The Shintaro Higashi Show - Seminars and Clinics

Episode Date: March 21, 2022

In grappling sports like Judo, wrestling and BJJ, it is common to see people attend various seminars and clinics taught by renowned athletes and coaches. Is it really beneficial to attend one, and if so, how can we get the most out of it? In this episode, Shintaro and Peter discuss what their experiences have been like attending seminars and clinics. Also, Shintaro talks about the details of hosting him for a seminar in your local area! Please support us on Patreon if you can: https://www.patreon.com/shintaro_higashi_show. Any amount helps!

hello everyone welcome back to the shintaro higashi show with peter yu today we're going to talk about seminars and clinics should you go to them what are they is it worth it should you attend one of mine that kind of stuff the most important question at the end there the jargon is different for martial artists right you hear seminars mostly but judo people use the term clinics and even wrestling too it's like, you're going to the Kale Sanderson Clinic. I've heard that before. That's a good one. I've been to Kale Sanderson.

Yeah? Yeah, clinics. He's awesome. So let's kind of go over what it was, what it is. How is it like? You've been to a lot. I've been to a few. So usually the home dojo home school wrestling club

or whatever it is they bring in sort of a champ or someone from the outside who has lots of accolades and who's a great teacher and then they guest teach and you can take pay extra fee take part in that and the fee goes to the guest teacher right that's generally how it is and you're very simple and then people not just from that dojo that kind of around the area can all show up if they want to yeah and i've done uh jimmy i've hosted a jimmy pedro seminar at my dojo and it was like all right fifty dollars for the members and seventy five dollars for non-members yeah that way you could sort of get you know from right because a lot of these guys have a floor yeah yeah they have an asking floor they're like i'm not coming anything

less than you know four grand or whatever it is i see i see yeah especially like when flying is involved and you burn a whole weekend right there's a lot of commitment on that commitment yeah yeah so so that's what a seminar or clinic is you know basically a guest teacher coming in and then teaching for like two or three hours and you get to even spar with them and occasionally right like okay yeah sometimes they call them like a guest technician i've heard that term before and it depends on who it is you know whether they work out with the people or not wrestling not so common all the wrestling seminars or clinics i've been to uh it wasn't really it wasn't common oh i see especially if they're sort of like young and still competing they don't want

to risk getting injured with someone who's just like a spaz right and so you want to protect yourself okay i see i see so that's a good segue into uh into talking about our experiences in going to a bunch of clinics and you you've also done clinics I've taught clinics and seminars and I've attended them and I've been around people who are some of the greatest in the sport really cool

like who? who are the greatest? so Yamashita is arguably one of the best judo players of all time did you go to Japan Where did that happen? He came to New York? Jersey there's like a hundred people there was awesome. I got to work out with them. Yeah, how did it feel? Very powerful. I was a young kid, but like he kicked the hell out of me, you know By that time he was in he was a middle-aged man

I'm assuming yeah, but he was tough and he worked out with some of the younger little kids and stuff like this. I see. He was amazing. He got to ask him questions. Nice, nice. He insisted on teaching in English. Oh, good. Without the use of a translator, which made it difficult.

Oh, I see. For a lot of non-Japanese speakers. Even a Japanese native speaker myself, he was speaking it in English, and it's like, I wish he would have just done it in Japanese and then had somebody translate it. Kind of kills the flow, I guess.

It kills the flow. So it's not necessarily the case where some of the best athletes or the champions are the best seminarians or clinics. Seminarians? Clinicians? Clinicians. Yeah.

I see. I see. But also like having a translator also breaks up a bit of a flow too. It does. Yeah.

Yeah. It does. I went to Inouye Clinic. You know, you were there for that. I was there. That was before we were friends. We didn't even know each other.

I had heard of you. I just had heard of you and then you were very eager to go with them i remember you yeah i was one of the first guys because in a way it was like i'll work out with anyone who wants to work out yeah oh it was amazing i i went with him too yeah i was first i walked up right away when he was like who why we're gonna do randori now you know and i was like hey can i go first can i please go uh i would love to work out with you and i was still a young kid there's a video of me online working out with in a way if you search

in a way cose there's a video of me you know working out as a young kid and he's just throwing me all over the place a lot of views it was impressive like i i didn't think that he could just do stuff like that yeah but i was a young kid yeah in my defense you know early 20s right the mid-20s yeah because i was in college too then uh yeah i went with them he i'm still salty that he didn't even do a uchimata on me yeah i was uh there's a video of me too somewhere. I look like a child. Yeah. I don't know why he didn't do Uchimaru. He just did Ashiguruma.

