Bo staff drills for warm-up

[Bruno Cochofel]

I know some of the members have a martial arts background, I don't, but I believe these drills could be helpfull:

TuyMKA0Qe0s

Maybe it's a good warm-up with some dynamic motion, and also good for awareness and focus...

What do you think?

[Blairbob]

When using a weapon in combat, it is silly to release and flip and twirl and do silly stuff with it. It's a weapon, not a pom-pom or baton. And I think they should use a real wood staff, not some aluminum "toothpick" style bo that is rainbow colored. I used to use a "toothpick" wooden bo and quite honestly I do not like them anymore. Cylindrical bo have a bit more weight to them which is probably more useful to warmup (I generally buy a few cheap thick dowels when I first start coaching at a gym either so I can use them for various things [stretching, hooking rings, etc] or just to do bo staff when I'm bored before I go on shift).

As a drill, it's ok I guess for a warm-up. That doesn't even look 6'. (One of the rules of thumb for staffwork sometimes is a 6 foot staff known as rokushaku bo or using a staff roughly 1 shaku longer than your height [so tall guys would in effect use something 7 shaku/feet long]).

Bo staff drills I like for warmup would be:

Figure 8's. Hold a staff in the center and do figure 8's in the air with it. Decent for wrist, elbow, and shoulder.

Hold a staff in the center in front of you and twist outside of your body till your hand supinates and internally until palm faces outside of your body.

Wrist circles with staff. Way more difficult when holding just the end.

Hold a staff in both hands with straight arms on your hips. Do a tuck jump so that the staff ends up behind your hamstrings. Do another so that it is back in a resting position on your thighs.

I'm sure there are more, but it's been a long time since Okinawan Kobudo in HS and College.

[Cole Dano]

I was wondering about the rainbow thing.

I've been using Indian Clubs of various weights (1-10 lbs) for a couple of years now and really think they are an excellent warm up tool. One nice thing about them that relates to BlairBob's comment, they aren't meant to be anything other than what they are, a warm, mobility, coordination and sometimes strength tool.

[Bruno Cochofel]

When using a weapon in combat, it is silly to release and flip and twirl and do silly stuff with it. It's a weapon, not a pom-pom or baton. And I think they should use a real wood staff, not some aluminum "toothpick" style bo that is rainbow colored. I used to use a "toothpick" wooden bo and quite honestly I do not like them anymore. Cylindrical bo have a bit more weight to them which is probably more useful to warmup (I generally buy a few cheap thick dowels when I first start coaching at a gym either so I can use them for various things [stretching, hooking rings, etc] or just to do bo staff when I'm bored before I go on shift).

Well, I also notice the rainbow.. lol..

Anyway, I don't want to engage in combat I was only asking for the drills to WU and some more awareness and focus.. It's a way to change the drills we do in the WU.. Anyway, gonna try your drills, don't know if I got all but I'll try and then ask some questions ;-)

Thx

[Quick Start Test Smith]

BlairBob, seemingly useless and unnecessary movements (spins, jumps, twirls, etc) can often be quite useful in real combat. Perhaps not in today's "street fighting" urban environment, but in the past you used what worked, and that sometimes meant using "fancy" stuff.

[Blairbob]

Yes, but in general, it's not a good idea to juggle your tools when trying to use them.

Masking movements within distractionary movements is something else entirely. Passing a tool between hands is much different than a release and catch.

I played with one of those homemade metal clubs at a gym once and they were sort of interesting. Perhaps, I could use a metal baseball bat to do that sort of stuff (though they tend to be on the light side).

The pass around the neck sort of moves through that the self hugging drill of wrapping your arm around to the other side of your body and touching your neck/back. Except with a staff, you are passing it by twirling it around your neck.

I just tried the movement in the video and again, I much prefer the figure 8s with one or two hands, wrist circles, and twirling a staff and passing it between hands (similar to rifle drill twirling) as an upper body warm-up with a staff. Perhaps, I might check out the rest of those movements at another time but not as this time.

Tuck jumps with a Bo are just something else to do with a Bo. Sort of gimmicky and fun but require some flexibility so you don't catch your leg on the Bo and faceplant.