30 Minutes for 30 Days, the Return: Day 4

 (Place Holder for Clever Title)

Parent teacher conferences running until 8 pm after three days of this challenge left my legs really stiff and sore.
Usually during prep, I make it a point to move around and, of course, leave the table for lunch. That didn't really happen today.

More time was spent on stretches.

Footwork drills were done more deliberate until tensions eased up.

I used static stances and went through guards and thrusts working right and left hands

Stretches between sets.

Today was a no squat day.

30 Minutes for 30 Days, The Return: Day 3

 "Drills, Baby, Drills!"

Tonight was adding footwork to stance training. Beginning with piccolo passo (narrow stance) with sword and buckler in Guardia di Faccia (Face Guard). Advance and retreat, holding guard static, at first, then including an thrust.

Next sets ended with a lunge. Retreats ended with reverse lunges.

Repeating this with passo giusto (medium stance) with sword and buckler in Coda Longa e Alta (Long and High Tail), then moving to gran passo (Wide Stance) with sword and buckler in Guardia di Testa (Head Guard).

Final drill was running through the 17 guards.

Sixty squats were divided in three sets of twenty at the ten, twenty and thirty minute mark. Sword and buckler were held during the sets.

30 Minutes for 30 Days, the Return: Day 2

"If a Man Can't Stand, a Man Can't Fight."

It's a line that has been used in books and movies for quite some time and, in truth, any number of Martial Disciplines. (While this is the common line, I have trained with and have been taught by highly skilled people of all genders. Moving forward, "man" will be replaced by "person")

It's a simple truth, but it's a little more complex than most people think.

When people hear "if a person can't stand, a person can't fight", most think of attacking legs and feet with kicks, cuts, stabs, and various strikes.  Of course, these are all effective and correct applications to assault with and also to defend against.

There is another, important risk that people often forget, making sure their own legs do not fail them.

If your legs are not conditioned, fatigue will make sure you won't be standing or fighting.

Tonight, as well as drilling Bolognese guards, I began incorporating stance training.

Any Eastern style I trained in had stance training as a major foundation component.  The formula is simple, but it isn't easy: take your stance, adjust your self so you are correct and you have proper alignment and connection.

Now hold it. Keep your position. Sixty seconds to begin. If you are in good shape, starting with two minutes works.  Move from stance to stance, holding for each.  As time goes on, add more time.

Can you hold for five minutes? Work up to ten and fifteen?

Tonight I spent two minutes in the following stances:
Piccolo Passo (Narrow Stance)

Passo Guisto (Medium Stance)

Gran Passo (Wide Stance)

Pick up your weapons and add your guards.

I've written about this in the past, but it is important enough to repeat. Stance training with strengthen the muscles, tendons and ligaments. With proper position and body alignment, hips, spine, neck and shoulders are also conditioned.

There will also be discomfort and some pain, at times. Learning to work through it and to channel it with keep you focused and stronger. This is as much a mental exercise as it is physical.

I concluded my training with fifty squats.

A Fencer's Thanks

A Fencer's Thanks

 (Original photograph by Thomas V. Berger. CC Photoshop and Illustrator)

30 Minutes for 30 Days, the Return: Day 1

 30 Minutes for 30 Days, the Return

Since COVID-19 hit, I've been teaching from home. Like pretty much every teacher, hell, every person working from home, the stress can get to be over the top and I pretty much got swallowed up.
My sword has not been out or in my hand for months, it's not a good feeling.

Time to do something about it.

Back in 2017, I took up the 30 Minutes for 30 Days Challenge. It was a good experience and I got to really put a lot of my techniques under a microscope and made some real improvements.

So, today I begin again.

I've chosen to study the Bolognese School and tonight was all about the guards (guardie). Depending on which Master you look to will dictate the number of guards for their own system.  Dall'Agocchie taught eight guards (four high, four low), Manciolino taught ten and referenced a number of others. Marozzo, himself, taught about a seventeen.

