[bnmf]

This is something that's interested me for a long time. Particularly I want to learn the more modern styles Rapier and Military Saber, however, it's a very expensive sport and money is tight, and I feel that as a sport it's a bit autistic... Nothing that would exactly swoon the ladies.

Halp me out guys, waste of time, or meaningful?

Any of you into HEMA or Fencing?

[Engineer]

Do it for yourself, who cares what women think about your self-development. I took a class in fencing and enjoyed it. You won't know unless you try. Ask a coach for a quick lesson, borrow some gear, etc, before investing a lot. Sometimes expensive sports have used equipment for sale from guys who tried it and quit.

[Mage]

Has any one tried to approach while casually wearing a sword at his belt? Sword game?

I predict it would be a mad effective prop unless some fat passerby cockblocker feels threatened and calls cops.

I once carried an axe trough urban area for some 100 meters and got various glances both scared and curious, some cougar even opened me. Too old looking for me trough.

[TheWastelander]

All I know about it is that the Germans are pretty hardcore when it comes to fencing. Dueling scars are seen as badges of honor.

[CJ_W]

(02-07-2015 10:46 PM)bnmf Wrote:  

This is something that's interested me for a long time. Particularly I want to learn the more modern styles Rapier and Military Saber, however, it's a very expensive sport and money is tight, and I feel that as a sport it's a bit autistic... Nothing that would exactly swoon the ladies.

Halp me out guys, waste of time, or meaningful?

Any of you into HEMA or Fencing?

Fencing IS hugely important though, mostly because it emphasizes footwork. If you took fencing you can definitely leverage that into boxing later on, as boxing has slightly similar footwork concepts. I would try to take some classical fencing courses though, look them up at your local college Here's my experience:

I took fencing for 3 years in College.

Never heard of HEMA but I'm assuming its just not sport fencing.

There's two types of fencing, Sport fencing, and classical fencing

I did the "Classical Fencing" style

the differences are pretty easy, sport fencing is basically who ever hits first gets the point.

Classical Fencing is "Hit WITHOUT getting hit" it's as if you're actually in a real duel. In a real duel if both of you get hit. . .you both die, so the schools of the time focused on hitting your opponent without being hit.

It's really fun, usually you'll start with the french foil, and if you want you can learn saber, which is a different style, you treat the blade as if it has an actual blade instead of just having a sharp point.

I did foil(French Style, not to be confused with italian style fencing which has different movements) and Spanish Rapier and Dagger.

Spanish Rapier and Dagger was by far the most fun, but the most difficult, as you're holding a BIG ASS sword with ONE arm, while you hold the dagger in the Other arm, the Rapier is treated like the saber while you have the dagger in your other hand. You move in a circular fashion using both thrusts and swings. Also since you're basically dual wielding, the foot work is a lot different than Foil. it's like a dance really, but really cool.




"Dueling Scars"

Yeah that's just stupid (and illegal) You basically have:

1)dull tip of the foil covered by a rubber tip
2)malleable blade so that it bends when it hits you so it doesn't go right through you
3)a leatherish suit you wear with the face helmet thing that further dulls the impact (still can hurt and leave bruises at times but still safe)

basically wounds like that should never happen.

(02-09-2015 06:31 AM)Mage Wrote:  

Has any one tried to approach while casually wearing a sword at his belt? Sword game?

I predict it would be a mad effective prop unless some fat passerby cockblocker feels threatened and calls cops.

I once carried an axe trough urban area for some 100 meters and got various glances both scared and curious, some cougar even opened me. Too old looking for me trough.

-.-

No, that would be impractical, silly, and stupid.

First of all The only weapon that would look cool is probably a spanish rapier but those are too large to hang off your belt.
Second of all, you would get arrested pretty quickly
third of all, the weapons have rubber tips on them (the Rapiers have LARGE ones) so they look kind of rediculous outside of the studio.
Fourth, you'd look like a huge Renaissance fair nerd. Yeah . . .no


What IS cool though is one time we had a recruitment drive for this in my college, and I would do duels on the main quad during mid-day to get people to sign up. but you can't do that everyday obviously. More like once every semester.


Here's some examples I pulled off of youtube:


Spanish Rapier & Dagger Vid. The Tallish bald guy(Antoine Blair) was my Professor in college, HIS master (not shown, is Maestro Martinez, I took a master class with the guy up in Oregon a long time ago, the dude knows about 30 different weapon styles):

Fun Fact about the professor: He was banging his students, in particular this really cute 18 year old freshman. The guy was like 35 or so had a HUGE bald spot and was still able to bang. So maybe you could try going that route, but other than that, getting into the sport for pussy, probably isn't the best use of time lol.

Rapier and Cloak: (just showing this because of the sick ass disarm)

French Foil Classical Fencing (This one isn't that good as their form is pretty off and they're just swinging their swords rather than thinking before they attack but I don't have time to find some good examples. . .so its close enough)

[YoungBlade]

I've watched HEMA for a bit now. Very cool stuff, especially full contact. Here's the USA National Team in the International Championship last year:

Unfortunately the closest competition team to me is Nashua, and the closest school is still a state away. Here's hoping I can get the right location and cash soon.

[christpuncher]

Thought this was a mispost and was going to be about ancient walls and border controls within Europe...