kali alone

[TylerJamesMead]

i get one day a week to train kali with a partner i have several dummies- mook, tire stacked, hanging tire etc whats some god stuff to do

[Michael Wright]

What are you aiming to acheive from the training, is it for competition?

[TylerJamesMead]

mainly self defense and attributes- i carry a collapsing baton and tac folder thats the main reason i started studying

[Michael Wright]

OK, thanks.

From a Self-Protection point of view I'll step aside because I'm in the UK and don't teach weapons for that purpose as it is illegal to carry here, there are many experinced US guys on here who can offer you some tips.

As for attributes, my honest opinion is put the sticks down and do 5 rounds of Thai or Boxing on the heavy bag. The attributes that people so adamantly credit to the weaponry can be found with great efficiency, and far greater functional effectiveness, with solid empty hand training.

Just my opinion, but don't want to steer off the theme of your thread so will leave you to it.

[Mike Brewer]

In my experience, one of the best things you can do from a purely attributes level is to swing longer sticks. They don't have to be immensely heavy, but make them a foot or so longer than your expandable baton. If you can put the weight out near the end, it's even better. Little league or T-Ball bats are good for this. Reason being, your body learns to cope with the momentum better, and your grip will get a lot stronger which will in turn make your expandable more manageable. Be sure not to train exclusively with the longer, heavier sticks, though, or you'll warp your range awareness.

Handling the weight and momentum of a weapon is almost always one of the easiest things to fix, but also the most neglected specific area of training. Most often, people just swing away with what they have until it gets easier. They rarely approach it like other athletic endeavors in which you seek to improve those attributes using resistance and overload.

[pbear]

mike is a little league or t-ball bat a standard baseball bat ?

[Mike Brewer]

No. They're shorter and lighter than a full-sized regulation bat. They're made for young kids to play with, and you can find them at places like this:

Baseball Bats, Softball Bats, A Complete Resource Guide - Justbats.com.

This one's a good, economical choice:
A-Bat Maple Wood Bat: Warrior Natural/Royal Youth

You can see in the product description that you can buy these as short as 28 inches long, which is the average length of most escrima-type kali sticks you buy commerically. The difference, of course, is all that extra weight out at the end of the bat.

Here's another nice one:
BWP Maple Wood Bat: BWPLPM Mahogany/Black Youth

By comparison, pbear, I usually swing a 34-36 inch bat so the little league ones are 10-12 inches shorter and far lighter.

[Tim McFatridge]

Hey Tyler,

One of the things I like to do with the sticks is to really work over the heavy bag. I totally agree with Mr. Wright and I myself do several rounds of boxing and Muay Thai on a regular basis... however I supplement my empty hand work on the heavy bag with stickwork on the heavy bag. I usually do 3-5 rounds at 2 minutes each. I will work single stick so I can utilize my empty hand strikes on the bag as well as double stick. For the double stick I will work doublete strikes, abaniko strikes, thrusts etc. I make sure I work my footwork by moving around the bag. I know you have a tire stand but the heavy bag is good to.

Also, if you have a partner you might try doing some isolation sparring. This is when you isolate the targets you can hit. You may start out only hitting the hand. Make sure you have good hand gear and go to work. This will train you to attack the hand in a real life situation as well as teaching you the distance and range of combat. In a real life situation your best disarm is to hit the hand.

This is just my opinion and something I have found works for me.

Train Hard, Train Smart

[Michael Wright]

Hey Tim!

How you doing? Its been ages since we have seen you on here, how is life bud, everything going OK? Drop me a PM and let me know how you are.

Peace

Michael

[DonKey]

I've got a pair of bahi wood sticks that are significantly heavier than rattan and work for conditioning too. After a working the bahi you'll be swinging an ASP or rattan like it's nothing at all.

ETA be careful with this at first so you don't injure your wrists or elbows. I thought bigger was better once so i tried swinging around a 6D cell maglight like a rattan and it didn't work out so well.

[Tim McFatridge]

Bahi sticks are great. Just a side note... which you all probably already know.

If you are using bahi sticks... make sure your partner has bahi sticks also or some other type of hardwood sticks. Bahi will destroy a rattan stick... which may make your partner mad.