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Timo Nieminen




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PostPosted: Tue 08 May, 2012 5:06 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Emil Andersson wrote:
I feel that making more than a single strike in an attack is harder than it appears to be. Say that I make a descending strike through a molinello which is parried by the opponent. The initiative now favours his smaller and faster weapon. I need to back away to keep him out of distance, which is usually difficult to achieve when he's bearing down on me.


Well, yes. This is part of the point of Figueyredo's rules. Sequences of attacks, practice and learn.

Sometimes, don't wait for the parry to connect. As soon as your opponent is committed to a parry, go around it or pull you hands/point in so that you don't hit his sword. Keep moving; to stop dead can mean trouble. If hitting the opponent's sword can mean stopping dead, see how to avoid it.

If they don't parry with commitment, hit them!

"In addition to being efficient, all pole arms were quite nice to look at." - Cherney Berg, A hideous history of weapons, Collier 1963.
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Emil Andersson




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PostPosted: Tue 08 May, 2012 9:34 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Timo Nieminen wrote:


Well, yes. This is part of the point of Figueyredo's rules. Sequences of attacks, practice and learn.



The thing is that if my sword is stopped or hindered by a parry or otherwise, the sequence is broken and cannot be resumed faster than my opponent can make his own move. I do get what you're saying about avoidance, though. I think that more practice in changing lines during molinello (as covered in Mondschein's book on the spadone) would do me much good.
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Jean Thibodeau




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PostPosted: Tue 08 May, 2012 10:35 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Emil Andersson wrote:
Timo Nieminen wrote:


Well, yes. This is part of the point of Figueyredo's rules. Sequences of attacks, practice and learn.



The thing is that if my sword is stopped or hindered by a parry or otherwise, the sequence is broken and cannot be resumed faster than my opponent can make his own move. I do get what you're saying about avoidance, though. I think that more practice in changing lines during molinello (as covered in Mondschein's book on the spadone) would do me much good.


I'm not a teacher of this stuff but I do have about 4 years of training experience with longsword and staff and I think that maybe you are confusing a training exercise that lets you train separate blows in a series of logically linked exercises and in a real fight in period would be used for transitioning from one blow/technique to the next in a fluid fashion, and many times a missed blow would be followed by you with the next techniques in the sequence or jumping ahead to whatever technique gives you the quickest way to follow up with another attack or parry depending on context.

If your montante is immobilized and your sword and your opponents swords are in a bind you would probably use similar or adapted techniques of the shorter longsword to continue the fight, and not just follow a training sequence.

Leaving the bind with the montante would probably dangerous from a dead stop and a moulinet might be appropriate with the heavy montante as the fastest way to give another blow if your montante simply missed or was deflected ?

I could be wrong here, but it's just my impression that " sequences " are somewhat like an eastern martial arts " Kata " and are a training tool but not an A-B-C-D ...... etc ... recipe to fight with. Wink Idea

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Aleksei Sosnovski





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PostPosted: Tue 08 May, 2012 11:14 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

It would be great to see videos of your bouts, Emil. Things that you describe are a little different from what I have experienced. This may be because your sword is lighter than mine or your opponent is more skilled than mine or because we simply fight differently or because of whatever other reason.

I have found that it is very difficult to parry a strong blow of zweihander with a longsword. Most blows have to be avoided, not deflected. It is easy to deflect a vertical cut or a thrust. One might be able to deflect a diagonal cut to the head (beat it upwards) or a horizontal cut to the knee (beat it into the ground), but deflecting a horizontal cut to the waist or a diagonal cut to the torso is very difficult. In most cases a longsword (that weighs about 1/2 of my zweihander) is simply beaten aside. I assume that you didn't fight full-speed, did you? One common mistake that people do when fighting in slow motion is that they do things that won't work in full speed. Maybe something like this happened in your bouts because neither you nor your opponent know well what a montante can do.

