Top 10 HEMA Training Activities

[@jmbsoutho]

as someone who's developed a whole lot of tennis elbow from over training with swords, I appreciate that you put tennis ball training in there to give joints and tendons a break.

[@danielt.5337]

Thanks alot Frederico for this video! For my small self-taught HEMA-Group with no experienced teacher, videos like this helps alot to set up better trainings. 👍

[@FedericoMalagutti]

You are welcome! Keep up the good work with your group!

[@NothingYouHaventReadBefore]

Minimal gear training at a low pace but with high intensity has done me a lot of good. Makes you control your weapons for the sake of your buddy, and makes you respect the art a LOT more.

[@apostleianlovelette]

While no HEMA clubs exist close to my area, this video was nonetheless very beneficial. Much appreciated.

[@SirKanti1]

I'm really glad you put strength training in this list. I think too many people dismiss it and assume that Hema is just about cardio.

[@fabricio-agrippa-zarate]

Minimal gear training is literally the most training we do here in Paraguay. Its near 40° C and to wear a mask becomes a challenge... Don't even think of what what wearing a fencing jacket would be.

[@weighedgoogcat4499]

If it works, it zwerchs!

[@BMO_Creative]

seems like boxing training would help also... foot work, shoulder strength, head movement, endurance, reflexes seem very similar.

[@puritysealteam666]

UPVOTE FOR THE EMPEROR

[@FedericoMalagutti]

The Emperor Protects

[@inquisitorvuln]

Loved that you mentioned 40k at the beginning, because its 100% true. Its great that there is an intersection in the Warhammer and HEMA communities. I've been practicing HEMA for a few months now, and I really enjoy it. Thank you for making this video!

[@FedericoMalagutti]

You are welcome!

[@alexhunt7810]

I laughed myself silly at "Other important activities" I then questioned taking your advice when you I saw your dramatic aversion to squatting below parralel :P

[@FedericoMalagutti]

That’s actually I was talking about. I’m 190 cms tall and my squat beyond parallel gets not good, as my femurs are pretty long and my ankles do not have enough mobility to compensate. There’s never a good way to squat in a KZbin video hehe.

[@alexhunt7810]

@@FedericoMalagutti honestly I'd argue that lunges are a better option for HEMA anyway. It's just that everyone hates them

[@FedericoMalagutti]

@@alexhunt7810 I do both and even more hehe

[@alexhunt7810]

@@FedericoMalagutti fair. I'm a deadlifter by preference but I squat to support that.

[@Vindrows]

Come for the content, stay for the intro! 🤣

[@FedericoMalagutti]

lolol

[@ianyoung6706]

Bro, I do not live near a hema group, but if I become proficient enough to start introducing equally interested persons to them, I may try to get one going here near Martinsville Virginia. Your videos, like this one, help me very much.

[@FedericoMalagutti]

Nice! I bet you’ll have your club soon;-)

[@lokiofasgard312]

Same for Colorado Springs - just got the my first feder to start this journey

[@FedericoMalagutti]

@@lokiofasgard312 good luck, train hard and have fun!

[@ianyoung6706]

@@lokiofasgard312 very nice. I know HEMA has been a thing for a while, and perhaps it’s only because my own awareness is increased, but it feels like interest is growing. For me the most difficult part, if I truly want to do the “H” part of HEMA, will be making sense of the historical manuals and treatises. I wonder if there’s a preferred translation for each major style

[@conor6607]

I actually live near Stuart Va, interesting to see a county neighbor here! I've been doing all sorts of swordplay for a couple years now.

[@ondrejh571]

Good on you for putting strength exercise so high. Doing them helped me very much to stabilize my fencing, i mean mainly stance and footwork. I also think it is perhaps more important than cardio, because with regular sparring you gain fencing specific endurance even without doing cardio specifically.

[@FedericoMalagutti]

Exactly!!

