The Disappearing Man

Reappearance

2011-02-27T22:28:00.002+02:00

Has it really been four months since my last post?

It seems that training has moved into a new phase for me. Of late, it's not been about flashes of insight or exciting new developments, but rather the slow, steady accumulation of training hours - refining what has been learned, going deeper in subtle ways that are difficult to describe and take a long time to show fruit.

Or perhaps I've simply plateaued, which is of course a common thing in any type of skill development.

Certainly I can't point to any dramatic development of late, but there are a few things worth sharing.

Firstly, a change to the SES interpretation of the play of punta falsa. As it stood, the original interpretation worked, with one caveat: it was done by the player. The Getty manuscript shows it as a scholar's play. Now, there are ways to argue around this, but Guy (on the plane home to Helsinki from a whirlwind teaching tour of Vancouver, Seattle and Toronto) has figured out how it works as a play of the scholar.

It starts with the player's opening blow being driven wide by the scholar's parry. At this point the scholar would usually riposte with a mandritto fendente to the arm, followed by a thrust. This can of course be parried by an alert player. If the player is indeed the sort, then the scholar may go to the play of the punta falsa by showing a strong mandritto mezano after his parry. This draws a strong parry from the player. The scholar then performs the play of punta falsa as before, except that it can now be done without a pass. The only footwork necessary is an acressere, and even that not always.

The new interpretation is therefore closer to the text, and even results in an end position more like the illustration, with the scholar further from the player than he would have if he had passed. It's convincing, it follows the text, it looks like the picture and it works. I'm sold.

The second interesting thing is freeplay. I've not been the biggest fan of freeplay. It's great when done right, but all too often it fulfills no good training goal, and ends up being either silly or dangerous or both.

However, the freeplay preparation seminar this last Saturday has changed my opinion. Freeplay is now merely one extreme of a spectrum of integrated training tools designed to diagnose, address and solve training problems.

The process is simple:

1. Basic drills, especially those one might be having particular problems with. Get them technically smooth.

2. Introduce degrees of freedom. Allow one party in the drill to have a choice of actions. The other must select and execute the proper response.

3. Competitive drills. Going back to a fixed drill, this time each party attempts to perform its action so well that the other is unable to counter it (so, to take 1st drill for example, one might do such a good parry-riposte that one's partner is unable to get his pommel strike).

4. Four-step freeplay. Free fencing, to no more than four actions in total. After the hit is scored, the participants and president reconstruct the hit, and figure out where any mistakes were made. Then the sequence is played out again, with the hit party correcting the flaw that led to his being hit.

5. Observe patterns of mistakes. This shows up specific technical and tactical problems that need to be fixed. Figure out how to address these problems.

6. Return to fixed drills to solve the problem, and continue the process from step 1.

This sequence is very useful to intermediate students who have basically learned most of the system and are able to execute the actions at a gross level. It's hard to get these things truly right and to get them to work under pressure conditions. Going through this process will help the student to improve, especially when there are other intermediates to work with.

The beauty of this is that it ties together all the drills that we do, and it gives us material to work with. Armed with our diagnoses, we can then go into basic classes and train with less experienced partners, and still train profitably. It's also very scalable; as long as there are two freeplay-qualified partners you can do it, but it works great if there are ten or twenty in a class as well - assuming sufficient space of course!

Anyway I had a very good session on Saturday just working on very basic stuff and getting it better. Special thanks to Mikko for pushing me hard. I need to get that kind of intensity in training and I rarely do, so it was a great opportunity to really get stuck in.

Freeplay

2010-10-27T01:03:00.004+03:00

More sword and buckler goodness... from the other side, that is.

Had a brilliant bout with Roland this evening, using our respective weapons - longsword for me, sword and buckler for him. One of the best bits of fencing I've ever done. Roland has a very open way of fencing, relaxed and free and generous. At one point we took a break and he started giving me tips on how to beat him! It made for an excellent learning experience - relaxed and playful, intense and focused all at once. Joyous, I believe, would be the right word.

On a more technical level, some things really stood out. Measure was one: a longsword has a reach advantage, and its wide measure is further out than that of the sword and buckler (with a caveat: depends on the arming sword, and the relative proportions of the fighters. Roland is tall and lanky, with a huge wingspan, and against me of the dinosaur arms, our reach was nearly equal). So the longsword's game is distance. If it allows the sword and buckler to close, it's pretty much dead meat... unless it can then advance to even closer measure and get to grappling range. That's not really a winning strategy but it's all you can do if the fight goes there. Happened more than once and I never really managed to make the grappling work. There were a couple of close ones but each time I would have been sliced and diced before I could get anything going.

Something else that may seem obvious but isn't in the heat of a bout: the buckler side is covered, so you're pretty much forced to go to the weapon side. There aren't many good ways of attacking the shield side. So I ended up having to slide to the left a whole lot. That made my movements more predictable, narrowing down the mental game for Roland. And that, of course, is exactly what you want, and a big part of why you carry a buckler in the first place.

And one more thing, the most immediately valuable insight for me: a lot lies in the setup and the approach. As Roland taught in his seminar, the schutzen are covers which occur in mezzo tempo as you enter fighting range. So they cover a particular line as you close. There was an interesting interplay where my being in certain guards would draw particular schutzen, which would also give me something of a key as to Roland's lines. I'm not technically skilled enough to take advantage of those keys consistently, but they were there. It's something that can be extended to any sword art. It gives a new sense to the notion of breaking the guards, at least for me - I'm well aware that for many people this is old hat.... but seeing it happen in a bout made it very real. Even better was realizing that there were things I could potentially do that would shape the engagement in my favour. Again, I don't have enough experience or technical ability to accomplish that, but at least the theory is making more sense to me in the light of this experience.

One pass that I was very pleased with: at one point I noticed that Roland's hand was sometimes coming up in front of his buckler, uncovered. I managed to time his motions and catch him with a thrust to the sword hand, dead to rights. It was one of the few times I've managed to do something like that - see a mistake, figure out what to do and then exploit it cleanly. All that training has actually made a difference! (Shock, horror)

Of course, that was one point... most of the proceedings involved me getting royally pasted. But it's a privilege to get to fence with somebody really good, who's got the right spirit and attitude to make it a good experience for everyone involved (not forgetting the spectators). It was a very nice bout and I enjoyed it tremendously. I also learned a lot.

As Guy said after, that's what freeplay is supposed to feel like. It's the pure, focused joy of doing something to the utmost of your ability, leaving it all out there and holding nothing back, and having your partner do the same. And at the end of the day, there's no win or lose, there's just the sheer happiness of doing the thing you love.

Sometimes training gets to be a bit routine, and sometimes there's a bit of a grind. But those times are necessary so that we can get to these highs, and when they come they're wonderful indeed. Good times.

Sword and Buckler Seminar by Roland Warzecha

2010-10-26T09:08:00.002+03:00

Oh my goodness, where to begin? Two days of physically and mentally intense training from one of the world's premier interpreters of sword and buckler fighting. It's been a while since I've really started on a new system, and although I've practiced some I.33 this really was like getting it anew. Making the strange familiar, and the familiar strange, as the saying goes.

Roland's take on I.33 is that it's masterclass stuff, meaning that what's in the treatise builds on a well-developed foundation in basic sword and buckler fighting. In his words, trying to use the treatise for basic training is like an amateur footballer trying to train with Real Madrid. The assumed level of ability is already pretty high, and what it gives is tactical analysis, the fight setup and advanced techniques.

So we had to begin by working on the basics. Roland draws heavily from Andres Lignitzer's sword and buckler material in the Danzig Fechtbuch. He insists on a low, leaning position very much unlike what we normally do. It's physically demanding but tactically efficient. The forward lean takes away the low line, forcing the action to take place in a very compressed area, making for quick fighting and simplified decision making. This works because the weapons are relatively short; with longer weapons the reach is sufficient to strike at the legs - it's a matter of geometry - and therefore there's less point in adopting the lean. That said, it also appears in Fabris so clearly some masters felt there was still an advantage to be gained.

The position also requires the feet to be a lot closer together than we're used to, resulting in a very low, very compact stance. Roland's interesting footwork interpretation is often the 'wrong' way round for attacking with a pass, but perfect for a very quick sliding step. It works because the buckler enables one to enter a closer measure than we're used to in longsword, so the attack happens with a short step. Coupled with the compression of the legs and the opening/closing of the hips, this results in a very quick attack indeed, and the ability to generate lots of power and speed in a short space.

Roland also emphasizes a cutting technique that uses a forward slice. He brings the point of the sword round by pulling down on the hilt, turning about the centre of rotation and sending the sword hand forward from there. This results in the point travelling in a straight line towards the target, and pulling the blade behind. The slight angle created by angling the hand down towards the left hip is what gives the slicing component. It's a very efficient action, very quick and sound in biomechanical principles. The uncoiling of the hips results in surprising amounts of power as well as a very graceful action.

The body mechanics and blade actions of Roland's interpretation are beautiful and fun to perform. The corkscrewing thrusts and slicing motions feel very Asian - there's a lot of jian and dao in them.

Another important point to note is that he never seeks the bind. In his view, it's something that happens along the way, but the first intent must always be to strike the opponent, in whatever way happens to be expedient. Thus the idea of flowing round the opponent's weapons, holding to the initial intention and striking whichever target opens up. It's a simple and effective approach to tactical decision-making. Follow-on actions follow a basic pattern which is inherent in the initial attack, they're just adjusted on the fly to cover against or avoid the defences and counters.

Thus for example the attack from third ward (over the left shoulder). This is a short downwards slicing action meant to take advantage of a gap between the opponent's sword and buckler, to strike the exposed buckler hand. Whatever happens, the basic follow-up is to cross the forearms into a schutzen position and slice up and forward from there, taking whatever target presents itself along the way. Done with the appropriate brio, it's a vicious and effective combination.

This type of movement pattern is what Roland suggests I.33 teaches. In his view, the obsessio is a covering position adopted in response to the opponent's ward and is a mezzo tempo technique that occurs on the way to attack. In other words, it's not a block, but a position that one moves through while moving to strike. It struck me that it's essentially a stringere (I checked with Guy, who agrees).

So the basic concept in I.33 is that as the fighters approach the wide distance, the common fencer enters a ward which tells the priest what his most likely line of attack will be. The priest immediately enters the obsessio position and attacks from there in a single tempo. The common fencer's attack will, at best, strike into a covered line, while the priest's own attack is already on the way.

There's a lot more to it, of course, but there's just no way to cover all the material in the treatise in a two-day seminar. But that wasn't the point anyway - Roland's idea was to give us a conceptual framework with which to interpret the material and thus be able to study and train for ourselves. It's a great approach and a very generous one.

He'll be in Helsinki till Friday, training with us and continuing to share what he does. I expect that this will be a big boost to our practice of sword and buckler - plans are already being laid for a regular sword and buckler session to be added to the training schedule.

For me, what this seminar gave wasn't just about the one weapon system. It provided a way of thinking about the fight in general, how to approach the bout and how to shape the initial engagement. A lot of it is very appropriate to rapier, given the emphasis on tight actions and short tempi, but it's also making me think anew how I see the crossings of the sword in our longsword material as well. There's a lot to think about and to practice.

So a big thank you to Roland, and my hopes that he'll find this trip to be beneficial for himself as well. He's certainly earned it for what he's brought for us.

Oh, and one more thing - there's a pub night on Thursday, 2030 onwards at Kaisla, to see Roland off. All are welcome to drop by!

Food for thought

2010-10-22T13:04:00.001+03:00

Anyone who writes about violence, fictional or non-fictional, or even just reads about it, should read this first. A new book from Rory Miller - Violence: A Writer's Guide.

Training update

2010-10-05T11:27:00.003+03:00

The Turku seminar was pretty interesting. Quite low-intensity physically, more of a technical sort of thing. Some useful stuff on structure - constructing a guard - which was pretty much the same as what we'd done for rapier earlier. Also, forming the guard dynamically, by entering it with a strike - for example, throwing a nice expansive roverso fendente and swinging back into posta di donna destra. These are exercises that help us discover what good structure feels like so that we can eventually enter the guards straight away.

Lots of work as well on the stretto-largo thing. I'm getting a handle on Guy's interpretation of it. Essentially, stretto is a fairly tightly defined situation - equal structural positions, crossed in the middle, pressure in the bind such that if one leaves the bind the opponent will strike in that very tempo. Hence when it occurs, the one viable response is to "enter with a cover and come to the close play". It's a specific place to be in, but one that occurs often enough that we have to learn to deal with it - and more importantly, because it actually requires a different set of techniques to deal with. Hence the division between the stretto and largo plays: largo is, in a sense, the broader picture, what you do when you can act more or less freely; stretto is the type of play that you perform when the tactical situation sets up so that you have to enter while maintaining your cover.

It makes sense, and I see the logic of the interpretation. It's somewhat different from the Bolognese tradition, where stretto is defined primarily in terms of half-cuts and the point remaining in presence; while this is somewhat the case in Fiore, there's a subtle but significant difference, perhaps merely in emphasis, perhaps substantive. I'm not sure what I think as yet, and I know that Guy and Ilkka have different views on the matter. The problem is that the defining line between stretto and largo cannot be clearly drawn. It depends on the players, the specific setup of the cross, even on things like how long the swords are. It varies, and while there are points on the continuum which are clearly largo and clearly stretto, the grey area is broad and ultimately dependent on individual judgement. Someone else might be able to play largo in a situation where I'm forced to play stretto. I think that element of judgement is precisely why it's so hard to reach a consensus on the matter.

That having been said, it now seems to me that stretto is the more tactically difficult situation to play in. Everything is compressed, both in distance and in time. And while the decision tree may collapse to the default pass with a cover, the execution of that precise technique becomes particularly important, especially when one's opponent is aware that it's the one option left. Being able to play largo when one's opponent is in stretto is a huge advantage. It's also telling when Marozzo says that the fencer who knows the close play will chase the fencer who knows only wide play around the salle (and hence, you should pay him the seven Bolognese Pounds extra to learn the close play!).

We worked on this in Monday's intermediate class as well. Tiny class - just myself, Jan and Tomi Korkalainen were in attendance, but it turned out to be a really useful session. We did some solo practice followed by half-speed freeplay, all directed at improving flow, getting rid of stickiness, improving decision-making. It all worked pretty nicely - by the end of the session things were getting a lot smoother and there were some nice points.

I've had some frustrations and hiccups in my training over the past year, but it looks like things are picking up a bit. I'm happy with my current progress, both in longsword and rapier, and while there's (as always) so much to work on, I can look back and feel that I've made progress. I'm a better fencer and martial artist than I was six months ago, and that's what is really important. Looking forward, there are so many more peaks to scale, but I'm feeling enthusiastic not just about the accomplishment but the very process itself, and that's really the only place to be if you're going to get anywhere at all.

Training Update

2010-09-30T07:51:00.002+03:00

Rapier last night, a back-to-basics class. We spent a lot of time on getting the basic guard stance perfect, starting from a neutral standing position and constructing the stance step by step. Since it's a really useful exercise, here's the sequence:

1. Begin standing naturally, relaxed with feet hip-width apart, toes turned out naturally.
2. Turn heels out so that outside of feet are parallel.
3. Sink weight, transfer weight to left foot.
4. Bring right leg up so thigh is parallel to ground, without moving hips. Turn leg through 90 degrees.
5. Reaching out with right heel, extend right leg so that the foot lands at right angle to left foot.

If done right, the shoulders and hips should remain perfectly aligned throughout and along the fencing line. The weight should be entirely supported by the left leg. Knees, as always, in line with the feet, and bending so that they remain over the feet. This last is particularly crucial in order to avoid knee injuries.

This is also a diagnostic tool which helps us find where we're weak or tense, the points where our stance fails. For me it's the muscles on the outside of the hips (tensor fasciae latae for those of you who're interested). I'm flexible enough but I need to strengthen those muscles so that they can hold the position without undue strain. Otherwise the tension required tends to pull my hips out of position.

We also did some actual fencing, alternating between very slow, technical drills and tactical stuff. Personally I like the technical work, because that's when I learn most about myself and how to improve. That's an individual preference - everyone responds differently to learning situations - but I find that it's more useful to actually break down the actions, get them right and practice until they're really internalized. Then when the tactical situations arise, I don't have to think about technique at all, it just flows (or should, anyway, when I'm not sabotaging myself mentally, but that's another post for another day).

For example, holding the sword: a while ago Guy showed us the proper way to grip the rapier, and my goodness it's made such a difference. Even Ilkka got something out of it - he's not prone to hyperbole, but he declared later that he'd finally learned how to hold a sword, and this extended to longsword and sidesword as well. For me, it's helping to sort out the problems I've been having with gaining proper opposition. Now when I take the line, I can actually close it so that it's strong against pressure.

These are the myriad tiny details of execution, so very subtle and easy to overlook, yet the difference between a swordsman and some fool swinging a sword. It's easy for the Helsinki crowd in particular to forget this, but we're privileged to be training with Guy all the time. Not every lesson may be super-fun or contain mind-blowing insights, but if we're paying attention there are a lot of things to learn which others may never even have pointed out.

Another random thing that's come up in training recently - I'm getting more technique out under pressure. Two-on-one dagger drill on Monday had me putting in multiple strikes after the cover, in addition to the basic technique being executed. It's gradually becoming ingrained to strike in order to set up the locks and takedowns. This comes from the freeplay training: keep going until you've got to where you want, maintain the flow, keep up the advantage. Nice to see that it's bleeding into unarmed and dagger work as well.

This weekend I'll be going up to Turku to assist Guy at a seminar. Should be fun - it's meant for people who lead classes, so it'll be interesting, and the Turku chaps are good folk.

Training Update

2010-07-27T23:21:00.002+03:00

Monday session: Fiore basic and intermediate. Emphasis: getting unstuck.

Sound familiar?

We did a lot of work on setting up situations in which people often get stuck, or freeze. For example: yielding from mandritto fendente into a pommel strike, the strike is blocked with a first master remedy, and it turns into a wrestling match. The sort of thing that's quite silly but happens a lot in freeplay.

So, set it up artificially, then work from there. Do something to break the deadlock. To begin with, don't worry about getting the hit, it doesn't matter who hits whom - just get out of the stuck situation. Only when you're able to do that consistently does the technique matter.

Lots of that, with increasing degrees of freedom, until we were kitted up and doing freeplay. Four of us in the intermediate class - Kristian, Petteri, Risto and me. Round-robin, three bouts apiece. Guess what - very little sticking or freezing. Result!

They weren't necessarily the prettiest techniques on display, or the most beautiful expressions of the art, but it looked martial. People were moving, flowing from position to position, not stopping. No coffee breaks, just one thing after another. So while it may not have reached great heights, it didn't hit the depths either. What this did was to get rid of the really bad points, the ones where people stand out of distance and wave their swords at each other, or stand pushing at each other until someone gets tired or finally buys a clue.

Guy asked what thoughts we had in our minds to keep us from freezing.

1. Keep going. Just keep hitting the opponent. Hit him again.
2. Don't call your own hits. Keep going till you hear halt called.
3. Keep the feet moving. It's the easiest thing, gross motor movement, nothing tricky, and your legs moving will get everything else moving.

All useful stuff. Things to remember going into bouts.

Did some repetitions of the syllabus form, with these ideas in mind. Definitely a bit more pop in my execution.

Finished with a bit of wrestling. Guy actually said to just do any kind of drill, solo or pair, that would help us to fix the flowing feeling in our heads. Somehow everyone just agreed to wrestle. Which we did, and it was fun. Got a couple of leg-lifts on Kristian, and with Risto it went to the ground, and a mount and rear naked choke. Into position at least, Guy stopped it before it got cranked on, but damn it, it's a great feeling when you can make something work against someone who knows what he's doing.

Guy's comment on the fencing - everyone had fenced noticeably better, but in particular I looked like I had a year's more experience. I take this to mean that my free fencing has been lagging behind my technical ability by at least a year. Good to make a start on bringing it up to speed.

I'm in a good place swordsmanship-wise right now. I've been beating my head against some walls for the past year, but now a few cracks are beginning to show - in the wall, not my head (that's pretty damn hard). I'm just glad I'm getting the kind of training that actually makes a difference, not just technical stuff that never works in practice - which a lot of instructors teach, whether in HES or the martial arts in general. Not saying I'll ever be able to pull this stuff off against a fully resisting opponent in a live situation, but at least I'm a little bit further along the road.

A lot of frustration has drained away, and I'm itching for more training. This is a Very Good Thing indeed.

Training Update

2010-07-21T23:04:00.003+03:00

Most of July has gone by without a great amount of training done. The call of the summer cottage was too strong... good times in the fresh air, loads of sun, swimming and boating. Rowing for an hour-plus is pretty good conditioning too!

Returning to training yesterday was interesting. Guy's been on vacation a month as well and attendance is fairly light at salle. So at free training I got a bit of private time with him. I asked to work on something that's been bugging me for a while, which is the way my free fencing has lagged behind my technical skill. In pithier words, I don't fight as well as I train.

First point is something that's pretty basic - I move slowly, even in freeplay. Part of it is physical - I just need to develop more explosiveness. A bigger part, though, is making use of what I have. I don't move as fast as I can, and that's largely because I'm a bit over-concerned with control and precision. I've invested a great deal of training time and energy in getting the little details of execution right (and this is no bad thing in itself), which required me to perform the actions at less than full speed. I'm so used to that pace of training that I tend to go at that speed even when I need to be quicker.

A corollary is that I need to be less hung up about getting things exactly right. If my opponent is anywhere near my skill level, that won't happen because he'll be doing his best to make sure I can't do what I want to. So I have to accept a certain amount of 'sloppiness' in my execution as the price to be paid for actual effectiveness.

There is also a deeper issue, one that touches on things beyond swordsmanship alone. I tend to freeze up, especially when taking an opening. I see an opportunity, I know I should take it, and I just don't. I stop moving. This has everything to do with hangups, emotional baggage regarding violence and risk. Basically, deep down I'd rather get hurt than hurt someone else. It's a decision I made a long time ago, and it's played a large part in making me who I am. Usually it's a good thing, but in the context of a martial art, in the context of applied violence, it's suicidal.

So I can defend myself pretty well. I don't leave huge gaps or overcommit, and I can react quickly to changes in the situation as well. Actually managed to recover from one of Guy's feints, which is not a terribly easy thing to do, and make a second parry. But after that, when it comes time to take advantage of an opening, I'm very slow to act.

The odd thing is, as we discovered, once we move past sword range and into grappling distance, I don't freeze. I can quite naturally and smoothly perform offensive actions. More to the point, I don't separate offence and defence. It's all done in one set of actions, which is how it should be with the sword as well. But when grappling I can do it, maybe because I trust myself more. I have more control, and I know my partner can take a fall. When I'm using the sword, however, there's a greater element of risk, and I'm not yet comfortable with that.

Guy pointed out that everyone who gets into gear and bouts has assumed the risk. We all know and accept the possibility of injury in what we do. It comes with the territory. Yet there's a little voice in my head that says it's wrong to hurt someone even by accident, even when they've accepted the chance that it might happen - and it's this voice that's keeping me from performing at my peak in freeplay.

In the words of Rory Miller, I have to give myself permission. Permission to perform acts that carry a risk of hurting someone. Permission not to worry about that risk because it's not mine to worry about. Permission, really, to respect my training partner enough that I give full commitment to the bout. Because it's insulting to them that I hold myself back 'in order not to hurt them'. It's their choice, their risk - not mine.

This doesn't mean I should throw all caution to the wind, of course. There's safe and unsafe bouting, and we owe a duty of due care to our partners. The key is to grasp, fully and at all levels, that once we have performed this due care, we are literally not responsible for any harm that may happen. It's not under our control, just the dice coming up.

That's a hard thought for me to process. It's not a problem taking on risk for myself, but taking advantage - even proper and responsible advantage - of someone else's assumption of risk is deeply disturbing to me. It's something that goes against the grain of who I am, the kind of person I am. Yet it's also something that I need to do, in order to grow not just as a martial artist but as a person.

Until I do, I'll tend to fight down to the level of the opposition. There are people I bout against whom I should paste, based on technical skill - but I don't. Yet when bouting with people who are near my level, I do pretty well. I can even acquit myself honourably in bouts with people much better than I am. The odd thing is that all my fights tend to be either close wins, or losses - never crushing victories. It's a psychological thing.

And this really brings up the old chestnut about one's greatest opponent being oneself. The thing that's blocking me from expressing my true level of ability is in my own head. It's no less real for that, and for me to advance I need to work on it. I think a regular regime of private lessons is on the cards, as well as more freeplay practice, which I've tended to shy away from. As well, I need to incorporate a bit more intent into my training focus, regardless of what exercise I'm doing.

Lots to chew on. More breakthroughs in twenty minutes than, frankly, the length of the Fiore Extravaganza. Much more clarity in my training goals. Suddenly, things have changed.

Fiore Extravaganza!

2010-06-24T09:28:00.002+03:00

Last week was the school's annual Fiore Extravaganza, a week-long seminar celebrating the Fior di Battaglia. This year's theme was "the Player", a look at the role of the 'fall guy' in the text, the opponent of the Remedy Masters and their Scholars, who ends up getting variously stabbed, struck, taken down or otherwise roughly dealt with.

It was a fascinating exercise because we usually give too little attention to this role. Yet what the player does is vitally important to understanding how the system works. He's not just a goon who throws stupid attacks in order that the masters and scholars may show off their art; he's an intelligent and dangerous opponent. His attacks and responses are what set up the remedies and plays, and no effective system can be built upon the assumption of an incompetent adversary.

By examining the player's actions, we were able to build up a more complete vision of the Fior di Battaglia. It no longer looks like a defensive, counter-punching system. Instead we have a well rounded martial art: strong on the defensive but also perfectly capable of taking and gaining the initiative with intelligently chosen tactics. It turns out that the player is a pretty tasty customer as well, and we can learn more than a few lessons from what he does.

The fruit of this study is most explicitly seen in the list of seven things that the attacker can do, in order of how early he must perform his action:

1. Hit with a direct attack (no change required; this happens when a parry fails or, more likely, as a result of deception and misdirection in the setup to the attack);
2. Feint (occurs before blade contact);
3. Bind (initiated before blade contact in order to control the cross and gain initiative at the point of crossing);
4. Punta falsa (a special case of the bind);
5. Angulate (going round the opponent's blade without gaining opposition, sometimes as a result of a missed punta falsa but also similar to German Auswinden);
6. Cover and enter with a pass, aka yielding (after blade contact, defender is stronger in the cross - this doesn't mean that the attacker has lost the cross, merely that he's chosen to allow the defender to take the line so he can enter on the opening line);
7. Cover and strike against the riposte (allowing the defender to take his chosen action and then dealing with it - somewhat risky, but an effective option in some circumstances).

All of these options occur as a result of conscious choice by the attacker, not merely a reaction to the defender's parry. The attacker throws his attack with the first intention of striking the defender directly, but he has to be ready to establish control over the fight once the parry has been drawn out.

One interesting effect of this kind of training has been to make freeplay more dynamic. Previously there was an understandable reluctance on the part of the attacker to make a really committed attack; now, there's a lot more controlled aggression, because the attacker has an advantage in initiative. It also has meant somewhat less brawling, since the attacker has an expanded range of options to work at blade range, rather than always defaulting to the yield-pommel strike combination. We're doing more fencing now, rather than using the sword as an entry to a grappling match.

One interesting observation - our practice has taken a few steps closer to the German tradition. "Bind and wind" is now a more clearly defined and easily available tactical option, not to mention the idea of the attacker seizing the initiative (fighting in the Vor). It does support the idea that there is ultimately one Art, even if it's expressed in myriads of different styles. There are still important differences between the Fiore and Liechtenauer traditions, but some of them are looking more and more like differences of emphasis rather than fundamentals.

It was a great seminar, intellectually demanding and a lot of fun, ending with a hard-fought tournament and the school summer party.

There's a lot left to explore. I'm eager to work on some of the ideas that have bubbled up (and will continue to come to mind) during the seminar. Developing finer control of and feel for the bind, for example. Generating different kinds of crosses and how to manipulate the cross. Details of footwork and controlling measure (even more important than before, because we're working with the blades rather than entering, where - to be honest - there's a lot more margin for error). Changing things up creatively and in a tactically sound manner. Branching out into German material and techniques (the heresy!). And much more besides.

Aside from the training, of course, there was the fellowship. This year had a smaller foreign contingent, but a good one - Greg and Robin from PHEMAS. I've missed them a lot, and it was great not just to train with them but also just to hang out. Just like old days. Hopefully they've managed to take back lots of material for PHEMAS to train with: not just longsword but rapier and Bolognese as well. I must mention that Robin did very well in the tournament, reaching the finals after several challenging bouts, displaying wonderful spirit along the way.

