From the HEMA Blogosphere

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Magdeburg, Germany—Construction workers discovered the rusty ruin of a saber while excavating a broken water main. The newspaper Volksstimme speculates that the artifact could be “400 years old” — a relic of the Thirty Years Warm when “Imperial troops under Pappendem stormed the Protestant city”. We hate to burst that ...

Right-handed layout. The QR code works, btw.I received the print proof of the new rapier workbook, and it looks great. The paper quality is much better than at Lulu (the other printing option), and the printing itself is excellent. I have put in the order for a limited print run, ...

Stiffness of a training simulator is something that is often thrown around to help determine its safety. But what makes something that way? ...

I’m currently in Helsinki sitting at the dining table in my friend Tina’s apartment, and it’s a very good day, on several counts: I spent the weekend at my salle teaching my students. We covered breathing exercises on Friday evening, spent all day Saturday torturing ourselves with rapier footwork, and ...

APPLETON, WI – The Wisconsin Historical Fencing Association hosted its fourth annual ‘Krump Pow’ last weekend from October 5th – 7th. Krump Pow featured multiple tournaments, an array of classes, and the infamous balloon battle. This year’s tournaments included open longsword, singlestick, mixed synthetic and mixed steel longsword, smallsword, rapier, ...

Greetings,So for the following post, as indicated the discussion will be about shields. This is a subject which is often pushed aside or ignored as it is often assumed that shields are pretty simple in their construction and development. It is actually far from the case. There is also often ...

What does it matter how a tatami falls down? When the fall is all that’s left, it matters a great deal. ...

Among the many things an instructor should know (‘have a plan’, ‘admit doubt’, ‘don’t wear a cup during stretches’ – seriously, don’t), one of the most important is that you can’t teach everyone. Let me qualify that: you can’t teach all students to the same level. Not everyone will share ...

Among the many things an instructor should know (‘have a plan’, ‘admit doubt’, ‘don’t wear a cup during stretches’ – seriously, don’t), one of the most important is that you cant teach everyone. Let me qualify that: you cant teach all students to the same level. Not everyone will share ...

Talking about the future of my channel, about new contents, fencing, archery etc. Advertisements ...

The brand-new Rapier Beginners’ workbook is now available for pre-order from my distribution partner Fallen Rook Press. The books are in layout now, and should be shipping within a few weeks. Leaving extra time for hitches, you should get the book by the end of November, but probably earlier. ...

A small collection of things too small to deserve their own article. ...

Hey guys, here is my new Axel Pettersson Jacket. I decided to make a little review because i’ve seen this product improved compared to older versions. Here it is. Advertisements ...

I spend a lot of time thinking about how to teach swordsmanship through books and videos. It’s not a simple problem, not least because every student is different, and has different needs and preferences. How the material should be ordered and presented, what photos may be needed, how much ...

You don’t have to understand crazy math with imaginary numbers to appreciate the principles of control theory. They can be applied to sword fighting, and might give you a different perspective on your training or interpretations. ...

Yesterday i’ve uploaded a new video for my Patrons, in this video I take in consideration all the changes i’ve made to my training method during the past year. I specifically take it consideration the three most important changes and I … Continue reading → ...

A while back I helped coach at Fighty McFightFace, a rookie tournament for fencers who had never made it to the eliminations of a tournament. I had three fencers to coach, and very little time to prepare. In some sense, the short timespan was both a blessing and a curse. ...

Master Lorenz Römer was already an old man, when he came to settle down. He was a Freyfechter and entitled to hold Fechtschule – the fencing school and tournament. Next to his duty as a fencing master he was catching birds and selling them. He was remembered in a poem written ...

The bedroom door slams open. A man, trying to kill me. Machete. I grab my katana and parry the first blow with the sword still in its scabbard. I feint a cut to his head, simultaneously flicking the sword out of its scabbard, then bring the sword down, cutting off ...

You can’t learn martial arts from reading a book… or can you? I’ve always thought so; in fact, I make my living by teaching martial arts I’ve learned from books. Very old books. But *reading* a book doesn’t help on its own; you have to put the work in ...

New YouTube video with me and Keith Farrell. This time we talk about the crossing and the possible options from the situations of weaknes and strenght presented in both the Fiore manuscript and in the Liechtenauer (Ringeck mainly) tradition. Advertisements ...

(Scroll down for the English translation) Negli anni ho avuto modo di praticare svariate arti marziali e di approcciarmi alla scherma in vari modi. Una caratteristica comune che ho visto caratterizzare alcune arti (spesso tradizionali) e alcune branche delle HEMA … Continue reading → ...

The discussion about the meaning of the sporting competition for fame with medals and titles in martial arts is neither new nor completely dissolvable. We want to treat ourselves to the fun of reading the historical state of discussion from the 14th century on the basis of the song poem ...

Not long ago I braved the North Passage and flew to Seattle via Iceland. This was about my twentieth trip to Seattle, but my first to SwordSquatch. The event is run by a group of Lonin students who got together a few years ago to create the event that they ...

I have an incurable disease. It’s not going to kill me, but it’s already made my life miserable and promises to complicate my life going forward. This is going to be a bit of a rambling post as I work through everything, so I apologise in advance. The diagnosis is ...

When cutting, the sword exerts force on the target, and the target exerts force right back on the sword. This force is what causes cuts to be less effective, and possibly fail. And where does it come from? ...

Photo courtesy of Kristin Reimer PhotoMusePITTSBURGH, PA – Jamie Kikilidis is perhaps one of the American East Coast’s best kept secrets! She’s a powerhouse fighter with a superb technical toolbelt, and is always seen smiling throughout all of her matches. Fighting out of Broken Plow Western Martial Arts in Pennsylvania, Jamie ...

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