Rapier Style Fencing 101
Rapier Style Fencing truely cannot be learned by book
or webpage. It might be possible to get a few hand positions, or foot
steps down, but it takes a real live opponent or instructor to give
you any kind of real ability. I have heard many people say that the
learning of "Kata's", which are sword moves in martial arts
are almost useless. Once a real battle or fight is started, all these
practiced series of moves are worthless, as your opponent will almost
never do what the Kata instructs. So, to learn to fence effectively,
it is important to know the mechanics of the moves and positions, but
real combat against a living person is mandatory. That said, here are
some basic things to know.
I have broken the first section of my notes into 5 sections.
The first deals with what you will need physically and mentally to train
and compete. The second is footwork and foot placement. The next is
Parries, followed by Lunges and Attacks. The key to being a good and
FAST fencer is to not try to learn to be fast. As my instructor says
over and over again, if you can do a move well, then the speed will
naturally occur. Therefore, learn the moves, slowly and carefully. Do
the moves over and over again, and the speed will naturally occur.
1) BALANCE, STAMINA and MENTAL
FOCUS
| BALANCE |
This is probably one of the most forgotten things
you see on the battlefield. Balance is everything, yet so many
fighters forget about. Balance allows you to be quick. Balance
allows for the fast and accurate attack, it allows for a retreat
and escape from advancing blades. Yet so many fighters forget
to maintain a balance, and suffer for it.
The correct balance, is to have your weight evenly distributed
between your front and back legs, and between the right and left
side of your body. You should be in a partially hunkered down
position, with your back straight and front and back legs slightly
bent at about a 30 degree angle. Your front foot, (right if your
right handed) should be pointed forward, and your back foot should
be mostly perpendicular, and pointing to your left. The front
foot should be in a line with the heel area of the back foot.
This gives you balance front, back and side to side. Keeping this
balance while you advance, retreat and attack will keep you from
tripping, falling, and being pushed over. |
| STAMINA |
This comes in time. When you first pick up a rapier,
you marvel at how light it feels. However, this 2 to 3 pounds of
steel gets very heavy, very fast. Over time, (months actually, if
not years) your muscles will get used to holding and whipping this
long steel rod around. Your shoulder muscles will feel the ache
first, but it will get used to it. The next area to feel the burn
will be your wrist and fore-arm muscles. You will develope a bulge
(like Pop-Eye) eventually in your fore-arms as your muscles get
larger to hold and use the rapier. This bulge will only be slightly
noticable when you flex it, but it will be there.Stamina comes from
repeated practice. Practicing 3 times a week for 2 hours at a time
is probably a minimium goal to develope good skills and get fighting
stamina. |
| MENTAL FOCUS |
This comes from practice and experience. When you
have done a maneuver or drill so many times (slowly at first) that
it becomes second nature, when you have competed so many times that
you are no longer nervous (even if you feel outclassed), then you
will develope the mental focus. It is all about becoming one with
your blade, the moment and your opponent. It allows you to focus
on the opponent in front of you, and not worry about what your body
will do to move, attack and retreat. Keeping outside distractions
and influences to a minimium or even being able to ignore them all
together is a part of Mental Focus. Being able to ignore your opponents
attempts to distract you with foot stomping, grunts, yells, etc,
is also Mental Focus. At the best, you can enter a state of heightened
awareness, when time itself seems to slow down and you become a
whirlwind of death and mayhem. This is the ultimate state of mind,
and is the final goal for the trained fighter. Reaching this state
is rare, and being able to enter this state upon request is almost
unheard of. |
2) FOOTWORK
| THE STANCE |
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| Your classical starting position, in Parry-6. The front
foot should be in line with your back ankle. |
Your body's center of balance should be between your feet. |
| Your starting position of a lunge should have
your legs apart, with your balance between both feet. |
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| Your forward knee should be directly above your
ankle, or just behind it. |
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| Do not let your forward knee extend over your
ankle. This will cause you to lose the ability to retreat
quickly without having to "pop" up slightly. |
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| Your back foot should be solidly on the ground.
This will help your balance and help prevent ankle injuries. |
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| Do not allow your back foot to "roll"
onto it's side when you lunge. This hurts your balance and
quickness, and also allows your ankle to get injured easily. |
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Enough cannot be said about footwork. It can be very boring for
beginning students to spend their first days doing "Advance",
and "Retreat" for hours. However, it is the foundation
for all swordplay. If your body does not move correctly, it will
make all the future layers have problems. If you don't keep your
footwork correctly, and have your body automatically move your
feet the right way, you will never be a sucessfull swordsman.
