Mm... I've lived in northern NY state for 30 years, every winter is cold and thanks to lake effect snow from Eerie and Ontario the snow is plentiful. Don't worry Skal, the shoveling is a pain but... well, after a while the pain becomes less noticeable. It's still there, the pain will never go away. Rather you just learn to accept it.
I can't imagine that's good for a blade. Maybe it would work for destructive testing, but otherwise hitting ice is like hitting rock. You're going to chip the shit out of your sword
I've been drawing up a design for a hoodie patterned after Solaire of Astora's armor. Sadly, I'm probably years away from the sewing knowledge and ability to handle this monstrosity. But it would be so much cooler than the cheap ones I see that are just like screen printed patterns on a normal hoodie.
Hi Skallagrim did you every try putting different sword techniques you learned into the long sword? If that makes sense also work on your footing I'm heavy footed myself and I found myself moving like a tank when practicing my swordsmanship. But I started doing drills that made my footing better.
I would consider walking to be the most challenging thing to learn for sword fighting. It takes years to learn to do it correctly. The diaper doesn't help things either.
"Practice makes permanent" is what I learned in my kung fu dojo. There, we didn't just learn unarmed self-defense, but also staffs, dao sword, and the jin sword.
@@arx3516 I can't say. While I saw some of my masters practicing, I never had the chance to take one of the classes personally. I only learned unarmed and dao. The weapon forms were treated as special classes and were only offered once every few years.
I wish they made a movie in which we follow some medieval duelist, and see him train and progress through life, sprinkle some drama in it(maybe even a love story), give him an interesting character and reason to duel (maybe he is a hothead or smth) to make it somewhat interesting for regular audience, but focus of the movie is basically learning and performing various techniques, and obviously duels, injuries, recovery, more training montages, slow motions of cool moves etc..
Tram Ramt The Duellists is probably the closest they’ve come to something like that. If you haven’t had a chance to see it, I’d highly recommend it. 92% on Rotten Tomatoes 😏
sounds more like a manga. that way the could focus on the technique in the moment and what not. Kinda like Hajime no ippo did with boxing or any other sports manga :P
The Crochet patterns to make Knight hats, viking hats, and similar designs are freely available in the internet. Just google "Knight Hat Crochet Pattern"
Depends on the individual. Some have difficulty with learning the fundamentals, some have trouble with basic physical abilities, some have trouble learning the finer points of stance or edge alignment. Etc..etc.. My brother has trouble with foot work, my wife has trouble being aggressive/ pressing the advantage, Anton has trouble with the bind of a Longsword but is a natural with sword/ buckler. I have trouble with being to reckless and end up being skewered more than I should, Frank is experienced and willing but he only 5'3" weighing 125 pounds.....which is a pretty serious hurdle to overcome. Another factor is Financial Discipline, for many the hardest part is learning to save up money for a sword, jacket, and face mask so that they can actually get into sparring with swords.
2$. Pvc, pipe foam, duck tape. You can make a crude but effective larp sword. You can even balance it by adding carriage bolts to the pommel areas. Not great, but a good cheap tool to start with minimal risk of injury
@@jaradtrout140 My wife is 5'7" I am 5'9" My brother is 6'1" Anton is 5'10" Frank is 5'3" The rest of the regular group is about the same height as Anton, but i dont know them well enough to know their heights.
That's good as long as you make sure to keep proper form. Getting used to wrong one will waste your time since you have to break one habit and make a new one.
"Move to Nova Scotia, they said. It'll be fun, they said..." 😅 Liked within 5 seconds of the video just because of this. Welcome to the Maritimes, Skall! It's not a fun way to get/stay in shape, but it works (or so my aching back tells me). XD I dare you to stick your tongue on the flat of that blade... lol
@@Pilzkun Sadly I don't HEMA, LARP, or SCA if that's what you're asking. I was referring to shoveling snow (got almost 40cm of that miserable white sh*t dumped on us yesterday).
@@Mex420Mex HA, my mistake. I'm off bedford way, so I got the snow too. I was hoping you'd found a training club because I sure couldn't find anything when I was looking around.
@@Mex420Mex I always check the forecast before I go out to shovel my driveway. It's supposed to be 11° on Saturday, so I only shoveled out the extra heavy stuff the snowplow left at the very end of my driveway. The rest will melt.
Has a haligonien. I understand the snow trouble. Even though Nova Scotia is the warmest provenience, the snow is impossible because the snow melts and freezes and then melts and then freezes so many times the snow becomes concrete. And the slush is so heavy.
This could be the most useful introduction to training in any martial art I've seen anywhere. Skall has a wealth of insight and one of the rarest teaching skills - he remembers how tough it was when he began. "...keep walking the path toward mastery..." loving the humility. (Plus, the hat roolz!)
