Lesson 17 covers a waist technique, and the key to the whole thing is one detail: a control-hand grip that sits on top of the butt of the stick. It looks simple, but this single hand position is what makes your waistwork smooth, controlled, and ready to flow into everything else.
Setting Up the Starting Position
The technique begins with the nunchaku held in an inverted position. From there, the off-hand — the left hand for a right-handed practitioner — comes up and rests right on top of the butt end. You are essentially palming the butt of the stick.
Hold the sticks at about waist level and begin swinging them around your waist, wrapping them around the body. That is the starting technique in its most basic form.
What makes this position worth learning is the control it gives you. With the off-hand on top of the butt end, you can push and pull the sticks to the side. You can also step and move to the side at the same time. The hand on top is not just resting there for show. It is steering.
Why the Control-Hand Matters
Most waistwork problems come from a lack of control. The sticks travel around the body, but the practitioner has no way to guide them, so the movement drifts and the transitions look loose.
The control-hand fixes that. Because the off-hand is managing the butt end, you decide where the sticks go. You can shift them to the side, redirect them, and move your body with them instead of chasing them. This is exactly what makes the position so helpful for transitioning and for waist work in general.
Think of the control-hand as a steering wheel. The swinging stick provides the motion, but the hand on the butt end provides the direction.
The Variations
Once you are comfortable in the starting position, this one technique opens up into several variations. Alex walks through them in order, and they build naturally on top of one another.
Two-Handed Swing
The first variation is to grab the nunchaku with the second hand. Instead of leaving the off-hand palming the butt, you take that hand from the butt, grab the free stick, and swing around two-handed. This is the most controlled version and a good place to start.
One-Handed Swing
The second variation is to take the left hand completely off and swing around with one hand. Now the sticks travel around the waist with a single hand driving them. This asks for more control because you no longer have the off-hand to steer the butt end.
Releasing with the Opposite Hand
From there, you can let go with the bottom hand — the opposite hand — and continue swinging with the off-hand alone. This teaches you to keep the technique alive as you pass control from one hand to the other.
Adding a Loop and Moving
Once those feel natural, you can add a loop into the pattern and then start moving around. This is where the waist technique stops being a stationary drill and starts becoming real movement. The loop adds a change of direction, and moving your body turns the whole thing into something you can actually use in a form.
How to Practice Lesson 17
Because everything here grows out of one grip, the smartest way to practice is to build the variations in the same order Alex teaches them:
- Set the inverted grip and rest the off-hand on top of the butt end.
- Swing the sticks around the waist and practice pushing and pulling to the side with the control-hand.
- Add the two-handed grab and swing.
- Move to the one-handed swing.
- Practice releasing with the opposite hand and continuing with the off-hand.
- Add a loop, then start moving your body around.
Do not rush to the one-handed and loop variations. The control-hand is what makes all of them work, so spend real time on the push-and-pull steering before you take a hand away.
Final Thoughts
Lesson 17 is a short technique, but it carries a lot of value. A single control-hand grip on the butt end gives you command over the sticks, feeds directly into your waistwork, and branches out into two-handed, one-handed, looped, and moving variations.
It is versatile, it is beginner-friendly to start, and it rewards you the more you refine it. Add it to your repertoire, work the variations slowly, and you will feel your transitions get cleaner almost immediately.