This week my guest on Accidental Podcast is Mike Turbitt, founder of Team Black Belt, authority on teaching children and author of How to Build Black Belt Business book. I follow Mike’s work for few years now, and admire his passion for teaching children, his enthusiasm is highly infectious. His methodology of teaching children is first class.
Duel of Podcasts
Hear ye, hear ye! Good people of the Interweb.
A despicable lie has been posted against my person by a Machiavellian lady named Gretchen Carlson who runs a scientifically driven podcast, Martial Journeys, she also magically created a YouTube Channel to spread this science witchcraft .
She is skilled in so called science, which we all know is really black magic, trickery and witchcraft.
No self-respecting hikite believer would not pick up the gauntlet once challenged to a duel. And I shall not avoid this confrontation against the dark forces of science!
In order to defy the Gretchen mumbo jumbo I need your likes and shares. Let’s get the #hikite4ever army together and chase the witch away! Lie this post
You can read her attack on my person here
This war can only have one winner and it will be common sense that will prevail, not science. The loser will be shamed by being dipped in hot tar and rolled in feathers or will be asked to record an embarrassing clip on the subject of hikite!
Join me now for this crusade!
Kind regards,
Count Bubka.
Who is Les?
Welcome to this corner of the internet, my name is Les and I promote Karate for mental and physical health. I’m really glad that you have joined me. I hope that you will find my content interesting, thought provoking and useful. Thank you for watching.
If you would like to feature in future clips with your story, please drop me an email at info@lesbubka.co.uk or leave a message in the comments section below, perhaps you would like to highlight info about your club or products at the same time.
Books:
Anxious Black Belt https://amzn.to/3lRS43j
Thoughts on Karate https://amzn.to/31gxXT2
Karate Journal here :https://amzn.to/3l9spmt
If you would like to support the Karate For Mental Health Programme, you can buy our merchandise (links below) or donate via a PayPal link here: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_…
🥋About: Les Bubka is an author, Karate coach, entrepreneur and creator of the Karate for Mental Health and Hikite4ever T-shirts. Promoting inclusive Karate with a focus on mental health aspects of training. Teaching both nationally and internationally.
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Overcoming Obstacles with Tiffany Richards
In this episode I talk with Tiffany Richards from the Peaceful Warrior and Healing Centre. Our conversation revolves around mental health, overcoming obstacles, infuriating martial artists and a female perspective on self-defence for women. You can sense that Tiffany is super passionate about her martial arts. It was very interesting to listen to her martial story from starting in martial arts to becoming a co-owner of the school and working behind the scenes, to running a self-protection programme.
Please check out Tiffany’s work below:
Websites: https://peacefulwarriorphx.com/self-defense/womens-self-defense.htmlhttps://peacefulwarriorwoman.com/
Social Media:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peacefulwarriorphx/
Facebook: https://fb.me/e/1SH31a3U3
YouTube: https://bit.ly/2XO1yl3
Twitter: https://twitter.com/scottsdalkarate
If you would like to support the show with no cost to you and you shop with Amazon, please feel free to use my affiliate link, for which I get a small commission when you purchase something – note that it is completely free for you! Please find the link below
🥋About: Les Bubka is an author, Karate coach, entrepreneur and creator of the #Hikite4ever T-shirt. Promoting inclusive Karate with a focus on mental health aspects of training. Teaching both nationally and internationally.
📹 Check out my videos👇
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https://lesshop.ammhub.com/c/clothing
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Practical Taekwondo with Ciaran McDonald
In the world of Karate, the practical Karate movement is a growing in popularity. This phenomenon is not only seen in Karate. In this episode I have the pleasure of talking with Ciaran McDonald, from Old School Perspectives on Taekwon-do, who’s book is creating ripples around traditional Taekwondo circles. Listen to our conversation about the similarities between Taekwondo and Karate and the drama within both groups.
