Mar 23 Log

Did Quintin’s class today. We looked through deflections. Last times aha moment was the crossline step for thrusting. Today’s aha moment was getting to a double cut fendente via lifting the sword from Donna over the head pushing the pommel away from my face then cutting down from and extended finestra with false followed by a true.…

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March 22

Did my movement routine, made my plan for the week. Gonna post some practice playbuilds and then try to describe what I did in words.

Movement:

Shadowboxing/Playbuilding: https://youtu.be/fH69wn1WGFA

Week 4

Topic: Fighting Shadows and Playing at Building. I really want to finish up my Masterclass in the next two weeks. Most of the struggle is time constraints and prioritizing. Last week was a wash with work stress, lack of sleep, and a lot of extra emotional labor needed for family. Also bought a car. I still got sword in hand 5 days but…

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March 12

Did flow practice again outside. The rest of the day was eaten up with work and housework.

Hopefully can do a bit more over the weekend as this weekend feels consistent but a bit light.

March 11

Did Longsword class with Devon. Really enjoyed learning about feints and deception.

Had intended to do more but got co-opted into a project with Karen which took all evening.

March 10

Got in some time outside with the sword. Flow, thrusts, defense form practice.

Had a bad sleep last night and some digestion stuff I am dealing with today. Lots of work today so I am really glad I found time to get outside and connect with my sword practice.

March 9th continued

Rest of the day was great. I put together something for the Gioco Largo Playbuild and even if it doesn’t fulfill the requirements for the assignment (cause I did my own thing… Again 😂) I am really glad I made progress and submitted something.

At 7 we did class with Quintin and it was awesome again. Did a bunch of partner…

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So the first thing I realized is that I once again didn’t actually do the assignment properly. I am terrible at actually doing assignments as stated and I often end up doing them my way. I will make another play build and record it also. I just found it interesting to record both sides and I couldn’t really conceptualize it without thinking…

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1: Begins in Posta Di Donna

2: Begins in Posta Di Donna

1: Mandritto Fendente with an advancing step

2: retreat, yield with a crossline pass and reverso fendente to the opponent’s arms

1: fade to dente di ciangiara mezzana to avoid the blow, reverso sottano to attack

2: Collect with an offline step, thrust to the opponent

Gioco Largo Playbuild

The playbuilding took 20 minutes to figure out. The editing together took 3 hours.

As is typical of myself, I didn’t follow my training plan and just did my own thing. Cutting practice. I will try to make some time for some Defense form practice later. Looking forward to class as well.

Monday March 8th

Did Gioco Largo and Gioco Stretto forms outside in the sun. Did the Fundamental cuts form

Dances review

Movement workout:

I am working with some mild resistance to doing sword work today. Feeling like I have to force myself to do things, rather than enjoying them. I just want to finish the Masterclass…

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March Week 2 Training Plan

Topic: Finish Master Class, Longsword Fundamentals

Monday – record some sword stuff, fit in some time for outside practice.

Tuesday – Practice Defense forms, Quadrant defense, beginner class at 7pm

Wednesday – Movement,

Thursday – Write out Gioco Largo Playbuild

Friday – Finish Gioco Largo and start Gioco Stretto…

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Victory Laps. I feel good about having attended the classes and got some renewal of enthusiasm from that (it was a good course correction for my lagging enthusiasm). I am glad I still managed to do sword in hand work 5 days of the week.

Course Corrections. I find that I get caught on the intellectual work such as writing out playbuilds, writing…

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March 7

Attended the German Longsword for Italians class. Practiced and recorded the form after class. Did a bunch of dance practice.

March 5

Flow drill, reviewed part of the scholar assault I know. Did some whirligig practice outside with Karen. Helped Karen practice quadrant defense and learn the gioco Stretto form.

March 4th

Did longsword scholar class Devon, it was really fantastic and challenging. Reviewed scholar form. Practiced flow drill from Devon’s class.

Mar 3

Finished my shorthand version of the scholars assault and practiced the part I have down.

Did some thrusting and cutting practice based on last night’s class.

Ran through some dances.

March 3

Last night’s class with Quintin was awesome. Karen and I got to practice thrusting through and cutting through. It was really helpful to have some quality time with it. Played whirligig, learned about the fact that I often over parry and try to get much more crossing than necessary.

Today I have a more full day of work. Gonna finish…

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March 2

Did some good training today. Cutting and thrusting. Gonna hit up the class tonight.

Victory laps: The first half of the week was good and my level of motivation was solid till Friday where it fell or transitioned to being focused on dance stuff over the weekend.

Course Corrections: I still have not managed to get the basic sequence of the Scholars assault down. Also Karen was not available to do play building. I will keep…

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March 1

Monday was a tough day. Bad sleep led to low motivation. I picked up the sword a couple times but didn’t make any meaningful progress. Did some dance and thought about stuff a lot but in the end tiredness led to me declaring Monday a rest day.

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March Week 1 Training Plan
Topic: Finish Master Class, Longsword Fundamentals
Monday rest day,
Tuesday Cuts and thrusts, review scholar assault pt 1 and 2, and beginner class at 7pm
Wednesday movement, review scholar assault pt 2 and 3
Thursday – Scholar Class, review scholars assault pt 3 and 4,
Friday – play building or… Read more

Feb 28

Dance class, lots of practice.

