Why are Chinese swords so floppy and flexible?

What’s up with those floppy Chinese straight swords that bend all over the place in wushu demos, and kungfu movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon? Is the Chinese jian supposed to be that thin and flexible? Did ancient Chinese warriors really carry those paper-thin swords into battle? Let’s discuss!
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Shanghai based MMA Coach and Kunlun Fight Combat League ringside commentator Ramsey Dewey answers questions from the viewers. Leave your questions in the comments below!
This video features original music by Ramsey Dewey
Follow me on Instagram at: / ramseydewey

[@MexicanMartialArts]

Ramsey making those colors POP!! 💯🔥 I appreciate you! 👊

[@victorwelkin9136]

He surprised me when he did that!

[@abrahamlincoln6201]

@@victorwelkin9136 I know same

[@sirteabag8652]

Grandmaster...can you teach me how to use a Chinese sword ?

[@abyssoulzenith]

Ah hell yeah, i new these MMA guys were legit. My prayers have been answered.

[@ZackofAllTrades87]

Oh man! That made me happy! What a homie. Ramsey you have been promoted to 5th degree Green White & Red belt 🇲🇽

[@kuuryotwo5153]

Mexican Martial Arts: Judo. Judon't know if I got a gun, Judon't know if I got a knife....

[@ACSMEX]

Unless I´m not aware of them, I think any martial art coming from our native side was lost after La Conquista. Nowadays México is a potency in TKD, for some weird reason. And boxing, of course.

[@Stevo_YouTube]

@@ACSMEX MMA was founded by a Mexican named Jesse.

[@strider4life696]

lol Mexican Judo 😂

[@shinobi1014]

Its Puerto Rican Judo lol ask RATKING. its also in "horse and carriage by cam'ron mase" dont tell me yall never heard the songs.

[@Gotchism4Life]

MMA used the chancleta

[@maximechopin2600]

These are real weapons, Ramsay just steel plated his skin

[@reasonerenlightened2456]

Once the firearms become unavailable then I'll be looking at metal sticks again.

[@mrmoth26]

The groove is called a fuller.

[@taekwondobro]

You beat me to it

[@BWater-yq3jx]

4:33

[@WeAreSoPredictable]

Crazy part is, it should really be called an emptier. :)

[@MansMan42069]

@@WeAreSoPredictable ahaha good one

[@szepi79]

yep. it has 2 purposes: 1. as Ramsay stated, it removes weight 2. it makes the structure of the sword stiffer. the idea behind it is the same as for C-beams.

[@sfkingalpha]

"It's a little bit unwieldy." Don't think I've ever heard the word used in such a direct sense.

[@WildBillCox13]

Appropriate usage, all right.

[@moreparrotsmoredereks2275]

More weight towards the tip of the blade is not inherently bad, as it increases a sword's cutting capacity. Sabers, cutlasses, falchions, tulwars, Viking era swords and many others tend to be more blade heavy, because they are intended more for cutting than thrusting. Less weight in the blade makes it easier to defend with and gives you more control over the point, so swords intended more for thrusting will typically be balanced closer to the hand. I don't know much about the jian, but it looks to me like a compromise design, intended to be reasonably good at both cutting and thrusting, so the balance point is probably meant to be somewhere in the first quarter or third of the blade, if I had to guess.

[@SurmaSampo]

There are also a number of types of Chinese Dao that are strong cutters and more forward weighted as well.

[@Arcana437]

Overall it depends on how the user fights, if the sword will be put to it's potential

[@neo-filthyfrank1347]

That doesn't make sense I have one of those traditional one handed european swords and it can barely cut and is much better at thrusting yet it certainly seems blade-heavy

[@SurmaSampo]

@@neo-filthyfrank1347 It is likely that you just have a poor quality sword.

[@Arcana437]

@@neo-filthyfrank1347 yeah, it maybe of poor quality. Or you didn't sharpen it enough. Or maybe the way you cut is different? And you're body has a natural way for thrusting?

[@TheWabbitSeason]

It's the same reason Olympic fencing uses flexible weapons. It can be done safely with minimum gear. HEMA likes it a bit rougher which is why we wear stronger masks and some armor to prevent broken bones.

