These Post-it notes are not a tactical wheel for sport fencing (1) but are an abstract cutting diagram that’s used for my longsword solo drills. CrappyCat art by Trevor Van Meter (aka VanBeater) is used to cat things up. I’m going to start off by saying that I’m just another voice on the internet. Always verify using other sources and in fact the serious looking for information should skip directly to the provided links or better yet contact a school or club. The drills, exercises, diet, and philosophy works for me but everyone is a little different. Experiment to see what works for yourself. I’ve been sitting on this pic for over four months so let’s get to it.
Preparation
Practicing solo entails several things: stronger academics than what some competition-oriented schools may demand from students, no partner drills, no pressure testing through sparring for verification, and horrible (in my case non-existent) foot work. It fits my schedule and budget though.
Safety
I’ve ask different martial arts practitioners over the years what basic exercises they recommend outside of martial arts to improve their practice, and all of them recommend to just do the drills for the martial art that’s being studied. Looking through some primary and secondary sources on medieval fighting manuals there was advice to run for long distances and throw heavy rocks. Ok. Then there’s the account of Jean Boucicaut, a French knight during the Hundred Years War who chop wood, leap onto horses, climbed ladders upside down, leap onto the shoulder of a man that’s already on a horse (2)… Fffffffu yeah no, guess it’s time to just dive in.
I’ve viewed a number of Historic European Martial Arts videos on YouTube and initially only Swordsage who practice the Chinese jian and Scholgadiatioria who focuses on Western military sabre warned about locking up the joints. Roland Warzecha in his Viking shield workout video also mentions joint shock. I don’t recall any martial art practitioner mentioning this in-person either. When I was an anthropology student taking osteology it was noted that hip and joint replacements were on the rise for active 40-50 year olds and excessive wear from incorrect instruction was a contributing factor. It sounds basic but as someone with no other background in martial arts I’m glad I caught this info early before I receive my longsword waster back in November.
For warmups I use basic arm movements from carrier flight deck yellow and blue shirts, lots of circular movements along all three axis that has a mild resemblance to some of the Kung Fu warmups I’ve seen. Sometimes I also schedule walks for an errand to add to this or failing that I do some stairs.
Basics
My ramblings on longsword grip for beginners – TL;DNR – pistol grip to start with, but can be dynamic and any gripping style can be used as long as it does the job:
www.flickr.com/photos/vmax137/18639432510/in/dateposted/
A lot of these exercises and drills start off with a very basic longsword stance. Dominant is usually right and off-hand is usually left but it can be reversed. To start off the body is sideways, foot at off-hand’s side is front and pointed straight, foot at dominant hand’s side is back and pointed roughly 45° out. The space between the feet should be enough to have one foot taking a step without being off balanced while not close enough where mobility is hampered. Weight for now is evenly distributed between both feet with the back straight. Dominant hand on top of sword grip, the off-hand below about one hand’s-width away. The crossguard is high at side of face with the blade slightly angled back. It’s not a katana or a baseball bat – we’re dealing with a sword that has relatively long reach that can hit that elbow and a long grip to maximize mechanical advantage so elbows in.
Mental
The human body is very flexible with what it can use for energy especially for younger people. Starting healthy eating habits early is valid but I’ve seen lots of people give up because they introduced too many stressors. I prefer to ease into a diet that I can live with long term while occasionally pushing to improve it.
I often perform a slow version of what I intend to do first. This strengthens pre-visualization and ensures that surrounding stationary objects won’t be smashed.
For one-handed work I sometimes keep my off-hand on the hip but occasionally I hold it high at the chest ready to grab or deflect. This can bring out the Floating Hand Syndrome where fatigue can cause the hand to slowly drop further and further away from the chest until it becomes an offering as an easy target, so it’s good to practice being mindful of it.
I take at most maybe 20-30 seconds break in between sets while tossing the sword from one hand to the next with arms extending out. If there’s a fumble that means I need to take a longer break. If not then I’m keeping the muscles warm and blood flow up. I try to keep breaks to a minimum.
With one-handed drills I also do a spirited sword toss from one hand to the other when switching arms. I remember from a J.D.M. Option video where a fan was invited to do hot laps around a track with his car while various Japanese professional drivers watch. After the laps the pros and Drift King Keiichi Tsuchiya admonished the fan by saying his driving follows the racing line too closely, that being so composed with no dives into the corners, the driving lacks raw emotion to help him push past what was memorized. So this show-off mechanic is for me a reminder of that lesson. Additionally if there’s a possibility of foot traffic I try to be at a vantage point to ensure people can safely witness my power metal poses and I can bask in their awed reactions.
