I made a few posts on FMATalk.com that I thought I'd repost here. There are some responses in the original threads that I have not brought here.
Long-Range Stickwork for Training Empty-Hand Self-Defense.:
A JKD instructor with whom I work out on occasion likes to use the stick to help improve empty-hand skills. I'm not talking about an "it's all the same" approach to learning stick/sword/knife/weaponless fighting through stick techniques, or even familiarity with the stick as a weapon that might be used against you on the street; I mean that he feels that even if all you ever wanted to learn was how to fight empty-handed, doing stickwork would help and should be part of your training. Of course, stickwork is still a relatively minor part of his empty-hand training.
His philosophy seems to be based principally on two ideas. First, proper stick technique helps you learn how to get your body into your strikes, which carries over into things like your straight punch. Doing figure 8 drills with your hip getting into the strike improves the uppercut punch, and so on. Second, using the stick helps you learn about changing ranges and changing conditions in a fight.
As an example of the latter, he does a drill where you both start with a stick in your hand (and padded glove on it), and a knife in your belt. You start by stick-sparring. On command, you both drop the sticks, draw the knife and knife-spar (thereby changing range and conditions). On command, you drop the knives and gloves and spar empty-hand (often semi-sparring, e.g. one person is the designated attacker and may only punch, while the defends by blocking then countering with a technique like clinch-and-HKE, release, resume). On command, each tries to take the other down and grappling begins. On command, both must stand up safely and then either the drill ends, or both must regain their knives and begin working backwards.
It's an interesting drill. One must constantly adapt to changing conditions. It definitely gets the heart rate up if both are taking seriously, and most of it is free-sparring so that is indeed the case.
Still, I wonder how much I gain in terms of empty-hand skills by stick-sparring at longer range. (It's his philosophy that one should stick-fight at long range whenever possible and use defang-the-snake, closing only if forced. Hence, in this drill we're mostly doing long-range wittiks/abaniqos/hiradas in the stick phase.) At middle-to-close range I get much empty-hand value from stick-fighting; it's greatly improved my ability to use both hands independently, to release a grip quickly and continue fighting, to trap the opponent's hands, to abort a strike and redirect it, to feel comfortable against a fast opponent, and other things. But at long range, while it helps my mobility (which is something I have always needed work on), I see less direct empty-hand value. While it's true that in this drill I must change ranges, how I do that in dropping a knife and drawing a blade as my opponent does the same is quite different from how I'd close (or manage) the range if we were both unarmed. The drill itself has definite value for me in terms of raising the intensity level and forcing me to deal with changing circumstances, but I don't know how essential the stick is to it.
Do others feel that long-range stick-sparring is valuable to their empty-hand self-defense?
Long-Range Stickwork for Training Empty-Hand Self-Defense.:
A JKD instructor with whom I work out on occasion likes to use the stick to help improve empty-hand skills. I'm not talking about an "it's all the same" approach to learning stick/sword/knife/weaponless fighting through stick techniques, or even familiarity with the stick as a weapon that might be used against you on the street; I mean that he feels that even if all you ever wanted to learn was how to fight empty-handed, doing stickwork would help and should be part of your training. Of course, stickwork is still a relatively minor part of his empty-hand training.
His philosophy seems to be based principally on two ideas. First, proper stick technique helps you learn how to get your body into your strikes, which carries over into things like your straight punch. Doing figure 8 drills with your hip getting into the strike improves the uppercut punch, and so on. Second, using the stick helps you learn about changing ranges and changing conditions in a fight.
As an example of the latter, he does a drill where you both start with a stick in your hand (and padded glove on it), and a knife in your belt. You start by stick-sparring. On command, you both drop the sticks, draw the knife and knife-spar (thereby changing range and conditions). On command, you drop the knives and gloves and spar empty-hand (often semi-sparring, e.g. one person is the designated attacker and may only punch, while the defends by blocking then countering with a technique like clinch-and-HKE, release, resume). On command, each tries to take the other down and grappling begins. On command, both must stand up safely and then either the drill ends, or both must regain their knives and begin working backwards.
It's an interesting drill. One must constantly adapt to changing conditions. It definitely gets the heart rate up if both are taking seriously, and most of it is free-sparring so that is indeed the case.
Still, I wonder how much I gain in terms of empty-hand skills by stick-sparring at longer range. (It's his philosophy that one should stick-fight at long range whenever possible and use defang-the-snake, closing only if forced. Hence, in this drill we're mostly doing long-range wittiks/abaniqos/hiradas in the stick phase.) At middle-to-close range I get much empty-hand value from stick-fighting; it's greatly improved my ability to use both hands independently, to release a grip quickly and continue fighting, to trap the opponent's hands, to abort a strike and redirect it, to feel comfortable against a fast opponent, and other things. But at long range, while it helps my mobility (which is something I have always needed work on), I see less direct empty-hand value. While it's true that in this drill I must change ranges, how I do that in dropping a knife and drawing a blade as my opponent does the same is quite different from how I'd close (or manage) the range if we were both unarmed. The drill itself has definite value for me in terms of raising the intensity level and forcing me to deal with changing circumstances, but I don't know how essential the stick is to it.
Do others feel that long-range stick-sparring is valuable to their empty-hand self-defense?