Bad footwork will cause you to lose your balance, tire you out
quicker, cause "tells" that give your intentions away
to your opponent, and prevent your attacks/retreats fail. |
| ADVANCE |
When you advance, you must be carefull to keep your
back straight up and down, and to move your front foot forward a
step, and move your back foot a moment later foward the same amount.
Do not hop up or down, it should be a smooth glide forward. Also,
make sure that you do not drag either your rear foot, or advancing
front foot. This is bad form, uses up more energy, might cause you
to stumble or get injured, and worst of all, it makes a noise that
your opponent can use as a "tell"! |
| RETREAT |
When you retreat, you must be carefull to keep your
back straight up and down, and to move your rear foot back a step,
and move your front foot a moment later later the same amount. Do
not hop up or down, it should be a smooth glide back. Also, make
sure that you do not drag either your rear foot, or retreating front
foot. This is bad form, uses up more energy, might cause you to
stumble or get injured, and worst of all, it makes a noise that
your opponent can use as a "tell"! |
| BALISTRA |
This maneuver is a leap/jump forward, with both feet
leaving the air, almost at the same time. This is done to extend
the distance that you might need to cover to hit an opponent. You
can go from a Balistra directly into a lunge. Done right, this forward
jump should create no height jump, but instead just a leap forward.
Be careful tho, this kind of fast movement can cause injury to your
opponent or yourself. If you rapidly move forward and your opponent
does the same, or does not retreat like you anticipated, you might
hit the opponent much harder than you intended. Always be prepared
to "pull back" the hit you are trying to make, so you
do not injure yourself or opponent! |
| CROSS FORWARD |
In this maneuver, you walk forward, back foot moving
forward one step quickly, followed by your front foot. Always keep
your eyes forward, and back straight. You use this maneuver when
your opponent is rapidly retreating, or , and a simple retreat is
not enough. |
| CROSS BACK |
In this maneuver, you walk backwards, front foot moving
back quickly, followed by your rear foot. Always keep your eyes
forward, and back straight. You use this maneuver when your opponent
is rapidly advancing, and a simple retreat is not enough. |
| CROSS RIGHT |
In this maneuver, you walk sideways, the back foot
moving sideways to the right quickly, followed by your foot moving
sideways to the right. Always keep your eyes forward, and back straight.
You use this maneuver when you need to circle around an opponent,
or move sidways to prevent an opponent from circling you. |
| CROSS LEFT |
In this maneuver, you walk sideways, the back foot
moving sideways to the left quickly, followed by your foot moving
sideways to the left. Always keep your eyes forward, and back straight.
You use this maneuver when you need to circle around an opponent,
or move sidways to prevent an opponent from circling you. |
| CROSS OVER |
This is a blade technique where the tip of your blade goes up
and over the tip of your opponents blade. This can be done one
of two ways, either when your tips are "dancing" with
each other, waiting for your opponent to make a mistake, or it
can be done during an attack or while defending. The Cross Over
is used commonly in the "Glide" attack.
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| DISSENGAGE |
This is a blade technique where the tip of your blade goes under
and across the tip of your opponents blade. This can be done one
of two ways, either when your tips are "dancing" with
each other, waiting for your opponent to make a mistake, or it
can be done during an attack or while defending. The Dissengage
maneuver is used commonly in attacks such as a "Bind"
or a "Snake Bite" maneuver.
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3) PARRIES
If you are right-handed, the most important two parries
are Parry 6 and Parry 4. If you are left handed, it would be reversed,
and it would be Parry 4, and then Parry 6. So, I will start with these
two parries, and then move on to the others. The first 4 that any new
fencer should work on would be 6,4,7 and then 8. Ignore the other parries
until you have these 4 down. Not only are there photos below, but also
some short video clips showing the proper movement of the weapon. Many
thanks to Robert Childs, my fencing instructor for letting me film him
doing the parries.
| PARRY-6 |
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| This is the classical starting position for all right handed
fencers. Your left hand should be up on your left side, and
prepared to block. Your right elbow should be just an inch
up and to the right of your abdomen, with your hand palm down.
Your blade should be going from just outside your body to
the tip, center of your opponent, with the tip left and right
aimed between your opponents eyes. Make sure you keep that
guard protecting your hand from being hit. |
Keep your back straight, knees bent. Left arm slightly
in front of your head, and finger tips about eye level.
Parry-6 protects your from attacks coming in from directly
in front of you, and from your middle right side.
