I have pledged to do better this week. I am inspired by my latest Cornwell book, as well as by the lovely bottle of mead I was presented with by one of my shield mates. He offered it in exchange for a promise that I would not overly bludgeon him during our training. Day Three…
Beginners' Courses July 2015
Just like the sun, we are coming back with our beginner's courses! Enjoy your summer with three different ways to approach to Western Martial Arts. Bartitsu is a complex martial art with many interlocking skills and is still very useful for learning practical self-defence today. Its introductory course, Fight Like Sherlock Holmes, runs once a week for four weeks.…
Battle of the Sexes: Staged Violence between Men and Women
The emotional appreciation of staged fights depends primarily on the perceived balance of power. It doesn’t take much for us as audience members to feel that the scales are tipped heavily in one direction -- one versus many, injured/ill versus healthy, female versus male --– and there is something within us that always wants to…
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Book Review: "Deeds of Arms" by S. Muhlberger
“They are stories about stories.” [1] It does my heart good when I hear competent people say that they’ve recreated the essence of some medieval martial art event to the best of their ability, because they followed the descriptions of medieval combat "exactly" from period texts. It’s a good ... start. But what if the…
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Questions and Secrets; Understanding Martial Art
No matter how many classes you come to you will never fully discover my art this way. The art is not contained within a syllabus or a curriculum. I’m not saying there isn’t value in classes and teachers. There is tremendous value. Without them there would be nothing. It’s simply that classes are only the…
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Jumping Basics
Riding Level 3: Jumping position and small courses For Level 3 Riding you will need to: 13. Trot poles to a small jump showing good position and mane or crest release. and 14. Jump a small cross-rail course (18” high) of 2 jumps and 1 or 2 sets of poles. When we are looking at…
Warrior Fundamentals - Week 1
The following is the first in a four-part series from a student contributor. If you enjoy this and wish to read more from Angella, you can start with her four-part series on her experience taking another one of our introductory courses, Taste of the Renaissance. Day One It feels great to be back at Academie Duello…
Punching: Vertical Fist or Horizontal?
It is very common for untrained people to punch with their palms down. I don’t know if it’s something that naturally feels right, or if it’s subconsciously learned from watching movies, boxing matches or other people. It is often taught as the correct way to punch in many Eastern martial arts. Is there anything wrong…
Hierarchical Sword Press: News for June 2015
“…In fact he marshalled such an host of many different nations that it was a world's wonder.” [1] Medieval Combat World Championships. Swordfish. Longpoint. Battle of the Nations. … and many, many others. We have an embarrassment of riches in HEMA in that we have a number of national and international competitions during which we…
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Criticality versus Judgment
Criticality is the process of analyzing how you could do something better. Judgment is the process of applying a subjective, emotional value to that something. In critical analysis you view the facts of the situation to understand your current reality. You can then measure those facts against your goals. From here you can understand the…
Friday Clinics at Red Colt
Once more we are offering a variety of special clinics related to the Mounted Combat Program at Red Colt throughout the summer. Clinics start up this Friday June 12th and continue through August with a variety of instructors and topics, from 6:00pm - 7:30pm each week. Some classes may run a half hour longer if…
Action Acting Starts Soon
Our Action Acting course starts on Monday, 15 June, so you’ve got just over a week a few days left to register. It will run Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm for two weeks. On the last day, there’s a written test and a performance test. There are three weapon systems and you’ll perform…
How Top Performers Cope with Bad Training Days
Not every training day is a brilliant one. Not every tournament is your best. Not every performance shows all that you’re capable of. Sometimes things are just plain crappy. You can’t get in the zone, you’re in your head, or you feel sloppy, flat footed, slow, out of shape, etc. Top performers are not devoid…
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