“The Martial Brain” is Jeff Westfall’s podcast series on the intersection between the martial arts, science, critical thinking, scientific skepticism, and that wacky organ that floats between our ears. Each episode is a small nugget of thoughts on how these things relate to a particular element in the life of a martial artist.
PARENTAL WARNING: Jeff uses occasional explicit language! This podcast may not be appropriate for young listeners!
Episodes are available on iTunes, Stitcher, and other aggregators!
101 The Strange Tale of Howard Bone Part 1 102 The Strange Tale of Howard Bone Part 2 103 The Low Hanging Fruit 104 Fortune’s Fool 105 Battling Bartitsu Babes 106 The Tao of the Tao of Jeet Kune Do
Episode 107 was a re-release of Episode 37
108 The Punching Order 109 A Study in Studies 110 YOU Are Not the Punisher! 111 You Say Placebo, and I Say Nocebo 112 Oh, How We Danced!
Episode 113 was a re-release of Episode 21
114 Nerd Up! 115 The Beast With Two Backs 116 The Red-Headed Stepchild of Striking 117 Easter Eggs and Rabbit Holes 118 Looking For Sensei Right 119 There’s a Box There For a Reason 120 First Allegiance 121 Death By Ideology 122 Believing is Seeing Part 1 123 Believing is Seeing Part 2 124 Believing is Seeing Part 3 125 Believing is Seeing Part 4 126 Believing is Seeing Part 5 127 Technophobia and the Martial Arts 128 The Art of Not Getting Hit Part 1 129 The Art of Not Getting Hit Part 2 130 The Art of Not Getting Hit Part 3 131 Athena Vs. Ares 132 Come to the Dark Side Part 1 133 Come to the Dark Side Part 2 134 Come to the Dark Side Part 3 135 Come to the Dark Side Part 4 136 Profile of a Victim 137 This is Sparta? Part 1 138 This is Sparta Part 2 139 This is Sparta Part 3 140 This is Sparta Part 4 141 The Tactical Wheel Part 1 142 The Tactical Wheel Part 2 143 Chuck Norris Doesn’t DO Podcasts! 144 Weird Tales of the Rising Phoenix Martial Arts Academy Part 4 145 Brain Myths 146 Stupid Chi Tricks Revealed Part 3 147 Why Does My Sifu DO That? 148 The Power of Continuing Education Part 1 149 The Power of Continuing Education Part 2 150 The PhotoShop Effect
“The Martial Brain” is Jeff Westfall’s podcast series on the intersection between the martial arts, science, critical thinking, scientific skepticism, and that wacky organ that floats between our ears. Each episode is a small nugget of thoughts on how these things relate to a particular element in the life of a martial artist.
PARENTAL WARNING: Jeff uses occasional explicit language! This podcast may not be appropriate for young listeners!
Episodes are available on iTunes, Stitcher, and other aggregators!
51 Building Your Grappling Game 52 The Evolution of the Martial Human 53 If You Know What’s Good For You! 54 The Price of Cruelty 55 Trust Your Instincts? 56 Honor in the Martial Arts 57 I Don’t Think You Understand the Gravity of the Situation! Part 1 58 The Mathematics of Not Falling Down 59 The Misanthropic Principle 60 The Arrow of Time 61 The Sweet Taste of Emotional Candy 62 I Don’t Think You Understand the Gravity of the Situation! Part 2 63 We Have Met the Enemy, and He is Us! 64 Stupid Chi Tricks Revealed Part 1 65 Respect My Authority! 66 For Worse or Better 67 Martial Nerds Vs. Martial Jocks 68 Taking Down the Dragon 69 Them is Fightin’ Words! 70 Any Port in a Storm 71 We Don’t Fight Like That Around Here! 72 Taking a Stance on Martial Arts Stances 73 Oh No! Not the CRUEL Sensei! 74 Weird Tales of the Rising Phoenix Martial Arts Academy Part 3 75 There Ain’t No Such Thing as a Free Sample! 76 Howdy, Pardner! 77 My Sensei is Better Than YOUR Sensei! 78 One or Two Degrees of Dan Inosanto Part 1 79 One or Two Degrees of Dan Inosanto Part 2 80 One or Two Degrees of Dan Inosanto Part 3 81 One or Two Degrees of Dan Inosanto Part 4 82 Child’s Play 83 The Big Student Bias 84 Stupid Chi Tricks Revealed Part 2 85 The Power of Doubt Part 1 86 The Power of Doubt Part 2 87 The Power of Doubt Part 3 88 Courage is Easy, Discipline is Hard! 89 Go With the Flow 90 What is the Secret to Good Comedy? 91 Made Ya Look! 92 Whoa, Mule! 93 Age is Relative…And BOY Do I Have Some Old Relatives! 94 A Potpourri of Fallacies 95 Martial Arts Literacy 96 Everything Good Came From US! 97 She Blinded Me With Scienciness! 98 Lesson Planning and Helmuth Von Moltke 99 Dueling Concepts 100 The 100th Episode Extravaganza!
