@@pxolqopt3597 well, in this case the first to hit the opponent with the blades win, but in a real fight, it's not like just one cut to the leg or the arm would kill or put the opponent out of combat
Japanese media doesn't seem to have the same problem, at least outside anime and even they can be pretty accurate at times, and watch any classic samurai flick like Kurosawa's stuff and it's very well done.
@@TheThingInMySink I think it’s because 1. Hollywood sucks 2. I’d say their arts were better preserved as more people took an interest to them over European fighting styles and thus its better recognized than western martial arts.
First step is getting it more internationally known. You have a lot in America and Europe, but you're gonna need buy in from South American countries, Asian countries, African countries, and Middle Eastern countries
I'm sure you've already seen someone else say it but if the fencing federation incorporated longswords it likely wouldn't look like this. Regular Swordfish longsword matches (lots of hopping, probing, one handed thrusts) is a good insight into what it could look like on the international stage, they don't usually look like this.
These lethal, life-threatening transactions take place in matters of seconds. Imagine how bloody, quick, and chaotic a real sword battle would be on a medieval battlefield back in the 1200's. It must be horrifying to live through
Depending on the situation maybe they were more defensive. Also in some of those sitations it wouldn't really have been over. From what I've heard fights sometimes dragged on with a least one party having open cut wounds.
Medieval melees probably look more like the group ACL (armored combat league) battles, TBH. Even then, they were probably more thrusty with halberds -- banned for obvious reasons in ACL.
Now we have more knowledge of fighting styles and technology that allows us to analyse each fight so nowadays we technically have better fighters or at least could have better ones.
@Ethan Full plate metal armour only was worn in the late 15th and 16th century. Before that you’ll have exposed areas in the neck, armpits or the back of the legs. The further you go back in time the less armour. In the 11th century plate metal in general was very rare / not existent. Most knights wore chainmail and a gambeson + helmet.
I love these sparring exchanges that you guys post. The excellent editing, slow motion replays, and highlighting points of contact make it easy for nearly anyone to follow. And sword fights are so COOL.
@@williamchan1613 Exactly! All movies are full of unrealistic, extremely long exchanging sword fights. Seems like fighters try to hit the opponent's sword instead of hitting them ^^
I want to see a movie where half way into the sword fight, one guy says "fuck it," grabs the other guy's sword by the blade, and full force kicks him across the room before beating him with the pommels.
@@apollo1694 no it would be pretty easy to do, there are tons of varied combat sports. The most challenging thing when implementing this would be how follow up attacks (or landing a blow immediately after being struck) are handled, as you don't want to reward a participant for a careless attack, nor a participant for bad defense
This is probably the first HEMA vid I've seen that actually excited me. Great movement, lots of action, and still clearly a good deal of skill from both combatants. Fantastic video!
@@Zigeuninja no, they make up for it with thickness. A typical training sword is 1600-1800 grams, and a typical longsword is 1400-1700. So, on average, the training swords are actually a bit heavier
@@Zigeuninja a long sword is like a 2-3 pounds lol you could literally swing it as easily as a broomstick, it's really not a strength based weapon like a Warhammer or something
@@antoinelachapelle3405 Even Warhammers aren't as strength based as many think. Obviously the force you hit with is important, but they're made to be light enough to allow for proper movement, and the weight of the hammer makes dealing substantial blows a lot easier.
@@Bistai949 Yes, it's very well balanced and such, I'm not saying you need to be strong to deal a serious blow or use it, it's just that it's top heavy and so you need more force to re-direct your blows compared to a sword
Real sword fights: *tense, no time for error, lots of iron clashes, elegant* Movie sword fights: *backflip jump suck on your toe while doing it backflips again balances sword on his nose and wins*
This is awesome i have always wanted to learn more about sword arts as well as other weapons i mostly do hand to hand training and have recently been adapting handguns and knives but still want to learn more historical weapons
Gah the orange fighters footwork and discipline is just fantastic. So structured and able to address every angle while patiently waiting for the opening.
I’m mainly a foil fencer, but have fence epee and saber. Would definitely love to try out long sword hema fighting cuz there’s a lot more movement and it’s a way different style.
I don't know much about sword fighting. Just started training the long pole in Kung Fu but I seen on someone else's video explain that back when people would fight in armor they would actually grab the blade with the other hand to push it thru weak points or flip sword around and use is like a hammer way by also holding blade with two hands. New to this channel but do y'all ever train that? Looks like good techniques in the video. Noticed a lol of similar movement from training pole. Curious why you hit so hard like swinging a bat without deflecting and going straight forward after the deflection. But this is sparring so that's probably why I guessing. But lots of nice moves. Learn a lot watching stuff like this.
