be like, and you know, we've gotten a very good reputation by you're not allowed to attack anybody in the group. No profanity. If you do that, then this is not the group for you. You know, because I've seen those jungles and I want to have a discussion to be completely different, you know. So anyway, with that good reputation and people understand, you know, what we're about, we'll get, Hey, do you guys, can we put this together and run a fundraiser for this sick GM in the Philippines? So we've done a lot of that all the money channel goes to charity. Yeah, so, you know, we've just done a lot, a lot of good things and people recognize that, that we're kind of selfless, you know what I mean? Giving back to the community, literally.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah, this is not the easiest way to make a living. I mean, the vast majority of podcasters don't make a living. You don't make a living on it. I could take the most liberal definition, most creative definition of the word living and I can't even get there from here.
Dean Franco:
No.
Jeremy Lesniak:
But it's rewarding.
Dean Franco:
Absolutely.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And you used a great word opportunities and you know, those opportunities for you, but also the creation of opportunities for others, I think is so incredibly important.
Dean Franco:
Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You know, I was raised that when you have the opportunity, you give back when you can do and you've put yourself in a position where you can give back, put myself in a position where I can give back. And it means the world, you know, I get some of similar messages, you know, this person connected with this person, or, you know, I get ones, I thought I was the only one that had been through that, or, you know, that episode motivated me to suck it up and go back to class again, you know, stuff like that. It just. Oh, my heart.
Dean Franco:
No, no. Like there's two folks that reached out to me and they said, you know, I'd given up on FMA because of politics. But when I saw you, I saw your show, I saw what you were about bringing the community together. And that two people said, I got back into FMA because of your show.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I love that.
Dean Franco:
I mean, that like beats any money that's coming in by whatever, you know, every quarter, you know. So yeah, it's stuff like that. Or folks will reach out to me and like, hey, thank you for having my instructor on, or thank you what you're doing for the community. I think it's great. I mean, those are the absolutely most rewarding, you know.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Here's what, I don't know if you've had this yet. Have any of your guests passed away?
Dean Franco:
They've had on? Yes. Two of them. And thank God we have the virtual library that people down the road can go in. Yep. 100%.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Sadly, I think we're up to five.
Dean Franco:
Really?
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah, and we get emails. You know, I remember one person passed away and it was great episodes. One of my favorite episodes we had done was with somebody I knew nothing about and we just clicked and I just loved this man and really had hoped to connect with him. And he passed just a couple of years ago, but I think I got three separate emails from students and the gist of his students and the gist of every one of them was whatever I want, I can spend an hour with them.
Dean Franco:
Oh I know, I got it. I got one for you. So Felix Valencio died a couple years back and he was one of the little Mako backyard guys from Edgar. So I had him on and he just, they could tell he lost weight and all that, but I didn't want to pry. But subsequent to that interview, I want to say six months or so he passed away. So of course, his episode on the channel and all that, his daughter wrote me. I mean, you want to talk about a tear-jerk. She's like, thank you for representing my father, bringing attention to him. I'm just like, yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You know, it's, it's one of my favorite things about what we do is that we are able to, in our unofficial and, you know, at best semi-professional capacity, we're documenting this stuff. We're chronicling these people, giving them an opportunity in a way that, you know, what would have happened if there had been more of this 50 years ago? I'm guessing we wouldn't have as much politicization. There wouldn't be as much infighting because it would be easier to look at so and so, and say, okay, well, across this 20-year arc, they said this consistently, we can assume that you saying that on their deathbed, they changed their mind, probably didn't happen.
Dean Franco:
Yeah. Yeah, no, I agree. And you know, like a lot, a couple of people, are you familiar with Paulo Rubio? He's a big…
Jeremy Lesniak:
I've heard that name.
Dean Franco:
Funkier tactic.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah.
Dean Franco:
Okay. So he has always been incredibly supportive of what I'm doing. And he says, you have to realize Dean, you're going to become even more significant down the road when a lot of these guys pass away, but yet there's this virtual library to go on and hear them, see them and that's he says that's when things are gonna really kick in and all that. And you know, when I first heard that and then somebody else kind of piggybacked what he said his sentiment and initially when I thought about it, I'm like, I don't know. Maybe, you know what I mean? And because you know when you're in the heat and you get to test this, when you're in the heat of doing this, you're not thinking like what's going to resonate down in the future? I mean, you might, you know, I mean, you're so caught up in the present day of getting these episodes out and who's going to be your next guest and coordination and planning. Like, you're not thinking about, hey, man, 20 years from now, you know, this, I mean, this is going to be talked about spoken about like this museum. Like you're thinking about it, but others outside looking in are seeing it.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah. Like anything else, it's hard to see progress when you're in the midst of it.
Dean Franco:
Yeah. You know, I just see like, okay, play the next one. Alright. I got him coming up. Okay.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yes.
