Musashi said, "Don't think of Cutting Strongly-and of course, don't think about Cutting Weakly-Simply think about Cutting." That agrees with your point very well. .....RVM45
I know right! I'd love to try out HEMA but there are no groups in my area, the only thing close is some a Kendo club. I guess many of these lessons would apply to Kendo as well, but it just doesn't appeal to me as much as European martial arts.
All you people that post this drive me crazy. We can't help you if you don't give us a general location! (you too GigaBoost!). You might even be able to start a group by finding 2-3 interested people here!
When I began kenjutsu, this was the very first mistake that I ever made! :P One helpful thing my teachers told me to help me understand how to cut better is that the movement is more like casting a fishing line instead of swinging a baseball bat. In addition to the martial aspect of leading with the weapon, it also gives you cleaner cuts during test cutting than leading with the hands (especially when using katana) since leading with the weapon will accelerate the tip much faster than leading with the hands making the cut more effortless.
That is why weapons used with both hands are actually much quicker than one-handed. videogames suggest, that your second hand on the weapon only gives you more power in the swing, but actually you are not chopping with both hands in the same direction, but instead your left hand mostly moves in the other direction. For example: If I hit to the head, my right hand and arm goes forward and brings the whole weapon closer to the opponent, while my left hand draws the lower part of the grip weapon backwards, so that the blades tip will quickly strike forward by the leverage. That strike made by a Federschwert for example, is much quicker than a onehanded strike, that can use only the force of one hand without the leverage.
Matt, the baseball and golf swings, are engineered to deliver the maximum amount of energy at point of impact. So they require the coiling for hip torsion in release with full extension at impact. Use that technique in a sword encounter, and you are stuffed. More arming sword vids? ta mate.
thank you for this videos im learning fencing with them from Spain and there are a good adition to the training and a way to practice learn and try new stuff away from the fencing class
Thank you! This was a very good video. Very clear demonstrations, very clear voice, easy to understand everything! It pointed out what I was doing wrong instantly and showed me what to do right. I have subscribed to your channel :) Thank you again
I think leading with the hands in movies and choreographed fights is (to a certain extent) is a way to deliberately telegraph the upcoming move so that the other actor(s) will have the chance to see it coming and give the correct response. On one hand this helps greatly when the person on the receiving end forgets the next move in the heat of the scene -- the massively telegraphed movement reminds them what kind of attack they're supposed to defend against -- and on the other hand it's a very handy safety measure (other than indicating what kind of attack is coming next, it provides an extra second or two to call for a safety halt/stop). There's also the factor of audience perception. A non-telegraphed attack is supposed to come out of the blue from the opponent's perspective, but unfortunately it'd also come out of the blue to an untrained audience that doesn't know what kind of attacks to expect/anticipate from a subconscious analysis of the opponent's measure, stance, and guard. You know how hard it is to judge HEMA tournament; imagine how much harder it would be for untrained people to figure out what's going on in a realistic fight between well-trained and/or highly experienced combatants. many videos of real-life violence are like that too -- nobody except the attacker knows what's going on until suddenly the blood starts pouring or the victim goes down. Of course there are ways to make the telegraphing (I believe stage and movie people call it "cueing") less obvious but doing away with it entirely would be an unacceptable compromise on the safety side of things.
i'd like to see a video about how fighters anticipate and react to attacks. most real fights and instances of sparring are over in just a few moves between participants (if that) but i remember when play swordfighting when i was a kid, trying to anticipate and react to my friends' attacks was the trickiest part and seemed reserved for those with superhuman reflexes.
You know where i am? in Brazil,what about that,0 clubs as far as i know,even if they open a club here,it probably wouldnt be close to me ;-; this makes me sad
Pai Me Buffa Buff I hear you. The clubs in Switzerland are of no use to me because a three hour drive one way is just too long and I don't have a car. We definitely need more HEMA clubs in the world :)
sharpknifesedge I foun an club kinda 141 km(87miles or 1079.5 yards) away and i probably gonna travel a really long time if i go to this club, and theres a club in Uruguay actually kinda ''close'' (its far anyway)but yeah,i dont speak spanish :X
...crap, blooming youtube logged me in with my real name...so deleted my previous question and now to try and write it again on my less public account... Anyway! Wondering if you do a small subtle start-with-the-hips kind of momentum transfer at all, or if it is your arms doing all the work while the rest of you is static?
