How to Fight with a Longsword 08 - Absetzen and Überlaufen 

@B&S Thank you! I have a bit of a different opinion on this. To get this basic course out of the way the no gloves thing is simply to keep the gear requirements to minimum. This makes the basic course more accessible. In general I think you should practice with both the gloves you spar with and with no gloves. Let me explain in a bit more detail. Firstly the gloves definitely limit/change the way you handle the sword. They generally force you to have your hands a bit further apart as there is material around your hands (that being that you have your hands close together in the first place). They generally also reduce your dexterity and the way you feel the sword in your hands. How the specific gloves affect your sword handling differs based on the gloves you are using. If you spar you need to practice with the gloves on as that is how you will be using the sword. However I think it is dangerous to only practice with your gloves on. One thing is that it might cause issues with your technique. For example indexing the sword is generally speaking more difficult with gloves on. If you only practice with gloves on you might not learn to index the sword properly. This naturally also goes to things like hand positions on the sword, changing grip, the way you grip in general and the list just goes on. In my opinion you should learn a good and solid way to use a sword without gloves. That is being able to do all the techniques properly without compromises. Learning to cut properly with the edge and in general to use the sword as if it was sharp. Then you learn the same things but with the gloves on. Now you already know how to do the techniques and then you only adapt to the limitations of the gloves. As an additional benefits many things are easier to do without gloves. As such from a training perspective it makes learning the techniques easier. First learn them without gloves as that is easier. When you can do that then you can learn to do it with gloves. Make things as easy in the beginning as possible to speed up the learning process and to minimize the chance of learning to do things incorrectly. As a random comparison here in Finland it can be very cold during the winter, down to -30C or even below + the wind. In the military we didn't learn to handle the rifles with thick winter gloves on even though that would be the case basically 1/3 or 1/4 of the year. We learned the better and more efficient way with bare hands or just thin shooting gloves first. Then we adapted to thick winter gloves when it was necessary. It is always important to practice for the worst case scenario. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best. This however can be dangerous if you jump straight to learning the worst case before first practicing in optimal conditions. This is how I structure everything whether I'm trying to learn something myself or if I'm trying to teach someone.

@@LIERHEMA Thanks for the detailed reply! You definitely have a solid point here.