Check out Ciaran’s work here:
Book Link: https://www.osperspectives.co.uk/best-new-tkd-book-in-years
YT channel link : https://www.youtube.com/c/OldSchoolPerspectivesonTaekwondo
Courses Link: https://osperspectives.thinkific.com
Website link: https://www.osperspectives.co.uk
If you would like to support the blog with no cost to you and you shop with Amazon, please feel free to use my affiliate link, for which I get a small commission when you purchase something – note that it is completely free for you! Please find the link below.
🥋About: Les Bubka is an author, Karate coach, entrepreneur and creator of the #Hikite4ever T-shirt. Promoting inclusive Karate with a focus on mental health aspects of training. Teaching both nationally and internationally.
📹 Check out my videos
🔔 SUBSCRIBE – so you don’t miss NEW videos 👇
👕GET MY #HIKITE4EVER T- shirt 👇
https://lesshop.ammhub.com/c/clothing
👍 CONNECT WITH ME:
👉🏻 Facebook ➡ https://www.facebook.com/lesbubka/
👉🏻Instagram ➡ https://www.instagram.com/lesbubka/
👉🏻Podcast ➡ https://anchor.fm/lesbubka/
👉🏻Contact me ➡https://www.lesbubka.co.uk/index.html#about-section
Karate Lies
For many years I could not find the right approach to my training. What I mean by it? I was not honest with myself, I tried to do things that I’m not too passionate about. Check out video below to learn more, if you like it please share I also would like to know your opinion?
If you would like to support the blog with no cost to you and you shop with Amazon, please feel free to use my affiliate link, for which I get a small commission when you purchase something – note that it is completely free for you! Please find the link below.
🥋About: Les Bubka is an author, Karate coach, entrepreneur and creator of the #Hikite4ever T-shirt. Promoting inclusive Karate with a focus on mental health aspects of training. Teaching both nationally and internationally.
📹 Check out my videos
🔔 SUBSCRIBE – so you don’t miss NEW videos 👇
👕GET MY #HIKITE4EVER T- shirt 👇
https://lesshop.ammhub.com/c/clothing
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👉🏻 Facebook ➡ https://www.facebook.com/lesbubka/
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👉🏻Podcast ➡ https://anchor.fm/lesbubka/
👉🏻Contact me ➡https://www.lesbubka.co.uk/index.html#about-section
Interview with Dan Holloway
In this episode I chat with Dan Holloway, owner of the Empower Martial Arts Academy. Dan is also the author of The Martial Masters book. We talk about Dan’s journey in martial arts from Aikido to self-defence. Dan also discusses his focus on empowering students and his family focussed academy. Dan also shares with me how he ended up interviewing masters for his book.
I hope you will enjoy this episode. If you would like to connect with Dan please check out the links below:
https://www.themartialview.com/
https://www.facebook.com/TheMartialView
If you would like to support the show with no cost to you and you shop with Amazon, please feel free to use my affiliate link, for which I get a small commission when you purchase something – note that it is completely free for you! Please find the link below.
🥋About: Les Bubka is an author, Karate coach, entrepreneur and creator of the #Hikite4ever T-shirt. Promoting inclusive Karate with a focus on mental health aspects of training. Teaching both nationally and internationally.
📹 Check out my videos
🔔 SUBSCRIBE – so you don’t miss NEW videos 👇
👕GET MY #HIKITE4EVER T- shirt 👇
https://lesshop.ammhub.com/c/clothing
👍 CONNECT WITH ME:
👉🏻 Facebook ➡ https://www.facebook.com/lesbubka/
👉🏻Instagram ➡ https://www.instagram.com/lesbubka/
👉🏻Podcast ➡ https://anchor.fm/lesbubka/
👉🏻Contact me ➡https://www.lesbubka.co.uk/index.html#about-section
Are Books Relevant in Training?
In this episode I had the pleasure of chatting with Dr. James Hatch, and our chosen topic was books on training.
