HEMA Leg Shots are Actually Good? 

True, it only feels bad because you let it happen.

Countering a backhand cut to the leg is literally the second play introduced by Capo Ferro, so it’s likely a pretty common problem back then as well.

Lmfao love the editing. Very great run down of this topic

If you don't want to get hit in the leg then don't leave your leg open. Be conscious of where every part of your body is and whether it's protected or not. In a real duel you bet I'd be taking any opportunity I can to get you out of the fight and get myself home safe. And if I see an opening to potentially remove your ability to stand and fight, which also presents fairly low risk to myself... I'm jumping on it. Nice to see somebody talking about how it's valid move for a change instead of whining about it lmao. Good video.

Yessss respect for the leg shot :) great video and discussion topic

Literally a skill issue. Go forth, hit and get hit, and improve all aspects of fencing.

I grew up fighting my siblings. Due to a general lack of technique, leg shots probably made up about 9 out of every 10 points. A general frustration with losing to leg shots taught me a very basic, but very effective counter. First, fight with one leg forward, balance your weight and stay light on your feet. A gaurd from your dominant shoulder is optimal, but not required. When the opponent strikes, he will strike for your leg set forward. Draw that leg back, strike high in the same motion. With practice you do not even have to compromise ground, and you will usually land a hit on the head or shoulder. The technique is not a guaranteed win, but it's a fine counter to cheap shots.

This leads to a broader question: what are we trying to accomplish with longsword tournaments? Are we trying recreate a historical art? If so, which one? Are we trying to recreate a 16th century fechtschule match a la Meyer or a 14th century Italian duel to the death a la Fiore? Are we trying to create a new sport that’s inspired from those arts? I think generally people fall into one of those two broad categories and the geisling really only fits into the goals of the last one.

Great footage, content, and discussion. Focusing on the tactical aspects of the action with a detailed breakdown and reactionary steps was fantastic.

I love your content, I thought you had given up. I'm so glad you're back. Greetings from Spain

We had this discussion in my group and the best way to minimize one handed strikes without banning them from tournaments is giving them the lower score, so we use a scoring system of 9, 4 and 1 piints giving one point for hone handed strikes where ther's no grapling involved. And in the situation where is the last round and they're both tied, then you got to win by at least 2 points

To me, people who complains about gayzlen just don't want to patch a hole in their game. Since I started with boffering and had a friend who loved the shot, HEMA leg shots are much easier to dodge in comparison since people don't know how to hide shoulder tells. .One note about the tactical approach for it, someone who knows how to use the full range of it won't get hit by the counter attack due to the extra range. You typically have to hide it behind the upper body motion of intent for the upper opening. So when you approach from zufechten, you have the prep step into gayzlen range, which you can test the reaction to since that range is still normally safe to react to above-torso attacks. When the attack is released, you should already be on the retreat step such that you're no longer a target the moment the blade reaches its destination regardless of whether you hit. To address this, I've adapted the switch step as a void, which requires some timing: ru-vid.comUgkxMl2KZMXLzRuBuvoAwgyL3VTaayFGJADj?si=DPoGavqLGbeRqZ4t That way even if you can't hit, you have the footing to take back the vor by entering Since you spoke about increasing the risk, I think a longpoint guard disincentivizes the leg snipe, partially because leg snipe range coincides with fleche range. Or rather, in a more chambered guard, you can react to a fleche more readily, whether it's with a parry or footwork. Similarly, vom tag also to a lesser extent. Leg snipes works best when you can target other things like hands that make you concentrate possibly on handwork and distracts from reacting with footwork.

Had me in the first 1:40 ngl 😆

alternatively, one can go in a lower stance with a posta longa/longpoint. It may give more of an opening for a one handed thrust but for sure no one will throw a leg sweep at them

been larning amateur hema with an isolated group from the community for about two years now, and one of our guys within days of fighting began throwing these. He is the tallest already and has built his whole game off of reach. Initially, these annoyed us, but once you learn the counters it becomes easy. The easiest one I have found from my amateur bouts is just thrust without any regard for your safety. If it's a double, sure you took a leg cut but they took a thrust to the chest.

some of my sparring partners love this move, but honestly i always felt like leg cuts in general weren't exactly "low risk" as you say. it does still completely compromise your guard, especially to do it at long range. Seems like more of a hail mary to me.

I think this is the sort of thing where training other weapons as well as longsword also helps.

Woah, a three foot long razor blade hitting you hard in the calf or thigh would actually ruin your day and take the fight out of you?!

I mostly fight with one handed swords, so I am quite often using one handed slashes to shin/one handed thrusts to ribs, and somehow I land them much more than my untrained attempts at two handing longsword 😂 Whats funny, when I tried rapier fighting, I got destroyed of course because dude was much more skilled than me, but first hit was mine, I did absolutely same thing - one handed slash to shin lol But each time people tell me these kind of hits dont have weight and structure bla bla bla. And yea, they don't, but idk, these things land, prob because 90% of my learning time is with saber and when I through one handed slash with longsword it just feels like really long and slow saber in left hand :D

For me no Geyseln, Mordschlag, or any Pommelstrikes in Training or Sparring. I train for nice and asethetic fencing. But no judgeing about Geyseln. Its efficient, feared and it will gain you two kinds of respect. 1. The "sh*** I cant leave my legs open"- respect which is quite helpful for a tournament because you open a new layer of openings which your opponent has to think about. 2. the "common dude its just a sport" disrespect. Which can also help because people can get mad. Tournaments are different Environments. A smart Warriors adapts to the Environement and wears best protection!^^

here's a very good executed example of the said leg void: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-I_tYxURVCOo.htmlsi=c9KkQvCaeDmWznmQ&t=85

Learn to block them and/or how to void your leg (even weight distribution and good measure). I try not to blame others for my deficiencies.

Schranckhut ? XD

As an average sized woman, I’m already close to the ground. Sorry, I’m gonna be an ankle biter lol

hehe Überlaufen go bonk