When I set out to write this article I was reminded of this old Jim Carey sketch from In Living Color (be warned it involves some stab wounds and bad 90s humour). In the sketch, Jim Carey as the martial arts instructor informs his demonstration partner, who has just stabbed him with a knife, that the reason he failed to defend is because she was “attacking wrong”.

Though the sketch is absurd and represents the worst in martial arts—a school where the techniques being taught are dangerously disconnected from reality—it demonstrates an important truth of training: you need to understand the other side of any drill to appropriately challenge and refine your technique.

What’s the Other Guy Doing?

To fully understand how to apply a given technique it is imperative that you understand what your partner was trying to do. If you are defending, what is the nature of their attack? If you are attacking, what is the circumstance of the opening/opportunity?

Every technique has a context in which it lives and it is impossible to appropriately challenge and refine a technique without fully understanding that context.

Understanding Physical Context—The Four Pillars

The four pillars (measure, cover, line, and tempo) are the underpinnings of all good technique and act both as a type of litmus test as well as a means to analyze the strength, weakness, and context of a given action.

You can use the four pillars to analyze both the technique of the “student”, the operator of the technique we’re learning, and the “instructor”, aka “the other guy”—the one who cues the student’s technique with their own stimulus action.

Look at the technique of the instructor and use the four pillars to guide the following questions:

• Measure - What range is this technique conducted in? Is the instructor extending or working close?
• Cover - How is the instructor protecting themselves? Or is this a completely undefended action? An accidental opening? An invitation?
• Line - Where is the instructor presenting threat? If this is an attack, what is the target and the level of intent?
• Tempo - What is the timing of the instructor’s action? Are they acting while you are standing still and ready (out of tempo) or are they trying to catch you in a moment of activity—perhaps as you step in or change position?

Sometimes we train in a less contextual way (e.g., we remove timing) to help us focus on mechanics, block out the general movement, or give greater attention to the other pillars. In these circumstances it’s important to be mindful of the fact that you are training a partial technique in that moment. To truly be able to conduct this action in context you’re going to need to eventually train the whole gamut—with the timing aspect brought back in.

Make the Instructor’s Technique Work

Generally when you are working a counter-technique the technique you are working against has some kind of error—position, movement, blade control, distance, timing—otherwise it wouldn’t be able to be countered. Can you work that technique without error? If the opponent was savvy, wise, and had good mechanics and timing, what would they be trying to accomplish and how would they accomplish it?

Make time in your training to work the other side of every drill and make sure you can enact the opponent’s intent effectively against someone who does not know the counter or when the action is made without error.

Some counters specifically target the techniques of opponents who are naive, foolhardy, or incompetent, but it’s important that you understand those pre-requisites and know how to identify them. Every technique is "undefendable" only under the correct circumstances.

Exercise as Experiment

One way to operate inside of a drill is to view it as a kind of scientific experiment. You have created a controlled environment or laboratory where a particular moment of fighting is taking place.

• The drill is a research question, which might be something like “Against an opponent who is seeking to earnestly strike me, in X distance and in N time, can I deflect and counter-strike them?”
• Your counter-technique is the hypothesis: “A counter-thrust in quarta will deflect and counter-strike an earnest attack.”
• There are controls and methods that help focus the practice and define the context where the question is being asked:
  • A set starting position or configuration of weapons
  • Defined intent for both parties and rules about what they are allowed to do (for example for this question, the opponent should seek to earnestly strike rather than back up and defend)
  • Appropriate protective equipment to allow for intent or combat speed, and the inevitable contact that results

Each rep in the drill provides you with a result. The question rarely changes but every variation of your technique is a new type of hypothesis or question: What if I place my hand just a little bit higher? What if I act just a little bit later?

And at every stage it is essential that the instructor be holding up their end of the drill. They must be asking you the exact same question, and asking it effectively. There truly is a “right way to attack” but it must be asking the question you want to answer.

On our Friday night open sparring sessions I like to get in and do a few fencing passes like everyone else. It’s not uncommon for one of my students, after we’ve fenced for a bit, to ask me for some feedback on their fencing.