Backing away is a must when your weapon gets stopped or deflected. However your main goal should be to avoid such situations. Your opponent must retreat, not you. You should learn to strike so that he cannot deflect or stop your blows. Also keeping your arms straight and hitting with your point (not center of percussion) are very important. I often find myself fighting with a zweihander on a "longsword" distance. This is not the right thing to do, one should use the length of the weapon to his advantage.

One thing that I found very difficult to learn is combining an attack and defense in one cut. Just beating a faster blade aside is of little use because your opponent will be able to make a second blow before you make yours. Instead it is better to use great mass of your weapon to sweep your opponent's blade aside and hit him in the same time, but it is very dangerous.You have to use a lot of force so you probably won't be able to stop your weapon.

Another dirty trick to make when parrying is to step backwards and strike at your opponent's hilt rather then his blade. If you are lucky you will hit his arms, and the length of your blade allows to keep your own arms safe.

Please continue posting your videos and sharing your experience.
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Tim Rivera





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PostPosted: Wed 09 May, 2012 11:44 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Jean Thibodeau wrote:
I could be wrong here, but it's just my impression that " sequences " are somewhat like an eastern martial arts " Kata " and are a training tool but not an A-B-C-D ...... etc ... recipe to fight with. Wink Idea


For some of the rules (especially Figuereido's early ones), yes. For the contextual ones, no - they are meant as a recipe.

It's hard to give any advice to you, Emil, without seeing video, but my gut feeling is that safety prevented you from using the montante in the manner it's best used.


Tim
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Frederico Martins




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PostPosted: Thu 10 May, 2012 3:58 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Hi, great topic!

As far as I understood, the montante was used, for self defense, usually agaisnt smaller swords than the longsword(more common in iberia than the longsword at that time), mostly single handed swords, sword and shield for example, and in that case is all about keeping distance, with power, so that the opponents can't possibly parry and enter. That might sound very simplistic, but since the montante is not so easy to maneuver, knowing how to strike properly is what allows you to do that. And of course that starts to be harder and more interesting when you add multiple opponents, as in alot of later later rules.

Godinho even says that a guy with a dagger is able to disarm an unexperienced guy with a montante.
That to say, Im not a big fan of the strikes you made in your last version of the 3rd rule, that barelly have rotation, and are almost just translations forward, that seems like the kind of strike that could be easily parried with a smaller weapon. I much preffer your first 2 options!
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Tim Rivera





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PostPosted: Thu 10 May, 2012 6:53 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Frederico Martins wrote:
Godinho even says that a guy with a dagger is able to disarm an unexperienced guy with a montante.


Not just that it can be done, but that he's seen a guy with a sword and dagger take the montante with only the dagger, after his sword was broken.


Tim
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Matthew P. Adams




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PostPosted: Thu 10 May, 2012 7:29 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I've seen footage of my instructor defeat an opponent who is armored and has a longsword while he was unarmored and had a dagger.

So any hit with the sword against him would count, but only his dagger to a weak point of armor (elbows, neck, pits, etc) would score a point.

He kept retreating until he was able to close in and grapple, then he was able to bring the dagger in. It was eye opening.

I think a big part of the Montonte is the intimidation factor, which you loose when bouting with modern safety equipment.

"We do not rise to the level of our expectations. We fall to the level of our training" Archilochus, Greek Soldier, Poet, c. 650 BC
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Timo Nieminen




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PostPosted: Thu 10 May, 2012 2:28 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Aleksei Sosnovski wrote:
Also keeping your arms straight and hitting with your point (not center of percussion) are very important.


Depending on which meaning of "center of percussion" intended [1], these might be the same point. I find that on thrusting longswords, CoP/pivot point at or very close to the point is best (and is there on good replicas). I think I would like it very close to the point on a montante (or other large two-hander). Where is it to be found on good trainers and originals?

The Hanwei Lowlander has CoP/pivot point close to the point.

