“If you can afford nothing else get a mask”. Now I’m just standing in my yard with a fencing mask on because I can’t afford a sword. But at least my face is safe!
Well, I got the mask, the training weapons, the jacket, the gloves and I did some research on the manuals. Stil got the feeling I'm missing something.....................oh that's right! I don't have any friends to actually train with!
Tell me where are you living. Because I got the same problem an maybe we live in the same area. Even though the chance is significantly low. (Pforzheim/Germany)
@@jowaru5545 I live in Limburg, the Netherlands, so I'm afraid we live too far apart to meet. But still thanks for asking. Otherwise we could've helped eachother out!
@@milkshaketurtle7937 Not only most fun. The whole sense of practicing fencing (and any martial art) is to be able to win a fight. So practicing fighting without actual fighting doesn't make sense for me
Though like Skall said, if you can't do it in a reasonably safe manner then please don't spar until you can get the proper gear. Especially with HEMA where a large portion of it is weapon based.
"You don't have to be better than everybody else, you just have to be better than your past self". This is some motivating life goal. Skall would be a great life coach.
Really you should be doing a lot of light work with wooden/synthetic weapons before you even consider getting sparring gear. That's pretty much every other martial art does it and there are several good reasons for that.
Make sure this is actually something you know you wanna do and stick with. See if your local club (If you have one) has rental equipment or similar ways to avoid spending hundreds out of the gate.
I found my love for sabre before even buying a sword. I agree that you should feel your way around what types of weapons and systems there are before spending bank on gear.
Remember, in the end you are practicing a lost art, and everyone takes slightly different ideas away from the source material. The most important part is to be safe.
There isn't too many in Poland yet the people still do it for ages. It is part of a culture by now to reconstruct medieval battles. Around my town you have knight tournaments all the time and that is exactly as they are known. Knight Tournaments. I never knew i like to be hit in my helmet with glave so much!
Poland has quite a few great HEMA clubs (and amazing fencers) but some of them don't have too much advertisement. Try to check some sport HEMA tournaments or decent reenactment battle and find out if there are any people attending who live close to You. It's how we used to start decades ago.:-)
That depends on people. Our group has some second/thrid/fourth hand equipment that we lend to our people for a few months or a year until they are ready to invest into personal gear. Living history shoes aren't cheap, weapons cost quite something and even just padded armor is not free so I'd say that every decent fencing group understands that their new memeber will buy equipment one at a time. If anyone says that You MUST purchase this, that and that (like 1000 EUR of gear) BEFORE joining them, find someone else. If they'll want You to purchase mask and gauntlets before starting, they're probably decent folk without much money to spare which is fine.:-)
Reenactors are always a thing in patriotic countries. Americans are big on it too, but most all of our reenactments are based around times of lines of men and musket volleys. Cool in its own way, but it lacks some of the usefulness or art of medieval combat arts.
Here in indonesia, kendo/kenjutsu is really popular. But no hema.. although there are similar stances and moves beteeen hema and kenjutsu, i found hema to be more interesting since they use double edged sword and there's the doyble edge feint that japanese swordstyle don't have.. Also no pommel
Generally speaking, kenjutsu focuses a lot more on very decisive, powerful movements and strikes whereas HEMA focuses a lot more on mobility, so in kenjutsu you project yourself and throw your weight around a lot more. This is really generally though because there are several style of both and there is both "lighter" kenjutsu and "heavier" HEMA. Of course Mr. Baileys could also be talking about something different, but to me as someone who also practices both, that's the biggest difference.
@@kidthorazine george silver uses hit and run tactics and makes every blow count(although he loves changing the trajectory mid-strike). I guess kenjutsu is like this (or rather the style you did) Also did you spar in kenjutsu?
Hit run tactics aren't common at all, the fundamental priciple in most Japanese swordmanship is to hit, hit hit unrelentingly, and even when you have to defend you should be using that defense to set up for the next hit. As for sparring, it really depends on the school, some schools spar with shinai and kendo armor, some don't spar at all and only do preset choregraphed drills and kata.
