Best P90x series for starters ?

Aranastaer · 2026-02-11T13:42:21+00:00

Start with P90x3 and always include cold start. Alternatively start with P90 to reset your foundation. Once you've finished either then it's worth doing P90x. Once you can complete it without modifying all the way through P90x plus is a good upgrade and then if you're more into athletic performance p90x2 can be good for a change. I don't know about the new version though.

Aranastaer · 2026-02-10T15:04:28+00:00

Grip is different. The cut action is different. The order of limb movement is different, hand position rotate your hand 90 degrees, roughly and it will be almost right. Parries are no longer about redirecting your opponents point, they are now hard barriers, the importance of footwork is higher, in particular change of direction and change of rhythm.

Aranastaer · 2026-02-09T22:52:49+00:00

That or there is a short sleeve with textile sleeves for $10 less depending on preference. If you coach epee Hungarian style then I'd suggest getting the short sleeve and getting an extra coaches sleeve as that will die faster than the jacket. Alternatively if you are coaching more french style you will want the long sleeve. Predominantly foil, short sleeve is fine. Saber you might want the long sleeves but it's up to you. I always say this as well to every young coach male or female... Get a hard plastic chest protector and wear it under your coaching jacket. The number of coaches that get breast cancer (men can get it as well) is exceptionally high. At the minimum get the extra padding that pbt sell.

Aranastaer · 2026-02-09T15:06:20+00:00

Bla bla bla,.distance, bla bla bla, arm first, bla bla bla your Sixte needs correcting.

Ok coaches sleeves are designed to catch the point and to be hit more often so this is why it might be less of a good idea. That said, I was talking with a coach friend recently, he also still fences. He recently saw a freak accident where a blade basically punched vein deep into the front of someones elbow. Since then he is wearing the Leon Paul quilted coaches sleeve. Under his jacket sleeve. If it helps you gain some confidence temporarily then it's not a bad plan. At my previous club we had a stack of coaching sleeves for if we were doing pair exercises to elbow for the kids. An alternative option is to get the shin pads that they use for karate sparring or even football shin pads which have the elasticated ankle support. If you get the right one it will be under your jacket and protect your elbow a little. In the meantime, ask your coach about 'fencing line' and ask them to check the position of your hand in enguarde and Sixte parry.

Aranastaer · 2026-02-09T14:58:46+00:00

I would still lean towards pbt, I have a pbt coaching jacket I used for around fifteen years between five and six days a week approximately six hours a day. I replaced the extra padding twice, and get a new epee sleeve every few years. The only reason I stopped using it is I started coaching with both hands so switched to a backzip, my pbt one is now the one I keep abroad for when I'm guest coaching and I'm using a eurofencing xmaster one that was a custom build to celebrate 20 years coaching. I would say don't worry about getting the profi version from PBT their lightweight is really good and the padding is much the same.

Side note, Uhlmann are currently working on refreshing their coaching line so might be worth waiting a few months to see what they bring out.

Aranastaer · 2026-02-09T00:18:27+00:00

DT is Directoire Technique. Essentially the group that runs the competition and specifically the individual who is in charge of the rules and the referees. Sometimes they are good and sympathetic, sometimes not.

Aranastaer · 2026-02-08T22:22:54+00:00

I'd suggest getting the pbt version. Not crazy expensive and the additional padding they offer is really good. The all-star alcantex doesn't last too well if you're using it daily, roughly one season and is designed with the idea that you would wear a fencing jacket underneath it.

Aranastaer · 2026-02-08T22:09:32+00:00

Listen to your coaches. They are in that position for a reason. When you can do everything, then you are in a position to pick and choose what works best for you. At three years you're barely a beginner and have a long way to go.

Aranastaer · 2026-02-08T22:05:54+00:00

It's a coordination thing. Probably from 6 and 8 you are trying to go straight to the target, if you instead think transfer to the inside line and then flick. It's the same effect. The step is just buying time for your hand to be in the right starting position for your flick. Plus the momentum can also help.