Now it's the summer vacation - Guy's taken a month off, and a well deserved break it is for him. Classes will continue to run at SES in his absence, taken by class leaders and free scholars (including yours truly). We've got a Scandinavian presence in the salle just now as well, with Petter Brodin and Henrik Wadell arriving from Norway and Sweden respectively - unfortunately they couldn't make it for the Extravaganza but we're very happy to have them around for the Midsummer period. I'm also looking to organize one or two social events at the school, as well as working on equipment supplies. Things are looking to be quite interesting in the weeks and months ahead!

Training Update

2010-06-01T11:45:00.002+03:00

A whole month gone by without an update. Exams and assignments have really sucked away my will to write. Fortunately they didn't take away training entirely, and I assure my gentle readers that it's been continuing. A few things that have been going on:

I'm working on my grip. This came up with the Liechtenauer-Fiore seminar, and it triggered a bit of an investigation into the subtleties of different grips on the weapon. Especially crucial with rapier (where an improved grip has made my parrying a lot better) but significant with longsword as well.

Freeplay. I've had a chance in the past few weeks to freeplay much more extensively with longsword, rapier and even sidesword. I've improved, I think. With longsword I'm no longer mindlessly charging into stretto; in fact I now have a tendency to concentrate a bit too much on the sword, but that's a necessary overcorrection. In any case I don't freeze as much, there's a bit more flow to my freeplay and I'm making better tactical choices.

With rapier it should come as no surprise that I've improved, given the very low level I started from. The exercise where we play a single point and then recreate and neaten it up has been very useful. Although I don't do the funky cool actions like sbassi and scansi, I'm at least performing rapier-like actions, doing fewer cuts/moulinelli at the wrong distance, and actually fixing my point in the riposte. Baby steps, but they add up to rapier bouts that actually look like rapier.

Sidesword - this was interesting. Last Wednesday I got to my first Bolognese training session in a long time, with Matias and Ilkka. I was very rusty, but interestingly a lot of that fell away when we got to the freeplay part of things. I was sure I'd get taken apart - the two of them have been training fairly intensively together - but I held my own fairly well. It helps that a lot of the Bolognese actions are quite intuitive, and there's little sense of a canonical, 'proper' response to a given situation; hence a lot of the things I've been training in other systems actually clicked in. We weren't counting points or anything like that but I didn't feel like I was being overwhelmed, anyway.

Dagger - just last night we did an intermediate class that was all dagger work. It got pretty intense: I think everyone is nursing bruises and welts, and there was some light bleeding involved as well at some point. As usual, ramping things up demonstrated just how hard it is to get technique to work against someone who's actually trying to hit you. Aggression counted for a lot more than technical experience.

All in all, it's been a good month, even with all the disruptions. And now there's just a week to go before Greg, Lin and Robin arrive. I'm excited about it, and the upcoming Fiore Extravaganza. Fun times!

Article on traversing

2010-04-28T08:07:00.002+03:00

Ilkka has written an article on Fiore's use of the term "Traversa", questioning the standard interpretation of the word. It's quite thought provoking. I'm not sure if it will lead to any changes in what we do, but it's certainly something to think about. Just how many translation issues are lurking in those texts? How many of us actually bother to pick up the source material?

Training update

2010-04-25T15:11:00.002+03:00

So, yesterday we had the Liechtenauer - Fiore seminar, and it was a cracker! Lots of interesting new material to learn, especially since the Liechtenauer stuff is really quite different from the things we usually do.

We started by learning the basics of the Meisterhau, starting from Zornhau, and also the different context of German longsword duelling. They fought using a quite distinct ruleset and that explains some of the variation in the systems. Wearing shirts rather than gambesons, and both sides being able to initiate attacks, really does change the game quite a bit. The whole idea of initiative and fighting in the Vor makes much more sense to me now.

Other observations, pretty much at random:

1. It's a bit easier to throw a right oberhau from Vom Tag than a mandritto fendente from Posta di Donna. The mechanics are a bit different, and that also makes it a lot easier to make the strike non-telegraphic. The price is that there's rather less power behind the blow, but again if you're in shirtsleeves that hardly matters.

2. There's a whole lot of shifting of the grip, much more so than needed in Fiore. You really do need nimble fingers, as well as preferably a rather long hilt, to make it work.

3. (related to 2) the thumb-on-blade grip gives you very quick ballistic motions. With a flick of the wrist you can get the sword moving all over the place. The flip side is that there's very little support, so the sword is also a lot easier for your opponent to displace.

4. Binding and winding is a lot of fun. Duplieren and Mutieren look weird and over-elaborate to the Fiore-trained eye, but they're effective and not actually as hard to do when you've had a chance to practice a bit.

5. Single-time parry-riposte is a great concept, but it's very challenging to execute. Part of the problem is that it gives you a lot less time to react, or rather it places a lot of pressure to make the right decision and execute well in the first cycle. A dui tempi action slows down the action and allows more time for both sides to think. This can be a good or bad thing depending on the opposition.

6. I'm pleased I managed to work out the counter to a Krumphau against an oberhau (hint: Schnappen). And to realize that it's basically the same type of action as the 1st play of the 1st master of Zogho Largo.

7. You can score points in freeplay by playing at a higher intensity than your opponent is willing to, ie. by accepting a greater risk of injury. As the bulk of that risk falls to your opponent, that's something I'm not willing to do. I want to practice the art, and become good at fencing, not get cheap wins by fighting and bullying. It's an issue because I'm on the larger/stronger end of the scale, and if I really wanted to I could skip the fencing and just barge in every time. But that's not a learning experience. Speedblitzing and going at a speed where you can't control yourself is also a problem, and again I'd rather err on the side of caution. If it means I lose every bout I play, so be it. Training isn't about winning, it's about getting better, and respecting the art and your training partners.

There's a lot to think about and work on, and I haven't really absorbed everything. I'm pretty sure that in the weeks to come I'll be running to the Liechtenauer material every so often as something falls into place. That's only a good thing though. In the end I'll probably stay a loyal Fiore man, but having a bit of experience with other styles really does make you appreciate your own that much more.

Training update

2010-04-24T01:13:00.003+03:00

Last Friday I was supposed to run a training session but it turned out there were only Maria, Joeli and myself in attendance so we decided to just do some rapier freeplay instead, using an exercise that Guy taught us a little while ago: fence to one touch, then figure out the sequence that led to the touch, and re-create it, with the player who received the hit correcting whatever mistake (tactical or technical) that led to the hit.

It's a great exercise because it forces you to think about what you're doing, to analyze what works and what doesn't. It also tends to slow things down so that you can actually see what's going on, and to encourage people to use canonical actions rather than random flailing.

Maria and I repeated the exercise on Tuesday at free training, and Guy had a look in. I think he was pleased - she managed to pull off, in succession, a scanso della vita with disengage, a sbasso, and a scannatura against a non-lunging opponent. The first was done from the 'wrong side' - hence requiring the disengage first - the second was a classic by-the-book avoidance, and the third worked because she performed a disengage while coming into measure for the scannatura. All this against a resisting opponent (yours truly) who was most definitely not giving the techniques up; indeed I had no idea that she was planning to use them.

Personally I was glad that I could fence in a way that actually created the situation for those techniques to work. It sounds a bit strange to be glad to be a mobile pell, but what it really means is that I've at least got to the point technically where my actions are articulated with enough precision that sophisticated techniques (which require specific preconditions) will work against them. It's difficult to pull these off against someone who waves their sword randomly without attempting to close their lines, precisely because said sword could be and go anywhere.

I also managed a couple of decent hits. One was completely simple - a direct strike from stringere - but it worked because I changed my rhythm, taking two quick steps when I normally advance quite deliberately. (Maria complained that "He was running at me" but I think it shows that the basic actions do work well when executed with a little tactical savvy.) The other was a parry-riposte in prima with a pass, pretty much straight out of the book, and as Guy said, the most rapier-like action he'd seen me perform.

Given I haven't been doing rapier very long at all, I think I've made progress. I still have a very long way to go, and I need to compartmentalize better (criticisms included my tendency to make very wide longsword-type parries and to use stramazzoni when in close measure, which is a bit Bolognese). But given that I'm hopefully not fighting a duel any time soon, things are coming along nicely.

Also, today I attended Laura's conditioning class. It was a bit sparsely attended, with 4+1 present, but it was fun and useful. We did dynamic stretches, the basic fitness test (yes, I passed, thank you very much) and plyometrics. Then there were some melee games, which would have worked better with more people but were good fun nevertheless, and the proceedings were concluded with some deep yoga stretching.

It says a lot about how much swordsmanship has done for me, that at the end of the training I was still full of energy. When I started training, just the warmup and fitness test would have wiped me out, and the plyometrics would have left me the proverbial "Kuwaiti shot three times by an Iraqi". I'm still nowhere near as fit as I should be or would like to be, but again, I measure my progress by how far I've come, and that's been quite a distance indeed. My right shoulder is probably always going to be a bit crocked though - its range of motion is really significantly less than the left. Fortunately it's nothing that really comes into play for swordsmanship purposes, so it's easy to train around. But I can actually get into a halfway decent Plough position, so that's quite nice!

Tomorrow there'll be a seminar on Italian vs. German longsword. We'll pick up some of the basics of the Liechtenauer tradition, and learn the similarities and differences between the traditions. It promises to be an interesting day of training.

And now for something completely different!

2010-04-22T16:22:00.004+03:00

Training is ongoing, but my writing motivation has unfortunately been going towards school assignments and an ongoing online debate with a member of ARMA, which has been surprisingly pleasant.

Things will probably pick up here after the exams, but in the meantime here's an article by Ken Mondschein on reforming the Academy.

Random rapier ruminations

2010-03-22T09:54:00.003+02:00

On the turn of the trailing foot in a rapier lunge: it certainly does add a few centimetres to one's lunge, but surely that wasn't its entire function. Something Thomas Stoeppler wrote on SFI made me think about this - doesn't it cause the hips to open as well? That being the case, it should aid in the recovery from the lunge, because it allows recruitment of the hip adductors, which means less reliance on push-off from the lunging foot. This would be a much more stable action mechanically. In addition it would mean a flatter trajectory for the c.g. during the recovery phase, with less of a tendency to push the body upwards, as well as being less prone to slipping.

Training the lunge:: I remain convinced that the proper way to train the lunge is with equal focus on the recovery. I don't want to lunge in a way that I can't recover fully from, meaning that the recovery is as fast as the lunge itself. If that means forgoing a few centimetres of range, so be it. I believe the reach will come naturally with training, because attaining max lunge is a matter of proper form. As long as the form is correct, the range will come. But if the form is off, and recovery is sacrificed for distance, then it will remain tactically unsound practice.

What striking arts have to teach us about the lunge: power generation is about speed and structure. You can't really increase the mass of your striking body, so energy is determined by velocity. In other words, the speed of your strike is essentially how hard you'll hit (assuming efficient energy transfer, more on that below). A fast strike is also, obviously, harder to defend against.

Hence I don't like the idea of 'falling' into a lunge. In visualisation, I break it up into two components - a strong push using the power of the legs and core to propel myself forward, and a 'drop-step'. I prefer this to the idea of 'falling' because to my mind that implies a parabolic, ballistic trajectory that becomes more vertical than horizontal as the lunge lands. I think the c.g. should move in a straight line, with the motion remaining largely horizontal at its endpoint. The vertical movement I think of more as a level change rather than a fall.

In boxing, a straight lead hits while the lead foot is in the air, just before it touches the ground; perhaps the same should be happening with the rapier. Then nothing takes away from the speed of the strike, since otherwise there's the braking effect of contact with the ground. There's a moment of absolute structural stability at impact, to ensure there's no leakage of energy through weak points in the system (a core principle in striking arts, and I believe in rapier as well). This causes an inelastic collision which ensures maximal energy transfer to the target.

There's still more to it though. In striking, the return to chamber is as important as the strike itself, because the withdrawal is what makes for power. Remember that power is energy/time. Assuming efficient energy transfer, the less time you spend in contact with the target, the more power you're generating and hence the greater the effect on the target. This is what differentiates a strike from a push - same energy, different period.

With a rapier, we're obviously not as concerned about energy transfer, because the point concentrates all that force anyway and as long as you have a proper structure behind it that's going to penetrate whatever it hits on an unarmoured target. However, the recovery is just as important. What I'm thinking about is what happens as the lunging foot lands. Ideally it shouldn't plant heavily; instead it should bounce lightly. This is why I think the strike should land fractionally before impact, so that the maximum stability is achieved while the foot is off the ground. Then as the foot lands you're free to relax and use the rebound energy to power the recovery. Too often we think of the lunge as an end point, but it's really just the midpoint, and we should keep going until we're back in guard.

Which brings me to a point Guy made during the Syllabus Day seminar. In Aristotelian terms, a body that reverses direction must experience a tempo of rest as the direction changes (in modern physics, when V = dS/dt = 0, a turning point in the velocity-time graph). We can 'cheat' this by introducing a small curve at the apex of the motion so that instead of decelerating to zero and accelerating again from there, we retain the velocity in an angular motion and just apply a centrifugal force to it. It works, and not just for blade actions.

So, if we think of adding that little curve to our footwork as well, we can achieve this same effect in our body structure. Once we're free of the need for stability (having already achieved the hit) the body can relax into the landing and make best use of the energy return from the ground to get back into guard. So instead of slamming the foot into the ground, we're bouncing lightly back into position.

To borrow from Taiji terminology, the excess of yang creates yin. Immediately we achieve maximum structural stability we go to full relaxation. A circular movement is the best way to achieve maximum linear velocity. Does this all sound very esoteric? It's just something to think about during training, a way of visualising what happens in the body during a motion that takes a second to complete.

Ultimately, one doesn't really need to think about all this stuff to fence rapier well. There are many people who become good fencers without spending a moment on these ideas. They just get on with their training. It's not necessary at all, but for me, it's fun, and that's why I train. The mental workout, and the aesthetic pleasure I experience from making these mental connections, is a large part of why I enjoy training. Without it training would just be a lot of work.

Training Update

2010-03-21T23:45:00.002+02:00

Syllabus Day Saturday, followed by the school birthday party.

Training was good. We started with breathing and assessing our Crane form. I don't do the Crane as much as I should but at least my form hasn't got too bad. I still need to work on getting sufficient curve in the back and keeping the rear leg up in the final position, but that's an issue for almost everyone anyway.

Lots of practice with the covers from the right. Attacker throws different variations on the mandritto fendente, leading to different crossings. The defender has to identify the crossings, and respond accordingly. I liked that Guy had the more advanced students training together for this so we got clear input. Someone who's been training for a while can throw consistent strikes and make the differences clear, so you can learn the feel of the different crosses. It makes training so much easier - not in the sense that it takes less effort, but that you know what's going on and you're not frustrated by sloppiness or lack of precision. Any mistakes you make are your own, so to speak, and not created by your training partner. So there's more pressure in one sense, but also a better environment for learning.

The new syllabus helps with this as well. As Guy readily admitted, dropping the venerable five-drill structure isn't going to be wildly popular with the grognards who've been training it for years, but the new drill organization makes more sense. It classifies actions clearly and follows the tactical structure of Fiore's system, rather than an arbitrary listing of actions. It does mean that the covers from the right drill has a ton of variations, but I like that they now fit into a category and can be trained systematically rather than haphazardly introducing degrees of freedom.

We also worked on a specific issue, cutting to the hands against an opponent who follows-through on their strike. Against someone who doesn't stop their blow in posta longa, but cuts through to dente di zenghiaro, the cut to the hands often misses. There are all sorts of little things that cause this action to foul up, but the two basic categories are footwork and blade actions. For footwork, the tendency is to take pass in the wrong direction, leading to being out of measure. For blade actions, my own mistake was in not clearing the opponent's blade sufficiently. In this case I was dealing with a fendente that was coming in at a flatter angle than canonical, so I had to adjust my cover to get a good edge-flat contact so the beat worked properly.

These are the small things that make all the difference to the execution of a technique, and it's hard to get them right at full speed. It's not just about one's own form, but also seeing what the opponent is doing and reacting to that. Ultimately, we should be able to see what's coming and deal with it on the fly, as a trained reaction rather than a considered process. "See what's there, and deal with it." Sound familiar? I received this piece of advice two years ago, and I'm still struggling to apply it - but that's why I train.

Spent a little time on the syllabus form as well. I had a couple of problems starting out, since it's been ages since I've done it, and there have been a couple of changes. But it all came back after a couple of false starts. Of course, as part of being a class leader, I now have to learn to do it left-handed. Can't discriminate against our southpaw students of course. It never ends.

The group broke up to work on different weapon systems, and I chose rapier, ending up training with Jan, Risto and Mikko... yeah, pretty much a murderer's row. To top it off, Guy had us doing the compound counter-riposte drill (AKA the brain-melting drill), setting it up as a flow drill and then eventually breaking the flow. Reading about the drill makes it sound super complex:

Step 10 [yes, this is step 10 of 10 steps]

1) Agent steps into measure, stringering the Patient on the inside in quarta.

2) Patient disengages, and feints, extending in seconda.

3) Agent parries in seconda,

4) Patient disengages to quarta and lunges

5) Agent parries in quarta and feints.

6) Patient recovers and parries in quarta,

7) Agent disengages and strikes in seconda

8) Patient parries in seconda and feints

9) Agent recovers, parries in seconda,

10) Patient disengages and strikes in quarta (the compound counter riposte).

It's not that complicated though. Essentially both Patient and Agent are performing the same set of actions, once on either side. Once you have the basic set of motions down (and in my case, remember that the first action after the disengage is a feint, not an attack with lunge dammit!) there's a logic to the actions that takes over. Of course, once you're actually comfortable with it, it's time to start breaking that flow....

After that, just a bit of fun with one-touch bouts between mismatched weapons. Just a bit of silliness really to loosen up after all that technical work, and I even managed to perform an auto-disarm on myself with the backsword. Lost my grip, went scrambling after the weapon and got stabbed in the back... would have been better served continuing the bout empty-handed, but there you go - you just have to have a laugh really.

After the training, a bit of a break and a nip to the supermarket for some provisions, and then it was time for the school birthday party. Nine years of swordsmanship in Helsinki! And here's to many more!

Training Update

2010-03-03T23:56:00.003+02:00

Ugh. It's been way too long since my last update. Wouldn't be surprised if anyone thought I'd given up on the blog, but no, just schoolwork and general blahs getting in the way.

It's definitely not that training hasn't been ongoing. Just this Monday I managed to get to the Fiore intermediate class for the first time in a long while, and it was definitely worth it. We worked on breaking cadence. This is fairly subtle stuff and technically challenging, and really the first time we've covered this in class, so it was quite exciting.

We began with attacks from coda longa distesa, a guard that previously hasn't seen much use in training. It's actually a versatile position, from which one can make a range of attacks, and quite effectively disguise what's coming because the sword is mostly hidden from one's opponent. With the right mechanics, most of the attacks look very similar in initiation, so it's hard to identify the line of attack until the strike is well on its way.

So after a fair bit of practice at throwing those strikes and dealing with them, we moved on to the concept of breaking cadence. The idea is to be able to act at different speeds, and accelerate and decelerate rapidly. This sets up a rhythm to which your opponent must conform; then when you break that rhythm, he is unable to deal with the change in timing.

For example, say your opponent throws a mandritto fendente. You parry at a fairly leisurely pace - just quickly enough to make your cover. You counter with your own fendente. At this point your opponent yields with the parry and comes to the close, but his action is dictated by the timing of your parry, so he'll be moving somewhat slowly as well. If you suddenly accelerate at this point, your fendente will get through his cover before it's properly formed. His defence fails because you've broken the cadence and acted in a tempo he didn't know was available to you.

The interesting thing about this concept is that it's the perfect counter to speed-blitzing, where someone tries to win by just going really fast. It's possible to force Senor Gonzalez to conform to your relatively glacial pace, and then just when he slows down to match, you kick things up a notch and smack him before he knows what's happening.

It's something that is found in other arts as well. Many striking arts place a high value on being able to dictate the tempo of an encounter: not just whether it's fast or slow, but being able to choose when to go faster or slower. It's not the speed per se that's important, but the acceleration that makes it difficult for one's opponent to time his actions. Good stuff, very interesting and subtle, devastating in action and definitely something to train.

Today's rapier session with Ilkka (Guy is in London just now) was also pretty cool. It began with some Bolognese-looking actions, provocations using cuts and large beats and tramazzoni. There were actually complaints from some quarters about it not being sufficiently rapier-like! But of course there was a method to the madness; Ilkka had adapted the exercise from Capo Ferro plate ten, and the whole idea was to give us very obvious, clear provocations to work with. It illustrated very well the notion of drawing particular actions from the opponent by making threats they have to deal with in a certain way.

There was good energy during the session, and after it ended there was an opportunity to do some light freeplay. I wasn't super convinced to begin with but we went at it quite gently and slowly, working things out rather than looking for the win. There's a time and place for being competitive, but I think most freeplay should really be about pressure testing of techniques, tactical thinking and diagnostics. Getting a hit should be secondary to good execution of technique. I actually did learn something from it so it was quite fruitful! A lot boils down to having the right training partner, someone who will work with you rather than going all out to win. Basically, the balance most of the time should be less 'free' but more 'play'.

And to end off, a technical note: a revision to the drill of the punta falsa. The remedy to the initial mezano is now the same as the remedy in the largo version of covers from the right, ie. cover with frontale, step off the line to the right dropping a fendente onto the hands, step in with a thrust. The punta falsa is executed as normal, but the change now makes the counter to the punta falsa a lot more aggressive, because instead of circling round the scholar can now make the counter with a pass straight across the line of the player. It's a lot faster and easier to execute, and pretty brutal. Perform with care, because done right it'll dump the player on his butt because that's better than taking a point through his mask!

I'm taking a Fiore class tomorrow, and there'll be wrestling on Saturday at Liikuntamylly where we'll try plays from Codex Wallerstein. So there will be interesting stuff happening, and I'll try to make a record of it here. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up a more frequent update schedule now that the days are getting longer and I've re-sharpened my training focus.

Training Update

2010-01-15T22:23:00.002+02:00

A bit more on the new cutting drill.

Just to clarify, at the technical level the sotani are canonically performed as false-edge cuts; however, in terms of tactical application they can be thought of as rising thrusts. The difference is a matter of timing and the relationship between blade movement and footwork, and both can be practiced.

Also, there was one major blade movement missing from it, which has now been inserted - the true-edge sotano from the guard of the master of sword in one hand. From the pommel strike at the end of the punta falsa sequence, enter the one-hand guard. Perform the sotano cover and return with a mandritto fendente and bring the sword round to posta di donna sinestra and thrust in bichorno.

That rounds out the drill nicely. It also now takes pretty much the length of the salle to do one rep of the cutting drill. I like it a lot, especially now that it covers all the important blade actions in the treatise in one exercise with a nice flowing progression.

Training Update

2010-01-08T14:08:00.003+02:00

Has it been a month? I can only plead the holiday season and winter grimness for the lack of updates. Training is pretty slow in December.

But with the new year and lots of snow on the ground I'm feeling rather more energetic. There have been new developments on the training front as well - most recently, an all-new cutting drill, tailored to the demands of the new syllabus.

It's pretty simple, although a bit longer than previous cutting drills, and I like it quite a bit.

Begin from posta di donna destra, cut mandritto fendente with a pass all the way to dente di chinghiale, then false edge sottano with a pass to posta di donna again.

With a pass, mandritto fendente to posta longa, return to posta di donna sinestra without footwork.

Roverso fendente with pass to porta di ferro, false edge sottano with pass to posta di donna.

Roverso fendente to posta longa, return to posta di donna destra.

Full mandritto fendente to dente di chinghiale.

The sottano cuts can be done as thrusts as well (I prefer thinking of them as thrusts) with a slight adjustment of the timing of the pass.

From dente di chinghiale, false-edge mezano to throat level, returning with a roverso fendente down to coda longa disteza (yes, the follow-on to the breaking of the thrust).

From coda longa, true-edge mezano followed by punta falsa thrust, pommel strike to vera croce (similar to the sequence in the syllabus form).

From vera croce, transfer sword to posta di donna sinestra, thrust in bichorno.

Return to posta di donna destra, rinse and repeat.

It's a nice sequence, lots of flow to it and while there are quite a few steps there's a smooth progression and it's easy to pick up. It also includes all the colpi from both sides, half-blows and full blows, and a lot of practice with fendentes - plus the mezanos are now done the way they're tactically applied. I wasn't enamoured of the sottanos to begin with, but doing them as low thrusts makes me much more comfortable.

A little observation from doing second drill, stretto form, with Jukka - against someone who's doing his bind-and-strike right, it's pretty hard to get a wrap. Most of the time you're going to end up with a hand on his hilt at best. That's good enough to control his weapon and give you space for your pommel strike to enter, but something to think about. It's also why (as Guy pointed out) it's vital to perform your actions with proper intent, even when you know your partner is going to perform a scripted counter. If you get lazy, you're not doing your training partner any favours. And when you do things the right way, you realise that even having a counter up your sleeve won't always work - because against a committed, properly structured technique, the window for executing a counter is pretty darn small.

Also got in a bit of much-needed practice with the syllabus form with Joni, a really good chap who's getting the Oulu branch started up. Unfortunately he's due to join the army next week so that will put a crimp in things for him, but hopefully he'll be able to get in some training on the weekends and be able to pick things up when he's done with the gender-biased taxation (j/k).

And in closing - Chris Chak and I have been engaged in a bit of a discussion on Facebook regarding training mindsets and attitudes, and we've both found our way to Marc 'Animal' MacYoung's website, "No Nonsense Self Defense". Mr. MacYoung's got a lot of material available on many aspects of the martial arts and their application in self-defence. It's a good supplement to the stuff in Meditations on Violence, Rory Miller's excellent book. I believe anyone who trains in the martial arts should think deeply on the issues presented in these writings.

New Syllabus

2009-12-08T07:12:00.002+02:00

The writeup of the new SES syllabus is up and available on the SES website syllabus page. Everyone training with it should familiarise themselves with the requirements. That includes the conditioning levels, people!

Pushups!

2009-12-04T12:18:00.002+02:00

Guy's published a little book of inspired and very useful silliness, all about pushups. It can be ordered from LuLu here. I've seen it and it's a lot of fun but also has loads of good training ideas in it. I heartily recommend it for class leaders, anyone looking to improve their conditioning, and as a stocking-stuffer for the silly season!

Training update

2009-12-04T11:43:00.002+02:00

It's been an interesting week for me - finally got through my business administration exam and finished the blasted company report project that was giving me stress-induced shoulder and neck pains. Papers in information gathering, Finnish and English grammar are left, but the way looks pretty clear till next semester begins in January.

But my loyal readers don't check this blog for my misadventures in academia, so on to real learning. We went through the 'new' 4th and 5th drills last night, which was good fun. They're substantially the same as before, with a few tweaks.

4th drill begins, as mentioned below, with defender in tutta porta di ferro and attacker in any right-side guard, although a low guard is recommended. Guy is leaning towards coda longa disteza as the canonical starting point and I have to say I like that. The attacker shows a strong mezano, the defender exchanges against it, attacker performs the punta falsa and the defender counters with a meza volta of the sword. All familiar so far, but there are some details of execution that really make this drill work.

For the defender, a general point regarding the exchange of thrusts - it's not a parry-riposte in one tempo! You go into frontale, get a strong cross (usually you get your tutta against his punta) and then drop the point onto the attacker's face and walk it in. This is particularly important against the mezano because if you just bring up your point in an attempt to counter-thrust (or stop-thrust) without getting a proper cross, the mezano will just blow right through and hit you while covering against your thrust.

When attacking, it's important to be aware of this. Watch the point of the defender's sword - if it's moving upwards and away, they're executing a good exchange and you go to the punta falsa. If it's coming towards you, cover and strike with the mezano and watch in glee as they realise they've screwed up.

The punta falsa will work well against the proper exchange, and fail against the counter-thrust. This is why it's vital to see the difference between the two. If you can't, however, there's a third (and generally safe but sub-optimal) option, which is to pass with a cover to the pommel strike.

Another key point to making the punta falsa work is that once you see the opponent's blade moving to make the cross, you should already your own upwards so that the cross occurs further up his blade. Don't wait for blade contact to initiate the punta falsa - that's too late. It should already be happening as the blades touch each other lightly. The defender should also be watching; the attacker's point moving up is your cue to perform the meza volta.

One thing that stands out from this drill, as well as the stretto version of the cover from the right, is that we have a new emphasis on watching what the opponent is doing and forestalling it. Ideally, the opponent should not be able to complete his action; our counter aborts it and forces him to do something else. I believe this is akin to the notion, in German swordsmanship, of taking the vor. This is much more sophisticated stuff than just covering and reacting - it requires sharp perception, speed of thought and reflexes, and tactical acumen.

5th drill is pretty much the same as before except that it now starts with the defender in fenestra on the right. I like this change because it gives a bit of asymmetry to the drill, and also it means that the drills now include more of the guards, which just lends that bit more flavour to practice, and gives us more experience in using all the different guards.

