Nunchaku Workshop in Workington

Yesterday (11th Feb), we held our first members' workshop of 2024 for our adult and teen members, on the fundamentals of Nunchaku!

Most people will know about nunchaku, as it was made popular from the 1970’s by the movie star, Bruce Lee. However, it had been used as a traditional weapon on Okinawa for much longer.

Whilst the majority of its use nowadays is based on aesthetic performance for display and entertainment, its original design and intent was much more practical!

In this special workshop, we shared with participants the three practical purposes of Nunchaku and a series of kihon-waza…fundamental striking, swinging and rotating techniques.

We covered an introduction to the nunchaku, component parts, including history and uses, nunchaku safety advice and pre-training checks, warm ups and preparatory exercises, the three practical purposes of nunchaku, a series of fundamental techniques including strikes, swings and rotations, plus some tips for home practice.

As well as practicing for general interest or historical purposes, training with Nunchaku also provides a valuable insight into flexible weapon control, circular movement principles and body awareness...which are all excellent attributes to help our regular karate practice!

It was a great day and everyone came away both smiling and energised, with plenty of new learning to practice!

Big thanks to everyone who came along to support the event and also to The Cumbria Academy for Autism for the kind use of their training hall.

Given the popularity of this workshop, we will look to hold our second of the year in a few months time...with another topic to help supplement and enhance our standard karate curriculum 👍