[1] The two meanings are "pivot point", which is the older meaning, and still the correct scientific/technical meaning in physics and sports science, and "node of vibration" which is most common in modern sword terminology. Hitting at the pivot point produces the least force on the gripping hand, in the absence of vibration. Force on the hand when hitting can be, and is, described as "hand shock". Hitting at the node of vibration produces minimal vibration at the gripping hand; vibration at the grip is also described as "hand shock", which I think is why CoP was given it's second meaning.

"In addition to being efficient, all pole arms were quite nice to look at." - Cherney Berg, A hideous history of weapons, Collier 1963.
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Emil Andersson




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PostPosted: Thu 10 May, 2012 2:55 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Timo, the CoP (that is, the node of vibration as you mention it) on my A&A montante trainer is about two thirds up the blade towards the point. And Aleksei, my montante trainer is 60'' long and weighs about 4.7lbs. It is smaller than the two-handed sword that you're using, but still significantly larger than your average longsword. I don't feel like I can simply punch through things with it, although I might be doing things wrong. I hope so, at least. Happy

Anyway, I was able to get some bouting footage from tonight's practice. It was a hastily thrown together affair, but I was able to hook up a fencing partner and have at it for two bouts. I'm in blue, he's in red. He had also never bouted against a montante before. We played it friendly, but there was certainly intent in our strikes and movement. I have my background in longsword fencing which I think is quite obvious when I look at myself. I'm also used to being a defensive fencer, which I really should try to change for the sake of the montante. I'm also terrible at grappling. Blush

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYIFFhyL3j8

I won't be dragging this out with attempts to alleviate my performance. I'm fairly certain that I'm not using the montante in the way it was meant to be (or even in much good of any way at all) but I'm new and I need to learn, so have at it. Let me know what you think my biggest mistakes are and what I should pay attention to and focus on. In the second bout you can see what I mean when I'm having difficulties with having my strikes stopped.

Thanks for all the feedback, by the way. Happy

Edit: Oh and also, hi there Frederico. I'm glad to see you've joined up here from YouTube to partake in the discussion.
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Tim Rivera





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PostPosted: Thu 10 May, 2012 4:02 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Emil Andersson wrote:
I'm in blue, he's in red. He had also never bouted against a montante before. We played it friendly, but there was certainly intent in our strikes and movement. I have my background in longsword fencing which I think is quite obvious when I look at myself. I'm also used to being a defensive fencer, which I really should try to change for the sake of the montante. I'm also terrible at grappling. Blush

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYIFFhyL3j8


Thanks for putting the video up. Two big things I noticed:

1. You tend to stop your strikes at the point of contact. I don't know whether that's a longsword thing (I don't do longsword), or a safety thing, but it makes it MUCH easier for your strikes to be parried. Once your opponent has you figured out in the second bout, he parries much more frequently. You tend to twirl the montante when out of range, then strike and hold the sword out in front of you, rather than engage in continuous strikes.

2. You tend to try to bind (I think that's the right term) a lot after he parries or when he attempts to close. I assume that's the longsword training coming out, but it doesn't work out well for a montante. Some advice from Mendoza is to not permit your montante to be subjugated, and to convert the falling movements of your montante into strikes. In over words, don't let the momentum of the montante die when it's out in front of you and in contact with the opponent's sword. If it does, let it fall and turn it into another strike. It's too heavy and slow to try to engage another blade the way a longsword does.


Tim
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Timo Nieminen




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PostPosted: Thu 10 May, 2012 5:14 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Emil Andersson wrote:
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYIFFhyL3j8


Giant longsword fighting! Less arms, more body motion. Don't swing that sword around, dance with that sword!

I don't like low guard with a two-hander. You can lead with a thrust, but that's relatively predictable, and deflected without going out of position. Low guard is better with a shorter weapon - the opponent will (sometimes) be tempted to step in and strike at you high, leaving an opening for that thrust to the belly.

Lead with cuts. Make your opponent have to move his sword around to stop them. That makes openings for your following attacks. Cut first, then thrust when he's out of position, if you want to thrust. You are leading with thrusts from low guard and ochs/hanging guard.

Use high guard (if you have high ceilings).

