Jogo do Pau Intensive Course: Day Four Thoughts

Day Four Thoughts

Material Covered: Rather than covering new material, the bulk of the day was spent on perception drills, building from attacks against the forehand side up to seven possible strikes (descending to head or knee, or ascending, all on both forehand and backhand sides, or vertical). Once we'd covered all of that, we got into some medium-speed freeplay, alternating blows and strikes. We learned some "knight" footwork approaching on the other side. The day ended with what Luís called "approaching parries," horizontal parries against descending strikes while closing distance to grapple.

Initial thoughts: Staff fighting is fun! Getting into freeplay was incredibly satisfying. I'm told that when Mike and I were paired together the hall was filled with the sound of staffs clacking and both of us giggling.

Today marked the start of the staffs dying. Jon's exploded, then Matheus broke his, and Dave broke two in a row. Fortunately we've got enough staffs lying about to replace the broken ones, and we've been taping them up right away to increase their longevity. The replacement staffs are just 1-1/4" dowelling, and it's noticeably heavier and more rigid than the tapered staffs. Both characteristics significantly change the handling of the weapons, but they do pretty well.

Hands and knees continue to get clipped, but I think we've still managed to keep the injuries down. Devon's thumb was particularly bothersome for him at one point after taking a hit from Matheus, but he seemed all right by the end of the day.

Tomorrow's the last day, then I'm ordering staves and books for the trainees. I want to find some way to keep up training jogo do pau, but I'm not sure where to fit it in to my schedule. I'm already involved in the wrestling and duelling sabre study groups, and I think that for this I'd like to organize something more formal than just a one-hour study group.

Jogo do Pau Intensive Course: Day Three Thoughts

Day Three Thoughts

Material covered: Morning warm-up was reviewing the mechanics of footwork, followed by even more tweaking of parrying actions (at different distances), and adding the parry against a vertical strike. Tweaked distance management by adding half steps back against half rotational strikes. In the afternoon we started with what Mike called a feeder drill, with one partner giving the other cues for parries and a variety of pre-emptive strikes (changing guards or starting a strike in thrusting distance). Then we added an approach that dodges longer-measure thrusts, and the variety of strikes possible on that approach. We ended with a first look at exchanging blows and reading the staff's momentum the moment after a parry--both for the attacker pressing their attack, and for the defender counterattacking.

Initial thoughts: Once again quoting Jon, "It's starting to click." That might not be verbatim. With the introduction of the "exchange of blows" material, it's really beginning to feel like we're learning how to fight, and the first two days have served as an excellent foundation. Everyone's parries and strikes have vastly improved since day one. I know that I still have work to do on both accounts, but more often than not the staff alignment at the end of the parry is correct, and the other guy's weapon is getting enthusiastically knocked aside. Distance management is also improving, but still tricky as well. Especially working multiple parries.

Not sure what it was about today, but the second half went much faster than it did yesterday, when I spent the last hour or so looking at the clock wondering how only fifteen minutes could have gone by. I suspect that it's a combination of somewhat more complicated material (specific approaching footwork, parry, counter or press attack) and not doing any multiple-opponents stuff. That two against one stuff we did yesterday was very fun, but with fun comes a significant likeliness that I'll push myself pretty hard.

Having Mike as a partner is always a fun time. He's willing to play as hard as I am, as often as not, though we should probably save each other for the end of the day since we tend to build on each other's enthusiasm and the intensity quickly escalates.

It's difficult to really realize that we're two thirds of the way through the course. We've covered a lot of material, but it still feels like we've got weeks' worth of stuff that we could be going over. We've barely scratched the surface of the multiple opponents material, and we're only just getting into the meat of fighting.

As we get closer to getting into some more freeplay-oriented activities we're really going to find out the full extent to which we've internalized the basics. I suspect that by the end of tomorrow most of us will be nursing sore thumbs.

Jogo do Pau Intensive Course: Day Two Thoughts

Day Two Thoughts

Material covered: review of day one material, add side and overhand parries on the backhand side, add basic multiple opponents material (clear and strike combos against downwards blows on both forehand and backhand side), add basic strategic concepts of setup (stance and distance), initial blow, and exchanging blows, with exploration of distance (striking distance and thrusting distance).

