Aikido VS Untrained Fighter 

The husky says "meh, I could take them both with jaw-jutsu".

I think if you ever got jumped while walking your dog, your dog would react like it was the most normal thing in the world.

Attempts at 'live' aikido always end up looking like bad judo.

Well done m8. You are very brave. Most martial arts teachers are all talk no walk, they never try to practice what they preach in a real situation. Win or lose you get my respect.

One of the few honest Explorations into the effectiveness of a martial arts. I applaud your willingness to be open and learn. Keep up the good work!

That dog is so excited trying to help LoL "HOOMAN YOU SEEM TO BE IN DANGER!!!!" Great video. Thank you!

I really appreciate this. Instead of constant downing a martial art, you said,"Hey! Let's improve it and make it more practical." It means a lot.

That's what "studying Martial Arts" actually means! Way to go, Rokas! Keep it up! 🙇 Nice to see a community taking form around this project also! May it bring insightful experiences and healthy exchange of it!

Thank you for sharing your honest and vulnerable training journey. Many people get discouraged by the rough learning process, but I'm so happy to see you display confidence and humility.

I am very very impressed with what you are trying to do. I a judoka but I when I lived in Japan I trained for a a year and a half with Fujitani Sensei at the Tenshin Dojo in Osaka. I left Aikido because of it consistently proved ineffective against a resisting opponent. I wish you luck in your endeavors and look forward to Your development and evolution of Aikido.

I'm really enjoying these videos. Much respect for what you are doing here, admitting that your chosen style wasn't quite up to scratch in a modern setting and actively trying to fix the problems rather than burying your head in the sand takes balls man.

Husky comes and checks "is my master ok?". Great !

Instead of using big hybrid mma gloves and boxing gloves try using the standard 4oz mma gloves. You can always throw on full headgear and a mouthpiece to protect your face from the strikes.

I once tried to help a friend train for her aikido black belt grading. It was really strange. Every time she tried any takedowns she would look at me and say something like "you should be off balance by now". I tried to be a compliant partner but because I had no idea what these takedowns were, my body just naturally did whatever to stay balanced and she grew frustrated. Granted I do have a background in traditional and sports martial arts, but she couldn't understand why she couldn't throw me around like her classmates. She then proceeded to train me how to be off balance and that's when I understood the problem: her classmates expected a fixed outcome in training and threw themselves off balance for her benefit. Aikido can be fun but I just find the practioners too compliant with one another. I'm sure there are some good aikido guys around that can toss me like a rag doll, but I have yet to experience it.

Dude... I commend you for what you are doing... it takes such a strong sense of self and humbleness at your approach with an openess at true expression of what truly works in your experiments and experiences.

Looks hard to use aikido

Is the dog the ref?

The fact that you're pressure testing your aikido is excellent. It's also clear that with some of your techniques were effective. Keep up the great work.

It's great seeing you test your aikido skills in sparring against different styles and levels of competency while adding to your skill set from other arts.

It's very good that you're doing this and filming it. Not only is it good for you, but I think it will be good for a lot of open minded individuals that stumble on to this.

Great job!! You’ve improved so much from your first sparring session with the mma guy! You were successfully able to implement your aikido techniques. Way to go! Keep at it Rokas!

You seem to have a heavy forward lean (along your back and your neck), and tend to lead horizontally with your head. I think that is a bad tendency to have.

Your best moments here are when you throw a strike *immediately before* entering into the clinch range.

To all the haters: the idea wasn´t for Aikido to win, there was nothing to "proof" here. It is simply experimentation. And when someone is so honest, they´re willing to take a couple punches to learn and improve, I really don´t know what there is to dislike about it. This guy has understood that in fighting half of the time you hit, the other half you get hit - no need to be a superior "master of everything". I find that inspirational.

I love what you're doing here! It's inspiring to see a martial artist take what is derided as useless and try to improve on it to make it viable again. I've always wanted to learn Shaolin kung fu, and the only school in the area is Shaolin-Do. I know, I know. I still go and learn, because it's cheap to train there and the people at this SPECIFIC gym are very open to what I want to do, which is re-invent the art into something useful. I also train at local boxing gyms and judo schools to gain the useful drills and attributes I need to see the project through. Seeing someone else doing this inspires me to keep taking the next step. Thank you !

