Quarterstaff techniques

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Here I draw on medieval treatises, re-enactment experience, and kung fu to talk about various ways in which a quarterstaff can be used. Fans of Hollywood and Victorian depictions of Little John may be disappointed.
Lindybeige: a channel of archaeology, ancient and medieval warfare, rants, swing dance, travelogues, evolution, and whatever else occurs to me to make.
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Quarterstaff techniques
/ user "Lindybeige"

[@cygil1]

And the moral is, "Always beware the false edge strike" -- even on a quarterstaff with no edges.

[@ll2240]

No edge is the only true false edge

[@willek1335]

After having watching nearly the whole video... I just realized how entertained I am by looking at an instructional video of something I will never have any practical use of or even do my self. I'm still enthusiastically click your videos for reasons I have no idea.

[@falkharvard8722]

This is my 5th video on sticks today 😂

[@ll2240]

Even dogs know sticks are cool!!!

[@VidarrKerr]

Just wait, you'll be using a cane soon enough -if not already. (Five years ago.)

[@2Worlds_and_InBetween]

yeah Never

[@MajorSebbaa]

I agree, Arthurian Society is a superior name.

[@Ave_Satana666]

here here i second the notion

[@johanmetreus1268]

So not the Authorian Society?

[@Milamberinx]

Should be named Boudica's Cabinet

[@EnEmerson]

Not a quarterstaff, but similar idea: A general rule of outdoor survival is that if you are going to make a walking stick or hunting spear, you should always use a branch that's taller than yourself so you don't accidentally impale yourself on the pole. I'm sure this premise can be brought over to quarterstaves, making the assumption that the staff should be around 1 foot taller than the user a feasible and reasonable solution.

[@seikibrian8641]

I practice Japanese martial arts, and we use staves of various lengths: the bo (also known as the rokushakubo), which is about 6 shaku (feet) long; the jo, which is about 4 feet in length (The SMR "standard" jo is exactly 4.21 shaku); and the hanbo (half bo), which is 3 feet long. Being considerably taller than the average Japanese of the Edo period, my personal weapons are based on my body dimensions, rather than standard units: my bo is one "head" taller than I am, my jo comes up to my armpits, and my hanbo is half the length of my bo.

[@Bipbiprna]

A walking stick taller than oneself would be really impractical. From my experience the ideal walking stick length is between waist height and shoulder height.

[@seikibrian8641]

@@Bipbiprna In Japan, long walking sticks are common, especially among mendicant monks. See for example: i.pinimg.com/originals/42/18/61/4218615a3f52d4a0e2c354076ac46922.jpg and: l7.alamy.com/zooms/69af4ee124994f95809688606e24306a/buddhist-pilgrim-monk-near-the-kiyomizu-dera-temple-in-kyoto-japan-be68x9.jpg

[@recklessroges]

Thank you for this. I like everything that you are saying here, (Arthurian society *is* much better!) As an archaeologist I wanted to add context: During the time when this weapon was popular, the majority of soldiers were farmers. For people in a re-enactment society it can be hard to imagine just how strong the grip of a man who grows up working the fields.. with his hands, can be. The "double down" hold does have the "thumb weakness" for those that have never wrestled with livestock. It does not take long to find, with an animal that is larger than you, that there are times to force and times to give. If you give with your weaker hand the dominant hand becomes a fulcrum. It is interesting, (and quite natural) for a weapon's technique to adapt to the user; the danger is presuming that everyone is like us.

[@demomanchaos]

"I seem to have strayed from my point" The line and its delivery made me laugh FAR harder than I probably should have.