This was one of the most important tips so far, I am still trying to teach my arm muscles to move the sword first, and then move my entire body towards the enemy. I think this body movement give some power to the swing, and gives you the chance of whithdraw quickly if you need to. Now, a question: does this works with axes, maces, warclubs, and hammers too? Thank you so much, Schola Gladiatora!!
where can i go to find treatises for rapier smallsword or claymore (the two hander not the basket hilted broadsword)any information would be immensely help full
BTW concerning science fiction I'd suggest you read "All you need is kill" (the film Edge of tomorrow isn't very good) - it might be cool to explore certain fictional situations like that when melee weapons are used differently and it "makes sense". :)
In a baseball grip, your pointed-out index fingers should point the same direction. Is there a similar rule of thumb (pun intended) for a two-handed sword grip? I'm wondering if the difference in swinging motion calls for a different grip, or if it would be the same.
It depends on the style of sword you practice. The kenjutsu style I practiced used an "open dragon's mouth" style grip where most of the gripping is done with the ring and pinky finger while the pointer and middle finger were looser. Matt doesn't seem to be using the grip in his video and is mainly using a fist grip while pushing with the right hand and pulling with the left. There seems to be a large variety of ways to grip the sword, but the result of all of them should be the same: tip moves before hands do.
Thanks for sharing. I'm new to HEMA and I particularly like the long sword. A question I'm curious about.... Were the long swords of the past razor sharp? I'm sure it all depends on the smith making it.. But I'm a bit curious about this. The long sword being as long as it is and with the force that's being applied, I would assume it wouldn't have to be? Doesn't take much to open a wound. Screwdrivers can puncture human flesh. But I understand we are dealing with the time that these weapons were in use. Armor and other protection was in use. Thanks
how you should train from the start. Train your mind to think in short trajectory instead of circular. Once you master this you can begin to perhaps consider about tricks.
Hey Matt, how well does the Ringeck cut? I know it's a longsword which isn't optimised for cutting but against an unarmoured target, how do these types of longsword cut (presumably somewhere between a sabre and a rapier)?
I have a theory. Is it possible that in graphics at the treaties distance between opponents is usually shorter (cause some art composition or technical reason) than distance in reality. I mean all that "loaded sword and ready" positions. For example this and this en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MS_44_A_8_1v.jpg en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MS_44_A_8_2r.jpg
Hopefully you've already started a club and it's running well, but if not, this may help: noblescience.org/blog/2015/3/11/getting-started-in-hema-how-to-start-your-own-club
I'm a big fan of bersek and I got a question about griffith vs guts in the 2º episode of the anime, so guts's weapon would be your normal big 2 handed greatsword and griffith's should be a military saber, so my question can a military saber hold against a claymore for exemple, leaving dodge out of course
Yes, a one-handed sword can parry a two-handed sword. You just have to parry the end of their blade (known as the 'weak') with the base of your blade (known as the 'strong').
It does actually generate a LOT more power with the hands-leading baseball swing, because it creates a "whip-cracking" type effect as you reference. In baseball, tennis, pretty much any sport where you have a bat or racquet, you spend a lot of time trying to get that motion if it doesn't come naturally. So great for baseball, awful for HEMA. Consequently I think this is probably one of the most important points for people to learn early on; for someone who is actually athletic and has played sports, chances are their muscle memory for swinging a sword is going to be all wrong.
Okay I'm sorry but that beam in the upper right corner of the ceiling... WHAT IS IT FOR?! What is the purpose of it? Also how many light sources do you have in the room that it has at least three shadows?
Weird place to pose this question, but I was wondering about your thoughts on mixing weapon martial arts, Schola. I figure mixing unarmed arts makes sense because the body is largely a similar weapon across the board, but what would the pros and cons of mixing up similar weapon arts, with all their similarities and variances?
