Knuckle busting

[Ryan Bandics]

Anyone have a drill idea or similar thoughts on protecting fingers and knuckles. The weekly bashing to my hands is getting old, but I dont want to just get thicker gloves and pretend to correct the problem. Obviously my hands, sword, arms etc. are not in the correct postition or they would not be getting hit. Perhapes Im not using my cross guard to its fullest??
Thank you
Ryan Bandics
ARMA Las Vegas study group

[Jim Churches]

Sorry dude

[Mike Cartier]

ahh well i have an easy fix for you

remove the gloves and i am willing to bet within a few weeks you will adjust to a safe position . nothing teaches ike pain

[David Kite]

ahh well i have an easy fix for you

remove the gloves and i am willing to bet within a few weeks you will adjust to a safe position . nothing teaches ike pain

Agreed. I don't think this is something that can be taught or fixed with a "how to". Eventually you will learn how to properly move and defend yourself, and you will simply stop being struck in the hands. . . at least so much.

David Kite
GFS, ARMA in IN

[Randall Pleasant]

Ryan

I have to agree with Mike and David. Parrying with the hands is a habit that we all had to break ourselves of. Drill transition between the guards a lot and make sure you are in the guards correctly. For example, in Pflug make sure you pull your hands back near the hips so that you parry with the strong of the blade and not the hilt. Your mental focus should be on your blade, not your hilt, parry with your strong and your hands will be ok.

[Mike Cartier]

one way i teach the Meyer Pflug or Plough is to press the hands down into your deep stance which you also lower. This protects the hands and most of the body.

stay true to the guards and you will naturally protect your hands,

[Jay Vail]

I prefer using a locomotive or an oak tree for hand toughening. Anything less is whussie.

[Stacy Clifford]

I prefer using a locomotive or an oak tree for hand toughening. Anything less is whussie.

Mesquite trees are better. Makes ya learn to dodge the thorns.

[AlexCSmith]

I recommend Samoans.

[david welch]

Anyone have a drill idea or similar thoughts on protecting fingers and knuckles. The weekly bashing to my hands is getting old, but I dont want to just get thicker gloves and pretend to correct the problem. Obviously my hands, sword, arms etc. are not in the correct postition or they would not be getting hit. Perhapes Im not using my cross guard to its fullest??

More than likely you just have a couple of the problems every new person has.

Make sure you are not leading with your hands/hilt when you cut. Lead with your blade.

And make sure your hands are not being left out in front of you in your guards. Tuck them back. One of our favorite saying is "That's ok. If I didn't want you to hit me in the hand I wouldn't have left them out there." This one is probably the biggie.

Eventually you will have enough of getting hit in the hands and will stop doing these things. The things that hurt are the things that teach.

Good luck!

[Bill Welch]

I recommend Samoans.

Yea, but they hate it.

[Brent Lambell]

Make sure you are not leading with your hands/hilt when you cut. Lead with your blade. . .

. . . One of our favorite saying is "That's ok. If I didn't want you to hit me in the hand I wouldn't have left them out there."

I am not sure I understand what you mean by leading with your blade, not the hilt or hands. Would you please elaborate? I dont get A LOT of busted knuckles, but enough to inquire.

Our motto is about the same. I think that the same mentality can be used with almost any strike, so long as the attacker is in control. If my opponent is using control and I get hit - anywhere - I can only blame myself.

[david welch]

I am not sure I understand what you mean by leading with your blade, not the hilt or hands. Would you please elaborate?

Sure!

The most extreme example to point it out would be cutting a wrath strike from ox. You have to let the point come around back behind you. When you do that, you have to keep your hands tucked close to your body until your point goes around. Then you straighten your arms and cut from the shoulder.

A person still new and working on it, might tend to try and cut with his arms instead of from the shoulder. If you do that in this case, your hands tend to move out first before your point had gone past you, so you are shoving your sword pommel first at the enemy and then swinging the point around.

If your hands are the farthest out target they will be hit. Try to keep them close to your body until you get some sword between the two of you. Then extend your arms and cut from the shoulder. And be aware, what makes your hands hard to hit might only be a matter of inches and that judgment just comes with experience.

I hope that helps. If I am still not clear just let me know and I will try again.

[Nathan Dexter]

I've noticed that it helps me to not worry so much about being hit in the hands. It makes you focus on other aspects, such as correct techniques so it wont happen anyway.

[Brent Lambell]

I hope that helps. If I am still not clear just let me know and I will try again.

Okay, that makes sense now. In fact, this came up in a conversation with a non-fencing friend of mine. He was telling me about strength training that some baseball players use and thought I might benefit from it but then I explained how our hau is VERY different from a baseball swing. Thank you for the clarification of your idea, I stumbled upon the same issue myself...