“The Martial Brain” is Jeff Westfall’s podcast series on the intersection between the martial arts, science, critical thinking, scientific skepticism, and that wacky organ that floats between our ears. Each episode is a small nugget of thoughts on how these things relate to a particular element in the life of a martial artist.
PARENTAL WARNING: Jeff uses occasional explicit language! This podcast may not be appropriate for young listeners!
Episodes are available on iTunes, Stitcher, and other aggregators!
1 How Long Will it Take?2 Martial Sports Vs. Martial Combat Arts 3 What is a Traditional Martial Art? 4 Are Martial Arts Seminars Worthwhile? 5 The Crane Kick Phenomenon 6 Does Practice Make Perfect? 7 What is a Master? 8 How Do You Know? 9 Is Grappling Training Necessary? 10 What is a Martial Arts Style? 11 Technique vs. Principle 12 Essence and the Martial Arts 13 Martial Arts and the Monkey Brain 14 The Myth of the Power of the Mind 15 The Last Samurai 16 The Elephant in the Room17 What if Tokyo Never Rose? 18 What Belt Are You? 19 Realism in Sparring and the Scientific Method 20 Dude…That is Sick! 21 It’s a Natural Fact! 22 When is a Martial Arts Technique Practical? 23 Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock
24 Defeating the Straw Man 25 Nobody’s Perfect…and That’s Unforgivable! 26 The Student Shall Be the Teacher! 27 The Golden Age Fallacy 28 Logic is Like a Sword! 29 Stand Up Straight and Breathe, Grasshopper! 30 How Dare You Question My Omniscience! 31 Zen and the Art of Revisionist History 32 The Way of the Intercepting Myth Part 1 33 The Way of the Intercepting Myth Part 2 34 Drop and Give Me Fifty! 35 That’s Funny…It Worked on YouTube! 36 I’d Give My Right Arm to be Ambidextrous! 37 This Technique Always Works… 38 The Tao of the Perfect Collision39 A More Precise Take on Precision Striking 40 The Five Levels of Commitment 41 The Dark Side of Genius 42 Martial Arts or Martial Science 43 The Dunning-Kruger Effect 44 Can Rocky Beat Rambo? 45 Weird Tales of the Rising Phoenix Martial Arts Academy Part 1 46 But Mommy, I WANT There to Be a Santa Claus! 47 Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc 48 Hacking Away the Unessential is Essential 49 Play is the Thing! 50 Weird Tales of the Rising Phoenix Martial Arts Academy Part 2
“The Martial Brain” is Jeff Westfall’s podcast series on the intersection between the martial arts, science, critical thinking, scientific skepticism, and that wacky organ that floats between our ears. Each episode is a small nugget of thoughts on how these things relate to a particular element in the life of a martial artist.
PARENTAL WARNING: Jeff uses occasional explicit language! This podcast may not be appropriate for young listeners!
Episodes are available on iTunes, Stitcher, and other aggregators!
235 The Forgotten War Part 24
234 The Forgotten War Part 23
233 The Forgotten War Part 22
232 The Forgotten War Part 21231 The Forgotten War Part 20230 The Forgotten War Part 19229 The Forgotten War Part 18228 The Forgotten War Part 17227 The Forgotten War Part 16226 The Forgotten War Part 15225 The Forgotten War Part 14224 The Forgotten War Part 13223 The Forgotten War Part 12222 The Forgotten War Part 11221 The Forgotten War Part 10220 The Forgotten War Part 9219 The Forgotten War Part 8218 The Forgotten War Part 7217 The Forgotten War Part 6216 The Forgotten War Part 5215 The Forgotten War Part 4214 The Forgotten War Part 3213 The Forgotten War Part 2212 The Forgotten War Part 1211 Syncope, Hypnagogia, Barnyard Animal Behavior, and Sex Demons Part 2210 Syncope, Hypnagogia, Barnyard Animal Behavior, and Sex Demons Part 1209 Inter-species Combat Part 2208 Inter-species Combat Part 1207 Tis the Season…to Rage Against the Dying of the Light206 You Can’t Force Balance205 In the Darkness a Shining Blade I Hold!204 Heroes of the Rising Phoenix Martial Arts Academy 1.2203 Heroes of the Rising Phoenix Martial Arts Academy 1.1202 The Intersection of Survival and Self-Expression201 Toxic Sparring Culture
Jeff discusses the extremes of human behavior in this mini-series. In this episode his topic is the phenomenon of taking the workout ethic to toxic levels.
This is the second of three successive archival re-postings, in this case from episode #52. In it Jeff discusses the relationship between our development as a species and as martial artists.
This is a re-posting of archival episode #34. In it, Jeff discusses the bizarre power dynamic between the commercial martial arts studio owner and his customer, the student.
