If you want to imagine your ability to fence as a rating out of 100, it would be impossible to pinpoint an exact score in any kind of meaningful way. To be able to say I’m a 75 and they’re a 70, thus I should be able to defeat them isn’t relevant because its impossible…
Have you ever experienced a supreme frustration with learning? The feeling that you’re just not getting something; that a concept or technique is just beyond your reach and challengingly so or perhaps just not coming fast enough? This state of frustration is a core and natural part of the learning process. I don’t know that…
One of the primary challenges that I see my students face and that I have personally faced over years of practice is boredom. Most techniques take hours of focused time to improve and hone. Yet the mental discipline it takes to put in these hours does not come naturally, certainly not to our rapid fire…
A few years ago I was in a very high pressure rapier tournament. It was the largest and hardest fought tournament in the Northwest with a list of 50 fencers who were arguably some of the best fencers around competing. On my way down my travel companion asked me “So how do you think you’re…
When I look at my pursuit of mastery and proficiency in the various arts of my life I see more clearly now that truly a very small percentage of what is between me and mastery (meaning a high level of proficiency) is technical ability. Obviously technical ability is essential to mastery but the barriers that…
Read More... from The Road to Mastery is 25% Technical, 75% Mental
(This post originally appeared on the Duello.TV blog) Your sword is getting set aside while you attack. Your parry is not succeeding in closing the line. Poor results with a finish or result position from a movement often lead us to analyze and attempt to correct through the movement itself; perhaps you need to parry…
I had a terrible night dancing just recently. A night where I felt completely disconnected from dancing - something that I truly am passionate about. I felt awkward, bored, frustrated, and completely in my head; disconnected from my whole. This is not a new feeling. I have experienced this before with swordplay. It’s something that…
Read More... from Toughing it Out, Switching Gears, and Taking a Break
Everyone knows if you want to get better at something you have to practice. However making time in a busy schedule can be super-challenging. It's easy to have the intention to practice but then not actually get around to it. The next thing you know you're back at your swordplay/dance/yoga class and you haven't done…
As a martial artist and a dancer I have become intimately aware of the condition of my body. I want it to last for a long time and I want it to be able to perform for me to the best of its capacity throughout that time. I realize for a long time I took…
We’re just a couple days from New Year’s and, I’m sure like many of you, I have been reviewing my goals for the coming year both mental and physical. One of my main physical goals last year was to make some significant progress with removing pain from my body in a few nagging areas --…
So I'm away visiting family in Victoria, BC during the Holidays. I enjoy holidays not really as a chance to get away from working but as an opportunity to work on things I don't normally get a chance to focus on when I'm at the Academie. On this trip I'm focusing on writing, editing (I'm…
Read More... from Keeping up the Practice Regimen over the Holidays
Being a long-term instructor of anything means that you see a lot of students come and go and in many cases come again. It's these returners who often have the biggest challenge in being in the learning environment. These are the students who come back with a great passion and then become quickly despondent and…
I remember a few years ago on a commute into Academie Duello I met a gentleman on the subway who was a researcher and player of Renaissance era music. Our conversation delved into the similarities of our two pursuits from the challenges of making modern interpretations from old written notations, to the changes the instruments…
Read More... from A Comparison of Historical Music to Historical Swordplay
At the end of every evening class that I teach, I offer 10 minute private coaching sessions. These spots allow me an opportunity to work with people one on one and help them with struggles from class, tweaks to their form, and guidance for their overall development. Recently I had an interesting experience with one…
Read More... from The Power of a "What's Right" Coaching Session
Everyone has heard this one. You need to drink at least 8 glasses of water a day. Every health source will tell you that. So, do you drink that much water? I didn't think so. But this is the single most important nutrient you ingest every day, and the single easiest way to cleanse your…
Academie Duello is excited to announce that we've added The Functional Movement Screen (FMS) to our repertoire of activities offered to you. The Functional Movement Screen is a grading system for assessing seven fundamental movement patterns that are used in everyday life and martial practice. Our FMS program is designed to give you specific feedback and guidance not…
Read More... from Functional Movement Screen now available at Academie Duello
I read a couple interesting anecdotes today in the book Failing Forward by John Maxwll. The first comes from two working artists, David Bayles and Ted Orland, who tell a story about an art teacher who did an experiment with the grading system he used for two groups of students: The ceramics teacher announced on…
One of the first things that turned me on about rapier fencing was sparring. When I first got into rapier I was practicing Arnis/Eskrima. The Arnis/Eskrima class I attended did not allow any type of contact sparring and though I enjoyed the flow of the art tremendously I never had a visceral environment in which…