Training Alone

[Britney-Thornton]

Hey everyone. I've been up in Rhode Island for school for quite some time now - since the IG 07, in fact. And I'm afraid I'm becoming a bit slack in practicing. I have my waster, but no one who's willing to practice with me, and no pell. Aside from getting a pell, is there any advice you can give me for training alone? I also have the Codex Wallerstein with me now, and have been "flipping" through that for a while, but haven't been doing much with it.

ANYthing would be greatly appreciated; I can't wait to start practicing now the weather's warmed up and dried up!

Britney

[Shane Smith]

Hi Britney,

Practice your flouryshing and excercises to no end. Hurry back down to see us in VAB soon!

[Will Adamson]

What, are you frightening your classmates? I hope so.

You have all the tools to train alone because of your time with VAB. Motivation is the most difficult thing to deal with when you don't have a group to answer to. I find myself having to step up my game now more than ever because I finally have a couple of guys who will make me pay for my inattention and hubris on a regular basis.

Footwork drills are an easy thing to practice in your room. Plus you can probably practice some of the Petter techniques that Gene taught at the IG on some boy.

BTW, my father-in-law lives in Cranston, RI.

[David Kite]

Footwork exercises by themselves have also been good to practice, IMO. Practice stepping along the segno, practice lunges, etc.

As much as I love the Codex Wallerstein, IMO, it's probably one of the books least applicable to solo practice. I don't know which school you're attending, but you may want to check their library to see if they have any of the published fechtbuchs (my school has Forgeng's Meyer, and one of JC's books, for example). Practice the individual strikes described by Meyer, especially, but also Ringeck, et al. If you can't get Forgeng's Meyer, don't forget about www.schielhau.org, which has a partial translation, as well as some other fechtbuchs.

Otherwise, try and con one of your schoolmates to hold a waster and then randomly attack them

David Kite
GFS, ARMA in IN
who understands the pang of long-term solo work

[Stewart Sackett]

If you can't find anyone willing to let you swing a sword at them, then look for people who are willing to wrestle.

If you can find any sort of grappling school near you (Folkstyle/Freestyle/Greco/Catch wrestling, Judo, Sambo, BJJ, Submission wrestling) join up, develop a skill base & then start reading through the codex & figure out what you can pull off (without breaking your training partners).

[s_taillebois]

On the flourishing M. Smith is quite right. And perhaps, once the basics are learned well try to vary the flourish into combinations. Sometimes when working alone one will fall into very set patterns which could be disadvantageous when sparring. Basically first learn the salient techniques by rote, but once you have them don't let it turn into a repetitive ballet recital.

On the pell and flourish work, when possible switch between a waster and blade. Many don't use steel for sparring (and some blade forms cannot be used so), in preference to wasters. But obviously the two do behave differently. Even if a steel is not used (or cannot be) it's still good to know the distinction. It can be a bit hard on the live blade, but generally a good blade gets through it all with little more than marks of wear (or distinction)

And when you can find a sparring partner, keep in mind that some techniques used full force on the pell, will need to be modified. Especially such as thrusts done with intent.

[Britney-Thornton]

Thanks everyone. Indeed, motivation is key to all practices, especially when the weather is cold like now. I'll get out flouryshing, and hopefully some of my friends will be willing once I explain I won't hurt them. Again, thanks everyone!!!

Britney Thornton

[Rod-Thornton]

Thanks everyone. Indeed, motivation is key to all practices, especially when the weather is cold like now. I'll get out flouryshing, and hopefully some of my friends will be willing once I explain I won't hurt them. Again, thanks everyone!!!

Britney Thornton

Alright kiddo, this is your father talking now....
Whaddya mean you got slack while up there for school? I will bring up my gear when I come to visit for Easter this weekend...and we'll get your game back on. We'll also see about getting you a pell set up for while you're up there. BUT....you already know what to do. A great warm up are the tipogressions with correct footwork. just 10 minutes constant each day. Follow that up with at least 60 seconds of continued floryshes which include all the meisterhau in nonspecific order plus all the short and long cuts of the segno (you know the 8-cut and 16 cut drills). Repeat at least 10 times but in varied order with proper form energy and intent. Focus on NOT looking at your feet but looking at imaginary enemies. That should pop you another 20 minutes of time, cuz you will get winded. Then, spend another 10-15 minutes just slowly trying to learn a new interpretation from the manuals....at least one....it also develops your skill at interpreting an iconic representation into a martial movement of the body...some good ones are like the unarmed material in A. Druerers (spelling) fechtbuch.....excellent pictures..... Then shadow box/pell work the cuts all together with proper footwork on a pell, fencepost, pillow-on-a-line, etc. And if you need someone to fight, call up your uncle Matt...between coaching wrestling, he'll work with you...especially on some of the unarmed stuff. (Besides he has it coming anyhow).

And, remember, copy everything that you can from what you did back home here with the study group.... We'll move the rest of this discussion offline, kiddo...

