This week, Ezra and Nate review the Akira Kurasawa classic film, Yojimbo, starring Toshiro Mifune. At the top of the show, Ezra and Nate discuss what they have been up to over the last few months, how they have been handling quarantine, both individually and at the dojo. If hearing more about the Covid sends you into... more
This week's guest is Professor Stan Russell, expert on Japanese architecture and carpentry. Stan is an Associate Professor at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida. He is also the founder of One Corner Architects, a full service Architetural design studio in Ybor City, Tampa Florida. One Corner Architects... more
This week, Masahiro Imafuji joins the show. Imafuji Sensei is the host of the Kendo Podcast, which you can find at www.kendo-podcast.com. He is also the author of the Kendo Guide website www.kendo-guide.com, where you can find a TON of great information on kendo including books, videos, and web courses, this is for ke... more
This week, Don Sonney returns to to discuss his career in law enforcement and how it was influenced by his martial arts training. Don Sonney's martial arts training led him to join the Ohio Highway Patrol, which he discusses today. during his time as a trooper he was selected for their newly founded Ranger program (w... more
This week, long time karate practitioner Don Sonney joins the show.. Mr. Sonney started his karate career in 1964, training in Shotokan Karate in Gary, Pennsylvania under Artis Simmons, who was one of the top karate competitors of the era. He then went on to train in Shuri Ryu with, James McLain in his Cleveland dojo... more
This week, Andrew Clark joins us to discuss his experience living in Japan and training in Okinawan and Japanese Sumo. Andy moved to Japan 2004, to teach English on the tiny island of Kitadaito Jima, a few hundered miles East of Okinawa. While there, Andy had the unique opportunity to train both Kakuriki, or Okinawan... more
This week, Dr. Andy Wells, joins us to talk about COVID-19 and the Corona Virus. Dr. Wells is an Internal Medicine physician, and will be starting a Cardiology fellowship this summer, at a major academic medical center. The Doctor breaks down what this virus IS, what makes it different that the flu, the best way to p... more
Nate and Ezra follow up last week's catch-up episode with a focused discussion on the pros and cons of "Open Styles" of Karate. Support Our Sponsors!Kosho Martial Arts EquipmentMedical Resort A-TacTarvin Plumbing
Chop Talk is BACK after its hiatus. But, just because we haven't been PODCASTING about martial arts, doesn't mean we haven't been DOING martial arts! Ezra Scott joins the show to catch up on all the travel, training, seminars, and everything else that has happened in the last few months.
This week's guest is one of the top Jodo practitioners in the United States (and an instructor at our upcoming seminar in Cincinnnati!), Harvey King. He started training in karate in the 60s/early 70's, before branching out to iaido, aikido, and his primary focus Jodo. He has traveled, trained, and taught all over th... more
This week's guest is Ninja Nguyen, author of Step on the Mat: Life Lessons of the Ninja. In Ninja's new book he shows how martial arts are more than just punching and kicking, and he highlights how the valuable lessons found in the routines of the martial arts can be applied to everything else you do in your life. Fr... more
Ezra Scott, from James McLain's Kosho School of Karate in Nashville, and I continue our discussion on Martial Arts in the Digital Age. Today we get into how to identify a credible source, how to bring what you learned on the internet back into your dojo, whether or not we care about society, and the generation gap th... more
Ezra Scott from James McLain's Kosho School of Karate in Nashville joins us this week to discuss "Martial Arts in the Digitial Age". Ezra and I compare notes on the positives and negatives of social media, publications, videos, blogs, podcasts, and much more. To learn more about Ezra Scott please visit www.koshokara... more
This week's guest is Noah Legel, author of the "Karate Obsession" blog, and creator of Youtube channel Noah Legal's Karate obsession. Noah and I originally trained together at the Academy of Okinawan Karate in Peoria Illinois. In today's show we start off by reminiscing about our early training in Illinois, how Noa... more
Shihan Joseph Walker is back this week to continue our discussion on his 1986 Okinawa trip with Robert Trias, the incredible growth of the USKA, training with Gene LeBell, and some great advice on how to run a professional martial arts school.
This week's guest is my first martial arts teacher, Joseph Walker. Shihan Walker has been practicing karate for 50 years, and judo even longer. He was appointed Assistant Chief Instructor of Shuri Ryu Karate by Robert Trias, and named Chief Instructor by the International Shuri Ryu Association. Today he talks about ... more
Sharon Massey from Pyramid Karate in Indianapolis, Indiana joins us this week to discuss women's self defense. Sharon talks about some of the real-world situations she has been in, her transition to traditional martial arts, and how the self defense concerns of women differ significantly from men, including the differe... more
Phillip Koeppel returns this week. Sensei Koeppel has practiced martial arts for over 60 years, training with Yoshio Kawaguchi and Richard Kim in Yokohama Japan, Adriano Emperado in Hawaii, and Robert Trias in the US, and now practices Matsumura Seito Ryu. He opened the first karate dojo in Illinois in 1959. Today we... more
This week's guest, Phillip Koeppel, is a true American Karate Pioneer. Sensei Koeppel has been practicing martial arts for over 60 years. Starting in 1956 in Yokohama Japan under Toshio Kawaguchi and Richard Kim, then moving on to Hawaii to train in Kajukembo with Adriano Emperado, before returing to Illinois and joi... more
This week Ezra and I discuss Cobra Kai, the new Karate Kid series on You Tube Red. There has been a lot of talk about this show on podcasts and around the internet, but we wanted to give you a karate-guy's perspective on the show. Spoilers start IMMEDIATELY, so check out the at least the first two episodes (Availabl... more
I'm sure most of you have heard, but there is a ton of buzz about he new Karate Kid show, Cobra Kai, that was realased this week on You Tube Red. Everyone is excited about this thing, so it made me curious about why the original movies were so iconic and if they still hold up a few decades after their release. Ezra S... more
Louis Martin, author of The True Believers, is back today to continue our discussion about cultism, fanatacism, financial exploitation, and a few other topics he discusses in his book. We start off the show right where we left off the last one, with the extremely fast promotions Louie saw while training in Seibukan ... more
Today's guest is Louis Martin, author of The True Believers. Louie' book explores the fanaticism and cultism that is common in the martial arts, through his own experience training in Seibukan Jujutsu.The book, and Louie's experiences, are similar to Leah Remini's exploration of Scientology in her A&E show Scientol... more
Ezra Scott from James McLain's Kosho School of Karate in Nashville is back this week to discuss a big topic in martial arts, "Does Karate have a Fitness Problem?". Ezra and I share our thoughts on the subject, and also a few tips to help people go in the right direction. If you want to learn more about Ezra and his ... more
This week, we wrap up our discussion with Victor Moore, "The Man who Fought 'Em All".Today, Sensei Moore starts off by discussing the state of traditional karate, the different styles, and his fighting strategy. We then get into a few stories about some of his early students, including Woodrow Fairbanks, John Jelks, ... more