@@kidthorazine doubles must happen quite often (or afterblowd) since the fighters may just strile at the same time (kind of like failing at a single time counter or master strike)
The fact that there are lots of Hema clubs in Florida leads me to believe that Florida Man is training in hand to hand combat for the war against the alligators.
Kaiser Crimson sorry if that came off negative or patronizing I'm just honestly a bit impressed by that level of dedication. There's not much is be willing to drive for 5 hours for that isn't a full vacation.
Thank you, this is great. I've played music for 51 years, semi-professionally for 45 (I get paid, but not enough to live on), and it's axiomatic in music that you Will perform the way you practice. So. You Practice the Way You Want to Perform. :-)
This is the video I truly needed. My only viable option is to start on my own, and this video provides me with all the information I need to proceed with confidence. Thank you very much, Skall! Keep on doing as you do!
Christopher Rhodes Good luck! Thankfully there’s a nice bit of info out there to get you started alone (that’s how I started), and by the time I joined a group I was already competent if not skilled.
I just found this video today. And because of him, I found a place that teaches this stuff that's less than 10 min. away that I never knew about. Because of this I'm trying it out in 4 days!!! I'm so pumped!!!
I’m a HEMA master. HEMA, short for “hemoglobin.” Just make it work. Anyway, I’ve been manufacturing blood using my own body for decades and am willing to teach those who are willing to learn.
I’ve never seen myself getting into HEMA before watching this video, but now I want to take all the classes I can! Thank you for this, honestly :) I thought that I would not be able to partake in classes due to my age (16) but I sure am glad I can!
I like your emphasis on proper protection, especially the cup. I also love that you talk about warming up. But mostly and more importantly about being humble. Getting into any physical sport (paintball, skiing, etc) generally costs around $500 to get into. I understand being on a budget, but don't skimp on the necessities. You don't have to buy the most expensive stuff, but also don't be so impatient to start that you end up hurt. One of the easiest ways to do things on the cheap or at least cost is to join an SCA group. There are plenty of guys who will teach how to make things like elbow and knee cops, gorgets. I have no doubt the Societies armoring standards would be acceptable for HEMA use. For example we don't just armor the cap of the knee or elbow, the cop must also cover the sides of the joint as well. The gorget must cover the neck and the C-7 vertebrae. Anyhow, it's a good way to get the proper gear for much cheaper and you get a better understanding of armor. Also it's a good way to find other peeps that are also interested in doing HEMA, but you don't have a local club. For those looking for tough gear on a budget. You can pick up knees and elbows both for under $60. Ships quick as well. www.bokalosarmoury.com/
Just time travel to the medieval ages make someone teach you then kill them with your techniques and then realise you destroyed the future because you wanted to learn historical martial arts
Time Travel Paradox much. If you kill him in your past (his present) he would not be alive in your present (his far future), thus prohibiting you from going back and killing him in the first place.
@@annelisemeier283 actualy, if you didnt knew he died (when your future self killed him in the far past) then you would still go back in time and do that. I would be more concerned, that if you trained in modern day from his techniques, to kill him in the past, then when you killed him you might loose some of this skills you could neved lerarned, because he invented them past the point he died and he never invented some of the techniques you leraned in future. At this point i wonder if your skill would lower enough to make you loose againt him and prevent you from killing him. And then if you didnt kill him then he would invent the techniques that made difference in the first place. Only option is that you will not kill him anyway without the part of skill that you would loose or with it, because in the other war the timeline would glitch and make a neverending loop.
It's funny because HEMA was used extensively AGAINST the Middle East during the Crusades, and now they're learning those techniques. Not to say that they shouldn't, just that it's amusing in historical context.
For the most part I come to this channel to watch shields and shield vs hook swords etc. That said, I think this is one of my favorite videos. Super informative and I love all the references to research about injuries and the focus on safety. Just a fantastic message overall .
I just recently joined a group for martial arts here in America called "Empire of Medieval Pursuits". This video was very insightful and much appreciated.
Wow according to the club finder map I really am a lonely HEMA student in the middle of nowhere....North western Ontario:(.....oh well at least i have my Fior,Meyer and other manuals to study from. So I thank you Skallagrim for all the great HEMA content you have posted over the years and for guiding me over to the wonderful content posted by Blood & Iron.
