My HEMA Journey so Far & How to Start

[@DctrBread]

awesome journey, very impressed by that sword flow, you're a lord for sharing this story and the humble beginnings that this type of hobby had to grow from. After doing 8 months of historical fencing myself, I will only add that I think home-built or spes foam padded training swords is a great idea. Very safe and saves you a lot of money both in terms of the weapon itself and the gear requirements. Once you can save up for more gear and steel practice swords, they're still useful either to lend out, to do low-gear exercises, great in hot weather. You can use ballasts to achieve desired handling characteristics too.

[@superiorhema]

Ya I have done some reviews on go now foams. The nice ones for hema just weren’t as widely known at the time

[@DctrBread]

@@superiorhema believable, also shipping. I feel sad thinking that people were stuck with the cold steels in the primordial era.

[@MIIC2]

Well told story and well edited video also pacing was good. Much enjoyed

[@superiorhema]

Thank you! Really appreciate it.

[@nicopetri3533]

What changed my fencing pretty much was Martin Fabian and Anton Kuhutovic. Their interpretations fit pretty good and gave me an edge on my friends too. Especially the Nachschlag and the Schielhaw. But what had the biggest impact was getting equipment and trying to get my clubmembers to get equipment (the club was originally reenactment so they all had swords but nothing else, but the old trainers didn't have time any more, so a friend of mine and I took over. Teaching changed me quite a bit too, because now it was me who was interpreting the stuff and the systems made a lot more sense in my head) I am kind of surprised this channel has so few subcriptions btw. You make so good content and tbh if I can I recommend it to people to watch.

[@nicopetri3533]

You really should link SprechfensterBlog in your description. They are simply put just awesome. I just recently discovered them and sadly bc of corona couldn't really make use of it up to now.

[@superiorhema]

Thank you! Really appreciate it. Just started making content so still at the bottom of KZbin searches. Yes there great to learn from, I actually based my Schielhau on his as well. Having to teach others is the best way to learn something better. Also lets you see how they try and do it and gives you more movement information to draw from. I will add SprechfensterBlog, I also found him not to long ago, I especially like his Oberhau analysis.

[@nicopetri3533]

@@superiorhema yeah. The oberhaw analysis is great. The videos about schießen are awesome too. And they got me to keep my fucking back straight.

[@kevinc3751]

Great video. I started in Jan this year. Being a fair bit older with a family my weekly HEMA classes are more like 2x’s a month if I’m lucky as the club is an hour away but always a highlight of my week. Starting to really study and focusing on basic foundational skills and enjoying the slow but rewarding growth through 2-3x’s a week work on my pell and solo drills. It’s a great sport and way to meet down to earth people. Thanks for posting ur journey.

[@acerock013]

taking my first HEMA class this week!

[@superiorhema]

Awesome! Great to hear!

[@theyoungfool.1895]

Phenomenal video, subscribed and I definitely can’t wait to see how far you’ll come.

[@superiorhema]

Thanks!

[@aidencleary]

This is a really great video and I hope it inspires others to start their own hema practices. More people with initiative like yours and we're all better off! Thank you for sharing.

[@superiorhema]

Oh wow thanks.

[@carnival8789]

Thank you so much for making thia video, you have no idea how much this motivates me

[@superiorhema]

Glad to hear it, you're welcome!

[@markpags9624]

Good video.

[@medievalswordandshield-bil5631]

It's very good that you recommended people speak-out SCA. It is really the cheapest way to train. You just have to seek out the people within that very large organization to teach you the things that you want to learn. SCA cut and thrust is especially flexible with steel blades and experiments with grappling.

[@DumbCup]

I got into it through blade and sorcery I swear I’m not a psychopath

[@jerrydmann]

Great video!

[@BoZoiD57]

Is the video shown at 0:22 on youtube? Looks interesting and I want to see it

[@superiorhema]

Ah that's on a channel called Fabled North. Some other vids on it too now

[@aanathan0]

I have a tourney in 3 weeks, any tips on what I should practice in particular that might give me an edge?

[@superiorhema]

Oh nice! One thing with a tournament is it can be to try and use and test things to see if it works in a stressed environment. But if your wanting to place well than these would be some ideas to start at. Especially if its your first tournament. - Practicing keeping the before with strong vorschlag - nachschlag combos. 2 cuts fast, done back to back. Or thrust as well. - You can try a couple sparring sessions where you make sure you cut first, or if they do, then you no matter what try and counter cut. Obviously with the intention of blocking and hitting. I've done it before and it's a good way to force indes practice. There may be a couple more double hits with your partner starting off, but that's what sparring and training is for. You'll both adapt and it will force training aggressive and safe. And you can make it if you basic parry in the onset then do 3 push ups. To make sure your not stuck in the after which the Zettel warns often. Action is always faster than reaction. - Have people point out or know your weaknesses. Have 1 or 2 reminder phrases a coach can say in your ear at the ring. ex: "Don't stop moving" "Point online" - Depending on the tournament have partners do some sparring with trying to hit you on the hands, one handed cuts/thrusts etc. Just so its not surprising. - And watch footage of the club that your going too if possible. Look at what openings they like to cut at. Ex: some cut at hands and waist while other clubs like to cut high at head and shoulders. Also see there favorite guards or parrying trends and build your solo practice, cutting drills, and feinting, around those. Training hard is obviously the big thing, getting cardio up so your never out of breath in a ~10 exchange match. If you haven't thought of some of this hopefully it helps you out. And good luck with the tournament.

