I recently posted a video of me practicing a double stick coordination drill called Umbrella-6. Some of the comments I got on this post were missing the point entirely. One person said, “Yeah, I always have some sticks on me when I’m jumped.” Another said, “Just get a gun.” Etc.
Of course I don’t carry sticks with me wherever I go. And of course, a gun is a far superior weapon to a stick in terms of range and lethality. So this begs the question, “Why practice stick fighting?” I’ll give you 3 answers:
The coordination drills are not just about the sticks but about your hands. Internalizing the patterns and moving you hands correctly allows you to use these patterns with any object. That could include a flashlight, a frying pan, a tire thumper, etc. It also translates to unarmed hitting too.
We practice stick fighting realizing that the likelihood of actually fighting someone else with a stick is probably never going to happen. But…Stick fighting speed is typically 3 to 4 x faster than unarmed fighting speed. So we practice stick fighting as a means of reducing our reactionary gap. That is, the by-product of stick training is that we act and react faster.
Learning how to take any bludgeoning object and use it as a means of self-defense with effective and efficient ability to swing and block is a crucial aspect of training. In reality it is just another “tool” in our box that we can use at the appropriate time to protect ourselves if need be. Besides…it’s fun too!
TIP: all weapons are tools - to be learned and utilized in the correct manner when things go south. Learn your tools. Know when which tool is the right one for the job at hand. Need help learning? Then consider us your school of self-defense tools! Come and try us on for size at no cost to you!
Get 2-FREE lessons. Learn more by clicking the button.
