On Staff: Combat Staff Masterclass

The most important thing to look for in a staff is that it should be straight and stiff.

You can:

• take the end off a broom handle

• you can pick one from the hardware store

• you can have it custom-made

Length

The length and the girth don’t really matter, the training will translate to sticks of all kinds of length and girth and weight. But for starter, I would suggest try to aim for a staff that stands from your feet to between your chest and neck. For example, I’m 167cm (5’6”) and the staff I use to train is a 127cm (4’2”) rattan staff, the girth is about 9cm. It’s the standard Chinese staff we call gùn.

There are other standards with different names like jong, bong, the Japanese bo staff, and the European quarterstaff, but really, it’s just about how far you want to be away from your opponent, don’t worry too much about the length for now.

Girth

The girth should be your comfortable grip, don’t get a staff that you can’t hold, that would be a pole, not a staff, but the training will translate, you’ll be able to wield even a pole, but only after you’re comfortable with a staff.

Material

I would start with plastic, or bamboo, anything with a smooth surface, but not metal, yet, you’d want to work your way from a lighter staff to heavier staff. Lighter material for speed, heavier for power and durability. Preferably, you’d also want to work on your arm muscles while training the staff so you can wield a heavier staff while maintaining the speed, we will go over this later.

Wood and rattan are the most common materials for traditional staff, but I’d recommend them only if you’re sure the surface is smooth, or you must wear protective gloves (gym gloves) against splinters.

Rattan is the lightest choice. And for other wood, there are different types, some are denser like red wood, oak, or even teak, making them harder to break but much heavier. Remember, with any type of wood, you want to make sure the surface is

1. well-sanded

2. sealed with wood sealer

3. and maybe finished with a coat like varnish

With a staff, and maybe a pair of gloves, I would also recommend a helmet or a hat and knee pads, as your head and knees are the parts that are most likely to be hit when you first start. It’s ok if you don’t, just be more careful.

Place to be

Lastly, you want to look for a place to practice. The backyard is the best place for privacy and safety. You can also go to a park, but be extra mindful of other people and animals, as you definitely don’t want to hit them with your staff unless you’re defending yourself. It’s also good to consider a place where you can see your own reflection while you practice, so if you have the resources, a dance studio would be an ideal location for practice. Another ideal location would be having grass or something soft on the ground like a carpet. Because you are going to drop your staff a lot when you practice.

Even now after more than a decade of training the staff I find myself dropping it from time to time. We all will make mistakes, so it’s best if you have something soft to absorb the fall damage on your staff.

Now that you got all you need and a place to be, shall we warm up?

Jumping Jacks

Let’s start with jumping jacks to warm up the whole body, let’s do around 20 to get your heart pumping.

Cross-Body Shoulder Stretch

Now, let’s warm up our arms,

Hold one arm across your chest and press it down with the other arm, and then switch.

This increases shoulder flexibility, which enhances control and precision during staff maneuvers.

Arm Circles

Let’s now do arm circles, extend it, from small to bigger circles, and then reverse the direction.

Arm circles help increase the range of motion in your shoulder joints, it also works on your muscles around shoulders, arms, and upper back.

Arm circles improve shoulder mobility and warming up the muscles, which enhances overall agility.

Shoulder injuries are common in staff practice.

Torso Twist

Now, let’s warm up your core and spine, and do a few torso twists, stretch out your arms and twist your body.

Enhancing core flexibility and rotational strength are crucial for power movements.

Hip Rotations

Next, let’s do hip rotation, same deal, one direction, then the other.

Hip flexibility and mobility are essential for maintaining balance and generate power.

Standing Quadriceps Stretch

Now we will do the legs. Hold one up to your hips and stretch the muscles, and then do the other leg. Now hold it forward, and then do the other one.

This enhances stability and fluidity in footwork and lower body movements.

Standing Knee-to-Chest Stretch

Hold your knee to your chest on leg at a time.

Other joints

Lastly, let’s do our hand and foot joints, and our necks at the same time, rotate them.

This improves coordination, balance, and reduces the risk of strain

Now that we’re warmed up, we can begin our staff training.

Remember to warm up every time before you practice the staff!

Let's begin with what appears possibly the simplest but is actually quite challenging: understanding your staff, its weight, and its balance point. We'll start by spinning it in a circle in front of you, getting acquainted with its movement and feel.

A circle, a Zero, a single cell, like how all life begins.