Initial thoughts: I really appreciate how streamlined the system that Luis teaches is, and it seems that that's largely due to the influence of his instructor (Nuno Curvello Russo?) who downplayed a lot of material that he had been taught that did not contribute to the effective performance of the art. As a result, we aren't focussing on the entirety of what is possible within the art, but on what in the art is effective. In a lot of ways it's quite the contrary of a lot of historical swordsmanship, especially when it's trying to use entire corpora of works.

We're recovering a lot of material, which is a good thing. "A, then A+B, then A+B+C, all the way to Z," as Luis said on day one. We've actually got pretty much all of the motions in the toolbox, I think. Now it's just a matter of stringing them together.

It's interesting watching the other students. Everyone's brain is melting at a different rate. Even with an hour-long break in the middle of things, five hours is a very long time to be physically active for most people. Even for those of us that do this daily, we don't tend to be training for five hours a day. Luis' occasional (rant) breaks are definitely refreshing and well-received.

Got commended for developing my parries this morning. The secret is to think of them as cross-checks, I think. At least, when I started thinking of them as cross-checks they started making more sense to me. And remembering the stretch reflex anteater/swan pose fixes a lot of mechanical problems when sequencing strikes. There's definitely a lot more to work on, both mechanically and strategically. I keep on finding myself trying to lift rising blows over my head, which is considerably more risky when you don't have a crossbar.

It's too bad that Luis didn't manage to bring more sticks with him. I'll need to figure out how to bring more in. Between that and running out of a number of Luis' books, I hope to have an order form together by Friday for all of the participants who want to order stuff in.

Teaching youth classes yesterday was particularly jarring. Everything I picked up (longsword, rapier) I wanted to treat like a JdP staff. Today was significantly better. The distinct differences in weight distribution between a staff and a sword really help to compartmentalize the accompanying mechanical actions and strategic considerations.

Open floor's going to be weird.

Jogo do Pau Intensive Course: Day One Thoughts

Day One Thoughts

Material covered: All forehand and backhand blows, basic distance management, side & overhead parries from a point-forward waiting guard.

Initial thoughts: Looks like my reaching out to the local stickfighting community worked. Most of the people signed up are AD folk, many of whom I hassled into submission. Of the four non-duello people signed up, one's a total newcomer (he's only done karate and bjj, so this is his first serious foray into weapon arts), one's our old friend Mike (he couldn't make day one, but he's fairly experienced so should be able to pick the rest up pretty quick), and the other two are local SE Asian stickfighters.

I feel for the new guy. The rest of us only have to repurpose our existing motor skills, he's got to learn a whole new set. It's very interesting to watch his learning curve though. Luis' environmental approach to teaching works really well. I don't know if the new guy realizes how much he's learning incidentally. His martial arts background also helps Luis correct him with a minimum of direction: it's not that he can't move his body the way it needs to move, he just doesn't know how (yet). As long as he doesn't get too overwhelmed I think this is going to be a great experience for him.

At the day's halfway point I was starting to feel a bit of tenderness in my hands, so I put on my gloves. I have a decent set of calluses on my hand from kettlebells and barbell work, but we've been swinging the stick around more than a lot. I suspect the guys that didn't heed the glove warning will not last the week with intact palms.

The day itself was an excellent start. Many many repetitions of basic strikes, many many repetitions of parries. Luis' approach is very natural, and flows intuitively. Sometimes too intuitively. "It really works," Jon said. "I don't always know how it works, but it really does. He just gives you one thing to do and all of a sudden it all comes together." Incorporating the stretch reflex into delivering blows really makes me think of the large duelling sabre molinelli, and they really improve the power of the blows. All of the weapon paths, along with Luis' mechanics, just make it so easy to blast into things with the stick. I've already nudged a few knuckles, mostly by accident, and I hope that we don't get any worse injuries than bruises.

