My club does Fiore. Not Fiore Longsword. Fiore. We don't teach a separate weapon. You will learn all of them, and we start with grappling/dagger. This is because of the holistic vision we have of Fiore's treatise. That said, in the first day the student tries all of the weapons he wan't in sparring. So that he could understand what he will learn, and if he or she will like it
Nice, it's starting to become more common, and that's great to see. For example a lot of the schools who did Meyer stuck to longsword, or even if they did play with a few of the other weapons they often left out rapier for example. We have always loved a broad training regime. There is a lot of fun to be had with it as well as a lot of understanding to be gained from cross weapon training, as well as improving mixed weapon understanding.
I think the way your club does Fiore is amazing. When I was taught Fiore at a club, I started with longsword and I had to wait a year to do wrestling and dagger. To me, I didn't feel prepared for longsword since most of Fiore's longsword plays are wrestling moves. By the time I got to wrestling, I was already too use to using bad mechanics since I never sparred and all the partner work had no resistance. The only things I know how to do were to stand in guard, do passing steps, dropping my weight, and do lots of forms and drills. I also mostly had to do alot of the work myself reading the manuscript and making interpretations to get better since my school only taught a select few techniques. I feel like if I learned wrestling and dagger first I would have known how to grab, throw, break someone's structure, feel bind preasure, defend attacks, tell distance, and lastly when to apply certain techniques. Sadly, I'm not doing Fiore anymore. I knew I needed to move to a more simple system that doesn't require wresting knowledge, so now I'm looking around for something new to learn. English systems like Joseph Swetnam, George Silver, and Vincentio Saviolo look promising so I might just move on to one of those.
I got interested in swords through my interest in guns, so I kinda started with the US civil war, and I find myself slowly moving backward in time as the swords become an interest all in their own. There is a club about an hour away from me that teaches smallsword and saber, and I really want to join, but between coronavirus and not having a job at the moment, I've decided to wait
do you know what manual(s) they teach from? You could get a bit of a head start by getting copies and reading through them. Most manuals are available for free online, or fairly cheaply if you want a physical copy.
I was the exact same, but I still haven't settled. I seem to lean towards sabre (NOT Olympic), but rapier is also interesting. I seem to have gone back in time then up again.
In my club we talk about the art as a ziggurat, and your weapon of choice is one side of that ziggurat. Eventually you will get to a plateau for whatever reason and you have to go around the corner to another weapon and train that one for a while. What you learn in your other weapons will help you climb higher on your favorite weapon. When I was first starting longsword, I had to do a lot of the plays with my sabre first and then translate it to longsword, but now I can generally do most longsword plays without the sabre translation. What I'm getting at is practicing lots of weapons is a great idea.
I started my HEMA "journey" during lockdown this year and I found yours and Jay Maas' videos the most helpful. I doubt I'll be getting to a club for a long time owing to covid and having a primary immunodeficiency disorder so I really appreciate your work. I feel that I've probably done as much as I can do in terms of solo work (I practise most days) and I'd love to try actual sparring eventually.
I have been doing longsword for several years in one awesome, albeit small, club run by a very talented and experienced student of one of the very important fencing schools in our country. I just moved to the right city and was actually lucky. Before that, I was self-taught and I occasionally went for some free training sessions and HEMA events available (not always near, but an opportunity appears sometimes), read the books, watch some videos and so on. I worked on myself by myself. And when I got to the club I marked myself as beginner so they asked me to show some cuts and positions and the club leader said: You are not beginner at all. And I am quite OK right now. All of that my own effort counts and gave me the chance to move forward fast when I got to the regular club so don't be affraid of it, you will need a club and good instructor if you want to get at certain level but waiuting for this is wasting of time and you could do a lot for yourself on your own! Just practice enough, the sword itself will show you the way and the rest you will get when the time and right opportunity appears.