I'm not even subscribed to this channel yet I'm getting recommended. Whatever it is you're doing, from what I heard you're trying to add things more to your aikido, good luck.

Yeh quietly following your progress... excellent stuff mate. Reminds me of Bruce Lee’s exploratory development and learning... which led him to greatness.

Keep up the good work! Aikido needs you.

Excellent! Great to see you so humbly allowing us to watch your failures and successes. It's a very useful experiment. Interestingly, as you adapt the aiki techniques a little, they get very close to (standing) BJJ techniques despite you deliberately trying not to use BJJ. Essentially, what works, works! All martial arts, IMHO, when pushed to use their effective techniques only, end up looking surprisingly alike.

I like this sparring match vs your first one with the trained MMA fighter. Very specific, you were not afraid to get hit this time. The confidence in your ability to handle some punches really comes through. You looked a lot more comfortable in your own skin and dealt with random attacks more relaxed. Great improvement! I hate comments with criticism of application, but I dare add something to help. The transition points of going from fighting to Aikido are the keys to making Aikido work. That is where Aikido lacks, its transitions do not adapt or harmonize with a different type of attack. BJJ, wresting, and boxing have some great transitions that you could use to get to Aikido. You used a couple that seemed effective. Here are some that I like to use during sparring to transition to Aikido: 1. Jab counter: slip to the outside of the jab and simultaneously counter with your own lead hand for an irminage to the face (or just a jab counter). 2. Jab-cross counter: slip outside of jab then cover for cross, catch the elbow, tenkan, koykunage/sumiotoshi 3. Offensive back fist: trap lead hand, back fist to the outside of the head, pull head down, kaiten nage And there are many many more that can transition real nice. Good luck!

May be if you try when No one has any sort of gloves or wrist wrapping on it may be easier?

I currently train in a Korean traditional martial art that has elements of Taekwondo, Hapkido, and Judo (as in we train with punches, kicks, pressure points, joint locks, throws, and falling techniques) and I have recently started training in BJJ to help develop my close range skills. I see how training in both styles helps me in the other. One such example is that when I spar in BJJ, I have no problems engaging while standing up and looking to throw/sweep someone to the ground vs resorting to pulling guard to bring the fight to the ground quickly. I also have learned quickly how to deal with grips and recognize when I am in danger (even though I may not always know how to deal with the threat). Due to rolling after class, I have learned how to better train/drill the jointlocks as well as I have better cardio for when I am doing forms. My biggest advice for modernizing aikido is implementing sparring involving strikes but encourage the joint locks/throws/sweeps so that it forces the practicioner to learn how to use those techniques while being punched/kicked. Keep up the work!

Can't lie this is making me want to go learn aikido just so i can try to blend it with some bjj, catch wrestling and boxing. The thing about sparring like that is that you're not being given enough energy to really do something with it. Do some drills where you're getting legit committed punches thrown and drill at least one technique full speed till completion. Wish i knew the names of the moves so i could give an example lol

Great start! Definitely looking better already than your Aikido vs MMA. Great also you got some Aikido techniques in there, glad to see Aikido can work! Please keep pressure testing and find out what works best.

You may be the most honest aikido practicioner in the world. You will suck at first of course but I see great potential of creating something knew with experience. Keep exploring and practicing, we may learn a lot from you. Aikido revolution!

You definitely improved a lot. I think your journey is going fantastic. Here are my suggestions (my own personal suggestions/opinions based on my muay thai and kick boxing experience): 1. Keep a straight/upright back. You're bending forward too much. That will make your spine and back muscles more tired. Being too bent forward will give your opponent less room to try and close their distance. They'll have an easier time hitting you. In my opinion, controlling the pace and distance is key regardless of martial art. 2. Keep your chin down too when you're guarding against punches. In a fight (sport or self defense), you're most likely going to get hit once unless you have Kryptonian/Barry Allen like reflexes. Protect your chin. Get in that proper habit. 3. You're trying too hard to get the submission going from the very beginning. I recommend setting it up more with more than one punch. Look for openings in your opponent's defenses, fake them out. A good fighter will immediately adapt to what you're trying to do. To combat this, be unpredictable. 4: At 3:40 ish, you were trying to get a submission going on but your partner slipped. Which will happen. But you stayed too long out of position. Reset your fight stance as soon as possible. If you face away from your opponent too long, that can open up opportunities for him to unload on you. All it takes is one second. Get in the habit of resetting your fight stance. You did score a couple of take downs, which is good. You were definitely more aggressive and you were controlling the pace of the fight for a bit. He seemed more reactive and you seemed more proactive. Keep up the good work.