First, locate the balance point of your staff, also known as the pivot.

Hold this point with your right hand in front of you. Ensure your grip is firm but not overly tight; you want control without tension. Use mainly your thumb and index finger to secure the pivot.

Spin and twist your entire arm to its comfortable limit. You'll feel pressure on the ends of your palm and arm as you resist the spin. This is normal. Focus on stopping the spin and then reverse it in the other direction. Switch hand and do the same.

As a side note, this exercise serves as an excellent stretch for your arm muscles, which aren't typically accustomed to being twisted in this manner.

When you're ready, with your palm facing up and the staff positioned between your thumb and index finger, let it move past them as you switch to your other hand, also with the palm facing up.

Keep your eyes focused on the pivot. It's normal to stagger at first. Practice until you can achieve smooth, continuous half circles, back and forth.

Once you’re comfortable switching hands, let’s try to do a full circle.

Let’s focus on clockwise spins

With your right hand, repeat the same spin until your palm is facing upward. This time, grab the staff with your left hand slightly off the pivot, about a hand's distance to the left. This creates an imbalance, making the bottom longer than the top. The increased weight at the bottom will help swing the staff up, allowing you to catch it with your right hand.

Notice that the greater the imbalance, the easier it is for the staff to spin back up, but this can cause the circle to stagger. Aim to make the circle as smooth and fast as possible by trying to aim your left-hand closer to the pivot.

And there you have it, keep this technique in mind when you practice, and soon, you will be able to do a fast continuous circle without dropping it or stagger.

Just be careful not to hit your head and your knees.

The biggest tip I can give you is that it's all about momentum. Spinning too slowly actually makes it harder, so try to speed it up a little for better control and smoother motion.

Now, see if you can do it on the sides, it’s actually not that hard if you can do it in front of you, just bend your arms a bit.

Finally, try to look straight ahead. If you can spin the staff without looking at it, relying solely on feeling the momentum, congratulations—you’ve mastered the basics of the Zero. You’ve truly understood and befriended your staff.

I want you to develop the habit of stopping the Zero in the same manner every time. As you grab the staff with your right-hand palm facing up and your left-hand palm facing down, quickly slide your hands and stop in a position where your left hand is near the end of the staff and your right hand is close to the pivot. This will put you in a Spear Stance.

Or with your both hands on each side of the pivot, this is the Staff Stance.

We’ll go over different stances and their attacks in the combat lesson later.

Only when you’re comfortable with all of these, should you try these two fancier spins:

The Spider Dance: Spin between your fingers:

This is a spin that allows the staff to flow smoothly between the gaps between your fingers.

The Monkey Leap: Spin around your hand:

While holding in the imbalance position as mentioned earlier, let go and lose control for a moment. Feel the staff move around the back of your palm or even leap into the air for a brief moment before you catch it and regain control.

These are one-hand circular spins, and they're not meant to be repeatable and continuous on their own but should be paired with other techniques. However, you can certainly practice them repetitively. Remember, the more control you have, the more connected you are with your staff. Think of it like driving a car; it's a large extension of your body, yet you can maneuver it to avoid hitting other cars or obstacles since you're in full control.

If you’re not comfortable with these two spins yet, feel free to skip first, and come back later.

Now, we’ll move on to the advanced versions of the Zero. We’re going to spin the staff at angles you might not be comfortable with.

The behind-the-back Zero can be intimidating at first because you can’t see the staff. You will drop it, and that’s okay. Focus on the momentum, keep it going, and trust yourself. While the staff is spinning, turn your body while maintaining the momentum. Now you’re the one spinning! There will be footwork involved, but don’t overthink it. Just concentrate on the momentum and smooth rotation. Your hands must work together to maintain control, and your feet will follow. Do it slowly first, and then try to speed up. If you feel dizzy, stop and rest.

Once you get the behind-the-back Zero, let’s do the overhead Zero. It turns you into a helicopter.

Before that, learn a new stance, the Cavalry Stance

Hold the staff at the pivot and extend your index finger out to firmly glue the stick to your arm so it becomes an extension to your hand as well as your elbow. Switch from your right hand to the left hand, walk around, and become familiar with this stance.

This is the best way to securely hold a long staff with one hand so you can use your other one for controlling your vehicle or a horse.

To initiate the overhead spin, I’d like you to start with right-hand Cavalry Stance, twist your torso like in the warm-up while bending down, and then use the momentum to do your familiar spin over your head and end with your left-hand Cavalry Stance. You can do the same footwork as the behind-the-back Zero during this if you like, I find that easier.

