There's a HEMA club on my campus that always practices outside. I sometimes watch. Some people are interested, others think it's just a bunch of nerds. Admittedly, they do some goofy stuff sometimes, but they're generally practicing legitimate techniques. I really wamt to join a club but don't know if I'd want to participate on campus
It's pretty embarrassing if it happens (happened to me and my sparring partner. We went to relatively isolated areas when we were training and sparring). It's such a weird feeling ,you feel silly almost. I never liked having an audience but that's just me I'm more of an introvert.
@@eval_is_evil For me, I'd just think it's badass. Not something you see every day you know? But yeah I could see how it might make some people feel weird.
Yeah it still kinda is. On the flip side it's the closest thing we can get to the awesome fighting we see in video games so it's still pretty dope. Not as dope as summoning magical blades around you and spinning them around like a buzzsaw while your opponent doges by making illusions of himself on the spot but like Thanos said : "Reality is often disappointing"
@@Pyre My dad loves the theatrics of wwe, but as a martial artist, I prefer watching UFC. My dad gets bored with the mma matches because he doesn't see the setups, or know how hard the excutions of specific moves are. Instead he only sees two guys dancing and hugging.
@@ADayintheLifeoftheTw In fairness to him, back when UFC was just starting to get popular, "Two guys hugging and punching each other in the dick for ten minutes" was pretty boring. From what I've seen, it has improved markedly since. But yeah, being conditioned to look for spectacular instead of subtle will screw with one's ability to appreciate this kind of thing (I say as someone who far prefers pro wrestling, hah).
@@Pyre Well it doesn't help that any two UFC bouts can be radically different. Take two relatively recent title fights that subverted the expectations of many: Israel Adesanya vs. Yoel Romero and Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington. Everyone expected the former to be an absolute barn burner: a classic bull vs. matador match with Yoel trying to run down Izzy while he countered and slipped away in an effort to avoid being trapped against the cage by the stronger man. Instead, what we got was one of the most boring fights in recent memory with two guys staring at each other and engaging in half-assed exchanges; i.e. "fighting not to lose" for short spurts. That's what happens when you put two consummate counter-strikers in the cage with one another. I think people expected too much out of this fight and we will instead get what people wanted from this one from the Costa match tonight. Conversely, a lot of the fanbase thought Kamaru vs. Colby would be absurdly boring. Both are known for primarily utilizing wrestling to gradually grind their opponents down, rarely finishing fights by clean KO. Nope. The two didn't grapple for a single second of their fight. They went out and tried to knock each others' blocks off from bell to bell. Absolute slugfest and FOTY contender.
@@TheRPGentleman Would it have been "lame" to survive a sword duel unscathed, while the opponent leaves crippled, especially considering medieval "healthcare"?
@@TheRPGentleman But who need serious hits if your enemy dont have arms enymore??? Also Skall say in video those small hits are more more easy to do and harder to cancel instead of full hit.
The way Xian keeps moving his sword around would be maddeningly distracting. As long as he's still focused on you and not neglecting his defense, it's excellent for hitting you from unexpected angles. Not to mention you're either constantly on edge because every motion could be an attack, or conversely you stop expecting his motions to amount to anything, so he can easily surprise you when he does commit.
@@dwaneanderson8039 They have them! They appear often in extra-media, like the games, books and other stuff. In fact, the light sabers the younglings are using in episode 2 are just that, according to cannon. :P
@@dwaneanderson8039 they used non-lethal lightsabers for younglings. Can't have 5 year olds running around with lazer swords. I think they had to be a padawan before anyone could make their own (deadly) lightsaber.
Observations: You mentioned earlier that your footwork was sloppy. I'd agree, but the foundations are the first to go when you don't train, especially when it comes to sparring. I learned early on that merely practicing footwork drills isn't enough... it's just too bad that this quarantine has closed down a lot of schools for other combat sports. Anyways, I don't know if you notice this, but your structure gives up a lot. On strikes that you're confident in, it's not a problem, but on strikes where you miss or plan to do a follow up hew, the structure tends to weaken. So, for instance, when you know you struck Xian, you tend to only use good structure to emphasize that you hit your partner, and not just for your own protection and for good body mechanics. I think that your structure, alongside your footwork, and your sense of measure all contribute to getting sniped a lot. But with respect to you, I can understand when you're sparring with someone for the first time. It takes a while to understand another person's tells before you get used to them and their tempo. On the other hand, your feints are really really good. You're really good at not telegraphing too much and then changing your tempo, going for 40% to 100% and back to 40% just before you hit Xian. Really impressive. You're very diverse in your entry, not favoring a hew from the left or right openings (although I've noticed that you really like doing schielhaus from the left side). However, with your diverse selection of strikes, I've noticed (and this is just an eyeball test, I don't necessarily think my observations are true) that you don't seem to really have a particular hew that you fancy or are particularly strong in. I might be wrong, but I've noticed that a lot of guys who don't drill continuously on very specific strikes from specific stances regularly tend to try out different techniques just because they don't understand the strengths