As usual in our conversation we drifted over different subjects. I always enjoy talking with James as his depth of knowledge in Karate and many other subjects is just impressive.
We have ventured into some very controversial topics, that might spark up some debate. I hope you will enjoy this conversation as much as I did.
If you would like to support the blog with no cost to you and you shop with Amazon, please feel free to use my affiliate link, for which I get a small commission when you purchase something – note that it is completely free for you! Please find the link below.
🥋About: Les Bubka is an author, Karate coach, entrepreneur and creator of the #Hikite4ever T-shirt. Promoting inclusive Karate with a focus on mental health aspects of training. Teaching both nationally and internationally.
📹 Check out my videos
🔔 SUBSCRIBE – so you don’t miss NEW videos 👇
👕GET MY #HIKITE4EVER T- shirt 👇
https://lesshop.ammhub.com/c/clothing
👍 CONNECT WITH ME:
👉🏻 Facebook ➡ https://www.facebook.com/lesbubka/
👉🏻Instagram ➡ https://www.instagram.com/lesbubka/
👉🏻Podcast ➡ https://anchor.fm/lesbubka/
👉🏻Contact me ➡https://www.lesbubka.co.uk/index.html#about-section
Strong & Caring
Hello and welcome,
I hope you are well. If you’re in the United Kingdom, I hope that you’re coping ok with the lockdown.
I’m going to start off with a bit of shameless self-promotion on my part, if you would like to support this show please check out my merchandise where you can get unique t-shirts, ranging from Mental health and a hikite spoof to a Les Bubka Karate Jutsu one.
I would like to bring your attention to my freshly published book Thoughts on Karate, all of the goodies mentioned you can find at www.lesbubka.co.uk. In the description section of this podcast you can find other ways that you can support this show.
Finishing the promotion segment of this episode let’s move on to the subject of this podcast, Strong and caring. When I was establishing my club, I was looking for a meaningful motto, I looked around and could see that most people use the same quotes.
Fall seven time get up eight,
Black belt is a white belt who never gave up
Black belt is just beginning etc.
You get the idea what people use on their dojo walls, not that there is anything wrong with using them, but none of them really resonated with me. I was undecided what to use and was jumping between a few. Then I was writing my Anxious black belt book and as per usual it struck me at one am in the morning. That is when I usually have my best ideas, but then immediately forget them having told myself that I will remember them. I think we’ve all done that, for once I’m glad that I took my phone and wrote it down. It must have been destiny in action as I usually leave my phone downstairs so I’m not distracted during the night.
So I grabbed my phone and thought in the spirit of Shu Ha Ri I should look in detail on what my Karate represents and what message I want to share with my students and other people, and create my own. From there I came up with this motto which I’m very proud of – Strong and caring people are the pillars of society and Karate helps to cultivate them.
I had so many people giving me positive feedback on this that I’m overwhelmed by it. I thought that explaining what I mean be strong and caring can be a good subject for a podcast and here we are.
On subject of strength, I talk about both the physical and mental aspect, I know how it is to be weak in both of these realms. As many of you who know me will have probably noticed – I’m vertically challenged. If you haven’t met me, I’m sure Jamie Gray will have mentioned it to you. As I was always small during my childhood, I was not particularly strong, plus having anxiety made me weak mentally and when you are weak you cannot function normally. When both body and mind are not able to stand up to challenges you feel betrayed. And I mean both to the bullies and to the mental challenges of daily life.
In a way the physical aspect of strength is easier to overcome, as you can start working out at home and see clear results. For me it was going to the gym that started the process of strength development, and I have to say that I got strong. For my structure I was able to lift a lot. For those who like stats and lift weights here’s my personal best – bench press 105kg at 55kg body weight at 19 years old. Getting stronger physically improved my mental strength too. Having that trust in my body’s capability made me more comfortable, at least in the gym environment. Then I found Karate and that was something else, a different side of strength, physically more challenging than weights, having to overcome fatigue and constantly pushing boundaries made improvements in both body and psyche.
