Last week I talked about the importance of swordsmen learning dagger techniques, and I promised I'd explain how to integrate training the dagger material with the longsword material. This needs to be … [Read more...]
Safety Guidelines for the Practice of Swordsmanship
Safety Guidelines for the Practice of Swordsmanship These safety guidelines come from my Recreate Historical Swordsmanship from Historical Sources Course and have been adapted from The Duellist's … [Read more...]
Unexpected Help, and dragging HEMA into the 21st Century by its hair.
I'm a Luddite, it’s true. I resist the march of technological progress because I think that most new technologies aren't labour saving life enhancing devices at all. I was saying this back in the ‘80s … [Read more...]
How to spot the bullshit in any martial arts drill, and what to do about it.
The real thing is the only bullshit-free scenario in martial arts. If you’re an MMA fighter, that’s the ring on fight night. If you’re a soldier, that’s being in the presence of the enemy. And if you … [Read more...]
Down under again!
The second day of the Sydney seminar began with revision and expansion on the first day’s work, taking some of the dagger plays into a freeplay-type context, then going over much of the sword material … [Read more...]
Entering the Fray
One of the benefits to running an intermediate level class first thing every Monday evening, is that I get to put the seniors under a bit of pressure, make them work outside their comfort zones, and … [Read more...]