Another little thought I had while drilling with Jukka - his frontale cover is nice and a little funky, because it comes up almost lazily and yet he gets a very strong impulse on the beat. This is far from canonical and in no place is it mentioned by Fiore, but I'm going to experiment a bit with getting some power generation in the cover.

Not a ballistic thing where you swing hard and fast at the opponent's blade, but a structural effect where you bring your sword to the cross, and just before impact, in the last five centimetres or so, you put some torque in with hip and torso twist. It's the same mechanism by which one generates punching power without a long windup - the 'one-inch punch' of wing chun, or 'silk-reeling force' of taiji. More prosaically, it's about using the core muscles and the transverse actuators across the back to get a lot of acceleration in a very small distance. That generates a whole lot of power and, if done right, creates a *bam* effect in the opponent's blade and transmits a shock to his hands and wrists. This creates a really nice little tempo when he's trying to recover and you can just hit him at will. The great thing is that because the muscle groups involved aren't being activated until moments before impact, your opponent has no idea what's coming, whereas a ballistic parry moving fast gives him a clear tell as to your intentions.

Theoretically, anyway. I'm pretty sure it works - I've been stumbling around this idea for a while - but I'm going to experiment with it a bit more in class.

So - lots to think about and work on during the winter break!

The New Five Drills

2009-12-02T21:38:00.002+02:00

Guy has written up the steps for the new five drills. They're available as a Word document here. It's all a lot clearer in table form than when I'm describing it below. Class leaders especially should take a close look.

Training Update - New Syllabus

2009-12-02T11:09:00.006+02:00

Last Saturday was Syllabus Day and the SES Christmas party. Six hours of training and six of partying (with a bit of a break in between) so it was kind of crazy....

This was an important Syllabus Day because it was the first involving the new syllabus, particularly the all-new drill structure based on the interpretation of largo/stretto. There's now a logical organisation for the drills.

The first set of drills are defenses against the mandritto fendente. First we have the cover from the right (coverta), in largo and stretto forms, then covers from the left (rebattere) in largo and stretto forms. This gives us four drills.

The first, coverta, largo version, is essentially the former first drill. Against a mandritto fendente, the defender from tutta porta di ferro parries, driving the attacker's point wide and strikes. The attacker counters with the eighth play of the master of coda longa on horseback (entering with a pass, pushing the elbow and delivering a pommel strike). Against this, the defender employs the ninth play of the same master, raising his hands against the elbow push and returning with a pommel strike of his own. The play also gives the option of a riverso tondo to the back of the attacker's head as he passes by, but we omit this for safety reasons.

The second, coverta, stretto version, is rather more sophisticated. Against a mandritto fendente, the defender parries as before, but now the attacker binds against the parry by turning his hands to go into a frontale position. From here he can pass and enter with a cover into the close plays (canonically into the disarm of the former second drill). The defender, seeing the bind coming, must pass with the blade contact and himself enter with a cover. From there all the plays of zogho stretto can be explored.

Rebattere, largo version, is the unchanged former 3rd drill (which has been the most robust of all the drills, having survived essentially unchanged since 2002). Against a mandritto fendente, the defender in dente di chinghiale beats and strikes. The attacker counters by yielding, passing under the cover of his sword, wrapping the defender's arms and delivering a pommel strike. The defender responds with a chiave sotano.

Rebattere, stretto version, begins with the same setup but again the attacker binds against the beat. From here he can deliver a mandritto mezano against the defender's head. The defender counters with the same yield and pass that the attacker does in the largo version, and the drill ends with the ligadura sotano, now performed by the attacker.

One of the interesting points to note is that with the covers from the right, the defender does not step as he makes his cover. This is because he does not know whether the play will enter largo or stretto - that is determined by the attacker's actions. He has to read and react appropriately. With the defenses from the left, however, the defender always does an acressere. This is because, no matter whether the attacker yields or binds against the beat, the point of his sword is always going to go away from the defender. Hence the defender has one less thing to worry about and can commit early to moving one way or the other.

This is true also of defenses against the thrust. Against a thrust one can always be sure (granting a properly constructed cover) of setting the point aside, and thus playing in the largo. This brings us to the thrusting drills.

Thrusts from the right set up with both players in tutta porta di ferro. The attacker thrusts with a pass, and the defender exchanges the thrust. The attacker yields and enters with a pommel strike, and the defender counters with the raised hands as in the cover from the right.

Thrusts from the left begin with the attacker in dente di chinghiale and the defender in tutta porta di ferro. The attacker thrusts with a pass, and the defender breaks the thrust to the ground, following with a riverso mezano to the neck and a fendente to the head. The attacker counters by throwing a mezano of his own, which simultaneously pushes the defender's sword back and away while providing a threat. This can be followed up with a takedown.

Then we have the play of punta falsa, which is essentially the former 4th drill. The major difference is that the attacker begins in tutta porta di ferro and strikes from there with his strong mezano. The defender responds with an exchange of thrusts. The attacker counters with the punta falsa. Because the blade is rising, it makes the punta falsa much easier to execute, although his timing and control of measure must be good as the exchange places the point towards his face. Against this, the defender counters as usual, with the meza volta of his sword.

So - lots of changes to the longsword syllabus, and very exciting developments in the interpretation. I did some rapier in the afternoon as well, but honestly my brain was pretty much fried, so while my nervous system did probably get something out of it my conscious mind can't remember much of what we did. Still, as long as things don't get too complicated I'm starting to move in a rapierist-ish way rather than just bumbling about, which is progress anyway. I still need to refine a lot of the movements - I tend to make large gross actions rather than the small fine ones needed for effective rapier fencing - but that will come with practice.

After the seminar, a well-earned shower and rest. I made up a big pot of chicken curry, and people started drifting in for the party. There was a lot of food, a lot of booze, drunken wrestling, jabbers, conversation, music, dancing, massage and good company all round.

A special shout-out to the chaps from the branches, especially from the new group in Oulu. They're enthusiastic and passionate - it's more than five hundred kilometres to travel, but they got here anyway. And it's great to see the school growing and bringing HES to all corners.

There's a lot more stuff coming up soon (including a new book from Guy) so watch this space!

Capoferro workbook

2009-11-16T08:28:00.002+02:00

It seems that Guy is having a burst of productivity! He's produced a workbook for rapierists, listing the hierarchy of actions in Capoferro, as well as a table of contents for the work. Useful stuff! Print out and bring along to training.

I'm also disappointed to have missed out on the charity tournament Sunday, but I was feeling pretty sick, and continue to do so. Training might be missed this week, depending on how it goes. Don't want to be infecting my training partners with anything nasty!

Article on instructing and leading classes

2009-11-13T13:03:00.004+02:00

Guy's written a short piece giving advice on how to instruct or lead a class. It's useful stuff for anyone who finds himself or herself in front of a group of eager swordsmen, and needing to give them something useful to do!

I'd recommend this in particular to Chris Chak, who's going to be in charge of some free training sessions. But really, all senior students should have a look.

The Breakthrough

2009-11-04T15:59:00.003+02:00

As has been alluded to on this blog, there has been a dramatic breakthrough in Guy's interpretation of the art: specifically, in the meaning of the crossing of swords in zogho largo and zogho stretto.

His article on the subject is available here.

In short: largo is wide because the points of the swords are wide at the crossing; stretto is close because the points are in presence. That's it. It's a really simple way of looking at it, but it throws much light on the structure of the treatise.

In the wake of this discovery, there will be significant changes to the SES syllabus. I'll post on them when appropriate.

Interesting times!

Training update

2009-11-01T12:08:00.003+02:00

On Thursday I got a call from Guy: he wasn't feeling well, and could I lead the longsword class? I was going to be there anyway, and it turned out I would be the only class leader present that day, so the responsibility definitely fell to me.

I'm always a bit nervous leading anything here. I'm very well aware that a lot of people have as much experience as I do in swordsmanship, and a fair number quite a bit more. There's also the question of manner - I'm not as sure of myself as I was in Singapore, because it's harder for me to read the reactions and especially body language of Finns (although to be fair, I'm told this is a problem for Finns themselves as well!). That said, I got to salle early, sat myself down and put together a training plan so I wouldn't be stuck thinking about what to do.

Inspiration struck, and I took up a simple idea - working on the outside line. So I had the class practice the eighth play of First Master of Dagger, which is a deflection to the inside. This opens up the outside of the opponent. From there, Fiore doesn't show continuations, but there were enough intermediates in the class that I could ask them to explore what to do from there, and they came up with lots of interesting options. We then moved on to Third Master of Dagger, whose cover leads to a similar position.

Sword work continued the theme. I began with the canonical first three steps of First Drill, up to the entry with the pommel strike. From here (again, an outside position, with the opponent's elbow checked) I split the class into two groups - the beginners and basic students to practice up to that point, and work on stepping across the line to get a strong elbow push, and the intermediates to try out different variations to the pommel strike. We ended up with disarms and takedowns and strikes, so there was a nice assortment of techniques.

So the intermediates got to play a bit on their own, and also to show the beginners what they could do, and also a bit about how the different material in the treatise works together. Hopefully everyone had fun and got some useful training out of it.

New links

2009-11-01T12:06:00.002+02:00

I've updated my links section, so Ilkka's link points to www.marozzo.com, and added another swordsman's blog, http://finlandbaby.blogspot.com/ as well. Do have a look!

Abrazare video up!

2009-10-26T22:44:00.002+02:00

For those who don't click on the comments sections, the abrazare video referenced in my previous post is now available on Ilkka's website. It's still quite raw, and we were walking through the execution rather than going all-out (not a good idea on concrete....) but it shows what I was talking about. Comments are very welcome!

Training Update

2009-10-23T18:48:00.003+03:00

Two updates in the space of a week? *shock, horror*

I was really eager to do this one, because it's fun and exciting. What with the big breakthrough in the sword sections of Fiore, Ilkka and I have been working through the plays of abrazare, and we think that we're on to something there as well - or at least, Ilkka had the idea, and I came along for the (very wild and bumpy) ride.

Previously, the setup for abrazare has been quite static and artificial - who starts wrestling in that position? Because of that, the plays have also been somewhat stilted, and their application not obvious, or easy to execute. All manner of explanations have been given for this, but nothing that was really convincing.

So what we did was to begin with more intuitive and dynamic starting points. How does one come to grips? If you start out of distance, you generally grab the arms, or get into something like a collar-and-elbow hold. From there, the most basic thing to do is pull or push. Most wrestling starts from there - by pushing or pulling your opponent, you make him step. That gives you a tempo from which you can throw him. Depending on your footwork, you get an inside or outside throw.

Working from the assumption that your opponent is going to pull you and try a lock or throw of some sort, the plays of abrazare begin to make sense as remedies. They work, and in a pretty intuitive and thoroughly nasty manner too. As a nice bonus, we also think we've cracked the seventh play of abrazare.

I'm not going to go into great detail here, as the videos should soon be up on Ilkka's blog. It's a lot easier to show than to tell, and I think the videos will speak for themselves on the value of the concept.

The flip side of this is that doing it our way requires a fair bit of control and restraint in practice. What with all the throws and counterthrows, there's a higher risk element - as will be seen in the videos as well. It's probably a good idea to practice these on a padded floor rather than the concrete of the salle. We got through two and a half hours of wrestling (and quite a lot of freeform dagger work as well, just for warmup) without any injury, but then we train a lot with each other, we're quite careful and we're experienced enough with falling that we can get away with it. I wouldn't do this with anyone else aside from Guy and a few other people.

Still, it's been an exciting month for Fiore studies here. There'll be revisions to First and Second drills soon as well, and once the videos are up I'll be sure to link them from here.

Training Update

2009-10-16T00:56:00.003+03:00

It's been a month! School and sickness have kept me from updating, though not so much from training. But part of the reason has been that I've been keeping mum about a very exciting development in our understanding of Fiore, and trying to blog about training without mentioning it is quite frustrating. The nature of that change will be formally presented soon, and I'll talk about it at length when that happens, but until then I'll keep it under wraps.

Instead, a mention of rapier: I'm still trying to get used to the very different movement dynamic of rapier, and it just happened that Wednesday's rapier class offered an excellent opportunity to get some practice in it. A 'footwork boot camp' of sorts, it began with us taking off our shoes and getting a literal feel for moving barefoot. Guy took us through a set of exercises to make us really aware of how our feet should move; the ultimate goal was to demonstrate how, within the context of the body positions in rapier fencing, the footwork should feel very natural. It simply happens, in the process of moving the body - which is the real point.

We went on from there (putting our shoes back on) to a set of drills for controlling measure. This is a key skill, obviously, and one thing we learned is just how subtle the timing of the fencing motions has to be. The drill was simply for the attacker to stringere, and the defender to cavazione and lunge. The idea was for the attacker to be able to use footwork to retreat out of range of the lunge. It was surprisingly easy, which reveals that most of us don't time our disengages properly. But time it such that you enter your lunge when the attacker's weight is shifting and his foot moving, and you make it much harder for him to shift out of your range.

The third step was for the attacker to execute a scanso in response to the cavazione. This too was a footwork exercise - depending on which foot was free, the attacker had to do a scanso della vita or a scanso dell' pie dritto. In essence, the defender chose which technique he had to do, because it was the timing of the cavazione that determined which foot was free.

Finishing off the sequence, the defender then performed a scannatura against whichever technique the attacker used.

All in all, it was a fascinating class - good training for all skill levels, and it gave me at least an opportunity to work on some things that really needed training!

Thursday longsword was also good, involving among other things new versions of first and second drills, which will now clearly illustrate the principles of the recent breakthrough. Full descriptions and videos will hit the school website in the proper time, but suffice to say they're pretty cool.

And of course, it just isn't training if we don't get in some wrestling, so Ilkka and I went back through the abrazare material, working on the individual plays as counters to specific techniques. Worked like a charm - and we have one or two leads on understanding the section as well. We'll do more on it and if it seems interesting and useful, it'll come up here.

Training Update

2009-09-11T12:08:00.002+03:00

This week has seen me heading into less familiar territory. I'm doing rapier now.

Sunday was a rapier seminar, and I followed up by attending Topi's rapier class on Wednesday as well. Both kept things fairly basic, so I was able to keep up to a fair degree.

I was the least experienced person in the seminar, rapier-wise, so I was a little nervous; I'm not worried about being bad at something, but I don't like to be the one holding back somebody else's training. It turned out well, though. The more experienced rapierists had material that challenged them (especially the rapier-and-dagger stuff), and I learned a lot.

I was also pleased that my conditioning held up: rapier is quite physically demanding, and in a way that's different from, say, wrestling or longsword. It's about structure and fine motor control, learning to recruit the correct muscle groups and being able to balance stability and explosiveness. It really, really punishes you if you have bad form. I think my ability to keep up was partly improved muscular endurance but a lot more attention to form.

I was also in the right frame of mind, having been re-reading Pearlman's The Book of Martial Power. Pearlman emphasizes basic principles and body mechanics. I'm particularly impressed by what he says about efficiency. Simply put, a technique should use the minimum effort to generate the maximum effect. That seems obvious, but it's challenging to put that principle to work. It means refining our technique to the nth degree, sharpening our judgement and developing finer and finer control, to the point that we barely have to move in order to utterly destroy the opponent. If that sounds like an esoteric goal, it's an ideal that helps to shape our efforts in practice.

Rapier is a weapon system that exemplifies this principle. So much of it is about economy. It's about using the smallest possible motion to properly parry a strike, and to achieve multiple aims with the same movement. Think of the parry-riposte in one tempo: properly executed, it keeps oneself safe and ends the fight with a single motion. In a way, if one were to distill all fencing into one technique, this would be it. It encapsulates all the principles of combat into one turn of the wrist.

Of course, there's a lot more to rapier than one technique. The entire hierarchy of actions must be learned and refined. There is deception, angulation, footwork, a whole panoply of techniques. On Wednesday, for example, Topi ran us through the scansi and sbassi, footwork avoidances (slips) and lowline attacks. The thread running through all this is the need to get things right, even in the subtle details of execution, because you can't make up for sloppy technique with brute strength or speed.

If this post makes me sound like a convert to the knitting-needle circle, I guess I am. I'm looking forward to doing a lot more of it in the future, not just for its own sake but also for what it can teach me in the other styles that I will continue to train - not to mention the fun of being pretty much at the beginning all over again. As Guy once said to me (a lifetime ago) it's the greatest feeling.

Videos!

2009-08-31T07:12:00.002+03:00

Training in Bolognese continues apace. I'm trying to get up to speed so that Ilkka has someone to work with in his interpretations, and so that we can start presenting the material to the wider community.

We've made a beginning of it, so have a look at these videos.

They show the basic defences against direct attacks from the guards of coda longa stretta, porta di ferro stretta and guardia d'alichorno. It's simple stuff, but I think it demonstrates some of the elegance and variety of the style.

Apart from sharing, these videos also serve as a record of our progress - and it looks like I have a lot of room for that. Comments on how to improve are welcome!

Training Update

2009-08-16T19:26:00.002+03:00

It's been an interesting couple of weeks. Training was relatively light for me the first half of August, but Guy has been working on getting Matias, Joeli and I a bit more experience in leading classes. This is going to be important as both he and Ilkka will be away for WMAW in September, so we'll have to take up class leadership duties. We won't be expected to really teach anything, just give people something guidance on what to train and ensure that training is done safely, but even that's a challenge when the students are used to the standards established in the school.

As for my personal training, I've continued working on Bolognese material alongside regular longsword stuff. Ilkka, Matias and I meet once a week for this purpose; of course, Ilkka being Ilkka, on Friday we start with an hour of wrestling and dagger work... this is followed by an hour and a half of practice with sword in hand, then topped off by a little conditioning session. "Super easy," he says. Just a bit of circuit training. So the three stations are skipping rope, basic swings with the kettlebell, and Hindu pushups. For those not familiar with the exercise, this is basically a scoop, but instead of returning back the way you came, you lead with the butt straight back to your starting position. It makes for a fuller range of motion in the shoulders. So it's 15 of those, and the others just keep going at their station until you're done. 4 sets each. So 60 Hindu pushups, and the other exercises for as much time as the other two take to do their 60. It was, shall we say, vigorous?

And this morning Ilkka, Heikki, Joeli and I meet at Liikuntamylly (it's this really cool indoor sports hall with loads of training equipment and spaces) for some wrestling work. A lot of it was basic groundfighting stuff, which we're not very good at since it's not something we train at the salle. We also worked on some simple throws (which of course can't be done at salle because of the concrete floor) and also learned just how hard it is to throw someone who weighs about 45kg more than yourself, and has bloody good grounding. Toss in some locks, armbars, and fighting from mount and guard positions, and you get a pretty intense workout.

I'm going to spend the evening recovering, and seeing whether my body holds up under this level of training. I feel pretty good, but for some stiffness and twingeing in my right shoulder. Hopefully this will clear up with a bit of rest and relaxation (and maybe a spot of massage and medicine as well). Training continues apace!

Training Update

2009-07-26T22:52:00.002+03:00

I've just got back from the Free Scholars' Seminar. As Free Scholars are expected to have a sense of the directions in which they'd like to take their training, it was a free-form type of seminar, tailored to individual needs rather than a class structure. Basically, it was, as Joeli put it, a free training session on steroids.

There were seven students in attendance - a nice number for the format. We began the day with a light warmup and a round of push hands. Everyone got to play with everybody else, including Guy. It was lots of fun and quite a workout! It's really challenging when everyone you're training with has got a fair bit of training under their belt - in fact, I was by some distance the most junior student at the salle today.

Afterwards, the class broke up so that everyone got an individual session with Guy, during which we could train anything we wanted - technical or tactical, from any system covered in the school. I opted to do Sixth Drill, which I've been having problems learning and executing. As it turned out, it was also a good way to train a lot of more advanced blade actions and footwork. Others picked stuff like lunge mechanics in rapier, or applications of the syllabus form.

We were free to either watch someone else's lesson or practice something on our own or with anyone who was willing. So I got in some cross-handed drills, learned about throwing the fendente so as to avoid getting sniped in the hands (or alternatively, to invite the snipe in order to deal with it) and got the choreography of Sixth Drill down.

Lunch was brightened by the provision of chocolate muffins from Laura, bless her heart, and followed by some group work on the syllabus form. We ran through it several times, received critique from Guy, then ran through it again. Following that, we split up into two teams to do the form with applications. We were timed, with mistakes adding to the time. The losing team each round did a penalty - Kens for the duration of the time difference! Even this was useful - I've been having a few problems with doing back rolls over the left shoulder (the right is fine) but today they went well.

The afternoon went in the same way as the morning, so we got a second individual lesson each. I opted to continue working on Sixth Drill and luckily Markku decided to train it as well so I had a partner. We went through it dozens of times, really working on getting the details of execution right. Some of the blade actions are more subtle than in the more basic drills so it called for a lot of work, and I'm grateful to have had a patient and technically adept practice partner.

There was even some sharps drilling going on, so it really was an exciting time. Much credit has to go to Guy for soldiering through a very demanding day of teaching: individual lessons are far more draining than group classes, as the instructor has to stay very focused. He didn't get much rest through the day, and his ability to still be giving useful insights all the way to the end is a testament to his dedication. I think everyone present took away something useful, and in my case at least I got a lot out of it.

Personally, I'm much more confident now about Sixth Drill - not just the techniques but also the tactical application of those techniques. I appreciate better now just how much a small tutta volta can change blade relations and structural alignment, and thus how it's possible to fight very quickly without moving fast: small, efficient motions take less time to complete, so even without physically speeding up one's movement, one can become extremely quick to cover and strike. It's all about economy of motion and of energy.

The gem of the day for me, though, came at the end of my second individual lesson. I was remarking to Guy how useful it was to train with people who were more skilled than I am, because it exposed every flaw, and I said it was great that it forced me to get everything really right, because any sloppiness would be punished.

His reply: "Think how I feel."

That really got me. There aren't many people out there who can actually give him a run for his money in swordsmanship, and chances to train with them are few. For him to stay sharp, he has to have the discipline and willpower to keep his technique correct even when training with the sloppiest beginner. One may say that it's only professional to do so, but it's all too easy to let things slide, and the fact is that most of us do in training, while still expecting the instructor to be on the ball at all times. We have a right to expect that, but we also have the obligation to respect the effort it takes to meet that expectation.

So aside from all the technical sword-related things I've learned and improved today, I've also had a wake-up call in training attitude. I've said before on this blog that training even with the worst partner can still teach us important lessons; I've been reminded of that today, and I'll keep it fresh in the days to come.

Training Update

2009-07-17T15:06:00.002+03:00

The Fiore Extravaganza is now history, but its lessons live on. Chief among them for me is a new structure for tactical decision-making: as mentioned in my previous post, each action taken by a combatant constrains the other's potential responses. This means that the range of possibilities quickly narrows to a set of actions that should trigger automatic, optimal responses.

For example, when a mandritto fendente is parried by a frontale, there are essentially five things that the attacker can do:

1. Avoid the parry (in other words, feint) and strike;
2. Lose on the cross (that is, yielding to the parry) and enter;
3. Win the cross (by redirecting the strike to gain leverage on the defender's weapon) and strike;
4. Come to an equal cross (when neither combatant has a clear advantage) in which case one or the other should enter;
5. Do nothing, or rather, wait for the defender's riposte, then parry that and strike.

Faced with these threats, the defender has a set of responses, in order:

1. Parry the second strike and counter;
2. Counter the entry (most usually with an elbow push, but other techniques will work);
3. Yield and enter, or parry and strike;
4. Enter first; or counter the entry;
5. Parry and strike.

The striking thing is that there just aren't that many responses that will work. They boil down to a parry-riposte, yield and entry, or counter to the entry. This corresponds to the attacker, in essence, doing nothing, pulling back, or entering. Anything more elaborate than this will take place once the initial threat is dealt with.

What this analysis does is give us a structure for understanding and training tactical situations. Instead of being paralysed by a whole suite of individual techniques, we can hone a limited set of responses and then build on those.

In other training news, Ilkka has started to teach me Manciolino's Primo Assalti with sword and buckler. It's a massive form, with over a hundred individual actions, meant for display and including a pair drill. There's a video of it here. As Ilkka says in his post, it's exciting to be figuring out just how it's meant to work. Being generally on the recieving end of the assault, I can say that the moves are really interesting. They're playful and effective at the same time. Depending on one's intentions, they could be done to show off one's skill, but executed in earnest they would serve well to open up the opponent's defences. I know that there were moments when I was well and truly flummoxed by the attacks!

It's two weeks to Ropecon, Finland's biggest role-playing and games event, and SES will be doing a demo there. It looks like I'll be on the demo team, and we're hoping to be able to cover a bit of Bolognese as well as the usual fare of longsword, I.33 and rapier. Guy will also be giving a talk on "The Realities of Steel". Participants in the demo will get entry into the other events of the day so it looks like it'll be a fun weekend out.

And in closing, a shout out to everyone who came to Helsinki for the Extravaganza. Best wishes and good training!

Fiore Extravaganza

2009-07-05T20:10:00.003+03:00

Two days of the Fiore Extravaganza have gone by, and it's been a fascinating time. This year's seminar is somewhat different from last year's Five Days of Fiore, because everyone attending has some experience in the system - and in some cases, a lot of it! Thus we've been able to quickly move past basic technical material (although that has received some attention as well) to the tactical application of the stuff we've been learning and doing.

Thus, the first day's practice of abrazare went beyond simple details of making covers and the way to (for example) apply a ligadura. We're familiar with the basic plays but what we've been learning is how the tactical situation influences our choice of what plays to use. Take the first remedy master of dagger - the cover is made as usual, but the follow-on techniques can be seen as responses to the attacker's reaction to the cover: if he remains in place, the first play (disarm and strike) is the simplest to execute; if he pulls back, the ligadura; if he charges forward, the break of fifth play. [Note: special credit to Chris Blakey of PHEMAS for this analysis, well done Chris!]

Today's emphasis was on tactical decision-making with the sword, and in particular the choice between playing in largo and stretto. We worked on really getting the distinction between the crossings in tutta spada and meza spada, as well as feeling for the difference between winning and 'losing' (properly, entering a position of equality) at the cross. One thing that Guy pointed out was the number of decisions that can and indeed have to be made well before the swords ever cross, all of which influence the encounter that follows. Which guard to take up, whether to attack or await the opponent's attack, cut or thrust - these all shape the crossing, such that it is possible, if not to win the fight before it starts, at least to give oneself the best chance to win.

The day concluded with a bit of freeplay. Those with more experience did freeplay with full kit while the others bouted with wasters. This not only allowed for more bouts in the limited time available but also created opportunities for seniors to have a go at presiding over free fencing, a difficult skill that requires judgement, tact and a keen eye.

I was fairly pleased with my fencing today. Win or lose, my goal was to make a plan and keep to it - not trying to anticipate the opponent, or to think too many steps ahead, but to keep a tactical concept in mind and fence accordingly. This is more difficult than it sounds, at least for me. The temptation is to change one's mind and start casting about for better options, but this is what leads to coffee breaks and ineffectual waving of swords in the general direction of the opponent. As always, better a committed decision now than the best of ideas when it's too late. So I kept things simple - pick a guard and stick to it, decide whether to try to stay in largo or enter into stretto, and then just go for it, doing whatever it takes to make my plan work. In terms of points, I didn't do so well, but as a learning experience it was excellent. The thing is, when both parties go into a bout with these things clearly in mind, it produces a clean, technical encounter - something that everyone can learn from, regardless of the outcome.

So, a great start to the seminar, and lots more to come!

Training Update

2009-07-03T21:20:00.004+03:00

It's been almost a month since I last updated, but I think I'm allowed a pass, seeing as in the meantime I've got married and am applying for residency in Finland. Training continues apace, however, and it's been great to welcome some friends to Helsinki - Petter Brodin, Henrik Wadell and Chris Chak are currently staying at the salle, in preparation for the Fiore Extravaganza, a week-long event that begins tomorrow! They'll be joined in training by Katrin Wendland and Kliment Yanev, as well as those who live in Finland: a total of 22 swordsmen will be engaging in the week's training.

The Extravaganza promises to provide a significant boost to the training of the participants, as it is geared towards tactical application of the treatise material. It's a bit different from last year's Five Days of Fiore, which was more technical; given that many of this year's participants attended the Five Days, and everyone else has been training for some time at SES (Chris being the one exception, although he's been training with PHEMAS), the focus this time will be on getting people ready for freeplay, and improving the free fencing abilities of those who already are ready.

The seminar will end with a tournament and then a school party, to which all students and friends of the school are invited. It's going to be a lot of fun, so I hope we'll see a big turnout for the night!

Sprezzatura

2009-06-11T13:02:00.002+03:00

In my previous post, I wrote about the quality of effortless grace that characterises the spirit of the Bolognese style: to no great surprise, I have just been reminded that there is a word for it in the Italian, and a good and proper period word at that.