Did flow exercise and gioco Largo defense practice

Feb 27

Lots of dance practice. Didn’t pick up a sword today. Stressful day with helping Brianna move her stuff to her new apartment. I hope to submit a video on Monday as Sunday will likely be a minimum daily effort kinda day as Brianna and Karen will likely want my attention during the day and we have dance class in the morning.

Feb 26

Dance practice.

Reviewed what I have learned of the scholar assault.

Karen and I practiced partner exercises for Gioco Stretto.

Pushups and flow exercise.

Had hoped to do more practice today but I had to help a friend out during the day unexpectedly.

Great day today. Practiced lots of dance and footwork stuff. Did some cutting and thrusting through practice. Did class with Devon and, more importantly, I rescheduled clients so I can consistently attend. Feeling good about my rhythm. Hoping to do class with Quintin on Tuesday nights and with Devon on Thursdays. Then I will have a nice…

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Hi folks

@devonboorman demonstrated a version of the armored poste in one of the videos of the 2nd session and I have been playing with it a bit. I would love some feedback on it. Helmet and gauntlets included for extra fun factor.

Feb 24

Did dance practice: Petit Rose Filles a Marier

Movement routine:

Created and submit a video of armored Poste for feedback.

Gonna do some play building with Karen.

Feb 23

I guess I never ended up sharing my training from yesterday. I thought I had.

I did some Attack and Defense Practice focused on keeping good order and incorporating feedback I got when I submitted the form. It felt awkward and like I was regressing rather than progressing. Karen and I discussed Tempo and then submitted our…

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‘Meditations on Violence: a comparison of Martial Arts Training & Real World Violence’ by Rory Miller – A really great discussion of the difference between martial arts and actual training for violence. Rory Miller makes it intense and has lots of practical tips for training and thinking about actual violence.

‘The Liar, the Cheat, and the…

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Hi Jade,

great video. My guess is 1) Contra 2) dui tempo 3) mezzo

Some Tempo Videos to identify:

1)

2) https://youtu.be/b_-OeZUc1E0

3) https://youtu.be/x6EE_JxjuTY

Feb 22 Training Log

I have been working on the Scholar’s Assault today and am having a lot more success than last week. I have the thing loosely figured out in the first few and am getting better for the parts that are demonstrated in the Duello TV part. It gets a bit foggy beyond step 7 where the corresponding Duello TV videos end. But I…

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Training Plan February Week 4: 22-28

Topic: Rhythm and Consistency Continued….

Schedule: I have a more full work week this week. Should be able to fit in 1 – 2 hours per day of training. Will focus on Movement practice and Cutting Practice, Thrusting for some variation. Remember to try shadow boxing a bit more too.

I am hoping to be able to do a…

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Reflections on the first week of Masterclass:

Plan for Feb 15 – 21

Topic: Rhythm and Consistency

Plan: I am going to keep working the various training plans I created for weeks 1-4 while I develop one for week 5 of the Masterclass. In addition, I want to complete the Fiore class and begin working on the scholars assault. I know this may take some…

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Training was lighter today cause Karen got back and it was important to spend some time connecting. managed to get in a movement practice and showed Karen some of the dance stuff I have been working on. Tried to use the battle ropes with the defensive footwork drills to get a better sense of measure and how the attacks from there actually…

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I am really struggling to learn the Scholar’s Assault. I know it is meant to be difficult and that it takes a long time in regular Duello training but I am struggling to even break it down into chunks to learn. I have followed the videos, but even on .25 speed I can’t keep up with the actions. Has anyone else figured out a good way to learn… Read more

Feb 19 Training Plan

Continued to work on training environment, installed battle ropes.

Gioco Largo and Gioco Stretto Forms Practice with deep stance.

Flow drill

Biked to work and back.

Continuing learning the Scholars Assault.

Armored Combat

Bill Grandy vs Sean Hayes

Bill : Approaching attacker mostly soft

Sean: receiving defender hard

What stood out to you?

The defense forms took me forever to memorize. Tempo partner practice was good but was really hard to do solo.

Did you have any big “aha moments” in your training?

I guess the deflection when I finally understood it was kind of an aha…

What was most challenging?

The memorization was challenging.

Did you meet your own…

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Feb 18 Training Plan

Rearrange my training environment.

Attend Longsword Class

Dance practice

Flow exercise

12 poste progression

breaking the thrust practice

Feb 17 Training Plan

Do my Movement Routine

Dance: Practice Petit Rose and Marchesana

Try to learn part of the Scholars assault. Step one of this is to record myself saying it slowly so I can give myself instructions as I am trying to learn it. Then watch the videos again and try to follow all the pieces while looking at the written instructions.…

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Plan for Feb 15 – 21

Topic: Rhythm and Consistency

Schedule: I have a relatively relaxed work week. Should be able to fit in 1 – 3 hours per day of training. Saturday may be a rest day as Karen gets back from Bowen that day. All my training will be solo or watching video. I may try to get to the Thursday Longsword class at 12, as my clients…

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How do we access Duello.tv or Duello online material? Apologies if this was posted elsewhere.

Feb 16 2021

My Goal for today is to recover my inspiration a bit. I didn’t do my morning routine today and am struggling to get back on the horse. I feel a bit at loose ends and like I am just going through the motions. I think I am a bit overwhelmed with the amount of stuff I still need to do for the Longsword Masterclass and this feeling…

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I am going to try to use this space for journaling as journaling is the only one of my habits that I have failed entirely to follow through on. I am definitely motivated by posting things and on days that I don’t make a video I am much less motivated to work hard at sword training.

Also here is the link to my training sessions… Read more