Really? That surprises me. I know that Europe is considerably warmer most of the time, but I would have thought that with the ocean so close you would get tons of snow...
Thanks for the video Skall! I just started HEMA a few weeks ago and it really was encouraging to know I'm not uniquely challenged by footwork, gonna practice even more now. Good luck finding a training partner!
when i used to fence in college, i would walk everywhere in normal life just on the balls of my feet, and hardly ever putting my heels down. made me so much quicker at the time.
I had a traumatic brain injury once and for months after I could only walk on the balls of my feet. Needless to say I have experience in the "art". Still walk like that sometimes.
I normally walk on the heels cuz it looks the most normal and is the most comfortable with good shoes. But when I have only socks I walk mostly only on the 🅱️allz
Yeah you end up always pushing yourself forward with your rear foot rather than pulling with the hamstring of the front foot like most people walk. I did the same thing! Although, once it hits you that footwork isn’t nearly as hard as you made it when you started learning it, you get so much faster and more fluid.
Absolutely loved this video skall. Its great to see the details that beginners will encounter and the technqiues that rrally make hema. Oh, loved your mask too. Been watching you for years and dont plan on stopping
you just got a new subscriber. honestly i thought i already was one. I like your vids and yeah training right is the key. after 15 years of training i had a lot of "bad habits." 10 years on from that and i'm still working on getting rid of those. it's a process for sure.
Just wanted to say I did my first class for the German long sword at a local club last night and Im in love. I had never considered that my true calling was to be a knight because I didn't think it was an option, but now I know better. Thank you for introducing me to this world Skall.
OMG I love the beanie. I'm totally going to buy one now. Edited to add: lol, I love how you lean into the "end him rightly" meme rather than shy away from it. That's what makes you a great youtuber.
I used to practice Korean sword martial art (Haidong Gumdo). Sadly, I can't do it anymore because of health issues. Anyway, the most difficult thing for me was indeed the footwork. This martial art puts a great emphasis on low stances to reduce the possibility of getting hit in the leg but it is hard to get used to moving in such positions. The sparring itself is challenging too, not only because of the footwork but also because it drains your energy pretty quickly if you don't know how to pace yourself. I was never an athlete but not the blob as well and I can tell that you can easily loose your breath in just one minute of the fight. Nevertheless martial arts are great and when I get better I'll come back to them. Sorry for all mistakes, English is not my first language.
I'd love to train with you skall. I have over 10 years experience in several martial arts. Over 8 years with a muay thai instructor I'm a purple belt in bjj and the last few years have spent with mma coaches. I've always been a stickler on footwork and I recognize alot of your coaching translates into almost any martial art.
OH boy. The stance... I remeber my first real training class. how the legs hurt after spending about 90 minutes training fencing stance for the first time. Had trouble wlaking the next day. On that note. I have been following you Skall for couple of years now. It is very nice to see you made progress from someone being absolutely green into someone who can be called skilled fencer. Sure not the best so far but you know a lot. Good job, I am jealous :)
You have some snow! Here in SPb and surrounding area one of those rare winters when we have no snow. Or rather, we had snow falling several times, but it melted after one-two days every time. And it is already 8th of January!
I lived in Victoria for a year and we had snow for a week and the kids were so excited. I was just happy it stopped raining. If the snow keeps up at this rate it's going to be a bad year and I won't be able to shovel (driveway snow banks get too high for me).
@@PsychedelicWinter110 Imagine how much it cost her to get his brown/black eyes and black/brown hair. Skall's resources are simply unlimited compared to us mortals.
Good video, I practice Chinese swordplay and I've learned some of the basics you talked about at the beginning, but I've never had a chance to spar. If I ever get a chance, I'd like to try HEMA.
Oh I’m from the UK and I’m actually visiting Nova-Scotia in a year or so. (I used to live there ) I’m meeting up with some old friends. Shame I don’t know any technics other wise that would be amazing.
Post 40 putting the weight on the balls of your feel while loading with weight and fast changes of direction is a nice easy way to rip your calf. The audible pop is cool sounding, the resulting collapse sideways, not so much. Top tip, ALWAYS use neoprene calf compression thingies and some knee stabilization. Knees are important. I started using resistance bands between my ankles to strengthen my leg muscles while practicing movement on the balls of m feet. I had to give up training for other reasons but the lessons I learned can help avoid injury.
Being one of those slower learners, I've found that I really need to measure myself against myself and nobody else. There's always someone who picks up this or that aspect quicker than you. If that's what you focus on, you'll be eternally frustrated.
