[Van de Laak]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V58MiSjQzDM

Any comments are welcome! Thanks. (don't expect much, its quite lame, for I am a newbie)

[Hugh Knight]

Hello,

What exactly *is* a flourish, and which manual discusses them?

[Anders Backlund]

This looks very much like the kind of stuff I improv for fun.

I've seen faster and more fluid moves, but as you say, you're a beginner. Just work it into your muscle memory! XD

[Allen W]

Only problem I see is that you need to watch your edge alignment on the rising cut prior to Ox. You're twisting the edge out of line just a little prematurely. Of course I can't see the imaginary opponent to be sure but I think you should cut cleanly to Ox before rolling the edge over if you you wish to roll it at all.

[Steven Reich]

Good job, and keep doing these, they will very much help your technique. Be sure that your hands and feet are coordinated--although it might take a little while to feel the two "click" together (a feeling of more powerful attacks with less work is a clue that this is starting to happen).

Also, don't neglect simple solo drills; that is, the same one or two cuts over and over (with careful attention paid to the feet).

The one big piece of advice I have is to do this type of stuff a lot--you won't necessarily see the improvement day to day, but as the repetitions add up into the thousands, you'll notice a difference as the movements of your body begin to find a concordance. Oh yeah, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER go faster than the speed at which you can perceive all of the movements of your body--that brings many bad habits. Your controlled speed will increase in time (and uncontrolled speed is as dangerous to you as it is to your opponent).

Steve

[Van de Laak]

sorry double post...

[Van de Laak]

Thanks for all the constructive comments so far... I realise that I end the unterhau directly into ochs with the blade horizontal, I will work on that... keeping it vertical all the way up, and only then go into ochs. I just did a few unterhaus keeping it vertical, and suddenly I heard that magical swoosh sound. So I guess I doing something right now... hehe. Another thing I noticed is that I have to keep my head straight. Again thanks, and if there are any more tips... they are welcome! Greetings from a Dutchman in Hong Kong.

[Steven H]

[Steven H]

[G.S. Lutz]

Hello,
This is an excellent start. My only comment is to slow wayyyyyy down.
My technique can be fast as lightning, but that doesn't make it correct. I will introduce new movement in at 1/4 speed to make sure that my hands are in the right line, my hips are making the connection etc.

If we learn a bad habit at speed then it is much longer to counteract and fix, for we are wanting to go fast and use it.

cheers,

[Van de Laak]

Thanks for the comments, I will work on slowing it down and use more sloping passes. I only have Tobler's book (German Longsword) and the Ochs DVD. But I have a lot of background in kung fu (white eyebrow style) I know it has not much to do with Liechtenauer but it helps quite a bit with picking up things more quickly. I only have been practising like this for two hours or so. (with sword in hand that is) 10 - 15 minutes after diner in an outside parking lot) and occassionally in the sitting room using the reflection of my main window as a mirror. But I have to be careful though, not hitting any furniture, haha.

[Greg Mele]

Not a bad start. Work s-l-o-w-l-y for now and coordinate your body movements more - do you see (or hear) when you are stomping your foot? That's because your body is slightly out of sequence and you're off balance. Narrow the angle of your oberhau (they shouldn't be wider than 45 degrees, some styles, such as Fiore, are narrower) , and make sure you arms are well extended but don't lock out. Avoid looking down at your feet or at your sword - you should be looking at the "opponent". Remember that wherever the big toe of the lead foot points is where the power of the cut goes, so make sure that when you step it is straight into the "target".

Again, all basic things and you're off to a fine start - just keep working at it.

[Gary A. Chelette]

This looks very much like "Kata" in the Japanese forms. One starts out simple and slow intill the movements become natural and flowing.

Good start, keep going!

[Randall Pleasant]

[Greg Coffman]

A flourish can also be likened to shadow boxing. The fighter envisions his or her opponent facing them and goes through the motions of an imaginary fight. It's like fighting without an actual opponent.

[Steven H]

[Van de Laak]

I would like to thank all you guys again for the constructive and very helpful comments. I am glad that I posted this clip on Youtube and mentioned it here. Even though I hesitated a bit to post this clip, for I know its not very well executed... therefore it might be a bit embarassing. Nevertheless based on the comments you all gave I was able to correct a lot of errors. Especially my unterhau has improved a lot, looking back I should have know that I didn't execute stuff, the unterhau in particular, correctly. Perhaps later I will upload another clip to compare with. Things I will focus on:

Posture, head up, straight up.
Alignment of the unterhau, and the position of my arms, keeping them more or less straight while going up, into the "unicorn" then pulling back to Ochs.
Angle of the oberhau. (I was scared hitting in the concrete, hence the mittelhau like oberhau)
Slow, but smooth.
Not stepping straight forward, using sideway sloping steps instead.
Let the cuts "hang" instead of following through. Of perhaps both, but in different sets. Just to get the feel and control.
Use more guards. (I noticed that I only use Pflug and Ochs, actually I know why, most of the time I quickly grab my sword while in the sitting room and practise some guards a few minutes at a time, but due to the ceiling and narrowness of the room, I can't practise Von Tag or Shrankhut etc.) Remember I live in Hong Kong, and the rooms are tiny here, hehe.

Thanks again.

[Jean Thibodeau]

[Van de Laak]

"Is the idea of never repeating a flourysh an ARMA idea?"

Even though I am a beginner... I would like to offer my opinion.

In my opinion it is a good idea NOT to repeat a flourysh. For example Bruce Lee, whether you don't like the man or not is irrelevant, he had some visionary thoughts; he never practised any fixed forms. (perhaps only when he was younger, but later on he moved away from that) Even though I practised White Eyebrow Kung Fu since 1988, where we only practised fixed forms, I agree with him. Practising fixed forms will teach you certain moves, which is good, but practising the same forms over and over again, will make you an inflexible robot. It would be much better to learn all individual moves independently and then go shadowboxing. You will be flexible in your moves and perhaps you will even be able to actually fight, instead of showing off a fancy fixed form. The same with Liechtenauer or any other martial art. However I can understand why they made such fixed forms in martial arts, they are an excellent theorical tool, and you can use them nicely to standardize the art and teaching, but for practical usage they are useless.

[Van de Laak]