Not an experienced person in this feild but mixing one weapon art with another would probably be bad idea .. when you mix martial arts like boxing with BJJ you get boxer who knows how to fight on the ground so you get better fighter but when you mix someone who uses sword wtih a way he was taught in his school to another way he will just be confused "when to use that style and when to use this style ? " It would end up badly
I'm not Matt, but I can tell you that there's a large variety of attitudes on this in the HEMA world. Some people who study HEMA mostly do so as a way to broaden their horizon and add to their repertoire of techniques in freestyle sparring, essentially using it as a component for a new and largely modern martial art. Others are more serious about the "H" and specifically attempt to reconstruct the techniques and the principles as closely as they possibly can (given the limitations imposed by the gulf of many centuries, having no direct lineage, and all that kind of stuff) to the way it was practiced in the original era. Some go even further and practice it as a part of their living history activities -- that is, doing it while wearing (at least a credible attempt at) historically accurate clothing and footwear and perhaps even while in the middle of an immersive living-history camp. Not to mention that it's not just a one-dimensional spectrum -- there are groups like Hugh Knight's Schlactschule that don't do (or strongly de-emphasise) sparring and test-cutting, some elite research-oriented clubs like Roland Warzecha's Dimicator where all the members are experienced enough and have such an insane degree of control that they can actually do low-intensity sparring with sharp weapons(!), and so on and so on.... To go back to the main point of your post, it depends on where you position yourself relative to the "H" in HEMA. If you're not too concerned about the historical aspect and just want to improve your performance in modern sparring/martial arts, there's nothing wrong with mixing it with other martial arts once you've learned enough of the basics to avoid getting the wrong picture altogether. On the other hand, if the H means a great deal to you and you basically want to try resurrecting the martial art as it was practiced long ago, you'd definitely want to limit the influence of other martial arts in your study (especially now that the quality of research in the HEMA world in general is unbelievably higher than what it was just ten or fifteen years ago).
Pradana P. M. Ah thanks for such an in depth reply, it was something that just sort of popped into my head when I noticed many similar stances and principles between kenjutsu and some styles of long-swordsmanship. Much appreciated!
Many of the underlying principles are the same across a myriad of weapon-based arts, but there are also differences as weapons vary much more than the human body does. Where the arts agree, this obviously suggests an important and universal concept. However, when they disagree, sometimes it can be difficult to determine whether it is purely due to weapon design, or for some other reason, whether one strategy is more or less effective than another, etc. In other words, you can definitely extract some important universal concepts, but it can also be difficult to determine which method is the better one when using weapons that are not associated with a specific art, or that are associated with a myriad of arts and styles, etc.
Not only are actors and stuntpeople not trying to actually hit or not be hit, what they are trying to do is show the audience a movement as a part of a cinematic sequence. Seeing a fast moving blade is rather difficult, especially in film. Seeing hands, elbows, and body moving with a sword alongside it is easy. Unless the movie is stressing historical accuracy, the narrative is more important. If on the other hand, you are in a real sword fight, clearly this makes more sense.
excellent video. in unarmored blade combat you don't need shit a lot of energy to effective disable and kill an opponent. there is exceptional situations. lol speaking of that i think you should wear a wig with shinny long hair, hide a secreat helm beneath it. you can expose your head doing that powerful base ball swing, take the hit with your head and cut your opponent at the same time. this will be your secret master legendary wtfpwn strike. well people might wonder what happen to your famous light bulb hair style.
Hitting a baseball is all about timing and power. Leading with your hands does increase power. Fighting with a sword is about timing, accuracy, some speed and not getting killed (most important). Hands first is just a bad idea.
scholagladiatoria I think Hollywood choreographers have to realize there are major flaws in realism for most of their "fights" they set up. Unfortunately, they just have too great an excuse for laziness in that they say "it's a movie" or the differently worded "heightened reality" excuse. I think it would be interesting if just one major movie producer did things accurately just to see if the American audience would have the attention span to watch historically accurate choreography. Given movies that have hit big at the box office the past few years, I'd say they probably don't.
Thats very interesting. I guess in unarmoured fighting with sharp weapons you dont need to get all your power behind a strike. For someone who trains unarmed martial arts thats kind of counter-intuitive since most martial arts (with some exceptions like wing chun) have some kind of wind-up to deliever enough power to actually hurt your opponent.