Sprezzatura - as defined by Castiglione in The Book of the Courtier: "a certain nonchalance, so as to conceal all art and make whatever one does or says appear to be without effort and almost without any thought about it." It is the essential quality of the courtier, the gentleman - someone so fully in control of himself, so in harmony with natural laws and his environment, that everything he does is accomplished without striving.

In reality, of course, this is an appearance that belies the tremendous amount of practice and training that go into creating that appearance.

There is an interesting parallel here with the notion of 'naturalness' in Chinese internal arts - that the point of the arts is to achieve the state of nature, and that the very acme of human artifice results in what appears to be complete artlessness. In a sense this is true: what sword stroke can equal the simple efficiency and grace of a water droplet arcing through the air? Yet the crucial difference is intention.

For nature is mindless. Its mechanisms work without conscious intent. Whatever happens is the result of ineluctable physical laws, and the outcomes merely probabilistic. What man does, however, is intentional. Our goal is the single act which achieves our objective. True art is being able to do with one act, one intention, what is only accomplished in nature with the random waste of millions of unseen and unremembered others.

Take for example Michelangelo's David. How many of us can claim that wonderful proportion of body, that sweetness of face, that easy grace and focus? How many squat, misshapen, clumsy hulks does nature make, to every person of such beauty? Yet Michelangelo saw in a block of marble that very shape, and his art freed it from its prison, without error.

A thought, then, regarding training and instinct: nature gives us a guide to what to do; it furnishes us with examples to learn from; the essence of art is to enable us to command that natural efficiency and grace, and set it to our own uses. For this, after all, is what sets man apart from the animals - that he can choose his destiny, for good or ill.

And indeed, was it not precisely the Renascence that marked the reawakening of man to the thought that he might, after all, be master of his own fate?

Training Update

2009-06-06T14:13:00.003+03:00

This week saw the first couple of meetings of the unofficial Bolognese study group at SESH. So far it's just Ilkka, Matias Parmala and me, but that's a nice size for the time being. Ilkka's just bringing the two of us up to speed with basic terminology and actions at the moment, so we're learning the guards and strikes and forms.

We did a couple of hours on Wednesday, and another session on Friday - the latter involving Ilkka's idea of a warmup, which was about an hour of abrazare, including stress drills. I think it's a fair guide to the improvement in my conditioning levels that I wasn't shattered at the end of it, and still had the mental and physical capacity to do some technical training.

The Bolognese style is a very sophisticated one, with dynamic footwork, subtle blade actions with lots of feints and misdirections, and a number of actions that start out counter-intuitive but make a lot of sense in context. It also has a very distinct flavour - you can't just do the actions correctly in a technical fashion, to really express the style one has to develop an air of nonchalant grace. Done right, it should look effortless - it's quite distinct in spirit from Fiore, which is generally very direct and efficient.

The difficulty with practicing Bolognese lies in this very quality: the treatises give many ways of approaching a given tactical situation, and so many options that it's hard to decide on the fly what one should do. Add to this the texts' lack of structure (they generally provide a large number of examples of what to do, without giving much context as to why, what the opponent is doing, and so on) and you can see how the wealth of options can be a problem.

The Bolognese school really isn't for beginners. It's beautiful and effective, but I suspect that it's best approached from a position of already having a fair amount of experience with more straightforward styles. It's also fairly physically demanding - a certain degree of athleticism is required because of the nature of the footwork and blade actions. It would be easy to suffer injury from practicing this style - if Ilkka can bugger up his elbow practicing tramazzones, anyone can!

I'm looking forward to more of the material, though. There's so very much of it, and not just concerning sword in one hand. There's knife, polearm, sword and dagger, sword and buckler, sword and shield, greatsword... all kinds of really funky and cool stuff is covered in the treatises. It all builds from the single sword though, so it does form a coherent system.

In other news, I did a spot of light freeplay with Guy on Thursday. I don't think I did very well - lots of coffee-breaks, stopping, bashing, not following through on techniques, and most importantly failing to control the opponent's weapon. Things got better as the session went on (as Guy poked and prodded me into addressing these flaws) but it's clear that I've still got a lot to work on in application of technique. There's a bunch of stuff I can do technically, in drills and so on, but making it work cleanly in free fencing is another matter entirely. But as always, I'm glad to have my failings pointed out (however embarrassing or frustrating it might feel at the moment) because (1.) it means I can start correcting them; and (2.) it means I still have lots to learn and practice. It's a nice feeling to have all this room for improvement ahead of oneself!

Other stuff upcoming - I.33 seminar next weekend! It's fun stuff, and I'm happy to have a chance to extend my knowledge of it past the basic level. It's not about accumulating scout badges, of course, but working through the school syllabus in a methodical fashion is of benefit as well. It ensures a minimum level of technical skill and a foundation for more advanced training when the time comes. Also ramping up for the Fiore extravaganza in early July, and perhaps the summer-autumn round of demos and other events.

Life at the swordschool is pretty exciting at the moment, so watch this space!

Stag Party!

2009-05-30T11:52:00.000+03:00

As many reading this blog will know, I'm getting married on the 26th of June. So of course a stag party was on the cards. This took place yesterday. Maria took me to Suomenlinna on some pretext, and as we passed through the fortress gates I was set upon by Guy, Topi, Ilkka and Joeli.

They hauled me off to a secluded bit of park beside a lovely pond, where we proceeded to have a set of singlestick bouts. Not a lot of rules - protective equipment a mask, and an elbow guard. We had a round of standard singlestick, giving and getting blows, and then another round without footwork - mensur style, basically.

I ended up with at least 41 welts. And some of them are absolute beauties. My shoulders and upper arms are blotched purple and blue. It's brilliant! My lady's colours are black and blue, and I wear them with pride!

Then we went to one of the oldest sauna in town - seriously old-school place. Conked my head on the tiles (got an imprint on my forehead for that) but it was great. Changed into togs provided for the occasion - full gear with jacket, Desperate Dan tie (with cowpies! and if you got that reference, good on you) and kilt! Yep, I was walking around downtown Helsinki with a kilt on. More than one eyebrow was raised along the way.

Dinner was at a restaurant that serves traditional Finnish cuisine - good stuff. Decor was super funky, with a farm theme and lots of farming implements on the walls, and tin buckets as lampshades, and a tractor in the middle of the room. I had wonderful little fish (vendace) rolled in rye flour and fried in butter, as well as a pint of sahti, homebrew beer brewed with bread yeast. Yes, this was part of the test as well.

Dessert at an Italian place, followed by cigars and brandy at the Esplanade (much more fun than the Singapore edition), where I had to compose a haiku dedicated to my lady. This was duly done and toasted.

Back home with an aching head, and other body parts. A hot shower and some rearrangement of my internals, and so to bed, at the end of a most memorable day. Thanks to all involved - best stag party ever!

Training Update

2009-05-27T18:17:00.002+03:00

Three weeks since I last posted! My apologies to everyone who's been wondering what's happened to me. Rest assured, I'm healthy again, still training (more than ever, in fact) and settling nicely in Helsinki.

Part of the reason I've not been blogging so much has been that I'm at a bit of a plateau in training - I enjoy it tremendously, but there haven't been a great number of penny-drop moments of insight. It may be precisely because I'm training rather more, and more often, than I used to, which means that it's a daily activity rather than an intense burst each weekend. It's not wasted effort, of course - there will always be flat periods in one's advancement, and the key is to keep one's spirits up and not get discouraged. It's also a good time to revisit the basics, keep them fresh and make sure everything is working well so that when the plateau breaks you're in position to make the most of it.

At the moment I'm working on refining longsword technique, especially in the zogho largo. All the little things like hand position, timing of cuts, proper structure, weight distribution, balance, path, edge alignment... the number of things that need to be worked on can be daunting, but it's a matter of making those little tweaks and being aware of them rather than mindlessly swinging through yet another set of reps of cutting drill.

Other stuff includes working on the crane breathing exercise and the first few steps of the health qigong form. The former is familiar territory but again can always use more refining, while the latter is fairly new ground for me. It's lung-burstingly brutal when done right, but it promises to pay off in both aerobic and anaerobic fitness as well as general conditioning. I'm also playing around with the kettlebell and other conditioning tools.

I'm also looking forward to getting in more work on I.33 and sidesword. Ilkka wants a training partner (read: chew toy) and video demonstrator for his Marozzo project so I'm going to be on a crash course for that, which is going to be cool. As well, the Fiore Extravaganza is in just over a month's time so I need to be fit and ready for that. It'll be great meeting old friends like Petter Brodin and Katrin Wentland again!

More is in the pipeline, so I'll keep things updated a bit more frequently. Thanks to all my readers for their patience.

Training Update

2009-05-05T22:17:00.002+03:00

It's been far too long since I updated, but the past few weeks have been full of other activities besides training - the inevitable logistics of moving to another country. Besides which, a pinched nerve somewhere around my C5/C6 vertebrae has curtailed training somewhat. However, with a more settled routine and the alleviation of symptoms (if not yet the root cause) through physiotherapy and TLC, I've been able to get back into training.

I'd like to mention a nice little warmup exercise now making the rounds. In the tradition of the Superman, there's the Jack Bauer Breakout. It starts with Jack Bauer tied up by his enemies, suspended upside down by his legs. We do this by going into a shoulderstand, legs vertical. Then break out by rolling forward to a standing position, dodge a bullet with a hindu squat, kick enemy, dodge with another squat, kick again, get hit in chest and fall down, roll back up, kick gun out of enemy's gun out of his hand, catch it out of the air in a perfect posta longa. Easy! Then repeat as many times as desired.

More specifically sword-related stuff: sometimes getting an improvement comes through the simplest of exercises. Guy got the class to go through cutting drills, the emphasis being on feeling how the starting guard position can be optimised for the action following from it, cut or thrust. From this I discovered a couple of interesting points.

Firstly, regarding posta di fenestra: cutting from fenestra is made easier and smoother with the point held slightly high, rather than with blade parallel to the ground. Thrusting isn't any different, because the point comes online with the volta stabile anyway. It also removes the need to lift the point up for the cut, which is quite a bit of a tell. However, the treatise shows fenestra being held horizontally, so more work is needed on this matter.

Secondly, from posta di donna, if the point is held somewhat downwards, left hand raised, it makes for smoother, easier cuts. This is because the left hand can move in a natural arc, with the right hand pushing straight forward from the shoulder, rather than the somewhat unnatural and counter-intuitive motion of going straight forward with both hands and then turning the blade around. It makes timing the cut and coordinating arm, body and leg movements much simpler. It also makes a good match with the illustration in the Getty of the rear-weighted posta di donna. I'll definitely be experimenting with it more in the days to come.

I'm also looking forward to doing a lot more work on the Bolognese school, partly out of personal interest and partly to be able to contribute to Ilkka's new project at www.marozzo.com.

Thanks to all my readers for their patience. I look forward to training and posting more regularly again!

A Farewell to Arms

2009-04-13T06:52:00.002+03:00

Last night was my last training session with PHEMAS for a while.

For those of my readers who aren't yet aware, I'm moving to Finland permanently in a couple of days. It's a major life change that has been coming for a while, and I'm excited about it, but also sad to leave the band of brothers that is the core of PHEMAS.

So last night they gave me a warrior's sending-off.

After a light warmup and a bit of technical training, the whole senior class lined up for freeplay. Everyone would have a crack at me, twice over. We played with abrazare, dagger, arming sword, longsword, spear. I can't give an analysis of what happened - it was 45 minutes of mayhem, that left me drained. Not just because of the bouting itself, but the feeling that this would be the last I'd see of many friends for a good long time, and that there was no other way I'd rather say farewell.

Warriors and brothers, one and all.

The junior class also got in on the act, having a chance to bout with me a bit. They're good lads and lasses too. I was glad to see a few of them properly enthusiastic about having a chance to go a round with me, and one or two surprised me with good technique and killer instinct. We've got some good martial artists in the making at PHEMAS, and I wish I could play more of a part in bringing them along. But that task falls to other, very capable hands now, and I turn to new responsibilities.

Why, in the end, do I do this? The Art itself calls to me, always drawing me into greater subtleties and mysteries; but it would be a long and lonely path indeed without my brethren. Some of us train more, or harder, than others; some are more athletic, more physically talented; some cleverer, some more ponderous; some gentle, some ruthless; some practical, some downright mystics. But we are brothers and sisters all in the Art, and it has been the camaraderie that has supported me through my time in training. It has carried me through good times and bad, and made of me far more than I ever dared to wish I could be. The reality has been much better than any fantasy I could have come up with, and it continues to make my dreams real.

So to my brethren in PHEMAS, and in particular the Brown Horde and the Usual Suspects - thank you for all that you have been to me, and all you've done for me. You will always have a place in my heart and beside my hearth.

And one more heartfelt kiitos to Greg, my brother from a different mother. The best friend and battle-brother a man could have. Swords high!

Training Update

2009-03-30T18:27:00.002+03:00

Sunday training followed on from AGM in the afternoon. It was good to see guys like Tome and Yu Sarn back in training, although it was a bit disappointing that not everyone who attended the AGM stayed to train.

We started out with some dagger work, basic remedies against dagger strikes and two-on-one drill. We've not done that kind of stress training for a while and it was good to get back to it. It's a good test of how well we've internalised the techniques that we have learned, and the intensity makes it an excellent workout as well.

I've found that my endurance in this type of training has increased greatly - not due to much higher cardiovascular efficiency (that's hardly the case, I still can't run for nuts!) but because my breathing is a lot more steady. I don't pant or hold my breath, so I get enough oxygen and my body doesn't use anaerobic respiration - and this means that I can keep going a lot longer, without undue strain.

We also trained the exchange of thrusts again. Our focus was on the timing of actions, being able to choose to bind with the crossguard, and completing the cover before stepping in with the point. We also worked on counters to the exchange, and variations thereof. We ended off with some reps of the syllabus form.

Junior class was taken by Greg and saw a lot of work done on basic footwork and movement. This naturally segued into grounding and power generation and transfer. When sword work began, I took Michelle (a very enthusiastic young lady of 14) aside to train first and second drills, and the first 16 steps of the syllabus form.

Unbeknownst to her, she was being evaluated, and she passed with flying colours. She's covered a lot of ground in the time she's been with us, and her training attitude shows. Her techniques are cleanly executed, which makes up a great deal for her small stature. Once she learns to develop more power (which I'm confident she will) she will develop into a really good swordsman.

So she's been promoted, and well deserves it. Hopefully in time she'll have a chance to train with even better instructors and take it to the next level. Along those lines, we put it to the juniors that there may be two seminars this year by external instructors. Paul Wagner will drop by in August on his way to WMAW, and run a weekend seminar on I.33 and possibly English quarterstaff and longsword. As well, Ilkka Hartikainen has expressed interest in a visit to Singapore - this would be a great opportunity for the juniors to get a taste of what SES training is like. I hope response will be good and that both seminars will take place - it's been too long (over a year!) since we've had someone come in and the society needs it.

So, the future looks bright for PHEMAS.

AGM

2009-03-30T10:04:00.002+03:00

PHEMAS held its Annual General Meeting on Sunday, 29th March 2009. The minutes will be up on the forum soon, but I thought to post a few thoughts on the proceedings.

We elected a new committee, with Chris and Josh continuing as President and Vice-President respectively. I stepped down as Treasurer, and Page will no longer be Secretary. Our replacements will be Robin and Aaron. Chris Chak will understudy Robin as Assistant to the Treasurer.

I think this is as strong a committee as we could have found. It's one of the struggles that we have as a society, to keep leadership fresh and active. It's all well and good to recruit new students, but the old stalwarts have to be motivated to contribute in larger ways than simply showing up at training. There's a fair amount of administrative work and organising involved in just keeping the society alive, and we need people to step up.

With my passing of the Treasurer's baton to Robin, there will be some new oversight rules put in place regarding the handling of accounts. This is in no way, shape or form a reflection on Robin - it's simply an implementation of things that we should have put in place a long time ago. I think it's also a mark of our maturation as a society, developing institutions so that transition between individual office-holders does not cause undue disruption to our smooth functioning.

So with that I leave the PHEMAS management committee. It's been a good year contributing to the running of the society, and I wish the new committee all success in the year to come.

Training update

2009-03-27T13:57:00.004+02:00

Wednesday class saw both Chris and Greg unable to attend, so it fell to me to take the class. Attendance was quite good, with old stalwarts like Anthony and Tome reappearing, as well as a few juniors. With that in mind, I decided to work on stuff that could benefit both groups.

We began with a light warmup (that still managed to elicit a few groans - clearly we need more conditioning work!) and started class proper with a touch of push hands. While the old salts were very familiar with this stuff, it was a new experience for some of the juniors, and a useful little lesson in sensitivity and structure.

The bulk of the lesson was used to cover the exchange of thrusts, from fenestra against a high thrust. It looks simple enough, but it's a sophisticated defence that requires timing and judgement and good technique to pull off safely and effectively. One of the key points is to ensure that the sword leads the body - especially in this case, it's very easy to perform a volta stabile and leave one's sword trailing behind: easy, and fatal. Failing to cover oneself before moving results in a wide open line for a thrust to the head - indeed, one ends up running oneself onto the opponent's blade.

Thus the exchange is an excellent opportunity to train different aspects of swordsmanship. For juniors, it's a chance to practice basic footwork, precision of blade action, and so on; for seniors, all of this, plus more subtle considerations of tempo and measure, of sentimento at the cross, execution of the bind and many other possibilities.

Hence I kept mostly out of the way of the class and let them go about it - sometimes the best thing an instructor can do is just let the class do their thing, make and correct their own mistakes, just find their way by trial and error. Of course I stepped in when safety became a concern, but otherwise, especially for the seniors, I let them self-diagnose and get in as many reps as they could.

The evening ended with a short conditioning and stretching session. Everyone did well, and hopefully enjoyed the session. And while I much prefer to be standing in the line during training, I'm happy that it was a brisk, useful class.

Training Update

2009-03-23T05:51:00.002+02:00

Freshly back from a week's in-camp reservist training (which was why I wasn't at Wednesday training - was prepping for urban ops live firing instead!), I was glad to see a pretty good turnout. The senior class had six in attendance, and there were nine juniors. What's also good is that the juniors are making class consistently, which means that they are learning and progressing at a steady rate, and we don't have to keep repeating material for the sake of people who've missed sessions.

Senior session began with a nice brisk warmup - Greg's gone back to the more vigorous style of warmup in order to get a higher energy level for class, and it seems to be working. There was a lot of sword work, starting with revision of bichorno and fifth drill. Loads of reps under the belt, with much emphasis on getting the little details of form correct.

We also did a fair bit of cutting practice. We began with static cutting, then slow one-handed mezano cuts, concentrating on form and cutting path. This was pretty strenuous, but I'm glad to report that nobody dropped out. From there we moved on to advanced cutting drill, and most of us showed a distinct improvement in form. Nicely done!

We also did a degree-of-freedom exercise in which the attacker could choose between fendente mandritto, thrust or bichorno feint. The principle was to learn to wait for the defender's response before committing to an action (especially for the feint). For the defender, it was to learn to recognise the attack, throw out a good defence, and remain able to transition to a secondary defence or move immediately into a counter as the situation dictated.

Finally we had a few bouts of light freeplay - always fun!

Junior class was spent on going through syllabus material for evaluations, so it was fairly technical. I'm glad to see the enthusiasm and energy of the beginners, some of whom are clearly practicing a lot in their own time, and spending time learning the academic side of the art as well. Nothing too fancy, but at least some are actually bothering to take time to study the names of the guards and cuts and footwork. In time these are the ones who will really get a lot more out of the art. 'Two hours a week does not a swordsman make!'

I also took the opportunity to incorporate a little five-minute lesson on body maintenance - the forearm massage. As Guy puts it, this is quite possibly the lesson with the most immediate real-world relevance that we cover. I know it's been useful to me, so I like to get people familiar with the idea of self-massage. Apart from the therapeutic benefits, it's a good way of getting comfortable with your own body and learning its structure. An understanding of anatomy is often useful in developing good body mechanics. Although this is obviously very amateurish compared to the work done by people like Thomas Stoeppler, it's still useful to learn.

So, a good brisk session which felt like it was over almost before it began, and left me wanting more. It's a good sign.

Oops

2009-03-21T04:45:00.002+02:00

A major correction to the previous post is in order.

I have been informed that Fifth drill is in fact executed without an acressere fora di strada; instead the only footwork that the defender executes is a volta stabile. This takes the defender diagonally across the line and places him in the same final location an acressere would. The volta stabile accomplishes all the functions mentioned for the acressere.

With the volta stabile, the defender should be able to cross the blades in a normal frontale, and the dipping of the point is the avoidance of the parry. In the words of Fiore, "schiva il colpo", it avoids the blow.

The rest of the post still stands; replace 'acressere' with 'volta stabile' and it works still. I've chosen to retain it as a record, instead of editing it directly. My apologies to anyone this may have misled.

Training Update

2009-03-13T06:19:00.003+02:00

Wednesday class a nice size again, with seven students in attendance (one leaving mid way due to illness).

Emphasis this time round was posta di bichorno, and fifth drill. As half the class was seeing bichorno for the first time, things were kept quite basic. There were still learning points for the seniors though, as there always is if one is observant and focused. It's often useful to train with the juniors, as seeing what they have difficulties with alerts oneself to possible flaws in one's own techniques; also, teaching them what to do requires the senior to have a good grasp of the technique, in order to be able to articulate its requirements.

[EDIT: Major correction to mistakes made in this post can be found here.

A couple of points struck me this time round (not literally!).

Firstly, measure - properly arriving in posta di bichorno with a volta stabile from rear-weighted posta di donna should result in having the point on line, threatening the opponent, but somewhat out of measure. In other words, even without further blade movement the action already constitutes a feint. Done properly one's blade should be out of reach of the opponent's parry (unless said parry is being performed at a large and hence unsound distance from the body). Thus the dipping of the point (third step of the drill) serves to ensure the effectiveness of the feint but does not in itself constitute the feint.

Secondly, the defender's initial acressere off the line is vital. As usual, it serves to remove the target from the threat, change the blade relationship to gain leverage, and power the frontale without requiring overcommitment of the blade.

What it does in the first case is to take one's centreline away from the line of the thrust. This means that the thrust coming in after the feint is actually directed off the middle line (unless the attacker tracks, but this is difficult with this set of actions). Because the thrust is now somewhat off-target, it is easier to close off the line because one needs to move the incoming blade less - perhaps three inches rather than six. This is crucial and can make all the difference in a fight.

By going off the line, the defender also crosses the line of the attacker's blade. This results in a strong parry, with the strong line of the defender's blade operating across the attacker's. Although the bichorno 'stays in the middle' against a ballistic beat, a well-structured parry will move it with dispatch. This action must be properly timed, with the crossing occurring before weight transfer is committed.

By crossing the line, the defender is also able to make the parry and move the attacking blade off target without having to push his own blade out too far to the side. Without the acressere off the line, the frontale has to end up outside the defender's shoulder; with the acressere, the frontale can be held as it should be, just slightly to one side of the centreline. This is particularly important in the case of the feint, as it means that the parrying blade is in a position to quickly close the line on the other side, rather than being overcommitted to one line. Without this positioning, the false-edge deflection is very difficult to execute in time.

We also worked briefly on variations on the end of the drill. It is possible to use a true-edge parry rather than a false edge (if one's opponent is less than rapier-swift with his actual attack) in the final step. From there, one can push or bind with the blade and enter into the plays of zogho stretto - one possibility being to bind the attacking blade down and across to the right, opening up the centreline for all manner of close-in nastiness. I'm reminded of Ilkka's favourite, to simply step behind the opponent, put his arm round the shoulder, hand on chin, and pull back. This takedown is effective and quite safe to perform even against beginners, as one can control the extent of the takedown precisely, and halt it against one's body even if the partner loses his or her balance.

So, a useful little session, and a good time had by one and all.

Training Update

2009-03-10T08:58:00.005+02:00

A general update for the past couple of weeks, especially since someone hacked the PHEMAS forums.

We've had some interesting freeplay bouts in the past two Sunday senior sessions, both longsword and dagger. I'm fairly happy with my progress, and even happier that we've diagnosed issues to work on at an individual level. Not being good at something isn't a problem - what's frustrating is not knowing what one can do to become better. Greg helped me identify a problem with my dagger strikes - to wit, I'm so concerned with developing a threat that I end up holding the dagger out for display too long. There's a nice balance - one must make a clear threat, yet at the same time move swiftly so that the opponent does not have forever and a day to decide what to do.

Both Joshua Yong and Chio Seng Kian were evaluated and have been promoted. Congratulations you two, now it's time to start earning it....

We've got an influx of new students for the junior session. Last Sunday there were eight juniors in the hall, and what's interesting is that there were as many ladies as guys. That's pretty much unheard of for PHEMAS and it's a nice development. The art doesn't discriminate between genders, and it's good to have that balance.

Because of the new people the material we've been covering has been quite basic, but people are having fun and still learning. I'm getting a bit better at structuring a class and managing time, and learning to talk less and teach more. Having a clear sense of what should be covered is the key: rather than trying to give sweeping overviews of everything in swordsmanship, just cover a bit of material in depth, with a lot of time given to repetitions and correction, making sure people do things right and get the sense that they're really being taught the correct actions.

Wednesday class has also been encouraging. Much improved turnout, with juniors coming in to train as well. Chris has been doing some nice advanced material with us, and the great thing is that the drills are useful for both beginners and more advanced students, because the same actions train different things, depending on what one's focus is. Even a simple frontale against fendente mandritto - a beginner is just learning how to position the frontale; a senior learns to feel for the opponent's intention through the contact at the crossing.

We've also done some single-hand systems - last Wednesday, for example, we split the class, and Chris covered singlestick while I did sword and buckler work with Chris Chak and Michelle. As I do more of I.33, I've grown to like the logic of the system, and the 'fencing' quality of its footwork and movement. To me, Fiore is more of a 'fighting' system, focused on defeating the enemy in the most direct and efficient way possible. While I.33 isn't inefficient or flashy, it does have a more indirect, less linear quality which is interesting in its own right and as a contrast to Fiore.

And as I learn to appreciate the subtler points of swordsmanship, I've developed a much greater interest in and liking for rapier as well, even though I still don't think I'm particularly suited to it, either physically or by temperament. Sidesword, of course, is still a matter of great fascination, just that I currently don't have access to instruction in it - this is something that's going to change soon, and I'm looking forward to that.

So it seems that the one sword system taught at SES that I still don't feel enthusiastic about is smallsword. I think that's fine, though - there's plenty for me to chew on at the moment!

Training Update

2009-02-26T06:43:00.004+02:00

A well-attended class today with four of the beginners from Sunday showing up as well. It's great for the society to have an influx of fresh blood, and I hope they'll keep up their enthusiasm. We also welcomed Larry Eng back to training after a long work-imposed hiatus.

A fair number of people showed up before class so there was a chance for us to get to know each other a bit. It turned out that Chris was slightly delayed by traffic so I took the warmup, keeping it fairly brisk but relaxed - nothing overly strenuous.

Seeing as there was a good proportion of beginners, Chris kept the lesson simple, beginning with the first six plays of abrazare. These demonstrate the core body mechanics of the simple, and reward patient study and practice. It's tempting to just skip past them and go on to fun stuff with weapons, but actually putting in time training these plays reveals the subtle fundamental principles they demonstrate.

Take for example the initial master remedy position. It looks as if it's got a fairly narrow application - how many times are we going to be attacked by someone in that exact position? Yet the remedy demonstrates the ability of a step off the line (acressere fora di strada) to break the opponent's structure as well as to take oneself out of the line of attack. Try doing the remedy while static, or passing forwards, and it won't work well - but do it with the correct footwork and the opponent is already destabilised.

The follow-on scholar plays are also rich in learning points. The second play demonstrates working on joints with the correct angles (requiring skill, rather than brute strength, to manipulate the opponent's musculoskeletal structure), and the power generation of the volta stabile.

The third play teaches us to take whatever the opponent offers as a target, not to get hung up on a specific outcome but rather reacting to any possible action with an effective counter - the decision stick concept in action.

The fourth play teaches us to seize the tempo when an opponent makes himself unstable, and not to oppose strength but rather to help the opponent in the direction he wishes to go, but controlling him such that he does as we wish.

The fifth play teaches us to be aware of the opponent's footwork as well as our own, to develop sensitivity and alertness, and to use that sensitivity to quickly change lines of attack to wherever the opponent is weak; again, not opposing strength but attacking weakness.

The sixth play, of the counter-remedy master, demonstrates reaction to changing circumstances and, again, using what's available to counter the opponent's intention, because any intended action will always offer a point of attack for a counter.

Having had a good bit of practice with these, we went on to a little sword work, the cover of the master of sword in one hand. It's a quite sophisticated and subtle action, requiring good timing and coordination of arm, core and footwork mechanics (which is, I believe, why the drill that begins with it is now 6th drill rather than 1st - it's not easy to learn).