With these techniques, you’ve mastered the Zero.

Now I'll be providing a few additional moves that you might consider incorporating into your training. This is more for fun.

The first one is around your waist, like a hula hoop, you want to make sure there’s enough length to go around your waist, if your staff is too short and your belly too big, this won’t be possible.

Some people do this around their neck, I think it is extremely dangerous, and I would not recommend you to practice that. Your neck is very fragile, it’s not worth the risk.

The next one is around the shoulder, you’re throwing the staff around your shoulder blade or upper arm and catching it, much like the Monkey Leap. I would also not recommend this one unless you’re on soft ground because you will drop it a lot before you get it to work, and you might bruise yourself if you do this too much.

Practice each of these moves and switch between them, you will have a lot of fun when you get it. Do it while listening to music too, even more meditative. I’ll see you in the next lesson!

There’s a name for this type of spin in Chinese called the 棍花 which literally means Staff Flourish, spinning the staff in a way that’s elegant and confuses the opponent. But I call it the infinity because that’s the shape I want you to visualize when you spin this way.

The infinity might look more impressive than the Zero and also might actually be easier than the Zero.

So to start, I want you to hold the staff at the pivot with your right hand

Reaching out in front of you, draw a small infinity sign with the front end of the staff. Slowly, I want you to increase the size of this infinity sign, bigger and bigger, until you’re at your limit

Now, while looking straight ahead, I want you to increase the size of this infinity sign to behind your peripheral vision, and to achieve that, take a step forward and your left shoulder back to narrow your whole torso and hip, loosen your grip so that only the gap between your thumb and index finger is applying the pressure on the pivot of the staff, just like the Zero. As you draw your infinity sign with the front end, follow up with the back end of the staff.

Essentially, make the backend of the staff follow the path of the front end of the staff, so now they’re both drawing the infinity sign.

There’s gonna be a lot of wrist movement, this is why we warm up our wrists.

Once you’re comfortable with this, do it with two hands, it should be relatively easy to do now, you can even open up the gap between your hands to get different feelings of the infinity.

This is very fun to do, it looks impressive, even more so with lights or even fire at the end of the staff, they did this in Star War, now let’s take it beyond this level.

As with Zero, you can spin the staff beyond your vision by letting it go around your torso. But this time, instead of a circular momentum, it is a linear momentum in a figure-eight trajectory passing from your left hand to your right hand.

With Zero and Infinity techniques learned, we’re gonna take it to the final level, by combining these two, thus gaining full control of the staff.

The fun is in the freedom of this practice.

There are so many different variations you can try by combining different techniques.

Let’s get you started with a basic one-handed Infinity in front, combined with a Zero on the side of you. Switching between Infinity and Zero

Now maybe add in a bit of the Spider Dance and the Monkey Leap

Remember, don’t be afraid to stop the stick if you have to move it to a different direction.

To stop the stick, just slam it against your palm between where you hold the stick and the end of the stick, and you can do it either a Forward Stop in front of your hand, or a Under Stop, underneath your arm

Stopping the stick is not only good for changing direction, it can give you additional power and speed boost if you push it with that stopping hand.

Watch now as I demonstrate combinations of different techniques.

You might have heard something like, staff spinning is just for show, it’s useless in actual combat.

But the more you practice, you will understand how good it feels to become comfortable with a staff. In Kungfu the feeling is called the Flow, and the more technical term is Inertia. You’re constantly and subconsciously applying forces to add onto or to resist the changes in the staff’s rotational motion as well as moving the pivot to change the distribution of mass. The Flow is vital in combat, because you want to be an efficient machine that uses the least amount of fuel to deliver the greatest power.

Aside from self-defense, you may also look at the practice as a type of dance, or as a cardio workout, or as a meditation, or for entertainment, but as a whole, it is just a great way to get you moving, right?, and when you’re moving, your body’s happy, your mind is happy, you will lose weight in a healthy way with a good diet, and hopefully, you will have a hobby to look forward to doing, everyday.

Now that you’ve learned the Flow and danced with the staff, let us move on to a whole new section, the combat

A stance is a preparatory position you enter before executing an attack or defensive move. It should be a posture, balanced, stable, and -to some degree- intimidating.

Here are the five stances we are going to learn in this section.