Yeah, we know about half swording, but I don't know if they train on it. But your observation is good: it's pretty much like a pole arm, as well as any close quarter weapon of such a size. It can even get grip backward(like a pickaxe) or on the blade (like a spear) And the violence behind the swing is very normal: These models for practise are rather light compared to what the heaviest greatswords (or slaughter swords) were It could be 3time these which weight around 1.2 kilograms! And this weight made blunt impact! It is not the first purpose of a sword, for sure, but it was really a weapon to fear! Oh,and welcome to this Channel ! If you're such a curious fellow about medieval swords, you're at the perfect place! :D
About deflecting, he does it, 1:22, but as I saw for Africans sword styles, the way to deal with parrying/deflecting is different depending on when and who you learn from. In our jargon, we can only call it technique I guess.
@@brandorgraccus6653 yeh saw that part was definitely a nice move. I meant like deflect and like stab straight forward. But I guess the other fighter would just counter that move usually. Just now getting into training weapons so trying to pick up a few things.
Look up Skallagrim he had a video on this very thing. It's called (When holding the blade and handle trying to get it into gaps in armour) half-swording. The other idea you mention (holding the blade and striking with the hilt) is called a murder strike (or stroke I can't remember) Holding a sword like that can also allow you to strike with the pommel. I have seen some halfswording on this channel (or maybe it was Skal's as he records here sometimes) but yeah some halfswording took place.
Duels were usually a lot slower because people are scared of dying. Usually you'd keep your distance and just snipe at the opponent rather than go in for these fast, close exchanges, since in most duels all you had to do was injure your opponent to win, and the last thing you want is for both people to be injured and later die of infections.
Other commenter is correct this guy isn’t the least afraid of getting hit also he moves his weapon from his center an embarrassing number of times and doesn’t get stabbed once for aggression. Overall unrealistic and bad form. I’m quite tired of seeing this sort of mistakes in hema seems to be absolutely pervasive
@@dorjedriftwood2731 It's like you're not happy that people aren't forced to stab each other to death as much as they used to. Like with most martial arts, HEMA is also now a sport for better and for worse. You win by getting more points. Or do you want to bring swordfighting to the death back into the mainsteam? Nothing more realistic than heads and arms getting cut off after all.
It’s incredibly difficult to be head with a sword in the middle of combat. Realistically that’s a nasty cut at the back of the neck, it could have gone deep enough to sever the spinal cord if the strike went between the vertebrae. Hell it could have also just broken the neck. But if it didn’t do either of those things(which is about a 30% chance honestly), then the opponent is still capable of fighting and will likely die a short time after the fight ends (30 minutes to an hour I’d wager)
vim pelo pensando rpg, tenho uma duvida, batalhas utlizando espada ou até em uma luta contra animais, os combates são longos? ou podem ser descididos em menos de 10 movimentos, como no vídeo mostrado.
Was thrusting forbidden in this? I saw a couple points where a feint to thrust from low guard could have clinched a quick win. Of course, it's always easy to critique from the outside.
The lady fighter is extremely good, I'm so proud to see other women in HEMA! Her guards are fantastically executed, but it does seem like she's a *tad* less experienced than her opponent, especially when it comes to her ranging during attacks (like I said her guards and their range are great, it's when she goes on offence that she's missing by just a couple inches). But her footwork, guards on defence, and excellent blade geometry are inspiring. Don't let anybody tell you that you can't fight with a sword just because you're a girl!! Again I think it's mostly a matter of experience, her timing is off when she's on offence by literal micro-seconds, as well as her range when striking. But hot dang if her defence isn't spectacular, and her footwork! I love that you guys are so well trained that your dynamic non-linear movement comes through so obviously as you circle and side-step with each exchange, not just rigidly duplicating forms as though from a book or movie in a "side by side" manner. Beautiful work everybody, I miss sword SO much, I'm old and sick now and can't do it. But it is SO, SO warming and comforting to see that people are re-learning this art and bringing it back to a sincere martial study. When I was growing up, HEMA didn't exist, and I hadn't ever came across another person who even knew who Oakeshotte was, Johannes Liechtenauer, even "long sword" was a phrase no one had even heard. It's such a joy to see where we are now, thirty years later. Bless you all, thank you for your videos, best wishes always
Out of all weapons and all martial arts, HEMA is almost pure skill: strength and endurance factor in very little, even when individuals are matched in skill, and skill disparity trumps strength or stamina advantage. So, if you are physically weaker, you should use a sword before almost anything else. This is more likely if you are a girl.
