 So just how practical is it to train with traditional martial arts weapons in today's world? This episode actually comes to us from a question asked by one of our patreon members And we thought that it would be a great idea for today's discussion. So is it worth learning traditional martial arts weapons? Stick with us and find out. So today's question comes from Renee Martinez. Renee asks in this modern era Is it still useful to train in traditional weapons like the bow, stick, tomfuss, etc? I actually like this question a lot because when it comes to the martial arts Traditional weapons just have this allure to them. I mean well first of all There are very enjoyable challenge to try to even train and to learn how to use them I mean anyone who's picked up nunchucks or a sword or whatever knows that you don't pick it up in five minutes It's a really fun challenge and it's an accomplishment when you get good with it Additionally, they're they add an exotic flavor to the martial arts Especially when you talk about media growing up in the 80s and 90s You had the Ninja Turtles you had all sorts of different movies and kung fu films when we saw these weapons on TV They were exotic. They were exciting. They were cool and what kid didn't want to learn how to use them And also when you see someone who's really really good with them, they can be incredibly impressive to watch I mean there's tournaments just based on a nunchuck performances and other weapon performances And just just from a visual point of view. They're really cool But also when it boils down to it when you find somebody who's really proficient with the use of that tool It can actually be quite devastating and effective in their hands Now for most of those reasons especially for fun and hobby and competition and character building and all that and achievement They're absolutely fantastic for that purpose But in the context of talking about are they practical it usually comes down to self-defense So that's kind of what we're gonna focus on today So when we say traditional tools, what exactly are we talking about? What are we included in that category? Think back to like, you know, Okinawan karate kung fu Kobudo weapons So basically things like swords, bow staff, spears, kali sticks, tonfa, nunchucks, sai, kama Even throwing tools just as shurikens and there's more exotic tools like the hook swords and different types of spears Honestly, the list is endless and could go on and on and on But we're gonna just cover some of the main common ones that you see the most often and the reason This is such a cool topic because these tools are ingrained in the martial arts lore and They're iconic and like I said, they're an exotic flavor But just how practical is it to still train with them today with those skills ever become useful in today's world? So the first thing we have to ask is just how likely are you to come in contact with these items in the real world? Or even more so, how likely are you to be carrying them on you? I mean, it's not like martial arts schools get stormed very often where you happen to have them in your hand You're training with them. So there's that and also in many cases some of them aren't even legal to carry around I mean, what's your plan? Are you gonna walk around with a bow staff like Morgan from the Walking Dead or keep a pair of sai and your belt or Nunchucks in your back pants or a sword on your hip I mean even colleagues sticks unless you're like just speakman in the perfect weapon where we had him in the sheath on his back How practical are you gonna be walking around with these items? And the second thing you have to ask is how effective would these tools be in today's world? I mean, there's all to be honest There's a lot of modern tools out there right now both long and short range that can easily Equalize most of the tools on this list and they're easier to conceal and in most cases faster to learn So then what are they good for? Why would you train? Well first of all just training with them as a training tool They're pretty good for that. I mean, you're gonna learn all sorts of coordination Timing learning how to use items as an extension of your body spatial awareness All that becomes ingrained into you and part of your training and it creates a higher awareness for you just in general So are they actually worth learning in the literal sense? You're not likely to ever use or encounter these in the real world But if you put in the time and it does take a lot of time and you become proficient at them Then yes, they can be effective in certain scenarios But even more so there's a lot of skill sets that you can take from this training and actually apply it to real-world applications So let's start with the post staff a lot of martial arts systems implement the post after training now It looks really cool. It's fun to train with but an item such as this if you become good at the skills that it teaches You can't apply this to a lot of real-world items If you're in a self-defense situation There's not to say that you can't grab a broom or a mop or a long stick or even pipes You know it teaches great coordination and also the both staff is really really really good at teaching spatial awareness around you Because if anyone of you out there have ever tried to train with the both staff How many times have you nicked the ceiling or clipped the wall or had to watch out for the your Partners next to you or nick the floor or even hit yourself with the stick So it teaches a lot of spatial awareness and control that I think those skills can absolutely apply in a real-life defense situation So then we have the sword So many different varieties of swords made different arts use them. It's a very versatile weapon It's a very specialized highly skilled weapon But it's really good for you know again that mindset of treating the object as an extension of your own body It's not just something you hold It's something that becomes a part of you as you use it and it's really good for quick strikes You know looking for small openings where you can get some jabs in there targeting windows You're not you're not likely to get in any sword fights in the real world But then again, there's a lot of similar items in terms of similar length and weight that you could use to apply these skills from such as you Know a branch or a pipe or even in some cases a cane or an umbrella You know certain parrying techniques certain striking techniques They may become useful and that's some of the skills that by training with the sword you might be able to apply to a real-world situation and then we come to Kali or Screma and In my personal opinion I do believe that this is probably one of the most practical tools that you can learn in the martial arts studio And we're not doing this list in any particular order But I do kind of favor these in a bit because one a lot of different arts a wide array of arts will implement These their training to I do believe they complement a lot of different training and the benefits that you learn from it It's once again an extension of your body. They're extremely lightweight. They're easy to wield They've got a high striking velocity. They're extremely versatile They're strong and you can be really fast at practicing them and If you have not yet those of you who train with the Kali sticks just know how valuable they are to train with those who have not I do recommend them. There's a lot of valuable education. You can get from this training tool And who can forget about none Chucks? None Chucks. Well, is there any more of a