I have to admit that this is quite close to my heart, as I spent quite a bit of my last trip to Helsinki practicing 6th drill, or at least its first steps. I'm still not particularly confident about the entire sequence - certainly not to the level of the first five drills - but the cover has made an impression on me, what with Guy's injunction to make the opponent feel like his sword has been hit 'by the hammer of an angry god' and Jan Kukkamaki's unendingly patient and cheerful partnership and guidance. I really enjoy training with Jan because he's so proficient and smooth, yet brings no ego issues whatsoever to training. He trains with a refreshing spirit of honesty and joy, and it makes partnering with him an absolute delight.

So, one sees an attack coming, makes an acressere off the line with the front foot, cuts along the sottano line (engaging the opponent's blade edge to flat) and once contact has been made, makes a volta stabile, shooting out the free hand to posta longa. This puts one in a position to make all manner of follow-on plays, as described in the sword in one hand section. But it's not a simple matter to execute this cover well. It's a technique that requires much practice, a good eye and smooth mechanics to execute properly, and it has many resonances with actions in other sword systems: in a way it's an archetypal sword action, and deserves much attention.

This took us to the end of the evening's training. All in all, a good class with lots of energy, lots of clashing of blades, and lots to learn. Well done one and all.

Training Update

2009-02-23T07:20:00.003+02:00

A tremendous class this evening. Excellent turnout for senior session which was exceeded by the juniors! We had more than ten people in the junior class, with six completely new faces. The Sunday Times article has really given us a boost.

Due to inclement weather we were unable to do our test cutting session, but it did mean that class started well on time. We covered a fair amount of ground, including syllabus drill, but the main event of the day was freeplay.

There were two sessions of freeplay, format being 'king of the hill' with best-of-three rounds, alternating attackers and free attack. Last man standing at the end had a bout with Greg (yes, despite his injury!)

Some quite nice bouts ensued, with clean techniques out of the treatise. It's good to see that the general standard of our senior class has improved. People are executing the basics well, taking fewer coffee breaks, applying basic principles like crossing the line and so on. We still need to work on fighting more dynamically, using measure more subtly and stepping off the line, but most bouts now are clearly swordsmanship, not brawling or sword-swinging.

I played the first round, concentrating on some of things I've learned in Helsinki. Not so much in terms of new techniques, but stuff like creating good angles by maneouvering out of measure, and applying a bit of tactical thinking before the engagement. One of the most important facets of freeplay experience is simply becoming cooler and calmer, not worrying about what happens and being able to think on one's feet - realising what's going on as it happens, and being able to react to it. Going up against really good swordsmen like Topi and Ilkka has taught me a lot, so it was good to have a chance to test out my improvement.

One encouraging thing has been a greater emphasis on sword work. I'm no longer so prone to just charge in like a bull, I can now choose whether I want to stay in largo or enter into stretto. I'm also more responsive to blade pressure, so I can (to a slight degree) react to what's happening at the crossing rather than trying to anticipate. It really is true what the masters say - he who knows better what to do at the cross wins the fight.

Of course, when I got to Greg the story was rather different. Even with one hand, and using an arming sword, he proceeded to smack me around a fair bit. But I think I gave a better account of myself than I've been able to in the past, so it's all to the good. I'm happy that I've made some clear progress.

Junior class was encouragingly full. With loads of people, it was possible for us to really swap around and practice with new partners. Of course, with so many newcomers we had to keep things really basic, but it was good fun.

We began with a light warmup, and went on to basic footwork. As usual, there's a lot to work on but this is something to be patient about. We also did some simple exercises to learn about stability and structure - testing the relative stability of standing on the balls of the feet as opposed to the heel, and the difference in strength between tense and relaxed arms. I've realised that it really pays to incorporate these types of exercises in training especially for beginners. It's a simple, clear learning point, and that penny-drop moment is priceless. It makes sure that they feel like they've learned something during the session, and it teaches an important basic martial principle.

We also did a taster of the first remedy master of dagger. Since there weren't many masks available we did these without weapons in hand, so we learned the third play, ie. the ligadura mezana. The beginners realised just how potent the system can be!

We also covered basic sword work, nomenclature, cutting and a couple of guards. In all, quite a lot was done, and the time just flew by. Good energy and enthusiasm throughout, which was really encouraging. After class, four of the newcomers signed up immediately and have even expressed interest in the Wednesday class. Hopefully there will be even more people coming in, but as it is I'm pleased about the boost in membership.

So, an excellent session. Thanks in particular to Zack for being crash test dummy during junior session, and kudos to Yu Sarn for an impressive display during freeplay, and Greg for being able to beat us even with one arm out of action!

Training Update

2009-02-09T03:02:00.002+02:00

With apologies for missing the last couple of sessions....

The training session was somewhat overshadowed by the news that Greg has suffered a nasty injury while horse riding - badly dislocated his left elbow in a fall. The saving grace is that there was no other damage. We soldiered on with training, despite his absence, and with Chris Blakey otherwise occupied it fell to me to lead both the senior and junior sessions.

Senior session was well attended, with some stalwarts reappearing. We began with a fairly stiff warmup, drawing lots of groans and moans, before moving on to push hands. This led to some practice with the 3rd remedy master of dagger (somewhat neglected, I think, in recent weeks). The great thing about the senior guys is that they've already seen a lot of material so it's not hard to get them going.

It was good to see everyone still quite familiar with the variations from 3rd master, executing strikes, disarms, locks, breaks and takedowns with some dispatch. We were reminded again that the key to success in these actions is breaking the opponent' structure with the initial cover. The meza volta across the line chokes off the attack and makes the opponent unstable, with arm crossed over his chest - from this position the follow-on techniques are much easier to execute.

One reminder, going along with something of a theme in recent months, in choosing to perform different locks - from the 3rd master we can go into a hyperextension or a ligadura sottana. The choice of which to perform largely depends on the opponent. If, on contact with the cover, he straightens and stiffens his arm, we should ideally make use of that and straighten it further. a pull on the wrist and a roll of the elbow quickly generates the hyperextension. On the other hand, if he shortens his arm, then he presents an elbow which may be turned and compressed, leading to the ligadura. Decision stick again!

After this practice, we went on to several reps of the syllabus form, which took us to the end of the session.

Junior class was oddly quiet, with five in attendance including class leader. It was productive, though, with a bit of push hands, followed by a good deal of sword work involving the plays of the sword in one hand. This was quite useful for the juniors, I think, and we were able to link it with material from the treatise. I think it's important to relate what we're doing in class with the manuscripts, so it was a nice moment to see the juniors recognising the actions from the illustrations in the Getty. Cool stuff!

So, despite being unfortunately undermanned for the evening, we still managed to get in a decent night's training. Sympathies and best wishes from all at PHEMAS to our wounded hero Mr. Galistan, and hopes for a speedy recovery!

Training Update

2009-01-23T03:56:00.002+02:00

Excellent turnout today, what with friends old and new in training, and even a refugee from the frosty climes and dark days of Finland in attendance! It was the best attendance level ever for a Wednesday class and was even better than Sunday's. Chris had his work cut out for him, balancing the training between senior and junior students.

We covered basic footwork and unarmed guards to begin with, as well as simple dagger work, to train our responses. As has been a theme on this page of recent months, it's not enough merely to know what to do in a given situation - one must be able to execute under stress. So we focused on getting correct footwork and structure against attacks, working against the attacker's elbow, and taking a good line with the acressere fora di strada.

From there we revised our Sunday lesson on the first and second masters of zogho largo, emphasising the importance of making a good cover and controlling the point of the crossing. As Chris points out, it does no good to counter-attack your opponent if by doing so you open a line for him or her to strike you in return. Double kills are not what we train for!

We finished off with a touch of stability drill (not a lot, in deference to our juniors) and a couple of reps of the syllabus form.

All in all, a good training session, followed by a pleasant supper among friends at the Dunman food centre. I hope this augurs well for PHEMAS' health!

Counter-Invasion

2009-01-20T07:04:00.003+02:00

Following the descent of the Brown Horde upon the hallowed halls of SESH last June, there has been talk of a counter-invasion to sunny Singapore. It has begun, with the arrival of Miss Maria Manner on our shores. She'll be here for a month to soak up UV radiation, consume exotic cuisine (especially kaya) and train hard.

After the Chinese New Year break, PHEMAS will organise as many open sessions as possible, where Miss Manner will help us in training both rapier (Capo Ferro) and sword-and-buckler (I.33). Those interested in doing single-hand sword work should check our forums at www.phemas.com/forums for dates and times.

Hopefully she is the first wave of many more visitors to these climes!

Training Update

2009-01-19T09:24:00.003+02:00

Senior class today was taken by Chris as Greg was busy at work. We worked through a lot of basics, revising fundamentals and so on, but the most important bit of the session was practicing the crossing of the blades - the starting point of the first and second masters of zogho largo.

The crossing is the heart of the Fiore system, and it is rightly said that he who wins at the cross wins the fight. When an attack is made, the defender has to make a good cover, else the fight is over even before it's well started. Once the swords cross, it is the swordsmen's reactions to that instant of contact that decide how the encounter develops from that point on.

The interesting thing is that we have simple decisions to make - whether to cross punta spada or meza spada, in the first instance. From that point, everything is fundamentally a reaction to the opponent's responses. If he attempts to push through the parry, disengage and come round the other side of his blade. If he attempts to turn his blade round yours, cut straight for him. If he attempts to yield into a pommel strike, push his elbow, and so on. The point is, we don't have to struggle with choosing between several techniques; instead we train our sensitivity, our sentimento di ferro, to a level at which we are able to feel the opponent's action and to counter it without pause or delay.

This is something that we don't train nearly often enough, yet is crucial (literally!) to the art. Unfortunately it's a subtle skill that requires a certain amount of existing technical ability to train. Both partners have to know what they're doing, and be able to deliver their techniques consistently and with precision. Hence it's hard to get a lot of reps in. But somehow we have to, because without a good understanding of the cross it's folly to claim the title of swordsman.

Junior class was very well attended, with ten people training (including seniors who stayed back). We covered falling and recovery, the first four plays of abrazare, cutting, and even had time for some light conditioning and stretching. It was quite a fun session, and I think people enjoyed it. This despite my being a bit distracted during the session.

All in all a good evening's training. Well done all in attendance!

Reappearing

2009-01-14T04:54:00.003+02:00

Hello to one and all and a rather late new year greeting to all my readers.

It's been an interesting month for me in Helsinki. For various reasons, the training wasn't nearly as intense as it was in June, but it was still an immensely rewarding time. So swordsmanship-wise, this trip was more of an affirmation, assessing and building on what was learned, rather than the revelatory experience that the previous one was.

In returning to PHEMAS, I'm glad to see that attendance has gone up. We've had a few more people sign up in the later part of the year, which is encouraging. Hopefully we'll be able to build up a bit more cash in the coffers as well, so that we can afford to send one of our senior instructors to SESH this year for the summer seminar, or bring in an external instructor.

Training-wise, Sunday was a matter of getting back in the groove for me. We did cutting practice and drills, and ended with a touch of freeplay. This last was interesting, as Greg started sniping at my hands. In a bid to turn the tables, I feinted with a short fendente and brought my sword back up in a false-edge sottano to catch his wrist. Unfortunately just at this point he was moving in on me and it turned into a thrust into his gut. Obviously he was wearing chainmail so he just had the wind knocked out of him, but it was still a nervous moment.

The significance of this incident, though, lies in a couple of things: one, that a properly formed attack will function simultaneously as a defence, as well as being able to strike home even as circumstances change; and two, the power of a strike does not come from the arms.

My sottano began as an attempt to keep the play in largo. It targeted Greg's hands from below. However, because it led with the tip of the sword, it functioned as a thrust as well - indeed, the infamous dente di zenghiaro (boar's tooth) thrust, ripping upward into the opponent's belly. Hence, when Greg closed into stretto distance, he essentially walked himself onto my point.

When this occurred and I felt the impact, I immediately relaxed my grip, making sure not to push the accidental thrust home. Still, it hit pretty hard. I believe that the same action, done in earnest with sharps, would have penetrated mail and gambeson pretty handily, although unlikely to work against someone in plate armour. The point is that the energy did not come from me punching my hands out - it came from Greg's forward movement. In effect, the sword was stationary and he impaled himself on it.

I analyse this in detail not to embarrass Greg - he did end up thumping me handily in every other point - but because the play is so vivid in my memory, and it illustrates some key principles of swordsmanship. Size and strength have their place, but in the end it's the swordsman who better understands those principles, and can make effective use of them, who will win out.

It was also interesting to get back to instructing the junior class. We've some new chaps who are quite keen, and it was good to see them coming regularly. They're coming along, and having fun, and hopefully will be a part of the PHEMAS family for a long time to come.

In closing, thanks to my loyal readers for their patience. Regular updates will resume shortly. My best wishes to everyone for a happy and healthy 2009!

Helsinki II

2008-12-19T10:58:00.002+02:00

It's been quite a while since my last updat; my apologies to those of my readers who take the time to check this blog regularly. It's been a bit of a whirl since I got here, and frankly I've been thrown off a bit by the six hours of sunlight a day. What with training and other life things happening, it's been hard to find time to sit quietly and think about what I've been doing in class.

However, some highlights of the past week and a half -

Bolognese sidesword and dagger seminar: Ilkka's seminar was a blast. It was a really interesting introduction to the material, and he structured it in a way that didn't involve a dump of text, or a lot of technical nitty-gritty to absorb. Instead he presented us with the basic tactical principles of the system and allowed the actions to flow naturally from there. This was an excellent demonstration of his pedagogical philosophy and it worked beautifully. At the end of the morning most of us may not have known all the names of the guards and actions, but we were able to perform several drills in at least a reasonable semblance of the style.

The Bolognese dagger material, from Marozzo, was an eye-opener. Between Fiore and the Bolognese masters the common dagger in use went from a rondel to what was essentially a miniature sword, something like a katzbalger, with a foot-long blade and cutting edges. This meant that slashing actions became viable, a development probably allied to thinner clothing in fashion as well. In any case, the style is vicious and effective, with moves that would not be out of place in a modern combatives course. The primary target is the opponent's knife hand itself, and there are a variety of very quick, subtle and totally nasty techniques that take that hand out of play before slashing the head open, or cutting the throat, or plunging the point under the ribs. I'm sure some of the guys from PHEMAS will love this stuff.

Rapier: Yes, despite my previous strongly-held opinions about my suitability for and misliking of the knitting-needles, I have to admit that after a few lessons I'm beginning to see its charm. For me, the attraction of rapier lies in its purity - it's blade against blade, with nothing else to worry about (until, that is, you add in dagger, or gauntlet, or cloak - but that's a story for another day). In its basic form, rapier practice reveals the most essential of swordsmanship principles, or indeed those of any martial art.

Id est,

1. Place your defence between yourself and your opponent's offence.
2. Place your offence where his defence cannot intervene.
3. Hit him until he goes down, in complete safety and confidence.

This is a good way of judging the martial effectiveness of any interpretation. Does it accomplish these three points? If it doesn't, the likelihood is that anyone using it won't survive many fights.

The third point is of particular significance. Grossman's work on killology demonstrates that even a killing blow is not necessarily a fight-ending one. People in combat can and do continue to fight well after receiving a mortal wound. Quite simply, it usually takes a while for someone to die. And in this space of time it's quite possible for them to take their killers with them if said killers are not covered against a return strike.

The masters knew this. They had to, because they had actually seen men die in combat. They had killed men in combat. They knew, whether from personal experience or report or chronicles (as we do from the last) that often in a duel one man would receive a mortal thrust, possibly right through the heart, and yet remain fighting for several minutes, and puncture his opponent as well.

Thus one crucial martial principle, applicable from push hands through to pollaxe is simply this:

Never sacrifice your position to land a strike.

One must remain covered, in a properly structured guard, even in the process of striking, and after. To do else is folly. Of course, in our practice we commit folly all the time, particularly in freeplay. We see all sorts of ridiculous, unsound actions performed even by quite skilled and experienced students. But 'everyone does it' is not an excuse for bad practice. We have to get rid of these pernicious habits, to allow the efficient and effective grace of the art to shine through.

There is more to tell, but I shall save the patience of my friends and loyal readers, and defer them to another post, another day. For the time being, my thanks to those who have stood by me, and my best wishes to all who peruse these pages, for whatever reasons they do so.

Training Update

2008-12-01T09:53:00.002+02:00

Another modest turnout, although glad to see Yu Sarn back for what turned out to be one of the more intense training sessions we've had recently.

Senior session focused on grappling and close fighting. It's been a while since we've worked on this material so it was great to get back to it. We began with push hands, working up to attempting locks and takedowns on each other, before finishing with grappling with swords in hand, in the posta serpentina.

This was a physically demanding session, the most so in months. Grappling is an intense activity, and there were several heavy takedowns (including a full-on slam of Robin!). I'm certain everyone who attended is feeling the effects today in one way or another.

Aside from the workout though, we learned a few things:

Work on lines of weakness. Don't try to fight strength to strength, go across the enemy's line. This is a fundamental, but it's all too easy to forget in the heat of the moment. It has to be trained until it's second nature.

Gain leverage. No matter the situation, we can't just rely on brute strength in a position of equal opposition. Finding a good leverage position from which to beak the opponent's structure is the key to gaining dominance. And on that note -

Break his structure. It's useless trying to put a lock on someone who's trained and ready and waiting for it. Something has to be done to distract his attention, focus it in one location so you can work on another.

Footwork is key. We too often fixate on upper bodies, especially the arms when we're trying to get a lock. But what really is the tell is the opponent's feet. They give us his lines of strength and weakness, and tell us when his centre of gravity moves.

So a sustained hour and a half of seriously intense work. Coupled with pushups for every technique scored, it was a true burner.

Mention also has to be made of one last exercise we did. With gloves on, and masks optional, we paired off, attacker-defender, with the attacker attempting to slap the defender in the face, and the defender using a posta longa or dente di chinghiale defence to keep that from happening. This was about reading the direction of attack and reacting to it. It was challenging, especially against Greg whose boxing training means he's got tremendously fast hand speed. And it gets really interesting (and one's focus goes way, way up) when you do it without a mask on and are actually getting slapped in the face!

Junior session was, by comparison, a far more relaxed affair. We went through some of the evaluation material for Chapter One, including footwork, abrazare guards, the guard drills and first eight steps of the syllabus form. Then we did revision of last week's abrazare material - the three basic locks - and that took us to the end of the lesson.

A nasty burner of a training session and a thoroughly enjoyable one!

Helsinki II

2008-11-27T07:50:00.003+02:00

A general announcement, for those who haven't already heard - I'm headed back to Helsinki on the 8th of December, returning on the 8th of January. That's another month of good solid training, although given the season and some other considerations perhaps not as intense as my previous trip was.

I'll do my best to keep up regular updates here. Thanks to my regular readers!

Training Update

2008-11-27T07:45:00.001+02:00

A decent turnout for a Wednesday class, aided by the very welcome presence of Greg, who was able to train as a student for once. Most of us don't realise how having to teach a class interferes with one's own training; it's great that he got a chance to train without having to worry about what other people were doing, or having to make sure the lesson plan was being followed, or even keeping track of time.

We began with a stiffer than usual warmup, and proceeded on to abrazare work. This was a revision of the first few plays of abrazare, but with more emphasis on the role of the passa ala traversa. Crossing the line is key to disrupting the opponent's attack and taking the initiative - once that is done, the rest is variation upon a theme.

Once again, we were reminded of the importance of the volta stabile in generating power without stepping, and of controlling the joints, particularly the elbow. One of the great things about training with Greg is that he really does take the techniques a lot closer to completion while remaining under control, so you really get to experience what it's supposed to be like. In this case, the rolling of the elbow/hyperextension/shoulder lock of the first play can go all the way to the ground.

Chris made an interesting point about the fourth play of abrazare, which involves a scissoring motion, pulling in the opponent's hips while pushing against his face or head. We often practice this somewhat statically, and it doesn't work so well, being relatively easy to counter. What this misses out is that the play is designed to work against an onrushing opponent, or someone who is attempting to power through one's initial response (just as the third play counters an opponent who tries to pull away). Because of the passa ala traversa, the opponent has to change his line, either shifting his footwork or torquing his waist and hips or both. The fourth play utilises the momentum of this motion to continue it and destabilise the opponent, thus taking him to the ground.

One basic principle we see in this is using the opponent's motion and intention, in fact adding to it, to make him overcommit and overbalance. As Guy puts it, 'If he wants to go that way, let him, and help him along!' Thus our actions are responses to the opponent's - which also plays into the concept of the decision stick. The opponent basically makes our decisions for us, and we simply react.

We then moved on to a bit of sword work, specifically fifth drill and the bichorno. This is an interesting situation because the bichorno 'stands in the middle', being difficult to deflect, and controlling the centreline. The way to deal with it ends up being, again, to cross the line, so as to void its threat, and simultaneously to cover against it. Once that is achieved there are several options available to counter.

Against the bichorno one can make a false-edge deflection (as in the standard fourth step of fifth drill), break the thrust, exchange thrusts (after a strong frontale clears the line), or go into posta di serpentina and the plays of punta falsa. The key to all this, however, is to engage the blade and establish leverage control, pass ala traversa to open up the line and finally to counter. Done right, this is accomplished in a smooth motion and should really be a duo tempi defence. Given the rigidity of a well-structured bichorno (and we should never assume less of our opponents) a single-time counter is probably ill-advised in most circumstances.

So a really fine technical workout for everyone involved, and a lot gained!

Training Update

2008-11-24T05:54:00.003+02:00

First off, an apology to my readers for my silence this past week - I was indisposed for Wednesday training and so did not update at all. We now return you to regular service.

Perhaps it was the rain, perhaps it was coincidence, but the turnout for Sunday training was abysmally low. Three students for senior session and just two for junior. I'm hoping that it was just a blip, but it was disheartening nonetheless.

That having been said, the show must go on. Senior session was taken by Chris, deputising for the absent Greg, and we covered some interesting material. First there was a fair amount of practice on the dagger disarm flow drill, followed by a good amount of work on the plays of the sword in one hand. We worked on the initial cover against the blow, and moved on to the variations that follow from there.

Key things to note include moving only under the cover of the blade, and taking the correct line to work against the opponent. Footwork, as always, is vital, as is the timing of the cover. As well, one must be ready with posta longa to follow up once the cover is made.

The sword in one hand section puts me in mind of something from a book I've recently read: The Way of Kata, by Lawrence A. Kane and Kris Wilder [Boston, Mass.: YMAA Publication Center, 2005]. The authors describe a concept known as the decision stick: essentially a decision tree so pruned of its options as to allow only one particular action for any given tactical situation. While this may sound drastically limiting, it has its point - decision making is reduced to a simple 'stop' and 'go'. In a chaotic, confusing fight, such a system has its advantages. There's no point having half a dozen options if it means you end up being paralysed for a split second trying to decide which one to use. With a decision stick, you just do whatever you've trained for that particular context.

This is not to mean that your responses are stereotyped and one-dimensional. The plays of the sword in one hand amply demonstrate that. In effect, one does pretty much the same thing every time - cover with an acressere off the line, shoot out posta longa with the roverso hand and pass alla traversa. The variations come in what one does with the posta longa, and these are essentially responses to what the opponent does. Thus, for example, if he cuts through one simply places a thrust in his face. If he stops his cut in mezza, clear the line with posta longa. If he attempts to perform a tramazzone (inside moulinet) grab his hilt/pommel and disarm. All these responses stem from the same basic position and vary according to the opponent's actions. Hence at each point there is no decision to be made; eventually the technique should occur completely by feel. This requires many, many hours of training to encode into muscle memory of course, but the final (ideal) outcome should be the ability to fight without conscious thought or intention (on which more at a later date).

It strikes me as well that the sword in one hand is really very closely related to the Bolognese school of swordsmanship, as exemplified by Marozzo and Dell'Aggochie. Obviously there are people far more qualified than I am to comment on this matter, but it seems that the motions, and more importantly the concepts behind the plays of the spada a una mano quite clearly anticipate those of the spada da filo. Watch a group practice the cover of the sword in one hand, and watch someone go into the plays from the guardia d'intrare of Dell'Aggochie and you'll see a family resemblance.

Junior session had only Sean and Josh in attendance to work on the basic locks of the system: ligadura, crank and hyperextension. We began with a lot of stretching to prepare our bodies for the stresses of locking and being locked, did some funny walks to limber up, and introduced a little bit of conditioning.

That done, we went through an introduction on the lock. Our emphasis was on understanding the proper structure of a lock and how it works - first breaking the opponent's structure, then working on the vulnerable points in order to establish control of it.

One thing about practicing locks (as well as takedowns) - intent is even more important than in other training contexts. It really isn't enough to just mime the actions - if one doesn't consistently practice the technique to completion, one builds up bad habits which are hard to diagnose but ultimately lead to disaster when the technique is attempted in a stress situation.

Unfortunately this requires a little bit of discomfort and a lot of trust on the part of the recipient of the technique, which is no bad thing but isn't easy. It's difficult to go against our instincts and give our training partners the correct degree of resistance yet avoid countering. But if we don't do this, we'll never be able to train certain techniques well. Also, we shouldn't overlook the learning that we can achieve as recipients - we're not passive crash test dummies but active partners in the process, and if we're sensitive and alert to the mechanics of the technique, how it feels when it's being executed, we can learn as much as (sometimes more than) the person executing.

We finished off the session with some slow, gentle stretching to recover. Always important, but especially so when you've been torquing your joints to the point of pain and sometimes beyond.

A useful class despite the small numbers. I hope we'll see everyone back soon, but let's not take away from the efforts of those who made it. To you, kiitos!

Training Update

2008-11-17T17:45:00.002+02:00

Decent turnout Sunday, with Tome putting in an appearance despite still recovering from a bad bout of flu, and the continued return of Chris Chak. Nice to see guys being able to make it back! We're hoping that with the end of exams at uni things will get a little better.

Senior class was a burner, with two-thirds of the class in kit. The focus was on armoured combat, so we put on everything we could, and made a lot of use of half-sword technique.

To begin with, we built up from the basic punta falsa sequence, essentially recapitulating fourth drill but operating in zogho largo rather than moving immediately into stretto, which basically meant the defender using an acressere with his frontale rather than a passare, and countering using a short fendente as opposed to a stretto technique. Once we were moving smoothly into serpentina, we began developing variations on the follow-ups and counters. Making this exercise semi-scripted rather than following the steps of the drill brought it a step closer to freeplay, and gave our practice an edge that tends to be lacking in drills.

The difficulty in a drill is that one knows the next step, and tends to anticipate. This means that actions are often not performed with proper intention, and thus become sloppy. With discipline it is possible to overcome this tendency, but it is a problem especially when we begin to tire. A level of freedom tends to inspire a bit more alertness and better form.

This process was quite uptempo. It was followed by an even more vigorous exercise, applying a bit of stress by having two attackers on one defender. Although the attacks came in one at a time, it was still challenging for the defenders, having to be in constant motion and making tactical decisions very quickly and without letup.

A bit of a breather, and we moved on to dagger. This was really a revision of basic principles, but because we were in armour we could move quite quickly on to full freeplay, and really go at it. A good time was had by all!

My first opponent was Josh, who's really quick, although slowed down by his armour. It was really important for me to control his blade from the get-go, because otherwise it comes in very fast. In order to have a chance I had to play to my relative strengths - stability and structure. Hence I concentrated on making good covers and not worrying so much about countering until the threat was neutralised - generally good practice in dagger play anyway! I'm particularly pleased that I also put in play a principle which was demonstrated rather emphatically to me at the Five Days of Fiore tournament: keep fighting until halt is called. In this case, I took Josh down on one particular pass, pinned him with a forearm across his chest, and put in a series of strikes before the point was called. No harm done - the strikes were all pulled - but in a real situation that would have most conclusively finished the encounter. It may seem brutal but this is how to train the mind to finish a fight, rather than developing a tappy-tap mentality which is dangerous to oneself and unbecoming of a martial artist.

My other opponent was Greg, a rather different beast to deal with. He's got a lot lighter than he's been in the past, which just means he's traded in a bit of raw power for quite a lot of quickness. And that means he's still bloody strong, taller than I am, and a whole lot nastier. The results showed, of course... lots of hits on me, especially a few good shots in the head with the butt of the dagger (an underrated weapon). Still, I managed to score a few times, which is a lot better than I could have done some time back, so at least I'm not just a chew toy for him. We also had the chance to take techniques all the way down to the ground, on a few occasions - well, Greg took me down, anyway.

A couple of times Greg went along for the ride as well, and funnily enough in one case I quite intuitively began to shoot my legs up towards his shoulder, going for an armbar. Now this is utterly not in the Fiore system, and we don't do groundfighting, so once I realised what I was doing I held off. Fact is, Greg would probably have been able to counter it, but it's dangerous to start doing stuff that's outside the rules of engagement, in part because one's opponent may not realise he's under that threat and thus may not cover himself against it as he might. I mention it because it's interesting that under stress I attempted a technique that isn't in the system at all; it just goes to show the power of muscle memory and visualisation.