Dean Franco:
You doing four a day. I can't even talk.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Well, that's just, you know, that's not every day. And I hope you get that impression, but just, you know, cause other, I got so much to do. I got a bunch of them together. And also, honestly, I found even when I did one in a day, I was fried aftert, right? To hold that space, you know, that to do this is a lot more difficult than I think people realize to do an interview takes a lot of work.
Dean Franco:
Yeah, you want to make it pleasant for them. You have to be engaging. You can't just come in there. I mean, you want to, yeah, you want them to say good things about the experience. You know what I mean? Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I have to stay focused. I have to listen to you. If I'm listening to another podcast, I can tune out. I can get distracted.
Dean Franco:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Great. It's definitely more difficult. And then there's the pre planning, then the actual, and then the subsequent, the downloading and wherever you're putting it. I mean, so there's sometimes between the planning, the flyers, the download, the sending it out to the different groups is exceeds the actual interview sometimes.
Jeremy Lesniak:
For sure. For sure. I think we're something like six, seven people touch each episode that we do.
Dean Franco:
Yeah, you know, so it's definitely a lot and I'm a kind of a, you know, I got some people to help me here, but you know, I do all the downloading myself and all that so, you know, hardwork.
Jeremy Lesniak:
If people want to find the show or other stuff, you know, you've got social, you've got websites, you know, let's make sure we get all that.
Dean Franco:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah, so it's, the YouTube is basically FMA Discussion. That's easy enough to find there. FMA discussion. The group on Facebook is also FMA Discussion in Facebook, the podcast is FMA Discussion, so really easy. No website yet. It's been talked about. I just, it's not that I'm adverse to doing it. I just look at time and like…
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah, if it doesn't move the needle forward, if you don't need it, right? Like we went through a phase where we had everything, everywhere, everything, everywhere all at once, right? And I went, there's like 40 websites. There were days I was spending hours just updating websites.
Dean Franco:
Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Go back and you focus like anything, kind of like your play tech system, right? You pull back, you focus what matters most.
Dean Franco:
Yeah. Yeah. And right, right. And the thing is, I mean, I think, yeah, I mean, you know, website could be neat. I mean, there is some talk with some other folks how they're seeing what I'm doing and say, look, you've got something really special there, what you're doing, and, you know, we want to see how we can, you know grow this for you further and all that and and that's all neat fine. But you know, when I first came into this, you know, my ambitions were not monetarily, they were not like popularity. You know, this all just kind of just happened over this close to four-year period, you know I mean? But really my ambitions were you know, I had three goals besides somebody listening to me. I just don't want the big names. I want to get people you know that don't have a big name, but they have something to offer. They've never had a platform to be heard before and I wanted to give them a chance like the white gave me. I mean, I was a nobody and I want to pay that back to folks. Number two, I wanted to get female practitioners instructors. I want them to have also a platform this male-dominated martial art. I wanted the females also you know to have opportunity to be heard and all that. And my third was I want a group where people can come to and not have to worry about being attacked for saying the wrong thing or called names or just divisive and just like that. And so knock on wood so far, all three have been kind of coming along. Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Well, this is probably a good time for us to start winding down here. I appreciate you coming on.
Dean Franco:
Oh, yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Always great to talk to somebody who was in the trade, so to speak, makes my job easier, which thank you for that. But we end with the guest. So what do you want to offer up as your final words to the audience?
Dean Franco:
You get one journey. It's your journey. Make it special. There's not indentured servitude. Go out and experience as much as you can. Touch hands as much as people as you can. Experience as many different arches you can. Don't be afraid not to take a chance to do something for person, you know, and because maybe you don't feel that you're well known enough or popular enough or your criteria or what you have for certificates or ranks, you know what I mean? You get one journey, you know, make it the best.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did. Even if you didn't, even if you enjoyed it half as much, I'm sure you got a lot out of it. Dean, thanks for coming on. Thanks for doing what you do. Thanks for your support. Thanks for doing an awesome podcast. Audience, I've said it before, they're saying again, if you find a podcast, you enjoy more than Martial Arts Radioo, go check that one out. I want you to train. Our goal here is to connect, educate and entertain. Our mission is to get everyone in the world to train for six months, and that requires more and different and better, and I love what Dean's doing. It's awesome stuff. I love what the FMA community is doing. They're killing it. And they deserve some of your support and at the very least some of your interest. So, go see what he's doing. If you love what we do and what we're doing, Patreon, podcast15, whistlekickmartialartsradio.com. Sign up for the newsletter. We do seminars. You want me to help you grow your school? I do that for a lot of schools. We're doing a great job with that. We have limited space. Sometimes there's a waiting list. Don't be afraid to reach out, jeremy@whistlekick.com. Our social media is @whistlekick. We're doing everything we can for you. We appreciate your support in whatever way you choose to show it. Until next time, train hard, smile, and have a great day.