The Black Belt Podcast
What’s Up Martial Artists! Welcome to The Black Belt Podcast a Martial Arts Lifestyle Show hosted by highly acclaimed multi style martial artist Sifu Harinder Singh in partnership with Black Belt Magazine. “We are going to bridge the gap between sport, tradition, and reality. Join me as I sit down with world class practitioners to discuss their lifestyles to teach you about their mindset, training, and fighting methods so that we can grow from their wisdom.” Season 1 guests include Michael Jai White, Jocko Willink, Herb Perez, Rickson Gracie, Mike Swain, Justin Wren, John “The Pitmaster” Hackleman, Tony Blauer, Chatri Sityodang, Dave Kovar, Meisha Tate, Burton Richardson, Master Wong, Master Ken, Mike Ninomiya, and Jackson Rudolph. Follow Sifu Harinder Singh @sifusingh and Black Belt Magazine @blackbeltmag. You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RSS feed, Overcast, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. DISCLAIMER: Our guests are highly trained experts and masters of their craft. They take many safety precautions to mitigate the risks involved in the practice of martial arts. All training methods and fighting strategies discussed in these podcasts should not be attempted without qualified supervision and training with professionals.
Episodes
52 episodes
#4: Budo Brothers – Joy Jitsu – The Art of Living a Joyful Life
"Joy is a trainable skill, and like any martial art, it requires practice, especially in the face of discomfort and chaos." "Your obstacles are your greatest teachers. Like the samurai seeking out the master sword...
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Season 4
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Episode 4
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1:04:30
#3: Alan Baker - The Endless Path of Mastery: Exploring Martial Arts, Mindset, and the Journey Within.
"We know we can't make it; we don’t have the lifespan to know it all. But that’s what makes us warriors—we still choose to walk the path, even knowing we’ll never reach the end.”“The breath is the bridge—it’s the control poi...
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Season 4
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Episode 3
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1:06:47
#2: John Little – Be Yourself - Bruce Lee’s Path to Self-Mastery
"To always be yourself. Have faith in yourself. Don’t look for a successful personality and duplicate it. These are very strong pointers to truth, but they’re dismissed by a lot of people. If you understand this, it makes your life way more...
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Season 4
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Episode 2
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1:22:09
#1: Mike Lee Kanarek – Those Who Constantly Evolve, See the Future First.
“Train like a fighter, think like a soldier, fight like a warrior. I believe confidence has to be done with inoculation. In martial arts we have stress and aggression drills that inoculate us to pain, it’s like they give us a li...
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Season 4
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Episode 1
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1:05:04
#16: Dexter Fletcher – Form Follows Function when Hunting Monsters
“When you go into a Hostage Rescue you have to see it as if you are protecting or trying to save your own child, your own mother, your own brother. If you can’t put yourself in a situation to see it that way you can’t do that job.&nbs...
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Season 3
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Episode 15
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1:18:47
#15: Chris Kent – The Spirit of Jeet Kune Do
“Jeet Kune Do to me is not about the perpetuation of an art, it is about the personal cultivation of an individual. To me Jeet Kune Do is a state of being. It’s a dynamic way of thinking and acting that encompasses the same flui...
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Season 3
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Episode 15
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1:27:59
#14: Nicolas Saignac – Express Yourself and Be Free
“You want to find this place with the person that you are working with, sparring is working with people, it’s not working against people, you are going to receive what you give. If it’s too hard, and you do not respect the parameters ...
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Season 3
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Episode 14
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1:16:49
#13: Fariborz Azhakh – How To Be A Master Teacher
“I never wanted to be the greatest martial artist ever, I always saw myself as a teacher. I want to influence people, I don’t want them to be impressed by what I do, I want to be a vehicle for them to learn. To me integrity is a moment by...
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Season 3
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Episode 13
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1:27:34
#12: Tom Callos – The Martial Art of Kindness
“The real goal is not to be a great martial artist, but to be a great human being. A Black Belt is a good human being that is constantly working on themselves, it is somebody of a high level of skill, that brings their practice to lif...
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Season 3
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Episode 12
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1:43:52
#11: Harinder Singh – Master Your Center and Flow in Chaos
“Spiritual Growth is not necessarily found on a yoga mat, in the dojo, or in a meditation room, it’s found in the space between your thoughts, it’s found in the space between your decisions, it’s found in the still point in the transition b...
