Sticks!

One of the more difficult parts of martial arts for most of us is throwing a realistic strike at our partners.  We are decent, socialized human beings who have been taught since childhood that hitting one another is not okay.  So, how do we solve this problem?

We hit the bag.  It solves lots of problems.  The bag is not a person, so let a student hit the bag and the usually engage in a somewhat decent power generating body mechanic – they hit hard.  Then after they hit the bag, tell them to swing that exact same way, with the same intention and the same body mechanic at their partner except slow.

The reason it is so important to throw a realistic strike at your partner is because they need to know if their defense will work against an actual strike.  In addition, it serves them well in their martial training to see what that looks like and feels like to have someone take a swing at them.

Put a stick in a student’s hand and the problem usually multiplies.  If hitting someone with a fist is a social no-no then hitting them with a stick is grounds for being ostracized.  And yet, if we want to build our martial competency against weapons, we must work to practice with them in as realistic a manner as we can while maintaining safety.  So solving the problem, once again, means hitting the bag and as you can see, whacking the heavy bag with a stick can be quite cathartic.