Which of our ancestors made the most sturdy, and effective battle ready swords

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

That being said, a negative of training sport fencing is that you'll train with a ALOT of pussies.

Yesterday while doing drilling the guy i was training with was unwilling to let me strike him (it was part of the drill) because he says it hurts.

He also complained that I gave him bruises that lasted for weeks, and that I hit with too much strength when sparring, so that therefore nobody wants to sparr with me.

Another time this chick complained about my agressive style and said "but, but that's not fencing". Whatever, I was beating her 5-0 while respecting the rules.

But fuck people that think like that. It's a combat sport and if I fight within the rules, I'll pierce the shit out of them if I feel like it.

The paradox is that the fact that I use too much strength should be at my own disadvantage, so I don't get why they are bitching.

I, for one, enjoy the bruises when someone catches me with a good strike on the rib cage or collarbone. It stings, sure, but it's absolutely nothing like the pain you'll get in Muy thai or Judo.

Meh.../end of rant. I just have a really hard time tolerating pussies.

 

[MarcoW]

a lot of people training swords are total wieners
the club I attend now used padded foam nerf style swords before they could afford wooden and metallic waisters.
one guy who had been there since the beginning quit as soon as they changed over because he was afraid of getting hit during drills!

Theres a lot of weeny jr's in the world.

 

[Thycidides]

and

That being said, a negative of training sport fencing is that you'll train with a ALOT of pussies.

Yesterday while doing drilling the guy i was training with was unwilling to let me strike him (it was part of the drill) because he says it hurts.

He also complained that I gave him bruises that lasted for weeks, and that I hit with too much strength when sparring, so that therefore nobody wants to sparr with me.

Another time this chick complained about my agressive style and said "but, but that's not fencing". Whatever, I was beating her 5-0 while respecting the rules.

But fuck people that think like that. It's a combat sport and if I fight within the rules, I'll pierce the shit out of them if I feel like it.

The paradox is that the fact that I use too much strength should be at my own disadvantage, so I don't get why they are bitching.

I, for one, enjoy the bruises when someone catches me with a good strike on the rib cage or collarbone. It stings, sure, but it's absolutely nothing like the pain you'll get in Muy thai or Judo.

Meh.../end of rant. I just have a really hard time tolerating pussies.

I actually fenced foil and then saber when i was in high school but I was really bad at it and did not improve. I did not have the coordination for it at all. The college fencing club was also full of ass holes so i switched to Judo and kickboxing. It seems like those sports better suited me and the people were a lot more patient and cool.

I've done rapier and longsword fencing too, but wasn't taught as a competitive sport, more like a kata or cheorography. I was really bad at it at first too, but I my best friend did it so kept at it. I think the other martial arts made me better at it. I even went to New York for a 4 day workshop . But it wasn't training for competition it was training for film and stage fighting.


Right now I do escrima because it has the same location as my MT gym. However, there isn't any sparring and the footwork is limited. But apparently most escrima is like that. I asked my teacher about it and he said we don't sparr like the Dog brothers to avoid injury. However he most of the people in the escrima class do either MT or Judo. They are not very competitive though.

So I have experience with weapons but none of it is competitive except the foil fencing which I was bad at. There aren't many people that are interested with combat sports and weapons though so im talking about it here.

 

[SummerStriker]

The reason people don't spar in escrima is because they don't feel like shelling out cash for gear.

If you buy two field hockey helmets, two pairs of field hockey gloves, and a pair of home depot PVC pipe / foam / duct tape sticks and leave them sitting in the corner of your gym, your teacher will probably be sparring by the end of the week.

 

[Thycidides]

The reason people don't spar in escrima is because they don't feel like shelling out cash for gear.

If you buy two field hockey helmets, two pairs of field hockey gloves, and a pair of home depot PVC pipe / foam / duct tape sticks and leave them sitting in the corner of your gym, your teacher will probably be sparring by the end of the week.

Someone did mention lacross gloves one time and the other guys acted like they wouldn't offer enough protection. Also I think the more experienced guys do some limited sparring, but I wasn't invited to that practice. They talk about losing feeling in one's hands from getting hit there too sometimes.