Junior session saw some revision of basics that have been covered previously, and the learning emphasis was on the thrust. This means that we have covered all the basic (ideal) forms of the seven blows, and can integrate them into cutting drill. We also covered the basic guard drills.

We also did a bit of conditioning, in the form of core activation exercises (including the infamous 'super relaxed, super easy armchair' - which I've got rather better at since I first encountered it!), and some pyramid breathing.

The class ended with the juniors having a chance to practice their thrusts against targets, as the remaining seniors put their wrists and arms on the line to act as living quintains... all right, we were holding bucklers, but it was still a gesture of trust towards the juniors! And a well-rewarded one, as they did an excellent job of targeting their thrusts with power and accuracy.

All in all, the best workout I've had in a training session for a while. Still need to work on my teaching technique - and just prepare a bit better for the lesson beforehand - but I think I did all right. Next Sunday will be an abrazare day for the juniors, and I'm looking forward to teaching it. Ligaduras, cranks and hyperextensions, oh my!

Training Update

2008-11-13T18:34:00.001+02:00

A small turnout as usual for Wednesday, three in attendance plus Chris. Good to see Anthony back from his sojourn in California, and willing to walk through the rain just to get to training.

We did a self-warmup, and began the lesson proper with a bit of work on the unarmed flow drill. We quickly diagnosed a common issue: not getting the hyperextension into a true control position.

For reasons of safety and also laziness, there's a tendency to simply roll the arm into position without really placing any pressure on the joints. While this is more pleasant for the recipient of the technique, it teaches poor form. A proper hyperextension not only controls wrist and elbow, but uses those points of contact to put pressure on the shoulder joint. It is in fact the shoulder control (hence affecting the spinal structure) that makes the hyperextension a true lock. Without it, the opponent can simply rotate his arm and break the hold quite easily. Hence we got in a bit of practice in putting on a bit of pressure to get good structural control.

Another point to note is that using the posta longa/volta stabile combination to break a hyperextension won't work well if the opponent knows what they're doing. It's necessary to destabilise their structure, which is done by applying pressure on their leg with one's own. This forces them to move that leg (or else suffer a damaged knee), which gives one a chance to push through with the posta longa.

Then we went on to the five guards of the dagger. This is something that we don't usually emphasise in our practice, but it is significant, because the guards (like the longsword guards) determine what we can and cannot do. Thus, for example, the crossed handed guards cannot cover long, and thus are 'better in armour than without'. Certain plays are also easier to initiate from one guard than another.

We spent the remainder of the lesson just experimenting with the guards, trying them out to see what works and what doesn't. No groundbreaking insights, except an important and humbling reminder - generally, whatever we came up with, Master Fiore had already mentioned somewhere.

So, an interesting evening. Thanks to all who made it despite the rather miserable, wet weather. Just goes to show, a dedicated swordsman can train in all kinds of condition!... (provided he's in a clean, dry hall and the conditions are kept strictly outside!)

Training Update

2008-11-10T16:08:00.003+02:00

Interesting turnout today - small group for senior session but larger for junior. It's been a long time since that has been the case, and it's encouraging for us.

Senior class was originally supposed to be on armoured combat but for one reason or another just about everyone showed up out of kit so that lesson has been postponed to next week (which is not reason for people to decide to not show!). Instead we worked on tactical applications from the crossing of the blade, especially controlling distance to move into zogho largo from zogho stretto. This is a skill which we don't practice very much, but is important for dictating the flow of an engagement, especially when faced with an opponent who is bigger or stronger than oneself.

Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to get in a whole lot of practice because I was paired up with a new student who was joining us for the first time, so I had to give him a bit of an introduction. I don't mind doing it but it does take away from training time, especially given that I now teach the junior session, so I have even less training for myself. I try to work it in, but you just can't focus on what you're doing yourself when you're supposed to be critiquing others. It's an issue that I'm covering with setting aside a bit more personal training time, but it's just not the same.

(On that note, I spent a good while a few nights ago doing almost nothing but the syllabus form, varying between slow and fast, focusing on form, flow and power alternately, thinking of applications, or just focusing on mechanics. It's a hell of a workout if you're doing it right.)

Junior session was quite full, with a couple of new arrivals. We covered a bit of revision, as well as some dagger and abrazare material, the guard drills and ending with treacle-time cutting drills.

Not a very complex lesson, but I was annoyed at my performance. I have a tendency to drop into lecture mode - a habit from when I teach privately - and it leads to the class having to stand and listen passively, instead of practicing something. They shouldn't have to do this for more than two or three minutes at a time, so this is definitely something I should work on. Basically I should have a more detailed lesson plan to begin with, and a few more exercises ready to go, to perk things up when they slow down. All part of the learning curve!

The thing is, teaching is an important part of learning as well, and in the modern context it really is the ultimate point of swordsmanship practice. We're not going to pit our skills in the lists, or on the battlefield, so really the endpoint of becoming a swordsman is transmitting what we've learned to others. So it would be disingenuous to want to just practice for one's own sake.

So really the frustration is just something I have to suck up, just like taking a bunch of hits in freeplay or not being able to execute a technique cleanly in a drill. Just keep plugging away, think about one's mistakes, clean them up, go it again. And get better at it. It will happen, eventually.

Still, despite my failings, the class did well, and hopefully learned something. I'm looking forward to seeing more people in class again!

Training Update

2008-11-05T20:18:00.001+02:00

A good turnout for a Wednesday class, with five in attendance and Chris instructing.

A light warmup was followed by some work on body mechanics, working the knees as well as isolating waist and hips. Simple but important things that are often overlooked. These exercises develop not only flexibility but also sensitivity in the core areas of the body, which is important for further development in power generation and control as we increase in skill and understanding.

This, as the first of our single-handed sword sessions, was I.33 night. We began with the seven guards cutting drill, which introduces the basic guards of the system. As this was the first encounter with I.33 for a few of us (and even those who have learned something of it are terribly rusty) we spent a fair bit of time just running through the guards before moving on to 1st drill.

One thing that struck me was how a lot of the basic principles regarding structure, angles and even tactics were similar to Fiore, although with a distinct flavour in application. We can even find the same things working in push hands! It's really a demonstration of how the martial arts tend to converge on the same universal ideas, because these are the ones that work. They apply them differently because each art is adapted to a specific context, but the underlying principles are very much the same.

All this basically took up all the time available. Time flies when you're having fun! It was a good opportunity to visit a system which we don't often get to practice. Thanks to Chris for opening up another realm of swordsmanship to us.

Training Update

2008-11-03T06:54:00.002+02:00

A very quiet evening. Turnout was low, due to exams, work and travel hitting home. Senior class saw only Chio, Robin and myself in attendance, while junior session saw two more arrivals in Dr. Greg and Michelle.

Soldiering on despite pain from a spill taken while riding, Greg took us through fifth drill, which we practiced extensively. A lot of work was done on performing all steps of the drill with proper intent and technique, and what we were doing at the end was a far cry from the beginning. It's a sad fact that a lot of sloppiness creeps in when a drill isn't practiced for a while, so it is important to revisit them and get them really crisp again.

Personally I enjoy doing fifth drill. The snap of the bichorno and the elegance of the feint are a refreshing change from more visceral techniques, and the entire drill is an exercise in economy of motion - the less you move doing it, the more you're doing it right. It also harkens towards the techniques and philosophy of later sword styles, such as sidesword and eventually rapier, forming a link towards the evolution of those styles. The drill is also a good exercise in discipline - training oneself to react to the blade, rather than anticipating, because anticipating just means you miss your parry by moving too early.

Following on from that we did several reps of syllabus form, followed by free flow drill. It's surprisingly difficult to keep in flow, moving from guard to guard with strikes, even for a couple of minutes. Our first attempt wasn't great, so Greg got us to start from different parts of the hall and use each other as targets. This worked wonders, and made the drill a lot more spontaneous, as well as encouraging good situational awareness.

Junior session focused on abrazare, the four basic guards and the abrazare guard drill. These are the fundamentals of the system, and practicing them is always useful even to advanced students, let alone beginners. There's always something to be gained: to start with, familiarity with the guards; integrating footwork with hand actions; stability and grounding; power generation and transfer and much more. It might seem tedious to do the exercise repeatedly, but an attentive mind will find something to focus on and improve.

I'm trying to include a little more theory in the lessons alongside sufficient reps of the basic, just to get people thinking about why we do what we do - for example, the role of squaring the hips and dropping the centre of gravity in power generation. These are things I'm practicing, myself, so really I'm also experimenting with them as I go along, and sharing what I learn.

One of my current foci is the use of body weight to generate power. This makes a lot of sense given how much of it I have! On a more serious note, every ounce of force used to support or stabilise one's body weight is an ounce not being applied to one's opponent. Bobbing, wobbling, leaning - all these serve to take away power. But with proper posture (upright spine, well-aligned skeletal structure) and efficient mechanics (centre of gravity moving in the horizontal plane, good snap in the hips and waist, relaxed shoulder and arms) one can deliver a much greater percentage of the power available in the body.

As always, good structure is all. It gives us stability and a firm root, with flexibility and strength where we need it. Tactically it ensures we are always covered against attacks, not exposing ourselves needlessly to danger, and it means our covers always contain the seeds of counters. Thus our offences defend us, and our defences create the openings for offence.

From there, further work on the basic strikes of the dagger, and a short introduction on the nine remedy masters, and how they deal with attacks from different angles and situations. Application of the principles I touch on above reveal why, for example, we bring the point of the dagger into presence before entering measure - to present a threat that the opponent must deal with. I also demonstrated how a well-formed attack is in itself a defence, making blocks and counters difficult to execute.

We had a fun moment as well, when Michelle executed a nice Third Master defence, and saw how her block on my wrist made it impossible for me to bull through with an attack even though I'm a foot taller than she is and double her weight. It's nice to see her gaining confidence to go with her enthusiasm, and realising that the system makes so much sense. It's about the rational application of basic physical principles, not anything metaphysical or spiritual (at least at this level), so these are things that one can start learning and thinking about and practicing from day one.

The session concluded with a revision of the parts of the sword, and the seven blows.

So, although it was a quiet session with a meagre turnout, those who did show got their fair amount of training in. Thanks for your effort, guys. Hopefully things will improve in the coming weeks.

Training Update

2008-10-30T06:56:00.002+02:00

A good turnout for Wednesday class, with Anthony and Dr. Greg showing up as well as the usual suspects.

As per Anthony's request on the forums, a good bit of falling practice, beginning from sitting position all the way through to standing. One thing about falling and rolling - it's a heck of a core workout as well. If you do it right (ie. with a smooth and rapid recovery, rather than flailing about sloppily) you work your abs and hips a lot, but in a progressive, relaxed manner. Perhaps it helped that I did a set of planks before the session, though!

A bit of dagger revision, specifically on the seventh play of the first remedy master. It's a really basic takedown but it illustrates a lot of the basic principles of the system - seizing the initiative, breaking structure, establishing and maintaining control of weapon and wielder. It was also a chance to practice different aspects of its application, for example the placement of the right hand and the way in which the power is delivered - whether it's a strike to the throat, a push on the forehead, or anything else. Personally my preference is for working the head - by applying pressure to the head (especially by torquing the chin), one progressively locks up the spine, and in order to relieve that pressure the opponent will go to ground of his own accord. It's a structural control that doesn't require a whole lot of energy, as opposed to, say, pushing on the shoulder, where one is applying main force, which can be voided and even controlled by an opponent who knows what he's doing.

This was followed by a bit of treatise interpretation and sword work, involving the nineteenth through twenty-second plays of zogho stretto - tor de spada in its three variations, high, middle and low. This is a disarm that begins from the crossing of the swords in zogho stretto, and proceeds to controlling the opponent's blade, turning it around with the application of a control with the left hand. What the left hand does determines which version of the tor de spada you get, but in each case the opponent's sword is torqued out of his hands.

We began with the soprano version, which involves an elbow wrap similar to what is done in second drill. Points to note are that the wrap should be accomplished before the accompanying volta stabile; the elbow should be tucked in as close as possible to the body when wrapping (this causes maximum discomfort to the opponent, and makes disrupting his balance a lot easier); the volta stabile should take the opponent around one's own axis in a tight circle, rather than pulling in a straight line towards one's centre of gravity.

Once the elbow wrap is firm, the hilt of the sword applies pressure across the flat of the opponent's blade, turning it around and twisting his wrists around each other. This pries the sword free from his hands, where one may either take hold of it or let it fall. Either way the opponent is firmly held, disarmed, destabilised and in position to be struck with pommel or blade.

The sottano version is fairly straightforward, being a grab of the pommel and otherwise mechanically similar to the soprano. This works best when the opponent is not actually holding the pommel, so it may not be in play a lot of the time.

The mezano version, though, is particularly interesting. The most straightforward interpretation would be grabbing the hilt in between the opponent's hands, and indeed this is how we've practiced it before. However, the illustration shows an open hand, and Chris and I experimented with doing it this way. We found that if one simply places a hand in between the opponent's, as close as possible to the crossguard, and applies pressure (as in a posta longa), the technique still works. It's slightly different mechanically, as it relies less on a torquing of the wrists and more on direct pressure against the fingers causing them to open up. It still works cleanly, so I believe it's a valid interpretation. It's something that requires more work and experimentation still, but that's a good thing.

We ended the evening with a good bit of practice in second and third drills, getting in reps and cleaning up sloppy execution that has crept in over time. This is maintenance work that needs to be done every so often. Unfortunately it's stuff that has to be done with a partner, although much can be gained from working form solo. It's important that we maximise the efficiency of our training by getting in as much pair or group work as we can. Of course I understand that most of us don't really do that much training outside of class, so solo work has to be covered there as well, but I hope that we can develop a work ethic that enables us to make the best use of our limited time.

Personally I find myself doing less work with sword in hand nowadays. On my own, I prefer to train fundamentals of movement, grounding, balance, power generation and transfer, and so on. So much of this is tremendously subtle and requires many hours of work even to begin to understand. I find myself just standing at the threshold, peering in to catch a glimpse of the marvels of the human body and how it works. Even something as basic as posture has many lessons to be learned regarding how it interacts with energy transfer and myriad other aspects of the art.

I'm currently reading Steven J. Pearlman's "The Book of Martial Power" and this is influencing how I think about a lot of things. It's a clearly written, well thought-out book with a lot of analytical insight into how and why things work. Importantly, it also provides a vocabulary for discussing many concepts, with clear definitions. It's not perfect - there are a few sour notes along the way - but it's a useful volume. I'll post a more comprehensive review when I've had time to work it over a bit more.

In any case, thanks to everyone for their hard work, and thanks to Chris for an interesting lesson!

Training Update

2008-10-27T06:41:00.002+02:00

Good turnout for seniors' class, with guys like Syam, Anthony, Yu Sarn and Chio making an appearance. Unfortunately a lot of people had to leave quite early, so juniors' class was a lot smaller. Even so, at least they came, and their attendance was much appreciated.

Seniors' class saw a good amount of falling, with practice on the takedown shown in the seventh play of the first remedy master of dagger. A lot of emphasis was placed on cleaning up details in execution to make the technique work smoothly and efficiently. It was also an excellent opportunity to practice falling and rolling. Personally it's something I love, and I was experimenting with ways of returning efficiently to a guard position from a takedown. Much as I enjoy the reverse roll, it tends to be a bit slower than working to the sides, and it has the disadvantage of exposing one's back, so from a martial standpoint it's less useful than torquing the hips to get my feet under my centre of gravity quickly. It's important to experiment with these things, because everyone is different and what's best for one person isn't necessarily so for another. Proportions, weight distribution, relative strength all go into determining what works best for the individual.

We then moved on to sword work, beginning with cutting drills and revision of the posta bichorno, then multiple attacks and defending against them, building towards half-speed freeplay.

One thing that we should note is that freeplay in this context is not competitive. It is not about 'winning' a point, but rather exploring what techniques work in a given stress situation. It is done half-speed to give us time to think about what we're doing, rather than reacting instinctively - because many instinctive reactions are counter-productive in combat. Hence it is important to keep to the discipline of half speed, and not accelerate in an attempt to 'get' one's training partner.

This point was driven home at the end of the exercise, when Greg pulled me out to do a couple of passes at full speed. It was a reminder to the class that things are very different at that pace, and a lot of 'techniques' that seem to work only do so when one can speed up and be significantly faster than one's opponent. When you're both going at full speed, however, they just end up getting one killed, or at best scoring a double kill. Given that we study a historical combat system, those aren't viable options, and martial application demands that we emphasise staying alive and whole - our example being Master Fiore himself, survivor of five unarmoured single combats with sword.

Juniors' class was, for once, entirely composed of juniors (apprentice rank)! We revised basic footwork, and moved on to an introduction to the dagger, and the basic strikes of the dagger. Then the class learned and practiced first drill extensively, which formed their introduction to the pass fora strada as well as the ligadura. This segued into a demonstration of the first seven plays of the first remedy master of dagger, as well as the five things one can do to an attacker.

It was a good experience for me, taking the class for the entire two hours and having to pace the lesson to ensure nothing got tedious or excessively technical. There was an interesting moment when Lin asked me a question that was slightly awkward to answer - "What's 'structure'?" I had to improvise a response making reference to the relationship between body parts and forces, and I think I did a decent job of it. What made it challenging was trying to present an accurate explanation while making it intelligible for a ten-year-old, and not technical and boring. It was a glimpse into what Ilkka went through on his AI qualification seminar, and it just reinforces my respect for him.

Lots learned, and a productive evening, and hopefully a fun and interesting one for our new members. Well done all.

Training Update

2008-10-23T07:57:00.001+03:00

Turnout for Wednesday classes is usually thin, but this felt more like an open session. Josh, Robin and I were in attendance, and that was it.

A light warmup as usual, some stability work, cutting drills, and then on to sword work and treatise study. It should be noted that the following represents ideas and interpretations of our own (led by Chris) and are not necessarily reflective of PHEMAS or SESH syllabus, although drawing on the principles thereof.

We looked at the entry into zogho largo and zogho stretto, practicing the differences between the first and third plays of zogho largo (crossing at punta spada and meza spada), and between those and the first play of zogho stretto.

From there, we worked on the second, third and fourth plays of zogho stretto.

The second play involves grabbing the player's hilt after the crossing. This occurs when the player tries to yield away from the scholar's blade pressure to come round for a strike. By doing so, he is moving his sword backwards, and presenting his hilt to the scholar, who takes either an over- or underhand grip and a pass across the line. The player finds his sword being pushed back and his structure broken. The scholar gets a nice tempo and position to cut or thrust at an exposed torso.

The third and fourth play happen if the player instead chooses to fight the pressure. The scholar then yields to the strength, allowing it to bring his own blade round, forming a cover and presenting the pommel. The player's movement takes his blade out of presence and his arms out of the way, giving the scholar an opening to simply step across the line and plant the pommel into the player's face. This is why the techinque can be performed (as it is in the fourth play) with both hands on the grip. It is not necessary for the scholar to control the player's arms as they are already headed in a different direction.

Contrast this with what we learn in 1st drill. 1st drill is initiated in zogho largo, and the pommel strike comes from a crossing against a frontale, which is relatively static. Thus it is necessary for the agent to use an elbow push in conjunction with his step across the line to open up the patient's guard for the pommel. This is because the patient's response - a short fendente from the frontale position - closes his line, rather than opening it. In the third play, on the other hand, the player's action actually opens a line for the scholar to take advantage of.

One observation, from Josh, was that the mechanics of the actions in the second and third plays are actually very similar. The scholar's left hand leaves his grip and develops a control over the player's sword, whether by taking hold of its grip or his wrist. The footwork is identical - a pass across the line. The main difference is sword position, and that is a reaction to the player's choice of action. In essence, the scholar is doing more or less the same thing, slightly adapted to the player's actions, with different effects but the same end goal.

This brings us to a couple of important principles in the treatises. Firstly, many of the techniques are not limited to a single specific context. They can, with slight adjustments, be applied to different tactical situations. This means that it is possible to make the techniques work even when the opponent reacts differently. No matter what that reaction is, there is a way to win the fight from that position. We are not required to guess or gamble on a specific response from our opponent.

Secondly, and following on from the first principle - the way that the system is structured, we do not need to plan a fight from beginning to end. The thought process follows a decision tree, and at each node there are only two or three choices. For example, does one fight in largo or stretto? Is the opponent resisting or yielding? Based on the answer, another decision point is reached, but each point is itself simple and quickly resolved. This prevents us from facing information overload. In individual encounters, as well as larger contexts, the winner is he or she who can master the OOCD loop and control the initiative. The simpler our decisions, the more quickly we can make them, and the shorter our loops - and the greater our control over the tactical situation.

I believe - based on my very limited knowledge - that the German tradition has a lot of light to shine on this concept as well, with its emphasis on the phases of the fight, vor, nach and indes. Might it not also be related to Miyamoto Musashi's injunction that learning to fight one against ten teaches you to fight a hundred against a thousand? There's a paper in here somewhere. I'm not ready to write it and won't be for a while, but I think it's something I'd like to explore.

So - a very productive and informative session. Thanks to all who made it!

Training Update

2008-10-20T13:29:00.002+03:00

Interesting turnout today, with a couple of new visitors, who are keen to sign up.

Senior session was a bit more basic than usual, in order to provide a taster of what we do. Not that it's a bad thing for us to revisit simpler things. So footwork, abrazare, sword work. First master remedy, cutting drills. All stuff that's important to revisit as we progress.

I'm still making adjustments to the mechanics of my volta stabile, and experimenting with the precise order of motions when, for example, going into posta longa. The injunction to lead with the hand and not the face is a simple one, yet the actual process is infinitely subtle. How much does the elbow extend? What is the relation between shoulder and elbow? These are all little questions that need to be answered, and the answers one arrives at have an impact on the final result. They may seem trivial, but really this kind of questioning is one of the keys to the 'art' aspect of a martial art - developing an understanding of even the smallest detail.

Junior session was somewhat similar - parts of the sword, footwork, the seven blows, simple attacks, multiple attacks, feints, yields - and theory thereof. Again, all kept simple for the benefit of our visitors, but useful revision for other juniors, and good even for seniors to be reminded of. Greg took over the lesson part way, so it was an opportunity for me to go back into beginner's mode once again. And as Guy has said on these pages, it's the best feeling. All right, I wasn't exactly learning new things, but even so, I enjoy just being one of the class. Especially when I get to be the demonstration partner. I've said before that I don't get to do enough falling and rolling, and I love being taken down, so it's great when I have the chance to renew my acquaintance with Lady Floor....

It's heartening to see new faces in the hall, and I hope it's the beginning of a trend. A group thrives on the infusion of fresh blood. It's good for the society, and for our training progress as well. Everyone who comes brings something different to the table, and it's a good thing for everyone else.

Training Update

2008-10-15T20:09:00.002+03:00

Chris ran the Wednesday class, as part of a rearrangement of duties. A small turnout - Robin, Josh, Anthony and I were in attendance. This was a little disappointing, as there was much to be learned.

We began with a light warmup before doing a bit of sword work. Simple cutting drill, up and back the hall. Then Chris dropped a little bombshell - do the same drills, but with opposed footwork. This immediately made things a lot more interesting... even holding posta di donna with the 'wrong' foot forward is a challenge. This meant that we had to concentrate a lot on fundamentals of balance, footwork and stability, especially in positions where the body is torqued at unusual angles to the feet. Personally I found it a great challenge to remain stable in extended fenestra, as the legs are twisted around each other. It was a good reminder of some basic principles, such as dropping one's centre of gravity to become more stable. This paid dividends when we returned to the 'normal' cutting drill. I found myself taking a wider, lower stance, as we're meant to do.

We then moved on to abrazare. The lesson of the evening concentrated on the thirteenth play of the fifth remedy master of dagger. This is a counter-remedy: the fifth master is an elbow lock against a collar grab, and the thirteenth play offers a counter - what Fiore calls 'shortening' the arm, basically flowing with the energy of the push and returning that energy in another location.

The principle applies not only in plays of the fifth master, but basically in most situations where an elbow push is applied. By collapsing the elbow's structure, one maintains the structure of the torso and is thus able to redirect the energy that would otherwise break one's overall structure.

We practiced the basic mechanics of the play in isolation first, then began to incorporate it in tactical application. It was interesting to use it against the third remedy master of dagger (against roverso strikes), which emphasise using a frontale guard to take control of the attacker's wrist and elbow. This most naturally leads to a hyperextension but (as usual) can be taken into many other plays. However, if the attacker denies control of the elbow by shortening his arm, most of these plays fail, and he can either press home his attack or go into other techniques.

A rather dramatic illustration followed. Anthony and I were paired up for this exercise. We built up to it gradually, making sure attacks were thrown consistently, and the defence properly executed. A few repetitions of the basic redirection went smoothly, so I decided to see what would happen if I took the energy and simply directed it back with a posta longa. So when Anthony threw out his defence against my roverso, I collapsed my right elbow into my body and just used my forward motion with a slight turn of my hips to extend that arm right back into his centreline... it pushed him back the way he came, his feet got tangled up under him and down he went. It was very much unscripted, so it was an excellent demonstration of just how effective the technique is! Anthony's got pretty good grounding, so it was really something that he went over the way he did... no criticism of him, nor any credit to me - it's really just how the transfer of energy works.

It's not a foolproof technique, of course - nothing is. When faced with a disappearing elbow (pun not intended), the defender has a basic response: go beyond it to the next target. Hence, from the fifth remedy master position, if the elbow becomes unavailable, the next target is the head - one simply places hand to chin and torques the attacker's head up and back, leading to a takedown. This is not mentioned in the fifth master section, because it has already been taught - as early as the third play of abrazare, which gives us an almost identical setup. As usual, the key is early recognition of and response to a changing tactical situation.

This brings up an important principle in interpreting Fiore. So much of the system tacks back and forth, and techniques learned in one section of the text can be applied in another. What can sometimes be frustrating is that it can work backwards as well - witness the infamous eighth master of coda longa on horseback. But it's also an exhilarating moment when one realises how to apply something in another context, and it illuminates possibilities throughout the system. It's been a while since I've had a moment like that and this was definitely one! So it was a really exciting insight for me.

We then moved on to using the technique in variations on sword drills. We began with first drill, which features an elbow push in the third (counter-remedy) step. The challenge was to use the principle of redirecting the energy of the elbow push to aid us in performing different counter-counter techniques. We quickly found any number of nasty things to do, many being applications of the first remedy master of dagger.

We discovered, similarly, that it is possible to apply the principle in the fourth step of third drill, against the elbow wrap. This generally led to variations on a left-hand posta longa to the face of the attacker... and the finishing touches laid on from there.

So, a short class (1 1/2 hours) and a small one, but a whole lot learned and practiced. Many thanks to Chris for a really fascinating session!

And a short note - we've decided that from now on, the first Wednesday of each month will feature instruction in a different sword system, be it I.33, rapier, singlestick, sabre or sidesword. This will allow us to explore a greater variety of weapons and systems in a formal way without taking too much time from regular classes. It'll be a great way to expand our repertoire of weapons, and we may even do material regarding other weapons like spear, pollaxe or quarterstaff. So for those who are interested, do make an effort to come down during these sessions!

The Painzer rolls on!

2008-10-15T00:20:00.003+03:00

While I'm sure most readers of this blog already know the happy news, I'd just like to congratulate Ilkka on passing his practical examination for the Assistant Instructor rank at SESH. He's worked long and hard for this promotion and done tremendously well. I'm sure this is one more step on his way to bigger and better things in the world of HEMA!

Pictures of the seminar are available here.

And it seems that the man is human. Apparently all that pressure has got to him and straight after his success, he's nursing a bad flu.... get well soon, sir, so we can all toast you! ;)

Training Update

2008-10-14T13:14:00.003+03:00

Sunday class's turnout was about the same as last week, although different people... this week saw a good Brown Horde attendance with Yu Sarn and Anthony both making it, so Tome was the only Horde chap not here with us. It's just as well, I suppose, that people seem to be taking turns to make class - otherwise we'd get some sessions that are practically empty.

The major learning point for the senior class was multiple attacks, which are an efficient way of gaining and keeping the initiative. Basically one throws attacks in quick succession so that the opponent has no space or time to counter. In the tempo that he should counter, another attack is already developing so he is forced to defend. Eventually a defence will fail, and something will get through - usually in three or four strikes.

We practiced this first with a fendente mandritto - roverso - sottano mandritto combination. The defenders dealt with it as best they could, and it was heartening to see that even without instruction we were able to come up with valid defences, in this case frontale - frontale - breve. Then it was time to start working on variations, figuring out ways to break the compound sequence, or alternatively to finish it off. A variety of techniques were explored, including the application of the 8th play of zogho stretto, which involves using one's own hilt to push away the opponent's. It's especially useful for smaller swordsman, who find themselves inside and under their opponent's reach.

