Today on my drive home from Krav, I realized I wasn’t in any pain. I wonder how long I’ve been not hurting.
Oh, and BTW, I’m drug free. No ibuprofen before or muscle relaxers after.
I’m looking forward to taking my Krav evaluations when I get to that point. It’s not what I was looking for, but it’s nice to have a measure of progress.
Still haven’t done a lot of fencing lately, but I’ll keep you posted when I do.
I know it’s been awhile since I updated. I got a tattoo last Tuesday and am letting it heal, so I haven’t done much fighting.
I did attend a fencing event last weekend. I took classes and marshaled the field. It was nice to absorb knowledge without worrying about when I was supposed to be on the field to fence. It was lousy that I couldn’t fight, but my friends were all supportive even if they were disappointed. People I respect told me that I’m on the right track. I’ll be cleared to fight next Tuesday, and after that, I have some specific things to work on.
Tonight I’ll be co-presenting with Nik at the university tonight. We put together a panel for this year’s Pensacon about the portray of swords in the media versus the way swords were (and still are) used in real life. It was the most popular non-celebrity panel, and we actually had to turn people away, so we’re trying to make it more accessible to people who are interested. We’re hoping to have a bigger space next year!
So basically right now I’m all talk and no fight. I’ll let you know when I’m back.
Doing the advance-lunges at home is difficult in the space I’m in, but I did it.
I’m having a lot of trouble with this exercise from a pedagogical standpoint. I’m going to keep doing it while I’m looking into how exercises like these help people. However, I’ll be modifying each day’s routine into a paired drill.
Today I went to practice and helped teach. I did my official lunges before class and while Nik was explaining hand position.
I also did lunges and basic footwork with my students. Sometimes I go to the front and help teach, but I like being in the ranks with everyone else to show that even if you’ve been doing this for a few years, it’s always good to go over the fundamentals.
The shoulder is okay. Lowering the target helps. My quads are still tight. I stopped to stretch frequently. I think this tightening might be causing me to narrow my stance a bit. I don’t know how much this change will impact my fencing. More on that later, I suppose.
Today I skipped Krav and went to fencing to see off my friend who is moving. I got to help teach and spar a little bit. I also worked in 100 lunges. Now we’re adding an advance step.
My legs are sore, but my shoulder is finally piping down. No anti-inflammatories or muscle relaxers for the past few workouts.
Yesterday I hit the gym with Nik and worked the left arm more than the right as much as possible. I figure if I’ve overdeveloped the muscles on the right side without trying over the course of 30 years, if I make a concerted effort to catch up the left side, then it should take less than 30 years. Wish me luck.
After our gym time, we did a demo with the UWF fencing club. The event itself was poorly organized but well-attended. Our students were awesome, as always. They were where they were supposed to be and doing what they were supposed to do regardless of how hectic everything got.
Even though I didn’t do my usual regimen of ibuprofen before and muscle relaxers after, I wasn’t in pain after the gym and the demo (which was short, I admit), so I feel like that’s a step in the right direction.
Today I did my lunges after doing 30 minutes on the elliptical and 5 minutes on the punching bag at the gym. My punches are getting better. The big knuckles are the ones with the chafing from my gloves!
I don’t know how much lowering the target for my lunges helped me because I’m still sore around the edges from Krav last night (it wasn’t nonstop like Monday, but it was a challenging class, and we did go over our time). I hit the target more often than not. When the movement gets robotic, I get sloppy.
I’m taking ibuprofen before combat activities and a muscle relaxer after (like as soon as I get home so I’m not a zombie the next day). Shoulders are stiff but starting to get back to where they were, flex wise. Now my calves are angry with me. Fortunately, what I’m experiencing now is soreness, not pain.
I did an hour of yoga today and then decided to revisit the lunge challenge. As soon as I started, it felt wrong. I couldn’t figure it out right away, but I’ve decided that my target is too high. I moved it down so that it’s more or less parallel to my heart. Maybe holding the sword lower (you know, like I do when I fence) will help.
I was feeling pretty good, so I put in 100 lunges this afternoon. My right shoulder/back region started tingling about halfway through. I was in third hand position. I don’t know if the problem is hand position, body position, repetitive motion, or the time spent holding the sword out in front of me. Up to this point, my back has gotten tingly from sitting down. Leaning against a seat back usually helps.
