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How would HEMA fighters do? Not so well, as it doesn't correspond to the formats HEMA fighters train for. Armoured combat is very thrust oriented, which is banned in this competition, and rightly so. The armour is also not historical. It's essentially unarmoured style combat done in armour. HEMA...

I've been thrown by good judoka on mats many, many times, because I am only a mediocre judoka. Landing full force on the padded dojo floor has stunned me on occasion. On concrete I wouldn't have gotten back up at all!

Don't worry about sport vs. street at this point. Some of the scariest people I know are judoka who don't even punch or kick at all. And wrestlers. Jeez they scary. If you want to be able to as they say "handle yourself", then any combination of wrestling, judo, bjj, or similar paired with...

@Whispered_Freedom There's no such thing as becoming a good martial artist with minimal effort. You must train hard to be good. No magic, just training. However, there are some arts which you might want to look into: First off, boxing. Learning movement, range, and timing in addition to...

@Rat Irrespective of your vertical fist preference (which I share as a bareknuckle guy), I'd recommend finding a good modern boxing instructor and getting the fundamentals of punching, covering, slipping, and all the rest down correctly. Then you can add things like the vertical fist, the...

I would recommend Jack Dempsey's "Championship Fighting" as an excellent book on older boxing. He goes into a lot of detail on power generation, especially on his Dempsey Drop. He advocates using the ring finger to aim. @Rat: what is your striking background?

@noname The video you posted seems to have disappeared before I had a chance to comment on it. There's nothing wrong with the technique as you performed it. It's a perfectly fine hanging parry with a followup cut. I do it all the time. However, not every technique in the manuals uses the edge...

Well it's unlikely I could do it one handed. We do it in Judo and jerk the guy down by the sleeve or collar as we lift. It ain't nothing new. Ott Jud has it in the 1400's, and leg should be translated as "foot" in the last phrases here, as the original German uses "fueß" (foot). But it's not...

Yeah, one rapier master said to have your sword as sharp as possible, not for cutting, but so you could get a better, stickier bind. I can't remember who, as I'm not a rapierist. Now, you can do parries with the flat. Leckuchner and Meyer both have them, and Paurnfeyndt has a krumphau (crooked...

Lordy, I can't belive we're still having this discussion in 2018. Some techniques require the use of the edge, others the flat. Different systems have different ideas about how to solve problems based on time period, weapons, and the preferences of the individual master. The sword was almost...

By the time Fiore recorded his art, typical "knightly" shields were obsolete due to better armour. Fiore does say that fighting a duel without armour as the video shows is exceptionally dangerous, where "one failed cover can mean death". Bucklers were used for quite some time after this, and...

Try everything! The most important thing is to not give up. You'll hit a point where you're sucking wind and pain and you'll be wondering why you're doing this. It is absolutely imperative that you push through that feeling. No transformation is easy, and most hurt. If you've never trained...

Jess Finley is a well established fighter and author. I've met her, but never fought her. She is, by all accounts, a beast. She literally wrote the book on medieval wrestling. Sean Hayes is likewise accomplished in HEMA and classical fencing. Neither one are to be taken lightly. :)

Looks like SCA kind of stuff to me. Not HEMA in any sense. Note that there are no sources on how to use kite or heater shield, so that is by necessity made up. This is HEMA: Note the images of the source material (the manual of Fiore dei Liberi). The protective gear is typical of most HEMA, the...

It's true HEMA ain't generally cheap if you want to go full contact with steel weapons, though you can outfit yourself in full kit for steel longsword for about $1200 (sometimes less), including a weapon. Most club's senior members upgrade gear over time, and often sell/give old gear to newbies...

There are no short cuts. You need lots of clean reps and sparring. Since there are no short cuts, get really really strong and have insane cardio. That will be the foundation upon which you build your judo. As my judo sensei says: The first secret to good judo is cardio.

Agreed on all counts. The first method accords with George Silver's writings on "True Time" in 1598. Essentially, any attack where the hand precedes the body is true time (and preferred), and any attack where the body precedes the hand is false time (and cautioned against). While designed for...

That's a big lad. How would I fight him? With a zweihander and a few friends standing by with boar spears in case I miss. There's a guy in my judo club who's 260 and maybe 6'3". He can rag doll me almost at will and I'm 205 and 6". There are others who are even bigger who are just a big nope...

The only sure takedown defense is to become a good grappler. Otherwise you're pitting your weakness against the other person's strength. It's similar to people thinking there's a reliable unarmed knife defence against a good knife fighter. There isn't one, except for running away. The defense...

Late to the party, but I'd like to comment on the very first post, and the reference to sport fencers, who I find quite inspirational in their dedication to excellence. One reason elite sport fencers are able to do what they do is they are encouraged to see themselves as athletes first, and...

OT, but I'm hoping this is a Blues Brothers meets Seven Samurai kind of thing... get the old band together, defend a village, all whIle Cab Calloway stalls for time.

It could be the pinned guy was gassed, or completely out classed on the ground. I'm 207 lbs, and a 155 lb 6th Dan pinned me and I couldn't budge him. It was incredible.

Well with sword based HEMA and Koryu sword arts being my focus, most of what I train is lethal. I also do Judo and modern combatives which are designed to be non lethal, but one could certainly make them lethal if needed as discussed earlier.

This latest one shows, as far as I can tell, all of Fiore's techniques with the longsword held in one and two hands. Nice and dynamic.

Yup. This led to the era of articles titled "How to Defeat the Gracie Tackle" and the like. As if there was a magic pill to stop a trained grappler asides from learning how to grapple yourself. So many of them didn't know what to do if they got grabbed let alone taken down, making them easy prey...

What Tony said. MMA is a duel, and as such there is a long feeling out period since all involved are experienced duelists. You'd have to incentivize by huge bonuses for 30 second knockouts or subs in order to get people to go all out from the starting bell. Not that you'd get many, since...

Learning MA on your own is nearly impossible. However, if you can get out once a week, consider iaido. It is entirely solo, and you can practice at home alone between classes for HOURS. If you are literally a prisoner in your own home, try yoga videos or P90X or something. Some people start...

Interesting thread. The main thing to consider when using any kind of sparring rules (armed or otherwise) is "what are we trying to accomplish?" Secondly, "how can we accomplish that with the optimal balance of realism (whatever that means in your context) and safety?" We all have jobs to go to...

Your friend is incorrect. Judo is one of the best compliments to boxing there is. Judo is great all round grappling art. You've got a great standup system, and a reasonable ground game if you need it, albeit not BJJ or Catch. The last people you want to mess with are boxers, wrestlers, BJJ...

I mostly enjoy perfecting technique, and trying out new (to me) ways of doing things. There's nothing quite as satisfying as figuring out a technique in a manuscript, perfecting it, and then pulling it off in sparring or tournament. What could be cooler than pulling off a technique in tournament...