[@swordsmanxia]

People seem to forget that a Jian can be anything from a two handed long sword to an epee.

[@pluviasalutor1290]

When I was younger I always thought the bendy swords were meant to emphasize how fast and strong the characters were. Since they could also fly/jump through the air and stuff.

[@prastagus3]

It does. However 99% actors/actresses don't have skill to do so with a real sword. Only martial artists actors like Jet Li and Donnie Yen had used real swords and other weapons in movies.

[@gabrielsagala9969]

A stiffer sword would also be less shock resistant and they would break much more easily as a result

[@prastagus3]

@@gabrielsagala9969 Thus good swords have both stiffness and flexibility in a good ratio to be considered good swords.

[@gabrielsagala9969]

@@prastagus3 It's much more complexe than just ratio. Metalurgie is a science on it own. I was talkin about metal work in general.

[@prastagus3]

@@gabrielsagala9969 I'm also talking about metal work in general. I only know metallurgy in general and not in detail as well.

[@jolonghthong5377]

Grandmaster jesse has blessed this video i see...

[@holydiver6570]

Cause they stretch every morning. Thats true chinese discipline right there

[@abortedlord]

A sword doesn't *need* a fuller to be well balanced, but it can be helpful to include one especially if overall weight is a concern.

[@Jenjak]

About the floppiness, there is a saying in Taiji Quan that when you are powerful enough and well trained with your sword you can make it vibrate when you strike. I think they use floppy weapons in movies and wushu to make the performers look more powerful.

[@HipposHateWater]

Historical jian were not remotely that noodly, so that sounds like a cope that just got accepted as truth

[@dwried]

I remember researching a bit on sword crafting. It's actually quite interesting when you get into the composition and tempering of the swords. Decent swords back in the day did have a "slight" bend to it. The reason being that you don't want the sword to snap or break under pressure. Definitely don't want the sword to bend as much as the practice sword you were showing, but they did have a slight bend so they'd last better in combat.

[@stevstring]

That’s really interesting. I’m about to go down a research rabbit hole.

[@tommyakesson8858]

I got two or three or four tips. Shadiversity. A history buff and all around nerd who talks about both realistic historical weapons, as well as analysises of pop culture weapons. Describes things like metallurgy, the physics of cutting, balance of weapons etc etc. Good stuff. Todds workshop. Dude makes a bunch of experiments with realistic gear he often crafts himself. Metatron. A guy DEEP into roman history. Talks both about general history but also weapons and armour. Especially roman. Skallgrim. Another nerd with a fascination of weapons. Trains HEMA (historical european martial arts) and often buys replicas and puts them trough tests.

[@librabys]

@@tommyakesson8858 Don't forget Scholagladiatoria, a british HEMA guy who collects antiques and replicas, is very knowledgable.

[@Pe3dr0]

Damn I wasn't expecting that Mexican Martial Arts reference. Now I need a crossover.

[@RoyBlumenthal]

Also, filming fight scenes has endless takes. The stunt person, wielding a fully weighted sword, would be exhausted before the sequence is shot.

[@zachariahgoddard6039]

Nah....“Real” swords are surprisingly light. When is dexterity more important? When you’re shooting a film?...or when your life is at stake? Swords are fast articulate weapons, even long swords and two-handers.

[@RoyBlumenthal]

@@zachariahgoddard6039 My dummy tai chi sword was about a quarter to a fifth of the weight of a real tai chi sword.

[@zachariahgoddard6039]

That only speaks to the weight of your trainer sword doesn’t it? It’s cheaply and lightly made to mimic the well balanced engineering of an actual spring steel sword, which (due to the design) will also feel like it’s made to move with precision. The heavy sword trope is a bit of a myth. Practice swords may indeed come lighter but probably due to the age, sex, skill level of the type of person it was intended for.

[@librabys]

@@zachariahgoddard6039 A real sword is light enough to be agile in the hand of a trained warrior during a combat... but not as light as having it used at full speed by an actor all day long. (they weight around 1kg and if you are not used to it, you get tired fast)

[@nicholasthompson9410]

@@zachariahgoddard6039 the weight and how tried one would be after a period of time using one is also super subjective and depends both on the individual sword and the person using it.

