This Staff weapon training online course will teach you how to use two staffs; the Jo staff and Bo staff. They are similar in design but are used quite differently.
Jo Staff – As a complete system for real life combat, Tao Te Kung Fu includes many weapons and the Jo Staff is one of the most obviously relevant to most people’s lives because a stick is a weapon often available, a longer walking stick or broom pole works perfectly well with these techniques.
While the Jo Staff has a particular heritage of techniques, it has developed, in some circles as a performance art or circus act, brilliant for what it is but no longer a martial art. Please note the techniques taught here are for real life scenarios and not for display purposes, no matter how visually pleasing. This difference will be evident to those with previous Jo Staff training as performance techniques often involve spinning and throwing, even juggling that, while being highly skilled, may not bring a real fight to a speedy resolution.
- The staff blocks, most often needed in real conflicts, used to create deflecting force
- The full set of strikes used in staff fighting and how to maximise their power
- The optimum redirecting blocks used tactically to open up your opponent for your counter strike
- Tactical application of ambidextrous techniques to utilise optimal timing and targeting
- Use of the staff thrust for anatomically precise targeting and winning strategy
- The overall strategy for finishing any real fight in the shortest possible time for your safety
Bo Staff – The Bo staff is the weapon with the greatest reach advantage over any other weapon in the system. If used properly and with correct positioning, you can keep opponents at bay while delivering powerful attacks from a safe distance. The Bo staff is also held in a central grip in order to attack with both ends and overwhelm your opponent at a shorter distance. The two ways of staff fighting are comprehensively covered in this program.
The Bo staff has been used since the beginning of recorded history, often with a metal stud at the end. When used in real combat they tend to be on the heavier side. Many modern Bo staffs are very light with tapered ends. They are often used more for demonstration and performance. The lighter weight and size of the staff means it is easier to spin and throw. The Bo staff techniques taught in Tao Te Kung Fu are for fighting rather than performance and are done with a larger and heavier staff. Some techniques can also be practiced with a spear to a certain degree due to the similarity in the weapons.
- How to use the Bo Staff to shield your entire body
- Circular strikes from the long grip
- How to use circular strikes as redirecting blocks
- Powerful thrusts to different heights and targets
- Close grip blocking and striking techniques for close range
- Use of stepping to close range and engage close grip strategy
In this staff weapon training program you will learn the Tao Te Kung Fu Jo staff form and Bo staff form (a form is a choreographed set of moves that enable you to learn the most useful techniques within the context of other techniques).
You will need:
Some space, depending on the height of your ceiling, you might want to practice outside.
A practice Jo staff and a practice Bo staff we recommend you DO NOT learn these forms with the metal versions.
The forms are short enough to be remembered (this is martial arts, not memory training), and should be practiced until they can be done without thinking.
The staff weapon training program is set out for you to train every day using several short videos. Adding to your skills in easy to follow steps, you will build superb skills that will become second nature.
Some videos are called Repeat Drills, these are of simple techniques that you need to learn so that you can do them without thinking. Once you press play, they will simply repeat continuously until you hit stop. This will enable you to practice each movement many times with a constant visual reference to help you get it right. You don’t want to practice until you get it right, you want to practice until you can’t get it wrong.
It is tempting to rush ahead, but you will find that to learn these skills thoroughly, it is best that you master each part as you go even if that means repeating the same day several times. Excellence takes patience and determination. Remember “Kung Fu” means “mastery through discipline.”