Cut at extreme range. It's OK if your opponent avoids it by moving back. You don't want them to move forwards (and reach you).

Emil Andersson wrote:
Timo, the CoP (that is, the node of vibration as you mention it) on my A&A montante trainer is about two thirds up the blade towards the point.


Where is the pivot point (i.e., the "real" CoP)? The "waggle" test can work OK for finding it - hold gently by the grip, blade hanging down loosely, and move it back-and-forth sideways. What part of the blade is stationary? This is the pivot point/CoP. Above this point, the blade moves left when you move the grip left, right when right. Below this point, blade and grip move in opposite directions. (Pendulum measurement is more accurate, but waggle doesn't need any extra equipment.)

"In addition to being efficient, all pole arms were quite nice to look at." - Cherney Berg, A hideous history of weapons, Collier 1963.
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Nicholas A. Gaese




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PostPosted: Thu 10 May, 2012 9:59 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Hey Emil

Let me first say that I havn't had the chance to study Figueyredo yet so im not very familiar with the style but I'll try to be as general as I can. First off you say that you tend to be a very defensive fighter, and it shows. Attacking from range with hard cuts from different angles will put the fellow with the shorter weapon on the defensive, to quote Liechtenauer roughly (I believe he said this anyways): "You are just as much in danger in defense as you are in attack, so press the attack".

I'm emphasising what had already been said, but footwork needs some improvement. Now don't get me wrong you seem to do quite well generally, you have decently wide stance and are able to close distance/ retreat well enough. However, you seem to always engage in a linear fashion. I guess that’s normal, but you might benefit from learning to side step or attack from different angles. Take for example a scenario, where you and a nameless opponent have your swords crossed. You can use the leverage of your large sword to flick aside the point of his blade with your false edge, then quickly with the flick of your forearms cut to his head or down on his arms. But say his sword hilt is in a position where he can stop a cut and re-engage you. Well you have a few options, but one way would be to take a large side step and reposition yourself so that you may cut or thrust at him from an angle where he is exposed. Good footwork can do wonders and is absolutely necessary with a two hander, as it lets you control range, quickly disengage and re-engage from different angles, and can help a lot in controlling a bind or when grappling ( evident in the video). That’s all normal for longsword work, but like what was said before, being able to match the movements of your feet and hips with that of the sword is very important. Longswords are fairly light compared to the montante, and they can be maneuvered with the strength of your arms but this can lead to bad habits (try going at that speed with your lutel beast Wink ). Real two handers will tire most people out if used like that, which is why they were mostly used by accomplished swordsmen, they required good technique.

Now lastly, I’d like to poke at your binding at the sword. Again it’s not bad, but it’s not “dynamic” if that makes sense. Once you engage in the bind you tend to keep your sword forward and remain in place as is, open to being controlled and to be grappled. Perhaps you’re just too focused on his sword, but this is where the foot work and being too defensive ties in. Sometimes it’s better to disengage from the bind and attack hard from elsewhere, or quickly reposition your sword for a better leverage point and press with intent.

Well this is all said with the spirit of healthy criticism in mind. Overall you showed pretty good technique in those two bouts, you really just need to do more Happy . Maybe some of my points could have been better said, but I’m pretty tired so it’ll have to do, hope it helps either way.


Regards.
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Tim Rivera





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PostPosted: Fri 11 May, 2012 8:14 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Timo Nieminen wrote:
I don't like low guard with a two-hander. You can lead with a thrust, but that's relatively predictable, and deflected without going out of position. Low guard is better with a shorter weapon - the opponent will (sometimes) be tempted to step in and strike at you high, leaving an opening for that thrust to the belly.

Lead with cuts. Make your opponent have to move his sword around to stop them. That makes openings for your following attacks. Cut first, then thrust when he's out of position, if you want to thrust. You are leading with thrusts from low guard and ochs/hanging guard.


I disagree about not leading with thrusts - typically montante rules begin with a cut, but typically montantes are used against multiple opponents, and many sources say that thrusting is fine against one opponent. Cuts can originate from thrusts, especially if they're deflected. Figueiredo gives this advice in his last paragraph, and Godinho goes so far as to say that against another montante, cuts should not be used at all.