[@MisterX524]

If you were my history teacher I would have probably chosen history in my subjects

[@sukotsutoCSSR]

How the "both palms facing down" grip works? Use you legs - use it a lot. One palm up and one palm down, while ideal for range and strikes that cover a lot more ground, limits the stick movement to one side of your body, while the former grip allows more neutral stances that can have the opponent guessing which side of the staff will strike. It's perfect when it's a little too close for polearm range, and you can make quick upward parries and downward strikes. You can pressure the opponent by striking and parrying in quick succession at a closer range in this manner. Of course, you have to revert to a polearm grip when disengaged and at afar. In the context of boxing, using the polearm grip is akin to someone fighting from the outside, jabbing, crossing, and making occasional hooks; the both palms downward grip is a lot like a boxer fighting up close, who covers up while throwing those brutal hooks and uppercuts to overwhelm the opponent. This took a while to type, as I had a cat sleeping on one arm.

[@Nurk0m0rath]

Something else that lindy didn't mention here (but which *is* demonstrated in the treatise pictures he shows) is that you can still slide your hands around in the two palms down grip, and even switch from two palms down to one-and-one very rapidly. For instance you could still do the battering ram thrust he talked about with two palms down, or you could slide your hands up to strike with the back end if you found that advantageous. And on the flip side of that, you can still hold the polearm at thirds using a polearm grip defensively, or use that shorter bit below your hands to block and thrust with and force someone back into pole range. But yes, generally speaking, I've found the polearm grip better for range and the other grip better for in close. The thing I really like about this device is its sheer versatility. It may not be as good at cracking helmets open as more specialized polearms, but it can do a hell of a lot of things from any given position, and the element of surprise inherent in this type of weapon makes opponents leery of fighting you, because they don't know what you're liable to do. A shove, a thrust, a flurry of attacks from both ends, a massive hammer-strike...the list goes on. To be honest, I think the only reason the quarterstaff *wasn't* a battlefield weapon is because, by the time armor developed to a point they didn't need shields to protect you from a hail of arrows, it had developed beyond the point that a quarterstaff would do much good against a similarly-armored opponent. But on the other hand, if you put pointy or slashy bits on the end of a staff, well, it can stab or smack things more effectively but still be a staff.

[@kh3rb]

The one palm facing down and one up is not predictable like you say, to strike the other way ur supposed to let go 1 hand and strike with 1 hand, while it may seem that since ur swinging with 1 hand is weaker its actually stronger.

[@webbowser8834]

@@Nurk0m0rath I imagine that's part of it. I imagine that another part of it is that it's not particularly hard to go from a quarterstaff to a pointed spear, which is almost just as versatile as a quarterstaff while being far more effective against armored opponents. Obviously, the spear was one of the earliest weapons of war and remained relevant even as firearms started catching on. When it comes to melee weapons of war, it's really really difficult to top the effectiveness and cost efficiency of the spear.

[@beenright5115]

It is this that i came looking in the comments for. That last sentence was just extra icing on top! Great! Thank you!

[@knight2battle]

Musashi beaten all his opponents but lost to a man with a stick... he even beaten his strongest rival with a stick,and he died with a stick... the power of the stick man...

[@Trusseck]

I'm pretty sure he died of cancer.

[@knight2battle]

***** i said he died with a stick,not died because of a stick..

[@pinz2022]

That would be the legend of Musō Gonnosuke Katsuyoshi. He dueled Musashi with a long bo, was defeated, spared by Musashi and went into seclusion for several years, meditating and eventually devising a shorter stick ("jo") and a new set of techniques. He got a rematch and this time won against Musashi's two swords but spared him in his turn.

[@seikibrian8641]

@@knight2battle "i said he died with a stick,not died because of a stick.." And what, exactly, does "died with a stick" mean? You're being dishonest, I think, in pretending that you didn't mean he was killed by a stick-wielding opponent.

[@Sk0lzky]

And I don't think so. But it definitely doesn't mean died to a stick.

[@Arrowdodger]

I can definitely see how that trick would catch someone, as humans are very reliant on patterns. It's easy to see where they'd become overconfident in their ability to read you, and where you could take advantage of their expectations

[@Arrowdodger]

Cernel Joson If you're confident in your ability to guard against them, if they are of relatively similar skill to you, it could pay off, but yeah, it's certainly risky in a lot of situations

[@thousandyardstare3821]

Part of fighting is learning your opponents patterns, so if you can bait them into thinking they have found a weakness in your guard then you can exploit that. It is a large part of what goes on when skilled opponents compete against one another. No one is perfect, even a master of an art can have tendencies. And tendencies can be exploited. As Lloyd pointed out, they can also be feigned as a part of your strategy.