[@conor6607]

Just a few things that could be helpful to add from a largely self-trained fencer who had to think up a massively amount of solo drills/exercises. 1. This is something I learned from my wrestling days, stance-in-motion is a drill where one sets a timer anywhere from 1-3 minutes; once the timer has started the person goes as fast as they can while still having good control over their stance, footwork, and techniques, and they just keep going without stopping until the time is up. Then one does a 30 second breather and then do it again, do this at least twice, so let's 1 minute, 30 seconds of breathing, and then another minute. This is pretty much just a combo of some of what you talked about put into context where someone goes as fast as they can while still being efficient. I have seen something similar in the HEMA community and called a speed drill. 2. Cutting, one doesn't really need to buy expensive things to get some cutting practice in, and this is kind of one of the most important things to practice in swordplay; it's like shooting a gun when learning how to use guns. If you can't afford a sword or other things like tatami mats, then a kitchen knife or cheap machete will work with some plastic recycling. One could also use other things like melons, pool noodles, pumpkins, aluminum cans, bamboo, and sticks/saplings as targets as well, though each target operates a bit differently in how to cut it the most effectively. If you want a sword or are practicing longsword then you could get a katana from Musha or Musashi who both make functional katanas anywhere from 50US Dollars-200usd, and they are actually fairly decent swords; incredible when considering the price, I have one and it has done pretty well. While they aren't European longswords, they are much closer then some would lead you to believe in the katana v. longsword internet war, so basic techniques and cuts could still easily be replicated on a katana. 3. Flow drills, this is similar to some of what you discussed, but a little different in some ways too. One could do this by themselves or with a partner. By oneself one could simply hit a tree with a stick, slowly going through multiple cuts and parries against imaginary strikes. With a partner, one simply makes a slow cut, and their partner blocks and makes a countercut, and it just keeps going. The point is just to go through cuts, nobody is trying to hit each other but simply make decent strikes. If done with a partner a set speed needs to be agreed upon between the partners, and unless it's with someone that one is very familiar with in a flow drill, it really is quite slow. There really isn't much of a reason to go fast for this, unless one has gotten quite good and is looking to make it more difficult. Da'mon Stith is a great person to look up about this, he has multiple flow drill videos with different weapons, he is actually where I got the name and partner drill version, solo version came from Polish Sabre. 4. The mirror game is something else I ended up keeping from my wrestling days. The concept is quite simple and doesn't require protective gear or even swords. Two people get in front of each other with a swordfighters stance, and then one will try and get behind the other, while the second person tries to keep that from happening by simply mirroring their opponents footwork. This game is pretty safe and really improves ones footwork and speed, as well as coordination and observation. 5. This is an exercise for sabers and shorter swords, but it is something practiced in India I believe. One puts their right knee if right handed, reverse if left handed, on a tree, and then makes cuts in front of the tree without hitting the tree. This is mainly for improving ones draw cutting abilities, but it's also a way to build up a sense of distance. 6. Wrestling is the last thing I would add, but it's also the least important if one has no interest in being a really good swordfighter, but rather just wants to swing swords around. Wrestling will work great to increase many things mentioned in your video, and is a great workout on top of that; gives one some options in a sword fight too. It is really good for learning ones body mechanics, coordination, observation, and balance. It will increase ones general fitness, stamina, speed, balance, and breath control. All of these are just some things that came to mind that you and others could find useful, though this list is in no way meant as pointing fingers or saying your doing it wrong. Rather just thought I would share some things I learned in return for some ideas I had never thought of that were in this video. Such as the hand-eye coordination drills, never considered that. Hope this is at least somewhat helpful for someone, and thanks for the video, it was awesome to watch!

[@defcon7653]

These are really helpful tips. I'll have to remember these for when I train again. I'm currently doing a workout routine that doesn't involve swords, but I'll soon move on to more sword work. I'll have to incorporate these into my sword work. Also, I'll credit you with them if I show them to anyone else. Thanks again, and happy training!

[@kirkcavenaugh758]

dude is living in paradise

[@direwolf8608]

I am glad you put strenght exercises so high on the list. It is very important indeed. Thanks for the video and looking forward for the next one. One of the best HEMA content creators.