Hmm, yes and no. Take boxing - not *all* punches are great big hay-makers. You need jabs and smaller movements to wear an opponent down and create openings for the big hits. If all you do is big hits then the opponent with smaller faster movements will practically always be able to block or avoid. I did kung fu before HEMA by the way.
You got a point there. Especially when it comes to point fighting. Of course you use jabs and even other punches at not-100% to make your opponent guess and then finish a combo with a strong punch/kick. Thanks for pointing that out! I train MMA btw... (And now I feel silly for using the word point three times :D)
That's actually a good question. The short answer is: depends. Depends on the individual school, and also the position you strike from. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. And that's true for European sword styles as well: some schools place more emphasis on it than others, and the specifics may vary. I'm sure they all agree the sword must connect as fast as possible, but the specifics may be subject to variation. Remember, the longsword styles are being reinvented based on surviving treatises, and there is no unbroken tradition. And even in Japan, where some arts have considerable lineage, they don't agree on everything. Basically it boils down to what the head honcho of a school feels comfortable with, and how he feels the source material should be interpreted. You have John Clements, for example, who insists on never parrying with the edge (but always the flat of the strong). And he has a point, parrying with the edge can lead to edge damage. On the other hand, as Matt has pointed out in the past, edge damage is preferable to body damage, and needs must. Personally, I believe in guiding principles rather than absolutes. At first you may learn techniques in exaggerated ways in order to learn the principles behind them. For example, in Iaido you learn to cut in an elliptical arc that goes _uuuuuuup_ and _ooooooout_ and _doooooown_ and _iiiiin_. That's a draw cut. And at first, you get virtually zero power from the cut, which is slow as molasses because you're just learning it. It's a very exaggerated movement, but as the technique becomes more familiar, the arc becomes smoother and tighter, and you make the technique your own - while still adhering to the principles it taught you. And indeed, if you look at Matt's slo-mo demonstration at aroung the 5 minute mark, that's an exaggerated movement, but it demonstrates the principles - which are good principles. But there is still going to be a great deal of variance between different practitioners and how fast they are, and I think that is a bigger factor than whether the top hand moves first or not. If a fast person doesn't perform a text-book example of leading with the sword, that is still only going to give you a fraction of a split second more to respond. And that may just be enough - if you are every bit as fast as he. The jab in boxing is, technically speaking, quickest from the classic orthodox guard. But many experienced boxers relax this guard, to the point where it starts to resemble a philly shell. Mohammed Ali, for example, would often let his lead arm "dangle", but was still able to throw quick jabs - even though that is arguably the slowest position to throw a jab from. And that was a wee bit longer than I intended. And still I deleted at least four paragraphs.
Do you know that that guard is so weak to stabs because remember in ur combat contact sport u guys are super close touching sword tips before the fight begins then the fight begins
Musashi said, "Don't think of Cutting Strongly-and of course, don't think about Cutting Weakly-Simply think about Cutting."
That agrees with your point very well.
.....RVM45
Yeah, the most important thing is always to hit without being hit. The details are just that, details.
"The most important thing is for me to hit my opponent without them hitting me."
YES!!!!
All these videos makes me want to try HEMA...
do. its awesome :)
I'd love to. But there are no HEMA groups near me. So I'd have to train on my own, and I don't really have any space where I can do that :
I know right! I'd love to try out HEMA but there are no groups in my area, the only thing close is some a Kendo club. I guess many of these lessons would apply to Kendo as well, but it just doesn't appeal to me as much as European martial arts.
All you people that post this drive me crazy. We can't help you if you don't give us a general location! (you too GigaBoost!). You might even be able to start a group by finding 2-3 interested people here!
I can understand your pain. It's especially hard outside Europe or America. Now I'm trying to find some friends to practice with.
When I began kenjutsu, this was the very first mistake that I ever made! :P One helpful thing my teachers told me to help me understand how to cut better is that the movement is more like casting a fishing line instead of swinging a baseball bat.
In addition to the martial aspect of leading with the weapon, it also gives you cleaner cuts during test cutting than leading with the hands (especially when using katana) since leading with the weapon will accelerate the tip much faster than leading with the hands making the cut more effortless.