[@minipai]

In a Wuxia movie, the bending sword presents that the swordsman has a powerful "inner force" that metal can't bear his power thus become soft.

[@allengordon6929]

A doylist explanation is that it's a holdover from Chinese epic opera.

[@cyborgchicken3502]

In older WuXia films especially those from the Shaw Bros era the swords never used to bend at all... I'd recommend films like Dragon Swamp, That Fiery Girl, A Touch of Zen, The Sentimental Swordsman and Come Drink with Me, all came out around the late 60s and early 70s

[@Tyrosine0910]

Watching these videos before physical therapy (ACL reconstruction surgery Nov. 2020) motivates me to work hard. I can't wait to get back to BJJ, & possibly try training some MMA eventually.

[@dgundeadforge17]

Im learning to forge knives and swords fullers are used to reduce weight, it also stiffens the Blade a little due to increased surface area.

[@roycehanly3666]

Did you mean cross section? Increased surface area doesn't directly make the blade stiffer. The metal doesn't care how much of it is exposed to the air, for this purpose. A wider cross section will. You might raise a bulge to either side of the fuller if you hammer the groove in, which would stiffen the blade.

[@dwaneanderson8039]

A blade with a fuller is stiffer because it has the same basic cross sectional geometry as an I beam.

[@scottmacgregor3444]

As Mr Moth said, it's called a fuller. It's purpose is not only to change the weight distribution, but also reduce the overall weight without reducing the stiffness of the blade. In construction I beams use the same principal.

[@lordbatz7363]

Film student and asian film nerd here, the swords might be a left over from Peking opera who´s weapons are also bendy. The influence of theatre in chinese cinema is understated. A lot of early sino film is re telling of plays , operas and folk stories etc. Not to mention a ton of stuntmen and actors who did kung fu and wuxia movies in classic HK cinema were trained in opera as children before joining the film industry . The most famous of these is of course Jackie Chan. There is a 1988 film called Painted Faces worth checking out about it.

[@Weeping-Angel]

I used to ask my mom all the time “why is the sword so floppy? How are they going to fight?”. I can’t believe it took me 20 years to find out.

[@acaristic93]

Also note today whether you do wushu style form competitions or modern olympic fencing or historical fencing via HEMA or suchlike most often you want a sword that can bend,but the reasons can differ. In wushu,it's for a similar reason you have the red strands at the end-it helps make the motions showy and fancy.Which is also likely one of the reasons(aside from what you noted about safety already) they're used in films. Another being that most (not all) practitioners of chinese martial arts seem to primarily use such versions to train with,which means that's what they'd likely use to teach actors to swing around for fight scenese.What you said about people being used to bendy swords is definitely a factor in it. With olympic fencing,HEMA,SCA etc. it's generally so you can safely thrust at your sparring partner(while they still wear appropriate protection) and minimize chance of injury while still fighting at intensity(which is not every sparring but a necessary part of it) so it works basically in the way you've emulated when 'stabbing' yourself. However many historical swords were a bit bendy,generally not floppy as some modern ones,but still bendy. The reason is simple-if you've got something that's not bendy at all you get something that may be more prone to breaking(the actual physics and mechanic properties of steel are somewhat more complicated but I'm simplifying here for brevity sake). There are exceptions to this rule-katanas generally werent bendy because they were most commonly made of two metals-steel on the edge and iron in the back,so having them be bendy uniformly was tough to impossible to achieve(however many modern katanas are pure steel and thus actually on average more durable and bendy than most historical ones). Also in Europe when you look at some longswords made specifically for armored combat they are often nearly entire rigid(so that they can be more useful as levers in armored grappling and that you can more easily stab against the gaps in the plate armor and go through potential chainmail at those points),and will more often have parts of their blades either unsharpened or actively dulled(regular longswords were still often used in armored combat but simply weren't specialized for it).

[@Quach7]

2:15 I've never handled a sword. But I do now that different tennis rackets are balanced differently.

[@ninjagaro.]

Skallalgrim on Ramsey Dewey

[@jolonghthong5377]

Nice prof pic... get yer Yorkshire tea.