[@KingdomOfDimensions]

The whole point of trying to identify patterns is so you can react quicker to them, which is usually an advantage. That's why a technique like this is so nefarious; the opponent beats themselves because they end up reacting too quickly to you switching to a defensive stance.

[@MonkeyJedi99]

I call pattern tricks "The Rule of Three". You do something twice, and start it a third time, and a lesser opponent will expect the pattern to continue, but the third time is where you switch it up and get a good hit in.

[@simonspacek3670]

Similar tricks work in every fight. If you can make your opponent confident about situation, he will just step in your swing. I used that many times in fencing. I was victim of those tricks too. Some of them are easy and can be used again and again (with small variations), some works only once. But if you have trick which works at anyone once, and it is kill move, you do not need much more in real fight, because everyone will see it for first time.

[@NATESOR]

who is perry and why is always fighting people?

[@tylerderden7552]

+Perry McGlashan his name is Robert Paulson

[@Amigo21189]

Percival Parry is the single greatest defensive melee fighter in human history, and has since had his name applied to his signature maneuver. :P

[@HumanoidCableDreads]

It is a city in France

[@seikibrian8641]

"who is perry and why is always fighting people?" He's the grandfather of Will, whom people are always firing at.

[@michaelu3055]

He's Perry... Perry the platypus!!!

[@BoyKissBoy]

This was really fun to see, because I practised Aikido before, and we trained with jo-staffs, which are basically rather short quarterstaffs. We only trained specific moves, and never free form fighting, so it was really cool to see that someone who learnt the quarterstaff mostly through re-enactment fighting is doing very much of the same thing as what we were doing! :) It must be really fun to actually spar with staffs!

[@cryhavoc9748]

Since you are our instructor, I guess that makes you a "Quartermaster"

[@caelanritter6995]

I now have the tendency to listen very closely to your videos for rhyming . . . .

[@andrewcaliff7830]

9:17 Great technique! I agree that establishing that familiarity is a good move, as long as you can protect yourself effectively.

[@oliversmith9200]

Here in Norman Oklahoma we have the longest running free annual Medieval Fair in the U.S. Imaginatively called "The Medieval Fair", I mention because a major organizing and performance entity thereof is called the "Arthurian Order of Avalon". At your mention of your "Arthurian Society" I thought, Arthur's name is sooo available and admired. Imagine the number of organizations to which the once and future king has had his name ascribed. Myriads! ...Few to none chartered or arthurized.

[@brianfuller7691]

Good video Sir. Always interesting to see staff techniques.

[@danzigrulze5211]

Those plates from the treaties you put on there made me really laugh, it just looks so funny.

[@KRONIK3636]

This is the 2nd Quarter Staff vid on your channel I have watched & I have thoroughly enjoyed watching them, I trained in Traditional Northern Shaolin Kung Fu for many years, & I was 4 time Oceania silver medalist in Toalo (forms - empty hand, Shaolin Staff & Chinese Broad Sword) with Staff being my favourite weapon, & I'm very interested & impressed with your technique as they are combat solid! Great vids man! Subscription added! cheers 😊

[@tylerderden7552]

I love this guy his knowledge and enthusiasm with a pinch of eccentricity is astounding. bravo sir

[@TheClassicalSauce]

Awesome feint move Llloyd. I remember doing something similar with one handed swords, where I would hold my elbow very close to my hip while fighting, and give the impression that my reach was much shorter than it really was. When the opponent came to the conclusion that I couldn't hit him from that distance, I would fully extend my arm and lunge, adding another foot or two to my attack. It was a devastating attack, and could even work on the same opponent multiple times depending on whether or not they figured out what I was doing with my elbow. Fun times. As a side note, my friend was excellent with the quarterstaff and he was indeed very difficult to hit when he went into the defensive position, and you always had to watch out for those quick reverse strikes from either end. The quarterstaff is a great weapon when used properly. I personally have no talent for it, preferring axe (or sword) and shield, but I found out early not to underestimate it the unassuming staff.