Then you start to realise that with all that strength comes courage, courage to hold your ground – you know that your body is there to support you, and your mind is strong enough to hold that ground. You are no longer the pushover. Karate taught you that whatever comes you can overcome it. If you are weak there is no courage as you fear for yourself, fear of the consequences, fear of the physical pain all comes down on you. If you cannot take care of yourself there is no room for taking care of others. It is just like with love, if you don’t love yourself you can’t love fully others. In order to be able to be happy with the world you need to be happy with yourself. If you want to take care of others you need to be able to take care of yourself.
Strength also takes over the fear, you can get involved in difficult conversations, support your ideas and be truthful to yourself without doubt. If you can stand up for yourself and hold your ground, then you are able to take difficult decisions and stand up for others. Not necessarily in a physical way, but also getting involved in different causes.
I firmly believe that Karate can help create those strengths in individuals, if the dojo has the right teacher and role models. In my dojo students who walk through the doors immediately feel safe and welcome, they see strong people who care about each other. With that role modelling the transfer carries on, new members start their journey into strength and care.
I don’t think that my dojo is special by any means, most of the dojos I have visited have the same atmosphere, of course there are exceptions but mostly from my experience martial arts clubs are all very supportive.
Our constant exposure to challenging training and supportive comradery is the key to the marvellous confidence boost of martial arts, in my case it’s Karate.
I hope that my explanation makes sense to you, I would love to know your take on this, what do you think about Strong and caring? Also what is your favourite motto?
Thank you for your time, and I wish you great week.
If you would like to support the blog with no cost to you and you shop with Amazon, please feel free to use my affiliate link, for which I get a small commission when you purchase something – note that it is completely free for you! Please find the link below.
🥋About: Les Bubka is an author, Karate coach, entrepreneur and creator of the #Hikite4ever T-shirt. Promoting inclusive Karate with a focus on mental health aspects of training. Teaching both nationally and internationally.
📹 Check out my videos
🔔 SUBSCRIBE – so you don’t miss NEW videos 👇
👕GET MY #HIKITE4EVER T- shirt 👇
https://lesshop.ammhub.com/c/clothing
👍 CONNECT WITH ME:
👉🏻 Facebook ➡ https://www.facebook.com/lesbubka/
👉🏻Instagram ➡ https://www.instagram.com/lesbubka/
👉🏻Podcast ➡ https://anchor.fm/lesbubka/
👉🏻Contact me ➡https://www.lesbubka.co.uk/index.html#about-section
Walk up the River, by Mary Stevens
I had the pleasure of talking to Mary Stevens from the Athena School of Karate on my podcast a few months ago. After a very interesting conversation I asked Mary if she would like to write a guest article for my blog. Mary said yes. True to her word, here we have her ‘walk up the river’ article, which covers a very important subject that is often overlooked and neglected by male instructors. Enjoy! Please find more information about Mary and her work below the article.
‘There comes a time when you need to stop just pulling people out of the river. You need to go upstream, and find out why they’re falling in’ Desmond Tutu.
Les invited me to write a guest blog here and I’m grateful to him for the chance to share some thoughts. When we spoke on his podcast, his commitment to understanding and supporting women in martial arts was very clear. I started my training in 2002: Wado-ryu karate originally and then several years of BJJ to gain some competence on the ground. I’m a full-time professional now, and I describe what I teach as traditional karate with modern self-protection. We can debate the definitions, by all means, however I’d think the majority of Les’s readers will feel fairly comfortable with those parameters. I love a good shuto uke; I think Iain has led a revolution; I list Gavin de Becker and Rory Miller on my dan grade syllabus; and I’m clear on the varied legalities of pre-emptive striking in the context of different countries. Just so we know where we are.