Wasn't worthy. He was actually trying Tomonage too. And I actually asked him about it once afterwards. Because I used to see him on the circuit. And he was like, yeah, I was working on Tomonage. I'm trying to develop it. I'm not very good at it. And I was like, well, this guy's, you know. Still learning.

Yeah, he's still learning. He's like an Olympic. He's like, yeah, I'm trying it out, learning it. I'm not very good at it, you know. And I was like, wow, this guy's awesome. He got hurt there, too. I know. And then he stubbed his toe.

Yeah. Oh, it was like, and then he just went. I was worried that he would just get mad and, like, quit or something. That's the risk of doing a seminar and you have no idea who's there. And then, all right, let me just go with someone. And then, you know, Vadim like, you know, did like some kind of sliding attack. And then like, in a way, like injured his foot, you know, it's like, and he still had to like keep going. He's not going to like bow and not work out after that.

I know. And then he like, just, he was like, oh, it's okay. He was so nice about it. And say that's okay. He just taped his ankle and then he just Proceeded to throw everyone can you imagine like him like limping back to the airport like god damn it man? I know like this stupid Americans, you know, like never coming to this country again or something I was worried that he would get mad. I remember Cancel for saying that bro What? Cancel for what? I remember. Wow, you're going to get canceled for saying that, bro. What?

Cancel for what? You said stupid Americans. You can't say that. I didn't say that. Yeah. We were imagining if, you know, he probably wouldn't have said that. But, yeah, that was one of the best seminars. He taught us a lot of things.

Yeah, I've been to Jimmy Pedro, you know, Kale Sanderson, like I said, in wrestling. I've been to all sorts of seminars. I've done seminars. There's some merit there because you get to see somebody coming in and do their own thing. And like I said, they're not always excellent teachers too, especially if they're not – Right. Because being a great athlete and being a high not you know right because being a great athlete and doing being high level grappler and being a great teacher are two different things

you know we talked about this in hard skill versus soft skill yeah different skill sets yeah relaying in the information in an easy to digest communicative way that's concise and it's understandable for everybody that's soft skill right that has nothing to do with your throwing abilities or takedown abilities right right yeah so how should we approach seminars and clinics as uh students like what what should we try to get out of it like yeah like do we i think just doing them is always you you know, for me, it's always worth the money. If there is a seminar in your region, you know, if you trust the person running it, if you trust the person coming into it. Because it's like if I do a seminar at my dojo, I'm putting the stamp of approval on that person to come and teach my guys.

That you've vetted the guy, the teachers. Yeah. So there's a lot going on there in terms of trust. But you have to take it with a grain of salt. Going outside to another dojo to go to another seminar, and then there's a workout at the end, and then you're exposing yourself to the risk. Maybe they do Taniyatoshi. Maybe they're not as safety conscious as we are. Something like this, you're exposed to the risk.

If you're a white belt, you're really not going to get much out of it because you're not going to understand any of that stuff anyway. So I think there is benefit, but not for everybody. If you're a complete beginner, you're not going to get much out of it. But if you have a good foundation, if you're sort of intermediate to advanced, seeing the champions and talking to them and gaining something from that's i don't know whether it's one or two techniques i think it's beneficial and they tend to i don't know we'll talk about how you run your seminars but they tend to show like very esoteric techniques right they're not going to go over the basic uchimaras or anything like that you never know man if you remember in a way teaching a seminar he's like this is how you do a basic uchimaras or anything like that you never know man if you remember in a way teaching a seminar he's like this is how you do a basic uchimara 101 that is true he did all he did

have us like do the pulls he was like wrist turns over hand goes like this and it's like wait can you show us that thing that you did you know in the olympics or against this person or that person he goes you go like this and you go like that and that's the foundation that's the basics man you know and it's like what would you enter differently? You don't do the three-step. You do the one-step. And he shows that and he's like, you know, I do, yes, but this is the foundation. I'm going to teach that.

Right. So it's like, have I gone through that training before of Uchimata 101 from a Japanese person? I have. Right. But one or two things that he said that stuck with me. or of Uchimata 101 from a Japanese person, I have. Right? But one or two things that he said that stuck with me. One or two things working out with him that stuck with me. The way he put the hand on the lapel over the top, that was different and unique.

So I got something out of that. I see. I see. And that was a big takeaway. So it's not necessarily that you're gonna learn their secret sauce or something because a lot of times these guys don't know their secret sauce too you know i'm not saying it in a way doesn't i'm not saying that yeah and some people spend a lot of time teaching seminars for instance travis stevens or jimmy pedro teaching their gripping

system that's a good thing to learn and go to, especially if you're an intermediate player. Right, right. Because... That'll get you to the next level. Yeah, if you don't know Osorigari, if you don't know how to break fall, you're not going to get anything out of that. Right, right.