[@TheMrpotatoes1]

Awesome more quarterstaff videos! I've been wondering about these things for awhile.

[@jamesragsdale3069]

Fun and knowledgeable and have good side stories. Love it.

[@michaelmagliaro3463]

I am really enjoying these quarterstaff video's.

[@cryhavoc9748]

A carpenter friend of mine was building a staircase in a rich man's house. Through him, I traded for a one inch diameter, Brazilian Black cherry staff. Not as thick in diameter as the staff you are demonstrating with....but that baby is stout, and beautiful. I go one palm up and one palm down, mostly falling back on Army bayonet techniques. As long as I am not fighting someone armed with a firearm, I will prevail.

[@RonanMacQuarrie]

I've done something similar to that trick technique you talked about in knife sparring and it works very well. Getting someone to fall into a pattern and then breaking it does catch them off guard quite easily.

[@OneTrueMink]

We all know the only true way to use a quarterstaff (or a buck and a quarter quarter staff) "Ho! Ha ha! Guard! Turn! Parry! Dodge! Spin! Ha! Thrust!" - Daffy Duck

[@Hidole555]

Oh my god these techniques videos are even better than the historical ones. Please do more!

[@JakHC]

Footnote; With the downward swing disarming discussion, if you can see that coming, the easiest thing to do is to loosen the grip on one hand and allow it to swing freely while changing your posture.

[@Cosmoline]

The weakness I found with alternated hands is this--you cannot alternate as quickly between high and low guards. Stand in a plow-type stance with alternated grips, then switch to ox instantly. You can't, because you have to flip your hand position and that takes a critical moment. So within the system that evolved from longsword, it makes a lot of sense to hold pole-arms with both hands knuckles-up. This allows fast transitions from right, left, ox, plow, near guard, and so on. If you're not using this system, other things may be more critical.

[@octopodesrex]

English Settlement Society sounds like an awesome new wave band!

[@JazzJackrabbit]

Then there is the Dutch way of doing this: thrust a spike into the quarterstaff, and call it a good day

[@TheApocalypticKnight]

You should speak more about how exposed are the hands, they are extremely vulnerable in staff fighting.

[@RusticKey]

Pretty sure there must be some kind of padded gloves worn when fighting with a staff.

[@SirKickz]

RusticKey Perhaps, but padded gloves aren't going to stop a solid staff strike or sword cut, and good fighters will intentionally target your hands when they can't get close enough to target your body or face.

[@RusticKey]

Graidon Mabson True. Maybe I'll just leave my trust to them and believe that they have the skill to dodge those attacks. lol

[@SirKickz]

RusticKey Well, it's mostly a matter of being aware of your grip and being careful parrying. You have to not only pay attention to where the strike is going to land, you have to pay attention to which direction it's going to deflect off your parry.

[@eliechallita]

Not much you can do about that though, except for constant re-positioning and being aware of where your opponent is striking.

[@ThanksIhateyoutoo]

The jokes at the end are probably the greatest thing about these videos.(and his stop motion stuff) lol.

[@davidmichael7986]

The stalemate joke was brilliant!

[@TheDTagz]

Very informative and entertaining.

[@Zamandu]

Hey, my D&D monk uses a quarterstaff! My group just started the second installment of our epic adventure lthis week!

[@DarthTaterson]

This comment is not exactly related to this particular video but i would just like to say that I love how interesting and insightful you are and im glad i subscribed sir!

[@robocop0647]

This guy would be really fun to talk to in person.

[@chrisp.2852]

Your group makes newbies use staffs and daggers? Fun.. those are my favorite weapons to use.

