[Devon]

Hey @jeffrey.mcalpine check out Revival Clothing. This gambeson is pretty decent:
https://revivalclothing.com/product/linen-gambeson/

[Devon]

I use the term Armizare. And you could more specifically call it Armizare Duello to refer to our branch.

[Devon]

Armizare essentially means “system of arms” and is how Fiore referred to his art.

[Devon]

If you point us at some specific timing marks in the videos it’ll be easier to give comments but a few thoughts on what I saw:

1. In your practice make sure that your partner continues their attack and doesn’t try to immediately arrest their sword as you make contact. This will give you a better sense of whether the deflection is working or not — they need to remember to try to hit their target.

2. Try crossing swords a little closer to the middle (in the second section of the debole instead of the first)

3. Experiment with the angle of meeting in your deflection. Sometimes you’re deflection looks too much in line with the direction of the cut so it does not intersect it very much, thus it only imparts a small amount of force. 90-degrees behind the angle of the cut creates the most effective deflection but is not always possible (especially when the opponent is cutting near vertical) but you’ll find the closer you get to it the more crisp the deflection. So you seek to find a middle ground of efficiency and angle.

Hope that helps.

Devon

PS I notice in your parries that you are hitting Karen’s sword, then lifting away from her sword, then counter-attacking. Get rid of that lift away. Parry. Stop your sword after it finishes it’s downward action and make no upward action, then extend to thrust. (note: Karen seems to be doing this pretty well — though she should make sure when she steps back and to the side she does it in a way that leaves her left foot in front, then she can pass with her right on her counter-attack).

[Devon]

Great swords (spadone, montante, zweihander) are beautiful teachers of how to work with momentum and mass. I have learned a tremendous amount from them that has helped me with all weapons. The gioco largo material that we covered in this most recent live session is quite relevant to the great sword. One thing you’ll find, especially if you’re working with one that has a lot of mass, is that you need to emphasize shoulder cutting and full cuts.

Explore the Gioco largo defense form, keeping everything large and from the shoulder. Really emphasize the turning of the body in all the actions.

That’s a good place to start.

[Devon]

We’ll try to put together a pdf compilation of the homework for this week David. It’s a good idea.

[Devon]

Hey Thomas, the upper, middle, and lower keys will not be explicitly covered within the course material but will be available as an assessment within the Skill Assessment module. Those assessment exemplars and instructions will be going up shortly.

[Devon]

You should be really proud of this form Stela! It’s beautiful. Nice transitions. I’m not surprised @bendavis couldn’t give you much.

I have a few additional picky things for you in addition to Ben’s comment:

– Your finestra is too low. Bring it up a big higher so you could use it to protect your head from a downward blow.

– When moving forward, send the sword first: Porta di ferro to posta finestra, lift the sword first then step through it. Porta di ferro mezanna to posta breve, lift the sword point then step. Coda longa to bicornu, extend the cut and follow it with your step. Frontale to cinghiara mezanna, lower the sword then step behind the lowering.

– Look before you turn.

– Keep your breve in with your elbows by your sides.

I hope you feel honoured by my pickiness you did a superb job. 🙂

Devon

[Devon]

Hey @stela.menezes ,

Couple things to add to @bendavis ‘s feedback:

1. Make sure that in the finestra part of the form when going forward that you are first thrusting into extended finestra (weight forward, sword still high, thrusting down), then volta stabile your sword into posta longa, then step. I addressed this specifically in the last Q&A so you can look there for some added detail.

2. I notice that you are pushing your knee very strongly forward. This can be done in a healthy way but I find it is often slower. It is generally better if you want to go further to step further. Or just don’t push out as far.

Your order of extension going forward is really good. Your positions are also very crisp and your motions are efficient and intentional.

[Devon]

Greg’s comments here are spot on. Order is a primary place to focus.

One additional thing – watch out with having your hands forward in Posta di Dona. They’re an easy target. Bring them back and to the right by elevating them, pulling them to the side and twisting your torso more. When you want your sword to be more vertical/closer, then tuck the hands down more.

You can test this out with Karen by having her cut at your hands and then seeing if you can take them away as targets without moving backward.

[Devon]

A clarifier @bob.randolph : @bendavis is referring to the width of your stance and the bowling ball. The bowling ball should be able to roll between your feet from the front (no problems getting it through from the side). Posta longa is a bit of an exception as we tend to step more on the line of direction with it because its focus is to maximize reach.

[Devon]

At this point Thomas you might find it useful to practice power, reach, and flow.

1. Power – practice the form putting more into the action, starting with the levering of the sword and then emphasizing the turn and push in the legs to keep up with the added speed.

2. With the added power, really seek to maximize your step.

3. Separately from spending time on power, work on trying to do the whole thing without pausing.

Practice in these ways without being too critical or perfection oriented at first. Give your body time to find it and adjust. Then start seeking to bring back the same precision and good order you have currently while maintaining the added elements.

[Devon]

@bendavis feedback is spot on, additional:

A good time reference for order being off is 0:29 you’ll see in these cuts that your body moves simultaneous and sometimes a bit ahead.
In your cuts, particularly the fendente, don’t lift the lead hand to any point higher than it’s starting position. You’re often lifting the hand up before cutting down. Wasted movement and it also exposes the hands.

[Devon]

Further to Ben’s comments:
The bowling ball idea is best understood as a way of interpreting stance width. So when you look at your stance front on, if someone were to roll a bolling ball straight at you, is there space for the bowling ball to get between your feet. Your stances were often narrow. Their length was excellent. Posta Longa tends to be a narrow stance as it focuses on creating distance, so think about width most in cinghiara, frontale, and porta di ferro.

Relax your hands. An old instructor of mine said “it is hard to unmake a fist”. His statement was meant both mechanically and psychologically.

Also watch the orientation of your front foot. Make sure it points toward your opponent. I note that it’s turned inward in a few places (you can see this at the end of your first volta stabile and mezza volta).

Your upper body posture is really nice. Strong and proud. You are taking long stances and strong steps.

Devon

[Devon]

Thanks for sharing these @thomas.belloma !