[Jeremiah Backhaus]

Being trapped indoors here in WI puts a damper on a lot of my training too. I have found that having a hilt cut off from one of my broken wasters has helped me to be able to do progressions and simulated cut drills in my living room. That might help you with your funk.

Some advice that I have been giving myself, that I hope is starting to get through is to keep training the basics. The 8 and 16, meisterhau, footwork, CONDITIONING. these are essentials to not dying in a fight and in practice with AP. These things can be done alone, it just gets boring. Good training music helps. That would be my other advice, get some good tunes to beat imaginary people up to. Good training.

-Jeremiah (GFS)

[Aaron Pynenberg]

Training is always an issue dear to my heart-!

In my athletic career, it's always been something, football, wrestling, powerlifting Military, Police Training, WMA, all these things have taught me many important lessons about solo training.

There are numerous tricks of the trade that you pick up along the way, and I'll share a few of them with you then talk about my training expirences with WMA specifically.

Your eating, sleeping, drinking (if you do so) are more important than you think, once you start considering yourself an athlete, or a Martial Artist, you have to make certain rules to live by. Over-eating, under-eating, took much drinking, not enough sleep, too much sleep, all these things will add up if you are not attending to them. As far as what to eat, what not to eat etc...all that depends on who you are and what kind of furnace you are packing. I am blessed with a huge ability to consume just about anything and stay the same weight. I can also add muscle quickly, and I am able to recover easily from intense workouts. I will add however that this is also a natural ability I have enhanced through life-long training in diffrent areas..so you need to find understand and identify your body's natural abilities and work with them.

That all means that even though you may not "train" specific WMA tasks every day, you should strive to have some kind of exercise-every single day. If you don't then you should be watching your eating, sleeping, drinking etc..

On to other things..your body carries you through all tasks, if it's not strong, quick, and flexible-make it so, you can be working on stretching, and core body strength, (push-ups, sit-ups, etc) if not getting to WMA.

Regarding WMA- strive to get in drills every single day! If you are not then identify why not-(I have to work 15 hrs, I am sick today, etc) it should not be ahh I just don't feel like it- that equates to a modivation problem, and to address those are what an athlete, Martial Artist, professional, does with his/her time.

This craft should not be boring! no way no how! There's so much to study, longsword single sword rappier cut-thrust,dussack, harness fighting, dagger, wrestling, etc..etc..there's so much material for several lifetimes of study.

Establish a workout logbook, with specific drills you do, and special ones saved to break monotony- example- I have had the same type of workout routine (even though the specific drills have changed) for five years now- that's every single day accounted for in some way-(even if it was because I didn't feel like it) -in my logbook. I can look back and see high's and low's and the changing nature of my skills based on what drills I was performing. This is VITAL for beginers-(anyone under say 6 years of training)-myself included-

I look back at the logbook with pride as I have scribbled notes in there leading to new types of drills, comments on my fitness level at diffrent times, what has worked what has not- etc.

It's up to all of us to carry the torch in the most professional way that we are able, when you are set to begin a workout do not just "wing-it" have a set plan of attack and clear goals. The top of each week's logbook sheet has diet goals, training goals, and a quote of the week, each week I look up a new quote from the source works and dwell on it throughout the week, it builds a pretty large knowledge base and centers your thoughts for the week.

My last comment for the day is this: I was in the gym the other day and a guy came up to me telling me about his kendo days when he was in college, and how he loved to do his workouts- 500 vertical cuts-that's it-! no more no less, no moving, no lunging, nothing just stand there and 500 cuts. Now I bet that was a real great shoulder and arm workout, but where's the movement the energy, the rythm, and lack-there-of- ? If that was ARMA's standard practice then I could see people getting on here and saying "I'm bored" but not so my friends, you should not, ever be bored-!!- AP

[Aaron Pynenberg]

Brit, et al.

Here's one of my favorite quotes on overall WMA history and training. It's from Castle's work-

"But it to the keen swordsman who looks upon foil fencing as the key to all hand-to-hand fighting, that the historical development of the art offers the greatest interest. It shows him how many generations of practical men were requried to elucidate the principles of fencing, and adept them in the most perfect way to the mechanical resources of the human anatomy, and utterly unknown many of those principals, which are now looked upon as the A B C of swordplay, were still, in the proudest days of the sword's reign.

The sword is now truly a thing of the past, and elaborate swordsmanship can only be looked upon as a superior kind of pastime, combining mental excitement and bodily exercise- the excitment of a game of skill not entirely independent of chance, together with the delight, innate in all healthy organizations, of strife and destruction-and an exercise necessitating the utmost nervous and muscular tension while it affords the refined pleasure of rhythmical action.

But in days gone by the sword was indeed part of the man, and the skillful use thereof, on most occasions, of more import than a good cause. It has often been said that a history of the sword would be a history of humanity, since the latter has ever been a chain of struggles between nations and men ultimately decided by violence"-

Ilove this and think about it quite often- AP

[G.MatthewWebb]

Aaron,

What sort of book do you use for a workout logbook? Any special format or size?