The Staff Stance

Aggressive Score: 5/10

• hold the staff an equal distance from the pivot so that each end is the same length.

• position the staff in front or lower on the waist/hip.

The Spear Stance

Aggressive Score: 6/10

• both hands off the pivot near one end of the staff.

• the other end slightly pointing in front.

• our body low, knees bent, back foot on the toes.

The Sword Stance

Aggressive Level: 7/10

The same hold as the Spear Stance, but hold it close to the head with one end pointing towards the enemy.

• right hand in front if right foot is in front, vice versa

• or hold in the same position, switch foot and cross your arms

• You can also hold it directly in front of you

• or to the side.

The Samurai Stance

Aggressive Level: 10/10

• left-hand hold like a sheathed sword on the side and bend down, longer end at the back.

• right hand palm-up or palm-down hold.

The Cavalry Stance

• we enter this position holding the staff with an OK sign (after a spin)

• then we quickly switch to the standard palm-forward hold with an index finger out for stabilization against the arm

I want you to be able to first practice switching in 3 different positions in the Cavalry Stance by pushing the staff forward and back with one hand, grip at the back, middle, and the front.

don’t do this with unvarnished wood or without gloves, or you’ll get splinters!

Next I will show you the attacks for each stance, are you ready?

Before we start with the stances, I want you to visualize an 8-point asterisk every time you practice any attack.

• Slash from the North, East, South, West, North-East, South-East, South-West, and North-West.

• You can also visualize stabbing in the center, up, down, right, left, and anywhere in between.

We’re going to come back to the asterisk visualization in each stance.

Staff Stance

This is the most versatile stance of all 5. Practice enough with this stance, then you will firmly grasp the concept that a staff has two ends, and keep that in mind at all times.

We can strike from the East, the West, your left and right hands switch between being the pivot and being the control depending on which way you’re striking.

When you strike from the South, move your legs out of the way.

Now move the stance to your side and stab the center, all your force or Qi gathered on one point. Turn into your left and do a 180 with your back against the enemy, then stab into them again.

Should you turn your back against the enemy? No. But is this going to help you prepare against someone coming from behind you? Definitely yeah.

And there you have it, the Staff Stance.

The Spear Stance

This is similar to the Staff Stance, except you’re going to focus more on the range now, so your hands are close to the end.

Let’s draw circles clockwise and then counterclockwise, focus on the flow, and you don’t have to worry about which hand is the pivot and which hand is the control, you will get it naturally.

Circles are to confuse the enemy before you exit out of the circles and stab into them with both hands, or one single powerful stab with the maximum range. Sometimes you just need to do like a Spartan and throw the whole spear into them.

Spears aren’t just for stabbing though, they are staffs with pointy ends, so we can also strike while visualizing the asterisk.

For North, we will simply bash downward.

For South-East, we will do a sweep up.

For South-West though, pretend you’re rowing a boat, and then sweep up.

Let’s end with a stab, then lean forward to grab the front end, turn around, and then push backward to perform the same behind-the-back stab with a lot more range. Then recover to any stance you want.

With the Spear Stance, you will realize how important switching the hand position is, and doing the Zero and Infinity will help you become very agile in switching, gaining control, thus becoming extremely unpredictable by the enemy.

The Sword Stance

Now we will use the staff like a sword and hold the stance like a proper knight. Pointing it at the enemy.

This position allows you to quickly stab and recover, using one hand for the power, the other for direction as in pool. Then we will do the same strikes while visualizing the asterisk like the spear stance, but here we will hold the staff firmly and focus more on fast strikes and recover to help us block against the enemy’s attacks.

The Sword itself is another large area of study, we won’t go too deep into it in this staff course.

Let’s do a quick East, West, Spin, Recover.

A staff is not as effective as a sword when it’s used like a sword, it doesn’t cut, and it’s weighted differently. But just know that if you study either the Western or the Eastern sword, the techniques can definitely translate to a staff, and vice versa. Meaning, it's easy to learn one once you've learned the other.

The Samurai Stance

This one is easy, but can deliver the most brutal and powerful strike.

You’re holding the staff behind you with your torso twisted, if you have your right-hand palm facing down holding as close to the edge as possible, then, with a firm grip, deliver the next power move which is a huge sweep right through the middle. Do it with full force and there’s no counter to this attack.

