I love practicing the Historical European Martial Arts. Anyone who knows me knows that.
There is a lot of commotion in the community from time to time about women in HEMA and I just wanted to make my point clear. Everyone is more than welcome but encouraged to come and practice with me in the arts I love to practice.
I want to encourage men, women, anyone who wants to come to learn how to use a sword to come to one of the classes I am a part of. That is just how I am, I love it, and if I think for a moment that anyone else I know would love it too, I would rather they come and learn with me, then to not come and participate. There is a unfortunate lack of women in class, I am not sure what that is about, but we do not have as many women in our class as there are men. This is not unique, I am sure there is something cultural about it, but what I do know is that I am not a fan of it.
You see the thing is that the more people we have in class the better we can become. The more different styles and personalities we face week to week, the better we learn what works with what and how to counter things better. It is easy when you only spar with the same half a dozen people every week to know their tricks and how to beat them, New and different people make you learn how to do it better, and sometimes see where your weak points are.
Women add to that.
In class in years past we have taught a one size fits all strategy for all things the truth is this never works. What happens if your arms are not as long as your opponents, or you stand a full head shorter than they do, or what if you have a harder time moving a sword from one place to another because your chest gets in the way? Ultimately facing these challenges forces us to work with them to come up with different solutions and think about the art differently. Maybe you cannot effectively go over the arms for a hip throw but can by going under the arms, is it better to learn a way that does work for you then only have the answers that do not? To me it does.
People are not cookie cutters. There are some people in my class that are just quicker than I am, but if I do not train with them, how can I learn to counter it, or to make myself better? Diversity breeds innovation. I am a larger guy who is not always as quick as my opponents, so I have learned to be faster on my feet so I can be. (Ever see a 300 pound dude hopping at you with a sword? Fun times.) I have reach on a lot of people, but if I do not think about how to counter that, I cannot ever be a good teacher of the art I love.
There is also a fine line here between adjusting to meet the needs, and allowing excuses. Allowing excuses happens when we are doing a drill and someone just does not want to do it because they think that they cant. Excuses happen when there is mental block that says "I can't fence this person because they are better than me, they have been fencing longer, and they have more skill than I do." Allowing excuses is not helpful, in fact I think it lets people get off the hook when just trying and pushing through is the better lesson than giving up and going home.
If you are fast but can't fight strength than work on strength and until it is there use what comes natural to you.. If you can't swing a sword the right way because your chest gets in the way, lets work on ways to counter that, make it work. If you are a full head shorter than your opponent and we are doing grappling, lets look at what you can do and teach you both the proper way, as well as something that you CAN do so you are not in a bad position when you need to use the technique. If it means Womens tournaments because that is how you get people involved, then that seems like a great way to get people involved.
Fencing is about balance. Balancing pushing peoples perceived limitations, and giving them a hand to help them up. Encouraging without babying. Teaching, but sometimes stepping back to see the student step up and teach themselves. (Often the lessons that stick come from this.) Sometimes the balance is literal: right and left, or front and back. But unless we are putting our hands out there to encourage people to join and try it out, we can't hope to get better. Unless we are friendly to everyone, no matter the age or gender, we will not be as good as we hope to be.
Our diversity makes us better, both as students as well as teachers. The better you know how to deal with a difficult student the better chance you have to keep them, and maybe pass on those same skills to someone else. If we do not embrace that diversity we become foolish, like the person who "knows everything already" and as such is not open to new ideas or new ways of looking at the same thing.
Our diversity makes us strong, if this sounds like something you want to try out let me know, in the mean time I am here, doing my daily practice.
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Getting better all the time.
You will not see major improvement in the sword arts if you only practice once a week. You will not reach your goals if they are not set and you are actively working for them.
I had a major realization this week. Today is my day 19 on my 30 for 30 challenge. In the past I lived in a much easier world. Sword was once a week, sometime it involved training outside of class but nothing more than a couple of times at best. Yesterday, things were different. I had the MLK holiday off so while Cindy was at work, I went to the gym for a couple of hours, and then came back for another when she got off.