Thanks for making sure this showed up on my homescreen! I'm really glad you had such intent on explaining safety, even though that may have put some people off actually joining a school, it definitely will keep some people who pick up HEMA, or any martial art safe and better prepared.
Good video skall, i practice and show my brother techniques i learned from watching some of your videos and then researching them, we only do slow demonstrations with wooden swords since we don't have any protective gear but this video's was quite helpful
Aetius of Astora the Blood and Iron channel has a lot of technique videos you might be interested in. I'd say start with footwork. Have fun and be safe.
@@joeybravo6172 Zwerchhau is one of the "master cuts" used with longsword, not a general style or type of blade and, from a quick search, it doesn't appear that any German treatises have been found on the use of a greatsword. Zweihander, literally: "two handed," is the name for a German greatsword which I suspect might be the connection you made. There are various other treatises from other cultures, but I can't say whether they are taught in HEMA, though I would guess that they are.
I'd like to add smth about the fencing mask rating! In 1982 the finalist of the fencing world championship was stabbed through his fencing mask by his opponent and died ( the blade had broken and bored itself 14 cm into his brain). Since then the restrictions on competition grade masks have risen alot, and only 1600N FIE rated masks are allowed these days! so don't just use any old fencing mask that you happen to own or find for cheap money for any kind of blade weapon practice or competition, it's dangerous!!
it's the same for saber fencing. But it doesn't matter, lower rated masks have lower quality wires and therefore the mesh can resist less pressure, no matter if concentrated on a point or in a line. Older masks are even so soft you can bend them by hand with a reasonable amount of force.
Anecdotally I've seen the 350N AF "HEMA" mask last me and many others a fee years at this point, whilst the 1600N PBT mask dented in a single month for several people. Unfortunately we can't just assume based on the rating, more goes into it than that
i apologize for a mistake i wrote earlier, i 'm not not very familier with the therminology in english, and thought you were reffering to the mask rating only being true for puncturing. Now i'm not familiar with either of thos HEMA manufacturers as i'm more acquainted with sports fencing brands like Uhlmann, Allstar, Leon etc. but those usually have stronger wire mesh as well in the mask for the higher rated ones. but quality may vary between manufatures of course. For competition use i would still recommend the 1600N masks be it only for slightly tougher padding. as for the older masks not to use i was referring more to older models that are no longer in production and don't have a modern FIE rating. they can still be found here and there and a beginner may think that they are adequate even tho they are not
Flyguy779 it's quite alright, I just wanted to clarify my experience as it's the most common confusion about this in the states. With the specific black masks they already utilize the stronger mesh which has become rather standard even on cheaper sport masks
@skallagrim you should start a video series even paid for each technique, start with spear, sword and shield just a basic classes for each. how you block, how you parry. I bet you could do a whole short video series on different techniques and each video can be on one technique. people can practice and have a visual aid. If you started doing videos like this I would start practicing myself once I am better I'm sure many would!
I live in Canada, my friend and I started to learn Kendo. The first thing we thought was we need to protect our hands and get something reasonably priced. We were looking at hockey gloves but like you said the mobility is awful and the thumb literally doesn't move. We ended up finding Lacrosse gloves because they are exactly like hockey gloves but built fully from the ground up for mobility. 20$ and have full protection about inch and a half thick past the wrist and full joint mobility on every finger. It's super comfortable as well. If anyone is looking for something cheap but very reliable like that. Look into lacrosse gloves.
Concerning your warning at [15:10] I can only back you up strongly. I've been on the mats for more than 20 years and I have seen my share of injuries due to underestimation of the risks in grappling.