Only a true badass would go and swing a sword around in a room with a tomato plant in it
Excellent video; insightful and informative. You are an excellent teacher and I greatly enjoy your covering the longsword with these recent videos!
That is why weapons used with both hands are actually much quicker than one-handed. videogames suggest, that your second hand on the weapon only gives you more power in the swing, but actually you are not chopping with both hands in the same direction, but instead your left hand mostly moves in the other direction. For example: If I hit to the head, my right hand and arm goes forward and brings the whole weapon closer to the opponent, while my left hand draws the lower part of the grip weapon backwards, so that the blades tip will quickly strike forward by the leverage.
That strike made by a Federschwert for example, is much quicker than a onehanded strike, that can use only the force of one hand without the leverage.
Matt, the baseball and golf swings, are engineered to deliver the maximum amount of energy at point of impact. So they require the coiling for hip torsion in release with full extension at impact.
Use that technique in a sword encounter, and you are stuffed. More arming sword vids? ta mate.
thank you for this videos im learning fencing with them from Spain and there are a good adition to the training and a way to practice learn and try new stuff away from the fencing class
Thank you! This was a very good video. Very clear demonstrations, very clear voice, easy to understand everything! It pointed out what I was doing wrong instantly and showed me what to do right. I have subscribed to your channel :) Thank you again
Happy it is useful :-)
Outstanding lesson. Thank you so very much.
I think leading with the hands in movies and choreographed fights is (to a certain extent) is a way to deliberately telegraph the upcoming move so that the other actor(s) will have the chance to see it coming and give the correct response. On one hand this helps greatly when the person on the receiving end forgets the next move in the heat of the scene -- the massively telegraphed movement reminds them what kind of attack they're supposed to defend against -- and on the other hand it's a very handy safety measure (other than indicating what kind of attack is coming next, it provides an extra second or two to call for a safety halt/stop).
There's also the factor of audience perception. A non-telegraphed attack is supposed to come out of the blue from the opponent's perspective, but unfortunately it'd also come out of the blue to an untrained audience that doesn't know what kind of attacks to expect/anticipate from a subconscious analysis of the opponent's measure, stance, and guard. You know how hard it is to judge HEMA tournament; imagine how much harder it would be for untrained people to figure out what's going on in a realistic fight between well-trained and/or highly experienced combatants. many videos of real-life violence are like that too -- nobody except the attacker knows what's going on until suddenly the blood starts pouring or the victim goes down.
Of course there are ways to make the telegraphing (I believe stage and movie people call it "cueing") less obvious but doing away with it entirely would be an unacceptable compromise on the safety side of things.
the biomechanics that you describe in your videos make longsword fighting sound a lot like boxing
Thanks Matt, as usual, for your advices :D you're great!
Dave
and I totally agree!!
The quality of explanation on this vid and the last one are exceptionally high.
btw "as explosive and instant as possible". very well said.
i'd like to see a video about how fighters anticipate and react to attacks. most real fights and instances of sparring are over in just a few moves between participants (if that) but i remember when play swordfighting when i was a kid, trying to anticipate and react to my friends' attacks was the trickiest part and seemed reserved for those with superhuman reflexes.
I really appreciate these training tips a lot. Unfortunately there are only two HEMA clubs in Switzerland as far as I know, both way too far away.
You know where i am? in Brazil,what about that,0 clubs as far as i know,even if they open a club here,it probably wouldnt be close to me ;-; this makes me sad
Pai Me Buffa Buff
I hear you. The clubs in Switzerland are of no use to me because a three hour drive one way is just too long and I don't have a car. We definitely need more HEMA clubs in the world :)
sharpknifesedge I foun an club kinda 141 km(87miles or 1079.5 yards) away and i probably gonna travel a really long time if i go to this club, and theres a club in Uruguay actually kinda ''close'' (its far anyway)but yeah,i dont speak spanish :X
I LOVE that sword!!!
Great video! TH-cam needs a *serious* channel that discusses medival warfare.
...crap, blooming youtube logged me in with my real name...so deleted my previous question and now to try and write it again on my less public account...
Anyway! Wondering if you do a small subtle start-with-the-hips kind of momentum transfer at all, or if it is your arms doing all the work while the rest of you is static?