Basic headmovent, parry punches and moving diagonally rather than back and forth and it would elevate your game at that time some

A lot of improvements, honestly I continue to be impressed with your dedication, some interesting exchanges in that video. Edit : You could probably be more aggressive in those clinch exchanges. I think that's probably a natural grappler habit hehe, you guys are stubborn in there, always trying to keep pulling off whatever just failed while you get kneed in the ribs. The clinch is heaven for a lot of strikers, if what you initiated failed, don't stick in there unless you intend to dish out some punishing yourself before you attempt a take down again. Otherwise you're just digging yourself into a lot of trouble.

Respect for posting this

Hi Lokas. What I find interesting is that in the practice of the Dojo, we are told not to use any force and always play on the unbalance of our opponent, by leveraging and using this unbalance. Using your weight or your force in the Dojo is usually seen as a lack of Aikido skill. But in practice like in this fight, the few techniques which you managed to slip in where done by using strength. And in no way has your opponent lost his balance, which is why you have to play with your strength and intensive locks as well. This matches with your other experiments that Aikido like it is taught is not exactly what works in practice.

I had the audio off at first and I was watching the vid thinking, "the untrained dude doesn't look untrained" but you covered him being kyokushin which is a rowdy karate. like really rowdy. I had to rewind. He's clearly kept some of the skill from his training

3 things. 1. Looks life you're trying to recreate Japanese jujitsu when you add bjj and punches in. I think if you want to keep it aikido you should avoid striking altogether and focus on throws and escaping from grappling then maybe the spirit of aikido is still there. (Not saying you shouldn't practice those things). 2. If you ditch the punches ditch the gloves. They just get in the way and in full contact fighting they're more dangerous than bare fists. Even the punches you throw now look like taking the gloves off wouldn't make a difference. 3. Love what you're trying to do. Keep it up.

the dog is legend , also really like your vids

basically, if he was throwing real punches, he would have beat the shit out of you. You didn't duck or react or anything, you were jist knowing he will not hit you.

yeh throwing a couple punches is prob the best way to get in range for yur wrestling or aikido locks.

I like your approach and willingness to learn your open mind thumbs up. My old sensei the late Simon Deering once taught us is that once you are standing toe to toe you are doing something wrong. His philosophy was deflate the situation before it gets to the point of no return. Example: most fights start with pushing, a way to size up your opponent. He called this phase 1, this is the phase where you want to be at with aikido and are at an advantage. Phase 2 is raised fists, 3 the red phase is fists are swinging. He said do a basic ikkyo omote, even better the ura version for more control over your opponent. He also said on the average untrained opponent it has a shock and awe effect. Do remember to apply some pain pressure and TALK with some reasoning to your down opponent, like I don't want this so let's stop . Of course walking away is the preferred method

happy to see your improvment

The problem is you actually need a jab to distract long enough to bridge.

I love the dog. So cute.

Nicee, very nice! Love what you are doing with aikido keep on questioning everything not just aikido!

I guess it would have been easier to perform real Aikido techniques without those boxing gloves because they seem to limit you in terms of proper grabing.

With respect, remember that Aikido in general, relies on the opponent attacking in full force and intent and you responding in kind. Once things go into a mutual and aware fighting exchange you are dealing with a different situation entirely. Now you have to also be able to go on full offense and shoot for a take down or attack with strikes. You can't linger in that middle ground and try to respond . It's all in or all out once you go from self defense into mutual combat. It may be that you are trying to use the wrong tool for the task at hand. Keep in mind that the roots of this Art is to defend against a sword attack when unarmed.

