re: basic drills for a complete beginner

[JC Oakley]

Hi, I have been reading much about RMA recently and want to begin studying. While I find some of the historical literature fun to read and examine, I have not run across anything that shows any kind of basic techniques or progressions that I could practice alone in my apartment.

With a little experience with other martial arts, I believe that footwork and balance is a key element to proper execution of techniques. Is there a place I could view or read about proper positioning, footwork, body movement, and transitions that I could walk through myself?

Do I just need to read more articles and sources here on the site, or is there a specific place I should start?

Thanks!
JC

[Stacy Clifford]

You're absolutely right, footwork is the key to getting everything else to work. Start here:

http://www.thearma.org/VoltaKeyandScale.htm

[JC Oakley]

Thanks! About 40 pages in and there are some great pictures and explanations of foot movement and the reasoning behind it.

Further in, are there descriptions of the basic strikes and planes? Or is that another reading? I guess what I am asking in that regard is this: I would guess that one basic cut would be in a straight line, from head down to middle, splitting your opponent's body in half down the middle. Then there would presumably be cuts made from shoulder to opposite waistline. Etc. Is there a manual describing basic cuts, proper grip and hand positioning?

I have watched several videos showing flourishes or techniques, but I'm afraid they are still a bit advanced for me for two reasons. I don't have the vocabulary of terms yet, and I don't have the very basic of techniques and movement learned either.

[LafayetteCCurtis]

That's because we don't really have much surviving information from the Middle Ages or the Renaissance about such basic drills, so everybody involved with the reconstruction of these arts have pretty much made up their own methods with various degrees of extrapolation from what little we do know. We only start getting this kind of basic information with the 16th-century Bolognese style and then even later rapier styles--and these may not be what you're looking for if you're more into the Liechtenauer school or other medieval masters like Fiore or Vadi. Anyway, if you just want a very basic starting guide and are not too fussy about which modern organisation's interpretation you'd like to focus on, there's a decent (if rather old) one (here.

Oh, and a hint: in Western traditions, the first principal cut is not a vertical downwards cut--rather, it's a diagonal downwards cut from the strong side (the right for a right-handed swordsman) to the opponent's centreline, arguably because this kind of cut is far more natural and intuitive than a vertical one. This remains constant all the way down from the Middle Ages down to the 20th century (and even into 21st-century Olympic sabre fencing). No matter which exact Western style you practice, this is probably the one cut you're going to drill yourself in most frequently.

[Kevin Reicks]

Flourishes are advanced for me too and I am in ARMA, been to a couple of study group classes, and work on my pell. That being said, please don't over focus on the Zorhnhau-the diagonal strike Lafeyette was talking about. Mix it up, you don't see in any of the public videos of doing a Kendo-esque focus on the zornhau like they constantly practice on their downward strikes.

You might have already seen this, but this is a fantastic freebie
http://www.thearma.org/Manuals/Ringeck.htm

Be very careful of the link that Lafayette gave you. MyArmory does have some good stuff, but it has some bad things too. The renders of Talhoffer's fightbook are great, but the interpretive hand drawn ones are very iffy.

[JC Oakley]

Thanks guys! More studying follows

[JC Oakley]

Found this one too. Adding it for ease of reference.

http://www.thearma.org/essays/StancesIntro.htm