Iain Abernethy - The Practical Application Of Karate

This is NOT the latest edition of the podcast. This is an interview I did with Sami Wehbe of the Samotivation Podcast! As you have probably worked out from the name, the Samotivation Podcast is all about motivation and self-improvement. Sami read my “Mental Strength” book a few years ago and reached out to interview me for his podcast. It was a fun conversation where we discussed the importance of stepping out side the comfort zone, dealing with fear and doubt, dealing with difficult people, and loads more besides. Sami has been kind enough to permit me to post the podcast in my own feed and I hope you enjoy it! Learn more about Sami’s podcast and check out other episodes here: http://www.samotivation.com/ All the best, Iain

In this episode I’m joined by self-identified “karate nerd” Jesse Enkamp! I think Jesse does a great deal of good for the karate community. His panoramic view of karate, his prolific work rate, his eloquence, and his infectious enthusiasm combine to make him someone with much to offer. I’m really grateful to Jesse for joining me on the podcast. Jesse and I discuss: the role of styles, trends in modern karate, the Shuhari concept, kata training, critical thinking, how karateka can use social media to share information, money in the martial arts, remaining motivated, and more! It’s a wide-ranging conversation that I’m sure you will find interesting. If you listen to the very end of the podcast, I have also included some of the “off-air” chatting :-) This podcast also includes a brief section from Kris Wilder! How many karateka is it safe to fit into one podcast?! Thanks for the support of the podcasts! My interview with Jamie Clubb, and the episode on self-defence law will be coming your way soon! All the best, Iain

Welcome to the final part of this year’s Q&A podcast! In part 3 we cover General Karate Questions, Cross-Training, Pressure-Points and Miscellaneous Questions! In part 1 we covered Teaching, Kata & Bunkai, and Impact Training. And in Part 2 we covered Self-Defence, Training, Teaching Children, and Female Self-Defence. I hope you enjoy this final part and a huge thanks to all those who submitted questions and topics. Have a great Christmas and thank you for listening! All the best, Iain

Welcome to part 2 of this year’s Q & A end of year podcast! In this part, we cover questions relating to Self-Defence, Training, Teaching Children, and Female Self-Defence! The third and final part will be out tomorrow and that will cover General Karate Questions, Cross-Training, Pressure-Points and Miscellaneous Questions! As with part 1, I have also included some “Martial Arts Fun Facts”! They are meant to be jokes … so please don’t take them seriously! The jokes about given styles do NOT reflect my views on that style! I only joke about that which I admire. I hope they raise a smile :-) Thanks for your support of the podcasts! All the best, Iain

Welcome to part 1 of this year’s Q&A end of year podcast! Thanks to everyone who submitted questions and topics! In total, we have around 3.5 hours of martial discussion for you! I therefore felt it best to split the podcast into three parts, with each part looking at various topics. In this first part we cover all the questions relating to Teaching, Kata & Bunkai, and Impact Training! Part 2 (out tomorrow!) will cover Self-Defence, Training, Teaching Children, and Female Self-Defence! Part 3 will cover General Karate Questions, Cross-Training, Pressure-Points and Miscellaneous Questions! I’ve also included some of my favourite “Martial Arts Fun Facts” … none of which are true, but hopefully they will raise a smile :-) Enjoy! All the best, Iain

New podcast! There are lots of different martial arts and innumerable approaches to them. We all need to find an approach that we enjoy and that will most efficiently help us achieve our objectives. In my case, I feel any martial art that I am to invest time and effort into must achieve two key things: It must be both live-preserving and life-enhancing. I feel any worthwhile martial arts needs to achieve both objectives; one without the other is not enough. In this podcast, I breakdown what “life-preserving” and “life-enhancing” actually mean to me and hopefully cover a few interesting talking points along the way. Topics covered include: self-protection, how the martial arts can impact on mental and physical health, longevity in training, common things to avoid, how martial arts can contribute to happiness, maximising training benefits, and loads more! I hope you enjoy it! All the best, Iain

In this podcast Iain and Robin Gamble of The Scholar Warrior Podcast discuss a wide range of martial and philosophical issues! I hope you enjoy it! All the best, Iain Topics covered include: Fear in my early training Objectivity in self-protection training How cross training and influenced my karate What kata is and the purpose it serves The evolution of karate Old school intent with a modern approach Kata as a process The four stages of kata Why Naihanchi is my favourite kata Consensual violence vs. non-consensual violence Modern pad drills The differences between the fear that keeps us safe and the fear that helps us grow The traits that high level martial artists share And lots more! Original Podcast Page: http://www.warriorstrategy.com/iain-abernethy-6th-dan-in-karate-author-and-applied-kata-master/