@@mashpotatoinasock I started off with a wooden gladius which I had lying around, then a bought a cold steel training tomahawk because I didn't want to throw cash at something I might not stick out (my thinking at the time) and I could use it indoors. Since summer I use a red dragon synthetic broadsword and the basket hilted cutlass.
Ok thanks for the info. How did you get started with training, did you read manuals and practice what they taught, watch RU-vid? What kind of stuff do you do? Thanks :)
Funny, I’m having some difficulty myself, right now there is not a single club near me. I started doing sport fencing for about 6 years, then I did some Kendo and Iaijutsu for a few months, and finally I decided to start my own little class, teaching kids and learning in the process. I hope to one day become a better instructor and give the opportunity to more people to practice this beautiful art. I focus on smallsword since it is the closest to what I already did in sport fencing, and I’m loving it. I mainly study two manuals, Domenico Angelo and P.J.F Girard, but from time to time I get into some longsword and sabre with a friend of mine. Fortunately I learned English too, without it I would’ve had a more difficult time to study it. I must add that your videos inspired me to start doing HEMA quite a few years ago. I deeply thank you for the time you take to make this videos and for giving me a passion that will hopefully become my professional life. I would also like to say that I’m 22 years old, so I believe I still have a long way in front of me to improve. Although, sometimes I think I’m staying behind or I’m not doing good enough.
Advice: If you don't have a HEMA club near you, and have 0 experience in martial arts, take a basic course in Filipino Martial Arts/Kali/Arnis. Or a basic course in Kendo/Gumdo/Kenjutsu. It'll build fundamentals to help you work through HEMA manuals more efficiently. No shame in getting your fundamentals from other, more established martial arts! :) Karate helped me a lot for Longsword, surprisingly :P
Yeah I trained Korean Gumdo for 5 years before joining a HEMA club. Now I have moved and will wait a while before training again as the club is a bit away and wants you to have a lot of equipment.
@@marcusappelberg369 The Dao has a disc guard, but the short swords have full D guard and quillon. Obviously, the stick is a stick, so no guard. With the stick I use some techniques from English stick fighting which uses sabre drills.
Comming from sport fencing I like saber and smallsword. I never regret sport fencing. To me sport fencing = sportsmanship and HEMA = swordsmanship. I think smallsword is great for both camps.
Sport fencing is a great place to come from for HEMA, and many of our students have. As long as people can get out of the scoring a point over defence mentality, which most can, it's great.
Dual wielding foil an interesting and effective drill. Could do strong parries even vs longsword using both plus multiple attack combos and angles. Bell guards got a little bent but still functional
I decided to pick up both at the same time, and it's been great. While Rapier definitely feels like one of the most physically intensive weapons, the place that's teaching me feels way too gentle and I really appreciate how much harder my sport fencing club pushes me physically, and the benefits transfer over significantly. The only issue is muscle memory occasionally causing me to obscure the target area with my off-hand and hesitation after a parry where I'm afraid of uncrossing and letting my opponent's weapon free despite winning if they try to counterattack due to right of way.
Just wanted to thank you for providing so much information and instructions for those of us who are just starting our passion of historical martial arts.
Since I was a kid I train and learn to use many straight swords. Few years I started short spear ( spears are complicated) But last year I've fallen in love with curved swords...curved swords. And man it's a new world of possibilities and is a bit harder But found my love.
Thank you so much for this video! I'm thinking of starting HEMA and have been debating between rapier or something similar but easier, and more accessible, like you said. I'm most interested in learning rapier because of the historical and fictional associations that I have with it... but the high price tag and lack of available resources has put me off. Hearing you talk about learning multiple styles is reassuring; it's not like if I choose one it'll lock me out of others!
Thanks for this nice overview! I got a bit into the old fencing treatises for Jugger sports and find them an interesting addition to the reflection of sports fencing, Kendo and such (even did a short tutorial on "What is a Buckler" with our local HEMA school recently). I could imagine that Jugger might be interesting for you as well -- some sort of "applied fencing in teams". I did a 5-minute-rules overview if you want to get an idea about this combo of Rugby and fencing.
