knife+stick fighting to quadruple reflexes for unarmed fight

Hi Nick,

great to see that you have your own Q&A now.
Seems to be the only positive thing that I can see coming from the closure of the geoffthompson forum.

My question: recently I have bought some old DVD's for a few bucks from Paul Vunaks' Jeet Kune Do series. He advocates knife and stick sparring to send the reflexes into overdrive. He argues that once you return to an ordinary unarmed fight - be it (kick)boxing, karate, etc. - kicks and punches thrown at you will appear slow, easy to detect.
He states that the individuals' reaction speed will quadruple - don't know if it is meant literary.

Could you give any comment on the validity of knife+stick sparring for improved reflexes in unarmed sparring? Since you have a vast background in karate and you have also studied FMAs I would appreciate your opinion on this topic.

Best Regards

Boris

Boris,

When I was training with Bobby Breen many moons ago Pat O'Malley had just come back from the Philipinnes where he'd won a medal in the International stick fighting comp. Bobby told him it was time to go do some empty hand because he'd done so much stick work in getting ready for the comp.

Apparently everyone thought Pat would suck at the empty hand game but he tore them up. He had become so attuned to watching the tip of the stick moving at 100mph plus that empty hands seemed slow by comparison.

I don't know if it's true but I do know I tend to move sharpish when I'm stick sparring because a rap across the knuckles hurts like a bitch...so, I'm going to say YES, I think there's some truth in it.

I guess another way to look at it would be go play cricket with a guy who bowls at 90mph for a year and then drop into a local team where the fastest guy tosses one down the pitch at 60...it only follows it would be easier to cope with.

Nick

A good friend of mine is an instructor in Escrima under Jay Dobrin (one of the early unsing heroes of Escrima in the UK) and he's got damn fast hands.

He does mostly Combatives now and he can motor when he puts his mind to it

Thanks Nick and Jimmy,

it only makes senses that you get faster if you train to be even faster most of the time.
With this in mind, I wonder if any kind of boxer/kickboxer on a professional level is actually incorporating knife/stick sparring into his training? Do you guys have knowledge of some pros doing it - or do you know why they don't do it / wouldn't need it?

Boris

Nick

I remember that period well at Bob's. Post 88 Worlds in Cebu? or later? Was it same time Gordon opened up a big gash in Pat's head during empty hand sparring?

D

Mate,

Don't know about the gash. I was jumping in there then between junkets overseas with clients largely for private lessons with either Bobby or Pat.

I do remember talking to Bobby about the increased reflexes right before I came over here so that must have been 94. I remember because I asked him who was good to train with in the States.

Nick

Boris,

Sorry mate, I just saw your question buried in the thread. No, I have no knowledge of anyone doing that which, of course doesn't mean someone isn't.

Nick

No problem Nick, thanks for your answer.