I am fortunate. I have already read all of Luis' books, so the concepts are not new. I am fortunate as well for getting into strength training last year. Everyone was massaging shoulders and thighs when we were done, and I was just feeling gently spent. Just like the last time Luis was in town, it wasn't until towards the end of the day that I was really getting going. By Friday I'll really be having fun.

No idea what tomorrow's going to bring, but I imagine our parries will find their risposte.

[Book Review] Mastering the Art of Arms, Vol. 2: The Medieval Longsword

In brief: a solid resource for the beginner swordsman, and a splendid example of a progressive curriculum for instructors of any level.

If you're looking for a general reference/guidebook for Italian medieval martial arts, this is not the book for you. Instead, this book is a guidebook for someone just getting started: a curriculum to work through, chapter by chapter, at the end of which you will have learned all of the basics: blows, stances, and tactics, all the way through swordplay to grappling and counter-grappling.

I found it particularly useful as an instructor, especially since Guy's spent years refining both his interpretations of the sources and his teaching method. There's a lot to learn about how to teach, how to structure a curriculum, and how to get students ready for freeplay, all cunningly disguised as straightforward, easily read and understood instructions.

As always, Guy's language is clear and precise, and contains no small amount of good humour.

My Hands Are Not Invincible

A few years ago, Luis Preto was living in Vancouver, getting his Masters in Coaching Sciences at the University of British Columbia, and stopping by Academie Duello every week or so to get some practice time in with either myself or the school's director, Devon Boorman, or, as was frequently the case, with both of us. The weapons of choice were usually longswords, but he usually had a bag of staffs, which we'd pull out from time to time. He also had two sets of ActionFlex staffs that he'd had specially made that were fun to play with.

Training with Luis was always enlightening. His training paradigm tends towards full-force and minimal gear. More often than not we didn't wear any protective gear, not even masks, the result of which was that I quickly learned that my primary concern must be defence. Luis' precise sense of both distance and timing, and incredible speed all forced me to bring my top game to every drill and exercise, no matter how basic or complex. His low stance also allowed him to strike low targets that I was unaccustomed to defending, which brought me to develop defensive strategies to be able to keep all of my limbs protected or ready to evade.

One particularly memorable session started with the three of us working on parrying exercises for about an hour, at the end of which Devon had a meeting or some kind of important business with a deadline. Both Luis and I didn't have anything to do until much later in the day, so we decided to go all out with the ActionFlex staffs.* Since the weapons are padded, and the point of contact is quite flexible, we decided to forego any kind of protective equipment beyond mutually agreeing against thrusts to the face.

Boy, did I underestimate what I was getting myself into.

After half an hour, I was starting to figure out how to keep my hands safe. Imagine thirty minutes of having your hands very enthusiastically slapped by a towel-wielding ninja. Thirty minutes after that and I started to figure out how to protect my lead leg, which in turn led to another twenty to thirty minutes of being reminded that I needed to protect my hands. I did manage to land a few hits of my own, and there were a handful of very satisfying thrusts, but overall I think Luis belaboured me for the better part of an hour and a half, if not two hours.

It was marvellous.

It was marvellous, and I'm pretty sure that I learned more in that single two-hour period than in any other single training session before or after. I learned that, aside from one notably eye-watering exception, my ability to protect my head was pretty darn solid, likewise for my torso. I learned so much about how to move to keep my limbs safe. And upon reflection, I learned a lot from Luis about how to train someone without having to say anything. For every improvement that I managed to implement, Luis was able to push my limits, to make it better than it was. If I was able to deal with a particular hand shot, Luis changed his targets or approach and forced me to think strategically, rather than just technically.

By the end of the session my hands were pretty puffy from getting slapped around, and so was my left thigh. I still haven't really figured out how to keep my lead knee safe, but my hands are much safer than they were, and protecting the hands is now one of the first things I check for when getting students ready for sparring.

At this point it's been a few years since I last got to train with Luis. I'm definitely looking forward to spending a whole week with him.