This was one of the most important tips so far, I am still trying to teach my arm muscles to move the sword first, and then move my entire body towards the enemy. I think this body movement give some power to the swing, and gives you the chance of whithdraw quickly if you need to.
Now, a question: does this works with axes, maces, warclubs, and hammers too?
Thank you so much, Schola Gladiatora!!
where can i go to find treatises for rapier smallsword or claymore (the two hander not the basket hilted broadsword)any information would be immensely help full
BTW concerning science fiction I'd suggest you read "All you need is kill" (the film Edge of tomorrow isn't very good) - it might be cool to explore certain fictional situations like that when melee weapons are used differently and it "makes sense". :)
In a baseball grip, your pointed-out index fingers should point the same direction. Is there a similar rule of thumb (pun intended) for a two-handed sword grip? I'm wondering if the difference in swinging motion calls for a different grip, or if it would be the same.
It depends on the style of sword you practice.
The kenjutsu style I practiced used an "open dragon's mouth" style grip where most of the gripping is done with the ring and pinky finger while the pointer and middle finger were looser.
Matt doesn't seem to be using the grip in his video and is mainly using a fist grip while pushing with the right hand and pulling with the left.
There seems to be a large variety of ways to grip the sword, but the result of all of them should be the same: tip moves before hands do.
Thanks for sharing. I'm new to HEMA and I particularly like the long sword.
A question I'm curious about....
Were the long swords of the past razor sharp? I'm sure it all depends on the smith making it.. But I'm a bit curious about this.
The long sword being as long as it is and with the force that's being applied, I would assume it wouldn't have to be?
Doesn't take much to open a wound. Screwdrivers can puncture human flesh. But I understand we are dealing with the time that these weapons were in use. Armor and other protection was in use.
Thanks
Thanks!
how you should train from the start. Train your mind to think in short trajectory instead of circular. Once you master this you can begin to perhaps consider about tricks.
Unless you feint or want to provoke a reaction ofcourse. But that certainly is not risk free.
Hey Matt, how well does the Ringeck cut? I know it's a longsword which isn't optimised for cutting but against an unarmoured target, how do these types of longsword cut (presumably somewhere between a sabre and a rapier)?
I have a theory. Is it possible that in graphics at the treaties distance between opponents is usually shorter (cause some art composition or technical reason) than distance in reality. I mean all that "loaded sword and ready" positions. For example this and this en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MS_44_A_8_1v.jpg en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MS_44_A_8_2r.jpg
How should I go about starting a HEMA club.
Hopefully you've already started a club and it's running well, but if not, this may help:
noblescience.org/blog/2015/3/11/getting-started-in-hema-how-to-start-your-own-club
I'm a big fan of bersek and I got a question about griffith vs guts in the 2º episode of the anime, so guts's weapon would be your normal big 2 handed greatsword and griffith's should be a military saber, so my question can a military saber hold against a claymore for exemple, leaving dodge out of course
Yes, a one-handed sword can parry a two-handed sword. You just have to parry the end of their blade (known as the 'weak') with the base of your blade (known as the 'strong').
It does actually generate a LOT more power with the hands-leading baseball swing, because it creates a "whip-cracking" type effect as you reference. In baseball, tennis, pretty much any sport where you have a bat or racquet, you spend a lot of time trying to get that motion if it doesn't come naturally. So great for baseball, awful for HEMA. Consequently I think this is probably one of the most important points for people to learn early on; for someone who is actually athletic and has played sports, chances are their muscle memory for swinging a sword is going to be all wrong.
Christopher Ford Yes, contrary to most other things, this is an example of where prior sporting experience can be a disadvantage at first.
Okay I'm sorry but that beam in the upper right corner of the ceiling... WHAT IS IT FOR?! What is the purpose of it? Also how many light sources do you have in the room that it has at least three shadows?
I've been wondering about that beam myself...
The framer wanted a soffit, but the drywaller was already on his 5th lunchbeer.
2:15 I think with boxing you do have to lead with the hands :)
Can you talk a little bit about the backweited guard possition ?
Yeah, I'll think about it fo future video.
