For this class we began our exploration of techniques using the off-hand (i.e. the hand not holding the Messer) for performing what is referred to as “the grips”, a method of manipulating your opponent by grabbing, pushing, or pulling their sword arm.
What an exciting day! Saturday’s class was our first time returning to an indoor training space in almost two years. We had a fully booked roster, including three new students!
A few quick announcements:
- We’re indoors now! As we make the transition to indoor training, please keep an eye on the locations and times of classes as they might be subject to change. Please check out the Gemac website for details about schedules.
- GEAR: Some folks have been asking about gear, we have suggestions regarding the order of purchasing equipment and what to look for when purchasing practice equipment on our resources page. If you have specific questions please make sure to discuss with your teachers and the advanced students in the classes.
- On a related note, I highly recommend indoor shoes for working in the Ripley-Grier rooms. Flat-footed shoes will be better for your training, and help us keep the room in better condition. Check out our resources page for some suggestions!
- Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic this is our first class covering the grips in a long while, so we're going to start slow and build in future classes!
For this class we began our exploration of techniques using the off-hand (i.e. the hand not holding the Messer) for performing what is referred to as “the grips”, a method of manipulating your opponent by grabbing, pushing, or pulling their sword arm.
There are entire schools of HEMA-related schools and texts devoted to wrestling or ringen. The techniques described here represent specific lessons for accompanying fencing with the one-handed sword. As usual, they are mostly pulled from Talhoffer sources, along with a little bit of influence by related texts such as Paulus Kal and the Glasgow Fechtbuch (more about sources in another post).
There are three primary targets for these off-handed grappling techniques are the wrist, the elbow, and the neck. Each of these targets can be manipulated in a variety of ways that create the context for a number of different techniques (sword takings, body checks and throws, etc), but since we’re just getting started we’re going to focus on foundational pushing and pulls of the wrist and elbow.
A NOTE REGARDING TRAINING
Many of these grappling techniques are capable of causing serious bodily harm to your opponent as they target sensitive (read: easily breakable, over-extendable, twist-able) regions of the body. Here’s a couple of important reminders of how we can keep each other safe while training:
• All lessons are always opt-in. If something isn’t comfortable or you’re unable to participate in a drill or lesson for any reason just make sure to let one of the teachers know and we’ll make sure you have space to practice or work on something else.
• Keep focused and communicate with your partner about intensity and speed.
• If someone says “stop,” you stop. No matter what.
• Go slow! Especially when you’re just getting started or working with a new training partner. It is more important to learn something correctly at a slow and smooth pace rather than try to rush it. Errors happen as speed and intensity ramp up, sometimes without you realizing it.
• Finally, ee’re going to be pretty close to one another for these drills. If your training partner requests that you to put on a face mask, please do so.
We begin this series with a simple exercise in using the off-hand through a variation on a common warding drill and build our way to more active drills.
Drill Number One
Beginning with our basic warding drill: The Feeder provides a basic over-strike which the Player must then correctly parry. Now we add variations:
• when the Player parries, they reach out and tap the Feeder’s wrist.
• ... the Player must reach out and tap the Feeder’s elbow.
Drill Number Two
The Feeder provides a basic over-strike by stepping into range, but also applies pressure against the bind in attempt to move forward.
The Player parries the strike, and grabs the Feeder’s wrist, and pulls them forward, stepping offline to allow them to pass through.
Drill Number Three
The Feeder provides a basic over-strike by stepping into range, but also applies pressure against the bind in attempt to move forward. In this case the Feeder can also
The Player parries the strike, and reaches for the Feeder’s elbow, and, pushing up on the elbow, steps offline to allow them to pass through.
Points to think about:
- Make sure that when you ward, you are applying the correct footwork, and rotating your body to face your opponent.
- As you practice this drill focus on closing the delay between the parry and wrist tapping / grabbing etc..
- Remember to keep your sword in front of your hand! If you reach out to grab your opponent without protecting it, you’re going to lose that hand.
- When doing grappling work, an important rule of thumb is to generally “let the person go the way they want to go.” It’s much more difficult to interrupt and redirect a moving object than it is to help it along it. The objective should be to take advantage of your opponent’s momentum and get yourself out of the way.