Tonight I used a drill taught by Ilkka Hartikainen (https://marozzo.com/). It's a beautiful flow drill from one guard to the next.  Going from one guard to another, it is easy to see where cut and thrusts would fill in those spaces; how an offense becomes a defense that becomes a counter attack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aijGSXbA2nw

The stances are more forward, similar to the bow stance in my Gung Fu system, as opposed to the more leaned back posture of other Italian systems

It was good to have my sword drawn and moving again. The day was able to quiet down, and the 30 minutes went pretty quick.

I will be closing 2020 out with the thirtieth and final day of this challenge. Somehow, that is very fitting.

One down, twenty nine to go!

Quarantine Solo

"Silent Goddess
Won't you
Conduct my fears away"
- Silent Goddess, Kamelot

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eFc0lRPtfdA

Tonight's practice is brought to you by Kamelot's "The Fourth Legacy".

I like training in the quiet and sometimes I enjoy working with music. This was one of those times.

Footwork and stance conditioning to start, shifting lead right to lead left. Crossing steps, then gathering steps.
Slow, at first.
Break it down:
1- Step with the lead foot
2- bring up the rear foot
 Repeat
1- retreat back with the rear foot
2- follow with the lead.

Don't let the body bounce or rise and fall, control the breath.

And so on.

Tonight I worked rapier and dagger against the ball and target.

After point control against the ball, it was time to go after the target. Putting the ball in motion, I attacked the target while using the dagger to block or redirect the swinging ball.

Keeping covered while attacking isn't always easy. If the off hand/weapon is out of place, it could lead to a double kill or, if the attack misses, then you get hit.
An unpredictable swinging ball made for a good drill!

Online training has helped. Some are live, some posted recordings.  Some are better than others, but they all help.
Checking in with my friends to see how they aare doug and if they're training is definitely spirit lifting.

Some friends have had to get tested and are waiting results, another friend is home, but still on oxygen; our township went from three positive cases and zero fatalities to 280 positive cases and eight fatalities in less than four weeks.

I know we will get through this, but the raid is long and rocky.

COVID-19 Solo

Anyone reading this now knows that, nationwide, we are quarantined and most of us are homebound.
It's a crazy time and it's leaving a lot of us to figure out our jobs remotely, while Essential Personnell must go into work.

In the midst of this, all of our practices are shut down for the foreseeable future.

Does that mean our swords get packed away?

Hell no!

We solo drill and, in some cases, teach classes remotely. We share drills and ideas on Social Media and make sure we check in with each other.

Tonight, I covered a few different things, mostly to get fluid. When my school district shut down, we teachers have been in a "make it up as we go" mode. Things are still coming together, but I was finally able to get some practice time in.

Stance training first.

Static traini is great conditioning. Assume your guard position. Make sure that your body is in proper alignment. Feet are in proper position, your sword in correctly angled for protection, finally, your off hand is in place.

Now hold it. 30 seconds, 46 seconds, 60 seconds.

Switch sides and repeat.  Build on this. Can you hold position for three minutes? Five minutes?

Physically, this conditions your muscles, tendons and ligaments. It is putting proper stance and guard into muscle memory. You learn to relax into your stance, instead of being tense , so it is strong, but natural.

Psychologically, you learn to deal with and overcome discomfort and a certain amount of pain. This is where you begin to learn the attrition game.  There is strength and advantage in stillness.

Next was footwork.

I'm in a small area but it's ok.  Begin slow and deliberate. Advance and retreat. Advance and retreat.

Nothing fancy, but make sure it's right.

Make it quicker, mix up directions.

Add crossing then gathering steps.

Make sure your guard and off hand are on point!

Add thrusts, then lunges.

Finally, I drew a circle into the carpet. It's small, barely three feet across.

A while back, I wrote about the Italian Circle; a boundary that encloses eight directions.

There is only enough room for a thrust or a shallow lunge. The drill is to move into these eight directions without leaving the circle. Attack and move, in guard, to the next quadrant.

It felt good. Next practice will be a bit more structured. Perhaps disengages are on the menu.

Stay healthy and smart. Look out for each other and keep practicing.