I’m glad to be asked this question, and I’m glad that my students in general are seeking input. However the timing of their question could be better. It’s not that I’m saying I don’t want the question, simply that it would be more valuable for the student to ask for feedback at the beginning instead of at the end.

There are a few reasons to ask someone up front for their feedback:

It prepares them to be observers and not just fencers

Many people have a hard time recreating what happened in a given fencing pass, let alone over a series. Preparing them in advance can help them tune in to what you’re doing and not simply focus on their own fighting.

Up front allows you to provide context to the evaluation

Are you working on anything in particular? Do you want me to evaluate your footwork, your posture, your strategy? Guidance up front can lead to a far more productive feedback session and even allow your partner to probe and challenge you in useful ways as you fence with them.

Evaluation, experimentation, practice, and free fencing should all be separate events

The reason that I don’t constantly give feedback to my students, unasked, is that I don’t know what stage of the process they are in. If they’re experimenting with a new technique, or practicing a given action and not another, I don’t want to leap in with feedback that is off target. Evaluation needs to be put in a specific place not just thrown around willy-nilly. Unsought for help is at best a waste of breath and at worst a destructive force that undermines your freedom of experimentation and can take away the necessary room to fail.

I recommend making an evaluation date with the insightful coaches in your life (whether they be your peers or your teachers). Ask them up front for observation and give them direction for their feedback. Then keep that time discrete. Experimentation, practice, and simply immersing yourself in free fencing should play the greatest role in your overall time sparring.

Devon

"What have you failed at today?" This question is one that a friend's father used to ask her and her brother every day at dinner. After getting over the awkward wording, I found the story inspiring. This question, and her father's warm approach in how he asked it, contained so many positive questions and affirmations:

• What did you try today?
• How did you challenge yourself?
• I love you when you risk and fail.
• Don't be afraid of failure.
• I'm interested in your efforts, not just your successes.

Failure is at the heart of success. We need to understand our failures and be comfortable with them. Be willing to learn from them, explore them, and move toward the potential of failure.

The Taboo of Failure

It's easy to shy from failure and even the word "fail." You don't fail at a school test—you "don't meet expectations." Maybe you "need improvement" in the application of your skill. Perhaps you "did not pass" your rank examination. You may have to "try again" to pass that level.

These reframings of failure aren't necessarily incorrect. It is vital to "fail forward", to recognize that few failures are disasters, or steps backward. You learn from failure, gain from failure—it is an inevitable and necessary part of growth and true learning. The goal of reframing is to try to guide someone toward trying again. However, there is a danger in allowing the idea of failure to become taboo. To act like our egos are so fragile that we need to avoid the concept of failure altogether and try to shield ourselves from even the word. Why not fail and learn?

Don't Beat Yourself With Failure

Another important aspect of this family story is that the nature of the question was not accusatory or defeating. When we are uncomfortable with failure then we can more easily use it as a tool of self-harm. But at the heart of this question is celebration: "I dared to fail today!" This is not an accounting of how you "are a failure." Quite the opposite: it is an accounting of how you "are someone who dares."

Normalize Discomfort

Trying and failing will never be without emotional stress. The important thing is normalizing that stress for ourselves and others. It is normal to fail. It is normal for failure to feel crappy. And it's a natural and necessary part of learning and growing.

So lets move toward (and through!) failure together. What have you failed at today?

Devon

Every martial arts meetup, whether it’s a class, a study group, or a tournament, is a type of gathering. It is so easy to approach these in the way we have inherited from others, rather than thinking intentionally about our purpose in those gatherings and what it takes to foster the community, learning, training, or competing environment that is most impactful.

In The Art of Gathering, author Priya Parker shares some useful guidelines for upping the intentionality and positive outcomes of gathering.

Start with a Clear Purpose

An insight from Priya’s book is that a category (class, practice, drill session) is not a purpose. By digging deeper, we can break out of the molds of these categories which might not be serving our goals, in order to create something that is more deeply useful and satisfying.

