Longsword High-Level Sparring w/ Dustin Reagan (4K)

[@MartinFabian]

During my recent trip to the US I had the opportunity to cross blades again with Dustin Reagan, one of the most talented HEMA fencers out there. Dustin is known to have a unique, Meyeresque style of fencing, utilizing impressive combos, streichen and feints. He belongs to those fencers who are cautious and care about their defense. He rarely doubles and fencing him is always a joy. We recorded this session on the 4th day of my visit along with some material for upcoming videos. Stay tuned and I hope you enjoy this video!

[@PedroPanetto]

What is this song?

[@MartinFabian]

@@PedroPanetto Run the Jewels - Thursday in the Danger Room

[@PedroPanetto]

@@MartinFabian Thanks! I'm going to put it on my training soundtrack. Great sparring by the way, great video. Greetings from Brazil!

[@Chilly1733]

no plz. my hype is already maxed. saving this as the official "This is what i show people when i talk about HEMA" video. amazing vid

[@ultimomos5918]

Been using this as my go to for whenever anyone asks me about my “sword fighting”. Usually this question comes up over beers and it’s easier to just go “this is what HEMA” is lol

[@syys5640]

Same! This is the video I show people!

[@RitterschaftHEMA]

THIS is what REAL longsword fighting looks like, damn!

[@Tork789]

It's not real until it's with actual sharp longswords and they try to murder each other. Still pretty cool though.

[@RitterschaftHEMA]

Minus the being dead thing, getting hit by any of those two will hurt pretty real.

[@enlightenedterrestrial]

yeah I think REAL longsword fighting was much more about wrestling as well

[@nikvett]

@@Tork789 in historical duels this level of skills were only on nobelty or something like that, so in a match in two noblemen actually they don't really want to kill each other because the consecuences were in money, lots of money.

[@ericonmarzs]

@@nikvett hmm I don't think so, many of the fencing texts were written by educated common people, tradesman and townfolk not nobles, meyer was a cutler. In fact I'm not aware of a single one written by a nobleman? Also the fencing guilds such as the marxbruder although they had nobleman they had many common people in them, they accredited fencing masters in the holy roman empire for over 100 years. As did the later federfechter. I read one 16th century account of a fencing competition of a federfechter who was a hat maker. That said, even if the fencers are not nobleman people actually dueling to the death from what I've read seems very rare regardless of status and only really happened if a legal dispute went on for years, or they really really hated each other. In the 16th century it sounds you'd be more likely to see a tornament, where they fought with blunt feders but no protective equipment and the winner was the one who made the other guy bleed from the head. I wouldn't be surprised if people died doing that, but worst I've read is one guys eye getting ruptured and one's nose getting broken.

[@fernandomartins8948]

I'm left-handed and I watched this video several times. One of the most impressive sparrings that I have ever seen.

[@x-rhoden-x6477]

Good to see two of the best fencers out there showing us how it's done. Excellent high level fighting from you both.

[@MartinFabian]

Thank you very much! :)

[@galenmarek2765]

I come back here every once in a while just to see the double feint at 3:38

[@Fish2049]

I have to say, this is the best longsword sparring I have ever seen.

[@thomastucker7317]

Love the exchange at 1:26 , you can really see the passing of the vor back and forth and the mutieren looks pretty sweet

[@callusklaus2413]

God, I want to fence at that level. Class is definitely on tonight!

[@Nattzice]

K nerd

[@athallahhafidz7689]

This is the coolest sword fighting clip I've ever seen

[@SharkByteOfficial]

Red socks guy has the strangest movements I've seen. Looks like I'm watching a living and violent clay-mation film. It's so cool.

[@dustfurn]

Haha this is one of the best/weirdest compliments I’ve ever gotten on my fencing 😂

[@alfatazer_8991]

Dustin Reagan's sturzhau is quite something to look at. I've never seen anyone pull it off in full speed sparring before in my club. Reagan's timing is impeccable. Awesome fights as always Martin.

