Stela
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Here is my 5-measure form.
I think it has many problems. My roverso cuts freuently don’t happen in the right order, my shoulder shows effort and my hands don’t move in the right way. The sequence of cuts through altara to the left is not in good alignment.
I’m struggling to get the crossline cuts, not dealing correctly with my weight in those.
The good things are that I did all of the form and managed to cut tthrough the target most of the time.
I am getting acquainted with my target’s timing, it is very light and sometimes I have to wait for the swinging to slow down.
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On Monday I re-trained the foundational cuts form to try and make it better, and I also practiced a lot of cuts to a target. Then I worked on the five measure form, which I still couldn’t do well. In the videos I made, I looked like a really clumsy child trying to hit something.
After that, I spent a long time putting together the gioco largo defense form. Combining the different grous pf movements with the indicated footwork was really challenging. It took me a lot of effort, and afterwards I was in no physical condition to proceed to the gioco stretto form.
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What stood out to you?
That there ate many ways to perform the same actions successfully. I have been watching the videos people are sharing and there are many interpretations that are very different from mine, but I couldn’t say that some are right and some are wrong. Certainly there are fails here or there, but | am learning to accept that there are many correct forms of doing the same things.
Did you have any big “aha moments” in your training?
<div>Not a new “aha”, but a rediscovered one from my dancing days… when you are a beginner at something, you look like a clumsy child moving, no matter how old you are or how experienced in other physical capacities.
</div>What was most challenging?
The five measure form. Working with a target to cut through was new and really hard.
Did you meet your own objectives?
I don’t think so. Couldn’t put the five measure form together in a week.
What do you think you might do differently next week?
Accept that I will not be able to learn and reproduce all the forms that are taught in a week, because many movements depend on having built some capacities before, that I haven’t developed so far.
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It’s the third week of the masterclass. The most physically challenging things for me so far are related to cutting through a target and the double movements, such as deflect and cut, parry and cut, like the ones in the gioco largo defense form.
I had never practiced with a target to cut through, I had just experimented with cutting or thrusting by approaching a fixed and rigid target. Maybe one of the biggest difficulties comes from my target being very light and swinging a lot, but anyway I am too clumsy in the five measure form.
<div>Also, I had little experience with moves that demand two actions of the sword in one flow, in the same or changing directions, and it’s been a challenge to teach my body to do them in a coordinated and elegant way.</div>
The course of action I’m taking to improve my abilities is to try and repeat, record videos and work on correcting the mistakes I identify. I believe consistency must be the best way of action, so patience and time are the only true factors that can make me better. I understand the movements and most of the theory, then it’s a matter of physical learning through experience now.
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Here is my 12-Poste progression.
It seems the transitions are smooth ant the weight is well placed in the postures.
When forming the Longa, I think my hands are late.
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This reply was modified 5 years, 6 months ago by Stela Menezes.
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This reply was modified 5 years, 6 months ago by
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The more I video myself and assess what i’m doing, the more details of problems and inaccuracies I find.
Today I was trying to make a video of the first lesson of the apprentice skill assessment (forward and reverse posture) and I discovered that when I put my weight slowly onto my right knee it swings and changes position, rearranging the structure in a weird way that was surely trained during many years, and that my instructors have been calling my attention to lately. The bones and tendons simply assume that position, even if initially I land with my weight in the correct one. I will have to make a lot of conscious effort to defeat this tendency. I saw that it is really a kind of habit because I recorded many versions of the moves, as I normally do, and the twitch was always there, except when I changed positions in a more vigorous way.
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Here are two videos of my 5-thrust progression, front view and side view. I approached them slowly, to study the trajectories with care.
In the side view I noticed the thrusts from the low positions are finishing too high, and maybe my arms are too extended.
In the front view I noticed that the thrusts from above, when going backwards, should have better control of the tip of the sword. Also, maybe sometimes my shoulders make a funny rising movement that could be eliminated.
I think the sword is traveling nicely forward in most of the thrusts, and I liked to see my posture in general.
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For normal weeks (when not on vacation) I don’t plan on training in the mornings, because it’s better to start working first and try to finish my tasks earlier, so I can have more free time in the late afternoon and evening to practice.