Weird place to pose this question, but I was wondering about your thoughts on mixing weapon martial arts, Schola. I figure mixing unarmed arts makes sense because the body is largely a similar weapon across the board, but what would the pros and cons of mixing up similar weapon arts, with all their similarities and variances?
Not an experienced person in this feild but mixing one weapon art with another would probably be bad idea .. when you mix martial arts like boxing with BJJ you get boxer who knows how to fight on the ground so you get better fighter but when you mix someone who uses sword wtih a way he was taught in his school to another way he will just be confused "when to use that style and when to use this style ? " It would end up badly
I'm not Matt, but I can tell you that there's a large variety of attitudes on this in the HEMA world. Some people who study HEMA mostly do so as a way to broaden their horizon and add to their repertoire of techniques in freestyle sparring, essentially using it as a component for a new and largely modern martial art. Others are more serious about the "H" and specifically attempt to reconstruct the techniques and the principles as closely as they possibly can (given the limitations imposed by the gulf of many centuries, having no direct lineage, and all that kind of stuff) to the way it was practiced in the original era. Some go even further and practice it as a part of their living history activities -- that is, doing it while wearing (at least a credible attempt at) historically accurate clothing and footwear and perhaps even while in the middle of an immersive living-history camp. Not to mention that it's not just a one-dimensional spectrum -- there are groups like Hugh Knight's Schlactschule that don't do (or strongly de-emphasise) sparring and test-cutting, some elite research-oriented clubs like Roland Warzecha's Dimicator where all the members are experienced enough and have such an insane degree of control that they can actually do low-intensity sparring with sharp weapons(!), and so on and so on....
To go back to the main point of your post, it depends on where you position yourself relative to the "H" in HEMA. If you're not too concerned about the historical aspect and just want to improve your performance in modern sparring/martial arts, there's nothing wrong with mixing it with other martial arts once you've learned enough of the basics to avoid getting the wrong picture altogether. On the other hand, if the H means a great deal to you and you basically want to try resurrecting the martial art as it was practiced long ago, you'd definitely want to limit the influence of other martial arts in your study (especially now that the quality of research in the HEMA world in general is unbelievably higher than what it was just ten or fifteen years ago).
Pradana P. M. Ah thanks for such an in depth reply, it was something that just sort of popped into my head when I noticed many similar stances and principles between kenjutsu and some styles of long-swordsmanship. Much appreciated!
Stormtalus Sorry that my reply made no sense I just did not comprehend your question correctly .
Many of the underlying principles are the same across a myriad of weapon-based arts, but there are also differences as weapons vary much more than the human body does. Where the arts agree, this obviously suggests an important and universal concept. However, when they disagree, sometimes it can be difficult to determine whether it is purely due to weapon design, or for some other reason, whether one strategy is more or less effective than another, etc. In other words, you can definitely extract some important universal concepts, but it can also be difficult to determine which method is the better one when using weapons that are not associated with a specific art, or that are associated with a myriad of arts and styles, etc.
can you do a video about flails?
Not only are actors and stuntpeople not trying to actually hit or not be hit, what they are trying to do is show the audience a movement as a part of a cinematic sequence. Seeing a fast moving blade is rather difficult, especially in film. Seeing hands, elbows, and body moving with a sword alongside it is easy. Unless the movie is stressing historical accuracy, the narrative is more important. If on the other hand, you are in a real sword fight, clearly this makes more sense.
In other words, stick 'em with the pointy end
excellent video. in unarmored blade combat you don't need shit a lot of energy to effective disable and kill an opponent.
there is exceptional situations. lol speaking of that i think you should wear a wig with shinny long hair, hide a secreat helm beneath it. you can expose your head doing that powerful base ball swing, take the hit with your head and cut your opponent at the same time. this will be your secret master legendary wtfpwn strike. well people might wonder what happen to your famous light bulb hair style.
lol :-)
Hitting a baseball is all about timing and power. Leading with your hands does increase power. Fighting with a sword is about timing, accuracy, some speed and not getting killed (most important). Hands first is just a bad idea.
