Conversations on Binding at the Sword

Browse longsword videos online or watch modern tournaments, and you’ll notice something curious: fighters rarely engage “at the bind” - that moment when two swords cross and maintain pressure against each other.

Yet if you open any historical longsword manual, you’ll find extensive discussion of techniques from the bind. Masters devoted considerable attention to what happens when swords connect and stay connected.

Why the disconnect?

Cultural Influences

One source of the gap comes from modern cultural mythology - primarily from movies - that has told us what a sword fight should look like. Big, visible, powerful strikes that tell a good story.

Most people who come to sword fighting already have an image of the “character” they want to become. These characters are often from media and thus bring a sword fighting aesthetic that’s rarely based on history. Subtle pressure exchanges at the bind don’t make for exciting cinema.

The Training Environment

Working at the bind requires extensive practice and formal instruction. You need to develop sensitivity to pressure, timing, and angle - skills that take years to refine.

Point-scoring tournaments reward immediate success. When your goal is landing the next hit as quickly as possible, there’s little incentive to invest in the lengthy development needed for binding proficiency. Why learn a subtle technique that might work in three years when you can win points today with direct attacks?

Sharp vs. Blunt Weapons

Sharp swords create what I call “palpable and sticky” binds. When blades are sharp, losing control of the bind means getting cut. This makes weapon control essential - and binding techniques invaluable.

Blunt training swords change this calculus. Modern scoring systems that emphasize hits over defense encourage faster striking over careful binding work. If getting hit doesn’t hurt much and scoring hits wins tournaments, why bother with defensive techniques?

Historical Necessity

Medieval practitioners maintained connection to real combat - self-defense, dueling, and battlefield application. Even their tournaments involved real danger. This necessity reinforced “real” fighting techniques.

Modern practitioners face different pressures. Our tournaments are sports, not preparation for life-or-death encounters. The techniques that work in our context may differ from those that worked in theirs.

The Path Forward

None of this means binding techniques are obsolete. They remain valuable for self-defense, for understanding historical martial arts fully, and for becoming a more complete swordsperson.

But developing proficiency requires dedicated practice time. If your training focuses exclusively on free sparring and tournament preparation, you’ll never build the sensitivity and timing that binding requires.

The solution? Allocate specific practice time to binding techniques. Drill them repeatedly. Develop comfort with sword-on-sword pressure before you need it in combat.

Your historical predecessors knew something we’re still relearning: the bind is where fights are often won.