Lesson 18 steps into advanced territory with an advanced nunchaku combination performed with a pair of chain sticks. This is the beginning of what Alex calls the upper echelon of practice, and it links a palm bounce, a grip change, and a full-body spin into one flowing sequence.
The Starting Position
The combination begins one-handed, with the sticks held in the dominant hand. For a right-handed practitioner, that is the right hand, holding the nunchaku upside down at the cross hip. That cross-hip position is where everything starts and where several parts of the sequence return.
The Palm Bounce
From the starting position, the sticks travel all the way around the waist, to the back, and arrive at the same hip on the back side. At the same time, the palm of the off-hand comes down by the left hip, and the stick bounces off of it.
The bounce is gentle. It is a small, controlled tap off the palm rather than a hard strike. Nice and gentle, a little bounce — and then the sticks are ready to continue.
Grip Change and Spin Up
From the bounce, the sticks come right back to the same hip. When they arrive, you perform a grip change: invert the grip at the hip, let go with the right hand, and spin up into a left fighting position.
That gives you the core rhythm of the combination — bounce, grip change, spin up. Once you have it on one side, you switch to the opposite fighting position, a mirror image on the other side.
From there the sequence adds a near-side thigh wrap. You bounce it down and spin it back up with a loop. Then the sticks come out to the front together with a crisp little snap, and finally you clap the sticks together like chalkboard erasers, step together, and finish clean.
What Makes This Combination Advanced
Two details lift this sequence out of the beginner and intermediate range.
The Bounce Is an Option Move
The first is the palm bounce, and it is what Alex calls an option move. You can go one of two directions with it.
You can bounce the stick off the palm and come right back the same direction, which is essentially a reversal. Or you can hold on to it instead of bouncing, let go with the dominant hand, spin it up, and travel the other way to the opposite side. In other words, you can go around the front or around the back.
That choice is the point. The same setup gives you two different directions to move in, which makes your practice less predictable and far more useful.
Power Comes From the Body, Not the Sticks
The second detail is the grip change, and it is where the real power lives. As you make the grip change, you rotate your entire body counterclockwise a full 360 degrees.
Alex describes this with an iceberg. Most of an iceberg’s mass sits beneath the surface, and only the tip shows above the water. Your body is the bottom of the iceberg, and the nunchaku are only the tip. As you turn your body, the centrifugal force from that rotation pours into the sticks.
When you do it right, you hardly need any arm power at all. The body provides the force, and the sticks take on a strange floating sensation, almost like they are moving on air. That feeling is how you know you are doing it correctly.
If you stand still and refuse to turn your body, you leave all of that power on the table — probably more power than the sticks could ever generate on their own.
How to Practice Lesson 18
An advanced combination should never be learned all at once. Break it into pieces and connect them only after each piece is clean:
- Practice the around-the-waist travel to the back hip.
- Isolate the gentle palm bounce.
- Work the grip change and spin up into the fighting position.
- Add the mirror to the opposite side.
- Practice the near-side thigh wrap with the loop.
- Add the front snap and the finishing clap.
- Practice the 360-degree body rotation on its own until the sticks feel weightless.
Spend the most time on the body turn. The bounce and the grip change are the mechanics, but the rotation is what makes the combination feel advanced.
Final Thoughts
Lesson 18 is your welcome to advanced practice. An advanced nunchaku combination like this one is not really about faster hands. It is about learning to move your body so the force flows into the sticks, and about seeing a single move as an option with more than one direction.
Break it into small sections, drill the body rotation until the nunchaku float, and above all, have fun with it.