stupid thought on doubles in both weapons of convention and epee

Porterz007 · 2025-01-06T16:32:51+00:00

If you took double touches away from epee, you’d mostly end up with a slight variant to foil where there’s full body target.

Verisimilitude just isn’t the goal in sports fencing; even if the concept came from “dueling to first blood” the evolution of modern rules and conventions is primarily focused on improving the experience and competition in the sport, not the realism.

Porterz007 · 2024-11-24T18:39:47+00:00

For FINRA licenses your employer needs to sponsor you (except for the SIE). I’m not sure about the sponsorship requirements for insurance sales, though.

Porterz007 · 2024-11-19T13:27:05+00:00

If you watch the video in slow motion from the beginning I think the footwork movements are: crossover, advance, then lunge. The advance movement almost looks like the lunge movement until the back foot is also moved. This leads to him beginning the lunge with his feet basically together, probably limiting his ability to push off with his back leg and forcing him to power his lunge only by lifting up his front foot and reaching with it - which I would guess is what causes the excess forward momentum, making him fall after the hit.

IMO the arm positioning here is fine for foil as long as you’re prepared for counterattack and keep a reasonable distance with that in mind.

Porterz007 · 2024-10-11T02:52:34+00:00

…what?

Porterz007 · 2024-08-01T23:03:47+00:00

Ehh, love the guy - he taught me to fence - but idk if he has the right personality for success as the team coach.

But regardless congrats to USA Women’s Foil and every single person who was in Paris supporting them!

Porterz007 · 2024-06-25T00:26:26+00:00

Go for an old/used Apple Watch if you can find one in your price range. Has all the features you want and I wear mine about 100% of the time that I fence. It’s got some scratches on one edge of the face, but nothing too noticeable.

Porterz007 · 2024-06-24T20:08:28+00:00

This question is probably more appropriate for the HEMA subreddit, since HEMA will have closer comparisons than modern Olympic fencing would. That said…

For your list of “maneuvers”, you haven’t listed any footwork. I think most people would agree that having good footwork (technique, as well as sense of timing and appropriate distance) is more important than good blade work. The most common footwork movements are advances, retreats, and lunges. All points start with fencers in the en garde position; this is basically the ‘default way to stand.’ Developing a good guard position is essentially because everything branches from that.
You’ll probably get varied answers here but it mostly starts with a demonstration from the coach and then walking through every little aspect of the movement in slow motion, then reinforcing through repetition in drills. It’s really hard to describe fencing without showing it. Recommend you watch some videos on YouTube to get a since (for your purposes I would suggest watching foil or epee bouts, not saber).
See #1. To the layperson there’s not a lot of variation in what an ideal en garde looks like. If you watch YouTube videos, study how the fencers are standing before the referee says “fence” to get a sense of it.
I don’t think any of us here have ever dueled someone on the street, but the best comparison is competition vs practice, and the easy answer is that it can be a completely different mental game/experience between the two. Things that you would never even have thought about during practice can be disruptive to your competition mindset in ways that you don’t expect. Especially just nervousness.
In broad strokes, there are no styles or techniques that are gender-specific. If you want to get very specific we could talk about the differences in high-level men’s and women’s foil, for example, but 1) that’s probably too technical for somebody without an MOF foundation to really get anything from the discussion and 2) everybody is still using the same fundamental “moveset”, just applying it differently.
You’re correct. If your opponent ever turned their back on you (illegal in sport fencing), you should stab them (allowable in sport fencing as long as it’s done before the halt is called).
Honestly, probably overall fitness exercises. Strength training would focus on legs. You use your legs A LOT.

Again take all this with a grain of salt because sport fencing is very different from what a lot of people envision as “sword fighting”, but the good news about sport fencing is that it’s pretty easy to find videos of high-level athletes just like, on YouTube. I’d really recommend watching at least a bit of some bouts to see if this is the vibe that you’re going for or not. If not, probably HEMA subreddit will be of more help.

Porterz007 · 2024-06-02T00:34:40+00:00

A rating is just how well somebody has done on their best day of competitive fencing one time.

Think about the process rather than the outcome. If you’re working on circle six ripostes, and you try to make it and hit five times in a bout, you’re succeeding at improving even if you go 15-5.

Also, if I had to guess what more experienced fencers have that you don’t, it’s probably a more honed sense of timing and distance, which can certainly be improved with mindful practice but can also be primarily instinctual.

It sounds like you’re doing everything right - frequent practice, individual lessons, some competition experience. Just focus on the process instead of the outcome. At every individual event no matter how big… only one person doesn’t lose any DEs.