I do think that while there are no classes at the moment and probably for months it seems, the best thing I, and most of us it seems, is to train up muscle groups, so a video covering muscle exercises that fencing will use would be really helpful
I'm just recently starting to even know this community. There's no HEMA content on my country México that I can access to so I'm really greatful for this. I'm starting with spear and hope to get better
This was a really helpful and timely video. I used to be (well, still am!) extremely interested in Capo Ferro, and I'd love to get into that at some point, but it's so prohibitively expensive that I've never been able to gather interest in it, so I decided to fast-forward 150 years to smallsword. I already know a lot of people who fence, so they already have the gear they need, minus the swords, which I can provide, and the skillset is similar enough to modern fencing they'll be able to have some fun with it pretty quickly. We're starting in just a couple weeks. I'll definitely be checking out the manuals you've made available! Awesome stuff.
Great to hear it. Smallsword is very accessible indeed. Domenico Angelo's smallsword manual, and 'The Army and Navy Gentleman’s Companion' by McArthur are both freely available online and are great resources. There are also two great budget trainers available in the form of the Leon Paul Smallsowrd Trainer and the Historical Fencing Armoury AHF smallsword. Or if you are in the US, Kraken swords are a great option. Good luck.
I'm coming to this party rather late, both in terms of this video and in life. I appreciate these videos as I try and figure out how to do this solo since there don't appear to be any active local clubs.
That is unfortunate, but most HEMA clubs have started from nothing and so it is absolutely doable. Online resources are better than ever and many groups on FB will be useful too. It's worth getting to some national events if you can occasionally too.
So I'm very open to explore all kinds of systems, but I've been drawn to sidesword since it seems like a very all-round kind of weapon (and pretty!), and you can use a side sword to train some rapier systems as well even though the weapon might not be long enough for competitions. So what's your take on getting a sidesword as a beginners sword for these reasons? The review of the kvetun side sword on this channel by Michael Thomas said something along these lines, and even that is technically possible to use a sidesword but use later saber manuals, although not ideally.
I know I'm kinda late,but recently i've been deciding to Kick It Up a notch with my sword fascination and start doing this. Spain doesnt have a very broad selection of clubs to go to,but i'll try and make It work,and this video helped me inmensely, thank you very much
i begun with longsword, later there was a langmesser lesson in my hema school. and now i work on lecküchner + polish combination. the polish distance play with lecküchners grapples and hiddens. best to ask for a mixed school
Most of the internet seems to live in cities or close enough to urban areas where resources could be better. I would like to encourage anyone with competency to consider opening a class in rural area or fencing-deserts, especially in youth groups or such. Ideally, everyone will train under a maestro, but so long as you know what you are doing, will be safe, and have the time to share you will be a huge asset to people without access and thus to the fencing community.
Absolutely. We encourage this for anyone who does not have access to a club. Forming a modest study group of even just 2-3 people with basic equipment is where most HEMA clubs started. All you need is a few enthusiastic peope to get going, it doesn't need to be a big professional school from day one, if ever.
*...actually lot of people make it difficult for themselves, so a lot of people say they want to just jump in and start practicing Meyer as their first style...* :)
I come from film and mma and though I've watched plenty of content I'm brand new to swordsmanship. There seems to be clubs in my region here in the US but not specifically for sabre unfortunately. I would like to purchase the best possible training gear I could hit my hands on as I grow in this art form. Where can I purchase my first pair of training sabres? Thank you for the content! I've always appreciated historical combat and your extensive teachings continue to help me with the goal of having real swordmanship and combat portrayed better on film.
Ah so after correcting me keyword search I've found the link! www.faitsdarmes.com/en/one-handed-sword/32-black-fencer-saber.html I'm quite excited thanks for the introduction!
