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ARMAblog
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Country: United States
Gender: Male
Interests: Longsword, Poleaxe, Dagger, Sword and Shield, Sword and Buckler, Grappling, Rapier, etc.
Expertise: I fancy myself a swordsman.
Occupation: Student
Industry: Nonprofit
Message: message meEmail: email me
Website: visit my website
Member Since:
3/27/2005
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| Well, this hasn't been updated for quite a while. It used to be a joint/communal blog be a couple of us at ARMA DFW right after we joined. It been a long road since then and a hell of a lot of fun. This makes me nostalgic for the days when this was all new to me. I would never have imagined that there was such depth and breadth to the fighting systems of my ancestors.
This weblog, however, shall remain neglected as I no longer dig the posting format as much. I have started another blog purely dedicated to my studies of Western Martial Arts. It centers around videos of sparring/freeplay, flouryishing, and whatever else I might want to put up in the future.
This weblog may be found here:
www.xanga.com/RMA_Scholar
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| Last Sunday had a very large turn out and the rigours of Ernie's drilling were a good workout.
This Sunday neither of the groups instructors were able to attend and so a more relaxed pace was taken. We opened with the two primary eight-cut drills and then did the entire set of cutting drills. Afterward we spent a bit of time on counter-cuts then moved on to a bit of sparring and "discussion". A good productive day.
Also Aaron E. womped Matt a stiff one on the hand that caused swelling; a well timed and powerful strike to be sure.
Registrations for the upcome Lonestar Schwertlager event are getting sent off and many of us eagerly await the seminars.
As always, A Scholar | | |
| Well last sunday was a good day. Ernie, Ran, Matt, Aaron E., Mason, Zack (new white shirt), Ben (also a new white shirt), and Migel were there. We were also joined by Aaron and David from our A&M group. They live up here and will be with us for the summer. Michelle came but did not participate as she was a tad hung over.
The day was hot as all get out but Ernie still drilled us decently hard. I was glad of that because it had been too long since I had heard my heart pounding in my ears.
After the exercises and and a bit of counter-drill we moved on to sparring with the paddeds. We all sparred a variation of weapons. Longsword, Sword & Shield, One-hander, Sword & Buckler... no polearms this time, but we had enough to work on anyways. The guys down from A&M are refreshing in that they have a slightly different style. Their footwork, timing and combo's are just a wee bit off from ours. That is a good thing though as it prevents stagnation within the group. They are a little timid when it comes to intend, but I think that a summer with the DFW group might make them a bit more agressive.
Staying hydrated will definately be of great import this summer. The sun in relentless this far south and the humidity of the DFW area doesn't aid that at all. We should all hold though.... Can't wait 'til next sunday.
As always, A Scholar. | | |
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Cross Training
Getting in good physical shape by swordsmanship alone is very difficult. For those who prefer other methods here are some ideas about the benifits of other activities. ...Practice, practice, practice.
Rating of Training Methods for Building Fighting Attributes
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|
Physical |
Mental |
|
"Higher is Better" |
S
t
r
e
n
g
t
h |
E
n
d
u
r
a
n
c
e |
S
p
e
e
d |
W
e
i
g
h
t |
F
l
e
x
i
b
i
l
i
t
y |
B
a
l
a
n
c
e |
R
e
p
e
r
t
o
i
r
e |
E
x
p
e
r
i
e
n
c
e |
E
d
u
c
a
t
i
o
n |
P
e
r
c
e
p
t
i
o
n |
A
t
t
i
t
u
d
e |
|
Free-Play/Sparring |
4 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
4 |
5 |
5 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
|
Solo Practice |
4 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
4 |
5 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
|
Traditional Sport Fencing |
3 |
3 |
5 |
3 |
3 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
|
Practicing Historical Fencing |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
5 |
5 |
2 |
|
Instructing Historical Fencing |
2 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
5 |
4 |
3 |
|
Observing Fighting |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
5 |
2 |
|
Reading/Writing Fighting |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
|
Swimming |
4 |
5 |
3 |
5 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
|
Running |
3 |
5 |
2 |
5 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
|
Weight Lifting |
5 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
Hiking |
2 |
3 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
Biking |
2 |
4 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
|
Aerobics |
3 |
5 |
3 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
|
Stretching |
1 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
5 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 | | | |
| CLONTARF IS IN!!!!!
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Well Travis, Matt and Aaron have done a bit of testcutting these
past few days with my newly arrived Clontarf from Albion. We have
cut on carpet tube, water bottles, milk cartons, and zurn-pex
wrapped in newspaper.
The milk cartons and water bottles, as predicted were very easy to
cut through, but still were a good guide for blade alignment. The
carpet tubing though while proving a much more difficult medium to
cut through if blade alignment was off a bit, it still was rather
easy to completely severe if blade alignmnet was indeed proper.
The zurn-pex however was a completely new and different feeling in
the testcutting world for us(matt, travis). We cut upon a 2 and a
half foot length suspended with cord at about torso or heads height.
The particular piece of zurn-pex I wrapped in newspaper was from
about 4.5-5 inches in diameter, then wrapped in duct tape once and
soaked overnight in water.
Though our results have nothing other than the sparse amount of
testcutting so far to compare with, I and Matt both felt very good
about cutting into the zurn-pex. It proved much more difficult to
cut through than any other of the mediums and due to the duct tape
layer it felt even more difficult than say flesh might be. (this
being only a hypothesis of ours, since we have nothing else to
compare it with, i.e. cutting upon pork or other meat mediums.)
With proper blade alignment we cut through the newspaper and into
the zurn-pex many times, and eventually severed it in twain. The
lack of proper blade alignment was very obvious in this medium even
bouncing off without nicking the duct tape at all leaving only a
dent.
The majority of the cuts made were Zornhaus from the second/fourth
guard(Van Dach/Vom Tag), and a few from the relative boars tooth.
And after a few cuts each, they became more natural with the
adjusting of blade alignment issues.
All in all, a very good experience and I have no doubt that this
sort of mischevious behavior will continue outside my apartment with
or without Ernies involvment (!! haha)
As Always, Scholars | | |
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