Learn Rapier II. - Footwork

[@erebys21]

I'm just following this using a walking stick. To be honest, I feel like this is very fun.

[@yeahwhatever1359]

I fenced a little in my high school years. always kind of liked sabers, however after seeing your rapier training videos it occurs to me that this is truly a more natural fighting form. thank you. I had been looking at colichemards but now I'm convinced that the rapier is what I want to learn.

[@MartinFabian]

I'm glad it got you inspired! Fingers crossed in your endeavours :)

[@brandonwells1175]

I bought a Cold Steel Colichemarde last year and I'm happy to report that it serves as a fine pre-rapier, in that you can grip it like a rapier and work the techniques with the lighter weapon in preparation for using a good full sized rapier. Of course, a colichemarde is a smallsword, so, although working rapier techniques with it will teach you a lot, it's best to become familiar with Angelo and Hope if you wanna keep to the colichemarde's best usage. As far as rapiers, the selection is rather slim for functionality, but I can confidently recommend Windlass's Christus Imperat. You don't have to be Christian to enjoy the benefits of its design, which is fairly good amongst the few functional rapiers out there that aren't actual antiques. @Martin Fabian this series of yours is everything a beginner like myself could ask for and more. The footwork video alone is a jewel of great value. Thank you for sharing this with us.

[@AntonvonGütwrench]

Well done! As my of my instructors told me once: "Practice makes permanent. Perfect practice makes perfect."

[@josephdedrick9337]

my fencing master loves that saying, among others of lombardi

[@metteuston7699]

Wel wel wel, wot du wi av ere den....

[@MartinFabian]

Mett pls

[@Canal_Marte]

A very valuable teaching, in a free small video.

[@TheSwordsPathChannel]

"But how's your footwork?" Apparently it's excellent.

[@antoinepichon1426]

Hi Alan

[@TheDRACOMUNDI]

Hi Martin, I'm really enjoying your new series... You present it so well and make learning the basic building blocks of rapier fun and inspiring. Can't wait for the next one.

[@MartinFabian]

Thank you very much! Will try to do my best everytime!

[@brendonwalker7728]

there is a boxing move where the weight is shifted strongly to the front foot, while the body and both feet pivot ninety degrees so that the front foot suddenly becomes the rear foot, and instead of the weight being forward now you are leaning strongly backward. You punch with the hand which was forward, and is now back, with the weight on the same leg. It is so sudden and powerful and you strike either over his near arm to his face or under it rising to his face. I suppose it is in the category of "stop hook" but there are no steps, only the sudden weight shift forward and the pivot toward the opponent, which then becomes a backward lean. It is called "the Cuban" and also "The Russian". At 5:40 or so you are doing movements which remind me of it.

[@Condottier]

I love your style of talking, and the great edit of video and music. I can´t believe I never found these videos before.

[@MartinFabian]

Thank you very much!

[@StarBoundFables]

This was awesome to watch and practice some of the movements at my standing desk Looking forward to my rapier arriving, & practicing more

[@nbanasch7224]

Bravo! Fondly realized instructions/introduction. Your videos deserve more attention.

[@MartinFabian]

Thank you very much!

[@RKcousins625]

Very glad that scholagladiatoria helped me find this channel. Thank you very much for these videos they are immensely helpful and concise!!!

[@geraltofrivia8068]

this whole series is incredibly helpful, thank you!

[@MartinFabian]

Thanks Jaysea!

[@efectocristiano4265]

saludo desde ecuador temgo 38 años y con sus videos estoy empezamdo en este bello arte

[@vuquanghuy4584]

the thing you said about hand before foot is very true

[@davegallo7172]

This is gold, Mato! And it's useful not only for rapier but there are a lot of good hints and exercises. I already gave you in pm my personal opinion XD

[@MartinFabian]

Thanks Dave! :)

[@sneakerphotgrapher]

Thanks! Always informative. Love your format; clear, concise instructions and demonstration of principles.

[@tyronekim3506]

Very good video. It's too bad that there is no lounge in Kendo. Katanga is used for cutting and thrusting. It's counter intuitive that lounge is not allowed in Kendo. Thanks for the upload.

[@RandomAllen]

Fumikomi Ashi is kinda similar to a lunge and the way Tsuki is preformed is similar.

[@paperbag9235]

this series is amazing. thank you so so much man🎉

[@francescoteixeira4623]

Fantastic work, signore Fabian

[@MartinFabian]

thanks Francesco!