I don't really mind because I sparr in the other martial arts. MT sparring got intense as someone on the competition team has a fight coming up and when that happens our one medium sparring day gets intense . Interestingly no one that does escrima goes to those sparring sessions except me.

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

Someone did mention lacross gloves one time and the other guys acted like they wouldn't offer enough protection. Also I think the more experienced guys do some limited sparring, but I wasn't invited to that practice. They talk about losing feeling in one's hands from getting hit there too sometimes.

I don't really mind because I sparr in the other martial arts. MT sparring got intense as someone on the competition team has a fight coming up and when that happens our one medium sparring day gets intense . Interestingly no one that does escrima goes to those sparring sessions except me.

My feeling is that people that train weapons tend to have that stereotyped no-sparring mentality that you would find in bullshido TMA stuff.

It's kind of weird.

Then of course there is sport fencing, which is heavily aimed at sparring, but God forbids that you would use too much force and give an ouchie to your partners.

Interestingly, if you watch fencing olympics, these guys go balls-out and jump at each other all the time. You often see blades folded almost 180 degrees upon impact.

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

BTW has anyone watched the Épée finals at the olympics ?

That hungarian dude was leading 13-9 and managed to sh1t the bed and loose 14-15 to the South-Korean.

Crazy comeback and much respect to the South-Korean for having such determination.

But was kind of feeling bad for the Hungarian, though, The guy is like 41 so it's virtually impossible that he'll have the opportunity to win gold at the olympics again and he really, really messed up loosing like that. He should have won this match.

 

[Thycidides]

Yeah and also those hema guys get really defensive when you criticize their form and ask how much they train.

I'll have to watch that eppee match.

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

Ok so last week, we made a little tournament kind of thing.

The wire that I hooked my sword with was not functionning properly, so that sometimes the light simply wouldn't go on at all.

It was only towards the end that I discovered it and changed the wire, and by that time my confidence and timing were just completely destroyed (it really fucked with me that often it was OBVIOUS that I got the hit before but that my light wouldn't go on at all).

So I just ended up loosing every match that day. Went home feeling miserable lol.

Now yesterday, I was simply outstanding.

Defeated 10-4 some guy who usually wins against me.
Defeated 10-7 a 2 meters russian who ALWAYS defeats me.
Defeated some other dude lile 10-4, while it's usually much closer (he ended up beating me 11-10 in the rematch though).

It's crazy how variable performances are in this sport.

Yesterday was Matrix time and I was a class above everyone else.

Some other days the same people dominate me like I am some POS.

It's not like other combat sports at all were strenght, stamina, endurance play a huge role.

It is a precision, lighting-quick sport and some days your reflexes, hand-and-eye coordination, sense of distancing, timing and concentration are extremely good, sometimes they are just off.

Does anyone have a theory on what causes these fluctuations ? Sleep ? How much you've been drinking the week preceding the fencing ? What you ate ?

I am interested in these "cycles". I had comparatively little alcohol, alot of sleep and no tobacco the week preceding yesterday. I am sure that it plays a role.

 

[Thycidides]

fencing is very fast. I think that makes it more variable and random than other sports. The margin of victory seems to be less

Also if you are close in skill level with the people in your club you should expect to lose some days and win others. Similar to heavy weight mma.

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

fencing is very fast. I think that makes it more variable and random than other sports. The margin of victory seems to be less

Also if you are close in skill level with the people in your club you should expect to lose some days and win others. Similar to heavy weight mma.

Yeah but that s my point : if one day I get beat by everyone and the other I beat everyone that isn t randomness.

It means that I sucked on the first day and wad good on the second.

I am interested in the causes of that discrepancy because there is an obvious pattern.

 

[Zankou]

My kid just started fencing. I am idly considering taking it up, but it doesn't seem like something that adults have much luck learning, plus it's disgustingly expensive relative to judo.

 

[panamaican]

My kid just started fencing. I am idly considering taking it up, but it doesn't seem like something that adults have much luck learning, plus it's disgustingly expensive relative to judo.