[@MartinFabian]

Thank you very much!

[@Judicial78]

where in the video does it occur?

[@ochs-hema]

After rewatching it multiple times it is remarkable how Martin is developing and adjusting to Dustin! Gonna rewatch again for 29x times now 😂

[@kkgauthier]

I appreciate the level of aggression.

[@syys5640]

The bindwork is exquisite!

[@marozzo]

One of my all time favourites.

[@ochs-hema]

The intensity and the parry-riposte fest is unseen so far. Incredible.

[@dustfurn]

Thanks! The night after we recorded this footage, I remember we were watching some of your sparring videos and both marveling at some of your exchanges, man you were (are) good! Hope to see you again one day.

[@marozzo]

@@dustfurn thanks Dustin! I’m still going strong, competed in Greece last week and put some content up on my KZbin, but it’s more of a casual hobby now. A time and a place for everything. Hope to see you again in the future!

[@KevinTangYT]

One thing I wanted to highlight is just the amazing matching of measure between the two and the footwork that needs to be behind it. I started watching this at 0.75x speed and fooled myself into thinking it was full speed. Then when I set it to 1.0x speed, my mind was absolutely blown. Wonderful job to the two of you!

[@Leondrian]

Being of the game for 4 years and just having watched this...mind blown. Holy Gods you two are f**king amazing.

[@MartinFabian]

Thank you Robert, you're very kind! And I hope to see you "in the game" again sometime!

[@Leondrian]

@@MartinFabian I trying to slowly come back into shape. Hopefully we'll do cross blades again someday.

[@MartinFabian]

@@Leondrian I hope too! And good luck :)

[@dustfurn]

thanks Robert! I can only look good, because I'm fencing someone like Martin!

[@moose1392]

THE best longsword sparring bouts I have ever seen on you tube.

[@user-tv4lz5ie5u]

Impressive sparring. The beauty of the longsword exchanges when carried out by true masters. A video to showcase what HEMA looks like to anybody interested in the topic (after muting those sounds in the background, you know, the noise and the rambling, whatever that thing was).

[@ΘάνοςΔιαμαντόπουλος-π4τ]

You guys are awesome! Thanks for sharing! I miss sparring!

[@zerozerosud]

I love the sense of measure you both show!

[@vallgron]

3:38 I watched that double feint like 10 times

[@funnysecksnumber6998]

hey! i really appreciated that mirror in the background, not only did it give me multiple angles to observe your fencing, it also helped me see that exchange where you went out of frame! also i think theres also a limitation caused by trying to stay in frame, because you seem to retreat very little... when i retreat, i make absolutely sure that stuff is out of range. i love meyer. i may end up looking meyer-esque too when im finished being a noob. still trying to better my body coordination, i have some problems with the cuts landing at the same time as my steps.

[@dustfurn]

Hey, glad you mentioned the mirrors. IMO, mirrors are a vastly underrated training tool for solo fencing practice.

[@dustfurn]

regarding 'retreating'...hmm, i think it's surprising you say that we 'seem to retreat very little'. But regardless, distance management is one of the most complicated aspects of fencing, even though at the surface it seems very simple. If you want to take advantage of a mistake, you can't simple 'make absolutely sure that stuff is out of range', so as in most things fencing-related, there are multi-variate trade-offs to consider...

[@announakis]

Dustin is as much a pleasure to watch as Carlos from Dark Fury. Quelle elegance! You guys are making proper martial art right here. Inspiring! thank you!

[@flintrocks]

Wow this is amazing! Makes me chuckle thinking of any form of German longsword as "cautious" , compared to Italian long sword it seems so wild! I love it!!

[@boonjate]

It's my dream to become as good as these two gentlemen.

[@ericonmarzs]

Your not the only one with that dream

[@3dCraddock]

This really is the best "show your friends HEMA longsword" video out there. And major bonus points on the soundtrack choice, the editing fits in so well too.