[@Zraknul]

Scholagladiatoria would probably be closer.

[@javiv6731]

you are right, those tassels at the end are decorative, it was first used for distinguished soldiers. but over time it just became decorative with whatever you want to put in it.

[@runswithbears3517]

I was asking myself exactly this question. I think the safety aspect is the most reasonable explanation.

[@jaketheasianguy3307]

Having personally used 1 handed Chinese Jian for sword sparring despite not knowing anything about Chinese swordsmanship ( i applied messer and arming sword techniques instead), the Jian balance is very close to the guard and felt kinda similar to a rapier, and handled very awkward if you use it like an European cutting sword. Also the tassel was there to shift the balance of the sword, not just for decorative purpose The practice sword's "blade" are usually very cheaply made and thin in order to emulate that "close the guard" balance. Very nice for form practice but a terrible tool for even practice light sparring

[@beardedsurvival2934]

The fuller also adds structural integrity. It essentially turns the sword into a sharp I beam allowing it shatter other more poorly made swords.

[@Manta665]

I'm so glad the sword didnt slap you in your face when you tried bending it on your chest! Thank you for (not only) this educational video! :D

[@dominickk5293]

As it was explained to me, the original Jian's blade had a hardened point and was softer towards the handle because if the entire thing would snap if it was equally hard as the tip. I have also been told that the advantages of the flexsteele style blade was that they could bend and find their way towards the crevis between armor plates for stabbing attacks when used on a battle field. I was also told that some few people used to put wire in the tassels to blind enemies but to me, that would bring you too close for the comfort of using a straight sword. I did notice the tassels kind of help my form when practicing Tai Chi sword form at a medium pace.

[@kevinmorrice]

a bendy blade would lose most of its energy on impact, the bend wouldnt do much to get between armour, the bend absorbs the impact, meaning less thrusting power

[@isaweesaw]

I agree with your conclusion. The modern floppy type are designed for wushu, a performance art, rather than combat. It's similar to unarmed kung fu having a lot of elaborate steps and movements that are combat-related but have deviated from that purpose

[@treasurewuji8740]

Flapping around and reflecting lights from different angle can create an illusion that the fight is "busier" than it actually is, too.

[@jestfullgremblim8002]

@@treasurewuji8740 yeah lol

[@gdrag0n582]

The "blood groove" is called a fuller, and the tapering towards the tip is a distall taper

[@robcharters2645]

Blood groove is actually called a fluffer, it's purpose is to reduce impact recoil and vibration

[@ChristopherCarpenter]

Ramsey out here telling us he is in Shanghai China, but he is clearly in space. More lies from the hater grand Master chosen one, smh 😤

[@RamseyDewey]

We’re all in space. Unless you’re some kind of two dimensional life form contacting me from a parallel dimension where the laws of space/time to do apply.

[@ChristopherCarpenter]

@@RamseyDewey my own words have been turned against me, I will concede your point 😆

[@giantm846]

@@RamseyDewey 😂😂

[@Groteskfull]

@@RamseyDewey I think you meant "do not apply"?? 🤔 Love the t-shirt btw 😄

[@michaelterrell5061]

@@RamseyDewey YES ANOTHER PHYSICIST!!!

[@ctv186]

There's also that nice sound they make in shows; my classmates and I sometimes wanted to see whose stab made the most noise.

[@georgerausch4408]

Since I don't see anyone else answering, the "blood groove" is called a Fuller. I don't remember why but that's what it's called.

[@Building_Brian]

Coach! I'm having trouble capturing the shoulder with my legs when I have a kimura grip and transitioning to the arm-bar finish. I have been seeing more success with just finishing the kimura. Any thoughts on when you should or should not switch between an arm-bar and a kimura?

[@codymarijuonko5608]

Dude got the smoothest voice ever. Can listen to him talk all day.

[@dropkickcorpse]

I always thought it was more of a movie making problem. Many movie sword fight scenes (GOT, Witcher) are using rubber swords and effects are added later to make it convincing. The kung fu actors are probably trained in wushu and are more used to handling the weight/noise etc. of fight scenes with the light metal wushu swords.