Right. I see. Yeah, so depends who they are, depends what your goals are, all those different things, you know? Right. So now kind of let's go into your seminars like so what's your goal what's your what's how is your seminar like like what's your goal what do you usually

teach yeah so usually it's i don't want the kids and adults in the same thing it's just too crazy and too chaotic so i like to do like a kid session and an adult session and then i'll say okay i'm doing it on saturday 10 to 11 o'clock is for kids or 10 to 12 kids and then two to four as adults something of this nature right right yeah he's painting the butt but you know and then i kind of like to teach some of my concepts concepts that people already kind of know but it's very unique to mine. It's my sort of proprietary formula, so to speak. And a lot of people don't know. The gripping, it's out there. The technique stuff, it's out there.

But then my take on my spin on my perspective of how do you get good at judo? Right. And a lot of it is conversation with the person who's hosting the clinic too. For instance, I'm going to do one in North Dakota and we were talking about it and he said, hey, we did a couple of seminars recently. They focus so much on Nwaza. Nwaza is great, but I want to learn a little bit more Tachiwaza. Can you do more stand up than ground?

I'm like, sure. That's better on my feet anyway. Right, right. Right, so talking to those guys. And then once you get there too, having these little interactions with the person who's hosting it, they give you little, little bits of information where you can sort of start shaping your seminar. Right.

For instance, if they say things like, yeah, oh, we get outgripped a lot or I ask a question, hey, is everybody fighting right-sided in your dojo and 99% of the club is right versus right? Why am I going to teach right versus left? Right. It's not going to make sense maybe i should and then be like all right half of you guys but i'm going to go ahead and uproot the entire system over there and be like all right you guys are going to be left from now on but that's not really my place to do that right they want to learn how to get better in the dojo first right first right and then if everybody's reaching with their right hand for me to go in there and say okay that's actually wrong it's a rule and the only time you reach with your right

hand is you're breaking that rule with purpose to break up the pattern of your gripping strategy right right that's a big pill to swallow so let's start right first right because everyone's there anyway how do you gain position from there right that way they get the most out of that teachings right immediately they have benefit right as opposed to me teaching a pre-packaged this is how i do my kochi to tayo it's like yeah but you know what they're going to just do that now from now on and right no we want to build on their current judo system so that's my approach to these seminars talking to the instructors having quick conversations and then teaching my system more bespoke huh that's definitely bespoke yeah yeah and what i the way i teach is very unique

anyway right right i'm not going to get there and then teach hurray and everyone expects to learn hurray oh right you should be doing that on their own because there's it's just two and you do uchikami drill three person nagakami you're gonna little by little develop it that's not my place to nitpick and be like your pinky's in the wrong place your foot's in the wrong how come i'm not being able to throw anybody with it a lot of it is contextual right if you're falling over and you don't have the proper balance you're not going to be able to do it. You have to develop yourself as an athlete. Coordination, balance, strength, power.

If you're physically weak, you're not going to be able to do any of this stuff. That's on you. I'm not going to change that in two hours that I'm with you. But the way you think about judo, I could definitely start shaping it. And a lot of these people who already watch my videos too, they already have sort of that knowledge. So they're watching a ton of videos. There's a lot of noise there too because there's so much being thrown at them. I'm just going to make it as concise as possible so they get the most out of it.

And that's sort of my method when I'm doing seminars. I haven't done it in a long time because of the corona, obviously. And even pre-corona I was kind of getting tired of doing them so I stopped doing them it's a lot of work on you you know it's actually not that much work it's you know because I it's a time sink I guess time you got a time spend a lot dedicate a lot of time on it just takes you yeah yeah it uproots you and it takes time away from and you know now I have a. It's like I don't really want to go away on the weekends. Right, right.

Because Saturday and Sunday. Precious, yeah. Yeah, it's like I want to go to the park. Oh, yeah. Yeah, so, you know. But you're going to start doing more. You mentioned that you're going to go to North Dakota. You're going to Vegas soon.

Yeah. Yeah, so I'm going to put it out there. Hopefully we get this out in time. Yeah. So I'm going to put it out there. Hopefully we get this out in time. March 26th. No, March 27th. Late March, I'm going to be in Vegas. And then April 9th, I'm going to go to North Dakota. Right.

Nice. And I will say I will go do one seminar a month. Right. Nice. And I will say, I will go do one seminar a month. So June, July, you know, all these months are free. Maybe. Yeah. So, yeah.

I have an idea, right? Like I kind of want to go to Michigan in June. Yeah. We talked about that. Yeah. Right. That way, Michigan's great because you're there. I can hang out with you. Right. Yeah. We talked about that. Yeah. That way, Michigan's great because you're there. I can hang out with you. Right?

