So here it is Friday and I haven't yet written about Sunday's BAT practice.
I took it pretty easy. I had not yet build a new shield. I actually strapped on my bunny round, but remembered that I had promised myself I wasnt' going to use it this year except when I was in the West. This left me with a dilemma. Finally I decided that I wold fight witht he buckler that day. A painful choice, but a fun one.
Especially difficult since my first opponent was Gui. Gui is a force of nature. He hits hard and he fights like he really is fighting for his life. He's a tough street brawler from NYC. And he's left handed. And I'm using a buckler. I was happy he didn't hit me in the ribs.
Actually it was quite interesting. Normally when I fight buckler I either use the high closed form with the sword foot forward that Hauoc uses or a high open form ala Jade. Fighting Gui I just naturally fell into a high closed form like old style Bellatrix, with the sword tight behind my head. It was a good place to work from. I did have some defense from there. I killed him once and took his sword arm once, and both times were when I crowded him and pressed him high and threw high wraps. My ribs were wide open when I did it but I must have surprised him. That sort of thing usually doesn't work on Gui, and he was on.
I've developed a good defense trigger on Oscad. He's got a great off-side leg shot that he likes to use on me but he didn't land it at all, even though I was using the buckler. Every time his hand crfossed in front of his eyes I blocked to the offside. He'll read this and figure out not that if he does that and then swings for my head he'll kill me.
I'm going to start leading drills before every class. Usually I can't get enough people interested in it, but I've got a lot of young fighters who want to drill in addition to just smashing people. I've got a great drill regimen that we'll start employing this week.
ONE WEEK TILL BIRKA!!!!
Friday, January 23, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
More on armor
Egon Brauer just posted to let me know that Alail Horsefriend has a website up: Horsefriend Armory.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Beau Geste
Oscad won this month's Beau Geste tournament. More info here: http://www.beaugestetournament.blogspot.com/
Vive le Beau Geste!
Vive le Beau Geste!
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
The Slow Season
Well, it is winter. The only thing to report on is that midnight fighting at Western 12th Night took place as usual. Since it followed the jello shot party I'm not sure how wise that was. I was not going back to EPA afterward so I didn't take my armor with me. It was cold and crisp. There were six or seven fighters, three of whom were knights. Naturally, King Jade was winning the most. The nice thing was that, since we had the whole hotel all to ourselves, we could go ahead and fight in the courtyard and the balcony made a good viewing gallery. Plus it was right outside the jello shot party, so you could pop in for a beer or a shot and come back out and watch some more.
Wish I'd had my armor though.
Wish I'd had my armor though.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Dalies
One of our local fighters has been asking me for a workout. As I've said in the past, yoga and spin are the things that work best for me. But since I got my personal trainer certification I no longer have an excuse not to post a work out. So I'm starting with this:
Dailies: this is what I do when I'm seirously training. This should take no more than 30 minutes and should be done every day.
Calesthenics:
* Stretching. Most important are hamstrings and lower back, then shoulders, claves, wrists. A couple of sun salutations will take care of most of it and do your core as well, but you can also do gym stretches or dance stretches or runners stretches. Just be sure to take it easy, work out your hams and back, and stop if it hurts.
* Jumping Jacks: start with 25 and build to fifty.
* Crunches: start with 20 and build to on hunrdred.
* Push ups: start with ten and build to twenty five.
Drills:
* Pell Work: I tell all my students to hit he pell 100 times a day. Start with 25 straight snaps. Then build to 100.
* Slow work: shadow fight or kata for five to ten minutes.
Andother good aproach is set a goal. The two good ones are based on the number 100. Count Gemeni, who runs Die Grendelus school, starts everybody out with a program he calls a century, which consists of 100 strikes at the pell for a period of 100 days. Svava recommended the program outlined at http://hundredpushups.com/, where the goal is to train yourself up to doing 100 pushups.
Personally right now I'm re-habbing my shoulder and using dumbells. But Saturday, in addition to rehab, I did spin class and my clean and jerks, building up to 115 pounds. My goal is 135 by Mudthaw.
Dailies: this is what I do when I'm seirously training. This should take no more than 30 minutes and should be done every day.
Calesthenics:
* Stretching. Most important are hamstrings and lower back, then shoulders, claves, wrists. A couple of sun salutations will take care of most of it and do your core as well, but you can also do gym stretches or dance stretches or runners stretches. Just be sure to take it easy, work out your hams and back, and stop if it hurts.