An unexpected side effect of the pandemic has been an increase in the number of conversations I’ve had with people about the value of karate and, in particular, the ongoing scarcity of female instructors. No one has secure data on this but a broad consensus seems to be that about 75-80% of karate instructors are male. Rather like black footballers, even if they make it as a player, they rarely find their way up to management level. So, while we all might sweep the dojo floor, something goes on to polish the glass ceiling as well. If you raise this question, you’ll get a typical range of answers as follows:
‘Girls quit when they are teenagers because they don’t like fighting.’
‘Women quit when they have children because they’re too tired or busy for hobbies.’
‘Guys in my dojo don’t like to partner with women; they feel uncomfortable hitting a woman.’
‘My dojo is 50/50 anyway so I don’t have a problem.’
If you read those statements and agreed with them instinctively then I’ve got great news for you. You can have an impact on progressing gender equality in martial arts if you want to! There’s room for you to make some changes which will make the dojo a fairer and more welcoming place for everyone, not just women.
The problem is not one person, nor is the solution. It’s a collection of the times when a girl doesn’t feel comfortable leaving the line because she’s worried she might be leaking period blood on her gi trousers. She might get through the class and then rush to the toilet, but another time, she’ll save herself the anxiety and avoid training instead. It’s the assumption that a woman with a baby ought to be at home, and will get the chance to catch up with her training later…when the kids have gone to university. It’s the partner work where women feel second best because if they ask for any consideration they’re seen as weak and worthless. It’s the fact that when presented with these points a lot of senseis will automatically knee jerk into disagreeing and pointing out how inclusive their dojo is, or saying one of their female students trains ‘just like the men’ or ‘it’s the same for small men’. Sure. It’s about individuals and individual situations. ‘Remember that when you are on the mat you are not male or female, your ethnicity does not matter and what you work with is no factor, you’re just a kimono.’ Marit Tyssedal Gabrielsen. That’s how it should be, because everyone kicks differently, is built differently, and interacts differently with the people around them.
If you’re listening to your female students, if you’re offering a comfortable environment which doesn’t have the men owning the dojo as a changing space while the women use a dirty toilet…then you’re making a difference. If you are sensitive to suitable size and power pairings, if you understand that grabbing and grappling might trigger traumatic memories for many women and you know how to deal with that…then you’re creating decent training spaces. If you have the guts to stamp on sexist attitudes from the dojo dudes and set an example of openness and trust … then you are rare.
I don’t think we need men to solve the problem of women in martial arts. We need men to solve the problem of men in martial arts. As in women’s self defence (a much longer blog!) it’s time to look at the causes, not the symptoms. Over to you.
Mary Stevens is a practical martial artist, club owner, writer, and charity worker. My conversation with Mary focusses on the empowerment of women and her charitable work for the Fair Fight project in India and Africa, where she manages Karate teaching. We also talked about mental health, inclusion, and story telling. Mary also gives us some insight into creating a world for her Warrior Monkeys book series.
Please if you can support Mary’s project at the Fair Fight website below.
I hope that you find this episode inspiring.
If you would like to support the blog with no cost to you and you shop with Amazon, please feel free to use my affiliate link, for which I get a small commission when you purchase something – note that it is completely free for you! Please find the link below.
🥋About: Les Bubka is an author, Karate coach, entrepreneur and creator of the #Hikite4ever T-shirt. Promoting inclusive Karate with a focus on mental health aspects of training. Teaching both nationally and internationally.
📹 Check out my videos
🔔 SUBSCRIBE – so you don’t miss NEW videos 👇
👕GET MY #HIKITE4EVER T- shirt 👇
https://lesshop.ammhub.com/c/clothing
👍 CONNECT WITH ME:
👉🏻 Facebook ➡ https://www.facebook.com/lesbubka/
👉🏻Instagram ➡ https://www.instagram.com/lesbubka/
👉🏻Podcast ➡ https://anchor.fm/lesbubka/
👉🏻Contact me ➡https://www.lesbubka.co.uk/index.html#about-section
Les Bubka Karate Jutsu 