Other
Having plenty of sleep and a reasonable meal a few hours prior to allow settling and digestion helps.
Exercises and Drills
-Wiggling backwards and forwards, one-handed left and right hands, 50x each.
-Windshield wipers, one-handed left and right hands, 50x each.
I initially got this exercise from people who played tennis and practiced it before I found it was a thing done in fencing. The longsword waster I assembled from parts ordered makes it 3 lbs. with a point of balance about 2” away from the guard closes to the hand. To protect my joints the wiggling isn’t done more then 45° and the windshield wiper is done closer to half that. If I want range I use a Chinese dao waster that weighs 1.5 lbs. but with a point of balance 8” from the hand. It wouldn’t help much just flailing about either, I use the background as guides for consistent movements.
Scholagladiatoria demonstrates this all the way up to about 1:20. Take care with range of movement and inertia when using a heavier weapon!:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYGLtIDc1vQ&index=3&list=…
-Horizontal cut shoulder height, one-handed left and right hands, 50x each.
Concentrate on blade’s flight path, then work on edge alignment, then speed.
-Sword handling drill, left and right hand dominant, 30x each.
Initially grabbing the bottom 1/3 of the blade I now attempt to consistently grab the halfway point. I often do this with eyes closed for better concentration.
I use the long thrust drill at around the 53 second mark:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_y5qGwRNFU&index=4&list=…
-Two-handed vertical half-cuts, 3 target points center, left, and, right. Left and right dominant hand, 50x each.
Just like the horizontal cuts, concentrate on blade’s flight path, then work on edge alignment, then speed. Outside of the office I added footwork by taking a few steps along the 8 basic cardinal directions after a certain number of cuts. Basically I move the foot closest to the direction I want to head to first followed by the other but timed to lag slightly behind the cut.
-Mordhau / Murderstroke, straight strike stationary. Left and right dominant hand 10x each.
Turn the sword into a war hammer! Starting with sword up at the side of dominant hand and with the crossguard near the face, reach up with the off-hand to grab the blade and perform mordhau. Dominant hand closest to the crossguard should be straight ahead, hand closest to sword tip ends under (not in!) the armpit area.
How often was this used? Certainly it was used often for armour (3) but not as much for unarmoured fencing (4). Of course the crossguard can be used as a punch or a hook as well so I also attempt to recover back to the original position with the same effort and tempo instead of stopping and slowly recover.
-Mordhau / Murderstroke, diagonal strike with step. Left and right dominant hand 10x each.
That was ridiculously metal! Let’s turn the sword into a war hammer again, but while taking a step forward to increase pummeling range! Starting with sword up at the side of dominant hand and with the crossguard near the face, reach up with the off-hand to grab the blade and perform mordhau. As the swing arcs up step forward with the foot on the dominant’s hand’s side. The pommel will arc diagonally with the dominant hand closest to the crossguard should be pointing at to the side, hand closest to sword tip ends under (not in!) the armpit area.
Mordhau demonstration, first stroke is straight strike, second stroke diagonal strike, many variations. Obviously with no partner to wind and bind it’s my responsibility to provide the yelling:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2e0xr-aZJos
-Sword handling drill, 10x inside line, 10x outside line left dominant hand then right dominant hand.
Having a dynamic grip will aid in keeping the edge alignment during the upward diagonal cuts.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9SqRAVaJkg&index=2&list=…
-Wiggling backwards and forwards, one-handed left and right hands, 50x each.
-Windshield wipers, one-handed left and right hands, 50x each.
-Sword handling drill, left and right hand dominant, 30x each.
-Horizontal cut shoulder height, one-handed left and right hands, 50x each.
These are repeated from earlier, and may later generate speculative conversations on the activity that helped build the bulging forearm muscles.
-Meyer square exercise, 4 cuts, descending left/right diagonal cuts, ascending left/right diagonal cuts with true edge while shifting foot positions, 10x sets on left and right dominant hand each with corresponding foot placement changes. True edge? Pretend the blade has a single sharp edge facing away from the body, that’s the true edge and is what’s cutting during say a descending cut.
Dynamic grip is key to keeping edge alignment.
-Meyer square exercise, 4 cuts, descending left/right diagonal cuts, ascending left/right diagonal cuts with false edge while shifting foot positions, 10x sets on left and right dominant hand each with corresponding foot placement changes. False edge? Pretend the blade has a single sharp edge facing away from the body. A sharp edge then appears on the opposite side pointing straight back at the body making it the false edge and can be used for an ascending cut in this exercise.