* Jumping Jacks: start with 25 and build to fifty.
* Crunches: start with 20 and build to on hunrdred.
* Push ups: start with ten and build to twenty five.
Drills:
* Pell Work: I tell all my students to hit he pell 100 times a day. Start with 25 straight snaps. Then build to 100.
* Slow work: shadow fight or kata for five to ten minutes.
Andother good aproach is set a goal. The two good ones are based on the number 100. Count Gemeni, who runs Die Grendelus school, starts everybody out with a program he calls a century, which consists of 100 strikes at the pell for a period of 100 days. Svava recommended the program outlined at http://hundredpushups.com/, where the goal is to train yourself up to doing 100 pushups.
Personally right now I'm re-habbing my shoulder and using dumbells. But Saturday, in addition to rehab, I did spin class and my clean and jerks, building up to 115 pounds. My goal is 135 by Mudthaw.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Beau Geste
Today was the first monthly tournament in Brokenbridge. There were six fighters in the round robin. I won, going through clean. It was a fun day. The name of the tournament is the Beau Geste (a grand but meaningless gesture), so I will be known as "le beau geste" for the next month.
My first fight was Timur, whom I beat with a wavy rising snap.
My second fight was Alexandre, who was fighting two sword. We took each others legs at the same time. IO tried a new trick on him. I banged my sword on the ground between his legs and then deflected it up into his belly.
My thrid fight was Luis, who as usual was using sword and great ax. A tough fight. We circled and felt each other out for awhile. He took my leg but didn't range me well enough. As he was backing out from a combo I lunged and extended, stabbing him in the armpit.
My fourth fight was Vasillis, who was fighting lefty. After lots of exchanges, I popped him on the top of the helm with an offside shot.
my last fight was Oscad. It was the last fight of the day and we were both clean. It was a really good fun fight. I took his arm and he yielded, which I asked him not to do but he insisted.
The idea behind this tourney. like the Crapaud in Cynagua and others around the knowne world, is to give fighters practice fighting in tourneys. In the west they have done this for years, sometimes formally as with the Crapaud, sometimes impromputu, like the occasional tournaments Luck used to run at BART practice back in the early 80s. They are really useful, as they give fighters experiences that you can only get in tournaments.
Next month I can't fight and have to run the tournament (I essentially ran this one too).
My first fight was Timur, whom I beat with a wavy rising snap.
My second fight was Alexandre, who was fighting two sword. We took each others legs at the same time. IO tried a new trick on him. I banged my sword on the ground between his legs and then deflected it up into his belly.
My thrid fight was Luis, who as usual was using sword and great ax. A tough fight. We circled and felt each other out for awhile. He took my leg but didn't range me well enough. As he was backing out from a combo I lunged and extended, stabbing him in the armpit.
My fourth fight was Vasillis, who was fighting lefty. After lots of exchanges, I popped him on the top of the helm with an offside shot.
my last fight was Oscad. It was the last fight of the day and we were both clean. It was a really good fun fight. I took his arm and he yielded, which I asked him not to do but he insisted.
The idea behind this tourney. like the Crapaud in Cynagua and others around the knowne world, is to give fighters practice fighting in tourneys. In the west they have done this for years, sometimes formally as with the Crapaud, sometimes impromputu, like the occasional tournaments Luck used to run at BART practice back in the early 80s. They are really useful, as they give fighters experiences that you can only get in tournaments.
Next month I can't fight and have to run the tournament (I essentially ran this one too).
Sunday, November 23, 2008
100 Minutes War
Oww!
One hundred minutes war! It should be called 100 minutes of Hell!
Actually, I had a great time. Really great fighting. For those who haven’t been. 100 minutes is simply a 100 minute resurrection battle with no terrain or hard points. Every time I’ve been it’s been fought on a flat field, like an athletic field. Last two times they held it at a high school, which was great this year as it was the coldest day so far this season (around 31 with a wind chill of 19), and we got to use the locker room to shower and change. Nice locker room too: it was one of those big suburban high schools with lots of money for stuff like that.
As battles like that always go, this one ended up a long skirmish line that moved back and forth between the resurrection points, but basically stayed in the same place. The teams are chosen in a rather fun way. They hold a speed tourney for the unbelted fighters. The two finalists get to pick teams, the winner going first. They pick by unit not by individual fighter. The teams ended up being basically northern region vs. southern region, and our team was pretty good, with Blood Guard, Von Halstern, Serpentius, ICOD, and Wetlands all being on our side. They had VDK, Loch Leven, and the rest of the Northern Region Army.
