Runa Glima ???

[Vagelis Baltatzis]

I found in wikipedia a very interesting article about western martial arts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runa_Glima

What is this art ? What is the opinion of the ARMA experts?

[nathan featherstone]

i dont know how arma feels on it. but i do it myself its a viking age wrestling form played as a game and to settle disputes it was also used in a practical way for helping you learn how to throw someone in the tight confides of a shield wall. however its still practiced heavily in Iceland see the link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_haS_FaTekE

[Stacy Clifford]

Some of our individual members may have knowledge and opinions on Glima, but as an organization it's outside of our field of study and we don't have any official position. We focus mainly on fighting arts that were written down in manual form between 1300 and 1650, and this one wasn't that I know of, even if it did exist at that time. We have no way to verify that modern Glima is the same as ancient Glima without any historical documentation to study.

Also, please obey our forum rules and edit your profile username to include your last name.

[Vagelis Baltatzis]

Hallo , thanks for the fast reply .... sorry for the name , i will change it to my whole right name ...

Nathan Featherstone I know what you mean. You mean official Glima .

Glima has trousergrip (belt wrestling) , backhold wrestling and Lausatoek style....

Glima is a very effective art and Lausatoek Glima is also for selfdefense as trained in some places in Scandinavia with striking techniques....


Wikipedia say that ''Runa Glima'' is a branch of Lausatoek Glima.
So I think Runa Glima is different than Glima .... For exampel as ''jujutzu'' and ''judo''.

Runa Glima seems also very effective. I was curious if other ARMA members knew of Runa Glima....

Stacy Clifford yes I understand what you mean. But sorry for the missconception , I don't mean ''Glima'' but speciel ''Runa Glima'' in this case ...

Yes ARMA is interested basically on manuals of the european medieval hand to hand combat arts, I am also very interested in european hand to hand combat arts (I train untill now the techniques of the ''Vollstaendiges Ringbuch'' von Johann Georg von Paschen 1659 ) but I think a north european medieval art wo claims to be practiced in a unbroken tradition since the 15 Century is also in the interest sphere of the ARMA ....

Because of this I would informed your about ''Runa Glima'' ....

[nathan featherstone]

hi Vagelis i know of two of the styles of glima you mentioned not the others i would be very interested myself to here about these styles you study and to see them if possible?
i would really like to see Lausatoek Glima as im Irish my main interest is in Irish martial forms and glima was brought here so to see a more rounded form would be great.
my main area of interests lie in unarmed European forms so i would love to see what you study. if you can maybe pm me any info links etc you have i would be truly grateful.

[Vagelis Baltatzis]

Hallo Nathan

I am very interested in western combatives traditional or not , so it is a pleasure to explain the little things I know about them ...

I am 19 years and I train martial arts since almost 2 years. I train in kickboxing and german ju jutzu ..

Sadly untill now I don't have the possibility to train ''officialy'' in western arts . Kickboxing has indeed influences from Western Boxing , but it is more a mix from Boxing , Karate and muai thai .

German ''ju jutzu'' is a modern mix from many styles, but sadly the most people think its only the traditional japanese ju jutzu .


I will start train Savate in a few months who is from France.
Later I will train also in Glima .

Untill now I train only ''in my home'' techniques from Johann Georg von Paschen who are very usefull and effective and specially the preface of his work at ''Ringen'' is very inspiring.

Look so far I understand untill know has Glima only three styles .

Trousergrip (belt wrestling)
Hrygspenna(backhold wrestling)
Lausatoek (free wrestling) this variation can be trained also for purely for selfdefense and has striking elements too.

Glima is not only a game , not only wrestling but it is also for selfdefense. Glima survived in Iceland in a unbroken tradition since the Viking era and so today it is famous again in whole North Europe....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glima

http://internationalglima.com/ (the sporting aspect of Glima)

http://www.viking-glima.com/ ( the martial aspect of Glima)

Glima is very effective , the training in it has very fun(from a dvd with techniques that I have) and it is one of the few western arts who survived in unbroken tradition...

