5 Points to Defending with your Staff in Fut Gar Kung Fu

As the majority of my students know, I believe staff is the most important weapon we teach. The reasons were outlined one previous blog entry. This is further emphasized by the number of staff forms we teach in the Fut Gar style. Here are 5 points taught in Fut Gar Kung fu that you can keep in mind during training, whether it be visualizing the application of the technique or in practicing fighting techniques:

1. Be sure to shift your stances on blocks. Typically we shift far enough that target area that we are defending is totally moved away from its original position.
2. Defend more than just your block. Using the angle of the staff, you are often able to defend your head while blocking a strike to your legs.
3. Know the body and staff angle required to allow you to counterattack. Work on being precise with your blocking angle to allow quicker attacks.
4. If your staff is underneath your opponent's staff during contact, we call it a "dead staff" which means you do not try to initiate the next technique because it will leave an opening for the opponent to strike quickly.
5. Relax. It may be difficult when you are blocking another staff but relaxing will make your blocks faster and avoid the urge to attack your opponent's staff (trust your technique to deflect the attack and you will see that you don't need much power).

Keeping these things in mind will add some extra focus to your techniques during practice and help improve your forms.