If you’re hosting a practice session, what are the successful outcomes you want for that practice? What type of practice do you want to be doing: drills, sparring, exploration from the manuals? Or even more specifically: Seeking to recreate and embody a particular system from a manual; or drilling with the intent of making skills you can execute instinctively in combat; or meeting to have fun and connect with others through a shared passion.

Your Intent Should be Disputable

When you state a clear purpose it should not include every need or desire possible. Your class, HEMA gathering, or study group does not need to be for all people and all desires. Nor does every particular instance of a class. In fact when you attempt to be all things for all people you tend to not be anything for anyone.

By getting specific you create a space where you need to dispute what should or should not be included. Are the drills you are doing really leading you to conditioning instinctive responses? Does recreating a rote action from the manual truly deepen your immersive understanding? Is the organized structure of your class leading to the fun you want to have or is it getting in the way?

Don’t be afraid of getting intentional. In fact it can be a fun and exciting project to engage in with a group that can lead to a lot of learning about who you are and want to be as martial artists.

Create A Unique World

When you walk into a traditional Japanese dojo there is a sense of intentionality that is communicated to you immediately by the physical space itself. The threshold, where you take off your shoes and change into your uniform, is the transition point between your regular world and the world of your training. When you enter the space it speaks to you of the martial art you are there to practice and supports your focus for your time there on the purpose of that practice.

Whether you meet in a park, or a rented hall, or someone else’s studio (or you’re lucky like I am and have your own facility) consider what you can put in place that speaks to and supports your purpose. This can be physical like training aids and footwork diagrams or small rituals that support the psychological intention of your space.

One group that meets in a park erects a ring of flags around their training area. This serves the practice purpose of helping stop people from walking through their space, and the psychological one of creating a distinction of where their social time ends and their training space begins. 

Mark Mikita’s school of Filipino Martial arts in Los Angeles has in one area a wall of traditional Filipino knives, swords, and shields, and another with written wisdom, diagrams, and art from a diversity of martial traditions from around the world both ancient and modern. His space space supports his goal of honouring and practicing ancient traditions while constantly challenging them with new ideas.

What could you do to make your space 10% more purposeful without saying a word to those who gather in it?

Devon

Whether you call it randori, kumite, sparring, or touching hands, many martial arts provide space and time for students to explore the art in a less constrained environment. In my school we call this time “Open Floor”: it has typically been a weekly 2–3 hour block of time where students are invited to come and practice, spar, and otherwise explore together. There are teachers present but there is no formal class, it is open as the name suggests.

Open Doesn’t Mean Unguided

For sparring times to be meaningful and productive it is important that they still have intention and purpose. Consider why you’re there. Is it to create camaraderie and increase the relationships between students in the school or group? Is it to provide a space to work on techniques that were learned in class (or from other sources) that week? Is it to create a space for open and unconstrained martial exploration? Is it to pit your skills against better fencers and see how it goes? How competitive do you want it to be? How playful?

Be aware that the more open and undirected you allow a gathering to be, the more likely that it won’t be significantly impactful for very many. Clear purpose helps support your martial goals and your goals for the culture you want to create in your community.

Structure and Ritual

What structures and rituals will support your purpose? One sparring practice I ran for a long time began with a circle up where everyone shared what they were working on that night, and how they wanted to be both challenged and supported. Then at the end of the night we would circle again to share something we had learned. This format supported the purpose of this time to be focused on learning rather than egos.

I recently encouraged a school I was consulting with to make part of their “Fight Night” time specifically dedicated to martial games and scenarios that focused on the techniques and challenge areas they were working on in classes, with a spirit of experimentation over competition.

In our group we have different speeds and sparring conventions that everyone is oriented to and can select amongst their partners. Sometimes we divide the space by intention and put exercising or lower intensity work in one area, and higher intensity in another. This allows participants to place themselves in an area of the room that suits their particular needs.

Many different martial arts have traditional ways of invoking a sparring space with a particular set of constraints, goals, and intents, whether that is the dancing and playing space of a Capoeira roda, or the competitive but restricted play in Judo randori. The reality is that even if you have a completely undirected session there will be implicit rules and conventions in play. The question is if those rules are helping provide a space that has the biggest positive impact it can have.