Fait d'armes are a very good company and if they have stock its the fastest way to get BF products. In the US you have South Coast Swords who also stock BF products. Your other option would be Purpleheart Armoury who make similar training swords. Good luck with your training.
Your comment is the most recent in this video's comment section. Did you eber discover a working group in your area? In OJ I see zero every group's study.
We certainly will do some fights of that sort. Actually that Rob Roy fight is one of the better movie fights. Rob Roy's sword is a typical broadsword, whilst Cunningham's sword is either a late/transitional rapier, or sheering sword, depending on how you apply the terminology. Really Cunningham has the advantage in that situation, but the cuts will be compartively lighter and therefore not always fight stopping depending on where they land.
I've recently started Longsword as I'm interested in it, but I can't seem to break my Sabre habits. I literally don't know how to move with a Longsword because I'm so used to doing Sabre. Any advice on how I can re-learn the necessity footwork?
You might have covered this and I just missed it, but what about practicing two or more different systems for the same weapon? Doyle's smallsword is my main focus, but Hope's New Method and De Bada are also very interesting. Are there any big drawbacks?
I have been curious about the later 19th century British systems. It seems that after 1845 or so the preferred sword for on-foot troops/officers was a straight or nearly straight bladed sword. What school of swordsmanship would the officers using these weapons be trained in? Would it still be the British Military Saber school or was the technique/approach changed to focus on a more Silver, backsword approach, or something else entirely?
I'm a Kung Fu practitioner and we are learning swordplay with the Chinese Jian and Dao with my Sifu's equipment but I am thinking of getting my own gear to practice. As a Hema practitioner what is better to use a dulled metal sword, wooden, or synthetic? I usually see you Hema guys with metal swords and I am wondering if I should invest in one. As for Hema I think i'd like to learn Sword and Buckler.
Excellent, it depends who and where you are training really. I would not recommend wood and it is rarely used in HEMA. At the AHF we use about a 50/50 mix of synthetic and steel. Synthetic is a great cheap and reliable way in, but it depends who you are training with.
That's a great way to start, its what many call a study group, a few likeminded individuals without an existing club or instructor, it's how many clubs got started. All you need is 2+ people and some enthusiasm. I'd recommend you try and get to some one off events to meet and learn from a range of existing practitioners where you can. There has never been a better time to start with so much access to sources, interpretations and highly evolved training equipment.
Is Talhoffer a style that I could select to start with? I ask because the first sort of fighting manual/manuscript I ever got was a translated copy of Talhoffer's 1467 fight book. And I notice on the wall of pictures behind you that there are a couple that I recognize from Talhoffer's manuscripts.
No I'd not recommend it. Talhoffer was one of the first widely available translated manuals because it has so little text and was easy to translate and the artwork is fantastic. But it isn't really a great core system, more a load of awesome cool stuff once you have worked through other manuals within the German traditions.
Does anybod6 have anymore manual recommendations I already know about Meyer's bookbut id like to know about more books Style or weapons doesnt matter any type is fine.
I would say no. FMA has far more in common with South East Asian and South Chinese martial arts. There may be some cross over with HEMA, but FMA is under a different umbrella.
That's a shame, in which case the best thing you can do is try and find a few like minded people and start your own study group, which can flourish into a club in time.
There are hundreds across so many eras and cultures. We have a number of freely avaialble sources of the 18th and 19th century on our website - swordfight.uk/resources/ A great many are freely available here - wiktenauer.com/wiki/Main_Page Beyond this you will need to buy others inc some translations on Amazon and Lulu etc.
You don't have to 'choose a style'...especially if you want to compete. If you are interested in the history, sure, pick someone (Di Grassi, Thibault, Saviolo, etc) but if you are pursuing it as a sport, I'd suggest be open. Blend modern fencing with historical to find a good mix of what works for you, your body type and your style.