[@Leneak1]

Wonderful video ! Thanks a lot. I'd caveat the first place given to sparring with "only if you also do the rest". Sparring on its own, especially with the same pool of sparring partners, if not supported by technical work, drills, exercises etc. will only lead to bad habits and a false sense of one's own ability.

[@corrugatedcavalier5266]

Great stuff! Glad to see footwork and strength training near the top. Those do tend to be the focus of my daily practice.

[@synura8086]

(3)+(8): Leave your car at home and run, cycle (or even swim) to work. Really efficient use of your time and fun as well (on most days).

[@FedericoMalagutti]

100% agreed

[@dfrench3242]

Nice work again! I feel the bottom line is that for every exercise you need to determine the specific aspect of your skills that you are training. That awareness gets better with experience, so for beginners a ranking may be different then for more advanced fencers. Personally I have developed quite a few 'high percentage techniques' through the pipeline: watch video->see nice technique->practice solo->attempt in sparring->fine-tune. Although this method requires a solid basic skill level I think there is value in this way because you don't tell your regular training partners what you are trying to do. That way their reactions to your setups are more 'natural' than with any drill/expectation. In many cases the biggest challenge is finding the right setup to pull something off. I hope you don't mind me stealing a trick or two from you ;)

[@FedericoMalagutti]

You got it! Exactly ;-)

[@fencersguild-guildamgladia2485]

Very nice video Fede! I am really happy to see so many good ideas from your perspective! Well done👌

[@FigureOnAStick]

Excellent list, every one of these is a worthwhile endeavor. I definitely can confirm that solo drilling can be a double-edge sword (pun intended). On the one hand, some of my biggest breakthroughs have come from effective use of solo drilling. On the other hand, I have definitely trained in bad habits and injured myself from drilling too. What I've found that once you can imagine the feeling of the bind or strikes landing on your opponent, solo drills become substantially more effective. Otherwise, it is very important to have an experienced coach observing your actions as you learn the drills. I'd like to add four more training techniques that I've found have been of great help to me. First, are Indian Clubs, light and heavy. The swings of light clubs (0.5-1kg) are excellent for developing joint mobility all along the arm, and for developing ambidexterity, and can be used as a form of cardio as well. The heavy clubs (3kg

[@paulanderson6605]

Very helpful but also love the humour - Warhammer would definitely take time! :)

[@ChrisRi]

Nice video, thamks for new ideas for my personal Training

[@FedericoMalagutti]

@@ChrisRi you are welcome!!!

[@susannewilliams]

Thank you!

[@thescholar-general5975]

Could you do a video on how to create the instructor paired exercises?

[@FedericoMalagutti]

This is something quite complex to do. I’ll try out at some point after figuring it out

[@kaiiza1906]

Crazy it aint like the movies at all you can get hit in so many awkward ways and its over

[@titanscerw]

Best intro, sir!

[@warriorsweaponsandwarfareb6332]

Good list.

[@lelionnoir4523]

"Other important activities." 😅

[@FedericoMalagutti]

“Only in death does duty ends”

[@lelionnoir4523]

@@FedericoMalagutti Thank the Emperor then that plastic is eternal.

[@danielt.5337]

Seems to me, that tabletop players and HEMA practitioners have great overlapping numbers. 🤣

[@FedericoMalagutti]

@@danielt.5337 both are strategic and tactical games in a broad sense ;-)

[@IamOutOfNames]

​@@FedericoMalagutti "Iron within, iron without."

[@willshaferly703]

I'd say your squat looks great, actually

[@michaelredhorse8752]

Your squat was great, not sure if you're still hitting weights.

[@aodhanyouxia]

I had to pause, laugh, and give a like, simply because of "Other important activities" at 0:19". More nerd and 40k references please, not less. Your girlfriend will understand.

[@FedericoMalagutti]

Ahahahahahah ;-)

[@ochs-hema]

Hahaha shiii the intro 😂 best plot twist out there. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Maybe I share mine too. About cutting: cutting is the most efficient teacher to show you which technique you lack. So in terms of efficiency and grinding your skills there is no better teacher who can show you frankly and transparently which cut you have to improve. Then about solo-Drills. I agree when the solo drills are just for cutting air. Yes this is useless. Buuuuttt solo drills are getting highly useful if you virtualise your opponent and perform based on your visualisation the technique. And if you have something to hit on like a tire or bags then I totally disagree that solo drills are useless.

