Yesterday was another great day. I originally slept in and missed my workout time, but fortunately a friend messaged me in the afternoon and I was able to go and help her train at another gym. The workout was perfect. For the first time, I really feel like my body is adapting to the strains I put it through on a daily basis. I taught some elements of my circuit to her and that allowed me to have a perfect workout!
When I got home after the gym, of course I had to pick up my bo staff. We've been having issues with some of the roommates at my house, so our electricity was shut off for a day, so I had no lighting in my backyard. Rather than call it a night when the lights went out, I decided to go out to the fields by my house which were lit up from the stadium lights and some lights from the tennis courts. I spent a good 2 hours spinning my Bo Staff and I have to say, it is still just absolutely amazing. Everyday I can feel my hands adapt more, my dexterity is increasing, my stamina is increasing, my strength is increasing, my timing is increasing. It is one thing to say "My goal is to wake up stronger today than I was yesterday." and totally different to act upon it. I finally feel like I am truly acting upon it. The progress I have made in such a short amount of time proves testament to that.
Now that I'm grasping the spins more and making them much more fluid, I've been trying to make the whole ordeal more practical. I've been trying to imagine how I would use my staff if an opponent was standing in front of me. I believe spinning is mostly for distracting the opponent, as the force generated from the hand positions required to spin efficiently isn't nearly enough to truly damage an opponent. So rather than spin and spin and spin and then get into my stance and attack, I've been working on spins and fluidly making them into attacks. Concepts like this are especially difficult to type and further proves that I absolutely need to start adding videos to these posts. Just bare with me, I promise I will get things more organized and like my training this site too will be more fluid. Back to my point though. I believe spinning can be incorporated into attacks as long as it is used for deflective purposes or for distractions, which it appears to do both quite well. I could only imagine how much more effective the spins would be if there was a spear tip fastened to the staff, it would keep your opponent guessing as to whether or not you are going to strike with the tip.
I've also lately been feeling like staff spins have a supplemental purpose as well. Although the training can make you spin a staff quite fast, the added bonuses it gives to proper stance and defensive postures seem even more worth it. I can almost imagine it like the karate kid wax on wax off. Although I am spinning a staff and becoming quite proficient at it, I can see that if I was bare handed, many of the maneuvers I do with my hands would be effective against an opponents incoming attacks too. Whether it be a weapon or unarmed combat, I feel that there is potential to block and deflect many different abilities based on the simple principles of spinning.
Soon I will post videos of the transitions I am talking about. Like I say though, what I may show on here isn't necessarily something that should be copied or that is effective. This is my own training based on how I feel while I hold a weapon. What works for me, might not necessarily work for you. Go out and experiment. Have fun with it!
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