Matthew Webb

Training is always an issue dear to my heart-!



Establish a workout logbook, with specific drills you do, and special ones saved to break monotony- example- I have had the same type of workout routine (even though the specific drills have changed) for five years now- that's every single day accounted for in some way-(even if it was because I didn't feel like it) -in my logbook. I can look back and see high's and low's and the changing nature of my skills based on what drills I was performing. This is VITAL for beginers-(anyone under say 6 years of training)-myself included-

I look back at the logbook with pride as I have scribbled notes in there leading to new types of drills, comments on my fitness level at diffrent times, what has worked what has not- etc.
bored-!!- AP

[Aaron Pynenberg]

I use a three-ring binder as my daily book, the sheets I use are the sheets I hand make, and then photo-copy, I keep some meyer plates, and other stuff in there as well for motivation-

[ChristineChurches]

I agree with Aaron - training logbooks are a necessity. "Winging it" just doesn't work when trying to attain long-term goals, no matter what they are.

The logbook specifically helps me when things start going wrong - say, you're working on a new technique and an old bad habit pops back up. I look back in my logbook to find the "aha" moment when I figured out how to fix the problem in the first place, instead of standing around scratching my head trying to remember what to do. Saves time and energy.

[TimSheetz]

Aaron, that is very disciplined indeed. With discipline like that, you should work in law enforcement or military.......

When starting out, when training on my own, I flourished a lot. It pays off to do this as it is physically exhausting and helps you learn to FLOW from one action into another seamlessly. This increases efficiency of motion. Speed is efficiency of motion, not 'rushing it'. This speed equates to significant advantage when facing someone.

I would also add, that the focus for individual training (especially early on) should be basic actions.

Some of my biggest "GESTALT!" moments have been during solo training.

Peace,
Tim Sheetz

Training is always an issue dear to my heart-!

In my athletic career, it's always been something, football, wrestling, powerlifting Military, Police Training, WMA, all these things have taught me many important lessons about solo training.

There are numerous tricks of the trade that you pick up along the way, and I'll share a few of them with you then talk about my training expirences with WMA specifically.

Your eating, sleeping, drinking (if you do so) are more important than you think, once you start considering yourself an athlete, or a Martial Artist, you have to make certain rules to live by. Over-eating, under-eating, took much drinking, not enough sleep, too much sleep, all these things will add up if you are not attending to them. As far as what to eat, what not to eat etc...all that depends on who you are and what kind of furnace you are packing. I am blessed with a huge ability to consume just about anything and stay the same weight. I can also add muscle quickly, and I am able to recover easily from intense workouts. I will add however that this is also a natural ability I have enhanced through life-long training in diffrent areas..so you need to find understand and identify your body's natural abilities and work with them.

That all means that even though you may not "train" specific WMA tasks every day, you should strive to have some kind of exercise-every single day. If you don't then you should be watching your eating, sleeping, drinking etc..

On to other things..your body carries you through all tasks, if it's not strong, quick, and flexible-make it so, you can be working on stretching, and core body strength, (push-ups, sit-ups, etc) if not getting to WMA.

Regarding WMA- strive to get in drills every single day! If you are not then identify why not-(I have to work 15 hrs, I am sick today, etc) it should not be ahh I just don't feel like it- that equates to a modivation problem, and to address those are what an athlete, Martial Artist, professional, does with his/her time.

This craft should not be boring! no way no how! There's so much to study, longsword single sword rappier cut-thrust,dussack, harness fighting, dagger, wrestling, etc..etc..there's so much material for several lifetimes of study.

Establish a workout logbook, with specific drills you do, and special ones saved to break monotony- example- I have had the same type of workout routine (even though the specific drills have changed) for five years now- that's every single day accounted for in some way-(even if it was because I didn't feel like it) -in my logbook. I can look back and see high's and low's and the changing nature of my skills based on what drills I was performing. This is VITAL for beginers-(anyone under say 6 years of training)-myself included-

I look back at the logbook with pride as I have scribbled notes in there leading to new types of drills, comments on my fitness level at diffrent times, what has worked what has not- etc.

It's up to all of us to carry the torch in the most professional way that we are able, when you are set to begin a workout do not just "wing-it" have a set plan of attack and clear goals. The top of each week's logbook sheet has diet goals, training goals, and a quote of the week, each week I look up a new quote from the source works and dwell on it throughout the week, it builds a pretty large knowledge base and centers your thoughts for the week.

My last comment for the day is this: I was in the gym the other day and a guy came up to me telling me about his kendo days when he was in college, and how he loved to do his workouts- 500 vertical cuts-that's it-! no more no less, no moving, no lunging, nothing just stand there and 500 cuts. Now I bet that was a real great shoulder and arm workout, but where's the movement the energy, the rythm, and lack-there-of- ? If that was ARMA's standard practice then I could see people getting on here and saying "I'm bored" but not so my friends, you should not, ever be bored-!!- AP