Tuesday, March 12, 2013

The Beau Geste

I started the Beau Geste tournament in 2008 as a way to train for other tournaments and to train new fighters in how to fight tourneys. We are in the third month of our reboot, and this tournament was a blast. 

REHAB
My elbows are in good shape and the Indian clubs work well. I still have to figure out what works best on the inside of the elbow. 

WORKOUTS
Workouts kicked my butt last week. I did nothing on Monday and Tuesday. Then I did a WOD on Wednesday that was killer: I warmed up with 50 pushups and 30 hammer curls. Then I grabbed two 45  pound plates and did a farmer's carry, walking them up and down the basketball court 10 times (a bit over 900 feet, or 30 yards). Then I grabbed a 25 pound dumbell, hoisted it overhead, and did waiter's carries for the same distance, alternating arms, so I ended up doing 150 yards with each arm. 

Thursday I recovered.

Friday I did an intense triple workout. I ran on the treadmill for 20 minutes. Then I did a quick lower body workout, with squats, calf raises, and lunges for 20 minutes, then I did 20 minutes of yoga. 

Saturday I was an idiot and took Lizette's interval training class, which is really step with weights, plus 10 minutes of abs  at the end. It kicked my butt! I was so tired afterward! 

Then Sunday was the Beau Geste. I fought with great sword, which is a lot more tiring than sword and shield, especially in the legs, which were already wiped out. My hips and flexor tendons are killing me, but I feel GREAT! 

FIGHTING
As I said, I fought greatsword at the Beau Geste. It's not my best form. I was really just playing with technique, and because two of my four opponents were left handed, and I NEVER fight great sword against left handed sword and shield fighters, I was making it up as I went along. I tried  a bunch of different things: Paul's high guard and point guard techniques, Marc's A frame defense, Gregor's high center guard, Vitus' Fiore based technique, and my old kenjutsu based technique I learned from Elrik. I can accurately describe each of those techniques. I know *how* to do them, but executing is a different thing--especially against sword and shield fighters. The most effective was probably Gregor's technique, which is easy and not that interesting, but effective. I won only one out of five fights (including the tie breaker against the one guy I had beaten) and was the first person eliminated. 

After the tourney I did a set of sword and buckler vs sword and shield.  I fought against Tycho, who is left handed. I could freeze him with a pump fake and strike an off side blow to his face, and I got him at least once by moving off line to the right. Mostly he pasted my ribs and leg. I don't fight lefties with the buckler often either, and I was trying to get my high closed form to work but couldn't. My open form was better. 

Then I fought two sword against Landon. This went much better, I took his leg twice, thrust him to the body once, and cut him a few times. I used Paul's high form but, like against Gregor in crown last year he was not cross blocking so that style was flashy but ineffective. Using a modified Milwaukee style worked much better. Since I was using two broadswords instead of a broadsword and short sword, and since only one of them had a thrusting tip, I did not do my usual Silver inspired retreat-pin-thrust technique. 

These were all great fights. 

It is 46 days until Crown. My next time in armor will be at the Lunacon demo this Saturday. 

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