of the hews themselves. On the other hand, for example, guys who drill techniques like Zwerch to slice into a Zornhau dozens of times wouldn't have to think when they see someone settle into Vom Tag in anticipation of a Zornau. At any rate, a good fix is regular sparring and more intentional drilling. It's a little harder getting a partner when a lot of clubs are closed, but you can't really do much about it. Xian was very impressive to me. He struck me as a guy who decided, "I think I'll focus on just your hands and go at about 30% the whole time." Even with just that, his accuracy was fairly high even though you probably knew to defend against your hands the whole time. That stuff is just insane to me. What's cool, too, about what Xian did was that his tempo didn't change much, either. So his timing was fairly predictable--and on purpose, too, I think--so it should've been fairly easy to defend against his snipes if he was a normal person. I suspect that he's not. I can see what you mean when he's been going at it for 8 years. I aspire to that kind of proficiency myself, after only really starting two years ago in Toronto. At any rate, I think the difference between Xian and you, Skall, is that he seemed to be wanting to help you loosen up, giving you plenty of chances to get a few points in, while working on sniping himself. Meanwhile, I feel like you were a little more competitive with your usage of multiple techniques from different angles and your feints, haha. At any rate, I'm glad you found a partner that can keep you honest with his hand/wrist snipes, and who also seems like he genuinely wants you to gain some confidence back into the sport, as well! Cheers from Brampton, Ontario! Edit: After watching a second time, I noticed that Xian's pace and intensity was faster than in the beginning, so it seems that during the spar Skall seemed to have improved a bit! Nice! It usually takes a few days to start loosening up, but it looks like Skall's getting more and more confident as the video rolls on. He also seemed to be more diverse in his range of attacks, as well, towards the end. So I suppose he was getting into the competition, as well!
You know a lot about the subject. Is there any sources to learn about HEMA without having to join a school? It's not because I'm too lazy to join one, but Mexico doesn't have any (that I know of), and I'm stuck here, without anyone who even knows what HEMA is do to the language barrier; all the information I can find about it is usually in English
@@addictedtochocolate920 You might want to ask Shad of Shadiversity. IIRC he is mostly self taught and actually not a bad fighter when he gpt to spar with some actual Hema guy. 🤔 At least this is what I remember.
@@addictedtochocolate920 If there's no hema, I'd join sport fencing, Kendo, Escrima, or Kenjutsu. It's not close at all to HEMA, but you get to learn footwork and some basics. They're not perfect--and neither is HEMA, depending on the school you go to. But if that doesn't fit your budget, then you'll have to do solo drilling... and that's only useful to a point. This is why I would try to start a little club yourself. A lot of my friends disagree with me on this because we don't know any instructor who started a club without knowing anything, but at least you'll be able to find people to train with while learning together from the manuscripts. The sources I'd give are mostly manuscripts and modern translations: Anything by Peter von Danzig, a translated version of The Flower of Battle by Fiore dei Liberi, The Recital of the Chivalric Art of Fencing by Johannes Lichtenaur (there's a free pdf online), The Art of Sword Combat by Joachim Meyer, Historical European Martial Arts In Its Context by Richard Marsden, and anything by Guy Windsor. My favourite is the German Longsword Study Guide by Keith Farrel. He doesn't give you a definitive guide, per se. He'll give you multiple manuscripts on one particular technique and it's up to the reader to decide which one is best or which one is most efficient under a certain situation. The reason why I recommend starting a club is because you can round up a bunch of guys to purchase equipment, practice swords, and maybe even a place to rent for practice. There isn't an instructor, sure, but you'll all be learning from the manuscripts. In terms of online resources, I'm not the best person to ask. In my experience, I've seen a lot of clubs post their version of the techniques on their youtube pages, but some would lean more towards sport HEMA, while others lean towards self defense, and others are more experimental (as in, they're not the most athletic guys, nor do they have the best form, but they are very knowledgeable about the manuscripts. I suspect that a lot of them haven't been instructed before and merely picked up a couple manuscripts... and that's not necessarily a bad thing!). A lot of the people on my list fit in that spectrum, but some of my favourite youtube channels are: Martin Fabian, Scholagladiatora, SnapJelly, Blood ad Iron, Bjorn Ruther, Sword Carolina, Academy of Historical Fencing, Dreynschlag, Laurel City Historical Fencing, and Anton Kuhotovic. There was another one that I was recommended that was very technical, but I completely forgot it. Something else that I do is follow some of the biggest HEMA tournaments, such as Swordfish and Tyrnhaw. These tournaments produce, in my opinion, the closest thing we can get to grandmasters in the sport side of HEMA. However, Swordfish, which usually happens during the Fall, might not be happening this year. Hwever, you can still watch some of the streams from previous years. I watch those at least once a month to get inspired in training.
@@addictedtochocolate920 best bet watch (sounds dumb) ninjas footwork. Like how ninjas walk. Then think how can my body do that why does my body do that what structure does my body have during this. Then emulate it but not so narrow or wide. Make it comfortably in the middle. Then watch cutting basics on youtube and emulate them. Learn to make the sword wind sounds with the blade. As time passes you will learn naturally what works and doesn't work. Its how i taught myself. Then go get books and study how they actually did it.