Hey! Really love these videos. Really like the integration of different styles, AND the fact that you're keeping the Aikido! It's so creative and interesting to see how this varies from where I train, which is just straight MMA with a Muay Thai & BJJ base. I have some comments about the good things I saw, and the areas that could be improved. I would say the primary area that needs improvement here is in your striking defense. You're doing a lot of flinching, and leaning your head back over your back leg, which compromises your balance and movement. Also, by leaning your head back, you compromise your chin. Finally, it compromises your foot positioning - check around 2:47 for a particular moment where you're basically facing away from your opponent, which opens you up to strikes, and limits your ability to respond. THAT SAID: I really liked the takedowns, and the way you're using strikes to close the distance and impose your aikido. The throws/takedowns look really good. You don't necessarily need to be Lomachenko, and you've definitely become more comfortable with strikes since your first MMA bout, but the strike entry (I think it's called "atami" in aikido?) looks good. So impressed at how this experimentation is going! Inspirational!

Keep this training and pressure testing up and soon you will be the face of new aikido/combat aikido/ or whatever you decide to call it. The basic principles may come from Aikido it will be an art all your own. We are literally witnessing the birth of a new art.

Huge respect to you for trying new martial arts. Looks to me like you learnt a lot from BJJ in your short journey in that sport. A lot of your takedowns look 100% like BJJ/judo takedowns.

Very good experiment. I'm in Aikido for more than 20 years and my modest opinion is that in general, Aikido is not so suitable in a direct confrontation- like boxing for an example.... In the end, that's not a purpose of Aikido. But, if we cut some particular and non-practical rules, Aikido can be really effective. Most of the "hard-Aikido-styles", like a Serbian "Real(istic) Aikido" are based on those priniciples. Rokas, try to find an angle- where you can actually use your Aikido. Then, cut the situations where you can't.

You look like your fighting your future self with that haircut.

Much respect bro for your continued exploration and experimentation. Really enjoy your humility and study. Keep it going bro!

nice to see that you are brave enough to try it. Advice to block or soften the opponent punch

Good job on your quest. 2 things that may help : 1) you have a tendency to move on a straight line which makes you both predictable and exposed, 2) when you fight the opponent in closer range you fight his arms instead of his body, which allows opponent to re asses, recharge and counter with same speed and power. Another one that may or may not help is the guard position which is a double punch close to face which allows opponent to get closer as it forms a gap in front and free entry on the mid line. Aikido posture is missing there, and I'd incorporate that just to check it's flaws or benefits.

Fantasic exploration and thanks for showing us the results!

Much respect for pressure testing. Very admirable. I'd also add that you should do some mma classes, they would really help you close the distance a Lil safer so you can apply your Akido. But fair play man!!

Man, definitely seeing stuff moving with this. Obviously it's not there yet, but this is going in a cool direction. I noticed the irimi nage as well! :D Super neat idea to set up a "control" sparring session to have something to compare to - like that a lot!

Love when the dog runs in :D Hilarious

While still far away from real progress, it's a step in the right direction. There are 2 adaptations. One for sport and one for self-defense. You'll have to develop both. Respect!

Great job man.I've been watching your videos and I love that your searching for the truth and your being honest about your results.Keep it up.

loved the dog

Well done. Great stuff. It seems that Aikido works when put into a realistic context. Your first take down certainly shows that your Aikido is of a very high level. I also loved seeing the Alaskan Malamute - it reminded me of a sparring session I had with a student many years ago. We were in my back yard and my Malamute thought that I was being seriously attacked and sprang to my defence. Needless to say, we had to stop sparring as I had a somewhat unfair advantage! ;)

To be clear, throwing light punches, so much of the "technique" was done while taking "punches" to the face. Which were basically just ignored

I think one thing to consider is that you're gonna struggle to get him off balance. When you tried to kotegaeshi you need to pull him back more by pumping your biceps and then excecuting kotegaeshi. I also recommend that you use blinding techniques like a smack with an open hand to the face works just as effective as a punch to set up techniques

Use what you got!; you are a tall guy, with long arms and legs. You have reach, use it. Do not hunch too much. Learn how to kick right, and nobody will get close to you. Do not be anxious in attacking, and when your opponent launches his attack, then you use his energy, and movement. Be calm and relaxed and then apply Aikido. Aikido works great when sudden and unexpected.

That's what sparing is like, not that other fake stuff on youtube. I'm talking about you Steven segal. Nice video

When you're talking set ups... You can use low level kicks to check forward progress. Part of the strategy would be to frustrate the attack so that the attacker commits more to his strategy which allows you greater opportunity. Also you can change levels when he comes forward. Last you have lateral movement as an advantage when he moves forward.

2:47 dog: hey guys may I spar with ya ?

anyone else become fully invested in what that dog was gonna do?