One point to note, as always, is intent. It's all too easy to slack off in a technical exercise of this sort. Too often the preceding steps are done in a sloppy, relaxed manner and attention is paid only to the end stage. But what's missed is that if the opening sequence is sloppy, the setup is bad, and a lot of techniques will not work properly. Or, if they can be made to work, will only develop bad habits. So it's important that every step is executed with the right, martial intent.

Junior class covered a lot of basics - footwork, guard positions, guard drills, the seven blows, cutting drill, and a bit of 1st drill. The whole group worked earnestly and Michelle did really well, getting me into a good, well-constructed ligadura that I couldn't break out of even after applying a good bit of pressure. When she realised that I was really exerting myself, and it took her little effort to maintain the lock despite that exertion, her eyes went wide, and then she grinned - a penny-drop moment if ever I saw one!

That was quite satisfying in the light of it being the first time I was officially in charge of junior class. Chris is shifting over to Wednesday due to family commitments, and so I've been designated the instructor for junior class while Greg retains the senior session. It's a slightly daunting task, but I'm pleased to have the confidence of my seniors, and I'll do my best to run the class well.

An excellent evening's work. Thanks to all in attendance!

Training Update

2008-10-08T20:31:00.001+03:00

Greg was busy at work today so I covered the class. We had our regular little turnout of Josh, Robin and Zack, as well as Anthony.

We began with a warmup that included a little conditioning work, just a touch to shake off the midweek cobwebs - planks, slow pushups, squats, squat-kicks. We then moved on to power generation using the volta stabile, applying this to the posta longa.

Sword work was 3rd drill and variations thereof. One interesting point we found was that it was hard to execute disarms when you're operating on the inside of the opponent, as one does after having performed a false-edge deflection.

This was followed by a bit of stability drill before we wrapped up for the evening.

One good thing about the small group for Wednesday classes is that we can really focus on what we want to do. Although it seems as if there's less covered, the session can be directed towards the needs and interests of those who are there, rather than following the syllabus closely. So we get a more personalised workout during this time than on Sunday.

I'm glad to see our core Wednesday group so stable. Well done everyone.

Training Update

2008-10-06T21:11:00.003+03:00

Sunday's turnout was somewhat low, although we were glad to see Syam back after fasting month. It's never easy to pick up training again after a long break, so it was really good that he returned straight away. We have quite a few chaps missing in action nowadays, and it's sad when one considers how keen they were when they started out. But once 'real life' intervenes, and a break is taken, inertia often sets in. Once that happens, it's more likely than not that we lose someone.

I've been lucky in that my chosen lifestyle allows me to attend training regularly and devote a fair bit of time to swordsmanship. I'd like to think that I would remain true to swordsmanship but when I think about it, my commitment has never been tested in that way. I don't seriously doubt I'd return, but it's an interesting thought. I'm not particularly eager to stay away from training though, so it's a moot point just now.

Senior session concentrated on drills and tactics, in the now-familiar exercise of variations upon the drills. We covered 2nd drill and 4th drill, the entry into zogho stretto and the play of punta falsa. The three pairs in senior class all managed to develop tactically viable and technically sound variations, which was a good sign that we're beginning to develop a sense of how the system works and how to apply it to get a specific result.

A really useful thing to remember is that one can hook the opponent's arms with the pommel of one's own sword. This not only creates an opening for a follow-up technique (often a takedown) but also maintains control of the opponent's weapon.

In a more general sense, it's also very useful to think of the tactical situation in terms of dagger plays. In both 2nd and 4th drills, the patient defends with a frontale and proceeds to enter zogho stretto. This creates a dynamic which is tactically similar to a dagger attack from roverso. Hence many of the viable responses are essentially plays of the 3rd remedy master of dagger. This is another reminder of just how profoundly each part of the treatise is linked to the others.

One thing I've to avoid though - an over-reliance on the 5th play of zogho stretto. This is done by dropping the sword blade across the neck of the opponent, circling round him with a tutta volta and then performing a takedown with blade across neck and a volta stabile. It's a very fun move and quite dramatic. It also happens to be the one that Guy used on me with a sharp. It's stuck in my head, and it pops up every time we do this. It's nice to have a signature move, but not when it stops me exploring other things to do. It also is a difficult technique to execute under pressure, so its value may not be as great as some others. Thus I'm sort of banned from using it for the purposes of the drill variation exercise.

Junior class focused on basics of balance and grounding, energy transfer, footwork and the seven blows of the sword. Although it was mostly for Michelle's benefit, it was heartening to see more senior students joining in the practice as well. Although it may be old hat, it's useful to revisit these things once in a while to make sure that the fundamentals haven't slipped. I have to admit I got a bit bored during the session so when we did an exercise on absorbing and transferring the energy of pushes and blows, I asked Greg to lay a few real shots on me. The blows land on the shoulders, of course, and now I've got some rather sore shoulders and sternum (where a few shots landed inadvertently).

Of particular note - Zack was evaluated and passed cleanly. Congratulations to a very eager and earnest training partner who's rapidly becoming one of the 'usual suspects'! It was an interesting moment for me as well, since I performed the evaluation and signed his ranking card. It's odd to think that at the beginning of the year I was at the rank Zack is now. So much has changed, along the way. I feel very privileged to be walking this path at all, because swordsmanship has given me so much.

Overall it was a quiet but fruitful class. I hope that attendance will pick up though, because it's a little disheartening to see only the same small number of faces each time. Obviously it's good that we have a real hard core of guys who are at training week in and week out, but for the sake of the society it would be better if we had a lot of new faces as well. Still, one mustn't complain - we're already lucky to be able to do what we do. Hopefully things will get better!

Training Update

2008-09-30T08:01:00.003+03:00

Sunday class saw a thinnish turnout, although the usual suspects were present, as well as a couple of returning stalwarts. Was really glad to see Page again, in particular, as well as Michelle for the junior class.

Senior session began with a fast-paced warmup. The emphasis was on sword work, and we chained up early to get things going. A lot of practice on degrees of freedom - that is, building up chains of counters from a specified initial strike. This is essential to developing tactical thought and a feel for the flow of the combat, as well as training a sense for measure and tempo.

Personally I still have to work on stepping off the line and staying in zogho stretto when appropriate, rather than bulling straight into my opponent. It's improving, but at a conscious level; it needs to become intuitive. This will be the work of years, but thousands of miles are covered in single steps....

Another thing I look out for is the mezza volta of the sword. A number of techniques involve large, long-tempo motions of the sword, and while they may look good and even work well, they can be countered with simple, quick remedies: witness 4th drill, and the mezza volta into serpentina. The key to making these work is early recognition and sensitivity. If one is able to see the opponent's intention, it's easy to do something that will void the attack entirely and open him up to counters. This is very subtle stuff - a moment's hesitation changes the angles and makes the technique fail, but done in good time it often results in a single-tempo defence and counter.

One thing that is working well for me is defending into fenestra. This used to be very awkward - I didn't have any feel for how to make it work - but of late I've become a little better at the scambiare di punta, and it's a great way of presenting a threat to the opponent while covering strongly. It needs more work still, but then again what doesn't?

Junior session began with a stiffer than usual warmup, to activate core muscles in particular, because we went on to do a fair bit of falling and rolling. Simple stuff, but very important as a multiplier for the rest of our training. If one is relaxed and confident in moving (no matter how - including being tossed through the air) then drills can be done with a lot more intent.

Of course, I ended up demonstrating the falls a bit more than people did them, but hey - I love falling. It was especially good fun doing it all in chainmail. The weight of the mail actually doesn't make much of a difference once the mechanics are in place, so it's no more difficult when you've cracked it - but it impresses the heck out of people! Seriously though, it's evidence for just how agile a man in armour can be. I've trained in armour once a week for eight months, and I can roll about in it with reasonable smoothness; men at arms, training in the stuff all the time, all their lives, must have had no problem moving in it. It's tiring, to be sure - nobody can ignore one or two dozen kilos of extra weight - but it doesn't affect movement as much as we might think.

Then some practice in balance and grounding, weight transference, power generation, unity of forces... all the fundamentals of biomechanics that feed into practice later on. While it may all seem very technical, or even silly and awkward (like balancing on one leg), it comes in very useful as we progress, so this is stuff that should not be neglected. Training techniques without training mechanics is an empty exercise. Best part is, a lot of this stuff can be done alone, at home, in a short time. Just ten minutes of grounding work a day will lead to great gains eventually.

We went on to introduce the first play of the first remedy master of dagger, and that took us to the end of class time.

A technical class that still managed to be a stiff workout. Well done everyone who came and stuck it out.

Sidesword video!

2008-09-24T20:08:00.002+03:00

Our beloved Painzer has put up a brilliant little video of the Bolognese sidesword drills of Dell'Agocchie. It really shows off the lethal elegance of this weapon. I'm really glad that he's doing all this stuff, because I'd really like to pick it up as a second style. I'm thinking hard about putting in an order for one of those lovely Schiavona-type swords I saw in the salle in June, but reality intrudes - I need to be saving up for other projects, and this unfortunately will have to wait.

If some rich benefactor wants to get me one for Christmas, though.... ;)

Training update

2008-09-24T19:50:00.002+03:00

Very small turnout today - Anthony, Robin, Josh and myself. Greg was unable to make it due to work issues, so I led the session.

Seeing as it was a small class, I treated myself to a little burner of a warmup before. Not actually all that strenuous, but I did break a sweat. A bunch of pushups, core work, silly walks to loosen up, crane breathing. Shook off some of the cobwebs. The others did their own warmups, since they're all senior enough to know how to.

After that, we went back to something we haven't done in a while - stability drill. After that, a bit of sword work, cutting drill, and then a continuation of Sunday's class, working on cover and counter. I personally tried to practice the tora de spada, but I still haven't got the mechanics of it right. Well, more practice, and perhaps a bit of consultation, should solve that.

Class ended with a bit of e-learning: we watched Ilkka's falling exercise video and I tried a good part of it. Obviously not as smooth as the Painzer himself, but not too bad - and I managed most of the rolls reasonably well, apart from the leaping ones, which I was a bit more circumspect about. But my confidence level has definitely increased, and when it comes down to it, most of falling and rolling is about just that - the confidence to let the training take over, relax and allow the body to find its own way, without the fears of the conscious mind to distort the motion and make things dangerous.

As with so many things in life, the actual danger is not the problem - what really screws us over is fear and anxiety, which only make a minimally risky exercise downright hazardous.

A lot of fun was had, at least by me. Good work done by all, in a basic but useful session.

Training Update

2008-09-22T07:11:00.002+03:00

Decent turnout today for Sunday, featuring the return of Mr. Page Neo from the hells... sorry, halls of NTU.

With Greg taking a rare leave of absence from Sunday class, the session was taken by Chris, who used the opportunity to concentrate purely on sword work - specifically, application of techniques we have already learned.

The basic exercise was simple - limiting the tactical options to simplify the decision tree. So both the attacker's strike and the defender's guard were specified. Then from there, we worked variations, extending the sequence until the 4th master of battle was reached (ie. counter-counter remedy). This was done with fendente from mandritto and roverso, against tutta porta di ferro, dente di chinghiale, and posta di donna destra.

The emphasis of this exercise was not to learn new techniques but to internalise the ones we already know, to test them under controlled conditions and feel for how they work, develop a sense for where the fight is going, train decision-making under stress conditions.

An important aspect was doing things at half speed. This has two main purposes - firstly, it allows one to think about and feel for what is happening, and secondly, it makes for better learning. It's difficult to avoid speeding up in order to make a technique work, but it is vital. Otherwise the exercise becomes little more than limited freeplay - not in itself a bad thing but a rather narrower and less efficient learning tool.

We did a good three hours of this, taking in both sessions, since there were no beginners around. I found it a useful exercise and hope that it was so for others as well. It was a good opportunity to work on applying the schermo. One thing I found was that the basic plays in the pair drills work well and are often the optimal solutions. Making up stuff just doesn't cut it. It was also a chance to play with tempo and measure, figuring out footwork and how it affects the plays, and how to manipulate measure to best effect.

Towards the end of the evening, Fred and I broke off to do some treatise study. We worked on the 5th through 9th plays of dagger against sword. This is stuff that's already been covered in seminar, but it's always good to revisit the source material.

5th play is the starting position for 6th. The master holds his sheathed sword point up, in front of him, against an attacker with a dagger who has taken a collar hold - essentially the position of the 5th remedy master of dagger. 6th play shows the master dropping the sword into the dagger elbow of the attacker, with what we take to be a pass forward. The text does not specify footwork, but, as with abrazare and dagger, moving forward is a stronger, more positive action that helps to break the opponent's structure. In this case the sword provides a strong lever that keeps the attacker's arm bent at the elbow and unable to move forward, setting it up nicely for the 1st (disarm) and 3rd (ligadura mezana) plays of the 1st remedy master of dagger, as specified in the treatise.

Of particular interest were the 7th and 8th plays, which appear identical - an attacker armed with a dagger takes a collar hold of the master, who is holding a sheathed sword point downwards. The difference between them lies in the hand position of the master.

In the 7th play, the master holds the hilt in a normal grip, with thumb towards crossguard. This means his hand is thumb down, palm outward. The text instructs us to place the sword over the attacker's arm. We interpret this to mean that the sword travels in a mezano arc, cutting across the line of the attack. This forms a strong cover and places the point of the sword in the opponent's face.

In the 8th play, the master holds the sword with a reverse grip, thumb towards pommel. His initial hand position is therefore thumb up. The text instructs us to come up beneath the attacker's arm. Our interpretation is that the sword thus travels in a sottano arc, beneath the line of attack. This does not parry the blow, but it is a shorter tempo, and places the point very quickly. Combined with a tornare, it voids the attack and prevents the attacker from entering into measure again. This is clearly shown in the ending position, which is the 9th play.

A little point here, which I'd like to bring before the larger community - this has an implication on how we perform the first step of the syllabus form drill. If we begin in middle stance, and we wish to go from the cover to a fendente strike, it makes sense to use the 7th play, which places our hands in proper grip. The cover of the first step, therefore, should be along a mezano arc, rather than rising in a sottano as we generally do. I would like to hear the opinions of those more senior in the art in this matter.

A very exciting and fruitful session. Many thanks to everyone who made it, in particular to Page for keeping the faith, and Fred for being an insightful and rigorous study partner.

Thoughts and Observations

2008-09-17T19:42:00.004+03:00

Some additional comments on the sword exercise today, which call for a separate post.

Having read Ilkka's comments on yielding, I decided to try out a few things while I was defender.

One was to focus more on closing the line of attack with my cover: this has the effect of opening the attacker's line if the frontale is properly timed and formed. From the incrosada, one may then enter the plays of giocco largo. I found that quite often, it was sufficient to simply put the attacker's blade aside and counter with a short fendente of my own. Another remedy that worked well was a variation on the scambiare di punta - from the frontale, going into an extended fenestra (covered all the way) and thence putting the point into the attacker's mask, or if he has stepped inside the blade to hit him in the back of the head with false edge.

Another was to avoid the overuse of the 'yield'. One of my automatic responses has generally been to yield and enter with a pommel strike, as in 1st drill - however, in that context the yield is performed by the attacker, whose blade has indeed been taken off line by the defender. However, it makes no sense for the defender to do this if his frontale has worked as advertised. It should already have cleared the attack and given him control of the centreline. For him to then forsake this position of advantage and wind round the attacker's blade requires a long tempo during which the attacker can regain the initiative simply by generating pressure on the blade and winning the leverage battle. This ultimately leads to the defender taking a point in the face. And if the attacker continues his forward motion it brings him out of measure anyway.

I've also been thinking a bit about Ilkka's take on Fiore's schermo. He makes the covers sound so easy - and really, they are. I found that my decision-making process was made much easier - basically, your guard dictates the types of defences you have. I tried using porta di ferro mezano a bit more, and it illustrated some principles very well. From a low middle guard, false edge and return with a fendente. This worked like a charm, even though it's not a guard I use often in freeplay.

The upshot of this exercise was to reinforce these few lessons by bringing them home to me in a concrete way. These principles work! Even if they are different from what we may have done previously, if they are both more true to Fiore, and beneficial to our development, we should incorporate them in our training and practice. It definitely made a difference today, and it was a humbling yet exhilarating experience to think that there's so much more, and that infinitely subtle, to swordsmanship. It's a journey that will not end, and the thought is an inspiring one. There will always be greater heights to aspire to, and new discoveries to be made!

Training Update

2008-09-17T19:42:00.001+03:00

Small Wednesday class as usual, just the usual suspects. We began early, since it was pretty clear nobody else was going to be arriving.

Class started with some basic footwork revision, then moved on to an interesting exercise - entering against a sword. One partner swings a sword in a consistent mezano arc, at constant speed. The other times his entry, controlling the sword arm and executing a counter. The emphasis is not on the counter but on safely entering measure and taking control. As both parties get comfortable, the arc becomes smaller and therefore the tempi shorter. The exercise gets progressively more challenging as it goes along.

We then did the same but with dagger against sword. This was a good opportunity to practice some of the plays we just did on Sunday, and they work pretty well. We were also able to work in some of the 2nd and 6th remedy master plays as well.

Next was swords, and a bit of stress training. Three attackers and a defender, plus a marshal. The marshal indicates which of the attackers is to throw a strike. The defender covers with a remedy. If he is able to do so cleanly, the attacker takes the hit. If not, however, the attacker is free to perform a counter-remedy.

This was a really fun and instructive exercise, and it took us to the end of the session. It doesn't sound like so much but it was a really good learning experience for all involved.

Great work guys!

Training Update

2008-09-16T18:45:00.001+03:00

Sunday's class saw a reasonable turnout, with a good number of senior students, including Andy and Fred. Nice to see these stalwarts still plugging away, and discovering new things to learn!

Seniors' session emphasised the first remedy master of dagger, and in particular the posta longa cover against fendente-line dagger strike. It's all too easy to take this cover for granted, and concentrate on all the fancier actions after. This is a Big Mistake.

Without a properly formed cover, no follow-up technique will work - often because the dagger has already struck home, barely slowed by a feeble defence. But the cover, well done, will actually break the structure of the attack and create a useful tempo for a counter to take place, as well as making the counter easy to execute.

This is particularly clear in the cases of the 3rd and 5th plays of the first master, which are very difficult (if not impossible) to execute if the initial contact does not take the attack off-line. On the other hand, a solid and structurally well-supported hit on the attacker's wrist will not only defend against the strike but also open up the attacker's elbow for manipulation.

We went through the first seven plays of the first master systematically, and went on to stress training, with two attackers taking turns against a single defender. This was an interesting exercise in decision-making under pressure, and really tested our developing skills.

It has to be emphasised, however, that in drills of this sort it is important to keep one's focus on the skills being practiced. If one begins to take them for granted, and think that they are already acquired and hence boring, the tendency is to start experimenting with other strikes and the like. While this is arguably more fun and interesting, the fact is that nobody is so skilled that they can't improve, even with something so basic. It's always possible to find something to learn and improve on, even with the simplest exercise.

I think a good thought process to bring to these situations is to have a mental checklist. Can I execute this technique perfectly? If I can, can I do it consistently? Would I be able to do it with a fully committed attacker, ten times out of ten? If the answer to any of the above is 'no', then more practice is called for.

We moved on to some sword work, mainly syllabus form, which took us to the end of the session.

Juniors' session saw the arrival of our latest swordsperson Michelle, who has formally signed up and was the sole Apprentice-level student in attendance. As such she received Chris's full attention while Fred, Andy and I did a bit of treatise interpretation work and Greg took Josh aside for a bit of freeplay.

The treatise work was interesting as it took us to sections which are a bit less familiar, namely the 20th and 21st plays of the first master of dagger, and the first four plays of dagger against sword.

The 20th play is reminiscent of the 3rd play of abrazare on horseback, in that it is a grab for the leading knee. Hence the counters are also somewhat similar, at least in the interpretation we arrived at. Each involves the defender exerting pressure on the attacker's shoulder to push him down and around. This makes use of his existing momentum to break his stability and thus render him unable to complete the takedown.

This technique may also be applied against non-Fiore attacks, specifically the 'shoot' against the lower body popular amongst grapplers, especially those from the MMA side of things. Chris, taking a few minutes out from instructional duties, demonstrated this quite conclusively!

The plays of dagger against sword were a useful refresher. Mr. Windsor had already covered this material in the February seminar but we've not practiced it since then, so it was good to be able to go over it again. It was also a reminder of how profoundly footwork affects the way in which a play works. The dynamics of the encounter change according to whether the dagger wielder's defence involves a step to the outside or inside. The inside step is strongly suggested (although not explicitly stated) by the treatise, and works beautifully. It's how it's done within the SESH context. But the discussion generated some useful ideas and insight, so even if we reinvented the wheel it was a good thing.

All in all, a most productive class. Thanks to everyone who made it!

Training Update

2008-09-10T20:25:00.002+03:00

Unable to comment much on Sunday class, as I was somewhat tired and distracted during it. This was also partly the reason I ended up with a couple of rather nasty bone bruises, one on my left palm and the other on my right wrist. Note to self: have sufficient sleep the night before training, and focus, focus, focus.

Attendance was up a little bit, with a couple of returning stalwarts, and a new beginner, Michelle, who found us through the ARMA forums.

Senior class involved a good amount of dagger work, especially on the 1st remedy master, culminating in limited freeplay. Then swords, syllabus form especially.

Juniors' session was a bit more fragmented, as the class split up to cover different material. There was abrazare/dagger, tire work, singlestick, and even a bit of sword freeplay at different locations and times. This was when I picked up the little bumps.

Having learned my lesson, I got a good bit of rest and made up most of my sleep debt (excuse: this was why I didn't update earlier). Hence when Wednesday class rolled around, I was in much better shape.

We started off with some interesting limbering-up. These were mostly variations on stretches and mobility exercises, performed with sword in hand. The additional leverage, resistance and momentum changed things slightly, which in many cases made the exercises more efficient.

We moved on to sword work, still emphasising the yield, and incorporating the passo ala traversa. The exercise of the day was to work out how to use the passo ala traversa in an offensive context. It appears often enough (and its use is obvious) in defence, but when one throws the first strike it's not so easy to see how stepping off the line is beneficial.

We began with a fendente mandritto, parried with frontale, after which the defender enters into stretto with a pass, pushes the elbow and delivers a pommel strike. The attacker's challenge was to counter this remedy.

There were four responses:

1. Push pommel strike up and away with lead hand, hook defender's extended arm with own hilt, bring blade down onto defender's face.

2. Use off hand to push pommel strike away (classic first remedy), clearing room for thrust with sword.

3. Push pommel strike up and away with lead hand, drop sword point round past opponent's neck and perform takedown (also known as the combine harvester, and uses the full passo ala traversa with volta stabile thrown in).

4. With both hands still on grip, deflect pommel strike with forte of blade and move in for a pommel strike of one's own.

Each of these responses is valid and has its uses. One key idea to note is that they all involve regaining a superior position with leverage control. In this case, if one's hands are higher than the opponent's, one has leverage. So the initial cover simply involves lifting one's hands to gain better leverage and take the pommel strike off-line. The follow-ups then come into play.

What was encouraging was that the responses came from all involved, not just one or two individuals, and although they were distinct they all worked on the same fundamental and authentically Fiore principles. In fact they replicated plays from the largo section, which is really a good indicator that the principles have been internalised. These things are starting to become muscle memory and instinct, which really is the point.

After this, we ran through several reps of the syllabus form drill, followed by some free flow training. It's been a while since we've done it, and I enjoyed the process, even if it missed a certain something that can only be provided by the pounding rhythms of Eye of the Tiger. This was quite a fast-paced, enjoyable exercise and it took us to the end of the session.

Good work from everyone involved, and a very useful learning point!

Training Update

2008-09-03T11:18:00.002+03:00

First off, an apology to my readers for the consistent lateness of updates recently. Some changes in my personal life and circumstances have both reduced my spare time and altered my daily schedule. While this constitutes no excuse, I hope that I'll be back in regular posting rhythm soon.

Sunday's training began with a test cutting session. Many milk jugs were slain, some in style and some rather more brutally. Lin's sidesword received its first test, and proved an effective cutter. Also kudos to Syam, who cut very well despite a lack of prior experience. Personally the highlight of my day was getting to make a couple of cuts with Battaglia. It's a beast of a sword, rather more tip-heavy than La Magra, and with a wider blade that's more stable in the cut. On a technical level, I've found that the changes I've made to the cutting path and mechanics of my fendente mandritto have resulted in a more effective and consistent cut. I now need to make similar adjustments to all the other cuts, and continue refining them. This is an ongoing process, but I'm pleased that I'm making some progress.

The regular seniors' class began with a brisk warmup, and moved quickly into abrazare and dagger work. There was some restricted abrazare play, which involved attempting to place each other in locks. This was a bit more difficult than expected, to some extent because our opponents were expecting and countering the techniques, but also because, in that competitive context, people were playing with far more intent than when they drill. This is a good thing, since otherwise we get too complacent performing techniques on compliant partners.

The same principle was in play with dagger. We did several passes with limited options before armouring up and getting into dagger freeplay. This ran in king of the mountain format - two people played a single point, and the loser stepped out to do three pushups, while another player stepped in to face the winner.

The lesson of the day in dagger was to deal with incoming attacks first before countering. A good cover against the attack disrupts the attacker's structure and he must take a moment to restabilise. Also, people tend to focus on the dagger in their hand, and forget that their opponent may also be armed. They then require some time to switch mental modes between attack and defence (or even obsess about pushing the attack through, or retrieving their dagger from a poor position), giving one a tempo in which to counter.

I managed to reel off a few good points in this fashion, and I was best pleased at managing to take a point off Chris. He's very good at abrazare and dagger work, besides having a tremendous advantage in reach, but in response to his roverso strike I did as we've been taught - see elbow, push elbow - and surprise, surprise, it actually worked.

The great thing about it is that one fights in an unhurried fashion: instead of trying to perform two or three actions at the same time, one makes the cover, then picks one's spot for the counter. This is excellent for preserving situational awareness, and I do not doubt it was a principle that came in handy in real encounters, whether in war or on the streets. I found that when it worked, I could take control of the fight, step in, and place the dagger repeatedly on my opponent without being in danger of a counter.

So the lessons learned from the Five Days of Fiore tournament have stuck!

Chris took over for juniors' session, taking us through some stretching and relaxation exercises, which were very good for getting us down from the high after all that freeplay. We moved on to syllabus form, and applications, particularly the exchange and breaking of thrusts. Practice of the latter included a strong emphasis on the 'breaking' portion of the technique, ensuring that the opponent's point is driven forcefully into the ground.

We finished with a short introduction to the plays of abrazare in horseback, which was both entertaining and insightful. While they may seem esoteric, the techniques of combat on horseback are very much of a piece with the rest of the treatise, operating on the same principles and thus providing a useful reference point for other sections of the treatise as well.

So, a training session of two halves, as it were: high-intensity stress training followed by relaxed technical work. It may sound a bit topsy-turvy, but in practice it worked well. Well done to all those present.

Training Update

2008-08-28T10:40:00.003+03:00

Sunday saw another low turnout. Good though to see Yu Sarn back in action.

Making a virtue of necessity, the seniors' class was a challenging one. The emphasis was on forming good guards and breaking them. Thus we practiced defence against different attacks from multiple sources. After a bit of warming up with pair drills, we went to a stress drill.

Four attackers formed a square around a single defender, throwing whichever attacks they chose against him. Responses were limited to a single cover and counter, with no counter-remedy. This was a stress drill for the defender, not true freeplay, but it was quite intense and put quite a bit of pressure on the defences.

Then we moved on to breaking the guard. There are four fundamental ways in which to break a guard, as follows:

1. Blow through. If the guard is not properly formed, it is structurally weak. A powerful attack may then simply go right through the defence if the attacker puts a lot of force into it. This is a risky technique but it can pay dividends, especially against a defender who is too eager to yield, and thus does not put up a strong defence.

2. Yield. Against a strong defence, the attacker can yield round the defence to attack an open line. While this is a common and valid response, it must still be performed with care, as often it requires a fairly long tempo to execute (e.g. with a moulinello) and can thus be interrupted by a counter in a shorter tempo.

3. Feint. This is an attack that is delivered out of measure, in order to draw a defence so that a second-intention attack can go in on a line that has opened. One point to note is that the attacker must stay alert so that if the defender does not actually put up a defence the initial feint can be converted into a real attack with a pass; only if the defender reacts should the feint be executed.

4. Compound attacks. These are attacks that are delivered in quick succession, so that the first attack forces a defence which opens the defender up to the second and subsequent attacks. In practice, this may be difficult to distinguish from a feint; the difference is primarily that the first attack is more committed, and intended to draw a heavier contact than is the case with a feint.