Think about this for a moment. People are vertical. The only way someone can be horizontal is if they lay flat on the ground. If I attack vertically, the impact surface area is very small (head and shoulder) so there's a big chance I'd miss. Any angle from that vertical line and the attack can be parried and redirected.

What counter does a vertical-shaped being have against a horizontal sweep besides blocking. And what counters a block better than a brutal force? So I would say, that the horizontal sweep is the most powerful attack there is with a long staff.

If you want, turn your body and keep the huge centripetal momentum and just keep sweeping again and again toward them if they somehow ducked out of range in fear. Then you can recover to any other stance. (You can do this continuous spin with one hand or two hands).

Now, let’s go to a more controlled version of the Samurai Stance, which is having your palm facing up.

Do a South West sweep up with both hands firm, recover a bit, and then a stab right into them.

The Cavalry Stance

This stance isn't very practical besides the intimidating factor because you are leaving yourself open for any attack and putting the weapon behind you isn't really a good way to counter incoming attacks or to deliver effective attack, besides one.

You normally enter this stance after doing spins. Then, if you want to do attack moves, you switch to other stances from this one depending on where you hold the staff.

There is one attack you can derive from the Cavalry Stance. You can deliver a powerful short-distance attack with your elbow. And you can do the same here by using the staff as an extension of your elbow.

You can strike from North to South and switch hand for East to West covering the whole asterisk.

Definitely practice this and learn to recover into different stances after each attacks.

The more you practice, you'll realize your methods of attacks consist of strikes and stabs of various reach and direction that you can visualize with the asterisk.

It is simple, and it should be simple. The interesting part is when you switch between them, the attacks and the spins. It is a chemistry experiment, it is a saxophone improvisation, it is a chord progression on the guitar, you switch between different musical chords, and you get a new style and vibe. And that's what I want you to do, instead of following a certain style and a set of rules. That's the weakness in sticking to a certain style of martial art, it is like investing everything into a single stock. Treat the way of the staff like investing in a diversified index fund that holds all international martial art stocks. And hold it for a long time, in other words, stick to it.

Balance between tradition and innovation.

Here's the 3 points I want you to keep in your mind, always:

1. A staff has two ends, use them.

2. Always think about the Flow unless you're delivering a heavy attack, but still know how to recover asap.

3. When facing real threats, your first instinct should be to run away. If you cannot do that, try to incapacitate the threat to save yourself or the ones that can't protect themselves. Never do more harm than what is needed

I hope this course has delivered values to you, and I sincerely hope you have enjoyed and will continue to enjoy training the staff.

Now let's put aside our staff and talk about building the core of the way of the staff, and that is, you.

You most likely already have some kind of exercise routine, whether it's at the gym, hiking, playing sports, or simply taking walks. If not, I'm glad you're picking up the staff to add more movement to your life. I want to encourage you to take one more step to include a bit more exercise in your routine.

Incorporating just a few upper and lower body workouts will not only improve your health and aesthetics in the long run but also enhance your staff training. I've kept this extremely simple because I firmly believe that the simpler something is, the more likely you are to stick to it.

There are two workouts I want you to do, each with a choice between two exercises. You can pick the one you're comfortable with.

Upper Body Workout:

You can choose between pull-ups or push-ups.

For pull-ups, you'll need a bar. Try holding the bar with different widths, imagining it as a staff. Slowly and smoothly bring the bar under your chin without any jerking motions, as these can strain your shoulders. Count how many you can do until you can't do any more, always pushing to your limit, and then do one more. Do a few sets. If you can only do one, that's fine; if you can do 20, then do 21.

For push-ups, I suggest getting a set of push-up handles to save your wrists. You can do wide push-ups with palms facing inward or backward, standard push-ups, close-grip push-ups, triangle push-ups, or archer push-ups.

Lower Body Workout:

You can choose between jumping rope or a full-out 100m sprint.

Both are simple and effective for building lower body strength. Jumping rope builds agility and coordination, while the 100m sprint focuses on explosive power.

For sprinting, do a light 5-minute jog to warm up, then a few stretches. Do a full-speed 100m sprint, preferably on a running track. Then rest for 4 minute in between. Push for at least 3 sets.

Remember to embrace the challenges and enjoy the progress. If you drop the staff, pick it up. If you hit yourself, try again in a way that won't hit yourself. If you fall, stand up again. If you trip, stand firmer. Your dedication and hard work are building not only your skills with the staff but also your character in life. Stay focused, stay determined, and know that each of you is now a true warrior in the garden.