{Note: I watch a lot of medieval YouTube sword fighting videos, but I don’t actually know how to fight with a sword. The following exercises have not been approved by the FDA and are not intended to treat or diagnose any disease. XD}
As Lena took the wooden sword, Salt widened her stance and stood next to Lena and slightly in front of her. With her head inclined over her shoulder, Salt said ”Before we actually spar off against each other, let me show you some basic stances, some guards, and some attacks. As far as stance goes, you never want to have your feet together—that’s just asking for someone to knock you over. Keep your legs a little more than shoulder width—not too wide, bring them back in a little. If your stance is too wide, it’s hard to move quickly.”
Salt used her own wooden sword to tap Lena on the knee, on the hip, etc., to help guide her body into place respectfully.
This is a good defensive stance because you are hard to knock over, but you also need to be able to go on the offensive as well. Now bring one leg forward and another slightly behind you—rock back forth on them—good, you’re already light on your feet. Most rookies are really rigid, but you seem to have some agility to you, not surprised I guess.”
Salt then proceeded to show the young woman how to move sideways, backwards, and how to lunge forward while holding a sword. They went through a few repetitions of this.
”You can call me ‘Salt,’ by the way. I didn’t catch your name.”
After working on foot movemrnts, Salt then showed Lena how to attack and defend, working through a few basic attack patterns such as lunging, sweeping, and cutting. For this, she approached a few of the dummies in front of them. Remember, this is a sword, not a club. You use it to stab and cut, which means as soon as you make contact with something, you need to pull or push the blade, otherwise you might as well be trying to chop down a tree with a butter knife.”
Salt demonstrated this on the dummy using her real sword and pointed out how her chops did next to nothing against the wood armor, but when she pulled or pushed the blade against the bark, flakes of wood skimmed off.
“Finally, defenses. A real blade combat situation is usually only going to last a few seconds, maybe up to 30. This is because the best defense is a good offense. Every time you knock your opponent’s blade out of the way, you should try to counter with some jab or cut. After all, if they’ve swung into your blood zone, that means they’re in your range too. Unless you’re fighting someone with a spear. If someone attacks you with a spear… just run.”
Salt finished her demonstration by showing Lena how to properly block a blade—using the broad side of the sword instead of the delicate edge. By the end of the exercise, Salt was already wiping her brow.
”Ok, I know I went through that pretty quickly. Do you have any questions, or are you ready to do some light squaring off? This is my first time teaching someone, so mu lecture isn’t exactly polished.”
As Lena took the wooden sword, Salt widened her stance and stood next to Lena and slightly in front of her. With her head inclined over her shoulder, Salt said ”Before we actually spar off against each other, let me show you some basic stances, some guards, and some attacks. As far as stance goes, you never want to have your feet together—that’s just asking for someone to knock you over. Keep your legs a little more than shoulder width—not too wide, bring them back in a little. If your stance is too wide, it’s hard to move quickly.”
Salt used her own wooden sword to tap Lena on the knee, on the hip, etc., to help guide her body into place respectfully.
This is a good defensive stance because you are hard to knock over, but you also need to be able to go on the offensive as well. Now bring one leg forward and another slightly behind you—rock back forth on them—good, you’re already light on your feet. Most rookies are really rigid, but you seem to have some agility to you, not surprised I guess.”
Salt then proceeded to show the young woman how to move sideways, backwards, and how to lunge forward while holding a sword. They went through a few repetitions of this.
”You can call me ‘Salt,’ by the way. I didn’t catch your name.”
After working on foot movemrnts, Salt then showed Lena how to attack and defend, working through a few basic attack patterns such as lunging, sweeping, and cutting. For this, she approached a few of the dummies in front of them. Remember, this is a sword, not a club. You use it to stab and cut, which means as soon as you make contact with something, you need to pull or push the blade, otherwise you might as well be trying to chop down a tree with a butter knife.”
Salt demonstrated this on the dummy using her real sword and pointed out how her chops did next to nothing against the wood armor, but when she pulled or pushed the blade against the bark, flakes of wood skimmed off.
“Finally, defenses. A real blade combat situation is usually only going to last a few seconds, maybe up to 30. This is because the best defense is a good offense. Every time you knock your opponent’s blade out of the way, you should try to counter with some jab or cut. After all, if they’ve swung into your blood zone, that means they’re in your range too. Unless you’re fighting someone with a spear. If someone attacks you with a spear… just run.”
Salt finished her demonstration by showing Lena how to properly block a blade—using the broad side of the sword instead of the delicate edge. By the end of the exercise, Salt was already wiping her brow.
”Ok, I know I went through that pretty quickly. Do you have any questions, or are you ready to do some light squaring off? This is my first time teaching someone, so mu lecture isn’t exactly polished.”