Tim
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Aleksei Sosnovski





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PostPosted: Fri 11 May, 2012 11:09 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Emil, now I understand why your experience is so different from mine. Others have commented here as well and I agree with them. In short, here are what I consider your mistakes:

- Your cuts are very weak. This is because you cut at the target instead of cutting through it and you are using mainly your arms to deliver a blow instead of using your whole body. Remember the first rule: straight hands and steps! Just as Timo said, more body work! Guards where the sword is held in front of you, and especially the low guard, are not very good for cuts. Use high and tail guard more.
- You try to fence with your opponent instead of just beating him.
- There is too much binding in your fight and in a bind a lighter faster weapon usually has an advantage.
- You often swing your sword around without intent of hitting your opponent. What is it for? Show? Well, you are tiring yourself and your opponent should be very grateful to you for this Wink

I would advise you to make some pell work and test cutting against harder targets such as thick cardboard tubes. Just yesterday we had a cutting party at our training and it was very amusing to see how very fast and seemingly strong cuts couldn't even properly bite into a thick cardboard tube and just sent it flying while slower cuts executed correctly left that same tube hanging on the blade, cut 1/2 to 2/3 through.
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Emil Andersson




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PostPosted: Fri 11 May, 2012 1:16 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Thank you for all your feedback. I'm glad that I decided to start filming my fencing training, or else I wouldn't be able to get myself analyzed like this. Happy

I think it's a fact that my longsword background is seeping through into my montante work, but I'm not sure how I should go about learning to separate the two. I get the advice that you're giving me, but applying it out of the blue will be something much harder. Could you help me form some general and concise rules to go by in montante fencing? Just some small nuggets of wisdom that I can branch out from once I get the basics under control. I think that would be of great help to me.

Oh, and Timo, I'm afraid I couldn't make much sense of the waggle test when I tried it out earlier. Perhaps I should get that on the camera as well?

Next Tuesday I'm hoping to get the chance to have a bout or two against some sword & buckler fellows. I've had some bad experiences going up against those with a longsword, so let's see if something even longer can get the job done better.

Thanks again!

Edit: Oh, and Aleksei, the motions I do with the sword when outside of distance is my interpretation of the advice to keep the sword moving in anticipation of action. "A still sword is a dead sword", as I've been told, but I'm probably taking it to extremes. Big Grin
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Steven Reich




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PostPosted: Fri 11 May, 2012 1:27 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Two general things I would say about the Montante:

1. When you practice, make the actions big--stupid big. You'll learn to let the sword do the work for you and throw the strikes better; you can always make them smaller when you need to.

2. The legs of your opponent are an excellent target when you have a Montante; you should be able to cover your head and upper targets at the same time, owing to the length of your sword.

Steve

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Timo Nieminen




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PostPosted: Fri 11 May, 2012 2:01 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Tim Rivera wrote:
Timo Nieminen wrote:
I don't like low guard with a two-hander. You can lead with a thrust, but that's relatively predictable, and deflected without going out of position. Low guard is better with a shorter weapon - the opponent will (sometimes) be tempted to step in and strike at you high, leaving an opening for that thrust to the belly.

Lead with cuts. Make your opponent have to move his sword around to stop them. That makes openings for your following attacks. Cut first, then thrust when he's out of position, if you want to thrust. You are leading with thrusts from low guard and ochs/hanging guard.


I disagree about not leading with thrusts - typically montante rules begin with a cut, but typically montantes are used against multiple opponents, and many sources say that thrusting is fine against one opponent. Cuts can originate from thrusts, especially if they're deflected. Figueiredo gives this advice in his last paragraph, and Godinho goes so far as to say that against another montante, cuts should not be used at all.


For spear against two weapon, where the threat of binding/trapping + closing is high, I lead with cuts. Thrust after a cut has lured the defense away, or a feinted cut has done so, or it the opponent errs and leaves a juicy opening. This is where my "cut, then thrust" advice comes from.

