First Steps - Solo

[Michael La Madeleine]

Greetings,

I have been interested in swords for years now and have just chosen my martial art. I would love to find a group in the Phoenix area, but cannot currently travel to any meetings. So, I am left alone to train myself with whatever I may find with no prior experience. I am simply a computer geek with a fascination for old weapons and have several questions about this current solo path...

1. Is it common for beginners to learn on their own from books and the web?

2. What books and other information would be recommended?

3. I was planning on buying this (http://www.newstirlingarms.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=33) as soon as I made up my mind on training. Would this be a suitable weapon?

I thank you in advance for any information you provide.

Sincerely,

Michael William La Madeleine

[Sal Bertucci]

NSA is very good, so I'm sure you're fine with the weapon choice.

The solo path is hard but rewarding. (talking from experience) Books are good, but I also recommend a good pell.

[Michael La Madeleine]

Thank you for the reply. I suspect that the hardest part of solo training will be keeping myself focused, although I am usually very determined so we will have to see how that goes. As for the pell, I believe that I have some six foot wooden objects that could use a renewed purpose.

Books I may purchase for study:

Medieval Swordsmanship: Illustrated Methods and Techniques

Sigmund Ringeck's Knightly Art of the Longsword

I was planning on starting with longsword as a base, then work my way over to Rapier if I like it. I will be reading up on both forms as the weekend progresses.

[Sal Bertucci]

That sounds like a good plan to me.

What I do is I schedule two straight hours during the week for practice, and I don't let ANYTHING take it's place. If you do this it will help a lot. The last year I've missed three practices, two for sickness, and one for my anniversery (which I made up later).

For book choices:

Those are both good options, and I own and have read both of them. Here's my 2 cents. Med. Swo. is a very good GENERAL overview on how to use the longsword, as well as a few other weapons. Ringeck is nice b/c of the drawings, and Ringeck actually walks you through much of it. It also gets a coolness point for being a traslation of a manual.

Now it's time for some self honesty. If you have no clue what you're doing, then I would go with Med. Swo. If you have a rough idea on how stuff works then go with Ringeck. Either way, I would work to getting both of them eventually b/c since they are some of the oldest stuff out there you can get them pretty cheap.

[Michael La Madeleine]

I suppose that I will purchase both of these books since I am doing this alone and need all the help I can get. As far as my knowledge goes... Lets compare it to a caveman seeing a computer for the first time.

I can see right now that I will be spending $150 for all of these items (sword and books, plus shipping). Not too much of a price tag for something I really want to learn. Hopefully, in a few months I will be able to find a group near my home and go deeper into this martial art.

I will continue reading the forums and ask things that I cannot otherwise find through research. Thank you for answering my basic questions, I look forward to starting out.

[Andrew F Ulrich]

Hi Michael!

Sorry I didn't see your message earlier, but I am currently an ARMA member, and have just recently moved to Phoenix (Dunlap and I-17). It's great to finally find someone in Phoenix serious about learning swords, and I am very much looking forward to meeting you! I will send you a private message with my phone and e-mail in a minute. If you are free anytime this week (even tomorrow), I'd love to meet you, and I have a very flexible schedule right now, as I'm currently self- employed. I have about 2 years ARMA experience, and would love to start training with a partner again.

So look out for that PM. I'll send it in a minute.

(EDIT: Thanks, Sal, for letting me know about this thread!)

EDIT: Good to hear you're getting the book.

[nathan featherstone]

yes on this subject i need serious help to begin training on my own. as im in Ireland getting these materials is hard and i have no idea where to go.
but im very determined to do it and i have a training partner sadly not as determined and i can only train with pole weapons against him as he has done damage to his wrists . i will train with anything really bar rapier yet but i want to focus on swords axes and pole weapons.
basically i need to ask u all these simple things

what routines do u do?

what do u train with?

how do u train and what would u normally do in a training session?

where would i get materials i need?

please be as detailed as u can i need all the help i can get thank you in advance

[Sal Bertucci]

I would say the most import thing to do is consistently repeat the core steps, strikes and thrusts. Over and over again. Do it in the air as well as against the pell. If you have a partner, then drills are a must. The biggest thing that you will need to do to become skilled is free sparring.

Books that talk about what you want to work with are important as well. If you're going to work with pole arms, I would recommend Polearms of Paulus Hector Mair. I would check online for it in your case.

[Michael La Madeleine]

Sounds like some great advice for anyone. Sadly, I cannot start my training yet due to some complications. I will be reading the forums and other sites quite often as I await the day that I am free to begin.

[Jonathan Newhall]

I'm solo myself, unfortunately (sparring partners haven't been working out very well...), but it can work out. You just need to really learn by muscle memory all of the steps and the strikes as well as the stances.

It's all a lot of memorization for the first few months, I can highly recommend both Clements' Medieval Swordsmanship book and Christian Tobler's book on fencing in the German tradition - I have both and together they give me a pretty clear picture of what's going on. I need a more recent and updated work as well, however.

If any of your readings conflict, just try it out - if one way doesn't seem to actually work and the other is much better, go with that one. After all, an effective martial art is just that: effective.

[nathan featherstone]

so could one of the peopletraining solo on here walk me through step by step what they do in a session to train. i would like to see what people do to get a good idea on what to do

[Jonathan Newhall]

Really it's been a lot of simple repetition for me. Whenever I get ten or fifteen minutes I'll do a set of footwork (just take proper steps et c.) or work on edge alignment repeating a diagonal oberhau or something like that.

A more solid block of time would probably be a bit more structured.

[Michal Kamola]

Nathan, where are you based?

I am about to start-up a training group in Northern Dublin- well, trainings will actually take place in Rush on tuesday evenings ,as we have free acces to a school there and then.
So far there's 2 (maybe 3) Polish guys and one Irish.
The more the better.

None of us have really had any experience with historical swordfighting, but we'll try to do our best to learn quickly.

I know there is a guy in Cavan who trains historical stuff as well- I will probably be able to get a contact if you want.

my phone: 086-225-70-69

Michal.


P.S. As for books I bought Knightly art of the Longsword online on Paladin press website. Delivery time was around a week.

[Jonathan Newhall]

I'm guessing when he said Phoenix he meant Phoenix Arizona in the US, but that's just a guess.

[nathan featherstone]

hey michal based in wicklow town and have one or two people here as well. left you a pm explaining all get back to me when you can
and im in ireland jonathan not pheonix that was the guy who started the topic
anyways get back to me michal