From my perspective and little experience (very little), wider/tighter moves depend a lot on the response you wanna create on the enemy and how you are trying to open their defense. I explain myself. When you are trying to make your enemy fall for a move to create an opportunity to get in, to create an opening, you actually want yo telegraph a bit your first move and do a very tight move on the follow up. If you want to smash your enemy defense with raw power, you should aim more to wider strikes cause they are more powerful, but ofc, those can be easily denied with a good technique, they are also more tiring for the one that does them, etc. So basically, you wanna mix them up a little bit, changing between tighter and wider movements and flow between raw power and technical strikes that aim for more precise and fast hits with relative ease. If you don't manage to do sometimes a powerful strike that gets your enemy unprepared, even if it is a bit telegraphed, you have the risk of being easily readable and easy to block. Sometimes you need to hit hard. But for most of the times, fast combinations do the work much better.
The footwork you describe is quite similar to what I teach in Judo. As for the heel vs. ball of the foot, look at a cat: their legs are structured so that the "heel" is never on the ground. They can use their whole leg as a spring to jump and run. Enjoy the snow! Go find a hill and take Cara sledding.
I don’t know a whole lot about HEMA, but as someone who does Karate, I see most people struggle with footwork for a while before correcting it. That, and remembering to guard against counterattacks. Many people just think about landing a single hit on their opponent and have no backup plan when the hit doesn’t connect or the opponent retaliates
If you can't find a HEMA group in Nova Scotia, you might want to try the SCA. I know they're mostly known for beating on each other with sticks, but they fight with steel in rapier and cut-and-thrust, which is really similar to HEMA. Hope this helps.
I personally think that prepping for a strike with a metal gauntlet grab will never be over sold. Like you said, your first instinct is to grab what’s coming at you (with a mail glove) and then the first action after that is an undercut stab with a tripoint dagger is devastating and sets you up for success.
For all the katakana kucks out there. If I successfully parry a strike from a katana and follow up with a simple stab to the kidneys from my wakizashi then the fight is over. The same can be said from a HEMA match with a broadsword deflect and a underhand stab with leg thrust from a tripointed dagger against ringmail:
Talks about "most challenging" things, still does the simpliest mistake (and the hardest to get rid off at the same time :P ). First hands, then legs please :) .
Speaking generally about learning martial arts, I've always found that one of the most difficult things (particularly as a beginner) is to act with intend rather than out of instinct. That is to say reacting to an opponent with proper technique rather than what might feel instinctually natural but is in the end less effective. While I've never done HEMA, I have dabbled in a number of hand-to-hand martial arts and I think the principle caries through.
If you ask me, of all the sports, martial arts are most learner friendly. What I mean by that, in other sports you only have so much you can do to approach the goal of the sport. Let's say swimming, goal is to swim faster than others. There are some technical things you can hone, or gain physical attributes to help this goal. In martial arts you have more options, because the goal is to (in general) take down your opponent. Not only do you have different systems (arts) you can choose from, you can build your approach from different tactics, attributes and techniques.
I remember when i Started doing boxing and we were constantly sparring, training etc. on the balls of the feet, i hat gigantic blisters on my foot pads. A large part of the skin later fell off and then i could move properly
@@arx3516 i had bleeding/scarred/wounded knuckles from hitting the punching bag for months. The insides of the boxing gloves is usually cloth and it tears open your skin.
I’ve been practicing taekwon-do itf for more than ten years and I realize that some basic principles, like the footwork, timing and distances are quite similar to fencing
As somebody who walks on the balls of their feet regularly, I would be best with swift and agile techniques, but I am in no physical shape to actually do these things. It's quite fascinating how much work and effort goes into this.
Hey Skall. Have you been watching Knightfall on the History Channel? I saw some half swording! Take a look and do a review of their techniques please, I think that would be interesting viewing, and fun for you too.
I've been fencing for two years now and I think I'm ok, I have beaten the instructor about twice now in bouts. I haven't been able to practice in the past few weeks because I don't have my own equipment, I use the gear from the club (Which isn't very big anyway, there are about 5 of us). Hopefully meetings start up again soon.
For me, the hardest thing im still learning is "Follow-Through". I have a hard time committing to my attacks. When i make an attack, i lock up, and either stop myself, fail to hold an after guard, or even not go for a second attack. I unfortunately taught myself these bad habits, and it frustrates me. Consciously, in know theres nothing i can to to really hurt the opponent. BUT Subconsciously, my brain is like, "Metal=Hard! Hard=hurt! Dont hit them! You will hurt them!" I built a dummy to help with this, but its still a trial for me.
We are a HEMA club in Moncton if you are in the area, about an hour and a half away. There is a defunct Halifax club run by an Academy Duello alumni. Yo should start a club in Halifax. it is the only market in the Maritimes that can support a full time instructor's salary and a brick and mortar location.
The foot work is similar as some leg position and balance from karate. The principle, I think, is similar and is to always (in principla) have the maximum balance (roots, as my master would say)
5:16 I dunno why, but the swish made by the sword, as it cut through the air, felt satisfying to me... I'm not into ASMR, I tried, but somehow some sounds just feels satisfying to me...