Practice Generous Authority

Not taking up leadership of a practice gathering tends to leave the leadership up to whoever is the most forceful or proactive in the room, and that often won’t align with your purpose. I have certainly made this mistake myself in a desire to “give out ownership” I have instead allowed ownership to be taken over by individuals who might be working at cross purposes to the needs of the group. This kind of laissez-faire approach most often leads an open practice to become a competitive sparring session with more “see who’s best” energy than “make each other better” energy.

Take up the reins. Create a clear statement of purpose, some ground rules, and a format for your session. Your format can invite self-direction but make sure the parameters are clear and that you, or an appointed deputy, is there to make sure people are playing by the rules and with the intent you want.

Don’t lose site of the fact that a part of what people are looking for in a sparring time is to have fun and connect. Yet recognize that leaving everything open and loosey-goosey tends to only be fun for the most self-directed. Take some time with your group to be intentional about how you spend even your “open” times. Recognize that these are not times without purpose, they are times that have a different purpose. It’s worth defining and supporting it.

Study: The Art of Gathering

If you’re interested in more ideas on creating meaningful gatherings of all kinds, I recommend the book The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker. Priya shares many brilliant ideas for gatherings of all kinds and how to make them meaningful.

Enjoy your training!

Devon

Many martial traditions, including ours, use martial forms (series of attacks and defences for solo or partnered practice) to help train martial precision, flow, and fitness.

Having a form that you can practice without a training partner provides structure for improving and maintaining your martial ability when you don't have the option of training with someone else. Forms also provide an avenue for exploring and enjoying the internal side of practice that is not about competition, defence, or other kinds of partner interaction.

Learning a martial form can be but fun and frustrating. It is not necessarily a fast process. It requires comprehension, memorization, precision, and good mechanics. Yet we cannot achieve all of these things at once, especially when we're new. Here is the process I advocate for going from nothing to something with a martial form, represented by the acronym SKIL:

1. Sequence
2. Kinetics
3. Intent
4. Look

Sequence

First memorize the order of actions within the form. The goal here is specifically to learn the sequence—not do the actions correctly. It can be cognitively overwhelming to try not only to learn what comes next but also correct hip alignment, sword path, body alignment, etc. So, simplify what you're learning.

Make sure you're doing essentially the right shape of the movements (i.e., basic cut path, correct foot to step with) but don't worry at all about doing them well. Your goal is to be able to move through each action in the sequence smoothly without pausing to think,  "What now?" Actors use a process to memorize chunks of script where they repeat sections of dialog over and over again without any punctuation or emotional emphasis.

The goal is to internalize the script so thoroughly that they can free their mind to bring in proper intent, emotion, and physicality without having to devote mental resources to searching for words. Interestingly enough this process is often called "doing Italians". If you're working with a particularly large martial form, break it into chunks and go through the four stages of SKIL with each part individually.

Kinetics

Once you have memorized your sequence so that the flow of movements comes effortlessly from memory, it's time to start devoting some mental energy to doing the moves correctly. When examining the kinetics or mechanics of a form, it's important to seek precision before speed. Refer to my article Crispness, Smoothness, then Quickness for a detailed breakdown of how to do this effectively.

Here it can be a better use of your time to pull out specific, challenging, moves from the form and practice them individually. Then when you feel you've made forward progress, bring the corrected mechanic back within the larger context of the sequence.

Intent

What is the purpose of each movement in the form? How do the moves connect with one another? What's really happening? Kinetics are largely driven by intent, so once you have the mechanical form in place its important to bring in purpose.

I recommend assessing your form in two- to four-technique movement chunks. Work through them with a partner to consider how they are connected and applied combatively. Focus the intent of striking with proper breathing and grounding. Ensure that you are generating the correct force and flow from action to action. Are you cutting through your opponent's weapon? Is this action a deception? How important is efficiency to the next movement vs. power generation?

