Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

As I make clear in the video, some focus so much on the stick that they forget they have a check hand! The check hand can do so much, ranging from pushing, pulling, disarming, grabbing, hitting and displacing an opponent. How can you not use it to give yourself a decisive advantage? In this article, I discuss killer check hand drills.

I frequently see students not using their check hand, which makes my blood boil! So often, I tell them, “Come on, man! Use your check hand here!” Unfortunately, however, exhortations have largely not worked over the years.

At some point, I realized that I needed to teach my students developmental drills to develop their live hand. Therefore, two drills are presented in the below video. As I stressed in the video, these drills are not combative and are intended to develop check hand attributes.

If you are not able to view this video, click here.

Most of my students have found the first drill more challenging than the second one. Having your check hand doing something entirely different from the weapon hand can be difficult. Challenging indeed!

The key is to start slowly and deliberately. Focus on moving your hand from your training partner’s weapon hand to his check hand. Be patient. Take your time and gradually increase the speed of the drill. You’ll get it!

Many of my students love the 2nd drill as it feels more “combative” than the first one. Indeed, it could have combative applications from weapons and empty-hand perspectives. Still, the focus is on using the alive hand proactively. The proactive use starts with the heavy check and continues with defending against three punches.

At any point in the second drill, one has multiple options. What options do you see?

Also, can you see the applications of the 2nd drill in an empty-hand context? There are quite a few! Please comment if you know some applications!

On another note

I have revived a dormant YouTube Channel on my cochlear implant and related experiences, starting with this video.

Many of us faced challenges during this pandemic. Not being able to lipread when everyone is wearing masks has been a hell of a challenge for many deaf people and me. So check out my video and see another side of me!

To view the video, click here.

Inspiration

Click on the below video to catch a 15-second snippet of Brian Kelly’s halftime speech against Virginia Tech. If that doesn’t get you fired up, I don’t know what will. You don’t have to be an ND fan! What he says mirrors my life approach due to my deafness. 🙂

If you are not able to view the video, click here.

Additional Reading