Funny, Skall got me interested in HEMA that I used the techniques for the military when it comes to striking\defending with cold weapons\using the weapon in close quarters when I was training my comrades a couple of years ago. Much love!
Best video yet. I love the content skall and you’ve been really beneficial to my knowledge of swordsmanship and now that you’re putting sparring videos on, it’s so much better.
Really enjoyed the new sparring footage especially with an opponent with such a different fighting style than others shown before, looking forward to more and thanks for the video.
Finally a fight from decent camera angles that is not dumb and cinematic. I think you should post more of these. Maybe two very skilled fighters sparring with jackets and stuff with your analysis on. Really liked the video, well done
This is really cool. Hard do believe this is how people would sword fight(duel*), more or less. Used to seeing Hollywood sword fighting. Which from what I understand isn’t exactly accurate.
They still hold back a lot in this sparring. See some older vids when they do it with protective gear. Especially the saber training looks kind of Hollywood-like.
Watching these makes me want to learn HEMA even more. I've always loved medieval fighting (whatever the weapon) but there are no schools anywhere near me. I'm just hoping one might open up soon
@@scottmacgregor3444 I looked and I did find one but I think it's closed bc I can't find any kind of website or information anywhere. I'm still going to call them and go to the location just to be sure but chances are quite low
Canada is huge, we have various climates, that place is weird by our standards. Btw the distance between there and my place is over 4800km... and we are both in the same country.
So glad to see you getting some sparring in again. You may be rusty, but you still put on a good show and scored some decent hits. Hopefully it won't be so long before you can spar again.
Been watching a lot of your vids; been saving up a lot for the gear you reccomend.. the club near me only teaches fiore... but its a start! I want to really thank you for letting me know this exists and take my passion to a new level
Even though I practice kendo, I love skall's HEMA footage a lot. The arm cutting skill is impressive! The aim-for-the-hands fighting style is pretty similar to mine's in kendo.😂
Nice to see this kind of video again. This is why I originally subscribed to this channel. (although I can understand the scarcity of these videos - circumstances being what they are)
Glad to see you getting back into sparring! Looking forward to watching more, make sure to watch that knee though. I know it's been a while and you've likely given it time to heal up by now but it'll be REALLY easy to mess it up again if you get careless.
@@ericstoverink6579 Funnily enough, Matt has mentioned that he actually does a lot of longsword work and just doesn't talk about it much in his videos.
When I started watching your vids several years ago, I saw the highland games system and that it was to absolute on hit either being valid or not, with no gradient for severity. I devised a points system were you got 1 point for a light wound, 3 for a serious one, and 6 for a mortal one, first to 12 wins the round, because I felt it better encapsulated real fighting. to see you know changing your mind about the validity of lighter hits now, and using a system so similar to the one I came up with, is really awesome.
I'd work out hamstrings and hip extension type exercises for the footwork, just for overall knee stability and any leg injury reduction with like lateral under tension movements (footwork). The lowkey word in the gyms is hip extension for whatever mechanical reasons are key. Saying this mostly to justify my hip-extension practices, as its seen as a feminine activity lol.
Heh. Reminds me of when I was at the Naval Hospital in Bremerton for X-rays. They were looking for kidney stones, so their reference point on the body was the top of the pelvic arch. Tech thought she had found the point until I moved my leg and she freaked out. She'd never seen bone-hard hip flexors before.
Don't feel bad. I do a lot of the "girly" exercises for the glutes and hips as well. Really helps me keep my knees from tracking in on squats and deadlifts.
As an amateur who’s only doing solo drills weekly for the past month, I’m satisfied that I’m finally able to read Skall’s guards and how it holds up well. I am absolutely terrified however with master Xian’s fast guard changes, even if it “seems like” its just fast switching between langenort and pflug. I’d be totally distracted if I faced him.
I've done a good amount of sparring with light gear. Hand shots were always super common until I learned the value of Plow & Key guard. Oddly enough, keeping the blade close to you does make you harder to hit. It's amazing how quick your body unlearns a bad habit when the consequence is pain & failure.
This is such a fascinating sport. Especially your commentary makes it really interesting to watch. Since I don't have experience with this...i can't estimate what the effect of sword cuts are. Can you do a video on that?
Your honest self criticism is refreshing. May I point the difference between always being on the heal versus ball of the foot leads to loss of balance and agility.
Skall, I must say your style is really different from what I was used to seeing back in the days here. We were waaaaaay more grabby with our hands, kicks to the shins and armoured headbutts were super commons. We tended to fight in really close quarters, forcing prolonged binds to make a grab at the dominant hand and pull a dagger or something to finish the job. Lots of half swording as well to compensate for the closer distance. Our footwork was really different as well, lots of short distance horizontal (not vertical) short jumping steps to commit into a bind or move past the defences of the adversary aggressively. Though a lot of it was with full plates or full chain at the very minimum, so I guess it was a major factor in our style to go for anti-armour strategies even when unarmoured.
The introduction to Sigmund Ringeck's fencing manual says never to lead with a cut from your weak side, you tend to this a lot in this clip, @Skallagrim. Also something to take note of.
