Tom Floyd Systema Stick Training Seminar 1/10/2015

Tom Floyd of Floyd Systema & Karate Institute taught a Stick Training Seminar at Randal Smith’s dojo.  Here’s Tom’s YouTube channel: Floyd Systema Kyusho

The focus was not so much using a stick (jo) as a weapon but to use the stick as a tool to increase your flexibility and strength. It gave me a whole new perspective on using the stick, which I am used to calling a jo.

Tom showed some very effective exercises. Such as wrapping your leg around the stick and using the leverage created by the stick to increase your flexibility, balance and range of motion. You wrap your leg around the stick and push or pull, depends on what side of the leg you are doing, towards the ground. The movement stretches your leg muscles and opens your hips. I can feel the muscles, ligaments and femural heads opening up and moving. Hard to explain without pictures diagramming it.

Tom showed a shoulder exercise that helped in stretching out the shoulder muscles and laying the scapulars flat on you back. In the exercise,you grab the stick and put it behind your back while going to your knees and not compromising your grip. What happens is that you chicken bone yourself and create the stretch. Then move your head to the side to increase the stretch.

There was also a nikkyo exercise that Tom showed where you hold the stick and do a nikkyo on yourself. You grab the opposite end of the stick and use the leverage to really dig into the nikkyo, stretching those muscles to new points. Doing this stretch causes not just your wrist and supporting muscles to get a good stretch but it also gets your whole forearm.

There was a lot more that was taught. I only listed three of the things that I now use in my daily solo practice. I hope to be posting a video of this seminar which will show lots of good information.