[@3dCraddock]

I've watched this hundreds of times and just reailized Dustin is fighting left handed. Always have an interesting time sparring folks that fight the opposite hand. I'm left handed but not in sports for some reason. In Rapier i was able to switch hands without issue; Longsword I can't seem to muster the coordination and stick to right.

[@randyrowe8368]

3:20 had me shook with that stab to the top of the fencing mask

[@ochs-hema]

It’s so magical how Dustin performs as a counter-striker! His Defense is I think the best I have ever seen. Strictly following the concept „cone of steel“. I love it. Unseen so far for me.

[@dustfurn]

Wow thanks for the compliment. I've always been a counter-striker, I think a lot of it is just that I'm shorter than most, so I have to have my opponent help me create the distance I need to hit.

[@ochs-hema]

@@dustfurn my pleasure Dustin :)

[@mattmanbrownbro]

Absolutely beautifully done! I hope to be this good one day!

[@DenverHistoricalFencingAcademy]

Dustin is a fucking surgeon. His precision is breathtaking.

[@devonwiley6618]

Good swordsmanship always looks better than the movie stuff.

[@pj_mckenna]

Moar! Absolutely tremendous.

[@Narguhl]

1:26-1:35 was an epic exchange

[@raphaeljara2720]

THIS IS AMAZING

[@DensApri]

This is so cool, thank you!

[@fleepss2407]

this got really good once yall warmed up

[@ArthurHerbst]

Especially interesting for lefthandet fencers! Going to analyze this one very carefully! Thanks Martin :)

[@dustfurn]

Let me know if you have any questions about the reasoning behind certain techniques i use in the video and how/why they work against right-handers.

[@jarenshyers9024]

@@dustfurn 1:26 and 2:15. Ive NEVER seen someone so proficient and comfortable in the closed ochs/hangen. You can wind/cover and then immediately begin to hunt for opening. Those durchwechselns (in full gear) in the closed hangen make me jealous. From fellow lefty, thank you and Martin for this video. Its an inspiration for me.

[@dustfurn]

@@jarenshyers9024 thanks! I am very very picky about the gloves and forearm protection I use, because otherwise it becomes very difficult to work with crossed arms. Crossed-arm techniques are very important for fencing opposite handed people, in my opinion.

[@chickensandwich1589]

@@dustfurn What gloves are you wearing?

[@dustfurn]

@@chickensandwich1589 Comfort Fencing Gloves (they are no longer being produced)

[@ondrejh571]

Here lies Dustin, son of Feinting, Lord of Leftya. He is dead then. It's as I feared.

[@CampeadorHUN]

I can only pray, that one day I'll be as good as you two.

[@chickensandwich1589]

Awesome!

[@MrLlama-mm7pd]

Great video, guys!

[@aloislemarchand7976]

Great ! Very nice !

[@antioccidents]

Ooh and he's left-handed! Excellent fencing all around.

[@OuroborosArmory]

Nice that was fun to watch :)

[@TyLarson]

Wonderful.

[@espadaselvagem1642]

VERY NICE!

[@deriramdhanfp7402]

i show this to my friend who has zero knowledge about HEMA and my friend be like : "WTF why there are two ninjas fighting with european sword? why they are not using katana?" XD

[@MartinFabian]

:D

[@radioactiveassassin5218]

That was nice.

[@leow1535]

Does anyone appreciate the bruch against the twerch at 2:17 like me?

[@psychopat9915]

Amazing! Next time rapier sparring please!

[@sarougeau]

Hema and Run the Jewels, what more could I ask for?

[@UltimateTruthChannel]

Very good sword fighting. High class.

[@dantorini63]

I enjoyed this. Many others make longsword fighting appear boring and less effective in actual combat against say, a katana

[@DoguiDougua]

Man I miss your videos!

[@StarBoundFables]

Epic!

[@reybladen3068]

Nice to see HEMA practitioners hitting each other with power rather than doing light taps

[@danielmorris6584]

If I was team captain, I'd pick red socks.