stereotypical tool and especially in popular media when it comes to the martial arts? None Chucks as far as the training tool goes I believe are really really good for learning hand-eye coordination It takes a lot of skill and a lot of practice and time and dedication to become good with these but when someone does it's incredibly impressive and Honestly, let's not lie. They're really fun to train with. I mean, I don't know about you guys But I could easy spend a few hours just isolated just practicing and just trying to do different techniques They're there. It's kind of a bit of addictive to work with As far as they practice self-defense tool in the literal sense just by walking around with a pair of these I don't think they're as practical But some of the skills could apply with other weapons especially flexible objects such as chains ropes or even towels to turn off light switches And also to be honest I do believe the none Chucks are really good for teaching the concept of rebounding I mean how many times you see in movies where you know a person on screen has a pair of nunchucks And they're swinging around in a circle and there's not good people out with it The truth of the matter is if you hit an object with this while this is in flight It's gonna bounce the rebound you're not gonna keep the same trajectory So a tool like this is really good at teaching rebounding skills and how to regain control of your object So as far as that is the training aspect. I think it's a very valuable skill you could learn and For those of you who've spent any amount of time training with these Knows the risk and we all remember our very first unfortunate accident with hitting a certain body part Which comes natural to an object. That's attached by a chain where you swing around the room wildly and Some unfortunate individuals myself included that's often captured on video But that's not the story altogether and that's also an exclusive for our patreon members So don't be sure to go check that out But also very important to know that in many states and many cities in many countries these are illegal So please check of course with your local laws before you go walking around with these I don't recommend doing that. So always always follow the rules and know what you can and cannot do So then we have the Psy and I'm also going to include the Tomfons in this category And I'm grouping them together because they're very similar in historical use Both of them were used by local law enforcement or guards and primarily for one-on-one combat or even crowd control And the Psy it's not particularly sharp sometimes you will have sharper tips but for the most part it's a blunt striking object and They're extremely versatile, but they're short-range and they're often used in the pair mainly because well one is Deflecting your block and striking the other one is back and prepared ready to go So you kind of trade off with it now the Psy might seem like one of the least likely Objects on this list to be practical in real life, but to be honest I believe I can teach more than it gets credit for Primarily because it is a striking tool and due to that nature It's used in many applications similar to a baton and it also follows a lot of the same striking angles as a Kali stickwood and Also, I do believe that this is an excellent tool for teaching you how to reposition an object in your hand Because you don't just hold it one way. There's different ways to position it You can hold it long ways short ways. There's different striking surfaces with it They're they can get you know pretty nasty sometimes the way they can be utilized They're also good for guarding so I do believe in terms of a training tool I'm learning dexterity and how to manipulate an object in your hand These are one of my personal favorites and even though I'm not very good at them That these are one of my favorites to train with so as far as a practical weapon goes You're not really gonna be walking around with us every day. We're not Raphael We're not gonna have a pair of these stuck into our belt as we struck down the street At least I sincerely hope you're not but I do believe there's a lot of valuable lessons that can be learned from this It's very similar in use and technique in some areas to the tomfuh and where the scion tomfuh were used for You know crowd control and law enforcement. We still see the tomfuh used today in the police baton So then of course we have shurikens or throwing stars or other throwing weapons now I do not advocate, you know the practicality of walking around with a bunch of ninja stars with you We're shurikens to throw But I do believe that training with them in a safe dodger setting could really really help with hand Accuracy and just learning how to be more accurate in general, you know walking on to a target getting control of your body and coordination So as far as a training sense, I believe it's fantastic for that But in a real life application, you never know, you know, you might have to throw something whether to distract or self-defense That hand eye accuracy never hurts to have and to be honest this list can go on and on and on There's a lot of other exotic tools and there's many other such You know spears and the hook swords that really aren't practical to carry around these days But maybe if you took the time to learn them, I'd be curious to know what kind of lessons could you pull from that So if you have any experience with those weapons look around to your everyday objects look for analogs Look for ideas that you can carry over from your set of training that can carry over to real-day practical objects So when it comes to today's modern self-defense, there are a lot of obvious options But not everybody's comfortable in carrying those and that's fine because honestly There's a lot of options out there such as small wearable things that you can have on your key chain There's you know a whole assortment of different self-defense tools They're small enough and portable to carry with you that could actually come to your aid if you actually have to use them And even there's even some exotic ones in that sense like we did a review on this a while back It's a stun gun knife, and I love to use this for training purposes, but um, it's pretty cool Electric and we did a review on that so I do recommend checking that out You can see it on our channel, but when it comes to traditional weapons I think sometimes it's worth pausing going back looking how they were used historically and then when they're in your dojo setting What can you train with if your interest is in self-defense? What kind of concepts and ideas can you learn from these tools to bring them over to real-day application and to use in your Environment around you. I always think that's a great experiment and the good dot process and exercise to do So thank you so much Renee for your question It's an excellent topic to talk about Something I don't think is often looked at as much as it should be now next week We're going to cover a different but related question from another viewer So be sure to subscribe and click on the bell icon so you can be notified when that drops And if you have any questions you'd like us to answer in the show join us on patreon We do take users submitted questions and we will address them on the show And if you liked this episode and you want to learn more about traditional weapons then check out this episode We did a while back on the five cool of swords Traditional exotic and really cool. So thank you so much for watching and we'll see you next week