I think longsword is one of the worst opposing weapons to two-hander to use thrusts as lead attacks. Too easy for them to bind and close. Longsword has the leverage to allow binding (or trapping against the ground in a bad case), the speed to get into position to do so, and the reach so that they don't have to close very far to hit you.

Thrusts following cuts can work very well. One of my favourite two-hander techniques is the thrust from low guard. But almost never as an initial attack. Cut from high, opponent blocks high, end in low guard after the cut, lift point into thrust. If the opponent manages to get their weapon down and block, that's probably over-committed, so up and cut/thrust high. More likely, they step back or you hit them.

OTOH, with spear against longsword, I lead with thrusts, and disengage around the hit into a cut (or thrust) when (if!) the thrust is deflect. I don't recall doing this with two-hander (perhaps I do do this, but I use it much less often than spear). I should try it. Thrust high, disengage into a cut to the feet.

"In addition to being efficient, all pole arms were quite nice to look at." - Cherney Berg, A hideous history of weapons, Collier 1963.
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Jean Thibodeau




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PostPosted: Fri 11 May, 2012 10:29 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Nicholas A. Gaese wrote:
Hey Emil

Let me first say that I havn't had the chance to study Figueyredo yet so im not very familiar with the style but I'll try to be as general as I can. First off you say that you tend to be a very defensive fighter, and it shows. Attacking from range with hard cuts from different angles will put the fellow with the shorter weapon on the defensive, to quote Liechtenauer roughly (I believe he said this anyways): "You are just as much in danger in defense as you are in attack, so press the attack".


Now lastly, I’d like to poke at your binding at the sword. Again it’s not bad, but it’s not “dynamic” if that makes sense. Once you engage in the bind you tend to keep your sword forward and remain in place as is, open to being controlled and to be grappled. Perhaps you’re just too focused on his sword, but this is where the foot work and being too defensive ties in. Sometimes it’s better to disengage from the bind and attack hard from elsewhere, or quickly reposition your sword for a better leverage point and press with intent.

Well this is all said with the spirit of healthy criticism in mind. Overall you showed pretty good technique in those two bouts, you really just need to do more Happy . Maybe some of my points could have been better said, but I’m pretty tired so it’ll have to do, hope it helps either way.


Regards.


Quoted post edited down to what I want to comment on but I basically agree with all of the original post.

And I'm also commenting very generally. Wink Big Grin

Here is what I think we can break don't some relevant elements:

A) Learning the techniques and motions based on the interpretation of the montante techniques: Here you can be doing the motions correctly in isolation solo more or less well. ( I'm not qualified to judge this ).

B) Assuming that you are doing these superficially correctly, do you understand the why and the purpose of each move ?
If your understanding is superficial you will move technically correctly but at wrong time and distance or in the wrong context.

C) Think less technically and more tactically. Big Grin ( Easy for me to say, harder for you to do. Big Grin Cool )
A lot of this involves distance and the suggestion to not move as linearly and use the longer reach of the montante: For example, with the lonsword attacking the legs is not usually wise and can be very dangerous but with a foot or more of reach you can safely attack the legs and force the longsword opponent on the defensive forcing him to retreat or try to defend the attack to the legs.

D) To bout safely I think you can't use the momentum of the montante agressively enough for it to be very hard to stop or parry by the longsword so that this makes it very difficult to use the montante as it should be rather than as an extra long extra heavy longsword ?

Maybe rather than free bouting you have to set up paired drills using slower motions and try to react in a patient/agent fashion imagining the momentum that can't be safely used: Oh, to " play act " this accurately you do need to know what would happen at real fighting speeds and full momentum and how hard it would be for the longsword to stop a full power stroke ? ( Guessing here. Question )

Oh, and as mentioned in one of the posts: All the continuous motion of the montante should be threatening to your opponent and force him to react and at least keep him too busy mentally to form a plan of attack ...... i.e. scare and confuse with moves that cannot be ignored ! Way, out of range motion is just tiring you out ! If you where 20 feet away you would certainly be wasting energy moving the sword, if you are just out of range enough that you are not a treat it's pretty much the same as way out of range. Wink

In a bind maybe you can revert to longsword techniques if they are workable, but maybe this is where you have to discover if and when the montante can and should be used differently than you would a longsword ?