[@sl4469]

great fight! btw, what is the length of the handle of the sword in your hands? it seems longer than average

[@MartinFabian]

Thank you very much! We were using the Swordmakery Elgur Federschwerts. I think the handle+pommel length is 34-35cm in total.

[@zerozerosud]

The whole sword looks very long. For the first couple of seconds I thought it was some kind of light montante-trainer sparring.

[@MartinFabian]

@@zerozerosud it's shorter than some specimen in my other sparring videos. But an average length at SVK tournaments

[@IanCowen]

Do you happen to know what gloves Dustin was wearing?

[@MartinFabian]

Yes, he's using mostly comfort fencing gloves which are no longer produced.

[@monachusgladio8433]

Great fencing and background music. See you soon there guy =) edit* How do you feel about fencing with feders as opposed to "blunt longswords", or more accurately, "schilt-less feders"? I love blunt lognswords so much mroe because they allow you to fence with much less protection, give greater dexterity at the sword, and are also just more visually appealing. With blunt longswords we regularly fence at speed with minimal to no protection. Not for beginners obviously, but it is a great training tool to learn to respect your weapon and practice some of the more subtle techniques.

[@thomastucker7317]

I mean the visually appealing part is really subjective, I personally like the extra visual flavour you get with the different blade and schilt shapes you get in feders and think they look really nice. I'm not sure how a blunt gives you greater dexterity than a feder though, how do you come to that conclusion?

[@MartinFabian]

Hello @Monachus! When I started many many years ago, we were fencing with blunts (or regular shaped swords) and basically without protection. One of the best things for us was the transition to feders because we had both less hand injuries (bruises mostly) and could go faster and stronger. I occasionally enjoy fencing with them but we do that very rarely.

[@StickFiguresCO]

Isn't the song that's playing the theme song for Rogue Company? X'D I've never heard it with lyrics though lol, it's oddly satisfying.

[@Oozeel]

Great music choice! Run the Jewels? Fencing was amazing too. :)

[@MartinFabian]

Yes :) Thanks!

[@jamesconlon8429]

Another great use of this song kzbin.info/www/bejne/qaSpcp6sgcl7ask

[@christophergilmartin3821]

Forgive me everyone... I'm new to this... are they sparing with feders, or sparing longswords? They look like feders to me; but, considering the level at which these two gentlemen fence, I thought perhaps they were using swords of greater substance... your thoughts? Thanks to all!

[@MartinFabian]

Hello Christopher, we were sparring with Swordmakery Elgur Paratschwerts/Feders. They are 135cm long and their tip is gradually spatulated so it might give an impression of a heftier blade.

[@christophergilmartin3821]

@@MartinFabian Hello Mr. Fabian!! Thanks for writing! Perhaps we could take this conversation off the comments; as I'd like to ask you some questions about Elgur vs. Sigi... could we chat further? Thanks so much! I love your content!!!

[@MartinFabian]

@@christophergilmartin3821 sure no prob, fb.com/martinfabianHEMA

[@LORDHoekalledGAuhEY69TH]

EL PRODUCTO

[@GreenMachine1975]

Mr. Fabian... Here's another question... Are you gentlemen wearing upper-arm protection? I know your prefer a 350n jacket... and, of course, I also know you're a world-class fencer who has remarkable skill and control... So perhaps (that being said) you needn't be as concerned about upper-arm protection as a novice such as I should be... It just seems like some longsword fencers wear a mountain of protective gear, and others travel light... I guess it all really depends on how hard you want to hit, yes?

[@MartinFabian]

Tbh I prefer to fight lighter. Some of my guys wear small plates on their shoulders, but I found my jacket to provide sufficient protection and besides of neck-chest protector I don't wear additional parts since they usually limit movement in some sorts. But, that is just me. Forearms, chest and head are hit more often, so I have those parts protected more.

[@rahulshubh8103]

Is this very exhausting Martin?