I'm imagining how you could make a Kuroko no Basket type anime out of hema, you take the techniques, add dramatic flare with over exaggerate the effects with the standard "talking is a free action" trope and you could have a great anime story that explains things sbout hema but technically works as a shounen
I’m 15 seconds into the video and I already want that hat. That thing is glorious
I have the exact same in navy. Awesome to cycle in, unless you wear glasses.
I wanted it already in the 12th second of the video.
I want it too! Can we at least get the scheme (out how it is called) to knit it ourselves?
Mm... I've lived in northern NY state for 30 years, every winter is cold and thanks to lake effect snow from Eerie and Ontario the snow is plentiful. Don't worry Skal, the shoveling is a pain but... well, after a while the pain becomes less noticeable. It's still there, the pain will never go away. Rather you just learn to accept it.
An object of that power requires a sacrifice
0:22
"Anyway, let's talk about something more fun. Sword fighting!"
This is generally how I segway conversations among my friends.
I’m going off topic here, whatever. Does this take confidence, I would be worried about hurting someones feelings.
Whut
Skall, use that snow to make snowman cut test dummies with tatami arms.
The snow looks too cold to be sticky
Magnum Dong you can still grab a bucket of tap water
Or carve a snowman from a compacted and set pile of snow
Only if he names it The Kenobi Special. 😁
I can't imagine that's good for a blade. Maybe it would work for destructive testing, but otherwise hitting ice is like hitting rock. You're going to chip the shit out of your sword
@@trequor "Skall, use that snow to make snowman cut test dummies with TATAMI ARMS."
That hat will go great with Shad's new chainmail hoodie.
😂 And then Metatron should have armorlike pants and Matt Easton some kind of woolen sabaton to complete the set.
@@mennograafmans1595 Lindybeige gauntlet wool gloves?
Lots of win in these ideas. This is a caual wear collection that I could really go for.
I've been drawing up a design for a hoodie patterned after Solaire of Astora's armor. Sadly, I'm probably years away from the sewing knowledge and ability to handle this monstrosity. But it would be so much cooler than the cheap ones I see that are just like screen printed patterns on a normal hoodie.
Haha yes
The most challenging to learn is properly throwing the pommel to get maximum “end him rightly”.
Since you folks keep asking about where to find that knight hat... Here you go:
US - amzn.to/2uH9KZ8
Canada - amzn.to/37EQRnQ
Thanks Skall!
Hi Skallagrim did you every try putting different sword techniques you learned into the long sword? If that makes sense also work on your footing I'm heavy footed myself and I found myself moving like a tank when practicing my swordsmanship. But I started doing drills that made my footing better.
Can you get it in Europe?
EU?????
@@mennograafmans1595 I think Amazon.com ships internationally, or at least some sellers do.
I liked just because of the wool helmet, I love it God damnit...
The Crochet patterns for similar hats are free in the internet.
You can make the hat yourself.
Is is bad that i didn't even realise it was suppose to emulate a helmet?
I would consider walking to be the most challenging thing to learn for sword fighting.
It takes years to learn to do it correctly. The diaper doesn't help things either.
Ironically, with a diaper it would be easier to walk in fencing stance than regular one.
@@alextrill5829 also you dont have to worry about shitting your pants during sword fight
Ninja Style what is Muay Chaya Vs Muay Thai
@@ninjastyle5187 I was referring to learning to walk as a baby, hence the diaper joke.
Agreed, footwork takes quite some time. In full plate it is even harder IMO.
"Practice makes permanent" is what I learned in my kung fu dojo. There, we didn't just learn unarmed self-defense, but also staffs, dao sword, and the jin sword.
Is the jian training realistic?
@@arx3516 I can't say. While I saw some of my masters practicing, I never had the chance to take one of the classes personally. I only learned unarmed and dao.
The weapon forms were treated as special classes and were only offered once every few years.
I wish they made a movie in which we follow some medieval duelist, and see him train and progress through life, sprinkle some drama in it(maybe even a love story), give him an interesting character and reason to duel (maybe he is a hothead or smth) to make it somewhat interesting for regular audience, but focus of the movie is basically learning and performing various techniques, and obviously duels, injuries, recovery, more training montages, slow motions of cool moves etc..
Tram Ramt The Duellists is probably the closest they’ve come to something like that. If you haven’t had a chance to see it, I’d highly recommend it. 92% on Rotten Tomatoes 😏
sounds more like a manga. that way the could focus on the technique in the moment and what not. Kinda like Hajime no ippo did with boxing or any other sports manga :P
sounds like "A knights tale"
No, let us be with all love story and that training than he goes to war and after 5 seconds of battle he dies from an arrow to his head.
