Fluidity at the pell

Because I have a pell in my backyard, every once in a while I'll come up with a new idea on how to practice with it. The other night, I was whacking away but it was hot, I was tired after work, blah blah blah. Short story: I did want to get some practice in, but not completely exhaust myself physically with rapid-fire work or mentally with approach/non-telegraph-attack work. So I just stood in front of the thing and cut at it, half-speed or slower. Yes, this is a drill born out of relative laziness but as I continued doing it, I realize that there was more than enough to work on. Here's what I was doing, specifically:

- Stand at striking distance from the pell.
- Strike a 1-2 combination of Oberhau and/or Unterhau.* For example, Oberhau from right then Unterhau from left ; or Unterhau from left then Unterhau from right; or Oberhau from left then Unterhau from left. You get the point. Pick a pair and repeat, repeat, repeat for a while before you pick another pair.
- Focus on fluidity of movement, connection between sword and hips.
- Focus on efficiency of movement, i.e. not letting the sword go on unnecessarily large arcs; but be honest with yourself—you probably can't effect a "real" cut with just a flick of the wrists (I know I can't).
- Focus on the entirety of your upper body: are you turning so much that your shoulder is exposed? is your elbow sticking out? are you cutting to your center? etc.

* Yes, I know there are other cuts to be practiced too. Zwerch and Krump I left out specifically because I didn't feel like adding any footwork into the mix. Also consider the fact that you can do combinations of 3, 4, or no combination but a 'random' assault. But by restricting and focusing on less, it's actually easier to pay better attention to the nitty-gritty details.

Also, since Mike hasn't said it himself in a while: "Slow is smooth; smooth is fast."

---

EDIT: Another thing to think about is grip (looser until point of impact); this however is a bit artificial, since you have to release sooner (because the sword is not passing through the pell). Test-cutting is obviously a better method of refining this, but it still bears keeping in mind.

After the cut

OK and now for the post I had originally planned on writing before the rant came out instead.

In practicing cuts—whether through air, against a pell, or through tatami—we focus on all the mechanical stuff: grip, hip, casting the tip, stopping the cut at an appropriate juncture, etc. We also focus on mental preparedness to perform a follow-up action (this is part of composure: not just "hit it and quit it" so to speak), however I've noticed that until today my own personal practice has lacked any sort of physical preparedness to follow-up.

Let me explain, and I'll use a particular Krumphau (throwing the point to the hands against someone in longpoint) as an example:

Practicing in the air, I'll either perform the cut with my "step" already taken—to work on engaging the hips—or I'll step and cut, recovering to the same spot. Similar with tameshigiri, although I'm much more likely to advance on the mat, cut, pause-and-reflect, and then retreat. What this has fostered in me as far as free fencing is maybe I'm relatively good at striking Krump, but I might unbalance myself shortly thereafter because I've stepped too deep on an oblique line.. and I've never actually practiced anything from this new position I've found myself in.

What I started doing today, against the pell first surprisingly, was advance, strike a Krumphau, and then advance past the pell, or rotate from where I was after the oblique step and assume longpoint, facing the pell, from my new position. I intend to do this more with test-cutting as well. The idea being that yes, I will approach and strike with intent & good composure, but I will also teach myself to be physically as well as mentally prepared for "whatever comes next." Fluidity of motion. At least this is the theory, but it's one I'll certainly be working on for a while.

Training for accuracy: thrusting pell

I'm glad that Mike reminded me of an old accuracy training device I used to use when I did Olympic-style fencing: the swinging-ball pell. Mike had us thrusting at one of the handles of his jump rope, but I came up with something a little less ghetto and with a few more targets: a series of wooden beads suspended at heart, throat, and eye-socket height.

The idea for training is essentially the same: to work on thrusting accuracy from Pflug, Ochs, Langenort. At the most basic level, you can stand in a more or less a static guard, thrust slowly towards the targets to teach yourself (that is, your muscle memory) the relationship between the sword, arms, hips, etc. Remember to mix it up between thrusts with a lunge and with a passing step (turning body to present less target and to extend reach).

As you progress, play with distance, and get more dynamic in your movements (as I'm often reminded in free-play, holding a hanging guard for too long ends up with your blade being grabbed): winding and disengaging (e.g. Abnehmen). The target is there to help get a sense of measure, but also you must visualize your opponent's blade: close off lines of attack as you thrust (Absetzen), recover in a defensive guard, especially if you miss.

Particularly for me, this is good for keeping myself balanced when I thrust: in free-play I too often over-extend myself, and end up in a decidedly un-structured position. I have to scramble out of the way, usually while throwing up some "Oh sh!t" parry. Here, I can focus on keeping my body structured before, during, and after the attack has been made.

Unnecessary pauses

After all the free-play we did on our first day back, Mike mentioned to me (among other things) that one of my weaknesses in bouting is that I tend to pause after I score a hit (or after I assume that I should've just scored a hit..). I realized that this had been a problem back in my epée fencing days as well, particularly after lunges. It occurred to me that this is due to two main reasons, one psychological and one physical.

Psychologically, it's connected to my desire to not only hit, but hit cleanly. Pausing is me going "Look at what I just did. This was intentional, not incidental." I'm sure that this'll be beaten out of me quickly enough - consider a certain post-kill thwap to the head that I received..

Physically, it's about balance: A] I'm overextending myself in lunging, making a recovery very slow (still doesn't excuse me from taking a defensive ward like Ochs, I know..); B] My weight distribution in passing steps is less than optimal, making movement generally slow. For example, Zwerchau combinations could be faster, because I'm wasting time shifting my weight in between.

Course of action:
I need to do more "improv" pell-work. A gambeson-pell like Mike's would help, but I can make it work with a fixed pell. The point is, I need to get my feet more connected with my sword - and fluidly - so I can deliver multiple attacks in succession, as well as being ready to get the hell out of the way if necessary.

Practice

Practice felt good this morning. I'm finally getting to the point where I have a decent repertoire to go through. I can see myself a month ago practicing one thing, then standing around scratching my head, looking at notes, and then deciding what do practice next. Now, there are enough things that I know on a good enough technical level to practice without second-guessing myself with Am I doing this right?.. I can just get right to making it better than yesterday. For example, I know my Zornhau is more or less correct; now it's time to work on getting that extension of the arms.

I (re-)started pell work this morning; my back yard is almost defrosted enough (there are still some icy patches on the ground that refuse to go away). Mike's taught us to use the pell not only for striking, but also for the approach: smooth steps, on the balls of the feet, coming into measure. This is something I'd never even considered when I originally made my pell, and now it's twice as useful as a practice tool.

Both Monday and Tuesday mornings I got a good 30 minutes of solid practice in, but even now I'm remembering things I left out, or could've done differently. My personal goal for now is to get up to 45 min a day.

Welcome

This blog is the official journal of the New York Historical Fencing Assocation, a place for students and instructors to share their thoughts, experiences and ideas as they progress through their studies. Please feel free to post on any related topic.