I would think that even the type of clothing (not even armor) really changes the yellow/green hit dichotomy a lot. If you are wearing a thick winter jacket, a light draw-cut on the arm might only superficially or not at all hurt you, while the same thing naked would certainly draw blood.
Hey, Skall, nice to see you drawing swords again. I don’t know if you’re into anime, but I would love to see you taking on the overall shape and geometry of the swords in Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack On Titan - espetacular show, btw). It’s sole porpose is cut (very large targets, but somewhat normal flash). I wonder if the shape is good and functional or if they could do better... Cheers from a brazilian fan.
You looked really great in this footage! You mixed things up really well and took the bold approach of making the first move almost all the time. Your opponent was skillful of course but stood almost upright and with his sword outstretched 24/7 just waiting to clip your hands whenever they came near, knock your sword aside as you swung it and back away when he didn't feel confident to do it. He kind of reminds me of your little brother who holds the block button the entire time and spams the one move he knows he can catch you with whenever you try something clever. An effective technique is an effective technique. However, I love your approach far more and with a bit more hand awareness your opponent would need to try utilising their special moves a bit more if they don't want to be made a fool of.
ur traaining video with the game and or toy swords r nice :) freestyling on the flows if u see his hands move u can curve ur body around his blade right and strike from diffrent angles
Surprised that nobody walking by just sat down and watched. If I saw two people sparring with swords in public I would definitely watch for a while.
There's a HEMA club on my campus that always practices outside. I sometimes watch. Some people are interested, others think it's just a bunch of nerds. Admittedly, they do some goofy stuff sometimes, but they're generally practicing legitimate techniques. I really wamt to join a club but don't know if I'd want to participate on campus
At 2:07, at the top, is that a person? I think it is.
It's pretty embarrassing if it happens (happened to me and my sparring partner. We went to relatively isolated areas when we were training and sparring). It's such a weird feeling ,you feel silly almost. I never liked having an audience but that's just me I'm more of an introvert.
@@eval_is_evil For me, I'd just think it's badass. Not something you see every day you know? But yeah I could see how it might make some people feel weird.
Different people like different things. Mind-blowing, isn't it?
Foam Fighting as a kid: No fair hands dont count!
Sword Fighting as an adult: Well landed!
Yes!!
Bayonet fighting on Parris Island as a US Marine. "Hands don't count! Stick him with the red!"
"Real fighting is boring and ugly!"
"Mid-to-high-speed chess with violence is boring and ugly to you?"
Yeah it still kinda is. On the flip side it's the closest thing we can get to the awesome fighting we see in video games so it's still pretty dope. Not as dope as summoning magical blades around you and spinning them around like a buzzsaw while your opponent doges by making illusions of himself on the spot but like Thanos said : "Reality is often disappointing"
@@alexanerose4820 We have very different definitions of disappointing.
@@Pyre My dad loves the theatrics of wwe, but as a martial artist, I prefer watching UFC. My dad gets bored with the mma matches because he doesn't see the setups, or know how hard the excutions of specific moves are. Instead he only sees two guys dancing and hugging.
@@ADayintheLifeoftheTw In fairness to him, back when UFC was just starting to get popular, "Two guys hugging and punching each other in the dick for ten minutes" was pretty boring. From what I've seen, it has improved markedly since.
But yeah, being conditioned to look for spectacular instead of subtle will screw with one's ability to appreciate this kind of thing (I say as someone who far prefers pro wrestling, hah).
@@Pyre Well it doesn't help that any two UFC bouts can be radically different. Take two relatively recent title fights that subverted the expectations of many: Israel Adesanya vs. Yoel Romero and Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington.
Everyone expected the former to be an absolute barn burner: a classic bull vs. matador match with Yoel trying to run down Izzy while he countered and slipped away in an effort to avoid being trapped against the cage by the stronger man. Instead, what we got was one of the most boring fights in recent memory with two guys staring at each other and engaging in half-assed exchanges; i.e. "fighting not to lose" for short spurts. That's what happens when you put two consummate counter-strikers in the cage with one another. I think people expected too much out of this fight and we will instead get what people wanted from this one from the Costa match tonight.
Conversely, a lot of the fanbase thought Kamaru vs. Colby would be absurdly boring. Both are known for primarily utilizing wrestling to gradually grind their opponents down, rarely finishing fights by clean KO. Nope. The two didn't grapple for a single second of their fight. They went out and tried to knock each others' blocks off from bell to bell. Absolute slugfest and FOTY contender.
Your opponents fighting style is like a badger. He digs himself into a hole and bloodies the nose of those that try to claw their way in
That's a good way to put it. :)
@@Skallagrim Holy crap you actually respond! XD that just made my morning thank you!
Yeah, he's really lame. Skall goes for committed cuts while this guy just does little hand taps.
@@TheRPGentleman Would it have been "lame" to survive a sword duel unscathed, while the opponent leaves crippled, especially considering medieval "healthcare"?
@@TheRPGentleman But who need serious hits if your enemy dont have arms enymore???
Also Skall say in video those small hits are more more easy to do and harder to cancel instead of full hit.