A battle like this is all about fun and doing great heroic deeds. You kill, you get killed, you resurrect, you get back in line. Usually you fight the same people over and over, but unlike, say, the woods battle at Pennsic, when the action is spread out and you can’t see what’s going on beyond the trees, this is just two lines of people swinging sticks, nobody is trying to “win”, and there’s lots of opportunity for charges and individual fights because commanders aren’t trying to outthink each other.
I fought they whole war with the five and a half foot polearm. This is probably the worst weapon for a battle like that. If I get in a duel with a knight with a seven-foot pollearm. I’m at a distinct disadvantage. Spears are right out. If I get in a press I have almost no defense. In order to kill a shieldman I practically have to be within his range. Boy! It was fun! I killed a bunch of guys, died about as often. I killed Balfar once and Edward Gray of Loch Leven once, but each of them killed me three or four times. I killed Richard Blackmore and Tamaltach (Isn’t that Tamaltach—I think that’s right) as well. He, by the way, was wearing my armor—flat ring shirt, hidden legs and arms, wrong helmet though: I want the Norman helmet, not the Frisian one.
I got hit in the left upper arm, like twelve times. Ok, maybe not that many. Ten. Ow! It looks like I’ve been doing tricep work for months just on that one side.
Pickups were few but fun. I fought with the sword and buckler at the beginning and it was fun. Federach was doing an number on my right leg. I fought later with Jarrod’s kite again and that was a blast. This time instead of fighting the unbelts and BAT with it I was fighting Richard Blackmoore and Ron. I think I beat Richard six out of seven fights. He said my defense was really good (natch). I fought well against Ron too. Mostly I’m still figuring it out though, so I can’t say what’s working and what isn’t.
One hundred minutes war! It should be called 100 minutes of Hell!
Actually, I had a great time. Really great fighting. For those who haven’t been. 100 minutes is simply a 100 minute resurrection battle with no terrain or hard points. Every time I’ve been it’s been fought on a flat field, like an athletic field. Last two times they held it at a high school, which was great this year as it was the coldest day so far this season (around 31 with a wind chill of 19), and we got to use the locker room to shower and change. Nice locker room too: it was one of those big suburban high schools with lots of money for stuff like that.
As battles like that always go, this one ended up a long skirmish line that moved back and forth between the resurrection points, but basically stayed in the same place. The teams are chosen in a rather fun way. They hold a speed tourney for the unbelted fighters. The two finalists get to pick teams, the winner going first. They pick by unit not by individual fighter. The teams ended up being basically northern region vs. southern region, and our team was pretty good, with Blood Guard, Von Halstern, Serpentius, ICOD, and Wetlands all being on our side. They had VDK, Loch Leven, and the rest of the Northern Region Army.
A battle like this is all about fun and doing great heroic deeds. You kill, you get killed, you resurrect, you get back in line. Usually you fight the same people over and over, but unlike, say, the woods battle at Pennsic, when the action is spread out and you can’t see what’s going on beyond the trees, this is just two lines of people swinging sticks, nobody is trying to “win”, and there’s lots of opportunity for charges and individual fights because commanders aren’t trying to outthink each other.
I fought they whole war with the five and a half foot polearm. This is probably the worst weapon for a battle like that. If I get in a duel with a knight with a seven-foot pollearm. I’m at a distinct disadvantage. Spears are right out. If I get in a press I have almost no defense. In order to kill a shieldman I practically have to be within his range. Boy! It was fun! I killed a bunch of guys, died about as often. I killed Balfar once and Edward Gray of Loch Leven once, but each of them killed me three or four times. I killed Richard Blackmore and Tamaltach (Isn’t that Tamaltach—I think that’s right) as well. He, by the way, was wearing my armor—flat ring shirt, hidden legs and arms, wrong helmet though: I want the Norman helmet, not the Frisian one.
I got hit in the left upper arm, like twelve times. Ok, maybe not that many. Ten. Ow! It looks like I’ve been doing tricep work for months just on that one side.
Pickups were few but fun. I fought with the sword and buckler at the beginning and it was fun. Federach was doing an number on my right leg. I fought later with Jarrod’s kite again and that was a blast. This time instead of fighting the unbelts and BAT with it I was fighting Richard Blackmoore and Ron. I think I beat Richard six out of seven fights. He said my defense was really good (natch). I fought well against Ron too. Mostly I’m still figuring it out though, so I can’t say what’s working and what isn’t.
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