In the past week some other things have changed too. A couple of weeks ago my fencing coach said that as far as he was concerned I was ready to help coach the class. To me it was a big honor and something I am pretty proud of. But more to the point, it started my mind around, how do I encourage the fencing students to improve? What does it take to get better?
What I finally came to was that no matter how good the class, no matter how hard you work that one or 2 times a week, if you are not putting in your time out of class to improve your improvement will be minimal and slow. Frustration can be a natural part of what we do. I have known plenty of people who came to a class or 2 or 3 expecting to become a sword master after a few weeks, that is just not the way it works.
What hit home this week really solid is this: It is my job to give my students tools that they can use to train outside of class. Whether they do it or not is up to them, but it is my responsibility to give them the tools and to let them use them or not based on their desire to improve. To the same point, I cannot improve as a student of the arts be it Long sword or Olympic Saber, if I am not willing to put the time in outside of class, I will not reach my goals as quickly as I want to get there.
So what does that mean?
Two words: Solo Drills
Last week I started a drill with the Olympic fencers where I gave them 3 minutes to do lunges, retreats and advances. The idea is to keep the feet moving and keep pushing the whole 3 minutes. Form is more important than simply cranking out a bunch of them, but in that 3 minutes it was up to the students to dictate their pace. At the end of it, I had a room full of tired students, so we took a break for water, and did it again. It worked like a charm. So when I had the opportunity to do it in my long sword class, we also did it, and just as before, it wore people out, but was a great drill.
Because I did not want to be that teacher who tells people to do something but can't or will not do it himself, I did the drill at the gym this week. At the end of it, my legs were sore, but I worked through it. I also know that I could have walked through it easily for 3 minutes not pushing myself and I would have met the objectives of the drill. The real question is how bad do I want it, and what am I willing to put in to get there.
I have learned a lot in the last 20 days, but a major thing is this: I will not get in the shape I want to be, or reach my personal goals unless I am willing to put the work in. There may be magical pills to loose weight, or things that you can do to look better, but there is no magic pill that will improve your skill other than hard work and training outside of class. Nothing will get you there unless you are willing to drive it there. It has been a good month, and I have learned over and over again in the last year that this is 100% so.
Maybe the cards are stacked against you, maybe it is not something you can just pull yourself up by your boot straps, but if you want something, if it matters, and you are willing to put the time and energy into it, things you thought were not possible suddenly become possible. In training that means spending time working on things on your own so when you get somewhere where you can practice with someone else, you are ready. Maybe that means eating left overs or picking up extra jobs to make the money to do what you need to to get there. Maybe that means spending 30 minutes a night just doing footwork in your living room, but any energy spent towards your dream and your goal brings it that much closer.
It has been an awesome month, I am just excited to keep this momentum rolling.
I had a major realization this week. Today is my day 19 on my 30 for 30 challenge. In the past I lived in a much easier world. Sword was once a week, sometime it involved training outside of class but nothing more than a couple of times at best. Yesterday, things were different. I had the MLK holiday off so while Cindy was at work, I went to the gym for a couple of hours, and then came back for another when she got off.
In the past week some other things have changed too. A couple of weeks ago my fencing coach said that as far as he was concerned I was ready to help coach the class. To me it was a big honor and something I am pretty proud of. But more to the point, it started my mind around, how do I encourage the fencing students to improve? What does it take to get better?
What I finally came to was that no matter how good the class, no matter how hard you work that one or 2 times a week, if you are not putting in your time out of class to improve your improvement will be minimal and slow. Frustration can be a natural part of what we do. I have known plenty of people who came to a class or 2 or 3 expecting to become a sword master after a few weeks, that is just not the way it works.
What hit home this week really solid is this: It is my job to give my students tools that they can use to train outside of class. Whether they do it or not is up to them, but it is my responsibility to give them the tools and to let them use them or not based on their desire to improve. To the same point, I cannot improve as a student of the arts be it Long sword or Olympic Saber, if I am not willing to put the time in outside of class, I will not reach my goals as quickly as I want to get there.
So what does that mean?
