Until very recently, we rarely posted videos on YouTube or engaged in a great deal of social media. The main reason for this was that we didn’t have to. We were a small dojo, not really open to the public. Once I decided to open a commercial school, I had to learn how to get us “out there” in all forms of media. Not an easy task for a guy who doesn’t really get involved in such things…well, I do now. And I understand why other businesses hire people to do this stuff.
So, as most of us know, you must have a presence on Facebook, Instagram, and of course, YouTube. I try to post videos that are engaging and educational, like how to protect your shoulder from injury or the difference in philosophies between traditional and mixed martial arts. And, being the “professional” YouTuber I am, I watch all the analytics closely to see how we are doing and which videos people watch the most.
I’ve put up a bunch of videos since we opened our doors in August of 2021. Would you like to know the video that continues to get the most views and likes? Not the ones where we demonstrate a given technique; certainly not the ones where I’m explaining something. No, the one that has over 11,000 views is me punching a tire. It’s less than a minute long and when I put it up I thought it was pretty boring. I just wanted to show how we practiced hand conditioning. Apparently, that’s what most people want to see.
And I think that’s the problem with trying to get people to understand the benefits of traditional martial arts training.
Most folks, the ones who comment on YouTube anyway, are only interested in seeing how somebody can crush another person. And if you happen to train in a martial art like aikido or tai chi and you post a video, you receive all kinds of comments from armchair masters. My favorites are the dudes who feel sorry for me and my pathetic martial arts skills. Their comments typically go like this: “I’m sorry, but that would never work in the MMA or in the street” or “It would be nice if you guys actually tried to hit each other.” Actually, we do, but people are so conditioned by movies and their own ignorance that they don’t understand the method and the purpose of traditional training.
Initially, I would follow up with rude comments and ask the heckler where his video is so that I could comment on his skills and abilities. People really get testy when you do that. They love to bash what we do, most likely because they have an inflated view of their own skills and talents. And for all I know, the person commenting might be some out-of-shape little punk, sitting in a bean bag chair, eating Cheetos and watching videos in his parent’s basement. Not that I’ve thought about it or anything.
You see, you’ve got about five seconds to capture a person’s attention in a video. So, how do you do that? Well, you demonstrate how you can take somebody out and it had better be entertaining and realistic. Show how you can expertly disarm a knife or gun, or beat your opponent's face beyond recognition.
Nobody seems to be interested in learning about the history behind what we do or how impactful it is on our lives and the lives of our fellow martial artists. Attempting to show the relevance of doing the same boring punches, sword strikes or simple but effective take-downs is a daunting task in a society that is looking for the next installment of John Wick movies.
But you know, it takes a minute for people to see beyond the obvious. I took me a minute, for sure. During the first year I lived in Japan, I studied several forms of Budo (traditional Japanese martial arts), including aikido and iaido (a sword art). And it was, well, kind of boring. Coming from a fighting background where I was engaging in full-contact sparring a couple times a week, kneeling on a cold wooden floor doing the same downward strike with a wooden practice sword (ken) was hardly my idea of a good time. And I struggled to see how such training would help me in a real fight. Like a lot of the folks who have less than nice things to say about our videos, I was young, ignorant and a bit arrogant. That’s a bad combination.
Would you like to know who helped me past that? My late wife, Terri. Here she was with two young boys in a foreign country with no phone, no television, no friends and no way out but through. I would come home from aikido practice and complain about doing the same boring, "irrelevant" training night after night. She could have been furious with me, bringing her halfway across the world to follow my martial arts dream only to complain about it.
But she saw past the obvious and helped me to do the same. As was her way, she often spoke of God’s purpose for things beyond what we see in front of us. She was right, of course. In time, the constant exposure to humility and patience had an impact on me in a way I would have never experienced had I not followed that path. Nor would I have grasped the concept that martial arts is far more than just beating people up.
Learning how to hurt people is easy. Learning how to help people realize their potential, now that’s a whole different ball of wax. It starts with looking beyond the obvious.
Dave Magliano
Tatsu Dojo
Jissenkan Budo
Dojo Cho
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