Having practiced these in pairs, we repeated the stress drill with the roles of attackers and defenders reversed; that is, the single swordsman in the centre now became the attacker, tasked with breaking the guards of those around him.

This set of challenging exercises took us to the halfway point, at which Greg and I broke off for some freeplay. Chris took over the class for the junior session, working extensively on dagger remedies. Much ground was covered, on the remedies of the 1st, 3rd and 9th Masters. The class was again reminded of the fundamentals - structure and footwork. These two aspects of the art come up throughout our practice, and without mastery of these basics there can be no real achievement or advancement.

Another fundamental skill is falling, as well as rolling and recovery. As Ilkka puts it, 'falling is just another way of moving', and done right it doesn't hurt, and is barely more risky than walking. So the last 15 minutes of class were devoted to falling and rolling practice. This was a lot of fun, as well as good training!

Wednesday built on the lessons of Sunday. We started early, with Greg's version of a walk round the hall: i.e. one punctuated by pushups and situps. It may not seem like much, but ten pushups, properly done each time, add up to a fair bit after a while. Throw in a couple of iguana crawls back and forth, and it was quite a little workout.

This was followed by some solid work on the fundamentals of the first drill remedy and counter-remedy, as well as variations thereof. From there we segued into greater degrees of freedom, starting from a fendente mandritto and defending/remedying/countering from there.

This was followed by several good reps of the syllabus form, and then a good stiff session of stability drill.

In a way I've come to a plateau in training, where progress is measured in small tweaks and improvements, rather than massive leaps of insight and understanding. This is a good thing; it's the part of the learning curve where I'm actually translating the learned actions into trained reflex, loading the techniques into muscle memory and responses into the midbrain where they come into play under stress.

That this is an ongoing process is shown by my continuing tendency to charge straight in like a bull, rather than taking the passa ala traversa and playing off the line. When I consciously do this, it works well; when I forget, it opens me up to a world of hurt. Add to that some slackness in controlling the centreline and I end up walking into posta longas. This is nothing to be ashamed about - it's just something I have to correct, even if it's a basic flaw and shouldn't be occurring at my level. Yet it's not as bad to do something wrong, as it is to refuse to admit that one has gone wrong. The first is simply error, the second folly. So I'll continue to work on it, as I have my fendente, which is rather improved, I hope.

The test will come on Sunday, when we have a cutting session. The milk jugs tremble in fear, for they know their doom has come. Or as Tome has put it -

"I am become Death, slayer of PET bottles!"

We shall see.

Thinking about grounding

2008-08-21T19:40:00.004+03:00

One of my students (I'm a private tutor) lives in a condominium that's about 200m from the main road, so I have a short walk from the bus stop. Interesting thing about it is that there's a set of concrete retaining blocks for the grass verge, forming a flat strip three inches wide that runs the length of the street. So I've taken to walking along this strip, to practice balance and grounding. It's somewhat challenging, especially the bits which are next to trees. But it's also not so difficult as to be frustrating. I can keep up a decent turn of speed without stepping off more than once or twice in a hundred metres.

What's really useful is that sometimes I start losing my balance, and then it's an exercise in core control to re-establish a firm ground. It has helped to make me more aware of how to move the body and control my structure and centre of gravity. Small but firm actions are the order of the day, rather than large, out-of-control swinging of limbs. Most of the work is done in the waist region, as eastern martial arts emphasise.

And every time I step off it's ten pushups, which I keep a score of until I get somewhere I can do them properly.

So it's a quick core and grounding workout that takes no time at all, since I'd have to walk that distance anyway. Just a reminder that one need not invest a whole lot of time and energy to get better; a bit of creativity and the correct mindset will discover a new training opportunity!

Training Update

2008-08-21T07:10:00.002+03:00

We had a small turnout for class, all seniors, so the session concentrated on higher-level skills. We began with some basic drills to warm up - footwork and cutting drills - before getting in some reps of Fifth Drill. We also practiced some variations to Fifth Drill - one notes that the half-sword position is structurally similar to the position reached by the Third Remedy Master of Dagger, so from there a lot of his plays are applicable, especially takedowns.

The highlight of the evening, though, was low-speed freeplay, with emphasis on tactical thinking and decision-making. This is something we don't get to do a lot of in class, because it requires a lot more supervision than drills to be worthwhile. The lack is especially acute for the ushers and instructors, who need to spend time watching and teaching rather than training themselves. So it was a good opportunity for Greg and I to roll with each other.

My performance wasn't the best - spent too much time charging forward into posta longas (my old besetting sin, alas). Other learning points: not taking coffee breaks, especially once I'm in stretto; and not obsessing about my opponent's sword to the point of ignoring his hands. This last was quite literally pounded into me with a couple of hefty punches to the sides of my mask. Greg also pulled off one of the sweetest exchanges of thrust I've yet seen - perfectly positioned and timed. Bravo, sir!

We finished off the evening with a few reps of the syllabus form. All in all, a demanding and intense session with lots to take away and practice.

Training Update

2008-08-17T20:23:00.002+03:00

A rather improved turnout today, with stalwarts like Anthony, Yu Sarn, Fredric and Syam making an appearance. It really does make a difference to the feel of the training session when there are more people around! Intensity is higher, there's more of a buzz.

Seniors' session led off with footwork, then dagger work and lots of it, culminating in what turned out to be a fair bit of abrazare vs. dagger controlled freeplay. At least that's what it was like for myself and Fred. It was stressful, it was tiring and it was fun! I learned that I still have to work on the proper angles for 1st remedy. I'm still stepping too straight, which allows the attacker too much access to my centreline. A wider step off the line would make me safer and do more to break his structure.

Sword work concentrated on 4th drill and variations thereof. The lessons of the SESH expedition look to be paying off as there has been significant improvement in our application of the punta falsa, even amongst those who didn't go to Helsinki. A lot of this is due to a better appreciation of measure, as this play only works well when it occurs at the right distance. There were a lot of useful variations as well, including locks, breaks and takedowns - this has been getting us to think tactically and become more aware of the different sections of the treatise. My own contribution was a 'combine harvester of death' moment, when the punta falsa play, instead of developing as a thrust to the face, becomes a takedown with sword across throat. Approving noises ("that's nasty!") were heard, and I was quite pleased. It's a good thing to be nasty - this is a nasty system, meant to allow its practitioners to kill and maim if they choose to.

We also did some work on countering the passa alla traversa, with many good ideas coming up. Especial credit to Yu Sarn for realising that the part of the syllabus form drill that counters the tornare and snipe to the hands (i.e. coda longa - bichorno) is also applicable to this situation.

We finished up with a round of silly crawls with chair. This was quite a challenge but everyone held up well. I think it's safe to say, though, that while I'm far from being fit I'm no longer the proverbial 'Kuwaiti shot three times by an Iraqi'....

Juniors' session was taken by Chris, whom we welcome back after a hiatus of six weeks. He's obviously not been idle in training during this time as he had many insights to share with us, including some new warmup stretches that emphasise spine flexibility rather than large muscle groups. Another key idea - echoing what we learned at SESH - was the importance of intent in practice. Too many of us place our attacks without committed intent. This does our training partners no favours. It makes some techniques unworkable, and others too easy. Either way it distorts the technique, and this should be avoided. The main point is to really attempt to make the attack work. This doesn't necessarily mean going fast - it means throwing a committed attack that if not defended properly against will hit. Such an attack forces the defender to really work on his or her covers.

This was followed by movement and avoidance drills, dagger work and then basic sword work. At the same time Greg and a few others worked on I.33 and sidesword basics. I played the dilettante a bit here, training first with sword and buckler and then using the same arming sword for sidesword drills. A lot of good fun and some much-needed revision of the I.33 work. The session finished with 1st drill, and variations thereof.

An enjoyable and fruitful training session. I hope we can keep up at least this level of attendance. Well done to all those present.

Training Update

2008-08-13T21:10:00.002+03:00

Greg was hung up at work so it fell to me to lead the class. We had a decent turnout for a Wednesday class - five of us in total. I decided to continue the trend towards technical work for seniors' sessions, so after warmup and stability drill we devoted our time to the exchange and breaking of thrusts - rompere di punta and scambiare di punta. There are a lot of subtleties to these techniques so it was good to have an opportunity to practice them intensively and at length. This is especially so once we move on to the follow up techniques, counters and counter-counters.

One principle stood out from this session. It was the need to keep going - otherwise known as "The Combine Harvester of Death". Once one makes the cover, it's important to follow it with a counter, to threaten the opponent and put pressure on him. Otherwise he can just reset and pick his spot again. By seizing the initiative one forces the opponent to go into a defensive mode.

Two sets of techniques basically burned all the time we had and unfortunately the security guard was eager to have us out of the hall. But we got a lot done, good effort from all!

Training Update

2008-08-11T12:20:00.002+03:00

I have been remiss in keeping this blog updated - rest assured, gentle readers, I am on this earth yet, and training still!

Sunday class was disappointingly poorly attended. This may have had something to do with the National Day weekend, coming as it does during the period when many university students are busy with the beginning of term. Life and work got in the way for others, and so we were left with five or six in the class. This was a bit of a letdown. While having a small group is good for personal attention and working on some things, a large class is just that much more fun in a lot of ways, especially for games and the like.

"Spirits bolder, as our strength lessens," however, and we did our best. Senior session focused on a lot of drill work, and developing a feel for the bind. This is a skill that takes a lot of reps to acquire, so it's great for a small class, where instructors can troubleshoot quickly rather than letting students fall into bad habits.

A classic and very common example is not throwing a committed attack for the defender. Many times we fail to realise that a pair drill is always practice for both persons involved. Even if one's part is simply to throw a fendente mandritto, that's an opportunity to practice throwing a committed strike with good form. If nothing else, the repeated passare-tornare footwork is a good way to train one's grounding, power generation and weight transfer. Waste no training opportunity! We're only in class a few hours a week, and it makes no sense to think of oneself as merely a training tool half the time.

We had another small freeplay session again, nothing too elaborate and it went briskly. I had the chance to bout with Josh and Greg, and it was fun to be able to go a bit harder with more experienced guys. One thing I concentrated on (qua the lesson I learned from our esteemed Topi) was continuing the fight until stopped by the marshal, and this stood me in good stead. Just having the determination to do that, and not concerning myself with when to stop, freed me to go in with techniques (especially those of zogho stretto) when before I might have frozen up. The other thing was to consciously make a choice to fight in zogho largo at appropriate times, rather than simply rushing in like a bull. This worked surprisingly well: I'm not as bad at fighting from range as I think I might be, and favouring zogho stretto is a preference that may not always work to my strengths. I'm definitely more a grappler than a striker, but that doesn't mean I can never learn to fight well as a striker.

My decision-making has also improved. Part of the reason I could decide to play in largo rather than stretto is because I've finally got enough experience that the bout has slowed somewhat for me, and I can see things happening rather than being able to react only when I've already been struck.

One thing that helps is not rushing oneself - when one throws the initial attack, it need not be at 100% speed. Dialling back the speed of one's strike a little forces the opponent to match tempos, and the lengthening of those tempos gives one a bit more time to react. This is not to recommend fighting slowly, which is suicide - but rather to establish a comfortable tempo which is essentially full speed but not rushed. This is possible even against an opponent who is not compliant and attempts to hurry the action. In fact it often leads to a successful outcome, because one is able to make better decisions.

Often we attempt to win by speeding up, but that's a dangerous concept, from a safety standpoint and also from the perspective of swordsmanship. There's only so much one can speed up, and if one's body is moving faster than one's brain then situational awareness drops precipitously. One winds up just randomly flailing rather than reading the situation and reacting appropriately. But a training bout should be about learning, not winning, and thus going too fast achieves nothing.

Another aspect of the exercise was bouting against someone of less experience. I also went up against Daryl and I took it as a chance to try out different things, as well as attempt to play in such a way that it would give him a better experience. It's easy for a senior student to 'win' against a junior by always doing a few 'killer' techniques that are difficult to deal with, but that's just frustrating for the junior, and unproductive for the 'winner'. It's better to experiment, maybe lose a few points or even the bout, but figure out what works and what doesn't, and improve.

We finished off with a very brisk conditioning session, an upgrade of funny walks I suppose should be called funny crawls. Gorilla crawl, five pushups, iguana crawl, five pushups, worm crawl, five pushups, bumwalk, five pushups... twice round the hall, and three times if you're Robin Choo, the Only Fit Man in PHEMAS.

Juniors' session was more technical in many respects. We began with revising First Drill, and really working on the basics of the fendente strike, the frontale remedy and the ligadura. From there we segued into the first six plays of the First Master of Dagger, with loads of reps. It's not easy even to execute the first remedy block in a way that will actually work against an opponent with intent, and it was good practice to go through it again. In the end these basics took up all our time, but it was time well spent - in fact I was a bit disappointed with my timekeeping because I'd have liked to finish off with the seventh play, the takedown, so as to give everyone a bit of practice with falling and recovery as well.

So in the end a useful session. I hope we can get class attendance up again because we're doing some interesting stuff that's of benefit to seniors and juniors alike. I appreciate that many of us are dealing with heavy burdens in work and family alike, but all the same it's my wish to see the hall brim-full again as it was not long ago. Hopefully this was just a seasonal thing and numbers will indeed pick up soon!

Training Update

2008-08-05T03:28:00.002+03:00

A fine class on Sunday. Turnout was rather thin but it was made up for with intensity.

Greg and I did a bit of light freeplay before class, which is always enjoyable. I still flail a bit with decision-making, and I feel that there's so much more I need to do and improve on before I can actually freeplay effectively, but it's not a daunting prospect so much as it is an awareness of the work to be done. It's even more clear to me now that freeplay is an advanced training tool that should come at a relatively late stage in a swordsman's development; otherwise it simply breeds bad habits. This is especially so when people approach it with the objective of 'winning' rather than of learning.

One thing that Greg said last week which has stuck with me is that if you do an exercise with the proper intent, it doesn't matter if you screw it up a hundred times, because every time you do, you're getting better; if you have the wrong intent, you may succeed more often, but in the end you never get anywhere. This is so with freeplay in particular. If in the interests of 'winning' one disregards proper form, measure, structure and so on, and simply flings the sword about, sheer chance often results in a hit or two - but it's actually detrimental to one's progress. Better to try to do things right, get beaten, but learn from the experience.

Seniors' class focused on sword work again, decision-making and variations. The exercise was to generate specific outcomes in variations on the drills - for example, to end with a break or disarm in the counter-remedy step of second drill. This requires a bit of creativity and knowledge of the treatise - there are many instances when abrazare and dagger plays can be applied to actions with the sword. It's also a good way to start people in freeplay, because it sets up a tactical situation with a limited degree of freedom: pruning the decision tree, if you will. It's not as daunting, and it teaches broad application of the principles taught in different sections of the treatise.

This was sufficient to take us to the conditioning session, which most of us joined in. Greg's version of silly walks - gorilla walk down the long side of the hall, iguana crawl the short side, worm crawl the other long side (painful) and bumwalk back to the start point. Then we did some resistance work with sword in hand. My upper chest/shoulder is still feeling the effects! It's great though - toughest round of conditioning we've had in a while.

I took juniors' class, and we went through basic abrazare again, plus a few of the more advanced plays, such as the eleventh (full nelson). We also worked extensively on feeling for leverage, with collar-and-elbow wrestling, seated and standing.

One thing that beginners find difficult is following a technique through to completion. Too often we stop short, thinking that we've done enough by getting into position; however, this does not teach us the amount of pressure and follow-through we require to actually complete the technique - especially true for locks and takedowns. Thus we don't learn how to actually establish structural control with a lock, or maintain control during the falling phase of the takedown.

The only remedy for this, as far as I can see, is for the instructor to really emphasise the follow-through. We're concerned for each other's safety, which is as it should be - but too few of us are really aware of just how far we can take techniques before they become dangerous. It requires confidence in oneself and one's training partner. In large part this was why I could make so much progress at SESH - training with Guy or Ilkka meant I could just let go of a lot of concerns and hit the deck, or make them hit the deck. It's also why Greg uses me as a demo partner - he can do stuff safely with me that would have a much smaller margin of error with anyone else.

So I'm thinking we need to do a lot more falling and recovery work. Chalk that up for the next lesson.

After that, we moved on to sword work - yielding. One advantage of having fewer people in class was that everyone got to train with steel, either their own or borrowed. With things like yielding, it's crucial that steel is used because the feel is completely different. Training such techniques with wasters can actually be counter-productive.

There was another light conditioning session at the end of juniors' class, mostly stability drill. Coming at the end of a long, intense training session though, it was challenging for most. I know my form certainly wasn't quite perfect! But I held up okay, and even had the energy for a few reps of syllabus form after class formally ended.

So - a good weekend's work overall, given that I also managed to make it to the Botanics on Saturday, and got in a fair amount of work on that fendente line again. It's improving, I think - not so much mezano, and I'm able to get a bit more power with my left hand because the mechanics aren't screwing up. In the end it's really about reps, reps, reps - done intelligently and with thought and focus, but reps, reps, reps.

Thoughts and observations

2008-07-31T07:05:00.002+03:00

A little discussion I had with some SESH friends prompted this post.

There's still very little understanding of what we do in the wider world. People think of swordsmanship as a hobby, just people swinging swords around for a bit of fun. No doubt there are those in the community who treat it this way, but that's not true for a lot of us, and especially it's not true of the people engaged in real research, who are constantly pushing back the borders of our knowledge and practice.

It's a lonely and frustrating road for them, and one filled with sacrifices. Those who are able to make real progress in the art are, ipso facto, capable of great success in other, more commercially recognised fields. Yet because of their passion for the art they choose to accept that they'll never make a fortune doing what they do. They accept that they'll be misunderstood and even mocked. They accept that it puts a strain on relationships. They make these sacrifices for the sake of a community that all too often does not appreciate what they do.

And while it's not wrong to place swordsmanship as a lower priority in life than, say, getting ahead in one's career, the least one can do is to show respect for those who have made it their first priority.

Alas, there are all too many "civilians (in the worst sense of the word) thinking holding a sword makes you a swordsman."

To draw an analogy - it's like thinking that holding a baton makes one a conductor, or holding a wrench makes one a plumber. As I've said before on these pages - swordsmanship is not about swords, but swordsmen. The sword is a tool (a beautiful and efficient one, no doubt) but it is only a piece of metal without the skill and the will to wield it. We do not applaud the baton, and we do not pay the wrench - similarly, we do not make an idol of the sword. In the end, it's the person who counts.

A swordsman without a sword is still a swordsman.

A fool with a sword is a fool made more dangerous to himself and those around him.

In the end the art is far greater than any one practitioner can ever be, and it rewards those who are faithful to the path. We may stumble and bumble along the way, but as long as we commit ourselves to the journey, we make progress and we gain something. And some of us help others along the way as well. Let us properly honour them, and respect what they do, for without that drive none of us would have even a light in our darkness.

Training Update

2008-07-31T06:53:00.002+03:00

Wednesday class was a burner!

I got to the EA early to settle some administrative affairs - money matters and so on. With that out of the way I had time to kill, so I dropped by Parkway Parade to check out some stuff. Lo and behold - the gym supplies shop had stock of medicine balls! I promptly purchased one, which has now found a home in our training hall.

So, returning to the hall, I had time for a nap, some stretching, limbering-up with silly walks and then some conditioning work with the new ball. Planks front and back, and pushups. I'd missed doing all that, more than I'd thought. It was good to get back to some really tough conditioning work.

When regular class began Greg took us through some more work on sentimento di ferro, helping us to develop a better feel for the bind. This is something that needs a lot of practice - we're barely touching the surface of this. It's all about extending your nervous system and making the sword part of that extended sensitivity.

In line with this we also did some push hands, which is a lot easier in some ways because the contact is direct. However it's still a subtle exercise which we're only just beginning to understand. The great thing though is that most of us are really enthusiastic about doing it, and when training is both fun and beneficial, that's when people come back for more.

Finally we had seven minutes left on the clock so Josh took us through a short, sharp conditioning session. I really felt it because of the work I'd done earlier, but it was a very intense workout. Well done to all who suffered through it, and a hand to Josh for leading well!

The lessons from SESH are slowly being incorporated into our training here, and the benefits are showing. The bar has been raised - now it's time for us to bring ourselves up to the measure.

Training Update

2008-07-28T18:24:00.002+03:00

A week without formal training is a very long time.

It's been a week of upheaval - being ill, of course, and also adapting to some changes in my life circumstances. Change is ongoing and will not be done for some time, but thankfully the only serious disruption to my training so far was my inability to attend Wednesday class.

I still do my personal training as much as I can. On the bus or train, in the park, when I have free time... it's really about making training a part of one's life and daily routine, rather than setting aside specific times and places for it. Obviously things like pair drills and the like can only be done in the training hall, but grounding can be practiced absolutely anywhere, anytime.

Sunday class, though, was good. It felt like a throwback - a beginners' course type of thing - which, far from being a criticism, is high praise. We worked intensively on sentimento di ferro, applying it to the play of the colpo di villano, and in what amounts to the first play of zogho largo as well: feeling for the opponent's strength in the cross, and using that feeling to decide whether to break or bind or yield. Sentimento di ferro is a fundamental skill, but a subtle one that requires much practice to develop, and I'm glad we took the time to get in some of that practice.

We also had a mini-tourney, and unfortunately I didn't do very well in it. Frankly I was less than fully focused - something outside swordsmanship was niggling at me - and I was very cautious about fighting aggressively when I wasn't 100%. So I played somewhat defensively, and wound up getting knocked out in the first round. It's quite possible I would have lost anyway (it's not that I'm that good!) but my mindset virtually assured my elimination before things got started. But most importantly both I and my opponent came through unscathed and having learned something.

The juniors' class focused on basic stuff as well. Stability and cutting drills, push hands, and then an extended moving meditation on the fendente. Greg had us cutting fendente repeatedly, just getting used to the path and the mechanics of the cut - literally hundreds of reps all told, from mandritto and roverso, with a pass and without. No pell, no target - just swordsman and sword. It was an excellent opportunity to relearn the basics and work on some of my issues with cutting path. By the end of the evening my fendente was smoother and a lot more vertical (as opposed to some of the near-mezanos I sometimes produce).

While some may find this type of thing boring, I enjoy it. Practicing basic stuff frees the mind to really work on getting things perfect, and it's very therapeutic as well. The line on meditation in the previous paragraph isn't a joke. Aside from this it's good conditioning as well, and because it's all sword action one builds sword strength and endurance, rather than overtraining what isn't needed or undertraining what is.

Hopefully things are more settled this week and I'll not have to skip Wednesday again. There's an upcoming trip to the leathersmith's on Thursday as well, and perhaps we may think about a new project for the academic study group. In any case Greg's new Durer needs a fresh handgrip cover, so that's got to happen.

Life gets in the way sometimes, but swordsmanship's a part of me now. I live it a lot more than I did a couple of months ago, and I want to be able to do it for a good long time more to come. Things may happen along the way, but my training has been good to me. Long may it remain so.

Training Update

2008-07-21T14:39:00.002+03:00

Sunday class on 20th July saw another excellent turnout, including the first full count of the Brown Horde since our return from Finland. It was good to see the hall so full again, and I hope this will continue. While some of our brethren have fallen by the wayside, others have returned from the demands of the quotidian.

Frankly I was not at my best - I was experiencing a malaise that I chalked up to lack of sleep but has turned out to be the precursor to a bout of flu which I'm currently fighting off. Still, I got to hall early and, since I was feeling tired, decided to do a bit of cleaning instead of training. Thanks go to the other early bird, Robin (pun not intended), who helped with the sweeping and mopping of the hall. I believe it's important to take ownership of the place where you train, and keeping it clean is just good common sense - we're the ones who end up rolling on the ground after all....

Seniors' class included practice on 3rd and 4th drill, push hands and tire cutting drill. The last saw a minor injury incident which has turned out okay but is a reminder to us all that focus is all-important in class. Whenever one loses focus, one's training partner is put in danger. We were lucky to have avoided worse, but we can't count on luck. I think we should have a gauntlets-on policy for training exercises like this, but more importantly each of us has to recognise when our focus is not at its best and avoid exercises with a higher inherent risk when that is so. There should be no shame in saying to the instructor, "I don't feel comfortable doing this, I'm going to sit it out."

We had a short but vigorous conditioning session between sessions, 10 minutes of pushups and planks and other fun things. It was good to see most people joining in. Conditioning is a crucial part of training, because it allows us to train more, and harder. And the better your conditioning, the better all the other aspects of your training become.

Juniors' class saw us running through the 3rd chapter evaluation material, including unarmed flow drill, 3rd drill, dagger remedies and syllabus form drill. Congratulations to Daryl Wee on promoting to full apprentice - now you've got to start earning that rank....

Went for supper with some of the blokes after class, and it was an odd experience. Usually it's Greg who holds court at these things, but he had another appointment and I was the senior guy at supper, so naturally the juniors looked to me. It was a pleasant way to finish training, but it felt strange that just a year ago I was the wide-eyed chap having my preconceptions and fantasies shattered, and now I'm doing the same for other people. It's been an incredible period of growth for me and I'm determined to keep it up.

In the meantime though I need to stay in good health. Yesterday's experience has reminded me again just how precious being in good condition is, and how easily one can become unable to train effectively. So I'm rubbing my wrist with liniment, and have dosed up on paracetamol so that I've energy enough to fight off this bug.

One more training note - it was humbling to have it pointed out to me that my fendente mandritto doesn't always take the most efficient line. I have a tendency to let the blade swing out and down, becoming almost a mezano arc, then righting it before the impact point. This screws up my blade alignment and makes the fendente slower and easier to parry. Something I need to work on, but I really appreciate when things like this are pointed out to me so I can improve. A true swordsman doesn't fear criticism; he uses it as a spur to become better.

Training Update

2008-07-17T20:41:00.002+03:00

Wednesday class was relatively well-attended, with six people including Andy Carter showing up. It was good to see him again, especially since he's been busy getting married. Congrats, Mr. Carter!

With Greg and Chris both unable to attend, conduct of the class fell on Josh and myself. We began with a fairly relaxed round of stability drill, just to get structures nice and set, before moving on to 3rd and 4th drills. We got in a fair number of reps for each, and then moved on to a bit of push hands. This was a lot of fun, as usual, and Andy in particular enjoyed himself.

He also made a couple of interesting observations. Firstly, on how he realised it makes no sense to move around quickly and that it's actually better to take one's time and really feel for the opponent's centre; secondly, how different training partners feel very different - he described me as a big rock and Josh as a narrow line. These are very perceptive comments coming from someone who was having his first experience with it!

We finished off with a short but fairly intense conditioning session, with pushups, squats and core activators featuring prominently. Everyone put in a lot of effort. I know that something like that would have wiped me out a year ago, so I'm pleased to be able to say that after Helsinki it felt like a stiff warmup to me - that is, I was nice and loose and ready for more. Not that it was easy, but I was energised by it. And that's how training should be.

Training Update

2008-07-13T19:18:00.002+03:00

Good Sunday class.

Got to hall early, so did a bit of a workout before class started - just some squats, pushups, plank, silly walks.

Turnout was good - twelve people in the hall. It's an encouraging sign that so many people still come for training, and especially welcome were the return of Syam and Zack. The demands of life and work have taken many brethren away from training so it's heartwarming when they return even after a lengthy absence. That shows a real commitment to the art and enthusiasm for training.

We began with a light warmup and proceeded to do some push hands. It still amazes me how multi-faceted and subtle an exercise it is, and how much fun it can be when you're doing it with the right people. Page for example picked up on it very quickly and was able to make some techniques work quite well.

Much of seniors' class was spent on syllabus form. Having done so much of it at SESH I'm actually finding the transition back a challenge. There, the emphasis was on smoothness and flow, especially within each play of the form. Here we have been favouring a step-by-step approach, which has its advantages but encourages a certain choppiness in execution. There's a balance to be reached between the two, and we're working to find the optimal solution.

We also worked on First and Second drills, particularly on the changes to their execution. Second drill's arm wrap has made the drill a lot of fun. I'm also trying to encourage our guys to put a bit more intent into each step, and go for each other a little harder. This is really important for the drills, because a lot of the techniques only work when one's training partner is attempting earnestly to push his own attacks home.

With all that we overran time again and so weren't able to fit in a conditioning session! Just as well I'd done some work myself. I don't want to lose the gains I made in Helsinki. As it is, the food here is a constant temptation and I really have to rein myself in sometimes.

Juniors' class began with some abrazare revision, then was taken over for evaluations. The group ran through their technical work and Zack and Lin have been promoted. Daryl's evaluation wasn't quite completed due to lack of time but we should clear it next week.

All in all a useful session. I have to say though, at the end of it I still had a lot of excess energy so I suspect I need to get in more training myself during the week. There's always something one can do, even if it's 'just' pushups. Practicing grounding while on the bus, for example - always a challenge due to how bus drivers drive. Breathing exercises. Something or other, as long as it brings some kind of benefit to my progress in the art.