Two words: Solo Drills
Last week I started a drill with the Olympic fencers where I gave them 3 minutes to do lunges, retreats and advances. The idea is to keep the feet moving and keep pushing the whole 3 minutes. Form is more important than simply cranking out a bunch of them, but in that 3 minutes it was up to the students to dictate their pace. At the end of it, I had a room full of tired students, so we took a break for water, and did it again. It worked like a charm. So when I had the opportunity to do it in my long sword class, we also did it, and just as before, it wore people out, but was a great drill.
Because I did not want to be that teacher who tells people to do something but can't or will not do it himself, I did the drill at the gym this week. At the end of it, my legs were sore, but I worked through it. I also know that I could have walked through it easily for 3 minutes not pushing myself and I would have met the objectives of the drill. The real question is how bad do I want it, and what am I willing to put in to get there.
I have learned a lot in the last 20 days, but a major thing is this: I will not get in the shape I want to be, or reach my personal goals unless I am willing to put the work in. There may be magical pills to loose weight, or things that you can do to look better, but there is no magic pill that will improve your skill other than hard work and training outside of class. Nothing will get you there unless you are willing to drive it there. It has been a good month, and I have learned over and over again in the last year that this is 100% so.
Maybe the cards are stacked against you, maybe it is not something you can just pull yourself up by your boot straps, but if you want something, if it matters, and you are willing to put the time and energy into it, things you thought were not possible suddenly become possible. In training that means spending time working on things on your own so when you get somewhere where you can practice with someone else, you are ready. Maybe that means eating left overs or picking up extra jobs to make the money to do what you need to to get there. Maybe that means spending 30 minutes a night just doing footwork in your living room, but any energy spent towards your dream and your goal brings it that much closer.
It has been an awesome month, I am just excited to keep this momentum rolling.
Friday, January 16, 2015
Day 15.
It began before the new year. My goal: to get more fit. This time it is different.
January 2nd I began the 30 in 30 HEMA challenge, 30 days, at least 30 minutes of exercise each day. Today marks day 15.
How has it worked? In December we started taking classes at the gym. A water aerobics class that is doing a fair job at kicking my ass because I am pushing myself. 4 days a week, one hour classes a day. Then came adding another Long sword class to my normal training. There is another group in town that meets at the University on Tuesday nights, which happens to be one of the dead nights in my schedule. Thursdays is Olympic Fencing, which as of last week I am helping coach. And In addition to the water class on Saturdays I have my normal sword class. But what about Fridays? The one night a week that I have nothing on the schedule?
That is where my sword trainer tool comes in handy. I dedicated to this thing and dammit, I am going to hit the 30 days without skipping a day. What this little training tool lets me do is practice my cuts inside, in my living room without hitting furniture, ceilings, or breaking light fixtures. The length of the handle is as long as my Feder, and the cross guard is the length of the cross guard, so if I do something I shouldn't be able to with a sword I get hit with it. Also the length of the guard means that I can cut down then use my hands like I should to bring the weight up unlike doing practices with a dumbbell. The first one was wood, the second one aluminum and I couldn't be happier with it.
The balance is a bit forward but not as bad as it could be. The weight is changeable so right now I am training with 2.5 pounds but it is easy enough to train with 3 or add a weight on the other side and double the weight. It has been an awesome tool to train with for a half hour on Fridays when I have nothing else going on, or on days when I have something that keeps me from the other classes or exercises that I normally do. The cool part about it is that the cost was minimal to make it. (I had all the parts laying around) and after 50 cuts I can feel it working. I even have one in the works for my friend who wanted a short sword one, and for 10 bucks without the weight can easily make one for him.
What I am really driving at here is that if you want something and are willing to put the time energy and effort in, you can get there. I am still a long ways from my weight goal but the thing is that this time it does not matter. The numbers on the scale do not mean I am not a fast swimmer, or that I cannot hold my own against enough of the people I fence with that I feel like I am super far behind. I am helping drive the conversation, and I am training myself in little ways that will, when I am done, make me better at what I do.
Fridays could have been the off day. They could have been the day that I did nothing but watch TV and ate chips. Instead they are the light, 30 minute of cutting drills day. The day that I get my 30 in and then do whatever else I need to.