"This really shows you the importance of mobility." -Skall
Uh... I'm really seeing the importance of hand protection ;~)
I thought you only needed protection when you're NOT using your hands. But hey, preferences I guess.
1:35
The badass facial scar after skewering your opponent is a feature, not a bug. Now you can be a proper fantasy protagonist!
The way Xian keeps moving his sword around would be maddeningly distracting. As long as he's still focused on you and not neglecting his defense, it's excellent for hitting you from unexpected angles. Not to mention you're either constantly on edge because every motion could be an attack, or conversely you stop expecting his motions to amount to anything, so he can easily surprise you when he does commit.
Love ya skall, you're the one that actually got me interested in HEMA.
Me too !
Yo tambien
Same
Me too. You and Shadiversity ^-^ Love you guys
HEMA?🤔
can you imagine two Jedi dueling like this?
"hey bobby, how's your Shop for robots hands?"
"Its going great, Jonny!"
I wonder if they could have made practice light sabers that only sting a little if they hit you.
Dwane Anderson I think they can adjust their sabers so they can practice without injury
@@dwaneanderson8039
They have them! They appear often in extra-media, like the games, books and other stuff. In fact, the light sabers the younglings are using in episode 2 are just that, according to cannon. :P
@@dwaneanderson8039 they used non-lethal lightsabers for younglings. Can't have 5 year olds running around with lazer swords.
I think they had to be a padawan before anyone could make their own (deadly) lightsaber.
Yeah alot of ppl in Star Wars have alot Robot arms/hands
ruclips.net/video/EQldOeZ75gY/видео.html
Count Dooku Would have been so cool with Robot Hands
Observations: You mentioned earlier that your footwork was sloppy. I'd agree, but the foundations are the first to go when you don't train, especially when it comes to sparring. I learned early on that merely practicing footwork drills isn't enough... it's just too bad that this quarantine has closed down a lot of schools for other combat sports. Anyways, I don't know if you notice this, but your structure gives up a lot. On strikes that you're confident in, it's not a problem, but on strikes where you miss or plan to do a follow up hew, the structure tends to weaken. So, for instance, when you know you struck Xian, you tend to only use good structure to emphasize that you hit your partner, and not just for your own protection and for good body mechanics. I think that your structure, alongside your footwork, and your sense of measure all contribute to getting sniped a lot. But with respect to you, I can understand when you're sparring with someone for the first time. It takes a while to understand another person's tells before you get used to them and their tempo.
On the other hand, your feints are really really good. You're really good at not telegraphing too much and then changing your tempo, going for 40% to 100% and back to 40% just before you hit Xian. Really impressive. You're very diverse in your entry, not favoring a hew from the left or right openings (although I've noticed that you really like doing schielhaus from the left side). However, with your diverse selection of strikes, I've noticed (and this is just an eyeball test, I don't necessarily think my observations are true) that you don't seem to really have a particular hew that you fancy or are particularly strong in. I might be wrong, but I've noticed that a lot of guys who don't drill continuously on very specific strikes from specific stances regularly tend to try out different techniques just because they don't understand the strengths of the hews themselves. On the other hand, for example, guys who drill techniques like Zwerch to slice into a Zornhau dozens of times wouldn't have to think when they see someone settle into Vom Tag in anticipation of a Zornau. At any rate, a good fix is regular sparring and more intentional drilling. It's a little harder getting a partner when a lot of clubs are closed, but you can't really do much about it.
Xian was very impressive to me. He struck me as a guy who decided, "I think I'll focus on just your hands and go at about 30% the whole time." Even with just that, his accuracy was fairly high even though you probably knew to defend against your hands the whole time. That stuff is just insane to me. What's cool, too, about what Xian did was that his tempo didn't change much, either. So his timing was fairly predictable--and on purpose, too, I think--so it should've been fairly easy to defend against his snipes if he was a normal person. I suspect that he's not. I can see what you mean when he's been going at it for 8 years. I aspire to that kind of proficiency myself, after only really starting two years ago in Toronto. At any rate, I think the difference between Xian and you, Skall, is that he seemed to be wanting to help you loosen up, giving you plenty of chances to get a few points in, while working on sniping himself. Meanwhile, I feel like you were a little more competitive with your usage of multiple techniques from different angles and your feints, haha. At any rate, I'm glad you found a partner that can keep you honest with his hand/wrist snipes, and who also seems like he genuinely wants you to gain some confidence back into the sport, as well! Cheers from Brampton, Ontario!
Edit: After watching a second time, I noticed that Xian's pace and intensity was faster than in the beginning, so it seems that during the spar Skall seemed to have improved a bit! Nice! It usually takes a few days to start loosening up, but it looks like Skall's getting more and more confident as the video rolls on. He also seemed to be more diverse in his range of attacks, as well, towards the end. So I suppose he was getting into the competition, as well!
That is a good way to flex without seeming like an idiot. Respect.
You know a lot about the subject.
Is there any sources to learn about HEMA without having to join a school? It's not because I'm too lazy to join one, but Mexico doesn't have any (that I know of), and I'm stuck here, without anyone who even knows what HEMA is do to the language barrier; all the information I can find about it is usually in English
@@addictedtochocolate920 You might want to ask Shad of Shadiversity. IIRC he is mostly self taught and actually not a bad fighter when he gpt to spar with some actual Hema guy. 🤔 At least this is what I remember.
