#013 with Topias Maki - The Frying Pan Field, Knockouts in Sörnäinen, & The Regularly Irregular Life of a Goalie

Miko captures the raw magic directly after a gruelling training session to sit down with a powerhouse of the mat, elite former ice hockey goalie, and close personal friend: Topias Mäki. Topias proudly represents the Finnish crew inside the academy and opens up about his journey through the high-stakes, pressure-cooker world of elite Scandinavian sports. In this fast-paced, multi-disciplinary conversation, they map out the deep physical psychology of professional goalkeeping, surviving old-school locker room managers, the brutal reality of freak sports injuries, and why true technical mastery requires treating your thoughts like a game of high-level chess. What's Inside the Episode:The King of the Castle Showdown: Topias details a legendary, real-life historical event—a fully sanctioned, referee-regulated boxing match at Combat Academy of Finland between his 24-year-old Thai boxing brother and their 40-year-old former hockey dad, ending in a jaw-dropping, third-round knockout that reshaped family hierarchy forever. The Frying Pan Field & Broken Ankles: A look into the gruelling structural tax of elite training across the Atlantic—from skating at age three to navigating the smaller, hyper-fast ice rinks of Boston and surviving a freak 90-degree ankle injury during a casual game of backyard disc golf that permanently closed the door on his professional hockey aspirations. Locker Room Reality & Big Mike’s Metrics: Topias shares a hilarious look inside the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL), recounting a brutal locker room roasting by general manager "Big Mike" that left the entire team holding their breath and gifted Topias his permanent moniker, "Mr Finland". Re-engineering the Caveman Necktie: Miko shares an incredible behind-the-scenes technical insight from his instructional series, Chokes and More, revealing how a casual observation by Topias during a training session completely re-engineered a core turtle-attack blueprint using strategic foot-on-the-hip framing. The 30% Mental Muscle Miracle: Exploring fascinating sports science studies that prove how deep, focused mental visualisation and mapping out physical repetitions inside your mind can trigger up to 30% of the actual muscle hypertrophy and structural retention of live weight training.Memorable Quote: "As an offensive hockey player, you can make a sloppy pass or a bad decision and hide behind the team. But as a goalie, you are completely isolated—you are either the ultimate hero or the absolute asshole. I learned early on to love that psychological pressure, and it is the exact same metric that hooks you into the reality of jiu-jitsu." — Topias MäkiEnjoy the episode and remember to subscribe to the podcast.Watch this episode's video on YouTube: ⁠Episode 13 on YouTubeRemember: Jiu-Jitsu Never Dies.Manto 🥋www.man.to/chokesCode: Chokes -15%Find me on:Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/chokes_and_more/⁠⁠⁠TikTok: ⁠h⁠⁠ttps://www.tiktok.com/@chokes_and_more⁠⁠⁠BJJ Fanatics: ⁠⁠⁠https://bjjfanatics.com/collections/instructional-videos/fighter_miko-hytonen⁠⁠⁠YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠https://youtube.com/@chokesandmore⁠⁠