[@JakeHoltMusic]

great video (as was the cutting video, will be taking some pointers for my theatrical stuff. i would quite like to see how the various schools of europe would interact with each other, see how spanish compares to italian and also the english and germanic techniques measure up all against each other

[@andrewa9064]

Jake Holt In my experience Spanish keeps people at a distance and there are more steps forward instead of lunges

[@Hammerli280]

I know little about rapier, but fenced a fair amount both in college and for a decade afterward. And am a 2nd degree black belt. You can tell good fundamentals regardless of the exact style - and this has rock-solid fundamental technique.

[@MartinFabian]

hello Hammerli280, thank you for your kind words :)

[@djs4329]

Great work!Will you show techniques of the cutting and thrusting rapier and dagger style of fabris in a video?

[@MartinFabian]

Hi! Thanks! Rapier and dagger is my favorite thing, even more than the single rapier so the series will gradually change into "Learn Rapier&Dagger" :)

[@djs4329]

Excellent, I look forward to this :)

[@ДенисПетров-ъ3и]

Thank you, very interesting, waiting for the continuation!

[@gherlwinfireson8582]

It inspires me, thank you!

[@brandonfarfan1978]

Very nice vid. And good exercises.

[@tsafa]

Good video! The fencing dog is cute too!

[@jimlo632]

Also very helpful video , great work !! Has helped me a ton!!

[@dzoony]

This second video is very nice, Matko. ;-)

[@timkaufman6130]

These are really great videos Martin.

[@MartinFabian]

Thanks Tim! New one should be out in a few hours :)

[@timkaufman6130]

+Martin Fabian are you going to Swordfish?

[@MartinFabian]

Unfortunately not this year. But in the beginning of 2017 I'm going to teach to Mexico and then I'll stop by in the States. And I've always wanted to go to Longpoint so we'll see how that'll work out :)

[@timkaufman6130]

+Martin Fabian well, if you have any interest is seeing New York City, let me know...

[@MartinFabian]

Thank you very much, definitely will!

[@Yeknodathon]

Many thanks I enjoyed watching!

[@Linnwolf]

Awesome stuff thank you

[@evergreen9752]

This is magnificent! I trained sport fensing with rapier when i was a kid, and that wasn't very pleasant experience,frankly. And now when i want to get into historical fencing, i thought about something eastern, like kilic or tulwar, since i am generally more interested in that culture, but your perfomance is simply so graceful that i think i changed my mind, and i will probably mainly focus on rapier when i get to it! Quick question about physical aspect: does historical rapier requires good agility and is,so to say,a finesse weapon? Just to clarify

[@sevendorval4441]

impressive!

[@charlesdavis161]

thanks for the lessons.

[@MartinFabian]

Thanks for watching!

[@rodrigolobo8471]

Excelente!

[@willscorner8423]

Always remember never sacrifice a strong balanced stand for anything. I see that very often even with „teachers“ or KZbinr trying to explain fencing with rapier. They have no balance and their stand is very shaky. When an opponent sees you don’t have a good balance and your stand is shaky, he will use that against you and before you know it you‘ll land on your ass having a blade at your neck touching your jaw from underneath.

[@sawyer7973]

Why can I only see Spiderman shooting webs?

[@airnt]

with a great deal of well deserved respect: you give a rationale for 'moving the hand first' then proceed to move the body first on almost every demonstration. (nowadays youtube allows 25% speed replay) now i don't suppose any of the demonstrations are in any way wrong; actually, i am massively impressed by them, but they are technically considered 'wrong' by your own words. if the reason to 'move the hand first' is to delay detection of the move, then a schooled eye would see the body move very well. then: -either it didn't matter in which order you moved and it would have worked anyway -the opponent can still react effectively. I just wanted to ask if the rationale is really true... is the arm extending ahead of the movement a matter of time in terms of being seen or in terms of tempo of closing lines? This is profoundly different, as the start of the movement is not the definingfactor but both the structures that first close certain distances a angles are... as well as showing that something is about to happen vs WHAT is about to happen. the most efficient way for the human body to move is proximal-distal, so you are hard wired to use the torso first... in particular the faster you go. I have tried to find a video of a fast fencer actually sticking to the 'hand first'-rule and literally have not found a single example of this actually happening. (i have found many examples of people succesfully preceeding with the hand to come into distance, which closes lines and poses threats and works very well.) but it would mean the END of the movement of the hand would need to be mostly fist as opposed to the START of the movement. it also means that the perception of the movment is not the defining deception but the time between the movement starting and the lines to be closed so as to reduce options to the opponent. also the girations are a prime example of not necessarily moving the threat first, you might also close the line first and then proceed to threaten. Variation therefore sugesting the idea is not fundamental? Are your demonstrations showing something inherently better, more fundamental, than 'true times' as we canonically describe and explain it?