Were at any point the different HEMA styles as separated as martial arts at the beginning of UFC? If so, did any of them dominate like Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, that the rest had to learn how to deal with it?
It's rare to see lots of different HEMA styles or weapon types go against one another in tournament. In large part because the safety equipment can vary a lot between each of them, the different risks and durability too. This is usually done at a more club level for a bit of fun where there aren't the larger risks linked to larger tournaments. It was easy to compare styles in the early UFC because it was simple two unarmed fighters in a one on one fight. There are some trends we can see overall though. Like how dominant pole weapons are, how good the rapier is against most other swords in a one on one unarmoured fight for example.
As in comparing the styles to one another? That is quite an odd one, them being so vastly different and anachronistic, though I suppose I could if you fancy it. I suppose from the perspective of choosing a weapon or style today that sort of makes sense.
@@AcademyofHistoricalFencing I was just curious because I kinda heard a little bit about it from jurek, the guy who does polish saber, and he was talking about how the longsword had some advantage to the saber.
I'm really interested in spadroons for some reason, but of course there are no clubs teaching specifically that... What do you guys think would provide the best basis? Broadsword, smallsword, rapier, or sabre? I have all those clubs near me. P.S. - I have done quite a lot of Liechtenauer longsword. P.P.S. - It seems like there don't seem to be any spadroon training weapons available... Anyone know where to look?
Spadroon was typically taught under the same system as broadsword and sabre. As long as you have a broadsword or sabre system that uses plrnty of thrusting then you will be fine. As for trainers, Kvetun is the only production model really right now. Armour Class also make nice customs for a similar price.
I believe the closest to you would be the York school of defence. Good people, I would suggest getting in touch with them as they will be able to help and point you to any other options.
You might be surprised. Some people have no clubs nearby and have no choice but to learn at home or with friends and make best use of online resources. Others have existing clubs and instructors but want to pursue other styles. The broad subjects covered in HEMA mean this happens quite a lot. Then there are study groups and young clubs who don't yet have set styles they work from or a determined focus and are looking for options. Lastly, there are many people who are willing to drive 1-2 hours to go to a club and have a choice of many clubs and therefore styles, this is particularly the case in parts of the UK, being a small country with many clubs.
Heres a question: I would like to train smallsword/courtsword (very passionate for the style and weapon itself) but theres no teacher/club for that in my area who does that on a regular basis. But there is italian and spanish rapier training regular. Should i just do olympic fencing then? It seems nothing in HEMA comes close to that 18th century style of smallsword fencing ?!
Olympic fencing foil or epee would be a good place to start, and then pursue some studies of smallsword on your own to supplment it. Italian rapier also has a lot in common, being the predecessor of 18th century French smallsword. Smallsword is sadly still not very popular in HEMA, but its statting to make more progress recently.
I think it being seen as too close to olympic fencing is a factor, as well as more emphasis being put on older weapons being the norm until more recently. It also has some image problems. Some people see the smallsword as a bit flimsy and even toy like. Those are not fair characterisations but they sadly exist, within the HEMA community and beyond. But this has started to change in recent years. Rapier had the same image problems years ago. We are spearheading some progress with the FB group Smallsworders, and also by helping to develop training swords with Historical Fencing Armoury.
@@AcademyofHistoricalFencing That's so sad. Last week i had my first lesson with a hema group (they offered me to show smallsword even tho they don't do lessons for it regularly), and it was so awesome..the length and weight felt so perfect..i also had a rapier in my hands that day for the first time and altho they are very pretty, they don't feel so good and intuitive for me. I am very sad that it's so hard to come by this specific weapon lessons.. a sports epee/foil is just not the same :( i joined the fb group, thanks for mentioning it.
Well things are starting to improve. The rapier is no doubt much less intuitive as it's sheer weight and size takes a lot more getting used to. Things are looking up though, I have seen so many more people interesting in smallsword than ever before in the last couple of years. It's also easy to indoctrinate others, all you need to do is buy a couple and let people play with them and they are soon taken in.