[@MartinFabian]

As any other combat sport, plus about 10-12kg of extra equipment

[@rahulshubh8103]

@@MartinFabian true

[@MrDragonedge]

I'm curious as too why over 90% of those exchanges were linear and had absolutely no side stepping. Every German treatise also has you step off line when dealing cuts.

[@MartinFabian]

Because it was how the fight went and how the fighters chose to do it so the exchanges are more visible on the camera. Every German treatise tells you to do a lot of things but there's even more it doesn't tell you. It also engages your imagination of how it could look like, but practice in the end is always a little bit different. There are some actions which need a wider step but most don't. Also, angles are a bit misleading mainly when watching video. The aim is almost always the same: Hit and don't get hit. To cite a treatise, sometime you need one step, sometimes two, sometimes a larger and sometimes a smaller one will do. If you can do it like this, why not? :)

[@MrDragonedge]

@@MartinFabian I don't necessarily disagree, but in my experience stepping out to the sides pressures the opponent so much more than attacking head on. It is noticeably easier to parry someone attacking the 4 quadrants but stepping straight toward you than it is to parry someone who is moving their body to each side with attack the 4 quadrants.

[@MartinFabian]

​@@MrDragonedge Sure is, but not with everyone. Dustin here has a very solid and very fast footwork. Between the times you'll be side stepping (which is always longer than direct attack) he'll be long time gone :) It really depends, sometimes the situation calls for it, sometimes not. The faster and more precise you go, the less time do perform some things by the book.

[@MartinFabian]

@@MrDragonedge I'd also suggest taking a look at Turul HEMA YT channel where Cody analyses various top competitors. You'll see it's quite a common thing. Considering how common it is nowadays (mainly the further into an exchange you are) I doubt it was that much different back in ye olde days.

[@MaartenSFS]

I'm curious.. Why no attacks to the legs or one-handed techniques?

[@MartinFabian]

It's simple: We don't like to do it much :)

[@MaartenSFS]

@@MartinFabian Any particular reason why, though?

[@MartinFabian]

@@MaartenSFS it's too cheap and there's no special mastery in it. It's good to practice sometimes before tournaments, mainly the counter management. But with the limited time we tend have with Dustin, we prefer to different kind of fencing.

[@MaartenSFS]

@@MartinFabian Thank you for your reply. I do Chinese swordsmanship and there are a lot of techniques that we use to set up attacks to the legs. We also do a fair bit of one-handed attacks such as thrusting and switching hands so that the enemy never knows what we are thinking. I was just curious to see why in HEMA I don't see much. It's against the rules in Kendo, so they don't use them. I will say, though, that surviving is not cheap. =P

[@MartinFabian]

@@MaartenSFS There are but a few examples of one handed attacks in European Longsword. If, by example, there were 150 techniques altogether in Longsword, just two or three would be by one hand. They are very risky but they work well in sportive context. Switching hands is something which I do not think is necessary and I have never seen any of the historical sources suggesting something like that but then again I am not familiar with EMA that much :) If you were looking at more tournament videos, you would find many leg attacks. I suggest looking at Swordfish 2017 finals Ljundqvist vs Novichenko.

[@fritzious737]

Wait what gloves are Dustin using?

[@MartinFabian]

Those have been out of production for 5+ years now :)

[@fritzious737]

@@MartinFabian did they go out of business or were they not safe or something?

[@MartinFabian]

@@fritzious737 they need a lot of maintenance but unfortunately I don't remember the reason why those gloves are no longer produced.

[@MJ-HEMA]

it looks like he's also left handed!