Look

How an art "looks", or its aesthetic, is often as foundational to its practice as its effectiveness at accomplishing martial objectives. Certainly within noble European martial traditions, how you presented yourself was equally as important as kicking butt, if not more so. If you were to succeed martially in a duel or display while appearing cowardly, oafish, or inelegant it would be a huge social failure—of perhaps greater consequence than death!

There is also much to be learned about an art's mechanics and methods through emulating its look. There are many aspects of body alignment and bearing that seemed completely artificial when I first began study of Italian arts. However, I later came to understand them as fundamental to accomplishing the art's combative goals.

If you're interested to try this process out, I recommend the sword and buckler forms presented in many of the Bolognese sources such as Achille Marozzo and Antonio Manciolino. We have a series of video lessons on the first parts of Marozzo's first and second assault on DuelloTV.

Enjoy your solo training!

Devon

Solo forms are a part of many different martial arts from around the world, and European martial arts are no exception. Solo and partnered martial forms appear in many different Italian fighting manuscripts, particularly from the Bolognese tradition, as well as in German sources like one included in Döbringer’s treatise.

Forms play a diversity of roles in martial training including performative and mnemonic, as well as for fitness, mechanical and tactical conditioning. As modern practitioners they also provide a way to connect with the history of the art and to reach back to the work of the masters and students that came before.

Check out this other article from the blog that has a couple examples of Italian assaults for both sidesword and longsword demonstrated both solo and partnered.

Do Forms Have Efficacy?

Forms in martial arts often receive criticism for being simply a rehearsed piece of choreography that has no relevance to effective martial training. There are a few responses to this:

1. Who Cares?

Effective combative application is not the only reason to study a martial art. As stated above, forms play a variety of valuable roles in training. Connecting with the roots of the art, building your mechanical abilities, and guiding your memorization of technique are all excellent and fully valid reasons to practice them. I also find them to be really satisfying and fun.

2. Use Them Appropriately

Place martial forms correctly in your training to meet your martial goals. If your goal is combative application then forms are best suited as tools for conditioning of fitness and mechanics.

Focus on maximizing your physical capacity and your precision in your forms training. If you practice with intent and challenge yourself to increase your accuracy, depth of posture, power, and speed, you’ll get some significant payoff.

This will also free your partner time to focus on perception, timing, and strategy, knowing that the mechanics side of your practice is well looked after already.

3. Base Not Rote

Forms can be excellent training tools for building your tactical ability if you use them as a jumping-off point rather than a rote series of actions. Try the following:

1. Start with a partnered form then choose places to randomize what comes next. E.g., work your way to the fourth action then let your partner be free to make an alternate type of attack.
2. Have your partner omit a defensive move in the sequence at a random moment to test the intent of your actions.
3. Use a piece of a form as the beginning of a sparring sequence. You both know how the first four moves of this fight goes, but after that the action is free until someone is struck or you exit from distance—then you start over again with the form.
4. Build up and break down a form one action at a time—this process of decoding the intent of each action of a form is great tactical and strategic training.

Subscribers can check out these exercises from the Duello Armizare library on Play-Building to better understand the ideas above:

• Play Building with Longsword
• Play Building with Rapier

The main failure I see in most people’s resolution setting is that the resolutions themselves tend to live in a vacuum without any clear systems around them for support. If you are relying solely on your willpower and excitement to get you to some new achievement you are likely to run out of both—well before the end.

You need to use the initial energy at the time of resolving to build a system that will work for you, even when the new passion is gone.

1. Get Clear About Your Goal

Excellent goals are SMART (it’s a tired acronym but it’s still good): Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-Bound. You can read more about this type of goal setting here. What’s most important is getting objective and personal with your goals.

Get Objective

Make sure that your goal could be measured by an outside observer.

• Subjective: Get Stronger
  • Objective: Able to bench press 200lbs by the end of the year.
• Subjective: Awesome at Two-Sword
  • Objective: Able to actively spar for two minutes with two swords, or able to complete the Manciolino two-sword assalto without pausing.

