Holding the Sword – Practice

Immediate Practice

• 10 minutes – Experiment with ways of holding the rapier.
  • Try different grips
  • Try two fingers over the quillon.
  • Try one finger over (what is described).
  • Hold the grip deeply in the hand.
  • Hold the grip further toward the ends of your fingers.
• In the grips, experiment with the following movements:
  • A sawing or chopping motion.
  • A thrusting movement with the point.
  • Circling the point.
  • Rolling your hand from palm-up to palm down.
  • Be sure to try these maneuvers with the grip shown in the video.

Ongoing Practice

• Regularly examine your grip.
• To do the grip well takes finger and hand strength that is typically not present at the beginning of one’s learning.