Sounds like a movie about d‘ Artagnan
His hat!!!!! Oh my god, I need some of those!!!
It is a work of art
where can we get one?
cmon guys. They are eveywhre. Like the hat with the beard.
Are you all new to the internet ? :D
@@MrJust2times WTH that isn't just some hat with a beard, it's a hat shaped after a knight's helmet
The Crochet patterns to make Knight hats, viking hats, and similar designs are freely available in the internet.
Just google "Knight Hat Crochet Pattern"
I'm always amazed by the evolution that you had through the years in terms of swordfighting. It would be cool both to know and fence you.
Depends on the individual.
Some have difficulty with learning the fundamentals, some have trouble with basic physical abilities, some have trouble learning the finer points of stance or edge alignment. Etc..etc..
My brother has trouble with foot work, my wife has trouble being aggressive/ pressing the advantage, Anton has trouble with the bind of a Longsword but is a natural with sword/ buckler. I have trouble with being to reckless and end up being skewered more than I should, Frank is experienced and willing but he only 5'3" weighing 125 pounds.....which is a pretty serious hurdle to overcome.
Another factor is Financial Discipline, for many the hardest part is learning to save up money for a sword, jacket, and face mask so that they can actually get into sparring with swords.
How tall are you and your wife?
2$. Pvc, pipe foam, duck tape. You can make a crude but effective larp sword. You can even balance it by adding carriage bolts to the pommel areas. Not great, but a good cheap tool to start with minimal risk of injury
@@jaradtrout140
My wife is 5'7"
I am 5'9"
My brother is 6'1"
Anton is 5'10"
Frank is 5'3"
The rest of the regular group is about the same height as Anton, but i dont know them well enough to know their heights.
Lorgar Bearer of the Word sounds just like me and my family lol. Train well!
@@jaradtrout140
You too. Good luck to you and yours.
:)
Learn at school, train at home
How my uncle taught me
Does your uncle give lessons at your school?
Well, my uncle taught me a few things too
Sex Ed, huh?
That's good as long as you make sure to keep proper form. Getting used to wrong one will waste your time since you have to break one habit and make a new one.
My uncle taught me about swords too.
It was hard at first, but you get used to it.
i have not been this early since we discovered the ultimate technique of ending foes rightly
Yeah... sometimes I manage to arrive early enough that the Star Wars planet of Alderaan still existed
Sometimes I arrive so early that im using Windows 98.
I love you dude you make me so happy when I watch your videos 😁👍
"Move to Nova Scotia, they said. It'll be fun, they said..." 😅
Liked within 5 seconds of the video just because of this. Welcome to the Maritimes, Skall! It's not a fun way to get/stay in shape, but it works (or so my aching back tells me). XD
I dare you to stick your tongue on the flat of that blade... lol
where do you practice, or do you mainly do self-study?
@@Pilzkun Sadly I don't HEMA, LARP, or SCA if that's what you're asking. I was referring to shoveling snow (got almost 40cm of that miserable white sh*t dumped on us yesterday).
@@Mex420Mex HA, my mistake. I'm off bedford way, so I got the snow too. I was hoping you'd found a training club because I sure couldn't find anything when I was looking around.
@@Mex420Mex I always check the forecast before I go out to shovel my driveway. It's supposed to be 11° on Saturday, so I only shoveled out the extra heavy stuff the snowplow left at the very end of my driveway. The rest will melt.
I hope the lical accent in Nova Scotia sounds scottish.
Has a haligonien. I understand the snow trouble. Even though Nova Scotia is the warmest provenience, the snow is impossible because the snow melts and freezes and then melts and then freezes so many times the snow becomes concrete. And the slush is so heavy.
Sing it. I'm down here just outside Bridgewater. It's not the snow, it's the ice buildup.
I would 100% watch 10 minutes straight of Skal shoveling snow.
This could be the most useful introduction to training in any martial art I've seen anywhere. Skall has a wealth of insight and one of the rarest teaching skills - he remembers how tough it was when he began. "...keep walking the path toward mastery..." loving the humility. (Plus, the hat roolz!)
Apreciate the snow!
It even incudes a fun outdoor workout when you have a shovel.
I wish we still had snow more often here in Germany. But we don't.
Also zumindest hier im Nordsaarland war viel zu viel letzten Winter...
Really? That surprises me. I know that Europe is considerably warmer most of the time, but I would have thought that with the ocean so close you would get tons of snow...
@@trequor
Depends in the region. We got last year 40cm+....
Thanks for the video Skall! I just started HEMA a few weeks ago and it really was encouraging to know I'm not uniquely challenged by footwork, gonna practice even more now.
Good luck finding a training partner!
All I can say is thank you Skall, thanks to you I got into HEMA, best decision in my life
Rock on sword brother.