Aikido has been changed from a fighting form to an art to a fighting form and back to an art again many time over the years. To make it work against modern opponents who aren't in full classical armor. I would add some wrestling, bjj or sambo and some form of striking. I don't hate aikido but when I was mostly untrained often I was too much for aikido black lets to handle. Im not some high level pro or anything fancy, a black belt should be able to handle them self against me. So I don't trust it as a stand alone style to protect my family with. Nothing against the art it's just I only have but so much time to train so the training has to be practical.

Hey, man. What I thought when watching your sparring was that you seemed to be more offensive than I have thought aikido should be. To me aikido is more passive, allowing your opponent to come to you and redirecting their attack in a way that you can then exploit. I have not engaged in an aikido vs untrained puncher sparring session so I don’t know what it’s like. However, I would personally like to think that I would have a straighter stance as this is more classical and my personal preference whereas you seemed to adopt a more boxing styled stance, ie hunched and closed guard around your head and ribs. I really love your videos and your quest to see if you can use aikido in a real world setting! Keep it up!

Someone already pointed out the leaning forward, but something I noticed was the lack of decisiveness in pursuing a technique - and in particular, no specific breaking the balance before completing the technique. From my experience aikido technique seemed to require a real strong decisive element on top of the initial balance break - that is, not tentatively grabbing and pulling back, or trying to do a technique without first breaking the opponent's balance. Break the balance with a strong entry - whether it's a push, strike, whatever... then the technique is possible, but it needs to be deliberate and not uncertain. Without the balance being broken though, then you have to 'grapple'/'jostle' around a bit, which aikido doesn't prepare someone for.

I believe to see that you have problems deciding on the fly which technique to use based on your opponents movements and position. This is probably a huge part of what you can learn from sparring instead of practicing isolated techniques (even with a resisting partner). It might even make many Aikido techniques a viable option once you can find the right time to apply them.

Every martial artist has a "toolbox". You have to keep your tools organized. When you get a new tool, you can't just put the new tools on top and bury the old tools unless don't want to use them anymore. If you want your art to be Aikido, forget about trying to do nikyo or kotegaeshi, use the tools called Tenkan, Ukemi, and Irimi. Also, keep the bobbing and weaving as a emergency backup. Stand up straight. Use your feet to position your body. Your spine is like an axle, and you can't Tenkan or Irimi with a bent axle.

I really think wrestling is what you need in your inventory. It'll help a ton especially with setups for locks and takedowns

Best video yet in respect of starting to play with it all and discover...the only bit I'm really not keen on is how you give up your own structure so easily, either trying to clinch or in the middle of 'grappling' - maybe that's the MMA and BJJ coming through, but give up your structure like that and you're asking to be owned...break their structure, their kuzishi, I am guessing that is aikido principles too, they're very important in my opinion.

I'm not an Akido practitioner but have an interest in watching pretty much any fighting are video. I think Akido criticism from outsiders has validity because as I understand it most schools don't spar much, if any. Plus they don't spar with outsiders. As I understand it Akido was not devised as a fighting or self defense art, but specially as a means to develop one's self. that being said I don't think it is a useless art, but if one plans to use it for self defense one must test & spar with it. This vid, to me at least, show potential for Akido application & is overall just interesting to watch. Thanks for sharing

Especially against an untrained person, I think you're best strategy is covering your head and vital areas and forcing your way in against his attack and jam him up. Most untrained fighters only have long-range weapons --albeit not really effective ones -- punches and kicks. Once inside the range of those the opponent tools are ineffective and your tools work best: elbows and knee strikes, locks, throws and takedowns, or an old-fashioned headbutt. Trying to dance with the opponent trading punches at his striking range just doesn't make sense when you can move in, unbalance him and control everything from there. If you were up against a trained person you'd find out right away: you'd never get close to the trained boxer and the BJJ or judo guy would try and take you to the ground. But trained people don't fight in the street so it probably wouldn't happen.

And at 2:55 we can see doggo begin to mercilessly slap himself to condition his face against strikes. I believe we can all learn something from his example.

Nice jab by aikido guy at 2:50 you can tell landing something effective felt good to him that’s when you know your in the right direction

Keep it up bro. Practice makes perfection

I spotted something and again I just had to wait til the end where you identified it yourself. Good job with your analysis. I was going to mention the korogashi leaving the back of your head open to his punches which would be a very vulnerable spot to be hit. BJJ can have the same issue going for certain leg attacks. I see people go for them in MMA and leave themselves open for punches with all limbs focused on one leg and none for defense.