Sometimes I will set a theme and then describe that theme with measurable objectives in point form. Don’t go overboard. If you set a really good objective goal like “run a marathon” you’ll find that it carries with it many other subsidiary accomplishments like “be able to run to the bus without wheezing”. Make sure the goal you set is meaningful and one you believe you can accomplish in the timeframe you’re aiming for.

Get Personal

You might want to beat your training nemesis in a bout, but a goal that relies on your relative performance to someone else can be tricky to chase. What if they leave your club, or have the time to train way harder than you this year? Find a way to articulate your goal in relation to your own physicality and character. What would be a personal goal that would put you in the best shape to meet your competitive objectives?

2. Write it Down but Don’t Share It

Once you have an objective and personal goal, write it down somewhere that allows you to regularly check-in on it. Some recent research has suggested that you shouldn’t talk about your goals too much with others, better to keep them private and personal.

The research showed that those who talked up their goals tended to not strive as hard for them because they had already received the social payoff up front. Create accountability by sharing your activities (not just verbally but physically) with others. Leave sharing the result for your celebration.

3. Create Systems and Rhythms

Answer these questions:

• What can I do every day or week to achieve my goal?
• How will I check in on my goal each month?

Big things are achieved by making incremental steps toward them in a systematic way. Create a daily or weekly rhythm then plan out how you’ll attack those events in advance. Write out your training or action plan (or use an existing one: running, longsword fundamentals, rapier fundamentals). If you have your plan in advance it’s way easier to take action when you’re feeling low.

Leverage Your Calendar and Todolist

I use repeating tasks in my todolist app Remember the Milk to keep my daily and weekly rhythms going. Others setup repeating events in their calendar apps, or carry a paper date book that does the same thing.

Schedule your monthly check-in with a friend, life or training partner right now. They have goals they want your help with too!

4. Set Rewards or Punishments

Rewards and consequences could be extrinsic or intrinsic. For me I find a lot of reward in identifying the milestones on the way to the big goal that are worth savouring on their own. Being able to run for ten minutes straight on its own was an awesome reward. For others, having an extrinsic reward like buying yourself a new sword, or mini-rewards like special events or celebrations can be motivating.

Punishments too can be powerful for some — there are a ton of apps, like Stickk, that you can use to bind a monetary consequence to your success or failure (typically in the form of a payoff to a friend or charity you don’t like).

Regardless of your reward structure, plan it out in advance.

5. Plan for Barriers and Blocks

Take out a sheet of paper and write all of the things that might get in between you and your resolution. Consider both external and internal factors. You’ve set goals before, use that knowledge to help identify what has typically gotten in your way.

Examples of common barriers:

• Schedule at work can get really overloaded.
• A specific family event derails everything.
• Mental health ebbs, like a cyclical depression.

See if you can identify any personal emotional blocks that might stand in your way, like:

• Loss of confidence when things don’t come easy.
• Getting frustrated in long plateaus.
• Overwhelm.

Putting some heartfelt thought into these barriers at the outset in itself can give you more power over them. Take it further by identifying one or two key things you can add to your system to help you avoid the block. Then write down one or two contingency plans you can put in place now to help you get back on track if (or when) you get caught in one of these pitfalls.

Failing is Part of the Process

One of the things that has helped me stay on the goal setting train so long is a recognition that failure is inevitable, it’s giving up that I have control over.

Often when you fail you still make it 80% further than you would have otherwise—now it’s just a question of setting a new goal around the gap. Sometimes striving for goals tells you important things about what you’re really interested in and committed to. The thing is if you’re open to it you’ll always learn something that will help you approach the next goal with more tools and a greater awareness, and that’s where the payoff is.

Life is not lived in the future. Goals and resolutions, when used best, give you a structure for purposeful action today regardless of outcome—and that’s where fulfillment lies.

How We Can Help You

DuelloTV has tons of tools for helping you set meaningful rhythms around your sword training. Be sure to sign-up for the Daily Drill, leverage the Training Plans for the fundamentals as well as apprentice material for rapier and longsword, and join into weekly online live classes to keep you inspired and get feedback!

Enjoy your training!

Devon

Which hand should go on top with a two-handed weapon? Across martial arts there are actually a lot of arguments for placing your dominant hand on both the top and the bottom of the grip. I want to dive into this interesting topic.

