HEMA, Bohurt, etc

I'd last about 5 minutes in that suit before I died of heat exhaustion.
Ikr, and they fought in crusade wearing this shit all day and storming Alexandria etc.

Knights could have been some of the most conditioned fighters in history.
 
Fighting in heat is horrible. Fought in 90 degree weather once and it just gets to you. The helmet especially. But warming up also helps. My first fight in that heat I hit a wall 45 seconds into my duel. but a few fights later I was fine. Sweating my ass off but my body kinda adapted.
 
IMCF World's is done. The guy I lost at pro fight Nationals to took Bronze. Some drama went on at the event so I am kinda glad I didn't end up going. I'll give next year a shot though. And I want to give BI World's a shot, so I'm hoping to make it to Carolina Carnage in 2026.
 
Training is going well, and I feel like I'm piecing things together more.

Some observations,

In Buhurt I've stopped thinking about the striking or the physical pushing or movement and have started thinking of it as judo. I concentrate on throws and let the other stuff happen subconsciously and the game has opened up for me.

I'm only interested in duels if it's halberd as I can tko people with them and I feel I have a naturally better understanding of them than most.

Speaking of which, I'm formulating a striking theory with them that runs counter to the mainstream narrative for their use. The coaching is usually about striking like it's axe chopping a tree. But I've been instead sticking from a equidistant hand position on the halft, at the 2/3rds position. This makes it mechanically similar to a hook with the head or butt rather than like a fedor like overhand right.

It allows for the force from foot to contact point to be increased by the muscle chain through the target. Whereas the axe chop mainstream style relies on the weight of the weapon and it's speed given the greater leverage arm between foot to contact point. The chopping wood style is emphasising speed and efficiency, the 2/3rds hook style movement emphasises delivery of energy, mass.

I believe that the 2/3rds hand position, hook shot style is much more appropriate for hitting heavy armour.

@BB in Crazy!!!! Is it just duels and pro fights you do or do you dabble in Buhurt too?
 
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Training is going well, and I feel like I'm piecing things together more.

Some observations,

In Buhurt I've stopped thinking about the striking or the physical pushing or movement and have started thinking of it as judo. I concentrate on throws and let the other stuff happen subconsciously and the game has opened up for me.

I'm only interested in duels if it's halberd as I can tko people with them and I feel I have a naturally better understanding of them than most.

Speaking of which, I'm formulating a striking theory with them that runs counter to the mainstream narrative for their use. The coaching is usually about striking like it's axe chopping a tree. But I've been instead sticking from a equidistant hand position on the halft, at the 2/3rds position. This makes it mechanically similar to a book with the head or butt rather than like a fedora like overhand right.

It allows for the force from foot to contact point to be increased by the muscle chain through the target. Whereas the axe chop mainstream style relies on the weight of the weapon and it's speed given the greater leverage arm between foot to contact point. The chopping wood style is emphasising speed and efficiency, the 2/3rds hook style movement emphasises delivery of energy, mass.

I believe that the 2/3rds hand position, hook shot style is much more appropriate for hitting heavy armour.

@BB in Crazy!!!! Is it just duels and pro fights you do or do you dabble in Buhurt too?
I do all 3. And I dabble in Hema as well.

I'll be fighting with the Exiles on the East Coast in the next few months, mainly Bloods and Suds and then War in the North if I don't get on the AMMA card. I guess Lamb of God will be playing there, I've heard that we will either be opening for them or fighting while they play. Pretty awesome either way. Hopefully I'll be at Carnage with them too.
 
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Dueling in a longsword and a sword and shield tournament on Sept 13. Made some improvements in the last year with dueling so I am excited to see how I do now.
 
Dueling in a longsword and a sword and shield tournament on Sept 13. Made some improvements in the last year with dueling so I am excited to see how I do now.
Good luck! The primary skill has to be work rate right?

I'm getting progress from my armourer. Legs look good so far.

1000014706.jpg

Other than weights (restarted my deadlift program after over a year off) and cardio, I'm putting in time a week in soft kit, working on takedowns, teamwork etc

Not a fan of single handed weapons. My grip is pretty good but I can't translate much power into a strike.
 
Good luck! The primary skill has to be work rate right?

I'm getting progress from my armourer. Legs look good so far.