[@FedericoMalagutti]

Definitely, I agree with you, but admittedly this two practices are both skills which give their best fruits when the skill level is already above the average and when the time to do the other main practices is there. So it's for dedicated fencers!

[@ochs-hema]

@@FedericoMalagutti yes indeed! i would say fencers between 3-5years of fencing and 2-3times training per week are experienced fencers. beginners or less enthusiastic fencers should do what their trainer tell them :D and you know what the trainer will say: "do more fencing" ^^

[@RayJonh]

GREAT!

[@sorkeror]

Full contact sparring with people who are much more skilled than you is king, in my club we have had people who rank in the top 100 S&B on hema ratings after only a year of sparring 2h/week

[@Nutellafuerst]

"Other important activities"...shows 40k. If I hadnt subbed alrdy, thats the exact moment I would've 😂❤

[@FedericoMalagutti]

;-)

[@timhema5343]

Even if I mostly agree with you, I have mixed feelings about the video. First, the top 10 can't be the same for anyone. A beginner or someone with limited experience may benefit less for some activities, like solo drills or sparring without specific constraints. Another thing is that I would have totally separated sparring and "thematic" sparring of sparring games. It's really 2 different things, both very useful of course. And last, for strength training lifting weight may not be the best example, because it's not simply training : lifting needs very specific skills (you even mention that your form is not good) that need to be learned, and that takes some mental energy and time. Keeping doing it with insufficient technique may lead to bad results or even injuries. So training strength with specific exercises is imo better (doing is sword in hand, with bodyweight or elastic bands for example).

[@FedericoMalagutti]

1 - It’s clear, sometimes I even mentioned the disclaimers. But it’s a single video, you know it’s not easy to convey “perfect” messages for every single context/person/time all in 10 minutes. 2 - At first I divided the two in “tactical games” and “sparring” but the more I thought about defining one a the other the more I noticed it wasn’t clear at all. 3 - I do not advice for weightlifting. I talked about strength conditioning. And form can be improved only by doing things, with an instructor helping, as I wrote about myself. The disclaimer anyway is more about the fact that everyone has something to say about lifting form.

[@timhema5343]

@@FedericoMalagutti Thanks for the answer. Of course this hard to go into the details in this type of format. However I know beginners watch and may try to reproduce what they see on the screen without going deeper.

[@SirKanti1]

Hema is probably the only sport or martial art which actively discourages people from weight lifting, despite all evidence to the contrary that it's an incredibly effective and efficient means of training ones self.

[@FedericoMalagutti]

@@SirKanti1 I personally found high value in weightlifting and I train it at least twice a week. Since when I moved from body weight exercises and elastic bands to lifting my fencing had high benefits from it.

[@timhema5343]

@@SirKanti1 of course it's useful, but it's a skill in itself. If you have the time to learn and train it, that's very good, but this videl is aimed toward peoples who don't usually have this luxury. And done wrong it can be really harmful.

[@Bb5y]

Some actual sword fighting lessons would come in handy to ensure some fundamental skills that seem to be … missing.

[@RobinMcBeth]

I never knew I needed to hear an Italian say "jumping the rope".

[@FedericoMalagutti]

Ahahahahahah ❤️

[@fabricio-agrippa-zarate]

08:00 I like that front protection thing, how good is it for sparring?

[@FedericoMalagutti]

I personally don’t use it in sparring. Only while teaching ;-)

[@inquisitionagent9052]

"Other important activities" So true 😂

[@ianyoung6706]

What might you suggest as minimum safe sparring gear for two beginners who are trying to learn and apply to sparring through KZbin?