A British 1803 infantry officer sabre. This training sword was made by Black Fencer according to specifications I provided based on antiques I own and others I have handled. They did a great job.
I suppose it's not so surprising as it was a very self contained war. The reason it is an interesting one is because it was essentially a revolution, meaning the UK got their revolution over with well before many other countries, which ultimately resulted in our constitional monarchy and a strong parliament which was one of the major factors leading to the rise and success of the British empire in the 18th century.
I have a group where there was katana vs longsword on a regular basis. We mercilessly mixed styles and I found putting some Japanese martial arts into my messer doable.
Modern fencing will give you a great foundation for HEMA, and should help you recognise a good instructor as a result. The majority of good instructors will have at least some sparring footage on youtube. Even though you might not be familiar with their style, see what their distance and timing is like, and that will tell you a lot about their quality and understanding of fencing. Also see if they have travelled around to events, as this is a good indicator of a wider approach to training rather than isolationism. These are some of the easiest ways to get a good indicator. Good luck.
I had to go with the sources I could get with Pollax/Hammer. IDK if you could really consider us HEMA, officially. We've read the popular treatises, and practice what we can from the plates, (When we can get together, which isn't right now) with Translations. None of them are in modern English, but I can barely afford weapons, and shields. I have a helmet! We consider it, "Historical Fiction/LARP." We're pretending it's not the 21st century, but we acknowlege that, and focus more on safety/fun than trying to convince ourselves that this is exactly what Fiore ment. I also don't believe that everyone that was handed a spear could read Fiore. One of the things we try to avoid is "Everyone's a knight." Everyone wasn't a knight, every knight didn't exclusively fight knights at tourneys, with tournament rules. At some points, throughout history, 2 guys with spears ran into each other, and tried to kill each other, with or without formal training. I never really pretended to be Prince Charming.
Singlestick. Lots of Singlestick, and that's really easy to get manuals on, in modernish English, because they taught Singlestick for centuries, in Modern English. Singlesticks are also reasonably affordable. So, If I had to chose one, for people who can afford it, I'm going to have to say Singlestick. It also translates reasonably well to Broadsword/Backsword when you save up enough to afford one of those. Also, Singlestick, and Targe... So, roughly Highland School.
It's actually a major problem today that people widely believe every sparring bout should be "expert". It derives heavily from the sporting competition which grew to such heights in the 19thc. A great many who fought with weapons had little or middling training and/or experience. Trick is to just keep working to get better. HEMA can be many things, above all else it should be fun.
@@AcademyofHistoricalFencing I really love your Product Reviews especially. If you do requests, affordable/accessible stuff like Singlestick (I'm sure you know even better ideas) and Spears would be great. The vast majority of people who're interested in this sort of thing are poor-to-broke, so we just end up drooling over Matt Easton's walls.
@@AcademyofHistoricalFencing I’m in mount shasta california!! which is a very small rural mountain town aka not a lot out here !!!! I’ve found a handful in the medford and southern oregon area which is about an hour north of me, not too bad :) Been watching your videos for quite a bit now and will be starting to get out there and really practice and train on my own soon; then work my way up towards finding a sparring partner or some kind of group to participate in. thanks for being so committed and proving sources of information to bring new people into hema!! I really respect your form and thank you for responding to my comment ❤️
@@AcademyofHistoricalFencing i was astonished u use dual katana like Musasi. I have a Question. Is rapier and dagger most strong in duel? High rate to win
I wonder if someone could help me, I've got a coldsteel medieval practice sword... Is this essentially a long sword? (complete newbie before anyone starts =P)
In HEMA the term longsword is used for the sword used predominately in two hands. The Cold Steel medieval practice sword is a one handed sword and so no, that will generally be called an arming sword today, and would commonly be used with a buckler, though not always. These sorts of swords are used in HEMA for sword and buckler practice such as i.33 and Lignitzer in earlier sources, and still into the early 16thc Italian Bolognese sword and buckler sources such as Marozzo and Manciolino.
