Weapons Training

OK, Firstly if this is in the wrong place feel free to shift it

Now, I know I am gonnna get lynched by the D.I.Y. hating lobby( ), but I have a question about learning weapons training.

My kickboxing instructor/coach has a solid background in weapons training (Nunchaku & Escrima stick). Apologies if there's another word for "Escrima Stick" - Please lemme know .He said he's willing to teach me a bit with one of them and I quite like the sticks. These were the two I had my eye on...

^-- The 26" not 6'


I'm not asking which is the best, just showing you what "stick" I mean. Does anyone have any website links/tips on basic techniques with these, so I can combine them with what I'm shown?

I'm not looking to be a grandmaster, just proficient enough to look decent - and have something fun to do when I'm not kickboxing training. Please no "JOIN A SCHOOL!!!"

Thanks all!

Edit: Just realise what a goof I look now I made myself look soo beginner like (which I am in this field ) but you can all have a good ol' chuckle eh?

 

I think all you are going to get is what you dont want: Join a School!

 

It just seems pointless for what I want to do. I don't want to spar - just do forms and neat little cool things

I can work out how to use a stick in the street, so I don't really need this either.

Thanks anyway

I'm not joining a school though :bang: :bang: :bang:

 

LOL! Man what an INSULT to those arts that train in the use of this weapon!

You think so huh? So I've wasted the last couple of decades training in the Filipino Martial Arts eh?

I don't need to learn kickboxing either - I can work out how to kick and punch in the street.

To just "look cool" with your toy stick I suggest you pop down to your local Cheerleading class and learn some baton twirling.

 

Hey Yoda, don't insult all the hard work those cheerleaders put in !!

 

Jesus - I seem to remember you telling someone to chill in another thread!!!

What I'm saying is that I don't want to go to a stick class for self defence (see the point which insuted you so much) If you spent the last couple of decades learning how to injure people with a stick then es you wasted your time. If you wanted to learn how to use them (forms etc) then you didn't.

As regards your kickboxing point, Fine by me. I don't learn it to hurt people but rather to have fun participating in my sport.

 

I don't see how I wasted my time doing decades of learning how to injure people with sticks (weapons) for self defense. My defense is a good offense plus how in the world do you expect to learn how to defend against weapons if you don't know how weapons are used offensively?

What's wrong with going to a cheerleder?, Looking good is all you seem to want , As far as I know they can Baton twirl quite well and teach you coordinated skills to help you "look" Good.

Weapons fighting is the specialty of this thread. To say that you can easily learn how to deal with it in the streets without religious training while others train and live it can be taken as an insult. We strive to be the masters and marksmen of our trade and that takes continous training.

 

I sense a sarcasm-perception bypass.

 

Dude, you're mistaken. Seriously mistaken. Weapons are better for fighting than empty hands. If someone has premeditated intent to harm you, then they're very likely to usea weapon. What good are kickboxing techniques against knives and sticks and iron pipes and such.
If you want to learn to fight and look cool, get someone who has done it to show you some of the art. If you only want too look cool, watch movies and copy what you see. And be sure to yell loudly!

 

Dude: if all you're concerned about with a stick is looking cool, just grab a stick in your right hand, swing it in the caveman angles, pass it behind your right shoulder, grab it with your left hand & let go with the right, pull the stick across, and swing the caveman angles with your left hand. It might help to make funny faces while you do it.

 

And who says they're not? Weapons are far better than empty strikes, but I'm more focussed on Kickboxing. I don't do it to get out on the streets and impress - it's fun so I'll do it.

Kickboxing techniques are no good until you can get in range. Fair point, so why not take a gun out? They have a far greater range than an escrima stick! Do you carry a stick around with you?

Read the original message :bang: I'm getting someone to show me. As it's only secondary training I just want to do something fun. If it looks cool, all the better! I might aswell choose something good and flashy as something else which isn't. It's not my main aim to look cool, just have something extra to do.

All I'm concerned about is looking cool? Read the top of this reply. As I say if you're only doing it for fun then why not have it look cool?

 

Not everyone can carry a gun with them legally especially with the new Laws concerning Homeland security and the fight against terrorism. But also don't think that we are not trained to fight against guns, there is a reactionary gap and distance that if a gun is not deployed and cocked and ready to shoot , we can still jam and remove the weapon from you. Those who understand weapons are constantly in the look out for where you hands and legs move. This ability of utra sensitivity or development of a sixth sense is also trained others also call it...paranoia think of being shanked in jail or in my case been in living in streets of Manila or in barrios all over the world and you'll see what I mean as I'm sure is not limited to the Philippines.
Weapons are made to be felt and not seen. Those who train with them love to carry more than one but what is a weapon? Everything is a weapon!. We'll strike faster than a ****ed off cobra if you make any sudden moves to reach for something and we are in range even if it is to reach for the bible! We're paranoid remember?!That being said , we don't claim to be impervious to bullets but we cetainly train with guns too (gun retention, gun disarming and quick deployment- A gun is a weapon and we Loooove weapons!) we understand the advantage of projectile weapons theory.
The Filipino Fighting arts uses sticks as training tools that can represent anything and everything. Weapons training teaches you to grab whatever there is and look at the attributes , If you had a pen then it has a point to which you can use to thrust, a broken shard of glass has an edged so you can use it to lacerate not to mention that weapons training easily translates to emptyhands application. In your kickboxing lingo, Think of weapons training as a higher level of resistance training for your hands and feet, drop the weapons and you can go faster and have the use of digits to complement your fighting ability. If you can control , disarm, lock, break aside from the one dimensional use of striking with the weapon, think how much more you have developed coordinated use of your limbs once there is no weapon by this you now have switched to Physical weapons theory.
There is much more to weapons training then meets the eye, that is one thing you will miss if you learn it from those who train for baton twirling only. Your comments alone are indicative of this lack of knowledge of our fighting arts. But that's the whole pupose of these forums.