[@yoco93cro]

I love your trick about fooling your enemy, gave me something to think about

[@kylelantan9220]

My thoughts with using the quarterstaff in a spear like grip, is, it's safer, and more advantageous when you don't need to hit someone particularly hard. I.E. Reenactment/LARP etc. But if you were trying to say smash a brigand on the head through his helmet, the thirds grip allows you a bit more strength should you need it. I do recall seeing a video on The Modern Rogues channel where they are cautioned that they are using the real weapon (as opposed to a training sword say) He demonstrates this by having them whack at a watermelon in a helmet with a sword, then with the quarterstaff, and the staff broke the melon but the sword did not. So it may be that given the training for quarterstaves in those days were designed for it to be lethal might be why most of them are the thirds grips rather than the spear/poleaxe style grip.

[@denkeylee]

Great Vid. Love Ya man

[@frailty1288]

'its got a bit more punch than say.. a punch' Lloyd I love you

[@stanhootzz1904]

Thank you fer the share sir!

[@ultrahevybeat]

Oh, your humor so so funny i love it

[@umidontno040394]

Talk about Lars Anderson archery video that came out recently.

[@kaimamoonfury1335]

I like your disclaimer in the beginning. To use a different word to make the point, Kata really just means what came before you, or what works. A lot of techniques of many martial styles came about from experimentation and practice, established doctrine should never be the be all end all of combat form.

[@Scribblersys]

Man, all this quarterstaffing makes me want to play a monk.

[@MrPatrick7777]

I found the double palm up grasp very useful...for carrying baskets or pails of water.

[@tonyrush2144]

great video

[@bukay5861]

I need to sleep, but I see a subject Lindy has talked about that I never even thought about before but am now interested in

[@acrobaticalpaca6675]

When you realise the music from the end of the other quarter staff videos leads on to the start of this one if you time it right

[@jfbenven]

Both-down grip, known as Sakate n Bojutsu is also very useful for changing guard from right to left WITHOUT changing grip, as every change of grip is a risk of being knock of your staff by a surprise blow. It is a secure grip but not the most versatile.

[@TNPnl]

I did this once with my 12 year old son who was doing Aikido - the little bollix's first hit was to my knuckles with a big smile - " our teacher said always finish a fight as quickly as possible " .. I suspect the staff is a bit thinner because a good ash staff is flexible and gives that extra bit of speed with a hit. See Irish sport of hurling ;-) . Keep up the Good work ....

[@saxonsoldier67]

+TNPnl I've the seen the sport of hurling outside of bars/pubs, but I suspect that kind of hurling is not what you had in mind. Barf.

[@MRKapcer13]

60% of the time, your move worked all the time.

[@ferrakk7959]

That doesn't make any sense.

[@BurningSunBloodyMoon]

Ferrakk Donkari I believe it's a reference to some sort of meme.

[@MRKapcer13]

BurningSunBloodyMoon "That doesn't make any sense" is actually the response to it xD It's from anchorman. You can look up the scene easily enough on KZbin.

[@JaayCeez]

@@ferrakk7959 That makes so much perfect sense, it's great 😂😂. I love that comment lolol.

[@y.z.6517]

Technical, it makes sense. Your move worked (60% * 100%) of time. Well, acutally, no. We don't know how often did your move work the other 40% of time. What if it worked 100% of time as well?

[@a64738]

Looks like a very good less then lethal weapon to chase away thugs with :)

[@Dismemberizerify]

It looks like he suddenly woke up and decided to make a video about quarterstaff techniques

[@flashgordon6670]

@9:00 medieval spiderman and green goblin, that'd be a cracking film.

[@justtim9767]

When you spoke about having a "reasonably long stick" I got a woody.

[@Xanatos712]

Neat little trick, I'll try it myself if we ever do staff sparring.

[@Axis.Mundis.]

Robin Hood and little John running through the forest Jumping fences, dodging arrows trying to get away Contemplating nothing but escape and finally making it Oo-de-lally, oo-de-lally, golly, what a day

[@Xaxp]

Never thought of that last technique. Interesting...