@@scottmacgregor3444 working in spanish rappier and dagger right now. As a good Spaniard
when i used to fence in college, i would walk everywhere in normal life just on the balls of my feet, and hardly ever putting my heels down. made me so much quicker at the time.
I had a traumatic brain injury once and for months after I could only walk on the balls of my feet. Needless to say I have experience in the "art". Still walk like that sometimes.
I normally walk on the heels cuz it looks the most normal and is the most comfortable with good shoes. But when I have only socks I walk mostly only on the 🅱️allz
If I'm not in hurry I like to walk on the balls. It makes me very silent when I move around.
@@suokkos Yeah it does, its also really good for running, it springs you up alot :D Just dont do it too often or ur legs gonna die xD
Yeah you end up always pushing yourself forward with your rear foot rather than pulling with the hamstring of the front foot like most people walk. I did the same thing!
Although, once it hits you that footwork isn’t nearly as hard as you made it when you started learning it, you get so much faster and more fluid.
Yep, this is comment not about your wool helmet. I like your talking, its good to hear someone who talk about my passion on that way! Keep going!
Great opening man, I’ve always liked you but this turned it into general appreciation. I’m glad you exist on UA-cam.
Getting to see you demonstrating keeping it tight was vary helpful, thanks
Absolutely loved this video skall. Its great to see the details that beginners will encounter and the technqiues that rrally make hema. Oh, loved your mask too. Been watching you for years and dont plan on stopping
you just got a new subscriber. honestly i thought i already was one. I like your vids and yeah training right is the key. after 15 years of training i had a lot of "bad habits." 10 years on from that and i'm still working on getting rid of those. it's a process for sure.
I understand Skallagrim when he mentions complex techniques, I was learning and studying really hard on the Villano's Blow.
You don't know how sad that made me hearing you don't have a spar buddy. They are out there don't lose hope! I like the video keep it up.
Mr. Scala gram All of the reviews and funny videos the I make it's really helped me out a lot and thank you.
Skall that first bit through the beginning lol, your like the really fun but easily distracted guide in a video game thank you
Just wanted to say I did my first class for the German long sword at a local club last night and Im in love.
I had never considered that my true calling was to be a knight because I didn't think it was an option, but now I know better.
Thank you for introducing me to this world Skall.
OMG I love the beanie. I'm totally going to buy one now. Edited to add: lol, I love how you lean into the "end him rightly" meme rather than shy away from it. That's what makes you a great youtuber.
I used to practice Korean sword martial art (Haidong Gumdo). Sadly, I can't do it anymore because of health issues. Anyway, the most difficult thing for me was indeed the footwork. This martial art puts a great emphasis on low stances to reduce the possibility of getting hit in the leg but it is hard to get used to moving in such positions. The sparring itself is challenging too, not only because of the footwork but also because it drains your energy pretty quickly if you don't know how to pace yourself. I was never an athlete but not the blob as well and I can tell that you can easily loose your breath in just one minute of the fight. Nevertheless martial arts are great and when I get better I'll come back to them.
Sorry for all mistakes, English is not my first language.
Good luck on your health and martial arts journey.
Also, yes, sparring really drains you quickly.
Love your videos Skall, you explain topics so well and make me wish I had a HEMA school near me
I'm sorry for ruining 420 comments but I just really appreciate the amount of sparring footage in this video Skal ❤️🙏
I've started a month ago (twice a week) and I can already confirm all of the stuff you've mentioned. Great video
The swearing at the end was absolutely beautiful
Hey, Skal, nice to see you getting back to working flow
I'd love to train with you skall. I have over 10 years experience in several martial arts. Over 8 years with a muay thai instructor I'm a purple belt in bjj and the last few years have spent with mma coaches. I've always been a stickler on footwork and I recognize alot of your coaching translates into almost any martial art.
The fact that I split in two when a dude unsheathes then re-sheathes his katana...
You mean Tau?
N-Nani?!?!?
Omae wa mo shideru
Hope you're enjoying the snow as well. Walked home in the knee-deep stuff.
Working the shovel muscles today.
Thats really nice of you to give this advice.
OH boy. The stance... I remeber my first real training class. how the legs hurt after spending about 90 minutes training fencing stance for the first time. Had trouble wlaking the next day.
On that note. I have been following you Skall for couple of years now. It is very nice to see you made progress from someone being absolutely green into someone who can be called skilled fencer. Sure not the best so far but you know a lot. Good job, I am jealous :)
I love your videos so much. You're my favorite youtuber.
That hat stole the audience from the pommel joke. Incredible! There's your business idea Skal - make helmet hats, screw UA-cam channels.
Would love some snow here in western Finland. We have like +5 celsius and rainy. We are turning into UK...
Welcome to Nova Scotia, greetings from the Cape!