Right. So I want to start little by little scheduling these things. And I want to make it quick in and outs. I don't want to spend Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I'm not going to do that. Usually AM session, PM session kind of a situation, in and out. That's what I'm trying to sort of organize little

by little. So if you have inquiries, you can definitely reach out to me. My floor price is $3,000. He's throwing it out there. But I make exceptions. For instance, North Dakota and Las Vegas, these are people that follow me on Patreon, who's reached out to me, who supported me during the pandemic. People who I have close relations with.

I told them, hey, man, 50-50 is fine. I see. Whatever people come, especially North Dakota because it's like – Yeah, not that much. I don't even know how many people are out there because I don't really know much about North Dakota, period. Right, right. So I don't see like a 200-person seminar and the thing. So usually it's like there's a floor and a 50-50 situation because I want the gym to make money.

Yeah, yeah. That makes sense. And I'm very flexible on the floor. Very. So yeah, ask away. Ask away. Ask away. The worst I could say flexible on the floor. Very. So yeah, ask away. Ask away. Ask away. The worst I could say is no.

Yeah. If you approach it 50-50, I'm okay as long as it doesn't burn a whole weekend. Right. In and out, like I said, Saturday AM session, PM session. 50-50 is mostly good. I see. Because that way it's like50 is mostly good. I see. Right? Because that way

it's like the gym makes money. I make money. We're both happy. Yeah. Sounds great. Yeah. So, that's how

we should approach seminars and clinics and how you could reach out to Shintaro to schedule one yourselves. Anything else we missed? Covered a lot. Yeah, I mean a little bit more from like a consumer of clinics, I think. Right. You know, ask good questions. What will be an example of a bad question that you've gotten? Can you show me Tai Toshi? Right.

That's not your goal. Because it's like, why don't you ask your sensei that? Yeah. Right? Your teacher is this, and it's like, what if this guy doesn't do Tai Toshi?

I'll tell you a story about a Kale Sanderson clinic that I was at. Yeah. Some kid goes, hey, can you show me a five-point throw? In freestyle wrestling right if you take from standing up over give it amplitude yeah flip them onto their back the equivalent of a judo it's a five point throw you have five points for it cal sunders is not yet known for that

not known for that he's known for ankle picks ankle's right. Yeah. So some kid goes, can you show me a five point throw? And then Kale's like, I don't, I don't do five. I don't do throws. I could show it to you, but I'm not very good at it. Or I do angle picks,

you know? Yeah. This Russian dude goes, I can show you. And doing a Kale sentence. It was towards the tail end of it. Yeah. And then he showed a five point throw.

Yeah. And all the showed a five-point throw. Uh-huh. And all the kids were like, whoa! Because you don't really see that often as a wrestling kid. No. Yeah, so. Because folk style doesn't have five-point throws. Yeah, like that kid asked the wrong question. Right.

So don't ask Shintaro to show, i don't know tiny otoshi i was a teenager i was a teen yeah and then i wasn't asked a question and i was no known for asking you know dumb questions like kind of like a goofy kid so i raised my hand and kail looked at me all right all right kid you know uh and then my coach runs up to me he goes hold on kale my coach comes up what are you about to ask him like play with me and then i said to the coach i was like hey i was gonna ask him like if he could take a shirt off so we could see how jacked he is he's like never he's like neverale. Never mind. Oh, no. So you didn't get to ask that question?

No. Oh, man. And then I contemplated for a second. I was like, maybe I'll ask him afterwards. But then I was like, you know what? That'll be weird. It would have been funny if I would have asked it. It would have been funny, yeah. Hey, Kale, can you take off your shirt to see how jacked you are?

I think Kale would have laughed. He signed a t-shirt for me, too. It was amazing oh nice you still have that yeah it's in my attic it's yeah it's nice nice but yeah so like be do your proper studying first before you go to these things so you guys yeah what are they good at right you have to know what the seminarian or the clinician is good at you know kel sanderson ankle picks shintaro higashi won't be a good one yeah and yeah so like being a smart consumer of these things matters you know yeah being a smart consumer i think that's important and uh you know be respectful yeah that's that's really it that's

it seven arms done that's right i shouldn't have said my floor is 3 000 it makes me sound like a you know no everyone has there's a fixed cost of you going out there it's not 3 000 it's 2 000 i'm negotiating against myself okay all right it's actually correction it's two grand this is collection just buy me dinner and take me out and i'm gone i'm gone this is why you gotta listen to our podcast till the end we don't you guys don't know what we're gonna throw out at the end that's true yeah floor is dropping now it's like the nft floor pricing it's like the NFT floor pricing it keeps dropping with Bitcoin yeah so that was about it for Seminines and Clinics

reach out to Shintaro if you guys want to schedule one yourselves once a month and then stay tuned for the next episode