[@MartinFabian]

Hello Arne there are multiple layers that can answer your question. I don't really see anything wrong with it. Starting from a didactical point of view, every technique/mechanic can be practiced in isolation (just itself) or in complexity (as a part of something larger). In isolation, many things make sense. Specific movements and postures. A good example is a simple fencing posture. Majority of people teach 90deg orientation of the feet because it makes absolute sense but we know that in practical fencing we sometimes orientate them differently (for a better start etc). Launching the hand first and understanding the correct progression of the attack which is supposed to hit is a crucial piece of knowledge if one wants to be fast and efficient. In isolation, it's important to put emphasis on it. In complexity, we sometimes do stuff that is different and often the starting conditions are different as well. Putting emphasis on this mechanic in isolation no matter small deviations in practice still leads better results, because people learn to shoot their arm and body forward in a better way then "just attacking". I've been experimenting with various forms of teaching this in the last 20 years and this is my conclusion and observation. Naturally, a YT video is a limited format and I have plenty of biomechanical drills that I teach at workshops. Regading examples of "hand first" - I have plenty of sparring videos from different tournaments and environments. To stay in the topic, you can see some dynamic lunges of that sort here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oH-vl6qih7eLq7s Successful attack is a result of distance and timing. You can help both adequatelly and there is nothing faster then launching the smallest movement possible with the fastest elements on our body (e.g. arms) from the correct distance. This has been explored (in HEMA) in many variations, starting from Anton Kohutovic's Zornhau more than a decade ago. We should just remember that it's one possible way of attacking and approaching our opponents, not "the" way. Cheers

[@airnt]

@@MartinFabian first of all, allow me to thank you for taking the time for answering my annoying question. I am 'kicking against holy houses' as we say in Dutch. the link you posted i watched again with 25% speed and all but one of the attacks the body moves first and then the hand. many of the most beautiful examples the hand actually moves backwards when the foot is already in the air and is only lanched forwards very late in the stride/tempo/whole body movement again i repeat i do not mean to say this is bad! i just noticed you didn't move your hand first once in this fight, not a single time. This is in the literral sense of the word, the body (and or foot) started moving first and the hand then projected forwards. my premise is that this is still fully correct. in that you had a guard to start from that already closed lines, then kept the lines closed throughout as you started lunging and then projected your sword well ahead of yourself when it mattered. you can see your opponent slip up a few times where the body moves first, but the weapon is not projected ahead, but this is not distinct in when the bodyparts start moving in sequence, it is primarily different in its resulting shape and obviously in ts effectiveness. on one occasion he manages to contact your blade before he commits to the attack, you could argue that that was the hand moving first, maybe? but that is the only instance i can find. I stress again, i think you fought really well in this fight, and are clearly closing the lines that need closing, and i think it is a good example of what you SHOULD do in a fight, i just don't think it is accuraately represented in the literal meaning of 'the hand should move first' and the rationale of deception vs structure and closing lines so it doesn't matter if your opponent saw his impending doom, as he waas not able to do anything about it.

[@BrooksVlad]

Awesome

[@theknightofdoom260]

Just bought one going to learn to your videos. I got a big hat with a feather in so I will be a natural.

[@MartinFabian]

Fingers crossed! :)

[@IAmACrab2020]

How do I step into the stances for the foot work though? Like how should I place my feet?

[@MartinFabian]

Hi Jackson, watch my next videos in the series where I show each guard with the single rapier. Tl;Dr: as naturally as you can :)

[@IAmACrab2020]

It didn't really help it gave me sort of an idea but not much of one it might help to increase my flexibility in my legs and hips a little thank you though sir I'm sure with a little work I can get it

[@randelldarky3920]

I really like the Raper Swords

[@Doctor.Bushroot]

Super!