[@剣-w9i]

レベル高いですね

[@NirrumTheMad]

in this video, there's a cut that takes four frames to go from upright to contact. It is invisble in the interim. *What the fuck*

[@dakaodo]

@Nirrum The Mad: To back up your observation, I have thought similar things in fencing I've seen (mine and others). Assume the sword tip travels a conservative 2m distance when fighting from the krieg (often this distance can be 2.5 - 3 meters when initially entering zufechten, but are an additional 1-2 frames of video in those cases ;) ). This is why I find 30 fps video to be a bit frustrating for reviewing tournaments and sparring for post-game notes and improvement -- sometimes the key moment disappears between frames. Manageable though, since the rest of the body doesn't move that fast and we can still extract plenty of information. With cars, the coveted 0-60 mph or 0-100 kph in 3 seconds means acceleration of approx 9.3 m/s^2. In comparison, for the sword tip to travel 2m in 0.067 sec means acceleration of approx 900 m/s^2. Taking 50% more time (0.1 sec) is 400 m/s^2, and 2x the time is approx 225 m/s^2. Obviously, a sword tip is literally thousands of times lighter than a Porsche, but the sword tip is still being accelerated 25x to 100x faster than a pretty darn fast sports car. My takeaway from this is that sharp explosive power for acceleration is initially more valuable than overall strength. Immediately within 0.1 - 0.2 sec however, entering and staying in the bind can demand more of that slow strength.

[@zes3813]

wrr

[@timofeymarkin4142]

Кто те 4 @₽#*%€, которые поставили дизлайк?

[@dustfurn]

h8rs gonna h8...

[@Sk0lzky]

You love your zwerchs don't you? :v

[@marcelpaquet8134]

Well both practice Meyer, I think, and he says something a long the lines of without the zwerch half of the art would be missing.

[@dustfurn]

Additionally, there are more Zwerchau techniques described in the 'core' Kdf glosses than any of the other hauptstucke.

[@marcelpaquet8134]

@@dustfurn ahh good to know - I rarely practice core kdf so didn't know that - thank you dort the insight! But looking at how much Meyer lifted from it it makes a lot of sense.

[@ВалентинСухов-к1е]

Хай лэвэл? Ну если Вы так пишите.

[@MartinFabian]

я хотел бы увидеть некоторые из ваших ограждений для сравнения :)

[@ВалентинСухов-к1е]

@@MartinFabian не балуюсь видео съёмной., а сравнить и с другими видео на тубе можно там правда без ускорения записи и с замедлениями на повторах. Обидеть не хотел но пардон не "работает" большинство "хемы" с полутором всё "режется голым" телом на котором работают, вот с железом прикрывающим тушку уже можно там подрезы и тычки работать не будт и вполне себе можно.

[@MartinFabian]

@@ВалентинСухов-к1е Привет, извините, переводчик не очень хорошо перевел ваш последний пост, поэтому я надеюсь, что отвечу на ваш ответ правильно. Как видите, это боевой вид спорта, который работает. Ни броня, ни «голое тело» тут ни при чем. Ничего не разгоняется, видео показывается в том виде, в каком оно было снято. Все лучшее для вас

[@ВалентинСухов-к1е]

@@MartinFabian Рас вы так говорите значит работает.

[@evropaheart]

cool video. Really hated the music though.

[@jacobzindel987]

...interesting choice of music...

[@PedroPanetto]

The name?

[@Spheregrid2]

Maybe no music next time yeah? kind of ruined the focus having a rather annoying song going in the background

[@callusklaus2413]

Mute button bby

[@Dancorg]

make your own video then

[@thomastucker7317]

I like it personally, especially when most sparring videos look and feel exactly the same

[@jamesconlon8429]

Love the music!

[@Giagantus]

I like the music it was not loud just perfect.

[@mutsuzawa]

This is not a martial art

[@MartinFabian]

True, it's a combat sport 🙂

[@Zetrao]

someones salty a martial art doesnt have a japanese name like "the three heavens time slicing cut from the hellfire of shinto"

[@mutsuzawa]

@@Zetrao I'm salty because people are not using the term Martial Art correctly.

[@Zetrao]

@@mutsuzawa ah srry i assumed that you were one of the "there isnt any martial art ourside of japan and china" type i apologize

[@syys5640]

What is it then, bozo?

[@MAHALOmar101]

Awesome sparring. Would love to see the Montante injected into this sparring.