Welcome to Hel, Nova Scotia. 🙂 You will get the hang of it.😉
Skallagrim you are my favorite UA-camr.
6:05
Everybody: *watching fight*
Me: Oh look! An Integra!!!!
I see you're a man of culture as well. 🍸
That hat took me off-guard.
Love ya vids Skall, keep it up.
Omg I love the knight toque!
You have some snow! Here in SPb and surrounding area one of those rare winters when we have no snow. Or rather, we had snow falling several times, but it melted after one-two days every time. And it is already 8th of January!
I can't stop looking at that amazing
*hat*
I lived in Victoria for a year and we had snow for a week and the kids were so excited. I was just happy it stopped raining. If the snow keeps up at this rate it's going to be a bad year and I won't be able to shovel (driveway snow banks get too high for me).
That low stance is especially difficult when you're 6'10" tall like Skall is. ;)
Hey! Leave Skall alone! She's a strong, independent Viking woman
@@imugi-16 lol
@@PsychedelicWinter110 Imagine how much it cost her to get his brown/black eyes and black/brown hair. Skall's resources are simply unlimited compared to us mortals.
Holy stank! He's 6"10!?!?
@@theamericanwararcher4872 ua-cam.com/video/ccWMC_JbfEI/v-deo.html
Good video, I practice Chinese swordplay and I've learned some of the basics you talked about at the beginning, but I've never had a chance to spar. If I ever get a chance, I'd like to try HEMA.
Do you live near Seattle? Swordsage does armed CMA, and would probably love to find a sparring partner.
@@scottmacgregor3444 I live in Florida.
I have a hat like yours just in inverse colour pattern.
Also good advices for beginners, as always. :)
Oh I’m from the UK and I’m actually visiting Nova-Scotia in a year or so. (I used to live there ) I’m meeting up with some old friends. Shame I don’t know any technics other wise that would be amazing.
I freaking WANT that hat! Along with Shad's mail-print shirt, and I would be super happy!
Im 6'2". That low and wide stance is my unarmed stance. Helps to float more easily fwd and back.
Serious snow-envy. Spring weather in January is the worst. Haven't worn my silliest winter hat in years. Might have to move...
Post 40 putting the weight on the balls of your feel while loading with weight and fast changes of direction is a nice easy way to rip your calf. The audible pop is cool sounding, the resulting collapse sideways, not so much. Top tip, ALWAYS use neoprene calf compression thingies and some knee stabilization. Knees are important. I started using resistance bands between my ankles to strengthen my leg muscles while practicing movement on the balls of m feet. I had to give up training for other reasons but the lessons I learned can help avoid injury.
OMG THAT HAT IS..... IS.... IS.... I HAVE NO WORDS TO DESCRIBE HOW BEAUTIFUL IT IS!
Thank you for very interesting video! Your cap is wonderful. =)
I just want some of your snow :(
MMA footwork help me A LOT when I start using weapons!
Being one of those slower learners, I've found that I really need to measure myself against myself and nobody else.
There's always someone who picks up this or that aspect quicker than you. If that's what you focus on, you'll be eternally frustrated.
Yeah, that's the only healthy way of doing it, competitions notwithstanding.
We need a skall and shad cross over episode, or a duel. Just somthing with both of them.
From my perspective and little experience (very little), wider/tighter moves depend a lot on the response you wanna create on the enemy and how you are trying to open their defense. I explain myself. When you are trying to make your enemy fall for a move to create an opportunity to get in, to create an opening, you actually want yo telegraph a bit your first move and do a very tight move on the follow up. If you want to smash your enemy defense with raw power, you should aim more to wider strikes cause they are more powerful, but ofc, those can be easily denied with a good technique, they are also more tiring for the one that does them, etc. So basically, you wanna mix them up a little bit, changing between tighter and wider movements and flow between raw power and technical strikes that aim for more precise and fast hits with relative ease. If you don't manage to do sometimes a powerful strike that gets your enemy unprepared, even if it is a bit telegraphed, you have the risk of being easily readable and easy to block. Sometimes you need to hit hard. But for most of the times, fast combinations do the work much better.
The footwork you describe is quite similar to what I teach in Judo. As for the heel vs. ball of the foot, look at a cat: their legs are structured so that the "heel" is never on the ground. They can use their whole leg as a spring to jump and run.
Enjoy the snow! Go find a hill and take Cara sledding.
i use to live in nova scotia its bloody lovely there wnter wonderland. missing the tim hortons
hope you are having a good new year Skallagrim, great video.
Thanks Skall
I don’t know a whole lot about HEMA, but as someone who does Karate, I see most people struggle with footwork for a while before correcting it. That, and remembering to guard against counterattacks. Many people just think about landing a single hit on their opponent and have no backup plan when the hit doesn’t connect or the opponent retaliates
If you can't find a HEMA group in Nova Scotia, you might want to try the SCA. I know they're mostly known for beating on each other with sticks, but they fight with steel in rapier and cut-and-thrust, which is really similar to HEMA. Hope this helps.