@@addictedtochocolate920 If there's no hema, I'd join sport fencing, Kendo, Escrima, or Kenjutsu. It's not close at all to HEMA, but you get to learn footwork and some basics. They're not perfect--and neither is HEMA, depending on the school you go to. But if that doesn't fit your budget, then you'll have to do solo drilling... and that's only useful to a point. This is why I would try to start a little club yourself. A lot of my friends disagree with me on this because we don't know any instructor who started a club without knowing anything, but at least you'll be able to find people to train with while learning together from the manuscripts. The sources I'd give are mostly manuscripts and modern translations: Anything by Peter von Danzig, a translated version of The Flower of Battle by Fiore dei Liberi, The Recital of the Chivalric Art of Fencing by Johannes Lichtenaur (there's a free pdf online), The Art of Sword Combat by Joachim Meyer, Historical European Martial Arts In Its Context by Richard Marsden, and anything by Guy Windsor. My favourite is the German Longsword Study Guide by Keith Farrel. He doesn't give you a definitive guide, per se. He'll give you multiple manuscripts on one particular technique and it's up to the reader to decide which one is best or which one is most efficient under a certain situation. The reason why I recommend starting a club is because you can round up a bunch of guys to purchase equipment, practice swords, and maybe even a place to rent for practice. There isn't an instructor, sure, but you'll all be learning from the manuscripts.
In terms of online resources, I'm not the best person to ask. In my experience, I've seen a lot of clubs post their version of the techniques on their youtube pages, but some would lean more towards sport HEMA, while others lean towards self defense, and others are more experimental (as in, they're not the most athletic guys, nor do they have the best form, but they are very knowledgeable about the manuscripts. I suspect that a lot of them haven't been instructed before and merely picked up a couple manuscripts... and that's not necessarily a bad thing!). A lot of the people on my list fit in that spectrum, but some of my favourite youtube channels are: Martin Fabian, Scholagladiatora, SnapJelly, Blood ad Iron, Bjorn Ruther, Sword Carolina, Academy of Historical Fencing, Dreynschlag, Laurel City Historical Fencing, and Anton Kuhotovic. There was another one that I was recommended that was very technical, but I completely forgot it. Something else that I do is follow some of the biggest HEMA tournaments, such as Swordfish and Tyrnhaw. These tournaments produce, in my opinion, the closest thing we can get to grandmasters in the sport side of HEMA. However, Swordfish, which usually happens during the Fall, might not be happening this year. Hwever, you can still watch some of the streams from previous years. I watch those at least once a month to get inspired in training.
@@addictedtochocolate920 best bet watch (sounds dumb) ninjas footwork. Like how ninjas walk. Then think how can my body do that why does my body do that what structure does my body have during this. Then emulate it but not so narrow or wide. Make it comfortably in the middle. Then watch cutting basics on youtube and emulate them. Learn to make the sword wind sounds with the blade. As time passes you will learn naturally what works and doesn't work. Its how i taught myself. Then go get books and study how they actually did it.
7:38 I like how you used your face to block this blow.
If you don't protect your hands, they'll be really sword in the morning.
Go sit in the corner
@@weswolever7477 have a knife day
Ah geez, last night was rough sword practice.
Huh, that’s odd. My hands seem to be swords.
@@saijeetdogra9360 looks like you got the point. Don't need to ax you any further questions.
jeremy hulbert if I keep commenting you’re legally required to continue making puns.
Green circle: “No you didn’t hit me!”
Yellow circle: “Good hit.”
Red circle: “T’is but a flesh wound!”
"That's the best way to deal an attack; just not be there." -Skallagrim
Well said! I love that.
Even if a cut to the hand ends up doing minimal damage, blood on your hands during a fight will affect how well you're able to control your own sword.
and you don't need much force to cut a tendon in the fingers
Also there is the psychological aspect of it too. After stepping back and realizing that your bleed and your opponent isn't can be demoralizing.
Yes and sword in hand can be more slippery.
@@Brass_HeathenAgreed.
"Nothing exists in sword fighting as bulletproof."
Probably because they didn't have bullets.
They did have small round balls flying at fast speeds though, for all intended purposes- a bullet (late enough in the times)
Firearms and the longsword are contemporaries ^^
NIce to see you sparring again!
Funny, Skall got me interested in HEMA that I used the techniques for the military when it comes to striking\defending with cold weapons\using the weapon in close quarters when I was training my comrades a couple of years ago. Much love!
I couldn't stand up to the Massager of Hands, let along the Destroyer of Hands. I'm glad you finally got out. It's been a long time.
Hellll yeah, good to see you back into the SWING of things Skal (ha ha ha!!!)! Loved this video and hope to see more!
Just wanted to let you know a mobile game named Idle Lumberjack 3D is using one of your sword review footage on their advertisements.
Wtf
Best video yet. I love the content skall and you’ve been really beneficial to my knowledge of swordsmanship and now that you’re putting sparring videos on, it’s so much better.