[@Psiberzerker]

Robin Hood v Little John is largely about Context. It's generally depicted on a bridge, or log across a river, or stream. So, the contest was one of Balance, and it's usually played out with the Tight-Rope stance. Makes sense. However, because that's the only historical use of quarterstaffs of note, it's assumed from there that this is how they were used, everywhere, all the time. It's the walking stick, arguably the only weapon in human history to compete with the spear, which is a staff upgraded with a pointy end. To this day, you can still see power walkers, and hikers carrying them in case of dog, or bush pervert attack.

[@tbobay]

Very interesting. I trained in Japanese martial arts, one of the most common weapons being the 6' staff. There are quite a lot of similarities between what you show and how we do it.

[@kevinmencer3782]

Form follows function. A room full of monkeys with typewriters will eventually produce the works of Shakespeare.

[@dmfaccount1272]

Very interesting from someone studying traditional kobudo Bo techniques. Some similarity. Not often do you hold the Bo both hands down, usually one and one up and down. But we do use the grips that split the Bo into 3rds.

[@patricks1560]

As they say, speak softly and carry a big stick. Little John would approve this message. Ha!

[@AngloSaxon1]

Where do you train ? I would like to see some training videos.

[@FerretJohn]

And don't forget the classic quarterstaff technique: Ho! Ha Ha! Guard! Turn! Parry! Dodge! Spin! Ha! Thrust!!

[@melvinmayfield470]

Bravo!!

[@HolTukIj]

Wing Chun, eh? Great stuff.

[@enscroggs]

In the wake of his "Musketeers" film(s) Richard Fleischer directed a treatment of Mark Twain's "The Prince and the Pauper" which was released in the US with the absurd title of "Crossed Swords." It's really worth seeing on account of the superb cast (excepting the way-too-old-for-Edward-VI Mark Lester). There are two quarterstaff fight sequences in the film, and both show the use of the underhand-overhand grip. One difference I saw is the "en garde" position. In the film the staff is held with one end high supported by the underhand grip, making the staff trace the hip-shoulder diagonal line. Fleischer knew and employed some excellent fight choreographers, btw.

[@badweetabix]

Lloyd, you would have loved learning North White Crane staff because everything you said about how the staff is held with hands/palms in different facing along with the only time when holding with both palms in the same facing is for an upward strike or block is exactly how we train. We also hold it at 1/3 length, too. Since you "discovered" our secret, you must now join us and have your forearms branded with depictions of a dragon and a tiger by lifting a burning red hot cauldron with your forearms - oh, wait ,that's a tv series. Never mind.

[@ZGryphon]

Trained with the dagger and the quarterstaff? So... you were all wizards?

[@rashkavar]

Heh, nice. That said, there's good logic behind those choices as starters: quarterstaff training teaches you to know where all of a long weapon is, which is critical for using long weapons, while avoiding having anything at the end that can do undue amounts of damage due to poor control. Daggers, on the other hand, are good for teaching edge alignment, because they don't have the weight that large swords have that can let them cut fairly effectively even if edge alignment is poor. Those two skills are fundamental to using swords properly, and the tip awareness is very important for all polearms as well.

[@nate6466]

The situation mentioned at about 2:30 actually happened to me while sparring once, only not only was it knocked from my hands, the staff was broken in half. We were using rattan staffs for safety, but the offending staff was also rattan, and broke right through mine.

[@AeolethNionian]

Half staffing is also good for grappling. Also you can slide your hand to generate range and more powerful strikes.

[@jancello]

As far as I know, in Mair's treatise the short and long staff are also intended as training weapons for the spear and the pike, hence the focus on thrusts and the less versatile grip. E.g. all the techniques end with a thrust of the "foremost point".

[@RobotsPajamas]

I'm learning Kobudo and changing grips on the bo is pretty much part of all the training so far. You want to move your hands around the bo to give you the appropriate length of bo for all your attacks and defensive moves. The palms down grip we've used against open hand (opponents fighting with their fists) and all the weapon vs bo stuff we've used one palm down and one palm up (spear like manner). And yep, having one palm down and one up helps when someone tries to knock your bo out of your hands.

