The grip is simple and important, and is related to the nature of the weapon. I coach stick fighting, not staff fighting. Therefore the weapon is gripped in one hand.

Do not begin training with two sticks. It is not functional, is confusing, tends to open up your targets, and represents no likely survival scenario. In terms of competition double stick is regarded as the most demanding of the advanced stick-fighting sets.

Do train your off hand.

Use a hammer grip.

Do not let the thumb or forefinger act as a guide and ride up on the stick.

Do not let the thumb sit on top of the forefinger, but stack it above the tip of the forefinger against the stick when it wraps around.

The stick is gripped from 1 two 5 finger-widths from the butt.

Never grip a stick all the way to the butt, as a missed stroke can cause it to torque out of position, and even out of your hand.

12 to 15 inch sticks should be gripped one finger-width from the butt.

The following grips, expressed according to the distance from the pinkie to the butt, give two figures, the beginner’s grip, and the optimal grip. The optimal grip takes about six months of hand and forearm conditioning to achieve. This grip is considered optimal in that it permits maximum reach and power while minimizing loss of control. The farther your pinkie is from the butt of the stick the weaker the stroke will be and the less range it will have, and the more control you will have. This is two factors to one. [The FMA disarm factor is bullshit and will be addressed in another section.]

16-20 inch sticks are best gripped by the beginner with a two finger-width butt, and optimally by the expert with one finger-width.

22-24 inch sticks are a 3 beginner 1 advanced, or for thicker sticks [which are often cut to this length] a 3 beginner 2 advanced.

26-28 inch sticks are best trained initially with a 4 finger-width grip and reduced to a 2 finger-width grip.

29 to 32 inch sticks should be trained at five fingers—which is the hand and a finger space below the pinkie. How much you can functionally reduced the butt length has to do with conditioning and experience and depends on your skill level, your hand size, the stick thickness, and the weapon set. For instance wielding a heavy, thick, 32-inch stick with only a 1 or 2 finger-width butt puts a lot of lag time at the end of a slash. To get away with a short butt with a long stick it needs to be light, and you need to have excellent wrist action.

These recommendations are born of subjective experience, and are not absolute. You will find your optimal butt length for a given stick, and may adjust it for a given situation or opponent. Just don’t get hung up on having to have a full fist butt length so that you can do fancy disarms. Again, disarms—being the great BS factor in weaponry—will be discussed later.

In examining the optimal grip position for sticks of varying lengths, weights and thicknesses, observe the grip configuration of swords and machetes. Generally speaking, FMA styles that favor a short butt are really blade-based machete arts using the stick for training, and the styles that favor the full hand-width butt are demonstration styles focused on wowing martial artists at seminars and in class, or sporting styles focused on achieving point scoring disarms in organized matches.

The thumb and forefinger are the precision side of the hand. Keep these two digits loose to maintain supple weapon control and avoid broken fingers, fingers that grip tightly being more effectively smashed between your stick and his. When a blow lands, tightening the thumb and forefinger at the moment of impact adds force to strikes with the end of the stick and helps with weapon retention when the force of the stroke reverberates back through the butt and your hand. Most sticks are lost just after hitting an opponent with a loose hand that was not flexed at the right moment because the blow was not timed.

The strength fingers, that are held tightly, are the middle finger and the ring finger.

If the tip of the middle finger cannot touch the muscle at the base of your thumb [the fleshy bottom of the palm] than that stick is too thick for optimal dexterous handling and retention of the weapon. Sticks of such thickness should be used in training after the forearms have been developed. If using a weapon of this thickness extend the butt length to compensate and know that your grip will fatigue more quickly.

If the tip of the middle finger touches, but the ring finger does not, then use the beginner grip.

If the tip of the ring finger touches then use the advanced grip.

The pinkie finger is the closer. It pulls with as much strength as the middle and ring fingers and should be tightened at the last moment to impart additional force.

Do not have a death grip on your stick unless he grabs it.

Hold a loose firm grip for maximum handling, power, and stamina. Losing grip strength, dexterity and integrity is disastrous in a stick fight and must be trained against.

When you stroke through and recover, do not open your hand. Loosen the top and bottom fingers to facilitate your recovering twirl, but do not commit the ‘Majorette Sin’ or the Stick Gods will punish you when the rattan hits the man fan.