So that was my knowledge about Glima ...








I found later in internet a art with the name ''Runa Glima'' .
So far I understand is ''Runa Glima'' not a style from Glima , but a relative independent art who claims to be practiced in a unbroken tradition since the 15 Century .... It claims to be evolved from the self defense variation of Glima Lausatoek Glima ... Runa Glima seems anyway very interesting...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runa_Glima

http://runaglima.webs.com/

[Stacy Clifford]

Vagelis,

I understand what you mean, but what we are trying to do is practice the Arts as they were done in the Renaissance. Glima (any variation, I'm using it as a general term) may very well have a living tradition going back that far, but things that are passed down from person to person over time have a tendency to change with the people passing them on. We don't know if what is being practiced today is the same as it was 500 years ago. With a manual that was written 500 years ago, we know we are getting original knowledge unchanged by time. It doesn't mean we don't find Glima interesting or that we disrespect it in any way, it just means that it doesn't meet our criteria for study. It also doesn't help that Glima experts are pretty rare outside of Iceland.

[Steven Ott]

If the rules are the same odds are the techniques are the same. The biggest factor that affects wrestling technique is the rules under which competion is done.

[nathan featherstone]

from the viking accounts i looked at the rules are fairly unchanged and i have practiced it in that manner although for safety had to alter them. the original rules added a large rock in the centre of the ring for breaking your opponents back. as far as i know back hold was oldest then belt wrestling came then the later. also Vagelis where bouts are you from?

[Vagelis Baltatzis]

Hi Stacy Clifford

yes I understand you point . I find manuals also very interesting and amazing and it is very positive that we know how they were practiced back then .

The only ''negative'' of the manuals from Ringen and other arts is that we don't know how it exactly was . So we must find the techniques again.
A art who has survived , propably with some changes has the techniques ''autark'' as a live martial art . ..

Because of this I think , if medieval arts are survived untill today than it would help us to understand the princips and the philosophie of the manuals much better ...

I am a big follower of the manuals and I will come to them in other topics with many many questions ...




Nathan yes backhold and Lausatoek Glima (free wrestling with selfdefense sense) was older than than the trousergrip . Belt wrestling is a ''modern'' variation ( I think since 100 years) ....


sorry for my bad english but I don't understand this sentence of you
''where bouts are you from ?''

[nathan featherstone]

the trouser grip goes back to norma times and was used with gambesons i believe. and it means where do you live? sorry i often use irish slang for which im sorry.

[Vagelis Baltatzis]

Hallo Nathan

I am from Greece and I live in Greece . To be more precise I live in south Greece ca 100-150 km south from Athens .

The ancient Greeks had also reported martial arts , like the most nations of the world ....

I mean the ancient pancration..... But sadly original Pancration was forgoten with the centuries ....

For 20-30 years tried greek martial artists (karateka , judoka , jujutzuka , boxer , wrestler etc. to reconstruct it . In the beginning its was very good , bat sadly they add with the time also many techniques from other arts like karate ,judo , freestyle wrestling, greco-roman wrestling etc.

So I think modern pancration is more a mix from eastern and western combatives , than a western style ... But I have seen some guys in internet , who are very objektive to the attempts of the recreation.... The Pancration of them is much more simple, original and western...

Here in Greece my opinion is that the modern sport ''Pancration'' is more a mix from japanese arts and some techniques from ancient pictures...

[Stacy Clifford]

We have an excellent Study Group in Athens, you should consider meeting up with them if you are interested in studying the manuals. Their contact info is on our Practice Partners page.

[Vagelis Baltatzis]

Hallo

thanks for the advice. Yes I am very interested in Western Martial Arts and specially on weapons skills of the middle ages and on techniques of the art of the Holy Roman Empire (of the German Nation) Ringen ....

I have already communicated with ARMA Greece and propably I will start train with them from the new season.

Best Regards ....

[Tyrone Artur Budzin]

Hi Vagelis,

If you have any more links about Glima please post them, I'm interested to know more about this Icelandic art. Nice to know you are also into Ringen