[@tylerderden7552]

do you have someone who chooses the bo's? I'd do it but I wanna call myself bo selecta

[@martyb999]

It looks like there’s a bit of attempted “Frenching” going on at 9:15.The guy on top, well up for it, the guy underneath…not so much?

[@daver5120]

ARTHUR: Old woman! DENNIS: Man! ARTHUR: Man. Sorry. What knight lives in that castle over there? DENNIS: I'm thirty-seven. ARTHUR: I-- what? DENNIS: I'm thirty-seven. I'm not old. ARTHUR: Well, I can't just call you 'Man'. DENNIS: Well, you could say 'Dennis'. ARTHUR: Well, I didn't know you were called 'Dennis'. DENNIS: Well, you didn't bother to find out, did you? ARTHUR: I did say 'sorry' about the 'old woman', but from the behind you looked-- DENNIS: What I object to is that you automatically treat me like an inferior! ARTHUR: Well, I am king! DENNIS: Oh king, eh, very nice. And how'd you get that, eh? By exploiting the workers! By 'anging on to outdated imperialist dogma which perpetuates the economic and social differences in our society. If there's ever going to be any progress-- WOMAN: Dennis, there's some lovely filth down here. Oh! How'd you do? ARTHUR: How do you do, good lady. I am Arthur, King of the Britons. Who's castle is that? WOMAN: King of the who? ARTHUR: The Britons. WOMAN: Who are the Britons? ARTHUR: Well, we all are. We are all Britons, and I am your king. WOMAN: I didn't know we had a king. I thought we were an autonomous collective. DENNIS: You're fooling yourself. We're living in a dictatorship. A self- perpetuating autocracy in which the working classes-- WOMAN: Oh, there you go, bringing class into it again. DENNIS: That's what it's all about. If only people would hear of-- ARTHUR: Please, please good people. I am in haste. Who lives in that castle? WOMAN: No one live there. ARTHUR: Then who is your lord? WOMAN: We don't have a lord. ARTHUR: What? DENNIS: I told you. We're an anarcho-syndicalist commune. We take it in turns to act as a sort of executive officer for the week. ARTHUR: Yes. DENNIS: But all the decision of that officer have to be ratified at a special bi-weekly meeting-- ARTHUR: Yes, I see. DENNIS: -- by a simple majority in the case of purely internal affairs-- ARTHUR: Be quiet! DENNIS: -- but by a two-thirds majority in the case of more major-- ARTHUR: Be quiet! I order you to be quiet! WOMAN: Order, eh? Who does he think he is? Heh. ARTHUR: I am your king! WOMAN: Well, I didn't vote for you. ARTHUR: You don't vote for kings. WOMAN: Well, how did you become king then? ARTHUR: The Lady of the Lake,... [angels sing] ...her arms clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water signifying by Divine Providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. [singing stops] That is why I am your king! DENNIS: Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony. ARTHUR: Be quiet! DENNIS: Well, but you can't expect to wield supreme executive power just 'cause some watery tart threw a sword at you! ARTHUR: Shut up! DENNIS: I mean, if I went 'round saying I was an emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away! ARTHUR: Shut up, will you. Shut up! DENNIS: Ah, now we see the violence inherent in the system. ARTHUR: Shut up! DENNIS: Oh! Come and see the violence inherent in the system! Help, help! I'm being repressed! ARTHUR: Bloody peasant! DENNIS: Oh, what a give-away. Did you hear that? Did you hear that, eh? That's what I'm on about. Did you see him repressing me? You saw it, didn't you?

[@DevilsAdvocateofnazareth]

very Python-esque!