Let alone boxing! That one's famous for getting people "punchy", and that's with padded gloves! Imagine with hard steel hitting your head over and over! That's why I stick with Judo, I don't need to be bonked in the head over an over, I'm an egghead, I need my head
I think you have a good idea with the HEMA advice/training patreon incentive. I am very interested in HEMA (and other Martial Arts), and though I am not currently studying HEMA, actual insight into techniques would make it easier to pick it up. Currently I attend a Kobudo (traditional Japanese martial arts) school. I live in a small town in Wyoming, so the fact we have anything is awesome. The nearest hema group is 2 hours away and they meet only one night a week. Still comparing techniques between systems and incorporating techniques from HEMA would be Awesome. I would be interested in utilizing this perk, depending on what it costs. Private lessons can be pricey, although this wouldn't have all the advantages of an actual one on one session... setting a price could be hard. Please keep us posted, myself and possibly my wife could be interested.
Bro I just gotta say I’ve started watching your videos probably three months ago and seeing all this you’ve got me wanting to get into it I’m from New Orleans and they have a hema place down here ima go check out so thank you for that link also you’ve become a big inspiration to me watching your fights are awesome your truly skilled and I caint wait to start training which I box already and have had some armature fights around here which so far I’ve not lost but I also want to try hema for sure it looks awesome and I also watch a lot of that knight fighting it’s like mma but with armor and swords and axes and that looks sooo fun but seriously thank you for your videos you seem like a kool dude and thanks for being an inspiration bro
I am a decent size guy and grew up in an abusive household with monthly bloody beating, sad thing is I am from a German family with anger issues and as teenagers we love a good fist fight. Once I reach my 16th spring my mom found out along with her second husband I could take every hit they had and slap or punch harder than they could. Then another six years of social bull zhit. At thirty I could shift and roll glancing hits without any problem and bluff people who did knock the wind out of me when they tried to intimidate and start fights with me. I was 6ft, 180lb and can take bare knuckle punches that sounded like thunder. Then there are feather weight Latino boxers, G*D those little guys are fast ! Their hits are not much but I sure as h3ll do not want to get into a knife fight with two or three of them. I have lost A LOT of TKO slap boxing against feather weights. I also did foam weapon larp fighting, people that grew up as teenagers playing tennis/racket ball, soccer and basket ball have this unnerving ability to run up and slap you with a padded weapon and back out of your range before you/ before I could move. I dislocated my left ankle playing football as a teenager with my family and friends in a muddy empty corn field. Since I was young and dumb, I rolled it back into place, duct taped it, and went back to playing. Now at 44 and nearly twenty seven years after the fact, I can not trust putting any weight on my left side without falling over when I get up from sleeping. Have fun, take care of yourself " safety first," watch out for teenagers doing dumb things. Find some feather weights to spare boxing with they are fun to lose against, four on one matches are just funny, .. and G*D bless.
I got a wild hair up my arse that I was going to learn to sword fight a while back but I live in Oklahoma and figured there was no way we had a school here. To my surprise, we have a very competitive and highly ranked HEMA club here in the Oklahoma City area. I've been going ever since and having a blast.
This is exactly the video I was going to wait for a live stream to ask you for. I especially like how you refer to data from studies in this video, thanks for the great info Skall!
Ok, so here I am, after my first HEMA training and I just want to say thank You, Skallagrim. It was you who inspired me to try, without your awesome videos I would probably never do this. Big thank You again.
Great tips, thank you! Especially saying to double check for local schools via the HEMA website you recommend. Apparently there were a couple of HEMA schools right under my nose. A simple Google search is apparently not enough.
Your idea is seriously cool! Lets say you end up with lots of ppl sending you short 2-4 minute vids for review. If you spend 10-15 minutes viewing, recreating, critiquing, and instructing, a fair price may be around $9-$13. You could base price off of how long your reply is, how long a video you’re sent is, or how many helps a person asks for. Hope to hear more!
It's funny because one reason I dropped off from the club I joined was because the warmup routine was getting increasingly difficult for me to handle. In the beginning it was fine. A bit intense for me because I wasn't used to it but I wouldn't be dying by the end of it. Then as time went on it just... I'd be long out of breath before I could even pick up a sword. Which is a shame because in the actual sword drills I'd be fine. It only made it feel worse when I decided to go to Féile na Gaiscígh earlier this year (well, 2019. It's almost 2020 as of the time of posting this) and the warmups we did for the first workshop were very... I suppose light? Didn't really do all that much, just a couple of nice easy stretches that got me in gear for the rest of the day. Part of me wants to get back into it, another part is far too anxious and thinks it's not worth the trip. So uh. Bleh. At least I still have a passion for swinging swords around!
