How to do a strike with a Bo Staff

Bo Staff Strikes for Beginners.

A lot of martial arts students want to know ” How do I strike with a Bo Staff?”

We’re going to look at two basic strikes, but first is how do we hold a Bo staff? Generally, we like to call it the rule of thirds. We’re going to hold it up against your body. A third on the left side, a third on the right side of your body and the rest between your hips. 

I like to hold my bow with one Palm facing down. My other palm facing up gives me a little bit more control over the Bo staff. But as you develop skills with your Bo, I’m sure that you will find a grip that suits your personality. 

We’re going to take a look today at the forward strike for a strike as a powerful strike.

So what we’re going to do is you’re going to raise the bow up over one shoulder, stepping forward, come straight down and try to hold the Bo parallel to the floor. 

We want to have control of the Bo staff. So again, we’re ready to strike. The Bo comes up. We strike down one more time, a little faster.

 Next is how to do a correct overhead strike with the Bo. You’re going to step out to the right raise that Bo staff up, keeping it parallel to the floor. We cross our arms and we strike to the right. You unfold or uncross those arms and strike to the left again.

Step out to the right. Unfold and then strike his left last time, all the way through.

I like the Straight Red Oak Bo for practice. It is a heavier wood which gives me a better upper body workout.

Check them out from Bushido: Red Oak Bo 

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