Jogo do Pau and Left Hand Lead

Check out this video from my friend Luis Preto on the two-handed stick art of Jogo do Pau. This art from Portugal has ancient roots and an active practice that continues through teachers like Luis to this day. What's interesting is that they advocate for putting your dominant hand at the base of the grip.

Why Dominant Hand Lead?

European swords are different than sticks in a few key ways:

1. Swords are edged weapons.
2. They have cross bars that protect the hands.
3. They wound through piercing and slicing, rather than blunt force trauma.

These properties alter how the weapons are wielded in some significant ways. In particular the amount of force that needs to be generated to do damage (significantly less in the case of a sword); the amount of binding that occurs (where the two weapons stay in contact for a prolonged period); and the contexts in which the weapons can be used.

But that doesn't directly answer why the lead hand is on top. Much of the dextrous movement of a sword's point is controlled through the base hand with the lead hand operating as a fulcrum, so why not put your more dextrous hand in the base position?

1. Single and two-handed use. Medieval two-handed swords are versatile weapons intended to be used in one hand and two. When you drop one hand from the weapon, you want the remaining hand to be the one closest to the cross bar — it's most protected and it's closer to the weapon's centre of balance. This makes the weapon significantly easier to manage one-handed. Common contexts for dropping one hand from the sword include grappling or reining your horse.
2. The Crossbar. Keeping the dominant hand in the base position protects it from attack and also allows you to maintain control of your weapon if you release the lead hand to avoid having it struck. The crossbar provides significant protection for the lead hand making this type of defense less relevant (and also changing the balance for single hand use from the base).
3. Controlling the Edge & Binding. Though the base hand controls the movement of the point, the lead hand more powerfully directs the edge as well as feeling and responding to pressure in the bind. This is largely because the lead hand is closer to the point of balance. Having your more dextrous hand in this position is a distinct advantage for responding to and maintaining control.

Now Luis, who is also an excellent longsword fencer, might say "never bind!" But that's a topic for another email.

Practice Both Leads

Having focus in your training can be important, particularly if you are targeting a very specific environment like tournaments or an exam. However your ability to meet a diversity of environments largely defines your upper limits as a martial artist. This longsword drill encourages you to break out of the box of a set dominant hand.

Practice: Dominant Hand Switch

How Do You Train?

Let me know how you train. When you use a longsword do you practice wielding it in one hand? Do you practice with both leads? In your single-handed sword practice, do you practice equally with your right and your left? I look forward to hearing from you.

Devon

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 historical fencing positions, though turned out to an extreme.

The connections are often cited to either originate in Italy with ballet evolving as a dance interpretation of swordplay of the 15th or 16th centuries—Catherine de Medici, a patron of the arts, is cited as the cultural transport of ballet (coming from the Italian word ballo) to France when she married Henry II in 1533, to later become Queen of France in 1547.

Images from the 1470 Manual of Phillipo Vadi of Italy

Note the turned out feet in the gathered positions (upper left).

The upper left in this second image looks very much like ballet's first or second position in their most turned out sense.

Image from the 1536 Manual of Achille Marozzo

Here you also see some of the long lines and turnout represented in ballet.

The French Connection

The other theory is that Louis XIV of France (reigned from 1643–1715), an avid dancer and student of fencing, brought in aspects of fencing footwork and exercise into his own practice of dance and into the form of ballet that we know today.

Image from Philibert de la Touche 1670

Les Vrays principes de l’espée seule (The True Principles of the Sword Alone)

Image from Jean Labat 16961

L’Art en fait d’Armes ou de l’épée seule (The Art of Arms or the Sword Alone)

This video presentation by ballet mistress Ursula Hageli by the Royal Opera House is one of those rare situations where the Youtube comments are more informative than the content in the video itself (and are actually safe for work!). It's worth a watch and read.