[@water737]

loving the vids! have recently picked up my own rapier for practise alongside longsword! can you tell me where do you get your rapiers? you can never have to many swords and i like window shopping :) also i did manage to buy a fabris book but are there any pdf's of original manuals especially the german one (since i could read that) many thanks for the videos!

[@MartinFabian]

Thanks! I currently own 4 rapiers, one is from Regenyei - standard rapier with a 110cm blade - the one I use most in the videos, a cup hilt from an unknown Czech smith, one old backup 43" Hanwei and a Mac Arms cup hilt which I rarely use, since it's extremely light (around 800g). I recommend the Regenyei rapier the most. Actually there are a plenty of German rapier manuals (speaking about the long rapier, post Fabris era). You should definitely check Sebastian Heußler, Joachim Köppen, Hans Wilhelm Schöffer von Dietz and perhaps Michael Hundt (which is rather funny:)). Good luck and thanks for watching!

[@water737]

awesome thanks! ive been trying to find a couple of those actually but no scans on wiktenauer for some i think some are published so copywrited perhaps? thanks for the response i look forward to the next videos in the series to steal training and practice ideas ;)

[@MartinFabian]

When you go directly to the manual page there are usually links to scans in the right corner, like here: wiktenauer.com/wiki/Neu_Kunstlich_Fechtbuch_(Sebastian_Heu%C3%9Fler), here: wiktenauer.com/wiki/Ein_new_K%C5%AFnstliches_Fechtbuch_im_Rappier_(Michael_Hundt) and here: wiktenauer.com/wiki/Anweisung_zur_Fechtkunst_(4%C2%BA_MS_Math.2) and here: wiktenauer.com/wiki/Newer_Disc%C5%AFrs_Von_der_Rittermeszigen_und_Weitber%C5%AFmbten_K%C5%AFnst_des_Fechtens_(Joachim_K%C3%B6ppen)

[@water737]

oh awesome thank you! :)

[@branditz613]

What's the name of the music playing in the background?

[@MartinFabian]

Hi! It should be - Beethoven - String Quartets [Alban Berg Quartett] Op.130 in B flat major - Finale (Allegro)

[@jimlo632]

What sword is that?

[@Kristopher_McPherson]

🙏

[@custer3176]

Hi, do you still answer to comments? Why do you place so much weight on your back leg and lean forward? wouldn't you get a lot more speed to your direction changes, if you placed your weight balanced on both of your legs and it wouldn't burn your back leg so much?

[@MartinFabian]

Hi, sure if someone asks a question I always reply :) My rapier videos were based mostly on the teachings of Salvator Fabris who's style was quite unique. You can check my rapier or rapier and dagger sparring videos to see how I utilize it when fighting. Naturally you don't need to stand or walk like this as much just in some cases and Fabris himself says the illustration in his printed book are a bit exaggerated. The theory is that by leaning as forward as you can you limit your target area to your head and upper body which is easily defendable since by extending your arm along with the body you become very strong. Fabris wants you to keep your legs as far away as possible and shows starting positions with relatively locked legs etc. Naturally, this is the historical POV and some of the rationale is easy to understand, some would have us travel back in time to fully understand why :) But summarised you are right. I personally tend to put more weight on my front leg anyways when fencing with any weapon but you adjust your legs to what you need to do :)

[@darienborders2978]

Now I must start lifting weights

[@ARR0WMANC3R]

Context

[@MartinFabian]

In the description :)

[@markuslundberg7457]

Your muscles will burn, i like it

[@rolypolyraccoon9242]

This is excellent. Except that move at 3:09 would never work in combat. :P

[@BetterExplanation]

Why is your back so bent, unlike in the fencing olympic sport like épée?

[@MartinFabian]

Hello! This style was used by a number of influential masters during 17th century. The theory is that by bending during close approach you're 1) limiting your openings 2) strengthening the position 3) extending your reach. It's important when stepping into measure meaning when you and your opponent are able to hit each other either with a step or a lunge and when doing offensive movements. In the video it's a bit exaggerated, normally it occurs in the last parts of the attack. Out of measure you may stand however you like. Normally I'm not bending more like at 3:20. Regarding olympic fencing, if you check snapshots of lunges you will notice that people bend to extend their reach as well, so it looks similar.

[@migkillerphantom]

Don't skewer your dog, please

[@joergcapellmann8752]

Please, no more music 🎶

[@jonathancormack]

Music is fine

[@roganchapman5700]

Please, more music 🙏