View attachment 1110996

Other than weights (restarted my deadlift program after over a year off) and cardio, I'm putting in time a week in soft kit, working on takedowns, teamwork etc

Not a fan of single handed weapons. My grip is pretty good but I can't translate much power into a strike.
Work rate is up there for sure. Speed is the other equally. Then I would say defense and technical offense.
 
Work rate is up there for sure. Speed is the other equally. Then I would say defense and technical offense.
One thing I've been thinking about regarding duels is Fiore, he wrote to ensure that your attack will cause injury. Specifically to avoid attacking a shield or weapon. It's a principle I have been reminding myself of, although I do attack to draw the opponent still.

It made me think maybe there is a similar aspect to defence also, to ensure that your defence has an offence attached. The opponent is less likely able to defend as they are attacking and it will fuck with them making them have to consider immediate defence when attacking.

With a shield this is more so as your weapon hand can be free.

So, aim for your offence to always score and aim for your defence to create an attack.
 
One thing I've been thinking about regarding duels is Fiore, he wrote to ensure that your attack will cause injury. Specifically to avoid attacking a shield or weapon. It's a principle I have been reminding myself of, although I do attack to draw the opponent still.

It made me think maybe there is a similar aspect to defence also, to ensure that your defence has an offence attached. The opponent is less likely able to defend as they are attacking and it will fuck with them making them have to consider immediate defence when attacking.

With a shield this is more so as your weapon hand can be free.

So, aim for your offence to always score and aim for your defence to create an attack.
I think attacking a weapon or shield is fine if you are doing it to create an opening. But just attacking a weapon or shield is wasting energy and leaves you open to counters. As for defense, I agree with you. Not much different than striking with boxing or kickboxing, counter when you can.
 
Well, I found out who I will be up against next Saturday. It’s round robin and against some serious duelist. I’ll honestly be lucky if I beat any of them. But I’ll be happy if I am at least competitive with them, that’s the main goal now.
 
Well, I found out who I will be up against next Saturday. It’s round robin and against some serious duelist. I’ll honestly be lucky if I beat any of them. But I’ll be happy if I am at least competitive with them, that’s the main goal now.

That's the spirit! An opportunity to learn and have fun if nothing else.

I sparred with a person that trains with some of the best in the UK and it was a little eye opening. He baited me or got driven back into the list and then did me twice with his right foot sweeping my left.

If I was to spar him again I would maintain distance more, more of an arms length hand to face and aim to snake round his lid and get head control. All the whole preparing to counter the sweep with my own to the inside of his.

It's clear to me I just need hours a week in armour.
 
Well I took 3rd.
Only because 2 guys couldn't make it and the 4th guy forfeited our match because he wasn't feeling well. So I got 3rd by default. The two matches that I did compete in was really 4. They changed it since there were only 4 of us to do 2 back to back best out of 3 duels. Instead of 1 best of 3. So at least I got to duel 4 rounds against 2 top guys. I did well I felt. Best I have done performance wise in duels from a skill standpoint, I was just predictably outmatched. Could have done a little bit better but now I know what I need to work on next.
 
Next Saturday I fight in a team tournament. Should be a good time. The bad news is I hurt my ribs pretty bad last week and they are still healing, so I doubt I will be 100% for this. The good news is it's healing so I can still fight.

This is will be a pretty awesome event. The White Company(current world champs) and Dominus(former multi time world champs) will be among the 8 teams fighting. That's the top 2 teams in the world we will be fighting against. There are some other good teams fighting as well (Pale Horse and Berserkers) and a few that are our teams level from Detriot, NYC, and Virginia.
 
Well crap it looks like Dominus isn't making it. Even thought that drastically raises our teams chances of medaling, I kinda wanted to fight them.
 
I have two fights I. January coming up. A ranked pro fight, then 2 weeks later a 2vs2 team tournament in Atlantic City.
 
I have two fights I. January coming up. A ranked pro fight, then 2 weeks later a 2vs2 team tournament in Atlantic City.

Super random but...

If you ever have a fight coming up in/near either north NJ or in PA near Hawley (which is by Blooming Grove) hit me up.

I got a buddy from HS in Hawley and another homie in Warwick NY, they like fights and violence and shit, they might be down to check that out. Buddy in PA is a Marine who does BJJ and did his first ammy MMA fight at age 43 I think.
 
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