VIDEO
OF PARRY 6 POSITION (1.1meg wmv file)
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| PARRY-4 |
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| Your right elbow should be in front of your abdomen, and
your forearm should be out at about a 45 degree angle in front
of you. Your hand should be rolled over with your palm facing
up. The tip of the blade should still be between your opponents
eyes. |
Keep your back straight, knees bent. Left arm slightly
in front of your head, and finger tips about eye level.
Parry-4 protects your from attacks coming in from directly
in front of you, and from your middle left side.
VIDEO
OF PARRY 4 -(1.1meg wmv file)
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| PARRY-1 |
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| Your left arm has traveled in to be closer to the center
of your body. Your right arm is up and above your eyes, with
your blade protecting your left side. Edge of the blade is
facing out. You should have good vision of what is happening
in front of you, and your left hand ready to block front and
right attacks. |
Keep your back straight, knees bent. Left arm slightly
in front of your head, now slightly closer to the center
of your chest and finger tips about eye level.
Parry-1 protects your from attacks coming in from your
right side.
VIDEO
OF PARRY 1 - )1.1meg wmv file)
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| PARRY-2 |
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| Your right arm is now up, with your elbow at shoulder level
or slightly higher. The point of the blade should be pointing
over your opponents left shoulder. Blade edge is up, and hand
should be just even with your eyes, but above and to the right
of your eyes. The blade should be in a line to go over your
opponents right shoulder. |
Keep your back straight, knees bent. Left arm slightly
in front of your head, and finger tips about eye level.
Parry-2 protects your from attacks coming in from above
you.
VIDEO
OF PARRY 2 (1 meg wmv file)
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| PARRY-3 |
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| Your right elbow is an inch or so out and right of your
abdomen. Your arm is straight out, and your wrist is flexed
out to present the edge of your blade to the outside. |
Keep your back straight, knees bent. Left arm slightly
in front of your head, and finger tips about eye level.
Parry-3 protects your from attacks coming in from your
middle right side.
VIDEO
OF PARRY 3 (1.2meg wmv file)
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| PARRY-5 |
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| Your right elbow is even with your shoulder, wrist rotated
to point your edge up. |
Keep your back straight, knees bent. Left arm slightly
in front of your head, and finger tips about eye level.
Parry-5 protects your from attacks coming in from above
you. You would go to this over head block from a Parry-6,
Parry-3 or Parry-7 normally.
VIDEO
OF PARRY 5 (1.1 meg wmv file)
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| PARRY-7 |
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| Your elbow should actually be closer to your
abdomen than in this photo. About an in to the side. Blade
tip should also actually be a bit higher off the ground, at
about your opponents knee height. Blade edge pointed horizontally
out, and the sweep of the blade covering the area of your
lower right. |
Keep your back straight, knees bent. Left arm slightly
in front of your head, and finger tips about eye level.
Parry-7 protects your from attacks coming in from directly
in front of you, and from your bottom right side.
VIDEO
OF PARRY 7 (1.1 meg wmv file)
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| PARRY-8 |
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| Your right elbow in front of your abdomen, about 2 or 3
inches out, wrist rotated over palm up. Blade tip is at about
your opponents knee level, and edge of the blade is out. |
Keep your back straight, knees bent. Left arm slightly
in front of your head, and finger tips about eye level.
Parry-8 protects your from attacks coming in from directly
in front of you, and from your bottom left side.
VIDEO
OF PARRY 8 (1.1 meg wmv file)
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| PARRY-9 |
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| Your elbow is at or just below shoulder level. Wrist is
rotated to face inward, edge of the blade is up. The blade
should be above the eyes, and up and out about 6 to 10 inches. |
Keep your back straight, knees bent. Left arm slightly
in front of your head, and finger tips about eye level.
Parry-9 protects your from attacks coming in from above
you. You would go to this over head block from a Parry-4,
Parry-1 or Parry-8 normally.
VIDEO
OF PARRY 9 (1 meg wmv file)
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4) LUNGES
| THE LUNGE |
| Start from the classical Parry-6 stance. Make
sure you keep your back straight. Decide on a target in front
of you. |
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| Extend your arm straight out at the target. |
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Lunge your foot forward, keeping good ground
contact with your rear foot. Make sure that your take your
left arm with you to help block a counter attack.
Recover and retreat if necessary. Never assume a hit was
felt, good, or will be acknowledged until a few moments
after the attack is done. |
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5) BASIC ATTACKS
| BEAT ATTACK |
The object of a Beat Attack is to "bang"
your opponents blade away from being a theat to you, and then
hit your opponent before he can recover and counter attack. With
a Beat Attack, you traditionally "bang" or "smack"
your opponents blade, then try to hit the temporarily exposed
hand/wrist/arm or even torso.