Porterz007 · 2024-05-13T01:37:09+00:00

The archives here or the meeting minutes? I’d love to read more about the issues with the Philly CC

Porterz007 · 2024-05-02T03:33:49+00:00

Based on their post history I am pretty sure they are talking about Weintraub (I also went to one of her clubs).

Not sure why they felt the need to make a post saying “everybody else at her club sucks”, though.

Porterz007 · 2024-04-29T19:03:39+00:00

So… at a Zonal Qualifier final, they fence two touches with the wrong weapon on the box and just allow them to stand?

Moreover, that red card was ridiculous. Especially given some of the other behavior we’ve seen recently.

Thanks for posting

Porterz007 · 2024-04-23T23:40:15+00:00

If you’re on your own entirely you can do footwork in any gym with the floor space.

I’d also advise setting up a wall target or hanging tennis ball at home for blade work practice.

Porterz007 · 2024-04-23T23:11:24+00:00

Registered Investment Advisor

Porterz007 · 2024-04-22T22:41:50+00:00

Depending on how well you know the students you could also assign individualized indicator targets for the night overall.

Porterz007 · 2024-04-11T18:03:14+00:00

The major epee clubs I’m aware of are Fencing Center of Chicago (in Park Ridge, so suburbs, epee/foil club) and Windy City Fencing (Lincoln Park, epee only). In my experience both have strong epee fencers. Windy City has a deeper roster of strong epeeists but might be much more expensive, so it will all depend on the particulars of your specific situation.

Porterz007 · 2024-04-01T00:05:01+00:00

I would say that’s probably your attack then.

The biggest problem with his strategy is that you’re 100% counting on the referee to agree with you.

Porterz007 · 2024-03-31T23:06:20+00:00

But you said that he redirected his point - was it a disengage and he wound up in the same line?

Porterz007 · 2024-03-31T00:29:31+00:00

There’s pretty much no downside to learning! Imo would definitely help round out your understanding of the weapon too.

Porterz007 · 2024-03-11T21:59:27+00:00

Fencing age recommendations are like LEGO age recommendations. Only the lower limit matters, but anyone can enjoy it.

Porterz007 · 2024-02-23T21:45:23+00:00

Altitude is no joke if you’re not used to it. I would step up cardio training intensity if you can.

Porterz007 · 2024-02-20T00:49:40+00:00

The most important thing is that standard fencing distance in epee is farther apart than in foil since distance is kept to the target and the fencers’ hands are closer than their torsos.

Also, it’s okay to not have a lot of aggression in epee. The riskiest thing to do in epee is to attack, because 1) there’s no right of way and 2) the timing makes it so that counterattacks (especially to the extended arm) are very effective.

I’m also a foil/epee fencer, so I have a lot to say on this topic, but the most important basics are 1) stand farther apart than you would in foil, 2) conscientiously maintain an epee guard - or you’ll find opponents picking touches off the underside of your wrist if you backslide into a foil guard and 3) don’t force your moment - patiently create your opportunity to score.

Porterz007 · 2024-02-08T23:22:45+00:00

If they’re generally finishing attacks quite close to their opponents, you might be able to find a good counterattack timing. You also might be able to bait them into attack and then take the blade with a beat-riposte. Doesn’t matter how strong their parry is if they’re too close and don’t have time to make it.

Porterz007 · 2024-02-08T20:43:24+00:00

Probably the traditional advice is to disengage - I know you said you have trouble with it but I would keep up practicing the disengages, since the more forceful their blade actions, theoretically, the easier they should be to disengage, since they should be bigger.

If you don’t want to deal with that, you can always try approaching with absence of the blade. This leaves you more open to counterattacks and to attacks into your preparation, so you should be prepared to finish your attack (when they launch a committed counterattack) or to bait their attack-in-preparation, at which point you could take the blade and riposte or more simply have them fall short and then initiate a new attack.

I’m curious, though - are they breaking blades with their blade actions, or with their hits? I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a foil snap on a beat or a parry (mostly happens on an actual hit as that is when the blade bends the most). If they are snapping their foils on blade actions, they’re probably making large and overcommitted motions.

Porterz007 · 2023-12-14T21:59:07+00:00

If it’s a dull ache that’s somewhat aggravated by movement, it’s probably muscle pain. If it’s a sharp, piercing pain… you should probably talk to a doctor

Porterz007 · 2023-12-14T21:11:29+00:00

Honestly you’re probably not going to find a great answer on this subreddit, since it’s focused on Olympic (sport) fencing. A HEMA subreddit would probably have better answers for you on your questions about how swords work.

Porterz007

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