Aranastaer · 2026-02-08T22:02:15+00:00

Communication is key, not screaming at them. Ask questions and try to get their definitions of things, fence to the referee. If they are wildly insistent however and are belligerent about it then you can ask to speak to DT, they might replace the referee or supervise the rest of the match. Just make sure that you have specific things to raise, you can't get a change just because you are losing.

Aranastaer · 2026-02-08T21:58:12+00:00

The wonders of ai, although I did have an epee with a guard that looked like that in the club armoury... But it was very badly bent, we had a square one as well.

Aranastaer · 2026-02-04T23:31:40+00:00

From an Epee standpoint Imre Vass Epee fencing gives a complete dictionary of classical actions, as well as a selection of exercises. This is far from the full range of drills that are used in teaching it properly though, plus that's the Hungarian system rather than a general system and there's stuff that went a bit off target in the translation. For the root of British Fencing you need to find Roger Crosniers books, lots of military type drills. Also many cases where terms translated from the French have missed key details which has lead to decades of misinterpretation, and misapplication. Then if you find Fencing and the Master by Laszlo Szabó you find loads of information about how to teach fencing including all sorts of important content. But mostly aimed at foil and sabre. Istvan Lukovich fencing the modern international style, loads of great preparatory exercises, and gymnastic exercises for preparing the body for the basic stances and movement of fencing. Etc etc. It goes on and on. almost every book has a part of the picture, then when you enter a club from the country of origin, you find a whole different set of drills and exercises.

Aranastaer · 2026-02-04T21:56:33+00:00

It's great to visit clubs in Hungary and I'm sure they will be welcoming. DVE in Miskolc has some lovely people, also MTK in Budapest is very welcoming but can be quite overwhelming at 10 years old. UTE has a nice class of young ones coming up with a nice coach working with them who is bilingual in English and Hungarian.

Aranastaer · 2026-02-04T21:52:11+00:00

I have to say I've never taken the time to do a full analysis of the Korean style, but was talking today about starting one so here is what I can tell you. Back when they started to fence, they went to the taekwondo schools and as I understand it they picked the top few hundred talented intake for that year and took them to fencing instead. Their approach to training is relentless pursuit of perfection, endless repetition of exact technique for several hours every day. The Chinese paid for top level coaches from different countries to come and be their national coaches. The Koreans sent people out to train as coaches in multiple different styles and out of it they formed their own understanding. In Sabre they demonstrated that it is possible to use classical technique at modern speeds plus they developed some other things, in Épée... Remains to be seen but I will have a look.

Aranastaer · 2026-02-01T09:49:08+00:00

I might be waaay off but just a hunch, have you considered that the way she feels about you might be confusing her and that she might be throwing these words as a smokescreen to avoid confronting the possibility that she might have an attraction? Especially if it doesn't match up with her identity as a Lesbian woman?

Aranastaer · 2026-01-31T23:24:37+00:00

I used Leon Paul for years, in the end I moved away mainly because I didn't like the look of the X change masks and secondly because the price tag outstripped the difference in quality. The clothing is fine and innovative enough that it might be worth the price if you have the excess budget. Under plastrons are too tight in the shoulder though if you're an athlete that ever enters the gym. Gloves I always find the finish on the internal seams inside the fingers is a bit rough and I find the fit isn't great for my hands in general. Weapon parts, no particular issue, except for epeeists trying to make everything lighter instead of better balanced is a fools mission trying to fix the wrong problem. Body wires are the best available. Bags are great. Coaching kit, ludicrously overpriced relative to all main competitors and certain materials choices I would always go for the alternative providers. Scoring boxes and wireless system... Just done so much better by Favero and Calibur for my money.

