The longsword is a powerful piece of historical weaponry. Its mystique has captured our attention for hundreds of years and is consistently prevalent in both ancient texts and today’s pop culture. A typical training longsword is steel, between 40 and 50 inches in total length, and can take up some serious space when you…
At the beginning of July I had the pleasure of once again being a Ring Director, Judge, and Instructor at Lord Baltimore's Challenge in Washington, DC. This event aims to be a meeting of Historical European Martial Arts practitioners from HEMA clubs and from historical re-enactment backgrounds (primarily the Society for Creative Anachronism). The focus…
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Hello there! My name's Dan, I'm a green cord student of 9 months at Academie Duello. I've been offered the opportunity of creating content for the school's blog for the foreseeable future, focusing on bringing you updates on all things sword related. This week, we look at overcoming one of the most formidable opponents out…
This past week I hosted a free online webinar about how to take a technique learned in class and make it something that is actually an internalized skill. This is a process that is well understood in sport science but very under-practiced within HEMA. The norm in many clubs and study groups is simply to…
We were all newbies once. We were all the person who worried that our lack of skill was holding others back in their practice. And in some cases maybe we did. It is difficult to manage levels of challenge within a mixed level group. The needs of the experienced practitioner and those of the newcomer are quite…
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The idea of pursuing personal excellence is great, but functionally how do you do it? I've written about beating the boredom of repetitive drilling, and promoting an excellence mindset. Yet when you get the opportunity to really up the quality of what you're doing, where do you focus? Below is a piece of guidance material I…
I have long heard that ballet has its origins in historical fencing. It's a romantic idea and as someone who both teaches martial arts and dance (though not ballet) I certainly find tons of parallels in how they are both taught and practiced. The positions of modern ballet certainly bare some resemblance to classical and…
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Excellence is the evidence of diligent, attentive, and purposeful practice. Not all of us will achieve excellence, nor is it a requisite for enjoying or being fulfilled in martial arts. In fact I would say that much of what holds people back from excellence is that in many ways its pursuit can be grueling, repetitive,…
Recently I was asked in an online thread what I thought constituted a modern master of Historical European Martial Arts and whether I thought there was worth in the creation of modern masters or the use of the master title at all. In short to all: Yes. A Little Backstory on Fencing Mastery Before I…
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Not irregularly I have had people say to me: I'm looking forward to starting into swordplay, I just need to get in shape first. This makes me very sad. Not only is swordplay a wonderfully fun and fulfilling physical activity, it is also a great way to build physical health and to do so in…
A good friend of mine is a special forces combatives trainer. I asked him how much of their training is devoted to full-speed and full-contact simulated sparring. He told me "no more than 5%". For him it was a matter of balancing value and risk. Full speed, full contact sparring has the value of exposing…
This past week, at our 50-hour instructor intensive, I introduced a new batch of students, who travelled in from various places around the world to the method and benefits of slow sparring. Slow sparring is exactly what it sounds like: sparring done slowly. It has proven itself to me to be a tremendously valuable training…
Read More... from Why Go Slow? The Benefits of Slow Sparring
A couple weeks ago at the closing ceremonies of the L'Arte delle Armi conference in Chicago I was asked, along with Duello Provost Matheus Olmedo, and Jacopo Penso and Moreno del Ricci of Sala Opera Nova in Italy, to put on a display of traditional Bolognese Assaults. Assalto: Provost Matheus OlmedoWatch this video on YouTube…
One of the most challenging things to deal with in sparring is the mental or emotional intensity of a very forward motivated opponent, someone who throws powerful blows, or someone who comes very ferociously. Commonly people respond in one of two ways: Freeze or pull away, failing to make a cover. Making a single simple…
"Although military discipline and art may be noted plainly and clearly in many courageous knights and greathearted fighters, it can also be seen that they are unclear to many talented people, owing to their inexperience. Thus, sometimes in discussing or using arms, they fall short due to ignorance, rather than to malicious intent." Achille Marozzo,…
Tennis, one of the few internationally followed duelling sports, has four major tournaments throughout the year that are held in esteem above all of the others. These events, "the majors", are hosted in four different countries and played on four different surfaces: Wimbledon (grass), French Open (clay), US Open (Decoturf), and Australian Open (Plexicushion). Each…
I'm not a fan of brutality in modern martial arts practice. Aggression brings unnecessary risks and injury, overvalues intensity over grace, and makes martial art less accessible to the unarmoured (both physically and psychologically). Wasn't Real Historical Fighting Brutal? I won't argue that there is no historical precedent for brutal, cruel, and ruthless martial art…
There are many types of partners you could end up sparring with. For example, if you had a sparring partner who always, consistently, threw cuts right as you stepped into their measure and stopped when you stepped out, then you could know that you could always go to them to practice your parries. Or, if…