Nunchaku learning without karate

[Ebola]

hallo,

 

I'm interrested in learning Nunchaku as an effective self defense weapon.

 

I'know it's a traditional and quite dangerous weapon and understand that some people think it should only be thaught to black belts. I have another martial art style that I'm training on and no time to start karate. I also have some kind of training with POI a kind of dancing equipment just to be swung with fire and to look good. So i think it may help me with nunchakus because of the fast hand coordination. But after all that I want to learn effective self defence techniques with nunchakus. Is there a way to learn good techniques without studying karate and start directly with nunchakus ?!

 

thanks in advance

[coastguard]

hallo,

 

I'm interrested in learning Nunchaku as an effective self defense weapon.

 

I'know it's a traditional and quite dangerous weapon and understand that some people think it should only be thaught to black belts. I have another martial art style that I'm training on and no time to start karate. I also have some kind of training with POI a kind of dancing equipment just to be swung with fire and to look good. So i think it may help me with nunchakus because of the fast hand coordination. But after all that I want to learn effective self defence techniques with nunchakus. Is there a way to learn good techniques without studying karate and start directly with nunchakus ?!

 

thanks in advance

 

why? listen, you want a good empty hand foundation in your art prior to learning weapon handling of any type. i'm just not sure why you would want to step outside your art, whatever it is and try and learn something else.... more details might help me understand what you're trying to do but i can't imagine anyone would be willing to train you exclusively on a specific weapon without any experience and your continued participation in another martial art. I wouldn't even bother trying anything via tape. I suggest you relax, learn well what you're being taught in your style right now and wait... good things come to those who wait...

[Ebola]

hallo,

 

i quite dont understand why you need karate bare hand techniques to learn nunchaku movements in my opinions these moves have not much to do with each other except that the hand and coordination is skilled from the bare hand practising. And so my question is why shouldn't you learn these movements and get the coordinatination and other abilities from another MA (I'm practising *ing *chun the two weapons which you may learn after 20 years of training or so are just not wepons for self-defence). In Escrima for example you start with a weapon no other techniques needed.

[harleyt26]

you may be able to find someone to teach you the flashy hand manipulations they use for competition but to use nunchaku for self defence you need a strong foundation,stances are of utmost importance.I believe if you play with them on your own you will see what I mean ,once you split your own kneecap a couple of times and one or two good shots to the back of the head may help you see why they say it is a difficult weapon to learn.Myself I would only use them as a last resort I have been training with them for many years and can tell you they would be the hardest of all the weapons I train with to defend myself with,if you meet an opponent with the bo or sai or tonfa etc. that knows anything about what they are doing you will not be able to keep them from taking your nunchaku away from you.Even my Okinawan sensei says they would be the last weapon he would chose in a fight.Learn some authentic budo then study many weapons to find the one that best fits you. I bet it would not be nunchaku. Try the sai they are awesome.

[Ebola]

i saw tonfa in escrima looks like a nice and dangerous weapon to me. yes and may be i will learn some basics and maybe starting in escrima(it's free two times a week @ our school). i saw also a guy who trained with some sort of two long knifes (machetes ?!) quite nice and surely more deadly than a nunchaku. But i heard from many people that nunchakus are great not only for striking but for grappling, holding and disarming attackers (for example knife attacks). maybe someone could tell me excactly why he would not chose nunchakus as a weapon (that they are difficult to learn needn't be an disadvantage). Sai is a thing i never saw in action. i have no idea on how to use them maybe a video or an explanation would help.

 

thanks in advance

 

(sry for my bad english)

[tommarker]

Ebola,

 

what country do you live in? In most places, carrying nunchaku on your person for self-defense is illegal. I just want to make sure you fully understand that risk before you decide to carry them.

 

Situations may dictate that you need to disobey the law, but that is not for me to decide.

[Ebola]

ohh, ok thanks, i will check this question about legality. But on the other hand even if i can't carry them i would be interrested in learning them, may be the training of nunchaku is legal (saw some soft training nunchakus on web) ?! In about one or two years i'm going to move to switzerland and i'll check if it's legal there to carry them. And two years are to less time to use a weapon, you've trained, in self defence so, at the moment, my first problem is how to train them in a good way, without training wrong moves etc. I'm not sure if it's possible to learn nunchakus by just watching videos and training in front of a mirror. I think a teacher is needed ?! As I watched some videos on the net the moves seem to me as they are quite easy to understand and in fact i'm sometimes copying poi moves from just a video, but maybe there is the difference between learning something to look nice and something that needs to be effective. there may be details that you don't recognize as beginner and what is very important like some small wrist positions etc. ?!

 

another question i have is there a way to do some kind of sparring / partner excersise ? how do you train how to hit or something ? i think that is a point that must be trained in some way ?

 

thanks for your patience answering my questions

[granmasterchen]

hehehehehe you will have fun once you start hitting things with your nunchuku! the back lash is rather amusing when you start.

 

also i agree with the others, study an art form first before you move on to a weapon....you shouldnt just jump into something without the proper training....why you ask????

 

have you ever heard the phrase: a weapon is just an extension of the body?????

 

there is your answer there, you must learn the body before you can properly learn a weapon....sure you can do some tricks....but if you really want to learn and master the weapon you must learn and master your body first.

[Ebola]

@ granmasterchen have you read the whole thread ? i'm practising a bare hand MA but not karate why need it to be karate moves that lead to the nunchaku ?? maybe you could learn only the moves from karate which are necessary for nunchaku perhabs the stances etc. but i can't see why karate bare hand techniques are better ones than kung fu (*ing *chun) hand techniques to learn nunchakus. maybe you can explain excactly why the bare hand katas of karate are important for the weapon.

 

thanks in advance

[Sauzin]

So i think it may help me with nunchakus because of the fast hand coordination.

But after all that I want to learn effective self defence techniques with nunchakus.

Is there a way to learn good techniques without studying karate and start directly with nunchakus ?!

I’m really getting the impression here that you don’t know what you’re looking for. These first two statements conflict. The first thing anyone learns about weapon training is that slow technique breeds effective technique, and fast is slow. With nunchaku, fast is ineffective as well. The most common mistake with nunchaku is assuming that spins and strikes behave the same when striking an opponent as they do with solitary practice. They don’t. Practical nunchaku practitioners learn to swing away from their body, spin purposely at control points, and above all to start slow.

 

Being realistic though, you’re not going to find a nunchaku instructor who will only teach you practical nunchaku. It’s ineffective and just not worth his time. You might find a spin master to teach you and that’s fine, but it won’t work on the street and you just have to understand that. Even if it did it would be stupid to use in almost any self defense scenario. The cops would just assume you were looking for a fight if you used nunchakus and they would treat it as though it were a gun, which you’d be better off with from a legal standpoint.

 

What you should do is go back and question why you want to learn them again. Any good reason you could give would be reason enough to learn kobudo (the art of Okinawan weapons) as a system. This is really how it should be, as each weapon teaches different aspects while still tying into the others. As far as learning kobudo separately from karate, it can be done. In fact that’s how I started, but eventually I saw enough finer points in how the teacher applied the techniques that I wanted to learn the whole ball of wax. And this further enhanced my weapon arts. Still there are practical teachers who will teach just weapons, and perhaps this is what you should look for. But don’t ask just to learn the nunchaku. Try learning an art rather then a weapon.