I dont like invoming adrenaline because that's cringey, but humans take a lot to go down for good However, we do know, iirc, that most fights were indeed to first blood or the first hit. Whether out of incapacitation or self preservation I dont know.
First they are just training swords. So they are dulled and the point will be removed/have a ball at the end. Then they wear thick protective equipment (a gambeson, layered cloth with padding) and some gauntlets for the hands. Its very safe especially when its done at a HEMA club
So in my local area they have SCA and I’m noticing that in my observation is that the SCA seems to approach things more in a hobbyist sense, whereas HEMA is more like what I am personally used to and much more like training in hand to hand martial arts in comparison where it seems…. More serious and less fan boy. I think I may start driving the hour and start going to some HEMA classes, especially since they teach small sword which is one of my all time favorites
I don't know if this is correct but I do Vietnamese martial arts and involved in that was learning some kendo we were taught to never strike like a baseball bat I don't know if that applies to HEMA or just longsword fighting and I was wondering if that was allowed or a common practice with the longsword?
The kind of battle I wanna see in movies. Skills, logic and quick end. Looks scary though. I wonder how people fight in war Like this against thousands in medieval times.
Hey guys! I do kettlebells and heavy clubbells and am interested in getting into HEMA. In a lot of HEMA videos (this one included), I see swords flexing and being narrow and seemingly light. Are these swords not historical replicas that have accurate weight and blade width/shape? If yes, why is it so? Would it be possible for me to get a full longsword replica with a dull blade and a proper weight to train HEMA?
Those type of blades were used in the renaissance period just for fencing since new and advanced types of swords were being used in a practical sense (rapiers, sabers). These longsword blades were blunt, and have much narrower and more flexible blades for much safer cut and thrust strokes. Why do they use this kind of longsword? Safety is number one priority. It allows people to fence with full effort without being able to actually kill someone and get arrested for it. Do they also practice using real blades? Yes they do. Almost every HEMA practitioner have at least one sparring longsword and a real longsword. The reason why they have to practice with real blades is because it has some characteristics which a sparring blade do not possess. One is that blunt edges will always slide when they make contact but for a real edge, they can get stuck ib place until something is done. This is common especially in binds, and you need to keep trained to do what you should in these situations.
Can you use a blunted real sword? Well you have to blunt the edged and round the point until you're 90% sure that it is safe and won't easily kill anyone. You can use it, yes, but buying yourself an actual sparring longsword is much more recommended.
To add to Aaron's excellent post, feders like those shown in this video are similarly weighted and balanced to historical longswords. The blade is just shaped differently. To get that thicker edge while still maintaining the same weight, you need a less wide blade.
Maybe I'm looking at this wrong, but it seems like most of these exchanges, with real weapons, would leave both parties mortally wounded? It looks like they're in a game where only the *first* touch counts, so they're willing to take any kind of retaliation in order to get that first strike, and a fatal-looking counter follows less than a second after almost every successful attack.
I wonder tough, some were like clearly a kill, but some hits looked very weak (Yeah duh I know they are sparing) but I mean by the angle and possible force one can put into. I am curious how many of these shots are actually crippling or anything like that? Also because knights would be like in really heavy armor sometimes. (I know very little about those things, but I like history)
Knights wouldn’t be fighting with swords if they’re wearing armor (unless they somehow managed to lose their main weapon). Swords were the pistol of the medieval world, useful and versatile side arms, but you’d never use them in a full scale battle unless you absolutely had to. Knights in armor might have one on their side incase they lose their mace or halbred in the melee
You are correct that alot were not death blows however most sword fights were encountered in un armored combat and duels. So strikes to the arm and hand as long as you were able to block or controll an oppents blade to prevent you from receiving a more serious blow are counted as points for you.
Thank every god that ever was or shall be that I wasn't alive when this kind of fighting was life or death. Little in life terrifies me more than the thought of being run through with a sword, being sliced to the bone or having a limb cleaved from the rest of me. It's just below being eaten alive and burning alive.
Real swords weigh less than 10 pounds, less 5 if they're one handed These training swords aren't sharp A good wack while unprotected will still hurt pretty bad
@@clownman4211 yes indeed the googles is truly unreliable Saw one of skallagrims videos the other day recently with a zweihander weighing less than 5 kg My point remains the same I guess
Being pedantic here,but these aren't fencers.they are hema practiocioners.hema is mostly an attempt at keeping alive ancient European martial arts,while fencing is a modern sport.