You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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William P




Location: Sydney, Australia
Joined: 11 Jul 2010

Posts: 1,523

PostPosted: Fri 11 May, 2012 11:09 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Jean Thibodeau wrote:
Nicholas A. Gaese wrote:
Hey Emil

Let me first say that I havn't had the chance to study Figueyredo yet so im not very familiar with the style but I'll try to be as general as I can. First off you say that you tend to be a very defensive fighter, and it shows. Attacking from range with hard cuts from different angles will put the fellow with the shorter weapon on the defensive, to quote Liechtenauer roughly (I believe he said this anyways): "You are just as much in danger in defense as you are in attack, so press the attack".


Now lastly, I’d like to poke at your binding at the sword. Again it’s not bad, but it’s not “dynamic” if that makes sense. Once you engage in the bind you tend to keep your sword forward and remain in place as is, open to being controlled and to be grappled. Perhaps you’re just too focused on his sword, but this is where the foot work and being too defensive ties in. Sometimes it’s better to disengage from the bind and attack hard from elsewhere, or quickly reposition your sword for a better leverage point and press with intent.

Well this is all said with the spirit of healthy criticism in mind. Overall you showed pretty good technique in those two bouts, you really just need to do more Happy . Maybe some of my points could have been better said, but I’m pretty tired so it’ll have to do, hope it helps either way.


Regards.


Quoted post edited down to what I want to comment on but I basically agree with all of the original post.

And I'm also commenting very generally. Wink Big Grin

Here is what I think we can break don't some relevant elements:

A) Learning the techniques and motions based on the interpretation of the montante techniques: Here you can be doing the motions correctly in isolation solo more or less well. ( I'm not qualified to judge this ).

B) Assuming that you are doing these superficially correctly, do you understand the why and the purpose of each move ?
If your understanding is superficial you will move technically correctly but at wrong time and distance or in the wrong context.

C) Think less technically and more tactically. Big Grin ( Easy for me to say, harder for you to do. Big Grin Cool )
A lot of this involves distance and the suggestion to not move as linearly and use the longer reach of the montante: For example, with the lonsword attacking the legs is not usually wise and can be very dangerous but with a foot or more of reach you can safely attack the legs and force the longsword opponent on the defensive forcing him to retreat or try to defend the attack to the legs.

D) To bout safely I think you can't use the momentum of the montante agressively enough for it to be very hard to stop or parry by the longsword so that this makes it very difficult to use the montante as it should be rather than as an extra long extra heavy longsword ?

Maybe rather than free bouting you have to set up paired drills using slower motions and try to react in a patient/agent fashion imagining the momentum that can't be safely used: Oh, to " play act " this accurately you do need to know what would happen at real fighting speeds and full momentum and how hard it would be for the longsword to stop a full power stroke ? ( Guessing here. Question )

Oh, and as mentioned in one of the posts: All the continuous motion of the montante should be threatening to your opponent and force him to react and at least keep him too busy mentally to form a plan of attack ...... i.e. scare and confuse with moves that cannot be ignored ! Way, out of range motion is just tiring you out ! If you where 20 feet away you would certainly be wasting energy moving the sword, if you are just out of range enough that you are not a treat it's pretty much the same as way out of range. Wink

In a bind maybe you can revert to longsword techniques if they are workable, but maybe this is where you have to discover if and when the montante can and should be used differently than you would a longsword ?


to add to jeans second last point, theres a quote attributed to an austrian cavaklryman teaching a new guy the basic sabre cuts, when the the novice asks when he will be learning how to parry, he roars "parry?!, you keep attacking and let HIM parry!"
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