Hard core stick training

[John J]

I like the contact but at my age [41] I cant handle anymore broken fingers.Getting hit in the face with a wiffle ball bat hurts but aint to bad.

Hey Barry,

Yeah...I can attest to that. I'm rounding 40 and everything in my body already seems to be cracking. It's great to see your enthusiasm and warrior spirit lives on. I enjoy the adrenalin and contact very much. And as an instructor, it is essential to take part in the sparring and rigorous training that we put our students through. It keeps me on my feet!

BTW... I remember back in the day you were in Staten Island. Did you close the school to teach in Manhattan?

Yours in the Arts,
John J
www.swacom.com

 

[Andrew Evans]

I’m not talking about the “flexible” commercial products like Actionflex but padded sticks made in the Philippines which have a rattan core. They can put a welt on you worse than the tournament sticks used in WEKAF.

I also like the padded sticks made in the Philippines with a rattan core. BTW, I recently found an affordable supplier at http://www.dragonswaytrading.com/products.asp?cat=4 (let me know if you find a better price).

Thanks!

 

[Cthulhu]

I recently got a Smak Stick (www.smak-stiks.com) and have been very pleased with it so far. The stick handles very well, is suitably padded, yet you know when you've been hit by it. For many people, protective gear is probably still a good idea.

I don't know what the inner core is, but it's thin, flexible, and durable. The tip of the stick is padded well, making thrusts effective, and relatively safe (of course watching out for the eyes...goggles = good idea). I paid for the padded punyo, but it won't really lessen the impact of a punyo strike, as the padding is fairly minimal. It is good protection against accidental/incendtal shots and scrapes.

The smak-stick web site has a durabilty video clip of a guy whacking a tree and wooden bench. I did the same, but also gave a concrete-filled steel pole several hard shots. The only 'damage' was the yellow paint rubbing off onto my Smak Stik. Not one popped thread on the stitching or sign of any wear on the covering. Hopefully, we'll get enough people in our club interested for a big order.

Cthulhu

 

[kroh]

Hey there...I am really enjoying this discussion.

We use some of the padded sticks at the school where I train (The above pic was taken after a shot to my hand forced me to relinquish my knife). We have tried them all from Action Flex (which I thought were really good) to sof-stx ( which are good on first blush but the covering has a tendancy to rip after a couple of severe matches.) All in all the padded weaponry have done really well with us and some of the seniors have put on a really good show ( there was the time my fiance' batted some poor schmoe in the dome...he had to sit down for a minute to recover himself in order to see straight again). Some of this training gear is very good allowing us to ellevate the training to a harder level without haveing those costly medical bills. I have tried some matches a la dog bros and although I had a blast (HUGE hockey gloves and hockey helmets and ear pluggs...for god sake the pluggs!) my training partners were not anxious to repeat the experience

Wearing no armor (except for eyeware and some light gloves) and allowing the students to smack it "out of the park" if they want to with the training weapons will leave welts and bruises that will last a day or two. They are very forgiving for the newer students and allow the seniors to go a bit more intense.

In some of the Japanese martial arts I use to do we would sometimes use real shinai sticks ( a sereis of bamboo or rattan reeds tied together and covered with a leather bag...) and that was not as forgiving as the foam jobs. When those things smacked into you at full speed one had a tendancy yelp like a school girl ( This was in no way meant to offend any schoolgirls out there who can really fight... :idunno: )

I have not tried the whiffle ball bat but they seem kind of large...more sword length thant the standard 28-30 inch length that we are used to.

Thanks
regards,
Walt