Happy to see you practice some more and looking forward to more of these kind of videos!
I really like this video format.
Real-time fighting with competent and calm narration and some visual efffects for clarity.
Awesome! So glad to see more sparring :) I'm really liking this new hit marking system too
Nice to get another sparring video. I missed those. Thanks, Skall.
Great to see these sparring videos again.
I've waited so long for another one of these, thank you Skall!
Wow this guy is good!! Good job Skall. Love watching you go against tougher opponents.
Always enjoy watching these commentary videos, and the new hit markers are a very nice addition!
Glad to see you back in action, doing what you like.
I am so intrigued by the similarities between all the different sword arts . I really like your breakdowns and realistic outlook on all things bladed.
Good to see ya having fun! Wish there was HEMA where I lived though, kind of a bummer.
Have you already hit up HEMA club finder?
Thank you for keeping this craft and sportsmanship alive! You keep my dream alive to someday forge my own blades
Really enjoyed the new sparring footage especially with an opponent with such a different fighting style than others shown before, looking forward to more and thanks for the video.
Provided you can, do these more often! Loved it! keep it up Skall!
Finally a fight from decent camera angles that is not dumb and cinematic. I think you should post more of these. Maybe two very skilled fighters sparring with jackets and stuff with your analysis on.
Really liked the video, well done
It was very fun watching this video! Good sparring, Skal!
I hadn't realised how long it's been since I've seen a sparring video here. It was a pleasure!
So wild to see you and Xian fencing. He tought me most of what i know
This is really cool. Hard do believe this is how people would sword fight(duel*), more or less.
Used to seeing Hollywood sword fighting. Which from what I understand isn’t exactly accurate.
They still hold back a lot in this sparring. See some older vids when they do it with protective gear. Especially the saber training looks kind of Hollywood-like.
Always enjoy this sparring videos
I really enjoy this type of video. I hope to see more! :)
Amazing, like it very much good work skall!
Watching these makes me want to learn HEMA even more. I've always loved medieval fighting (whatever the weapon) but there are no schools anywhere near me. I'm just hoping one might open up soon
Have you already hit up HEMA club finder?
Okay but keep those fingers safe
@@scottmacgregor3444 I looked and I did find one but I think it's closed bc I can't find any kind of website or information anywhere. I'm still going to call them and go to the location just to be sure but chances are quite low
Why is Canada always so gray?
-Florida Boi.
Fun fact: As of the last couple years, it's legal to open carry swords in Florida.
I know exactly where this was filmed, and you have basically a 50/50 chance of it being grey or raining there. :)
Though I'm not surprised, why? To behead any wayward reptiles?
Like. Are we talking machete sort of weapon or literal broadswords?
Canada is huge, we have various climates, that place is weird by our standards. Btw the distance between there and my place is over 4800km... and we are both in the same country.
So glad to see you getting some sparring in again. You may be rusty, but you still put on a good show and scored some decent hits. Hopefully it won't be so long before you can spar again.
Been watching a lot of your vids; been saving up a lot for the gear you reccomend.. the club near me only teaches fiore... but its a start! I want to really thank you for letting me know this exists and take my passion to a new level
I love this format with the hit marks ! :)
Great to see you sparring again bro. Keep grinding.
Glad to see you back in action man, you are an inspiration to us all
Love this type of vid. It's extremely helpful and educational
Great to watch stuff like this and compare the similarities and difference to unarmed fighting
Even though I practice kendo, I love skall's HEMA footage a lot. The arm cutting skill is impressive! The aim-for-the-hands fighting style is pretty similar to mine's in kendo.😂
Always love to see these
Nice to see this kind of video again. This is why I originally subscribed to this channel. (although I can understand the scarcity of these videos - circumstances being what they are)
Great stuff Skall
Glad to see you getting back into sparring! Looking forward to watching more, make sure to watch that knee though. I know it's been a while and you've likely given it time to heal up by now but it'll be REALLY easy to mess it up again if you get careless.
Yeah, it sure is. Anyway, thanks.
I would love to see Skall do some sabre sparring. The guy is a longsword nut.
Skall with longsword vs. Matt Easton with sabre!
@@ericstoverink6579 Funnily enough, Matt has mentioned that he actually does a lot of longsword work and just doesn't talk about it much in his videos.
So awesome thanks for sharing 👍🏻
When I started watching your vids several years ago, I saw the highland games system and that it was to absolute on hit either being valid or not, with no gradient for severity. I devised a points system were you got 1 point for a light wound, 3 for a serious one, and 6 for a mortal one, first to 12 wins the round, because I felt it better encapsulated real fighting. to see you know changing your mind about the validity of lighter hits now, and using a system so similar to the one I came up with, is really awesome.
The 2nd binded thrust you did was gorgeous mate.
More of these please! It looked like a nice day on Citadel Hill.
You did well skall! Considering the gentlemen's experience.
He looks so casual in this fight. That's when you see skill. When they make it look easy.
Great light and controlled sparring
actuly enjoy these sparrign videos the mostt
Reminds me of sparing with my Kendo instructor, he would always go for my hands, I learned the hard way how to guard my hands and forearms.