Nutrition has changed too. My wife is a partner in this, we are eating much more fruit and less carbohydrates not because they are evil but just as a way of eating better. Last week I lost 6 pounds, this week my weight went back up by 1 but I am not worried. This is not a short term fix to long term problems. You want to know the super secret way to loose 30 pounds? 100? Keep on it, change your life, it is not in a pill, a wrap, or some magic exercise routine that you follow for 30 days. It is in making the change from grabbing a candy bar to grabbing an apple on the way out the door. I am down a few pounds so far, but I feel better, and training a little each day helps that. Weighing the cost of eating 250 calories of candy bar when it means I have to work out for a half hour or more to burn it off means it is just not worth it.
This is a journey. After 30 days starts my longer challenge. Maybe I am only 15 in it now, but if I can keep it going after this month I cannot imagine the rewards being anything less than good.
Every journey starts where your feet are and ends, where you take yourself. I am glad I have begun this one and it is getting me where it is.
January 2nd I began the 30 in 30 HEMA challenge, 30 days, at least 30 minutes of exercise each day. Today marks day 15.
How has it worked? In December we started taking classes at the gym. A water aerobics class that is doing a fair job at kicking my ass because I am pushing myself. 4 days a week, one hour classes a day. Then came adding another Long sword class to my normal training. There is another group in town that meets at the University on Tuesday nights, which happens to be one of the dead nights in my schedule. Thursdays is Olympic Fencing, which as of last week I am helping coach. And In addition to the water class on Saturdays I have my normal sword class. But what about Fridays? The one night a week that I have nothing on the schedule?
That is where my sword trainer tool comes in handy. I dedicated to this thing and dammit, I am going to hit the 30 days without skipping a day. What this little training tool lets me do is practice my cuts inside, in my living room without hitting furniture, ceilings, or breaking light fixtures. The length of the handle is as long as my Feder, and the cross guard is the length of the cross guard, so if I do something I shouldn't be able to with a sword I get hit with it. Also the length of the guard means that I can cut down then use my hands like I should to bring the weight up unlike doing practices with a dumbbell. The first one was wood, the second one aluminum and I couldn't be happier with it.The balance is a bit forward but not as bad as it could be. The weight is changeable so right now I am training with 2.5 pounds but it is easy enough to train with 3 or add a weight on the other side and double the weight. It has been an awesome tool to train with for a half hour on Fridays when I have nothing else going on, or on days when I have something that keeps me from the other classes or exercises that I normally do. The cool part about it is that the cost was minimal to make it. (I had all the parts laying around) and after 50 cuts I can feel it working. I even have one in the works for my friend who wanted a short sword one, and for 10 bucks without the weight can easily make one for him.
What I am really driving at here is that if you want something and are willing to put the time energy and effort in, you can get there. I am still a long ways from my weight goal but the thing is that this time it does not matter. The numbers on the scale do not mean I am not a fast swimmer, or that I cannot hold my own against enough of the people I fence with that I feel like I am super far behind. I am helping drive the conversation, and I am training myself in little ways that will, when I am done, make me better at what I do.
Fridays could have been the off day. They could have been the day that I did nothing but watch TV and ate chips. Instead they are the light, 30 minute of cutting drills day. The day that I get my 30 in and then do whatever else I need to.
Nutrition has changed too. My wife is a partner in this, we are eating much more fruit and less carbohydrates not because they are evil but just as a way of eating better. Last week I lost 6 pounds, this week my weight went back up by 1 but I am not worried. This is not a short term fix to long term problems. You want to know the super secret way to loose 30 pounds? 100? Keep on it, change your life, it is not in a pill, a wrap, or some magic exercise routine that you follow for 30 days. It is in making the change from grabbing a candy bar to grabbing an apple on the way out the door. I am down a few pounds so far, but I feel better, and training a little each day helps that. Weighing the cost of eating 250 calories of candy bar when it means I have to work out for a half hour or more to burn it off means it is just not worth it.
This is a journey. After 30 days starts my longer challenge. Maybe I am only 15 in it now, but if I can keep it going after this month I cannot imagine the rewards being anything less than good.
Every journey starts where your feet are and ends, where you take yourself. I am glad I have begun this one and it is getting me where it is.
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