A couple of weeks ago I spoke to Jeremy Lesniak of Whistle Kick Martial Arts Radio! It was a conversation quite different from others I’ve had. We covered many topics I don’t normally get to talk about. We talk about martial arts and life, the fear I felt in early training, mistakes I have made, my rebellious streak vs. taking instruction, the culture of my home dojo, why I don’t want anyone calling me “sensei”, why we don’t line up by rank, why there will never be “Iain-Ryu”, my debt to karate and the past masters, the nature of my dojo’s curriculum, and a lot more! It was a really wide ranging conversation and I hope you enjoy it! All the best, Iain Mr. Iain Abernethy is not your typical martial artist. In some ways, he’s very much like other guests we’ve had – passionate about martial arts, dedicated to his training and determined to give back to the practice that has given him so much. In other ways, he’s so focused on what he does, other martial artists, myself included, are blown away. He’s someone I’ve wanted to speak with for a long time, and now it’s happening. Enjoy. Link to Podcast:  http://www.whistlekickmartialartsradio.com/186-iain-abernathy/ The YouTube version

This is not my podcast … but I’m on it! I recently chatted with the good folks of Karate Café about the online “bunkai boom” and a host of other related topics. Paul and Dan kindly gave me permission to put the conversation out on my feed too. So, if you’ve not already heard it, please enjoy our most recent chat! All the best, Iain http://karatecafe.com/episode-127-30-years-of-weirdness/ About Karate Cafe: Karate Cafe was created in May 2005 by Pete Shambo and Gene Myers as a sort of “after class discussion” and unleashed on the internets and soon gathered a nationwide and international following. Now in it’s 10th year of bringing discussion topics and interviews to martial arts enthusiasts all over the globe, Karate Cafe has a solid group of dedicated listeners and contributors and has branched into the world of live shows, streamed over the internet, as well as recorded shows.

This podcast discusses how martial artists often try to reinvent criminal violence into a good fit for their chosen system; instead of adjusting their system to fit the inescapable realities of criminal violence. Problem should define the solution. The “solution” should not try to reinvent the problem! This is a widespread and insidious practise in the martial arts. Traditionalists, modernists and even “reality” based systems do it; albeit in differing ways. Because actual violence is thankfully rare, this problem can go unnoticed but it has many serious problems. This “art over reality” approach puts students in danger if they do have to face real violence. It also promotes tribalism and division within the martial arts because we spend way too much time arguing the “merits” of various pseudo-realities, and their associated pseudo-solutions, instead of addressing the reality of the common problem. Once reality is accepted, and self-protection is realistically addressed across the board, we can get on with exploring and enjoying all the other beneficial aspects of the martial arts from the perspective of our chosen system. Above all, we need to remember that the only place we can “reinvent reality” is in our minds. We can make up all kinds of falsehoods to justify the way we practise, but actual reality remains unchanged! People don’t attack with formal lunging punches; criminals don’t stand idly by when their buddy is getting strangled on the ground; criminals don’t put up a guard, square off and fight so “the best man wins”; you will have to justify your actions when measured against the actual law and not how you imagined you uber-violent “military” fantasy playing out; and so on. Pretending reality is something other than it actually is in order to promote your chosen art as perfect and beyond criticism does not actually advance or protect the reputation of your chosen system. It harms and diminishes it. In the podcast, we look at why people try to reinvent violence, specifically how many of the most popular systems do it, and why it is vital we all stop it. So strap yourself in for what should be the least controversial podcast ever … but the fact it’s unlikely to be received that way ironically illustrates the very issue this podcast seeks to highlight. All the best, Iain

I recently had the honour of being the first guest in the brand-new Seek What They Sought podcast! The podcast is hosted by my friends Zach Kowalski and Oliver Martinez and you’re sure to like it. With their permission, I have put the podcast out via my own feed too so none of you miss it. I think you’ll find the conversation of interest as we explore what karate was, is and will be. Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out on future episodes! I hope you enjoy it and I’ll be back with the next episode of my own podcast very soon! All the best, Iain Welcome to Seek What They Sought. In Seek What They Sought, Oliver and Zach sit down with martial artists from styles that come from all over the world. Our aim to learn more about the medium that we love and share it with those who feel the same. In our first episode, we sat down with Iain Abernethy and talked about the past, present, and future of karate. Iain leads the charge to show the world that karate may not be exactly what you think it is. Special thanks to Benrock on YouTube for our intro/outro music and to our good friend Kristin Miguel for our fantastic cover art. Hosted by: Zach Kowalski and Oliver Martinez. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/seek-what-they-sought/id1208568769 Thanks for listening!

In this podcast I talk to Peter Consterdine 9th dan! Peter is undoubtedly one on the most influential martial artists of the modern age. I can’t think of anyone who has done more for practical karate and practical self-protection than Peter. Along with Geoff Thompson, Peter kick-started the “reality revolution” in the UK in the early 1990s and therefore provided the platform for people like myself to get our voices heard. Peter is also one of my most influential sensei and it was Peter who graded me to 6th dan. Peter holds a 9th dan in karate. He was completed in both points karate (British team) and full contact (national champion). Peter has been a police trainer, a bodyguard, a trainer of bodyguards, a doorman, an expert witness in use of force cases, he has authored police training manuals, undergone military training, has successfully competed with firearms, and he runs a security company providing risk assessments and security all over the globe for many high-profile businesses and individuals. Peter is also the vice-president of the English Karate Federation. I can’t think of anyone else who has such in-depth knowledge and experience across such a wide range of areas. This “big picture” vantage point gives Peter a unique voice when it comes to violence in all its guises. In the podcast we talk about a wide range of subjects including working as a bouncer, pre-emption, kata bunkai, police training, the law, tradition vs progress, power generation, the formation of the BCA (and latterly the WCA), drawing concepts and methods from other systems, chaining techniques effectively, the importance of context, overcoming fear of consequence in self-protection, the dogma of styles, and loads more! This is a very information heavy podcast that you’ll want to listen to many times. All the best, Iain