A couple highlights from the comment thread:

From Ken Mondschein (a well known historical fencing researcher)

With all respect due to Mme. Hageli, I've been studying the history of fencing (and practicing the art) for some time, and I'm afraid I don't know about any boots—the feet are turned out because it is more biomechanically efficient for the lunge. There is evidence for specialized fencing shoes, but nothing I am aware of for fencing in boots. Other quibbles: The dancers' movement is not correct for baroque fencing, but rather looks like modern ballet. Further, though they have beautiful costumes, they are not using the proper weapon for the court of Louis XIV, but rather cheap reproductions of 19th century sabres. While I am not an expert on the history of dancing, and would not presume to comment on that subject, I am somewhat knowledgeable about the history of fencing.

From DarkDancer06 (this comment is in line with other research I've done)

Contrary to popular belief, ballet did not begin at the court of King Louis XIV, nor did it begin in 17th-century France; it actually began 200 years earlier in 15th-century Italy, where it originated from the social dancing of the aristocratic society. It was the Italian Queen of France, Catherine de' Medici who introduced ballet to the French court after she married King Henry II of France. Queen Catherine de' Medici was a patron of the arts because she brought with her many traditions and entertainment cultures from her native Italy and it was from these traditions that the Ballet de cour (Court ballet) was developed, with what has been considered the very first ballet de cour - "Le Balet comique de la Royne" - premièring in 1581 during the reign of Catherine's son, King Henry III. The ballet de cour was performed during the reigns of succeeding kings, including Henry IV and Louis XIII, usually at royal events like weddings and festivals, but it was during Louis XIV's reign that the art form reached its climax and he founded the first official ballet school - the Academie Royale de Danse in 1660. Also, I haven't read anything about fencing ever having an influence on ballet's origins, which I think is very unlikely since ballet developed from Italian social dancing, not sport practised in the Royal French court. If it did have any influence, then I'm yet to find a source that confirms this.

I agree with Ken's point regarding the biomechanical advantages of being turned out. Beyond aiding in engaging the heel, and thus the gluteal muscles when pressing off the floor in a lunge, a turned-out foot also facilitates keeping one side presented while you pass with the feet. Conversely, if you walk naturally then the lead shoulder changes (thus pulling the weapon away from the opponent).

Something the other commenter seems unaware of is that there was a rich tradition of swordplay in Italy that was well underway in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries (per the images above). That tradition influenced the later fencing of Louis' court (there are vast connections between Italian fencing and fencing traditions throughout the continent). So the possibilities of the movements of swordplay coming with ballet in its transit to France or being added later are both present.

A Tenuous Connection

So far in the research that I have done it's difficult to affirmatively say that martial footwork is intentionally present in ballet. In fact, there are many reasons that these parallels could exist:

• Similar biomechanical aims including generating power from the floor, balancing the body in long lines, etc. Matching aims mean matching positions. Looking across the world, for example, postures in medieval and renaissance swordplay match many postures in contemporary Chinese martial arts without there being a technical link.
• Social influences. Swordplay, particularly in the noble realm, is influenced by social physical aesthetics. In different times certain ways of holding your body were considered more noble, stronger, or more manly. These cultural preferences influenced the way people moved and physically presented themselves across contemporary arts and in life in general.
• Material culture. The clothing, footwear, and spaces of fencing and dancing intersect and put shared influences on these arts and noble life in general. There are many ways this can lead to parallels in physical aesthetics.

Perhaps someone reading this will have more to share. I'm certainly interested to find more on those instructors from the middle ages and renaissance who taught both fencing and dance.

What I can say is that there is a lot to learn from dancing, particularly highly technical and physical dances like ballet. I have received my most thorough lessons on efficiency of motion, power generation, and structural stability from dance instructors.

From a research perspective there is also much to be said for understanding the contemporary dances to the swordplay of any era, as well as the other aspects of the culture that surround those arts. Most historical practitioners of martial arts would have also studied dance. Fencing and dancing were both noble physical pursuits and an important part of courtly life.

Swordplay, like dance, existed within a broader context and it's difficult to fully understand the technical and pedagogical choices that its early instructors made without understanding the broader forces that influenced them.

Thanks for reading and please feel free to share any additional information you might have in the comments.

Devon