Since the ascending diagonal cuts are done with the false edge, grip is mostly static.
Meyer Square exercise slow:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt-EuyF2RNY
Meyer Square exercise at speed. I’m at maybe half speed:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DqxKb3hXb4
-One-handed vertical half-cuts, blade position from vertical with the guard near face to horizontal almost in a punching motion, 3 target points center, left, and, right. Left and right dominant hand, 50x each.
Working with the sword’s center of percussion will help with speed. Just like the horizontal and vertical cuts previously, concentrate on blade’s flight path, then work on edge alignment, then speed. Outside of the office I added footwork taking a few steps along the 8 basic cardinal directions after a certain number of cuts. Basically I move the foot closest to the direction I want to head to first followed by the other but timed to lag slightly behind the cut. In brief ideally for beginners the hand should lead followed by the arm, body, legs and foot (5).
For cool down I look over at the 12 guards and try to switch from one guard to another:
www.swordschool.com/wiki/index.php/The_12_guards
Why are there Holes in My Gloves?
I made it! This may be a warm up session with less footwork for the average European HEMA practitioner but this is more than enough to hone this Cheetos chiseled work of art! It used to take over an hour to go through this once a week. Now even with corrections I can finish in 25 minutes and am at this point doing it three times a week while adding more foot work to push closer to 40 minutes.
Speaking of which the seriously low amount of footwork described here is because the office is a little too confined for movements with a longsword. I’ve since found a number of locations in the summer that will allow foot work so when I have the time I will follow up with a part 2. Maybe.
Other Exercises
Other exercises includes a random number of squats with arms on chest using a door frame as a safety. Seattle has a number of hills so I took the advice of the masters and detour to those hills. I’m not about to carry rocks but I load up 20-30 lbs. of grocery and walk a mile or so on gentle hills. I use a tactical pack built for that and the trick is to make sure the straps on the backpack are heavily padded and the straps are tight. A poorly padded strap will dig in causing bruising and can halve the amount ofweight that can be tolerated. My routes don’t usually descend but if your does descents are often rougher on the knees so depending on the load, grade, and surface go slow.
Plan your hill climb torture here:
veloroutes.org/elevation/?location=seattle
Diet
Drastically cut down on bread, pasta/noodles, rice, junk food. Reduced meat intake, increased light soups, using fruits and vegetables to fill gaps from previous foods. This is intended to be long-term so looking forward to a scheduled cheat day is for me the wrong mindset. I think it’s better to have unscheduled gorging since it helps mentally as long as it’s done sparingly and is rigorously balanced by additional physical activities.
Recovery
I try to keep a half bottle of ice frozen at an angle for rapid cooling of water. Wait half an hour to an hour to eat, and eat slowly to prevent over indulgence. For myself just laying around for the rest of the day is will cause some major soreness the next few days so I do mild active recovery through walks, light house work, or other movements to promote blood flow. All of this with the required sleep helps cut down recovery by a day or two for me.
Results
A greatly increased respect for men-at-arms from anywhere, increased wrinkles on forehead during Game of Thrones’ fight scenes, and starting seriously from January a loss of 15lbs. as of June. A few months of research was absolutely needed prior to build up a workable drilling and exercise format while inhaling cheeseburgers like a smiling Happy Cat.
Conclusions
Eat slightly less, move slightly more is sustainable long term for me. Learn to enjoy GoT more as it deviates from its source and it becomes more difficult for readers to spoil things for the show’s viewers.
Need additional footwork, need to add complexity to drills, need to add something physical such as a pell or rings suspended by a string from the ceiling (6). Additional improvements in form will require video recording which entails great risk to current paying web cam viewers. It might be easier for everyone if I just join a club.
“Would You Like to Know More?”
Historical European Martial Arts covers martial arts roughly from the Viking Era to WW2, with implements as diverse as swords, polearms, axes, bows, and bayonets. Studies are not solely limited to Europe proper either as many martial arts have changed or have outside influences when used in other regions. It’s not that sport fencing and reenactments aren’t fun or have a great deal to teach – they absolutely do. It’s just that HEMA is closer to its martial roots.
HEMA at its core is broken down to practice and academics. Focusing on one or the other isn’t wrong but even a strong bias towards one aspect with some input from the other will produce more informed interpretations.