I just looked around and got curious when i discovered a club in my city They Use of rapier, buckler, round shield and parry dagger I subcribed and started practicing; been there for a year now and love to spar and trying others styles of diferent weapon of diferent ages from others invited schools Very expensive to get equipment but worth it.
Perfect timing with this kind of video,since recently I've started seriously considering taking HEMA lessons in the nerby school :3 Maybe not like NOW,'cause first I have to find money for that,but I hope that it won't have to wait for too long
Thank you for posting this. I just moved to an area with a club in the vicinity and I was wondering what my preliminary shopping list should be. This was very helpful.
Great video and good points for noobs starting. Dynamic stretching first is key with any exercise. As important dynamic is pre workout so is static post workout. Keep up the good work.
I was lucky enough to find a taekwondo school and a fencing club at my university that charge 10,30 usd per month and 24 usd per semester respectfully. I was lucky enough to find instructors that started their clubs as a way to practice themselfs and both are extremely passionate about being instructors. I was shocked to see the price difference compared to what seems to be generally accepted by other combat sports which ten to be around 25$ per month. Unfortunately their are no HEMA clubs any ware close to me and fencing was the best analog I could find.
I think a system like online-language-learning (where you can connect and train with others) could be a good thing, especially with a video option. This would also help to bond all the local schools/clubs internationally.
Good video Skall. Im lucky enough to have plenty to choose from in my city and area around. HEMA (duel focus, 1h and buckler, 1 1/2h, messwr etc etc), kendo, rapier, army fighting anno 1250, army fighting anno 900 and more
Ligament _does_ heal on its own, and it only takes slightly longer than any other body part. I severed 60% of my middle finger tendon unsheathing a kukri machete as a child and it healed completely within about 2 months. There is now a bump where the cut was as if my tendons were welded back together. Had I completely severed it, I would need surgery to reattach the ends obviously, but simple damage to them should heal just fine like any other part of the body. It is still a good idea to watch out for your tendons though.
@Skallagrim, thank you so very much for this video. This actually helped me and a couple friends who like fencing, since there is no club within the area near.
Another comment on breast protection for women: I broke a rib two years ago from a spear thrust to the underside of my breast, because I stupidly wasn't wearing protection (yeah, I know... learned my lesson). The rib healed but my breast still feels weird. Breast tissue doesn't really heal. It's not painful, but it just feels wrong, and I'd highly recommend using a chest protector, even under a fencing jacket.
Oh it is pretty standard where I'm from. We were just messing around that day, it was summer and hot and the spear was well bolstered with foam... So I thought I'd be fine. Like I said before, not my brightest idea xD
@@SibylleLeon " cough, cough," it has been know since the early 1990's from research during the 1980's and earlier from other reports at that time. Hard slaps to the beast and that can cause lumps which may lead to cancer growths. Massage is part of keeping lumps from forming and for checking to any lump development. Case from extended family spousal abuse common during 1970's USA Florida. Right hand slap to the left breast during a drunken fight that bruised for a week went cancerous fifth teen years later. My grandmother's sister did knock out four of her husband's lower front teeth. Sadly my grand aunt started the fight and her husband was a shell shock veteran from the Korean war. Also you had a generation of mean alcoholics raised by a meaner generation of alcoholics. Doesn't excuse anything just meant you had to be careful being around them. On another side note in my area the guys pull their punches to keep things fair and to keep ego tempers from flaring into any real fights. The women on the other hand don't pull their hits and are prone to hit with the flat edge of the foam blades which hurt and can numb arm and leg joints. If you accidently hit a woman too hard, she Will beat you where you can't move, and the guys will laugh it off. Also it doesn't help that the guys being guys with their pain enduring self hazing, head and face shots do not count as point hits. And we had to call many guys on blocking hits with their face as they score hits on other people. A couple or few layers of cardboard duct tape together makes a reliable chest shield for women to take a hit from foam weapons. But guys are told and self train themselves to only go for the limbs and not the torso. Also swords are not much good against chest plating so it is defensive fighting and arm/leg hits. Sorry for my two cents to your three year post. Many of the guys that foam larp in my area after about ten years of taking hits to the knees and hip have surfer never damage and foot control issues of supporting their own weight. So forties years old can't run around like they are in their mid twenties.