Yes yes yes Good instruction >good art. For example i had an incredible wing chun class and an ok bjj class. I dropped the bjj because I didn't love it
Staff, spear longsword, saber, easy to begin with, everything else is harder. Staff is unexpensive, almost free, sources are ok. Saber sources are indeed the easiest to find. Longword is ''okish'', kinda expensive, sources aren't free but widely available.
See the HEMA alliance club finder and also join some of the FB HEMA groups, especially weapon/style spseific ones and ask around, I am sure you will have options.
@@AcademyofHistoricalFencing all I found was long sword wasn't really to big about it but I ended falling in love for the longest I thought longsword was corny but it's very versatile for many other weapons now I'm looking for Sabre
It's a little irritating to hear British military swordsmanship listed under accessibility, when - outside the U.K. and it's (former) colonies it is basically none existent. Also: Wouldn't you agree, that source material, written in your native language, is usually more accessible than that, which is written in (or translated into) what is usually just the second language (like English)?
British Military Swordsmanship is doing pretty well all round the world, I regularly hear from people practicing it in dozens of countries outside of the British sphere, all about the globe. But, BMS is largely accessible because the sources are free and readily available, the online communities are prominent and helpful, and a wide variety of practitioners around the world practice it and regularly communicate in the language of the source material. However, what is accessible to one person will vary from another and so you should consider your own circumstances. If you do not speak English then of course you would be better off with something in your own language, but that really depends what was published historical and what translations are available to you. I give BMS as an example of an accessible style, but by no means the only nor best suited to all. I especially gave it as an example because we have worked so hard to ensure that the sources are widely and freely available.
Lots of parts of HEMA are rarely discussed (like bayonet for example). Because HEMA is a very broad category, and most people get into it for swordsmanship. When it comes to unarmoured you've really just got wrestling and puglism until the 20th century, and those have only a limited following among sword lovers.
What’s the point of being a slave to ancient manuals? Seems like academic gate keeping. Why not use martial arts logic to develops effective fighting systems? This is probably why hema is a nerds club.
There are a few considerations here. Firstly there are people who do that and nobody is stopping you, but for most people they want to understand how the weapons were used for real, and not merely made up today. The next problem is as you say, using martial arts logic to develop effective fighting systems. Well the reality is that when you no longer use the weapons for real, carry them in the streets, and training for them on the battlefield, what you will be developing is a new sport, because you will be moulded by the core focus and reasoning of what you are doing. There is nothing wrong with that if it's what people want to do. But it is why the further you take swordsmanship, for example with Olympic Fencing, Kendo, and if you wanted to take it to an MMA level, the further it will deviate to not only how the weapons were used, by why they even existed. Yeh, HEMA is a nerds club, though most fringe martial arts/sport are, and that's fine. Everyone who particupates in something like HEMA needs to decide what they really want out of it. If it is merely to be the best sportsman to win a points contest in a ring, nothing wrong with that, though it would be truly foolish to try and re-invent the wheel when we have a massive wealth of resources written by people who did it for real in a way we never will today, and developing over centuries if not longer.
As an elderly man, I think you're wrong. These martial art's protocols stress agility, with strength, and discipline. That's not "nerd" stuff. That's a formula for success in education, health, and intelligent thinking. Disrespect is what inept people use, because they're incapable of doing it themselves, and they don't want others, or themselves, to see their personal failures. Your opinion? Opinions are like anal orifices. Everybody has one and everybody thinks everyone else's stinks.
I bought a plank from construction store when i started with hema. About the size of longsword. And just started practicing alone while sending videos to closest trainer and going to the same club once a month(250Kilometers away) and 3,45 hours away with bus. It can be done. With time you will improve and someone else will be interested in what you are doing XD