Want to start but don’t know from where? Pick a weapon that’s interesting, check out some YouTube videos, and then look at the available treatises written by masters. If possible attend HEMA classes even if what’s being taught isn’t a first choice. When the time comes it will make learning that first choice a lot easier and long term it’s not good to limit understanding to a single weapon anyway (7). Pressure testing through sparring is incredibly important as something that works at half speed sparring drills may not work at all during full speed. Sparring in clubs is great and there’s as much or more to learn sparring between clubs.
I read a lot of posts where the original poster is one or several hours away from a club. With a full schedule and the normal interruptions of life it’s a legitimate question to ask about creating a group or long distance learning. Right now anyone can be a HEMA instructor, but obviously not everyone should. For those who found like-minded beginners with no access to instructors or local organizations it might be better to start off with a flatter and more fluid hierarchy. For example a study group can have individuals become temporary guides based on knowledge and ability.
Here’s an example of HEMA being practiced far away from other clubs in Taiwan. While some of the gear isn’t ideal the techniques and fighting spirit are there:
esfinges1.wix.com/e/apps/blog/historical-european-martial…
The in and outs of HEMA in South Africa is another example with detailed look into some of the logistics and ways to deal with vast distances:
armoury.co.za/the-in-and-outs-of-hema-in-south-africa-and…
More on long distance learning:
www.reddit.com/r/wma/comments/3bdra1/i_have_no_way_to_lea…
If practicing longsword fencing isn’t an option, then sport fencing is a good way prepare for it. Tempo, measure, footwork, and more will definitely transfer to longsword fencing.
Since HEMA is a broken lineage with no living practitioner from the past to directly pass down oral and body mechanic information, interpretations are just that and will frequently be modified or discarded as new information arises. Even renown past and present masters can have incorrect information or interpretations. It sounds chaotic but it’s the same principle model used in academic research so be prepared to constantly test and relearn.
“I don’t give a damn for destiny. Anyone worth a Chig’s ass will take responsibility for asking themselves, then answering: ‘Who am I and what’s the point?’”
-Col. Tyrus Cassius McQueen
Guy Windsor in The Swordsman’s Companion dedicated a number of pages solely on the type of students he’s encountered, detailing their motivation, abilities, and their path. It’s a good question to ask (8) and it should be asked often, because even when an answer is found there’s always a chance that the answer will change.
Thanks for reading, stay fit and have a good fight!
Notes
1-Sport fencing tactical wheels, descriptions and examples. I should add that unlike the Meyer Square the tactical wheel was designed for beginners and to train basics in sport fencing:
thefencingcoach.org.uk/tfc/coaching/tactical-wheels/
Huh what do you know, found opinions by those much more knowledgeable and experienced on the tactical wheel:
www.reddit.com/r/wma/comments/3b9dhl/do_hema_practitioner…
2-Knightly Training, a discussion on the HEMA Alliance Forum:
hemaalliance.com/discussion/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=1422
3-Sparring practice using armoured half-swording techniques with one guy as the buffalo. Only a small subset of armoured fighting, even with modern protection joint locks and hooking are difficult to do safely with speed. Then there are things that shouldn’t be seen such as Sigmund Ringeck’s recommendation of using body weight and both knees to land on a fallen opponent’s crotch.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bdMfaymGlk
4-An opinion on how often halfswording techniques for unarmored fighting were used compared to what Talhoffer’ depicted in his treatises (primarily Württemberg Fechtbuch of 1467).
thehemaists.com/2015/05/18/what-are-we-really-seeing-with…
5-Roland Warzecha’s Tactics 2: Fighting in True Times:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0LpsnO0E4U
6-Sword Carolina’s HEMA tools for solo drills:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9HrjmSIDdc&list=PLCni2cUc_Co…
7-“You should not have a favorite weapon, or any other exaggerated preference for that matter. To become overly attached to one weapon is as bad as not knowing it sufficiently well. You should not imitate others, but use those weapons which suit you, and which you can handle properly. It is bad for both commanders and troopers to entertain likes and dislikes. Pragmatic thinking is essential. These are things you must learn thoroughly.”
– Miyamoto Musashi, A Book of Five Rings
In praise of diversity: why we train so many weapon styles:
armoury.co.za/in-praise-of-diversity-why-we-train-so-many…
8-The Fencer with Many Faces, an interesting take on fighter personalities:
freefencer.wordpress.com/2015/06/30/the-fencer-with-many-…
CrappyCat art by Trevor Van Meter (aka VanBeater):
