Introduction and a few questions

[JoeyNaeger]

Hello everyone, I just wanted to formally introduce myself. Currently, I'm a music education student at the University of Houston, and am really interested in beginning some longsword classes with one of the two local groups.

I have a couple of questions. First off, as a musician, I simply can't afford to break my fingers. Period. I've read several accounts of this kind of injury and was wondering if it could be avoided through heavily padded gloves or something. This is my primary concern right now. Secondly, I've been working on form using Christian Tobler's Fighting With the German Longsword as a guide, and was wondering if it would be best to wait untill taking classes. As a music teacher, I've seen the harm that "self teaching" can cause, and was interested to see what y'all think. Thanks in advance guys.

[Stacy Clifford]

It's impossible to say that you'll never break a finger even with the best gloves on, because bad luck happens, but with a decent pair of gloves (there are several options) and good training you can reduce the likelihood pretty dramatically. You should, however, expect bruised fingers no matter what. As you get better it will happen less often, but you have to be willing to accept it as part of learning a fighting art.

As for learning form on your own, you're OK on that. We may not agree with Tobler on everything, but he's still in the ballpark on form and we're used to making corrections as necessary (I'm especially a stickler for form). If what you're doing is fairly close then it just makes correcting you a little easier, so don't worry too much, just remain flexible about it. You're welcome to visit either or both of our study groups and you'll be free to examine all the equipment we use and ask any questions you need to satisfy yourself.

[Gene Tausk]

It's impossible to say that you'll never break a finger even with the best gloves on, because bad luck happens, but with a decent pair of gloves (there are several options) and good training you can reduce the likelihood pretty dramatically. You should, however, expect bruised fingers no matter what. As you get better it will happen less often, but you have to be willing to accept it as part of learning a fighting art.

As for learning form on your own, you're OK on that. We may not agree with Tobler on everything, but he's still in the ballpark on form and we're used to making corrections as necessary (I'm especially a stickler for form). If what you're doing is fairly close then it just makes correcting you a little easier, so don't worry too much, just remain flexible about it. You're welcome to visit either or both of our study groups and you'll be free to examine all the equipment we use and ask any questions you need to satisfy yourself.

Ditto to what the esteemed Mr. Clifford said.

[JoeyNaeger]

Thanks for the input guys. I suspected that injury wouldn't be completely avoidable, but if I can significantly reduce the risk, that would be acceptable. After some searching around the forum, it seems that lacross and motorcross gloves offer good protection and mobility so I will look into that.

[Jason Taylor]

Thanks for the input guys. I suspected that injury wouldn't be completely avoidable, but if I can significantly reduce the risk, that would be acceptable. After some searching around the forum, it seems that lacross and motorcross gloves offer good protection and mobility so I will look into that.

I actually recommend against motocross gloves. The metal a lot of them have makes you think it's highly protective, but small plates without good padding help less than just padding.

I personally wear a pair of lacrosse gloves with a few additional plastic plates I cut out and added to them. The plates have actually helped a lot. I've also added padding sections on the unprotected part of the hand--mostly the side of my right index finger toward the thumb and the top edge of my thumb.

I have to be very concerned with my hands, as well. I have a surgery on my right index finger that I have to protect, because if I break that one, it may never work again (the therapist explained why--something about the scar tissue buildup). I've had pretty good luck with my padded lacrosse gloves, but you do need to modify them to get them really good coverage. Of course, there may be an option out there I haven't seen yet.

Let me know if you want more details about how I modified mine. It's actually pretty simple. It also depends on your brand of glove, of course.

Jason

[Sam Nankivell]

You could always practice with a longsword that has a more complex hilt. I have seen hilts like this one attached to both straight and curved hand-and-a-half style blades.
http://wallacelive.wallacecollection.org:8080/eMuseumPlus?service=DynamicAsset&sp=SU5mxm4Yx%2FVbg9LVP7MZLDqo6z5lhONBxez%2FYx5EhVSCZjU0bcvvsnPxkoLiFJnF9QzRY98OZwV1b%0AfnOjhdzPJCrGy%2BOIZxfXys9Yi8S8yOJMdKuvDTRXzJqlPqbqrNmy&sp=Simage%2Fjpeg

[JoeyNaeger]

Jason, if you could post a picture, that would be wonderful. I think I have some polycarbonate scraps which would work well.

Sam, that's an interesting idea. I think it would be pretty simple to add a simple guard to my waster.

Thanks for the input everyone.

[Jason Taylor]

Jason, if you could post a picture, that would be wonderful. I think I have some polycarbonate scraps which would work well.

Sam, that's an interesting idea. I think it would be pretty simple to add a simple guard to my waster.

Thanks for the input everyone.

I'll try to get you one soon. Another thought occurred to me. You could also try hockey gloves. They provide awesome protection but at the expense of finger mobility. It wasn't a good trade for me, but it might be for yu.

Jason