But I sure need to be able to sleep a bit earlier to get better rested.
I already added more water during the day and limited my coffee intake to one mug ( just black coffee, no sugar) in the morning, and only sometimes, a little cup in the afternoon.
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Today I did:
turns of the sword (volta stabile, mezza volta, tutta volta, 20 each, with each foot in front.)
downward and upward Xs, in place with no change of feet, with change, and with forward and backward steps.
foundational cuts progression and double cuts progression.
12-poste progression starting from four directions and with change of intention (defined positions/flowing)
5-thrust progression advancing and going backwards.
I also developed a hanging target (which turned out too light, but allowed some practice) and experimented with some of the cuts in the 5 measures progression. I practiced more the fuori misura, larghissima and the first cuts of the larga. Didn’t manage to put all of the progression together.
Here two videos of the 12-Poste: one stopping at each posta and one with more flow and two directions.
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This reply was modified 5 years, 6 months ago by Stela Menezes.
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This reply was modified 5 years, 6 months ago by
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<div>In a nutshell, I have a tradeoff issue: if I dedicate so much time and effort as I’d wish, and as it is necessary, to become an expert swordfighter, I would have to relinquish (as I have been actually doing lately) the time for sudying to advance in a professional career in Law ( I was invested in preparing to try becoming a judge).
</div><div>This is a big block that is not exactly helding me back from practice, but has been making me feel guilt and fear of possible regrets in the future.
Is the soluting going back to half dedication in both fields and not succeeding exactly in any of them?
</div><div>
I have no good answer at the moment. I’m hoping to attract some clarity of mind.
I developed the topic better in my journal, but here I think it’s better to put only this quick notice about the problem.
Do
I have any supporters? Maybe my instructors and hopefully this community of fellow
practitioners that I’m getting to know now.</div><div>
</div><div>
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Endurance to keep repeating drill with the sword was challenging; my arms were not prepared to keep doing, say, 5 minutes of uninterrupted cutting.
Precision is a big challenge to be solved in the long run.
I intend to spend longer doing slower movements before i try to put any martial intent, so the coordinaton gets better before putting things into any context.
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What stood out to you?
The depth of detail and analysys that can derive from even the (apparently) simplest things.
Did you have any big “aha moments” in your training?
Sure. The biggest one was about the hourglass shape in steps. I was really intrigued why some people seem to be doing everything correct and still look like a cowboy walking. That was revealing.
Also I was happy to see that I had just the enough basis so I am able to follow the most part of this course; I was worried I coul fall behind to much. So far I am feeling at least sufficiently acquainted with the basics of the art. I certainly owe this to @vitor.souza and his team of instructors.
What was most challenging?
Lack of resistance to endure many repetitions of drills with the sword. My sword is quite heavy and I am building the strength in my arms.
Did you meet your own objectives?
Mostly.
What do you think you might do differently next week?
I might keep longer practicing slower, with more focus on mechanics and movement.
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I trained every day. Didn’t do all the quantities of repetitions suggested in the practice section,though, because is seemed too much for me.
The main sword sequences I explored were the foundational cuts progression, the double cuts progression from the pre course and the downward X drill.
When I started to record videos and assess them, I spotted many weaknesses to work on. I’m not sure there was a real in this week’s time, because while I was more careful and more aware of the details, but I also got progressively more sore and tired along the week.
Here are the aforementioned sequences from my Friday session:
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What helps you stay motivated in your training?
Watching videos of people training and classes, reading about HEMA in any form (treatises, blogs, comments), making my own videos and assessing my improvements/needs of improvement.
What do you most enjoy in practice?
I enjoy every moment after my body surpasses the warm up phase. When the blood is running warm, the joints are well lubricated, the muscles are pumping energetically, there is no pain, all the lazyness and entropy of a long period of motionless have vanished.
What is a training activity or attitude that you dropped because you didn’t find it helpful?
Establishing fixed and big numbers of mechanical repetitions. I believe less and more conscious repeats are more effective, less boring, and get beter results.
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Thanks Jade!
I think you’re right. I need to pay more attention to the distribution of weight between my feet.