I’ve noticed that when I do this drill, I square off a lot more than I usually do when I fence. I’m trying to turn sideways to present less of a target (you know, the way I was taught to fence in the first place). Unfortunately, whenever I think about narrowing the available target, then my lunge becomes narrower, or I stop hitting my target.
hi friend! as an epee fencer, i would suggest keeping your back straight instead of turning sideways. as youve noticed, you tend to miss the target. I too used to lunge like that but my coach told me to stop – for one, it’s also incredibly difficult to do a second action after the lunge. naturally, you should do what fit’s you best but my advice to you is to always keep your back straight and to not lean – this will stop bad habits from forming.
i think it’s really great that youre doing 100 lunges every day! that’s the kind of practice that will get you far.
Hi! Thanks for the advice. I’ll keep on doing what I was doing before then, but I have a question.
When you line up to fence, are you turning your body sideways, or are you more squared off with your opponent? When I do foil, epee, or single rapier, I try to present a small sideways target but almost always end up squared off. When I have an offhand device, being squared off has its advantages, but when I don’t, I’m not sure that I’m doing myself any favors.
If you’re interested in the 10,000 Lunge challenge, I’ll send you the document with details about each day’s prescribed drills. You’ll probably have to modify it to fit epee, though, since this was designed by a historic rapier fighter.
usually, i am squared off. i find this a lot better because your point control increases. i like doing a mix between stophits and parries (im defensive) so its important for me to keep my back from turning because otherwise i will miss and my opponnent will get the point.
this said, i do have a bad habit: when i lunge, i turn my back so you can only see my side (as well as a lean). this makes it impossible to see what your opponnent is doin and you cant do a second hit. its always important to have at least a second hit planned because most likely your first one isnt going to hit.leaning in my lunge has resulted with tendonitis in both my knees which is why i dont practice lunges anymore. i need my knees to heal first. but thank you very much for the offer!
i love fencing and talking about fencing so if you have any other questions please let me know! or if you just wanna chat, im there too 🙂
Hell yeah! I’m always stoked to make fencing friends. This isn’t my primary blog, but I’m working on creating a new fencing-blog account and adding it as a contributor here so that I can follow blogs, send asks, etc. and keep all the fencing stuff in one place.
As far as lunging is concerned, I don’t do a lot of it if I can avoid it. I study Italian rapier, which involves a fair amount of lunging, but as I’ve made it my own and adapted to my own body type (imagine a personification of a Welsh corgi – barrel chested, short arms and legs), I’ve found that I enjoy a close fight much more than the distance game. I don’t have a lot of reach unless I lean in and present my head as a nice, vulnerable target.
I’ve been doing the lunge challenge mostly to connect with my fellow fencers, but I thought that practicing more lunges might encourage me to lunge more. I’m planning to pick it back up since taking it easy didn’t really make me feel any better. As I get back into it, I’ll let you know how it goes.
I went to a fencing event this weekend. I participated in two tournaments and was really in the zone. However, I also spent a lot of the day waiting to fence. I’m so worried about not being in the right place when my name is called that I spent a lot of time just standing around with my gear on instead of doing pickups. I’m going to try to keep that frustration in mind the next time I’m running an event.
I didn’t win anything, but I did do good fencing. I was in a really good head space during the invitational tourney, and I felt like I was doing my job well in the five-man melee tourney. Some fencers whom I really respect complimented me, and that made my weekend.
In the evening, a dear friend of mine won an award, and I stepped forward to pass on a piece of regalia to him. I’m proud to see my CAR* garter on such a worthy arm.
On the way home from the tournament, Nik and I talked about scheduling fight time since I can’t come to two of the three weekly practices at the college. I also want to work in more yoga – just a few sun salutations each day will probably help me with my flexibility and stiffness.
Speaking of stiffness, my shoulders were fine all weekend. I took ibuprofen at the beginning of the day before fighting, but I didn’t take any muscle relaxers at night (unless Scotch counts, in which case I had a modest dose). I was only moderately uncomfortable on the ride home. I’m going to stop babying myself and start being more active. It seems to be what my body wants me to do.
*
Order of the Argent Rapier: given to those who have distinguished themselves with the rapier in war, on the tournament field, and in the training of new rapierists. Holders may place the initials CAR after their name.
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