[@dillonscott921]

Dave R One of the far more entertaining comments you come across these days, I applaud your comedic efforts good sir

[@daver5120]

***** Eki Eki Eki Patang Zooboing

[@daver5120]

***** I. Have. To. Push. The. Pram a lot!...

[@daver5120]

***** Armaments Chapter 2 verses 9-21: And Saint Attila raised the hand grenade up on high saying: Oh Lord, bless this thy hand grenade that with it thou mayst blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy.

[@romangalo3395]

the way people usually hold their quarterstaffs exposes their fingers almost completely. If you loose your guard, you can get hit right into your knuckles. Imagine getting whacked into your fingers with the full force of a heavy wooden stick... ouch

[@OutOfPrintGM]

more please :D

[@huntergray3985]

Mrs Beige: Lindy! What have you done with the front room curtain rail?

[@JohnDoe-on6ru]

I thought your special move at the end was going to be a groin strike or something :D

[@The_Custos]

The grounding staff can also go into an upward under-thrust, and you can, if they really try to push in, push very hard into their chest with the non-grounded end of a decent length 6.5 to 7 foot staff while it is grounded. They counter by using distance and spear techniques.

[@VidarrKerr]

You guys have fun together.... My full-staff is reserved for the other S only.

[@Kerbezena]

"I seem to have stryed from my point." 😂😂😂 Oh, Lloyd! 😄

[@halsaufschneider1446]

Yes, I want you to try, staying waaay over there. That would be in the middle of the wall. And I can only imagine, it would look like something similar to the "Thing" & "The Philadelphia Experiment" embed into a solid wall... with stick & splinters

[@AlexThomson1000]

Ah but now everyone knows and your little trick will never work again! What have you done Lindybeige!?

[@bobcornholio7805]

Haha who else thought at 5:30 that he looked like bilbo baggins?

[@Philipos6]

You mentioned Wing Chun! Aaaa :D

[@CrimsonVocals]

My favorite long pole technique involves using both short and long lengths in conjunction with each other. By holding it like a spear but keeping a good amount of the length behind me, and I've always imagined it to be like fighting with the butt of the spear, I can attack and defend from the short distance. By using an aggressive flourish I can typically force my opponent to retreat to a small extent, out of the way of the short end I'm holding by their reckoning, and just when they've moved back a distance I can flip the pole over top, as if I were bringing the spear head down on their head, and they are suddenly in range again. It is much easier to show than it is to explain in text I'm starting to think, and I'm afraid I haven't made much sense, but I have found this technique to be effective.

[@MonkeyJedi99]

I learned a move in LARPing that we called "Slow Poke" where you slowly thrust at the center of mass. With light one-handed LARP weapons versus a strong grip (1 or 2 hand) opponents fell victim to it over and over again. The counter was to take a step back, but few people ever figured that out. In non-LARP settings, I suppose you could use the Slow Poke to push them away and/or off balance once you make contact.

[@tayfischer3029]

well i mean a truely good move only NEEDS to work once

[@sirwhiteout]

The Choy Lay Fut style of kung fu (contemporary to Wing Chun) uses both grips: both palms down and one down, one up. Some forms use a single grip throughout, others alternate. There are also different lengths, but most forms use the standard 6-ft staff, alternating the grips.

[@ME-hm7zm]

I think I may lift that "HEAD" drill; thanks!

[@nishanthsurendran7721]

You've got a stick in your hands? Swing away whatever way serves you best!

[@SvdB1992]

It's a very good thing that you don't make your videos in 3D and that my screen doesn't show them in 3D... Also, thank you for all your great and interesting videos and the lovely way you bring them :)

[@d512634]

Please do the most interesting man in the world pose. I'm going to take a screenshot.

[@lindybeige]

I had to Google for that.

[@wmgthilgen]

The issue isn't the ability to learn the techniques, it's the ability to walk around in general public carrying one. Though one can perform the same techniques with a Jo, due to it considerable shortness than a bo, is accepted as a walking stick, I've installed a silver butt figurhead on one end and a convention cane rubber cap on the other. I live in a major metropolitian area and have since switching from bo to jo. Have not had any issues. Many of the techniques you show here can also be performed with a good wooden walking cane.