Take a Stance

Hosts Nicole Smith and Steve Kime look at what makes a proper stance for sword-fighting.
Want to train with us from anywhere in the world? Check out our online program! - www.bloodandiron.ca/online
Check out our Patreon if you'd like to support our work :) - / bloodandironhema
Additional music from www.bensound.com "Happy Rock"

[@vernonbrana8205]

Every time I train and spar, in my head, I got Lee & Steve: Balls of the feet! Lower your stances! Maintain your balance! Relax your shoulders! Circular! Step offline! etc., etc., etc.!!!... and very thankful for 'em. Hahahaha!! It's a great honour being taught by real champions. Great videos!

[@AL4RC0NR4MO5]

The thumbnails are getting goofier and I'm here for it.

[@almosadam2215]

Important Video lovin it greetings from Germany

[@silverswordguy4191]

Lol first comment. The way I teach at my school, brand new students will spend almost an entire session (2hr) focusing on only footwork, with a little bit of light sparring at the end (just to keep them interested). I always stress to them that the most important thing in a fight is how you stand and move your body.

[@clavinboond1185]

nice vid been waiting on this one

[@twinklingjoiner]

I love the stances because a good foundation means and great roof

[@guillaume9783]

Stance is indeed the basics of all play. I used to have a similar stance as the one you described. I'm giving a try to the kind of stance described by Roland Warzecha (Dimicator) on his channel and I have to admit that it has a lot of benefits too.

[@Poohze01]

Nice. Do footwork next! I'm weird, I like footwork...

[@LycaonsMemories]

my nephew(9) had wanted to learn how to "fight" so i started teaching him karate, he quickly got bored in the first 10 minute lesson as it was foot work

[@bretalvarez3097]

I would suggest wrestling/grappling, it's an excellent base for all martial arts and fantastic way to build strength.

[@LycaonsMemories]

@@bretalvarez3097 yes, but im not qualified to teach it lol

[@Krocodile]

Thanks for doing this awesomre content

[@caseydubois3645]

I haven't studied the Germanic traditions, but I'm pretty sure that in Fiore's tradition, at least, there are front-weighted and rear-weighted guards.

[@missionforce1wegetthejobdo358]

I have seen a couple of your videos and was wondering if you guys have any techniques or training for fighting with a shorter sword and a large shield?

[@pjulphil]

Question : i always hear that having your (front) knee further than you foot is bad for the knee, and you should make sure that your knee should be below or closer than your foot. What to you think on that matter?

[@stephenkime5946]

We recommend you don't bring your knee past your toes. it can cause structural issues or muscle strain.

[@bartangel4867]

I think that what is a southpaw (left handed)and orthodox (right handed) stance in longsword is same as in a unarmed combat., while in one handed swords its the opposite to unarmed combat. Now that makes sense because of position the different swords are held in the hand. But that would mean that if one opponent is armed with longsword and the other with for example a rapier or a saber they will be in opposite stands. Same thing if they both use for example longsword but one is right handed. I know that when fighting opponent in opposite stands one should have one's lead leg outside of opponent''s lead leg but that is all I know. When you showed fighting techniques you often would shift between stances and by being outside of opponent's lead leg which proved very effective (as I expected) but because this was done in the middle of the fight your opponent was already positioned with his sword on the side of his rear leg. (not a starting position when both opponents have their sword on the side of their lead leg). If someone is predominantly left handed fighter like me as far as longsword is concerned. Both opponents would start with their swords on the side of their lead hand same way as if they were both right handed. But in case of left vs right they would be in opposite stands unlike right vs right where they would be in same stance. right vs right there is possible for one of the fighters to have their sword on the side of rear leg at some point of the fight in which case it the other fighter would switch stance and attack . (just like you did when showing hidden cuts) however if right would be facing left it is very unlikely that either of fighters would ever have their sword on the side of the rear leg because this would be a disadvantage especially when opponents lead foot is outside of their lead foot. to make long story short how would one fight against the opponent who is in opposite stands (left vs right or vice versa ) but when both fighters have their swords on the side of the lead leg.(just as it usually is in all sword fighting I think) or any other techniques to fight a fighter with opposite stands. ( for me its usually left and opponent usually right,for you probably you right me left) So how would you fight against opponent who uses opposite hand than you? I know you are supposed to keep your lead leg outside of his lead leg but what else?

[@stephenkime5946]

Hi Bart. This is an excellent Question and would probably take an entire video to answer. lol. I will try and elaborate as best I can, from my own experience. A right hander versus a left hander does drastically effect the angle from which most cuts are going to come from. One thing about combat even in a sportive sense, which is what we focus on, is that everything is fluid and will change depending on your opponent, environment, or the weapons you train and fight with. Many people view this in terms of classical Martial arts training with rigid stances and established methodology. Like saying that you always parry A with B and stand in C The issue with this mentality is that True Martial Combat is fluid and adaptive. For example, a person holding a side sword versus me holding a longsword. I would have a reach and power advantage having 2 hands on my sword. my opponent being aware of this would need to slightly modify his footwork and hand work to compensate for the disadvantage of strength. Now take that sidesword and add a dagger to it. Now the single handed sword user's footwork would shift once more to take full advantage of the benefits of a secondary implement to further mitigate the strength advantage of a longsword. Martial combat is very Nuanced and fluid. Your question is very good and would take me a long time to provide an answer that would do it Justice. I can elaborate more if you would like to have a discussion via Email. Thank-you for asking this.

[@freddytse4411]

I have always wondered whether you should have the toes of your lead foot pointing toward your opponent or the knee. This problem arises when your knees and your feet do not line up exactly. How do you think of this matter?

[@stephenkime5946]

With the understanding that everyone is different anatomically to some degree ideally all you really need to do is make sure your knee does not bend inward. Sometimes you will have to orient your toes more outward to prevent this from happening. to what degree really depends on the person. That's usually been our recommendation

[@freddytse4411]

@@stephenkime5946 thank you for sharing your thoughts on the matter!

[@nathanerbaugh9899]

The audio is to quite, I don't have a bluetooth speaker and I can't hear the video from my phone. 😂

[@jimmacfarlin8198]

Is Lee still trying to recruit people to Stormfront and complaining about how lazy he thinks POC are or what?

[@flashingsword]

Is that true? What are you basing that on?

[@bartangel4867]

If my previous question was too long Just answer this. How do you fight a right handed fighter when you are a left handed fighter or fight a left handed fighter when you are right handed (both are mirrors) I know that you are supposed to keep your lead leg outside of his lead legs but could you go deeper into the actual techniques or if possible do a video about it?

[@stephenkime5946]

This is a great subject Bart. I typed an answer to your earlier question. I think this is a great subject for a future video. Thank-you again for the question. cheers

[@bartangel4867]

I don't know how to contact you via email and I don't see it anywhere I'm not good with computers and I don't see your email address listed here which is the only way how I would know what this email is and how to contact you. I also know that there is an option to contact you on your page but it doesn't show email address at less I subscribe to one of the classes for which I don't have the money to get (If I did I would) if you somehow showed me how to find your email address I would love to have a dilated answer to my question and I'm very thankful you wish to do that. but like I said I don't know this address and I don't know where to find it.

[@vorrnth8734]

I think you are interpreting stances to statically. Imo the stances are snapshots of a motion. Interpreted like this front and backloaded stances do make sense.

[@KennethOsas-yu6ci]

Coach Steve don’t make me start here with your personal image 😡….Go pay