In this podcast Kris Wilder and I discuss growth, planning, patience and focus in the martial arts and everyday life. It was a fun conversation! The podcast was recorded at Kris’s home studio when I visited Seattle earlier this year. Kris, Rory Miller, Lawrence Kane, Jordan Giarratano and I were chatting when Kris asked if I wanted to do a podcast … so we entered the studio and this was the result. Kris did a great job in steering the conversation and I think some very interesting stuff got recorded. It was put out mid-December as an episode of Kris Wilder’s and Lawrence Kane’s “Martial Arts and Life” podcast (subscribe if you’ve not yet done so!) and Kris kindly let me share it via this feed too. Martial Arts and Life Podcast on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/martial-arts-life/id1114321150?mt=2 Kris Wilder was the guy who introduced me to podcasting when I was on his “Martial Secrets” podcast way back in 2005. That was the first podcast I ever did. In fact, I think it was the first time I’d heard of “podcasts”. I asked Kris all about them, and that planted the seed for my own podcasts. Not long after Richard Barnes pushed me to get going (as well as providing all the technical knowhow to make it happen). So you’ve those two men to thank / blame for the decade of podcasting that has resulted to date! After the main podcast Kris has included an outtake. We had to pause for a second and Kris whistled into the microphone to mark the point that needed taken out. This resulted in three sharp spikes that are easily identifiable on the monitor. That makes editing very simple and it struck me as genius! You can hear how impressed I was and it’s now a part of my own podcasting process :-) I hope you enjoy listening to the podcast! All the best, Iain A photo taken just after recording (L to R): Rory Miller, Lawrence Kane, Kris Wilder (host), Jordan Giarratano and Iain Abernethy (me).

Part 2 of our 3-hour Q&A podcast! Please be sure to listen to part 1 first! In Part 1 we covered self-defence and kata / bunkai questions. In Part 2 we look at General Karate, and Training and Technique questions! A full list of topics can be found below. Thanks to everyone who submitted questions! All the best, Iain General Karate What other Japanese arts have influenced the development of karate; Are modern styles losing the originality and martial side of karate; Where does tradition stop and modern innovation start; Has MMA helped karate re-discover itself; What style of karate do I practise; Thoughts on karate getting in the Olympics; The nature of kiai; How karate is influenced by national culture; Where does karate begin and end; What are Motubu's most significant and / or unique contributions to Karate; The criticisms I have had; If I could talk to Itosu and Funakoshi what would I want to know; The evolution of my own karate. Training & Technique (Starts at 51:30 mins) Traditional vs. modern training equipment; How much time should you spend on each element; Should you wear gloves when doing pad drills; Training in more than one art; The necessity of sparring; Training for body type; Which part of the fist should we hit with; Flexibility training; Fitness training in karate classes.

This podcast is so big, it became two podcasts! This is Part 1 of what will be a 3-hour Q&A podcast! I asked for questions and then arranged them by topic. In Part 1 we cover self-defence and kata / bunkai questions! Topics covered are listed below. We also have some new comedy “sponsors” that I hope you’ll enjoy too! Thanks to everyone who submitted questions! Part 2 will be out tomorrow! In the second half we look at General Karate, and Training and Technique questions! All the best, Iain Self-Defence The use of weapons in self-defence / UK weapons law; The effect of the local law on training; Kyusho points for self defense; Do self-defence instructors need real life experience; Why do so many clubs focus on sport; Kicking in self-defence; Self-defence training for children; How to teach students to walk away; What to do following an incident ; Do we train in too many things; many of which will be ineffective in self-defence. Kata and Bunkai (Starts at 55 mins) The use of Kubodo weapons in Kata; What is the most practical kata; How many kata do you need to know; Why do many so many karate clubs not practise bunkai; Do the kata of different styles have differing amounts of information; Why do instructors knowingly teach impractical bunkai; When should students start learning bunkai; Do all traditional forms/kata come with bunkai; Do I publish my latest thoughts and discoveries or do I keep it for the seminars; Given the amount of information available, why do some instructors ignore it and stick to “compass point bunkai”; What was the kata that Funakoshi’s son was taught in secret; As people study a smaller number of kata in greater depth, is there a danger some kata will be forgotten; and, if so, which ones will they be; Should we change kata to better reflect bunkai; How do we ensure kata bunkai training covers all the likely happenings in self-protection; Which of the previous podcasts do I think are “must listens” for students wishing to understand the basics of bunkai.