What’s funny is I was thinking of getting into fencing this semester at my college. I might wait until next semester, I’ll have to see how my work load goes. But either way; that’s cool you made a video like this. Since I’ll be one of those just starting to get into it. Thanks, Skall!
Just so that you're aware, (Olympic) fencing and HEMA are two different things and are only distantly related. However, there are some things that you'll learn in fencing that will carry over to HEMA such as your footwork, timing (distance between you and your opponent), and learning to judge what your opponent is doing and how you should react.
John Auen No problem. It's a common misconception that (sport/Olympic) fencing is the same as HEMA/sword fighting, I thought the same thing when I took fencing in college but that was back in the '90s before I ever knew that HEMA was a thing. Still, while it's not the same as HEMA, fencing is still a lot of fun and as I said before, some of the basics carry over. If you're going to fence with going to HEMA later on in mind then I'd recommend either sabre or epee for your weapon. Sabre because it's the only cut and thrust weapon in fencing, but your target is limited to the upper torso (including the head) and it uses a right of way system. Epee is good in that there's no right away, first hit scores, and every part of the body is a valid target, but you're only allowed to thrust using the epee.
For 1:1 Lessons on playing/learning a Musicinstrument like Guitar, Drums etc, you usually pay ~25 Bucks (€) per Hour/45 mins here in Germany, and i guess thats about the range you can charge for Hema as well. Always depending on your Region, and the amount competition with other Masters you have.
That moment when you are at a fencing competition and you are the only one building a fence because everyone else is playing with sword "Ah yes sweet victory"
Got a suggestion for ya. Working on a starfinder game with this idea. Space Vikings! How would you setup a space Vikings campaign without going unaugmented space wolves?
Paladin Demo Maybe start by replicating the independent spirit: Each captain owns and builds (with crew help) his own ship, using materials commonly available at home and at any raided planet. Shipbuilding takes as long as a small campaign, so it pays to keep the ship for a long time. Ships exist as both fighter/raid models and slower more roomy freight models for loot and purchased goods. Also include Viking beauty, art and love/sex culture as it remains viable in space. The exact shapes of Viking ships was determined by efficiency in water, not culture, so Viking spaceships would look very different except the symbolic markers of identity (personal banner) and intent (removable dragonhead). Oh and do remember the horned helmets were a different era than Vikings.
Far as I've gotten was converted the nine realms into a system. And that was it. I was going to run space Vikings as a DM competition game, but no players.
@@Demolitiondude Take the basic hull design of a Viking long ship and increase its size where it is two decks deep, then use the Star Wars RPG rule system. With WotC 3.5e rule system we had D&D mind flayers, gith, spell jammers, Marvel Comics Tales of Asgard vs Dath Vader. D&D shape changing sorcerer class level frost giants with Force skill powers in 20ft tall Iron Man exo armor.
thanks for all the info skall! im really interested in learning but sadly I live almost in the end of the world (ushuaia if someone want to look it up haha) but I'll try your advice, I'll get some books and start learning. maybe I could find more people in my city who are interested in learning too, and the patreon thing sounds really good! so... thanks again for all the info and keep doing these great videos, you have a follower really really far away lol take that as a compliment since it shows how much your channel has grown.
I found a HEMA school here where i live a few months ago thanks to one of your videos, its named Krigerskole, they have a yoitube chanel too and i think i saw blood and iron guys in a tournament vid
I live between two HEMA clubs, Fekteklubben Frie Duellister in Oslo and Göteborgs Historiska Fäktskola in Gothenburg each of which is two hours away. So, sort of caught between two hammers, I guess. If I went to one or both, I would still need some practise on my own, so your advice comes in handy!