*A quick note on padded weapons: They are kind of silly, yes, and definitely do not accurately reflect the dynamics of steel-on-steel contact, sure, but they do allow you to go all out without too much worry about damaging your partner, and although they don't necessarily match up to sword dynamics that well they are not that far off from a pair of sticks. Did I mention that they allow you to go all out? All of my most exhilarating training revelations have been in the discovery of training tools that allow me to express myself with gusto--Duelling sabre, anyone?

Why do I train?

Why do I train? It's a pretty complicated question, and one that I don't think that I can answer right out. The question "why?" is also closely related to "what?" and "how?"

What is training?

The first thing to think about is what training is, and what it's supposed to accomplish. Mark Rippetoe, the author of Starting Strength, and a barbell coach with decades of experience, distinguishes between exercise and training, the former being done for immediate results, and the latter for results over time. Exercise is done because it feels good, and training is done because you want to get better at something. 

Almost everything I do I do for very short-term goals. I fence because it's fun, and I enjoy the chemical rush of adrenaline and endorphins. For the longest time, I only worked out for the social aspect of moving heavy objects with a fun group of people. But, since discovering Starting Strength in late 2012, I've started trying to think about my activities not just as fun things to do, but as a means to improve myself.

What do I train?

The human body is a highly adaptable machine, and those adaptations are governed by the principle of specificity: The human organism adapts itself to the specific stresses that it is subjected to. If you're going to start training for something, you'll need to think about what characteristics you're looking to improve. Here are a few:

• Strength - The ability of your muscles to produce the maximum amount of force. This can be improved by increasing the quantity of muscle producing the force, by increasing the efficiency of each muscle's force-producing mechanism, or, most often, both.
• Range of Motion - The ability of each joint to move functionally to its maximum extent. A lot of the time a restricted range of motion is a direct result of insufficient strength.
• Recovery/Strength Endurance - How many repetitions can you perform of a strenuous action? How long do you need to rest between sets of repetitions? This is the core of conditioning training.
• Technique - How well do you mechanically perform an action? Is it efficient, or are you moving in such a way that you're wasting energy?
• Tactics - Can you identify which actions are the correct actions given the current set of stimuli? Is you defense the correct one, based on the attack you are receiving?
• Strategy - How do you manoeuver your opponent into a position that's favourable to you? Of the many possible actions that could be considered correct, which one is the best for the current situation?

How do I train?

Each aspect listed above has a different method of training. Operating at the highest possible speed is not the best way to learn a technique, but it is required to fine-tune it. Swordfighting, contrary to what some people think, does not in itself make you stronger.

Likewise, you have to ask yourself how far you want to go with everything. How strong is strong enough? How much range of motion do you need in order to perform your tasks without injury? Does my mandritto fendente really need to be that perfect before I start fighting?

Want to get stronger? I mean, really, stronger? There's no substitute for barbells, especially for lower-body strength. There's a lot of gymnastics stuff out there that'll do wonders for your upper body, though, frequently in ways that just aren't possible with barbells.

How about conditioning? I like kettlebells. None of those goofy, million-variety moves, though. Just good old swings, snatches, cleans and presses, and maybe a turkish get up or twenty.

Technique, tactics, and strategy have the problem of being difficult to assess. Conditioning and strength are easy: how much weight is on the bar? How long did it take you to do 100 snatches? Unfortunately there's no easy assessment for combat performance, since there are so many variables. You can't measure your ability based on how easy it is for you to beat someone else in a fight unless you expect that person to stop training just so they can be a marker for you. Training to fight really requires a coach/instructor with a solid idea of what you should be capable of, who also has enough knowledge and experience to know the best way to get you there. For those instructors, sparring and drilling can be assessment mechanisms, but all the hard work of improving (the training itself) happens in drills.

Why do I train?

I train strength for the simple reason that I know I can be stronger.

I've gotten back into kettlebell training for the simple reason that I signed up for a certification workshop in the new year, and my conditioning isn't up to snuff, so I need to train to pass.

To be honest, right now I'm not training my swordplay at all. I'll fence from time to time because it's fun, and I teach because I like seeing other people get better, but I'm still looking for a reason to get better at swordplay that isn't just "I don't want to suck." I'll let you know if I find one.