You are awesome. You have a lot of courage to put yourself on camera trying this, success and failure!

Great video. The untrained fighter has unpredictable rhythm. When afraid or angry the untrained man will use unpredictable attacking movements like a wild animal that refuses to be caged. Great video. I can tell by your speech and attitude that you are on the path of self Mastery

3:00 I see your students are very disciplined in conditioning their chins to handle punches

This was great! As far as using bjj (which comes from judo anyway), the founder of judo was known for saying that good judo should look like aikido. The better the technical ability gets, the more aiki-like it will look, whether there is a resisting opponent or not. :) It's all uphill from here!

The two problems of Aikido that originally it was developed for fighting against opponent armed with a sword (Aikijitsu), and that it was just one part of the repertoire of a Japanese fighter. So Aikido is not ineffective just it` s been taken out from the context of the situation it was used in, and from the range of other skills a warrior had. That`s what most people don`t understand.

Doesn’t,t look like there is much enthusiasm to actually throw a punch

This was a good session. My advice for avoiding punches would be to get on the outside of your attacker. Then it’s much harder to hit you and it would be easier to get throws off

Are you sure you know Aikido?? You do understand Aikido is the defence not the attack. All you did was a poor attempt at Judo. And if you do believe that was Aikido, you dont have any talent for it.

hahahaha, loved the dog sitting in front of the camera... lol

I love what ur doing! I'm introducing boxing to my taekwondo classes. I hate the olympic style tkd bouncing competitions with irish dancing head defence!! I've done tkd for several years now and was absolutely shocked that the blocks are totally useless against boxing! Took me several months of boxing to learn some real defense. What ur doing is great and is hard to get it fair. Ur opponent couldn't do much to resist when u grabbed him because he had big gloves on. U mentioned it already but u can't just look for grabbing techniques when the other guy is punching u! U have to punch back til u get the opportunity to grab. Same if they're kicking.. I can keep a boxer at bay now with kicks. There's several ranges that u will use different techniques in. Keep up the great work.

I am a sankyu in Aikido, however, I am a Sandan in Karate, Ikkyu in Judo, Nikyu in Jujitsu and Kobudo. In additiom I have a few years of experience in muay thai and kick boxing and I am a novice in BJJ. Why am I telling you this? Aikido added very little to my arsenal of martial arts and to my fighting skills. The only thing that keeps me going in Aikido is the circular movements and the ability to maintain your balance and how to take various throws. You were going in a straight line most of the time, and whatever you implemented there looked more like Judo and wrestling to me. You were playing along your partner's style rather then using yours. I can strike, grapple and throw, I always use whatever my partner is not using to end it quickly.

Aikido won't work against trained fighters. And I say that as a long time, but currently, Ex Aikido student. Lets not be deluded about this Aikidoka of RU-vid. Aikido isn't for combat sports. It isn't used in MMA because it won't work. Not because it's too lethal. And that isn't bad. Why? Because Aikido is useful elsewhere! *shock horror* *the sound of MMA fans and practitioners fainting in the background* "How dare a Martial art not be the same as MMA and work in the cage, which means also in the street!" Well shit, guess what? Not everything has to be for MMA. And just because of that, it doesn't make something less legit- or automatically means "it doesn't work!".... Aikido is legit- Because it will work against; untrained, unsuspecting, drunk/high, attackers. And that makes it legit enough. Because it is applicable. Law enforcement use it, Security use it, so yes it's legit. Let's stop dick measuring, style vs style. We are all Martial artists. We all train the arts. Aikido is a tool, as much as learning how to box is. Mix it with other styles and you get so much more to add to the package. Currently I Box and Kickbox, but I am returning to Aikido soon, to add to my arsenal. Imagine Kickboxing mixed with Aikido. Man that idea has my mind racing. Martial ARTS. Get creative. Everything has its place. Stop being such dicks to eachother. Open your minds for fuck sake. The only enemies we should all have are against; No touch, McDojo's, Fake Black Belts, Fraud teachers and styles, Teachers who abuse their students physically, mentally and financially, Buy your black belt courses!!