Train the Stick to Learn the Blade?

[Phil Elmore]

Train the Stick to Learn the Blade?http://www.themartialist.com/1103/sticktoblade.htm

 

[MJS]

Cool article!! Thanks Phil!

Mike

 

[lhommedieu]

Good article. One factor to consider:

Training with a stick as if you are cutting with a sword involves using a correct set of body mechanics. One critical factor in this regard is the alignment of the wrist. If you look at your right hand in a natural position you will see that the angle of the thumb to the radius bone is approximately 45 degrees. “Cocking the wrist” so that this angle increases creates the optimum angle for cutting with the belly of a bladed weapon as it is pulled through the target. "Breaking the wrist” so that the thumb is parallel to the radius, will decrease the angle of the thumb to the radius. "Breaking the wrist" will make it more likely that the stick will strike with a bludgeoning or hacking motion.

 

[Phil Elmore]

That's true, and one of the things you must be conscious of in training is when you do and do not wish to "break the wrist." (For example, you don't want to "break the wrist" when performing an "angle one" block against an "angle one" strike, but you might put more "English" on your strike if you're cutting the weapon arm instead of interecepting the weapon.) It's one of those things that becomes instinctive over time.

When you work with enough different weapons for long enough, you begin to see the commonalities among them; you identify the principles they share even as you catalog the differences in their specific characters.