[@aanathan0]

@@superiorhema You definitely gave me some awesome advice there! And many things I did not consider! I will try it all out and let you know how I place! Thanks again!

[@calneigbauer7542]

Really wanna get into hema I live in a area in that doesn’t have a school for about 2 and a half hour drive any advice for practice by yourself and how to practice footwork

[@superiorhema]

Oh great to hear. Yes, you can get a red dragon synthetic off amazon and follow along with solo cutting videos. Since Covid theres more solo training videos than you'll know what to do with. Just make sure you film yourself every couple weeks to see your form. And you can get 2 masks and two RD swords and follow along with partner drills if you find someone wanting to try it. Then for footwork heres a couple videos I made. Again theres lots out there and you can move on to partner ones if you find someone who wants to try it. And I'd say try and visit that HEMA club a few times. You'll get to actually try gear, get feedback, and they can show you, in person, drills to practice at home. Footwork: kzbin.info/www/bejne/sKuyq3mLnLp-e6c kzbin.info/www/bejne/raKvYnWtnpmaa68&t= kzbin.info/www/bejne/l5TGeoiggaearq8 kzbin.info/www/bejne/oHyyd519l7GJmtU kzbin.info/www/bejne/i3TCqH-niNqZhtE

[@taboy2723]

Thanks man, I am a massive medieval/historical enthusiast and I have also wanted to learn H.E.M.A. My closest club is 2 hours away. But my friend comes to my house 3 times a week and is also very enthusiastic to learn H.E.M.A. So we will most definitely start, slowly but surely getting equipment. What equipment do you recommend? I think I am going to try learn Federschwert longsword, is that what you specialise in?

[@superiorhema]

That's great to hear! Hope everything works out. Yes I manly practice Longsword and Messer. So you can use my Zettel series as something to look at. That's the main "german longsword" source. kzbin.info/aero/PLrFszmn6LjPOWrCS0v7e6BVxpWXxLwaSv I'd definitly recommend going to that club a few times a year, lots you can learn in person and take back with you. As well as seeing and trying gear. If you're in the states Purpleheart armoury is the easiest to use. Other links in description. The 4 first pieces of gear are Mask, Jacket, Gloves, Synthetic sword. You can just get what is in your price point at that moment. Then when you add thrusts to sparring and the intensity gets higher you get; neck guard, elbow, forearms, then later add; pants, knees, then steel feder. We have a review playlist too, and theres lots out there. The exact gear I'd get if starting again is; AF basic mask, Spes AP light 350n, Sparring glove mittens long cuff, Black fencer synthetic. For Cut only beginner sparring.

[@taboy2723]

Thank you! I was also thinking about saber? Is that good aswell?

[@superiorhema]

@@taboy2723 Yes sabre is really fun. Black fencer synthetic sabres are the best. But the purple heart armory 'basic' line has good sabres for like $30. You also don't need mittens for sabre, and can use red dragons or lacrosse gloves Cheaper to get into sabre than longsword

[@taboy2723]

@@superiorhema Awesome that’s good for me since I am in a budget. Are the sabres you talk about based of the napoleonic period? And also you listed a bunch of great gear before. Is all that gear the same besides different gloves?

[@superiorhema]

@@taboy2723 Yes there are ones of earlier sabres. And yes, once you're doing steel sabre sparring all the protective gear is the same as longsword except gloves.

[@Sl1ckR1ck858]

Awesome video! Making me want to get into this! Where are you out of?

[@superiorhema]

@@Sl1ckR1ck858 that’s great! We’re in Thunder Bay Ontario

[@hellcapidan9772]

see what i do not understand is why this shit isnt more mainstream when i was doing the same kind of shit with my buds twenty years ago and if you DO have the balls to do it everyones always giving you offensive looks and judging you heavily at the park or in the neighborhood. Theres a huge demand for this space to be more prevalent but some how all you see are your typical eastern martial arts school or fencing which is just a friggin joke of a sport where its like "who can swing the laser pointer fastest!" so WHY? When im pretty sure every high school has 10 per class nerdy guys that wanna learn specifically medieval sword fighting...but it does not exist very large capacity at all.

[@jaxirraywhisper741]

Murricans, am I rite? :D :D

[@superiorhema]

Lol... no from Canada

[@jaxirraywhisper741]

@@superiorhema For a self learning guy wihtout access to some fencing schoool / club you made repsectable progress over thsoe five years or so. Even more for a murrican (Canada is like the same island anywayam I rite?)