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Season 3
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Episode 11
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1:18:59
#10: Alexandre “Xande” Ribeiro – The Iron Mind of a Champion
“Champions have a very strong spiritual understanding of when is the right moment to throw a perfect technique, using time and timing to understand the right moment. It’s impossible to put into the an equation how it feels, because if...
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Season 3
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Episode 10
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1:01:55
#9: Chip Townsend – Breaking Through Barriers
“When pushing the boundaries of the human body, either I’m going to break, or it is. Can I pull the trigger and go? It can be this way in self-defense, life, and everything else that we do.A great question is to ...
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Season 3
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Episode 9
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1:14:28
#8: Willie “The Bam” Johnson – The Art of Honest Self Expression
“The Jail that I was in was easy. The Jail that most people are in today without being incarcerated in a Jail Cell, is the Jail cell of the mind and the heart. It wasn’t till I learned to love me in Jail, it wasn’t until I learned t...
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Season 3
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Episode 8
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1:23:30
#7: James Hundon – Slow is Smooth and Smooth is Fast
“Everyone has a gift, but not everyone seeks to find it, or has the patience to go within themselves to find it. It’s passion, what are you passionate about? What part of you gives you the drive to work hard to get good at something, ...
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Season 3
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Episode 7
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1:07:28
#6: Graciela Casillas - Trailblaze Your Own Style
“My goal in training is to build a student’s reflexes not just memorizing a technique. Building reflexes by discarding the drills, and eventually being able to free flow, so you can react to any angle of attack, if you train that way ...
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Season 3
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Episode 6
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1:25:59
#5: Val Mijailovic – Karate is Harmony
“When I was coming up, we didn’t look at anybody else, we didn’t glorify anybody else, instead we learned by discovering what we could do. Everybody was different. Now days there is so much information out there and it is so eas...
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Season 3
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Episode 5
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1:18:17
#4: Billy Blanks – "Heart of a Champion (Transformation Begins from the Inside Out)"
“Tae Bo sold 115 million copies and revolutionized the fitness world. It changed the way people talked about fitness, I was the first person that talked about inside out. Most people didn’t really talk about the inside, most peo...
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Season 3
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Episode 4
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1:06:48
#3: Erik Paulson - "The Creative Act of Martial Arts"
“It doesn’t matter where it comes from as long as it works, and you don’t know if it works unless you experiment with it. In order to get good at everything you got to break it all up and pull it apart. Find the common thread, t...
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Season 3
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Episode 3
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2:32:39
#2: Michael Jai White – The Ego is The Enemy
“Don’t take yourself too seriously, if you do it is about your ego. If I get my ass kicked, I will brag about it, because then it means I am learning something. We go into these things as insecure beings, I was no different.&...
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Season 3
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Episode 2
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1:05:00
#1: Big John McCarthy – “Let’s Get It On”
“The ability to relax under pressure is the trait that all the greats share. Panic is the most useless emotion that humans can have in any situation. Fear is a good thing, it tells you , you have a problem, the question is ho...
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Season 3
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Episode 1
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1:01:37
#16: Gerry Chisolm “Lady Sensei” – Make The Weak Strong
“The Mind is the primary weapon. Everything else is just a means to an end. When the body fails the mind takes over. When the mind fails the spirit takes over. There is no greater study, higher study than the study of self.” ...
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Season 2
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Episode 16
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1:36:36
#15: Michael and Mikey Dillard – Exist to Inspire
“Exist to Inspire, Martial arts is so much more than what people think. If you live the way, and actually make martial arts part of your lifestyle it comes with these values and skillsets that no one can take away from you and can ...
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Season 2
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Episode 15
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1:02:52
#14: Dave Kovar – A Mindful Approach to Martial Arts and Life
“The key to getting good at anything is mindful training over time. Make a conscious effort to shift gears, empty your cup of everything in your day, so you can become present and focus on your martial arts training. Spontane...
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Season 2
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Episode 14
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1:07:38
#13: Ron Van Clief – We Have to Be Strong Enough to See our Way Through the Bad and Find the Good
“Martial Arts is a people building device, it teaches you how to live in a chaotic world and be happy. If we make the best of our lives by doing our best in life, we can create the life that we want. And that’s really what li...
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Season 2
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Episode 13
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1:25:01
#12: Zoltan Bathory – The Power of Creative Problem Solving
“When people are faced with obstacles, they try to brush it away, or shut it out of their minds. Obstacles and doubts are different. Obstacles are real and doubts are created by the mind. Martial Arts is one of the best...
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Season 2
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Episode 12
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1:54:42
