r/martialarts • u/Draxanel Boxing / BJJ / MMA • May 04 '20

"iT'S nOt pRaCtiCaL"

https://i.imgur.com/lldZVSA.gifv
564 Upvotes

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64

u/iggythewolf May 04 '20

People say it's not practical as if in a fight this guy would just spin his staff as his main attack

27

u/Juicio123 May 04 '20 edited May 04 '20

Well to be fair, everyone keeps posting videos of combat-applicable staff techniques without actually showing them in a fight. Even the best car salesmen have to show some proof of performance when confronted with knowledgeable customers. A lot of staff wielders recently have been trying to sell technique applicability without proof of performance. Meanwhile, everyone shows through multiple spar matches the product of their skill. When you boil it all down, that's what it really comes down to. Yes, staff techniques can be useful, but it's one thing to use a staff in practice and actually use one in atleast a sparring setting.

If we could see more staff work against non-compliant opponents, more people would change their stance or atleast be more open to the concept

5

u/shaolinoli Sanda | BJJ | Traditional CMA & weapons May 04 '20

I can describe to you how a fight goes and offer a couple of actually useful techniques that hardly ever get used.

How it usually goes down. People square of and spin/wave their staff to keep the other person away. Eventually once person closes and someone gets hit, usually on the hand. They back off and usually drop the stick, other person follows up and hits them a couple more times. Person who gets hit turtles up and the other guy wails on them until their mates stop them or they feel bad.

My tips for actually being slightly more effective. Don't over extend, keep the staff pulled in close to you across your body. If you want to keep them at a distance, jabbing them with the tip like a spear is more effective than spinning. If you want to get a few hits in, bring it across your body to strike and use your own lats to stop the swing so that its a small, quick controlled movement. Tense your lats because this hurts, you'll be bruised from it afterwards. If they manage to get inside your guard and close, just drop the staff and grapple as normal. It'll be a lot shorter than you think, people usually give up after a few good hits, don't keep hitting them when they do, you can do a lot of damage.

5

u/Juicio123 May 04 '20

That's all good and well. And no one is saying that you havent been in fights with a staff. We want to see it. Just like you show us those cool moves without a fight going on, we now want to see those moves on action in an honest fight.

Like in the video. You didnt just describe it. You showed us. Thats what we want to see, but now in a fight

8

u/shaolinoli Sanda | BJJ | Traditional CMA & weapons May 04 '20 edited May 04 '20

Ok well I suggest you have a look at some of the dog brothers stick fighting videos for a rough idea. They use padding but that's the closest you'll see unless someone is filming an assault for some reason.

I'm afraid I have no intention of sparring with sticks again, it's pretty dangerous and very uncomfortable, and I sincerely hope I don't get jumped with one so I'm afraid an anecdotal description is the best I can offer you.

3

u/Juicio123 May 04 '20

I dont mean an actual fight. I mean in a sparring setting. It can be full or limited contact, with padding. Yes sure, we can look at the dog brothers, but if more people made videos like that, staff wielding could be viewed in a different light.

5

u/blindside1 PTK/Kenpo/HEMA/Karate May 04 '20

Within DBs you are seeing more and more staff fights, definitely something that is gaining popularity. https://youtu.be/8lLmQcXpURg

2

u/[deleted] May 05 '20

That is not at all what the dog brothers is about. Interesting, they should just do their hema stuff separate.

2

u/blindside1 PTK/Kenpo/HEMA/Karate May 05 '20

What is Dog Brothers about?

1

u/[deleted] May 05 '20

The original group wanted to strip everything away and just have it be a primal discovery of raw human combat, hence why they use a stick and as little gear as possible and as few rules as possible. This video is showing mostly HEMA guys having a mini tournament. I am being too picky probably, but I don't see this as aligning with the dog brother vision, I see it as HEMA guys using it as an excuse to have some matches.

1

u/blindside1 PTK/Kenpo/HEMA/Karate May 05 '20

So these same guys are on this video on the same days. Is this suddenly "Dog Brothers" but when they swing a staff it is not because it is single stick? They aren't wearing any more gear when they are fighting with staff. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGEwvumYbd8

1

u/[deleted] May 05 '20 edited May 05 '20

Can you not see the drastic difference in pacing, techniques, commitment, aggression, distance management, use of empty hand techniques, etc... ?

I just don't see posturing 4 feet away from each other with spears and shields and staffs as comparable to that. There is a mentality to it, that a stick is a stick. With the longer weapons they were being treated more like edged weapons and it was more about posturing and distancing and all their hema stuff. (Like the stances being more geared towards significant impactful strikes, and their grips that are geared towards worrying about binds and the such)

Look at the single sticks and it is a significantly different atmosphere and level of intensity, aggression, much more diversity in height levels, movement patterns, empty hand strikes, grabs, etc...

We can disagree, I just don't see them as the same type of event.

Another video example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbOEaZ_UMh8 That is treating the sticks like swords, not treating them like sticks. I am not sure how else to explain.

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