As for looking good, nothing wrong with looking deadly. Sometimes you can "psyche" your opponent out with a display of great skill of power, balance and mobility with weapons. Just hope he does not call your bluff and attack you while you are dancing with your toys

 

I think that you all have lost the plot a bit, read Norms first post again, perhaps if the word cool was replaced by another word the original question would not of caused this hysteria. I am in the same position as Norm, I have my black belt in Kickboxing, have trained in other styles as well, self taught with the nunchaku with the help of videos and now I want to learn the stick, arnis, kali, escrima not to look cool but to have something else to practice as well as Kickboxing techniques, Karate katas, bo staff & nunchaku to learn another aspect of the arts, not to be a master.

 

My main gripe was with Norm's 2nd post where he said...

 

Using a stick in the street

Interesting debate. If I could play devil's advocate for a moment: There are only so many ways to move a stick around, and you can do a lot of damage with an impact weapon even if you've received no training whatsoever. Scores of criminals and your average everyday person in a rage have done all sorts of damage just by picking up pipe, club, fire iron, golf club, statue, etc. and just getting to work - it's a natural human reaction to want pick up a "stick" and club someone with it given the right circumstances. I can remember an incident back in college when a drunk football player who had been out carousing all night decided to tackle me outside without warning as I was walking to class that morning. My reaction was to get to a superior grappling position and pick up a rock and beat his brains out with it - luckily I was pulled off before that happened. My point is that half-asleep, hurt, and scared, and disoriented (I had no idea what had just happened) I responded in less than a second by reaching for the hardest thing I could find with which to hit my attacker - it's a natural reaction.

To extend the argument: police officers who utilize batons receive minimal training compared to a Filipino martial artist with just an intermediate ability, and yet these officers are quite capable of using their baton to get a suspect to compy with their orders. I think that this is a matter of "will" vs. "skill."

At issue here is whether training in the Filipino martial arts will make you better with a stick: I think that the answer is "yes" hands down. Issues of range, timing, angling, footwork, speed, and power are addressed in a far more efficient manner by a good teacher and good training partners. You will get much better at swinging a stick in a shorter period of time if you invest the time and effort with a good teacher in a proven Filipino martial art. My caveat is that any level of training will only give you a slim edge in a very brief window of time should the SHTF- and that there are go guarantees. One of my teachers is fond of saying that "anyone can kick my ____ at anytime, anywhere" (given the right set of circumstances) and that accidents are a vastly overrated reason for why martial artists fail to win fights with untrained opponents (let's leave the "fighting" vs. "surviving" issue aside for the moment). So why train? For that edge in that window. For the self-recognition that one's skill level is improving. For the beauty of the art. For the comraderie of other martial artists, etc.

Anyhow, my advice is to find a reputable school. If you still don't want to go to a school, video instruction would be a good introduction to some of the technical issues addressed in a class. A good start might be the Dogbrothers "Power" and "Footwork" tapes from their first series. Just keep in mind that video tapes can't correct mistakes or give you any feedback with respect to what you're doing correctly or incorrectly.

Best,

Steve Lamade
Instructor, San Miguel Eskrima, Estacada Weapons

 

Precisely. I have not the will nor interest to become amazing and technical with these. I've edited the post now ...

So that should calm people down.

YODA, don't take it too seriously. You know what I meant. Basically I'm saying that I don't want to learn 5000 ways of debilitating an opponent with a stick. I'm not learning it to use it on people in the streets - just to have something else to learn. I could be pedantic and say that I want Kamas for chopping grain or something silly (No silly examples, please you know what I meant ). Different people want to learn different things for different reasons - FACT. I can't be tod what I want to use them for.

To the person who said that you can't legally walk round the streets with guns, can you walk round with escrima sticks or nunchaku? I would love to walk past a policeman with a staff or Kamas

 

If you meant something different to what you said - maybe you should have said something different.

Just a thought

 

In Seattle, yes, you can walk around with eskrima sticks. I only doing when I'm going to or from class, but I do it all the same, carry them on the bus, and have no problems.

Incidentally, it's fine if you want to learn to use a stick. One thing: you said something about learning "forms" with a stick. There are a variety of schools, styles, and systems of FMA, and I can only comment on the one I train it, but anyway, in that one (Inosanto/ Lacoste Kali) there are no "forms" as such. FMA training is designed to be practical, and as such nearly everything we do is a partner drill. The only solo stickwork we do is carenza, which is essentially shadowboxing with the stick. There's nothing resembling katas. I have nothing against katas, they were actually my favorite part of doing Shotokan Karate, my point is just that we don't have them in Kali.

 

Really? Fair enough then

I'm not very traditional/true MA spirited - All I've trained is kickboxing and judo. Judo - fine, but lets just say Kickboxing isn't too traditional and regimented . However, what I mean by forms is sets of sequences with something eg: sticks. Like, for example if I did a few things with a stick without a partner (Just on my own) I personally would call it a form (LOL - non traditionalist idiot I hear you say ), so you probably do do what I call forms

Sounds sorta like what I meant.

At least this topic is getting back on track now

Thanks for the info mate