S’entraîner avec armes tranchantes, dans le passé et à présent
Ce court article est une discussion des conseils de Viggiani sur l’entraînement avec des armes tranchantes, focalisé sur les différences entre les contextes historiques et modernes.
Priorité et Convention
Cet article traite des règles de priorité. Elles sont souvent vues comme un symbole de la sportification, mais j’en suis venu à les comprendre un peu mieux au fil du temps : ce qui est recherché, mais aussi leurs vrais inconvénients dans le contexte des AMHE, où les assauts doivent aider à la reconstruction d’arts martiaux.
Training with sharps, present and past
This small article is a discussion of Viggiani’s advice on training with sharp swords, focusing on the differences between the modern and the historical context.
Risques et gains
Ce post (traduction de celui-ci) s’intéresse à l’équilibre entre les risques et les gains dans les situations de combat. Cet équilibre est important à garder en tête lors de l’analyse et de la comparaison de divers mode d’entraînement moderne. Par exemple, il explique les différences entre la réactions des duellistes d’époque et des pratiquants modernes face aux armes tranchantes.
Risks and rewards
This post looks at the balance between risks and rewards in fighting situations. This balance is important to keep in mind when analyzing and comparing various modern training modes. For example, it explains the different reactions of period duellists and modern swordsmen when facing a sharp blade.
Priority and Convention
This post discusses priority or right of way rules. They are often seen as the symbol of sportification, but I have come to understanding them a bit better over the years: what they try to accomplish, but also what true shortcomings they have, especially in a HEMA context when you use them to inform the reconstruction of martial arts.
The limits of experiments
This post adresses some of the difficulties that can arise when trying to experiment with martial arts. I feel these are important to keep in mind in order to avoid drawing overly broad conclusions from our modern experience, especially in the field of Historical European Martial Arts.
Rules of ‘la canne de combat’
La canne de combat (combat cane) is a French combat sport based on the use of a cane, a medium-length walking stick. It is visually quite original, very quick and athletic. It is also somewhat difficult to really understand from the outside, as the rules shape much of the action. This post provides a brief history and describes the main rules of the sport.
Fear and pain
Martial training generally comes together with initial fears and occasional pain. Some training methods point out fear as a pedagogical helper. They will use the fear of pain as a motivator to not get hit. They will use unsafe gear and say that the fear of accident increases the realism of the practice and help make the student focus. I personally disagree with these methods and would not fancy studying in such environments, for the reasons outlined in this post.
Speed Matters
This post explores the notion of speed in our sources, starting with the explicit admonitions to be quick, the reasons one needs to be quick, and then details the distortions to martial moves that are brought by low-speed work. I believe this information is important to keep in mind when discussing training methodology.