I'd work out hamstrings and hip extension type exercises for the footwork, just for overall knee stability and any leg injury reduction with like lateral under tension movements (footwork). The lowkey word in the gyms is hip extension for whatever mechanical reasons are key. Saying this mostly to justify my hip-extension practices, as its seen as a feminine activity lol.
Heh. Reminds me of when I was at the Naval Hospital in Bremerton for X-rays. They were looking for kidney stones, so their reference point on the body was the top of the pelvic arch. Tech thought she had found the point until I moved my leg and she freaked out. She'd never seen bone-hard hip flexors before.
Karate training/yoga seems very beneficial for sword fighting.
Don't feel bad. I do a lot of the "girly" exercises for the glutes and hips as well. Really helps me keep my knees from tracking in on squats and deadlifts.
Very interesting footage. Quite educational.
Nice work with the markers! I'll have to wall by citadel hill more to see if I might see a wild Skall appear!
Great footage!!!!
Good to see you back in it. 👍🏼😈👍🏼
As an amateur who’s only doing solo drills weekly for the past month, I’m satisfied that I’m finally able to read Skall’s guards and how it holds up well. I am absolutely terrified however with master Xian’s fast guard changes, even if it “seems like” its just fast switching between langenort and pflug. I’d be totally distracted if I faced him.
I've done a good amount of sparring with light gear. Hand shots were always super common until I learned the value of Plow & Key guard. Oddly enough, keeping the blade close to you does make you harder to hit. It's amazing how quick your body unlearns a bad habit when the consequence is pain & failure.
I wouldn't mind seeing this kind of video more often
Very interesting! Thank you and greetings from good old Germany...:)
Glad to see you back again!
Thanks for posting, adding community engagement with my video, cheers!
That was an awesome video. Thank you so much skall.
But please take care of yourself. Some of these hits hurt from looking.
Awesome, it would have been cool to hear some comments from your opponent as well but still thoroughly enjoyable.
Great video, it makes me want to get back into tjongkat/staff sparring with a buddy of mine
I would love to see constant sparring vids 🤙👌
This is such a fascinating sport. Especially your commentary makes it really interesting to watch.
Since I don't have experience with this...i can't estimate what the effect of sword cuts are. Can you do a video on that?
Your honest self criticism is refreshing. May I point the difference between always being on the heal versus ball of the foot leads to loss of balance and agility.
Skall, I must say your style is really different from what I was used to seeing back in the days here. We were waaaaaay more grabby with our hands, kicks to the shins and armoured headbutts were super commons. We tended to fight in really close quarters, forcing prolonged binds to make a grab at the dominant hand and pull a dagger or something to finish the job. Lots of half swording as well to compensate for the closer distance. Our footwork was really different as well, lots of short distance horizontal (not vertical) short jumping steps to commit into a bind or move past the defences of the adversary aggressively. Though a lot of it was with full plates or full chain at the very minimum, so I guess it was a major factor in our style to go for anti-armour strategies even when unarmoured.
Can't wait for the next injury video.
Calm down there, Satan.
@@Skallagrim I've just come to expect it now.
Lol
Obviously don't get injured though
GREAT to see ya back in the saddle. After all, we talk about swords because we like USING them correct? Thanks for everything man.
Just started my first day of hema cause of you skall
The introduction to Sigmund Ringeck's fencing manual says never to lead with a cut from your weak side, you tend to this a lot in this clip, @Skallagrim. Also something to take note of.
Very good video
Skall would be the crazy sword dude in indiana jones... and probably wouldn't regret it.
I would think that even the type of clothing (not even armor) really changes the yellow/green hit dichotomy a lot. If you are wearing a thick winter jacket, a light draw-cut on the arm might only superficially or not at all hurt you, while the same thing naked would certainly draw blood.
Hey, Skall, nice to see you drawing swords again. I don’t know if you’re into anime, but I would love to see you taking on the overall shape and geometry of the swords in Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack On Titan - espetacular show, btw). It’s sole porpose is cut (very large targets, but somewhat normal flash). I wonder if the shape is good and functional or if they could do better... Cheers from a brazilian fan.
I like how your opponent can still cut effectively whilst moving backwards looks like a very hard yet effective strategy to master
You looked really great in this footage! You mixed things up really well and took the bold approach of making the first move almost all the time. Your opponent was skillful of course but stood almost upright and with his sword outstretched 24/7 just waiting to clip your hands whenever they came near, knock your sword aside as you swung it and back away when he didn't feel confident to do it. He kind of reminds me of your little brother who holds the block button the entire time and spams the one move he knows he can catch you with whenever you try something clever.
An effective technique is an effective technique. However, I love your approach far more and with a bit more hand awareness your opponent would need to try utilising their special moves a bit more if they don't want to be made a fool of.
I like to imagine youre Siegward from Dark Souls, haha. Great video, glad neither of you got hurt!
This is why crossguards are important. Good job, Skall.
I would rather say this shows why later medieval swords tended to have more enclosed hand guards.
I recognize that place, kind of cool.
ur traaining video with the game and or toy swords r nice :) freestyling on the flows if u see his hands move u can curve ur body around his blade right and strike from diffrent angles