[@TheOnlyToblin]

Loving the explanation. The second you explained that it was to emulate the balance of a real sword, I immediately understood and my HEMA background made me think of the Feder sword, used in Europe for practice. Same idea, different approach.

[@albertoboggio1711]

The sponsor promotion of this video is the best I've ever seen

[@ianboreham454]

I suspect one more reason why the floppy practice swords are used in movies is that the performers spend all their time practising with them, so the lightness and floppy behaviour is what they are used to. Switching to heavy stiff swords would take some adaptation.

[@melisslacour15]

So interesting! Had no idea of this, great video!

[@ricardo.pedraza]

The flexibility also allows for a nice sound effect when you whip it around fast enough!

[@Generic549]

Hey Ramsey, I had a question for ya. With all the gyms shut in my country due to lockdown, me and my house mate have taken to doing some training in the park together. He has a little taekwondo experience and I have a little muay thai experience, so far we've done some basic kickboxing technique drilling and some very light sparring. My question is what do you think it would be most beneficial for us to practice? (as we both want to improve our striking)

[@escrotte]

It's great to share the love with Grand master Jessy!

[@jamesthera]

I just spent the whole video admiring the heat treat on the bendy sword. Past a 90 degree bend without a set? I'm with it.

[@RamseyDewey]

Yep. Inexpensive doesn’t always mean cheaply made.

[@Reason1717]

Ramsey, A BIG Thank you for answering that question on floppy swords. I did always wonder why? Good video as always :)

[@Jenjak]

Real historical Jian are springy but not floppy. And they are way heavier than people would expect. Those wushu jian weigh about a pound or less. A real jian weighs about 2 pounds and the balance point on average is about 2 to 4 inches away from the guard...so it feels heavy in the hand, a bit like a hammer would. You are supposed to use your whole body to move the sword and not just your arm or wrist...

[@kevingray4980]

In film, I think floppy swords is mostly to be flashier. A thick, heavy blade is easy to see, but is somewhat slow and tedious to move. A rigid blade light in weight and balance will be narrower, therefore less impressive and harder to see. For maximum flashiness, you make it as light and wide as possible and don't worry if it flops around. After a while, the flopping is a norm and considered aesthetically pleasing. For practice, the flopping is useful because it serves as feedback to help you to learn correct edge alignment. Also, it reduces joint strain, allowing you to practice longer.

[@uncleouch9795]

I'm currently working on a Hitatsura Nihonto. In other words a "full temper Japanese sword". These are some of the most visually appealing Nihonto. Historically they were also the most fragile due to the large Niei crystals and general hardness of the steel. In my business, we know that the Nihonto produced with a more equal balance of soft and hard steel perform better overall. We call the groove a Hi, pronounced Hee.

[@jolonghthong5377]

Or heeeeeeeee

[@Riceball01]

For future reference, there is a specific term for sword blades being thicker towards the grip and thinner/flatter at the tip and that's distal taper. This is as opposed to profile taper which refers the width of the blade from edge to edge.

[@_.Lucifer_Lightfall._]

He's become a master of the universe. Either that... or he's stuck in the WONG DIMENSION! :P

[@temmy9]

If you are used to cheap replicas, a well balanced sword is a revelation. I own a precise replica of a famous sword held in a museum in Germany. A poorly balanced weapon will always feel heavy. The only way to describe the feeling of the Munich sword I own is that it dances in the hand. The balance gives it amazing agility and the ability to quickly switch directions while cutting and covering.

[@jacksecomb4916]

Another reason why they might use the flexible practice swords in movies might be that the people who make movies think the sword bending looks cooler and makes the people wielding the sword look more mystical

[@PrestonK_Productions]

By the way, I would recommend Shadiversity. He's like you except with HEMA, and also he's a bit goofier than you, and he's also more pop culture oriented, and he lives in Australia, and uh... I guess he's not identical to you, but I still recommend him!

[@PrestonK_Productions]

@Can a swallow swallow? Skalgrim is nice and all, but Shad is just more engaging to me. They both have their own appeals.

[@GuitarsRockForever]

And Shad belongs in the same religion as Ramsey.