From a PARRY-6 starting point, make sure
that you at least momentarily have at least 4 to 6 inches
of left-right distance between your blade and your oponents
blade. Quickly snap your wrist with a clockwise corkscrew
motion from an palm down to a palm up position, while at
the same time hitting the opponents blade as close to the
feeble as you can with your mid blade. Be carefull to ensure
that you did not "cock" or "windup"
your beat, as this is a "Tell" and an opponent
can tell what you are doing in advance.
Your target area to hit your opponents blade is between
his midguard to his tip (feeble). Striking any lower means
you will not transfer enough kinetic energy to make the
beat work. Make sure you are also using the upper portion
of your blade when you "beat" your blade onto
your opponents. |
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| Once the opponents blade has been hit, the kinetic
energy transfer should have moved his blade away, and left
yours in a position so that you can now extend and lunch towards
whichever target you pre-chose. The beat and your arm outstretching
is two actions/directions, but the total movement should be
one merged into one motion. |
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Take care also to ensure that you do not
bring your blade back to a 6 after the beat before you extend
and lunge. Doing so negates the time that you got from hitting
the opponents blade out of the way. It needs to be one smooth
motion.
Also be sure that you have fully extended your arm BEFORE
you start your lunge. Guide your lunge in, being ready for
a disengage, parry 4, or even a retreat if needed. |
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Now lunge in, and attack your opponent before
he can get his point back to bear on you. Make sure you
keep your secondary arm/weapon up to parry. Parry 4 on the
way out. If you can't make a good lunge because your opponent
was ready for you, and has already gone to a parry 4, try
a disengage, and hit him on his right side. It is important
when you do the beat that your blade is far enough away
from your opponents guard that you can do the disengate
if you need to.
On your way out from the attempted attack, make sure that
you parry to 4, and retreat. An opponents who had received
a beat attack will traditionally come back to a Parry-6
or an attack on 6, and this Parry-4 will block his counter
attack. |
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|
| GLIDE ATTACK |
The object of a Glide Attack is to "bang"
your opponents blade down and away from you to your right, as
you come in from a top attack
| From a PARRY-6 starting point, cross the tip
of your blade up and over your opponents blade. Try to get
a few inches above the opponents blade if you can. Moving
your blade forward a touch, bang down on your opponents feeble
area with the mid to forte portion of your blade. This will
force his blade down and to your right. |
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| At the same time your blade will start to "glide"
down his blade. Aim your point, while it glides down your
opponents blade, so that it strikes your opponent in the chest.
Also, while your blade slides down your opponents blade, twist
your blade so that the two flats are on each other. Your palm
should face down. Your feeble and mid blade should push down
on his feeble and mid blade. By the time you have completed
the lunge into the opponent, your midblade should still be
on his midblade. Your blade should not wind up on his forte
at any time in the maneuver. This takes some practice and
skill to do right. Most of the pushing to side energy comes
from the thrust forward after you have started the "opening"
in your opponents guard. You can do a "Glide" attack
on either side of your opponents blade if the opportunity
exists. |
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The goal is to try to get your quillions to help you control
your opponets blade. As soon as your attack is done, retreat
while going into a Parry 6 stance again. Since you forced
your opponents blade to your right, be prepared for a counter
attack which will require you to either do a Parry-6, Parry-7
or even a Parry-3.
In this shot I am the one getting hit, although in the
first two, I was the one hitting.
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6) PRACTICE MANEUVERS
| AROUND THE WORLD #1 |
The around the world drill, from the teacher's perspective, goes
as follows:
Initiate attack three, parry three, attack five, parry five,
attack four, parry four.
From the student's perspective:
Parry three, attack three, parry five, attack five, parry four,
attack four.
It is very important not to let the student develop the bad habit
of maintaining contact with your blade when they go from parry
four to attack four. This is a common mistake. The blade has to
travel on a straight diagonal.
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| AROUND THE WORLD #2 |
In this practice maneuver, two opponents face each
other. The first person attacks his opponent at his "4".
The opponent parries the attack to his "4" and attacks
the iniator in his "4". The first person parries this
counter attack. Then the same sequence is repeated, this time with
attacks and parries on the 5, followed by attacks and parries to
6. Done correctly, the attacks and parries are done in quick unison.
This improves both persons relfexes, style, and stamina. The 4-5-6
pattern is done repeatedly without letup until one person makes
a mistake and gets tagged. |
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