Yep :-)
Sadly many fencers forget this. And Hollywood doesn't seem to realise.
scholagladiatoria I think Hollywood choreographers have to realize there are major flaws in realism for most of their "fights" they set up. Unfortunately, they just have too great an excuse for laziness in that they say "it's a movie" or the differently worded "heightened reality" excuse. I think it would be interesting if just one major movie producer did things accurately just to see if the American audience would have the attention span to watch historically accurate choreography. Given movies that have hit big at the box office the past few years, I'd say they probably don't.
The attention span wouldn't have to be too great, the fight would only last 30 seconds maximum.
Doebringer (probably not him) approves this video, but he has some copyright claim about the string-on-the-tip rhetorics.
Interestingly Bruce lee said the same thing about punching. Picture a rope tied to the hand being pulled towards the target.
Thats very interesting. I guess in unarmoured fighting with sharp weapons you dont need to get all your power behind a strike. For someone who trains unarmed martial arts thats kind of counter-intuitive since most martial arts (with some exceptions like wing chun) have some kind of wind-up to deliever enough power to actually hurt your opponent.
Hmm, yes and no. Take boxing - not *all* punches are great big hay-makers. You need jabs and smaller movements to wear an opponent down and create openings for the big hits. If all you do is big hits then the opponent with smaller faster movements will practically always be able to block or avoid. I did kung fu before HEMA by the way.
You got a point there. Especially when it comes to point fighting. Of course you use jabs and even other punches at not-100% to make your opponent guess and then finish a combo with a strong punch/kick. Thanks for pointing that out! I train MMA btw... (And now I feel silly for using the word point three times :D)
scholagladiatoria ooooo what type of Kung fu?
Vennificus Hung Gar - Tiger and Crane
Same principles in Kendo or Iaido.
Got it.
is this true with katanas?
Yes. This basic principle applies to any sword. After all, a katana is just a curved slightly-short two-handed sword with a small disc guard.
well I has seen alot of enfices put on the step forward with the use of the katana
Noah Weisbrod
scholagladiatoria Ermegerd!
That's actually a good question. The short answer is: depends. Depends on the individual school, and also the position you strike from. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. And that's true for European sword styles as well: some schools place more emphasis on it than others, and the specifics may vary. I'm sure they all agree the sword must connect as fast as possible, but the specifics may be subject to variation. Remember, the longsword styles are being reinvented based on surviving treatises, and there is no unbroken tradition. And even in Japan, where some arts have considerable lineage, they don't agree on everything.
Basically it boils down to what the head honcho of a school feels comfortable with, and how he feels the source material should be interpreted. You have John Clements, for example, who insists on never parrying with the edge (but always the flat of the strong). And he has a point, parrying with the edge can lead to edge damage. On the other hand, as Matt has pointed out in the past, edge damage is preferable to body damage, and needs must.
Personally, I believe in guiding principles rather than absolutes. At first you may learn techniques in exaggerated ways in order to learn the principles behind them. For example, in Iaido you learn to cut in an elliptical arc that goes _uuuuuuup_ and _ooooooout_ and _doooooown_ and _iiiiin_. That's a draw cut. And at first, you get virtually zero power from the cut, which is slow as molasses because you're just learning it. It's a very exaggerated movement, but as the technique becomes more familiar, the arc becomes smoother and tighter, and you make the technique your own - while still adhering to the principles it taught you.
And indeed, if you look at Matt's slo-mo demonstration at aroung the 5 minute mark, that's an exaggerated movement, but it demonstrates the principles - which are good principles. But there is still going to be a great deal of variance between different practitioners and how fast they are, and I think that is a bigger factor than whether the top hand moves first or not. If a fast person doesn't perform a text-book example of leading with the sword, that is still only going to give you a fraction of a split second more to respond. And that may just be enough - if you are every bit as fast as he.
The jab in boxing is, technically speaking, quickest from the classic orthodox guard. But many experienced boxers relax this guard, to the point where it starts to resemble a philly shell. Mohammed Ali, for example, would often let his lead arm "dangle", but was still able to throw quick jabs - even though that is arguably the slowest position to throw a jab from.
And that was a wee bit longer than I intended. And still I deleted at least four paragraphs.
Do you know that that guard is so weak to stabs because remember in ur combat contact sport u guys are super close touching sword tips before the fight begins then the fight begins