[@YoutubeCommenter1]

Scholagladiatoria is better

[@trevorrogers95]

Metatron, anybody?

[@oceandark3044]

The groove is called a fuller. It does three things primarily. First, and most importantly, it lightens the blade towards the end so that the sword is balanced towards the hilt. Second, it stiffens the blade somewhat by bulking material at the edges where deflection is likely to occur in impact. Finally, it provides a resonance brake. Normally, if you take a sword and swing it with all your might against something that doesn't give, your sword will vibrate all the way through the blade to the other end. By putting in a place for the metal to be suddenly thinner, the blade has a sort of speed bump where the resonance doesn't travel through. It's not much, and you'd only really notice by hitting something with similar swords with and without fullers to feel what it is like to ring in your hand, and you probably have other things to worry about than comfort. However, minimizing that resonance does help with your grip if you hit something very hard with all your might and it doesn't split or give (like armor). Edit: Note after the fact, for edification, you don't have to have a razor sharp sword to take a lot of injury from it so long as it's heavy. My usual training sword for HEMA is a bastard sword, and the edges are really dull. Even so, and even in practice gear, we have to be very careful when we train because swinging even a rather dull sword with a lot of force will cut someone. Most swords, not just Chinese ones, used in films are very light compared to their historical war-ready counterparts for just this reason.

[@cmay7429]

Do you know anything about the jiu huan dao (9 ring broadsword)? I've read all sorts of explanations for the rings: they were decorative: they kept the blade from dulling as quickly: they added momentum to the strike when they clinked. It all sounds a little iffy. I wondered if they could snag weapon tips.

[@nolynylon]

Apparently one of the other purposes of the "blood groove" is to prevent the sword from creating a vacuum when you stab someone and the blade getting stuck

[@dlatrexswords]

Hey Coach! Great talk as always. I think your summary at hit all the points about these modern wushu swords pretty well. Just to add to the talk; I am an antique sword collector, and have collaborated with LKChen to produce some sword education info graphics. (You might get a kick out of them, so I will put a link at the bottom). The Jian's in particular that we see which started in the Republic Era (or maybe late Qing) do not really emulate the balance of the live blades on most Ming/Qing Jian. I must qualify that as there are MANY types of Jian over the centuries; some of them are actually quite blade heavy, for delivering substantial cuts! However by the time that martial arts schools really became a focus, and an effort was made to keep militias from springing up keeping real swords out of the hands of these schools seems to be the reason for this blade construction. There are accounts of street performers using twin blades, using the same type of thin floppy metal, that are still used with these modern Jian/Dao. As you point out it extends to other weapons as well, but you tackled swords, so here we are! If you are ever interested in chatting about swords, just give me a shout! =) imgur.com/a/x4Bhegp imgur.com/gallery/xa6FGMu

[@dantusmagicus9595]

I'd like to se those weapons in action con you make a video demostration?

[@22ronco22]

swords tend to flex to improve the blade's durability. with it flexing the impact on it is distributed by the blade. and no, it doesn’t greatly reduce the damage done by the weapon. I recommend looking for it in some hema channel, they are about European swords but the principle is the same. but yes, training swords are more flexible than normal ones.

[@-Zevin-]

It is worth adding to this however that historical swords that did have allot of flex like rapiers or some thinner European swords it did impact their use as a weapon, while a flexible blade can cut well (of course not as flexible as these training Chinese swords) it is much harder to cut well with a flexible sword it takes perfect edge alignment and you are more likely to mess up a cut, as the blade will be more likely to flex than push through a target. This is a big reason why swords like Katana cut so well, it's not their curve, or even their sharpness, it's the very thick non-flexible blade that makes them cut well even for beginners.

[@jhojansegura]

Ramsey I remember I watched an old video about you doing kettlebells. Can you show us some workouts that you do or that you teach your students for boxing/mma?

[@MrRand0mGamer]

I come to learn about floppy Chinese swords and I come get my dreams crushed about Shaolin Monks :(

[@cyborgchicken3502]

In older WuXia films especially those from the Shaw Bros era the swords never used to bend at all... I'd recommend films like Dragon Swamp, That Fiery Girl, A Touch of Zen, The Sentimental Swordsman and Come Drink with Me, all came out around the late 60s and early 70s

[@MrBilej]

Very good point. That is because before Commie China changes martial arts to dancing there was many martial artists who knows how real swords work. Many of them escaped to Hongkong and that is why those old HK movies were so much better.

