The arts that fit under the umbrella of Historical European Martial Arts or Western Martial Arts are still young in their return to the world. It has really only been about 20 years that there has been earnest pursuit and only in the last decade has there been a serious increase in practitioners. There is a growing energy behind them Read More …
Not at all. Whether you approach your practice as a martial sport or a martial art, defeating your opponent can be a useful measure of your ability. However, it’s the wrong place to be looking until a fair ways down the path of setting a martial foundation. There are many techniques, tricks, and traps one can employ, with relatively little Read More …
Whenever I teach dance, or martial arts, body mechanics are a big part of the foundation that I try to build with my students. There are many similarities to the mechanics required in partner dancing to those required in swordplay. When you get into lifting and dipping your partner, the crossover starts to even more strongly resemble wrestling. Teaching a Read More …
Recently a group of Academie Duello members participated in a rapier tournament at Ursulmas, an event hosted by the Society for Creative Anachronism in the state of Washington. The tournament was based around the concept of martial challenges that the organizer called “labours”. These challenges pitted individuals up against an opponent who outmatched them in some way, whether with a Read More …
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a piece called Three Things You Should be Saying to Your Martial Arts Students, where I encouraged teachers to reinforce for their students that practice matters more than talent. I received a lot of great feedback and got into some great discussions. The piece was even translated into French and posted here. For today’s article, I wanted Read More …
When you’re standing in front of your students you have an opportunity to not only convey martial arts technique but also to positively shape thinking. The psychology with which we approach learning and practice is incredibly influential over our success at that practice and our energy to keep at it long term. Here are some things you should be saying to Read More …
Academie Duello’s Spring and Summer Camp, Knight Camp (for kids), is coming up in March so I wanted to share a video of a talk I gave in 2014 about how the camp changed from it’s early beginning as Sword Camp, more than a decade ago, to a camp focused not only on swords but on knightly virtues. This talk Read More …
Several years ago I wrote a post about how I was working on fixing my posture. You see, I’m a tall guy, and as is the case with many tall guys, I had started to roll my shoulders forward to get a little closer to the world. Also, years of fencing — and most likely just the absence of instruction Read More …
Tricks and secret techniques have been a part of sword fighting since the beginning. From masters who advertised their “botte segrete” to teach for a special price, to those who ever only taught the one or two techniques they felt would get you out of a tight corner. Even more expansive writers such as Ridolfo Capo Ferro and Angelo Viggiani Read More …
Everyone has their own pace of learning. However, there are many strategies that can both help you to make the most of your capacity as well as enable you to learn faster and more effectively. Here are a few useful ideas: Fundamentals First Every advanced technique is made up of fundamental ones. Many students limit their growth by trying to get Read More …