I'm always impressed by how fast and reactive you need to be to perform these plays, especially with certain movements that act as both attacks and guards. Even though I don't practice HEMA myself, I enjoy watching and the slow-mo analysis definitely helps makes things clearer.
Dude, please do more of these. I have my longsword leaning in the corner of the room and I am working through the very most basic exercises with it. These review videos really help me see the practical, real-world side of all this theoretical training!
Awesome video and I would love more! I really appreciated the commentary and the slow playback of important exchanges/hits! Also, I assume you fence KDF, is that correct?
Do more of these please, they are always good and fun to watch. Also, since you fence longsword mostly by the german tradition, have you tried to fence/fought someone who trained Fiore or Vadi ?
So if you could only take a single section of armor into a dual, it should be gauntlets? I mean a helmet and a breastplate can't protect you if you don't have hands to defend yourself.
Yeah, really liked this kind of video, an analysis of the moves, the "why's" and the "how's" of the movements really put this art under a new perspective
@2:33 It looks like Josh is standing in range but not in a guard (you could argue he is kinda in Vom Tag, but kinda means its not really a guard), which is why his hands were exposed. Learning to keep measure and work from full/proper guards has greatly helped my hand defense. Standing in range and not taking Vor is begging to be hit.
I wonder how much flex your feders have (and where are they from) because they look very stiff. Or is it just your edge alignment letting them look so stiff?
Beautiful fencing. Great call on the flat hit, and while your opponents understanding of aggression and spacing is very good, your speed with continued attacks is very impressive.
I don't know... the guy in Red is just plain not athletic. That seems to negate a lot of the skill he may have. I wonder what the real guys who trained constantly for real life and death fights would think of modern HEMA guys or fencers. As much as I respect the skill of the guys in this video and others like them, I'm convinced if they hopped in a time machine and trained with real warriors, they'd be destroyed. Not a criticism. The real guys spent hundreds of years codifying techniques that MATTERED and worked. But did not have a need to record their techniques in great detail. When modern guys see treatises and single photos, I suspect a lot of their interpretation of what the images mean is misinterpreted. Maybe not.
Yo that feint cut to the hand at 43ish seconds where you first throw a cut from right but then go around from left to cut the wrist ... that is really awesome! When I did a bit of HEMA in my youth, our teacher of Italian longsword considered this attack to be a "master strike" due to the difficulty of timing it. Very well done :)
That was really cool. no way am I ever going to try and apply anything, as I don't even practice fencing, but I enjoy the artful expression seen in the measured movements and the careful positioning. The sheer confidence Josh exudes in his stance seems to get through to even an inexperienced outsider like myself.
Please do more of these. They are very helpful. I am studying these videos to help me figure out how to write them in fight scenes for my book and these videos are very helpful
I really like this analysis. It's nice to see many if the concepts that you talk about in your shorts put into practice and the breakdowns help someone like me who doesn't fence be able to watch with a much clearer understanding of what exactly is happening.
Yes We love that kind of video ! Please do more of this ! I would suggest to add a counter on the side for each touch from both, so to count the number of points you both made !
The reason we don't use a counter is because this is just practice. Neither one of us is necessarily competing for points, we are trying to get better. If this was a tournament, I would do a counter, but for practice I would like to give us the opportunity to try new things and fail, and experiment. And adding a counter adds a sense of competition that is unhelpful in this context.
I really want to. But it's just not getting the views I need. Unfortunately dumb stuff like double-leaded swords, giant swords, and reverse grip are what people want to see. I'll still keep making these, but it looks like I'm going to have to dip my toe back into the clickbait swamp