[@cyborgchicken3502]

@@MrBilej I totally agree with you, kung fu movies nowadays especially since 2014 have been nothing but propaganda fests, Ip Man 4 for example was so full of anti Western propaganda and if not the West then they're crapping on Japan and other Asian countries as well... I'm a huge fan of kung fu films, but the CCPs involvement in what content gets put out by vetting them through broadcasting committees is ruining the genre

[@xcptz6555]

I think the softness and thinness of a lot of show swords are mostly for the light weight and being able to make sound. Soft swords easily make loud sounds when executing most of the strikes as long as the form is correct.

[@moo3992]

It is because the actors had weak wrists for swordplay.

[@predator397]

Hey coach! love the channel have been a fan for a while i am currently working as a programme manager and instructor for a well respected martial arts academy here in england, as im fast approaching 45 this year having to to keep up a full time training regime to stay on top of the game is getting tougher as the years roll on but have no intention of ever retiring ever! lol i was wandering if you have any pearls of wisdom on keeping your body in peak condition as you get older i do find i ache more after heavy seasions many thanks in advance 🙏

[@MrTeijo]

Watching this while I work out!

[@achannel1818]

The Grandmaster deserves way more subscribers.

[@mrmoth26]

Ramsey, I think that you once said that you don't drink tea, how do you manage to not drink tea? How can someone live without tea? I cannot comprehend.

[@bondjames5874]

coffee

[@RamseyDewey]

Step one: don’t drink tea. Step two: live

[@RamseyDewey]

I don’t drink coffee, or tea, or alcohol.

[@svenkaahedgerg3425]

Very nice. I like that you back your videos with knowledge. There are so much nonsense out there. One thing that many people don't know is that the cutting motion with larger, double edged swords actually aim to cause crushing type injuries on an armoured apponent. That is why it needs to be thicker and have some weight to be of use.

[@akashahuja2346]

Distal taper is how the blade thinks dow towards the point. And the groove down the sword to lighten it is called a 'fuller' The tassel maybe a tradition from the original wrist loop. Cavalry swords often had a tasseled strip of leather that wrapped around the wrist so you didn't drop the sword in use.

[@gokussj397]

Hey Ramsey! If I injure one arm or leg, would it be wise to keep training the other one unilatteraly? Or would the muscle imbalances be a problem if you go back to squatting or pressing with one strong and one tiny arm or leg?

[@xunsun8063]

The reason for a movie to have bending swords, i think is because to the ppls that watching those movies it makes no difference if its bending or not, it is already been established the bending sword is more deathly using by a sword master because it's hard to defense again a soft bending sword than a straight forward hard sword. But normally a real bending deathly trickery sword are the skinning sharp kind that can be hidden concealed like a belt or in a cane. For Chinese ppls a soft bending sword is becomes a common knowledge. Its like a ever change snake that is hard to block against. Lot sword fighting kong fu movies have those swords. Just like bare fightjng kong fu, its a sword fighting Kong fu. In reality it might be easier to break? Or less damage I'm not sure, but one thing for sure if the material for the sword is right, it still deathly. Not the same material used for practice sword. For them to be effective, they use real iron or steel adding other stuff and/or make sword skinner to create this bending effects. Real deal.

[@TaoistSwordsman]

Loving all the sword talk bro. You should get in contact with LK Chen, he makes historically accurate chinese jian, and he's been giving KZbinrs his product to review

[@JackShen]

Dude that Kimeowra shirt is awesome! it makes me smile Fullers also give swords and knives more lateral strength, the profile is more like a, I beam.