This was so informative and helpful
This was extremely helpful! Thanks!
I personally think that prepping for a strike with a metal gauntlet grab will never be over sold. Like you said, your first instinct is to grab what’s coming at you (with a mail glove) and then the first action after that is an undercut stab with a tripoint dagger is devastating and sets you up for success.
For all the katakana kucks out there. If I successfully parry a strike from a katana and follow up with a simple stab to the kidneys from my wakizashi then the fight is over. The same can be said from a HEMA match with a broadsword deflect and a underhand stab with leg thrust from a tripointed dagger against ringmail:
I need that helmet. It's so cool I'd rock that even in my MMA training. I'd headbutt everyone 😂
Joe Rogan would agree, he wants headbutts introduced.
Great video, love the info.
It's still so wild to me that you're in Nova Scotia now
See you at Geequinox homie
Talks about "most challenging" things, still does the simpliest mistake (and the hardest to get rid off at the same time :P ). First hands, then legs please :) .
Speaking generally about learning martial arts, I've always found that one of the most difficult things (particularly as a beginner) is to act with intend rather than out of instinct. That is to say reacting to an opponent with proper technique rather than what might feel instinctually natural but is in the end less effective. While I've never done HEMA, I have dabbled in a number of hand-to-hand martial arts and I think the principle caries through.
If you ask me, of all the sports, martial arts are most learner friendly. What I mean by that, in other sports you only have so much you can do to approach the goal of the sport. Let's say swimming, goal is to swim faster than others. There are some technical things you can hone, or gain physical attributes to help this goal.
In martial arts you have more options, because the goal is to (in general) take down your opponent. Not only do you have different systems (arts) you can choose from, you can build your approach from different tactics, attributes and techniques.
I remember when i Started doing boxing and we were constantly sparring, training etc. on the balls of the feet, i hat gigantic blisters on my foot pads. A large part of the skin later fell off and then i could move properly
Richard Graf filing down the hard skin is a good way to get past the worst of that
@@oscallibur5597 well it happened several years ago so its not really a problem anymore
I remember training in kenjutsu and getting calluses and blisters on my palms!
@@arx3516 i had bleeding/scarred/wounded knuckles from hitting the punching bag for months. The insides of the boxing gloves is usually cloth and it tears open your skin.
when I hear about it, after 5 years of fencing training, it seems to me that I would learn all this quickly.
If your looking to practice there is a group of us in Moncton NB. Might be a bit of a drive though.
I’ve been practicing taekwon-do itf for more than ten years and I realize that some basic principles, like the footwork, timing and distances are quite similar to fencing
As somebody who walks on the balls of their feet regularly, I would be best with swift and agile techniques, but I am in no physical shape to actually do these things. It's quite fascinating how much work and effort goes into this.
Hey Skall. Have you been watching Knightfall on the History Channel? I saw some half swording! Take a look and do a review of their techniques please, I think that would be interesting viewing, and fun for you too.
I've been fencing for two years now and I think I'm ok, I have beaten the instructor about twice now in bouts. I haven't been able to practice in the past few weeks because I don't have my own equipment, I use the gear from the club (Which isn't very big anyway, there are about 5 of us). Hopefully meetings start up again soon.
For me, the hardest thing im still learning is "Follow-Through".
I have a hard time committing to my attacks. When i make an attack, i lock up, and either stop myself, fail to hold an after guard, or even not go for a second attack.
I unfortunately taught myself these bad habits, and it frustrates me. Consciously, in know theres nothing i can to to really hurt the opponent. BUT Subconsciously, my brain is like, "Metal=Hard! Hard=hurt! Dont hit them! You will hurt them!"
I built a dummy to help with this, but its still a trial for me.
We are a HEMA club in Moncton if you are in the area, about an hour and a half away. There is a defunct Halifax club run by an Academy Duello alumni. Yo should start a club in Halifax. it is the only market in the Maritimes that can support a full time instructor's salary and a brick and mortar location.
The foot work is similar as some leg position and balance from karate.
The principle, I think, is similar and is to always (in principla) have the maximum balance (roots, as my master would say)
5:16 I dunno why, but the swish made by the sword, as it cut through the air, felt satisfying to me... I'm not into ASMR, I tried, but somehow some sounds just feels satisfying to me...
I'm imagining how you could make a Kuroko no Basket type anime out of hema, you take the techniques, add dramatic flare with over exaggerate the effects with the standard "talking is a free action" trope and you could have a great anime story that explains things sbout hema but technically works as a shounen
Bro! That hat is both hilarious and awesome