Sunday 2 January 2011

Weapons as training aids

This short video clip shows TO and MH using weapons to see how classical techniques feel when 'extended'. I found this particularly useful in training as it made us work harder at the technique but also gave back some insight into the inner workings of body mechanics and tai sabaki. Foot work became essential as feedback from touch on our arms was taken away. Despite this we could 'feel' with our bodies in 'cutting' into the technique.

5 comments:

SenseiMattKlein said...

This is good. I see some parallels between it and Kali, in terms of the joint manipulations. Weapons build strength and hand speed brilliantly.

Littlefair said...

Hi Matt,

Yes, I think you're right that Kali helps develop speed skills as well as preparing for 'empty hand' techniques.

This routine we did also helped us explode the technique open and look at it in another light.


Nice one-thanks for stopping by.

Sue C said...

Hi Chris, the more I learn about kobudo the more I realise that it is helping my karate improve. I have partiularly found this to be true with the sword. Training with the sword is helping me to produce much more fluid, flowing movements - something that is often missing in the student karateka. I've also learnt a lot more about the application of locks from training with tonfa and nunchucks. There is a lot to be said for cross training.

Ikigai said...

Nice video! I'm a big proponent of using kobudo to enhance overall capability.

I think the extension concept you showed here is a valuable one.

Littlefair said...

Thanks for the comments guys. It certainly was an eye-opener to me: just how different a technique can feel with this 'extension'.