Children of the Sun: Medieval Strength Conditioning

[@a3vus]

I've seen a lot of "period" reenactment in fencing, but never period workouts! Thank you for your hard work, looking forward to reading your dissertation when it's out!

[@Sprechfenster]

Thanks, it means a lot :)

[@LarsBjörnsen]

Stary. To jest po prostu to, czego teraz potrzebuje. I mowie tu o całym Twoim kanale.

[@Sprechfenster]

Dzięki :) To dużo znaczy napisane przez Ciebie. Trzymaj się tam na tej północy!

[@AlexanderRobocop]

People say they don’t work out for fencing and you just show period examples of a deadlift, a squat and a shoulder press. Well done

[@Sprechfenster]

If you're interested in how I progressed through these exercises over the 12-months-long study, see my earlier sneak-peaks: 1) Winter 2021: facebook.com/watch/?v=815265459026854 2) Spring 2021: facebook.com/watch/?v=293717492229499 Enjoy and remember to like, subscribe, and share (here and/or on Facebook: facebook.com/sprechfenster).

[@thecreativecontessa]

This complements my medieval (dance) footwork drills classes nicely! I'll be pointing my medieval martial arts practitioning students this way! :-D

[@TaoistSwordsman]

Any idea of where to see the dancing drills and warmups?

[@thecreativecontessa]

@@TaoistSwordsman kzbin.info/www/bejne/Zn-naYN-bbedr6s

[@thecreativecontessa]

@@TaoistSwordsman kzbin.info/www/bejne/jXaaYpuDbceibac

[@marekverescak2493]

Awesome, wonder if you could make a video detailing how some of these excercises relate to sword fighting

[@Sprechfenster]

Wish I could do that! I don't think I'll manage to do it any time soon, but this is something I am wondering about. Are you interested in anything in particular? Maybe I can help you here, in the comments.

[@marekverescak2493]

@@Sprechfenster how does, for example, the zercher squat relate to sword fighting? I have heard that it is good for grappling

[@Sprechfenster]

​@@marekverescak2493 It's definitely good for your ability to squeeze with your arms, which indeed helps with body locks and many other grappling/wrestli ng techniques. However, I don't think Zercher squat has any specific benefit for fencing that other squat variations lack. But overall, the medieval weight training I showed in the vid can be classified as more strength-endurance than maximal strength or hypertrophy oriented. It's very hard to find stones which weigh more than 80-100 kg which could be lifted - they are simply too big and unwieldy to efficiently grab. In effect, at some point you need to build your workload not by adding weight but by adding reps/series or raising the difficulty of motion. This means that you are working more in the medium- or high-rep model of strength training: you won't reach your maximal strength this way but you'll develop the ability to maintain considerable strength output for a longer time. Therefore, it is perfectly logical that medieval conditioning regimens would usually combine weight-lifting with explosive exercises, such as throwing or jumping. This allowed for working with maximal power and strength despite using relatively low resistance. Such combination, I'd say, works pretty well for fencing, as it builds explosiveness and stamina - two very important qualities for a fencer.

[@marekverescak2493]

@@Sprechfenster thanks for the answer!

[@Shiresgammai]

Do you practice pell fencing? It was widely recommened since the days of Vegetius.

[@Sprechfenster]

Sure I do! During the main part of the study (Oct 2020 to Oct 2021) I worked the pell six days a week, aiming for 300-400 hits per session. Nowadays I usually do it three times a week, due to lack of time.

[@Shiresgammai]

@@Sprechfenster Very impressive! Most modern fencers completely ignore this ancient practice (though we had a fencing teacher who recommended it to us in grade school).

[@punhub1941]

This has convinced me to try out a no barbell program. If I get the supplies I need and actually commit I'll come back with a progress report EDIT: I'm gonna need a better gambeson. Mines not fitted at all but yours looks dope

[@Sprechfenster]

Thanks! And I am genuinely looking forward to your report. Good luck :)

[@punhub1941]

Update report. I feel great. I was hitting a brick wall with barbell training . But the no barbell program really did wonders for my mindset. I’m motivated to get back into it. Strength wise we shall see how the big lifts go. But size wise I have gained notable size in my arms. I’ve been running keg and sandbags as my major compound movements and a bunch of accessories (Cable, DB, Kettle and hack squat machine) focusing on higher reps (6-12). I’m going to start using no barbell training every off season I take. If you get bored of the normal routing I highly recommend trying this just for a month or two to get you exited about training again

[@Sprechfenster]

@@punhub1941 Good tidings! 💪 And I can relate: doing the medieval stuff also increased my motivation and satisfaction considerably, which I believe at least partly stemmed from these trainings being done outdoors. I also stuck to moderately higher reps (6-8) with relatively small weights (up to 100% bodyweight added in deadlifts and squats) but higher number of series (up to 8 working series with progressive load). And I apparently also put some meat on the bones along the way (approx. 4kg in 12 months).

[@thecreativecontessa]

And also: I shall be making my condiottiero do this workout! 😀

[@Sprechfenster]

Nice and good luck with it! :) But remember to go easy on it at first, the body and the nervous system needs time to adapt to free, handle-less and unbalanced weights. Thanks for the comment!

[@thecreativecontessa]

@@Sprechfenster I know exactly how important comments are on these videos, so happy to help out a fellow LivingHistoryTuber. 😀

[@CapitanCarter]

I hope that's not your knees grinding when you're doing the Zercher squats. My knees make a similar sound when doing deep squats and my knees begin to hurt after a few reps, I need to work up to it I think, even without weights.

[@Sprechfenster]

The sound is most probably dry little twigs or plant stems crushing uder my shoes. However, I indeed have had audible crepitations in my knees for a long time already (since 2015, roughly). I did two rounds of physiotherapy to deal with the problem, but it turned out to be harmless - according to the therapists it is just a funny thing my knees do. Other than that they seem to work pretty well, without pain and with a decent range of motion. I hope yours will also get better. Chances are, from my experience, that bodyweight squats will indeed help you get rid of the pain. Btw. the Bioneer (a competent youtuber) has just released a vid on this very topic, perhaps it will be useful for you?: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZqCVfYtjptqBkM0

[@joejoelesh1197]

What sources did you pull from for this?

[@Sprechfenster]

Quite a lot and various ones. Most notably the so-called "regimina sanitatis" and other medieval works on dietics. But also ego-documents and accounts of particular historical events. Plus iconography, of course. A wider discussion is on my blog, and the full list of references will be included in my future PhD dissertation.