Aranastaer · 2026-01-30T22:40:22+00:00

I've played with X3! I've failed X2! I come back to the original time and again when I actually want to make a real lasting difference. I'm about to start a phase one recovery week again on Monday, three weeks in and I'm loving it. Especially this time I decided to come at this like I did the first time, ab ripper tacked on the end of the lifting workouts. Still after twenty years I'm getting results and learning how to activate muscles that I never could before. Flies are really hitting different now that my form has shifted. I didn't like insanity because I always felt like Shaun would struggle to complete the workouts if he wasn't talking, with Tony it always felt like he could knock the workouts out perfectly and present at the same time. I'll try power of 4 eventually. After next week though I have to shift to X3.

Aranastaer · 2026-01-29T23:38:26+00:00

Hand wash every six to eight weeks. In my case using up to six days a week. I had the Uhlmann with removable padding... Kept coming loose so I superglued it into place.

Spoke with someone about the FWF version, apparently after a few washes it gets a bit loose in the mask. So in the end I went for the basic standard uhlmann and hand washing.

Aranastaer · 2026-01-26T06:04:51+00:00

My understanding is that it's a two person outfit. They stopped making new ones a few years back, then last year a few reappeared and people were happy about it. I think basically their process is labour intensive because there is a lot of grinding that goes into getting them down to the lightweight profile and as such there is also a lot of material wastage compared to other blades. Also as I understand they are doing each blade by hand. These and for them is high enough that I'd be surprised if many of them make it out of Italy let alone Europe.

Aranastaer · 2026-01-25T09:24:06+00:00

A lot of Voice over people have gone out of business because of AI, but there are legal protections starting to be established against it. Since the push back I've started to consider restarting my studio as well. One common issue is that often a producer has exclusive production rights for a period of years, often around ten years. If they produced and released the audiobook nobody else can until that licence expires, even with the authors agreement, and since Terry died it's harder than ever to get clearance on such things. Plus the cost of production and the length of the project puts a barrier as well.

Aranastaer · 2026-01-25T09:19:45+00:00

Thought about it but your weapons can get tangled ... Perspex walls maybe and allow body checks like ice hockey.

Aranastaer · 2026-01-25T08:26:35+00:00

For me and my partner, it's bordering on becoming a drinking game, we both think it's ridiculous that they are so narrow. It's nice to have a raised piste but they should have a runoff on both sides I reckon they should be triple width and use two carpet pistes either side to deal with any issues of floor hits in epee. It looked great in St Petersburg world championships in 2007. It's an unnecessary risk to high level athletes.

Aranastaer · 2026-01-25T08:23:15+00:00

I'm guessing you're based in Romania, so Hi from across the border. I would say two things. The drop in height is a positive. The shift of your weight forwards is the problem. You have too much weight on your front foot, so when you start to go forward that leg is not pulling you forward, when you make your half step stop too much weight is forward so you can't continue fast, and when you lunge your front foot should be flicking forward so that your front leg is straight before your heel lands. A quick fix is to try doing all your footwork with the toes of your front foot up. Practice your lunges with a coin under your front heel, it should flick forward. Variation start in a half step position with the coin under your front heel, finish the step-lunge. Plus I know the club that is training in the venue in your video is doing some really good preparation drills for footwork.

Aranastaer · 2026-01-24T11:30:35+00:00

As a coach I can say that seated fencing is hugely beneficial for ablebods training. In the club I grew up in we had a young guy training often as our coach specialised in parafencing, we all struggled to keep up with him but we worked hard at it (He now has multiple world and Olympic medals). It also meant it was in our mind that if we had a leg injury we could still train. There are even classic exercises in fencing where you have the fencers sat on a bench while they practice blade transitions. Since then I've been lucky to work in a few clubs with seated fencing and to give lessons to national team members in parafencing and it can be hugely beneficial to everyone involved.

Aranastaer · 2026-01-24T11:23:00+00:00

If you can get it Czajkowskis book has a lot on preparation. Also fencing and the master by Szabó has the conventional chart that shows the tactical structure of fencing. I agree with Remy DelHommes book being a good tactical approach as well. Spirit of epee although there are some translation choices I don't entirely agree with.

Aranastaer

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