ForeWord Reviews Indie Award FINALIST - 2016
USA Best Book Award FINALIST - 2016
This book stands apart from other staff training manuals. While most titles focus on forms and twirling, The Art and Science of Staff Fighting emphasizes the dynamics of combat. The author draws on thirty years of martial experience, presenting the best of both Eastern and Western traditions.
Joe Varady lays out a comprehensive course of study in nine levels, from beginner to expert. He guides readers through such fundamentals as stances, striking, blocking, and footwork. In advanced lessons, readers learn disarming techniques, groundwork, and facing multiple opponents.
But this book is not just for staff enthusiasts. Even those unfamiliar with martial arts can adapt these techniques, increasing their skill and confidence in defending themselves.
"Our environment is usually full of improvised weapons,” Varady writes. “Staff fighting techniques can be effectively applied in a self-defense situation using a walking stick, coatrack, curtain rod, floor lamp, hockey stick, fallen tree branch, broom, mop, shovel, or rake.”
Equipped with this knowledge, readers will begin to realize that, in one way or another, they are nearly always armed—and capable of defending themselves.
This book features
• Nine levels of instruction, progressing from easy to expert
• Over 600 photos with motion arrows
• A “nondenominational” approach to staff, utilizing the best of Eastern and Western arts
• A comprehensive, methodical approach to building staff skills
If you are already a student of the staff, these lessons will not conflict with your katas or current style. Instead, they will augment your techniques, broadening your options.
Whether you are an experienced staff fighter or a layman seeking practical techniques for self-defense, The Art and Science of Staff Fighting will help you develop the skills you need.
Author(s): Varady, Joe;
Publisher: YMAA Publication Center
Year: 2016
Language: English
Commentary: Staff Fighting A Complete Instructional Guide
Pages: 228
Tags: Staff Fighting A Complete Instructional Guide
Front Cover
Back Cover
Advance Praise for The Art and Science of Staff Fighting
Title Page
Copyright Information
Acknowledgments
Table of Contents
Foreword
Preface
Introduction
What Is Staff Fighting?
A Brief History of the Staff
Why Art and Science?
Kitchen Kobudo
Know Your Staff
Intensity
The Levels
Level 1: The Foundation
Fundamentals
Stances
Basic Striking
Understanding the Lines
Basic Blocking
Evading, Blocking, and Parrying
Footwork
Figure Eights (Downward/Upward)
Level-1 Workout
Level 2: Basic Middle
Grip
The Fighting Stance
Combat Striking
Range, Distancing, and the Circle of Death
Targeting
Training Equipment: Target Sticks
Combinations
Feinting
Strategy and Tactics
Training Equipment: The Pell
Defense: The Wall
Level-2 Workout
Level 3: Advanced Middle
Grip
The Double Strike
Training Equipment: Target Sticks
Hooking Disarms
The Push-Pull
Energy Drill
Training Equipment: The Striking Ball
Disarming Blocks
Sliding Disarms
Shushi’s Wall
Level-3 Workout
Level 4: Basic Extended Grip
Introduction to Extended Grip
Extended-Grip
Basic Strikes
Extended-Grip
Figure Eights
Extended-Grip
Thrusting
Training Equipment: The Target Ball
Training Equipment:
The Thrust Board
Snap Strikes
Training Equipment: The Horizontal Makiwara
Extended-Grip
Blocking Disarms
Level-4 Workout
Level 5: Advanced Extended Grip
Fencing with the Staff
The Change of Engagement
The Double Change
The Cutover
The Beat
Extended-Grip
Hooking Disarms
The Disarm Drill
Training Equipment: Spinners
Parrying
Part the Grass to Find the Snake
Level-5 Workout
Level 6: Combat with the Staff
The Moment of Truth
Full-Contact
Fighting
Training Equipment: The Padded Staff
Understanding Timing
The Three-Step
Rule
Programming
Continuation of Attack
Blitz Attacks
Leaping
Flèche
The Grand
Overall Strategy
The Seven Principal Rules
Level-6 Workout
Level 7: Expert Staff Training
Hot Stuff
Switching Grips
Alternate Ready Positions
Fool’s Guard
Tail Guard
High Guard
Rear Guard
Additional Techniques
Upward Heel Strike
Overhand Heel Thrust
Jabbing Thrusts
Poisonous Snake Coming Out from the Cave
Fiore’s Block
Disarming Beat
Trapping and Pinning
Flying Front Kick
Flicking
Throwing
Level 8: Master Staff Training
Close Combat with the Staff
Groundwork
Facing Multiple Opponents with the Staff
Unarmed Defense against the Staff
Level 9: The Way of the Spear
Intro to the Spear
Basic Spear Fighting Strategy
Training Equipment: The Rings
Unarmed Defense against a Spear
Throwing the Spear
Catching the Spear
Tub Tilting
Appendix I: Fighting Physics: The Mechanics of the Staff
The Big Three
Striking
Kinetic Energy
Dynamics
Angle
of Impact
Striking Surface: Smaller Is Better
Blocking and Parrying
The Wall
The Wet Blanket (and Subsequent Counterattack)
Parrying
Levers
Uprooting Lever (Second-Class
Lever)
Pushing Lever (Third-Class
Lever)
The Kinetic Chain
Conclusions
About Chris Hall
Appendix II: Additional Skills and Drills
Recommended Reading
About the Author
Books from YMAA
DVDs from YMAA