[@FedericoMalagutti]

Mask, SPES AP jacket, spring gloves/Kvetun gloves

[@CriticalThought09]

Depends what your’re sparring with. Nylon wasters: mask and gloves absolute minimum, maybe a box too. Full steel if you’re sparring I recommend all the gear pretty much, especially for longsword. If you’re going 40 or 50% you will probably be alright with just a mask and gloves but you would have to earn that level of trust were I to train with you. Evidence, having done all of the above over the last year and a half

[@Davlavi]

for the algorithm

[@VitaliYanko]

Hello. At 9:03 and 9:14 you strike and finish it very high, please answer, why is the sword raised so high and looks at the sky with its tip? Wouldn't it be right to stop the strike where the likely opponent is?

[@FedericoMalagutti]

This action cuts through the raised arms of the opponent from below. If you stop where the opponent is you aren’t really cutting through

[@elcidsnare07]

“Everyone tends to give me one [advice] on this topic, and every advice tends to contradict each other”. 6:48 Lol ain’t that the whole history of the internet, brother. (Or Reddit).

[@taraskashuk1069]

Horus Heresy is the best activity XD

[@catocall7323]

You missed a perfect opportunity to say that a sword was a double edged sword 😂

[@GamerMax]

Myers square will never do you wrong.

[@Tsurukiri]

This was about training to win fights? In that case, I'd probably just stick to a coherent training plan with the time I have. Perhaps take a plan from one of the 19-18th century military training manuals and adapt it for HEMA. Recruits did not have much training, and were only taught the core techniques in a very efficient manner. If short on time, anyways, it's probably better to stick to a few techniques and try to perfect those, in order to start winning fights early on. Sparring is important here as you said. If this was about learning a wide variety of techniques, or perfecting mechanics, I'd probably focus on solo training because it is much easier to find time when training alone. For this kind of work it might be a good idea to train many times a day, but in short sessions. So it kind of varies depending on the training goal. For example some Filipino styles put a lot of emphasis on the techniques and mechanics first, and sparring comes much later.

[@dominiclapinta8537]

Thing I appreciate about hema is that you are allowed to use a real blade, dulled, but real, instead of a glorified two handed foil

[@ossian1977]

I think you have a VERY respectable squat load, and perfect technique is a journey of 10 lifetimes if not longer. Like in fencing, to be honest. Somewhere in the region of your body weight for reps is about right for a fencer. I frankly don't see the point of doing a Tom Platz routing of 500 squats at 500 kg every other day to have quadzilla legs. The upkeep is insane, the food budget is out of control, but more importantly it does not carry over to sparring or worse, it drags you down. Unless you have a sword just as an excuse to get into a grapple, but then why not join a wrestling club directly. Also, yeah, maybe soreness goes away with practice and habit, but a fencer has to have plenty of gas left in the tank (legs and lower back) to work sword in hand and nimble on the feet. If you have DOMS 5/7 days you won't go far in HEMA. On another note: what is the white hilted sword in the last segment? Looks nice.

[@FedericoMalagutti]

Thanks!!!! It’s a SIGI concept ;-)

[@MartinGreywolf]

Personally, I don't think test cutting is a training activity in the usual sense - what it is is a test of your cutting that you develop during training. It is useful to identify problems in your cuts so that you can correct them later, but not that good at actually teaching you how to cut well. Strength training, on the other hand, is something the usefulness of which depends on what weapon you are using and what day job you have. Someone with a non-office job will need less of it than and office drone, and someone with a physically demanding job may well not need it at all. At the same time, you need little strength for a longsword (or almost any two-handed weapon), but trying to do sword and shield with an actual replica shield (clocking in at 4 kg and held at arm's length away) is much more demanding, to a point where you may well not be able to do any useful training with it until you get stronger. So, for someone having an office job, I'd agree with the video placement. For someone with a job that requires moving around but not great physical labor learning longsword, I'd place it much lower, maybe even under paired drills. For anyone who is not a blacksmith trying to learn sword and shield, it goes potentially all the way to number 1.

[@sulrandir]

nanana boia faus is my favourite activity

[@smokerxluffy]

Test cutting plastic is a waste of time.

[@StarBoundFables]

Very cool, thanks for the advice