I tried it for a bit in college. Some of the concepts and movement translate decently to striking.

 

[Thycidides]

Yeah but that s my point : if one day I get beat by everyone and the other I beat everyone that isn t randomness.

It means that I sucked on the first day and wad good on the second.

I am interested in the causes of that discrepancy because there is an obvious pattern.

I don't understand.

When I train with people in BJJ that are the same skill level we alternate wins and losses. I might get a submission on them one day but the next they submit me. We roll 12 times and i win 6.

So who wins and who loses is unpredictable each time.

Then there are people I usually win against , but one time out of a dozen rolls i lose. Maybe im tired that day or i use a postion im not really familiar with.

This interaction is more predictable.

Is either of those examples what your are describing?

 

[Reyesnuthugr]

Boxing is based on fencing. The footwork, angles and tactics.


Take fencing and you could end up with a JAB OF THE GODS relative to everyone else in your boxing gym

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

I don't understand.

When I train with people in BJJ that are the same skill level we alternate wins and losses. I might get a submission on them one day but the next they submit me. We roll 12 times and i win 6.

So who wins and who loses is unpredictable each time.

Then there are people I usually win against , but one time out of a dozen rolls i lose. Maybe im tired that day or i use a postion im not really familiar with.

This interaction is more predictable.

Is either of those examples what your are describing?

No not really.

Using your analogy, imagine one day you go in and sub everyone.

The next day everyone subs you.

That isn't randomness. It means you very good the first day and very bad the second day, for which there has to be a cause.

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

Boxing is based on fencing. The footwork, angles and tactics.


Take fencing and you could end up with a JAB OF THE GODS relative to everyone else in your boxing gym

Yes and no. For sure fencing helps foowork, distancing and reflexes, but you do it from the other side.

Right handed people fence with their right foot in front. That alone makes it hard to apply fencing footwork to boxing.

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

My kid just started fencing. I am idly considering taking it up, but it doesn't seem like something that adults have much luck learning, plus it's disgustingly expensive relative to judo.

Just try it ? IMO you'll find out pretty quickly if you like it or not.

I know I was hooked instantly when I sparred for the first time.

Like you, I was also very reticent to start such a nich discipline at my age (36) and I gave it alot of thought.

We'll never become good fencers starting after 25/30, but IMO it is one of the very few combat sports where you can still have fun as a noob fighting against someone experienced. There are a bunch of old fucks around 35-45 that started late at my club. You hardly ever see that in judo. You can't learn to fall at 40.

There is no risk of injury in fencing, so you'll be surprised how uninhibited and shameless you will be trying to pierce the hell out of an experienced fencer.

 

[Reyesnuthugr]

Yes and no. For sure fencing helps foowork, distancing and reflexes, but you do it from the other side.

Right handed people fence with their right foot in front. That alone makes it hard to apply fencing footwork to boxing.

I think the refined mental grasp of the concepts would REALLY help as well.

I didn't know about the switching sides thing, but yeah it will take some adjustment either way. Perhaps you'll have a pinpoint lead right (right hand thrown quickly without a preceding jab [ala Ali] ) of utter desolation. It can't be negative in the crossover, that's for sure. Plus your legs will already be a lot more conditioned and precisely calibrated (muscle memory) for similar movements.

 

[Thycidides]

No not really.

Using your analogy, imagine one day you go in and sub everyone.

The next day everyone subs you.

That isn't randomness. It means you very good the first day and very bad the second day, for which there has to be a cause.

Well I would need to train with those people more than twice to determine if I had a bad day or if we are equal in skill, or if the nature of the activity lead to a 50/50 outcome like two people going for a leg lock at the same time.

Like you say the you can still have fun as a noob fighting against someone experienced. This is due to how comparatively easy it is score a point in fencing compared to point in bjj or land a punch in boxing.

I was not good at fencing, but I could usually score on or two point s on my coaches. I'm better at BJJ but when I roll with my BJJ coaches I get no points.

Also while one is unlikely to be injured by training partners or opponents, something like a sprained ankle is very possible especially for over 30s