[@LMFAS9528]

The red tassel does have a bit more of a job than decoration ,it's not going to hurt anyone or used in a physical attack ,it's more used in the same way long skits are used over a uniform ,it's to confused the opponent like the skirt hides the leg the tassel confuses the opponent with fast movement

[@chopstick1671]

I really like how much effort you’ve put into getting your sword stuff right! Still always surprised to see the swords stuff haha That said I only have one minor point, and that is that ‘well-balanced’ is very relative. The balance of a sword depends on what you want it to do, a general rule is though: if you want lots of stabbing and point work, you want it close to the hilt, if you want more chopping or cleaving, you want it a bit further away from the hilt. So basically, what is ‘well-balanced’ for one sword can be completely ‘unbalanced’/‘poorly balanced’ for another, and even the same swords can have different balances all tailored to the practicioners wishes. That’s all though, I saw you already wrote about the fullers, so overall I really enjoy the more historical weapons material! Keep it up!

[@mynameismin3]

the flex can also be for safety, if you stab someone with it, it just bends, and doesn't penetrate.

[@foosmonkey]

I think the tassels, while decoration, can also serve to distract an opponent from being able to see where the blade is traveling. A bright red tassel spinning around is much more visible than a silver blade, and the eyes tend to focus on "red = danger" before "shiny = sharp".

[@perrenchan6600]

Out of pure curiosity, have you practiced any martial arts using polearms? Also would love to see more of the weapon forms. Great video as always coach

[@robertlisastanley7433]

So a friend of mine tore his acl in judo and now is afraid to train any martial arts anymore in fear of hurting himself again and be out of work. What are ways to avoid injuries while training.

[@RamseyDewey]

Regular strength and conditioning. regularly work on flexibility and range of motion. Sleep enough. Rehab all the injuries that you do get so they don’t get worse.

[@Rainbow_Oracle]

Wider grooves in a blade are called fullers. Cutting or grinding a fuller into a blade makes it lighter. Hammering in a fuller makes it wider. A wide single fuller gives a blade an H-beam geometry giving it greater rigidity for its size. In the old days this allowed a smith to make a wider or longer blade out of either less overall metal - thus saving cost - or out of poorer quality metal, generally due to a lack of sufficient metallurgical knowledge or refining equipment. Several medium fullers or very many narrow ones act like stiffening ribs giving the sword more metal in the thin dimension making the sword very rigid for more effective thrusting, and less likely to be casually bent out of shape during use. The fuller also allows a blade to be made narrower overall for a given stiffness, helping retain effective cutting geometry as well. Hollow ground, T-shaped, Y-shaped, cruciform and pipe-backed blades follow similar design logic. Partial length fullers can also be placed strategically to change the balance of a blade. Fuller's near the tip of a blade and running toward the hilt move the balance point backwards toward the user. This generally a blade better tip and edge control, and if swinging, allows one to change the direction of cut faster. Fullers near the hilt bias the balance towards the tip giving a blade more "authority" and "bite". The benefit is essentially a better chop, and more effective beating aside actions, but otherwise makes the blade harder to control and more difficult to use in almost every way. A blade that is balanced too far back tends to become whippy tip-wise and is both hard to control and chops poorly. Fullers or grooves can also be used to decrease surface area, reducing binding, clamping and sticking on a blade when cutting. This is somewhat common in axes, and is fairly common in high-end kitchen knives and notably in specialty cheese knives. Fullers are also used decoratively, such as in window-pane fullering typically seen on cinquedeas, where the fulled sections are often subsequently painted, or engraved. The single or few extremely narrow fullers typically seen on reproduction katana and kukris are "almost" entirely decorative, neither lightening, nor stiffening, nor widening the blade to any appreciable degree. Fancy blades from Arabia and eastward can sometimes have lipped fullers with captive pearls that slide up and down the blade. This is said to be based on the sliding weight principal, which might possibly work in lead or steel balls, but pearls are typically neither large nor heavy and the feature is essentially decorative. The oft given "blood-groove" designation of a fuller CAN be valid, but only on narrow, sharp-shouldered, relatively deep fullers. It has been noted by medical professionals that if a person is stabbed and the blade is stuck there, one SHOULD NOT remove the interred object, as it's presence effectively seals the wound, greatly slowing blood-loss. Deep, narrow -- preferably several -- blood grooves could theoretically prevent the flesh from sticking to, and sealing around a blade completely, with the consequence of allowing the wounded person to start bleeding out immediately. This is a more a valid concern I think, on a battlefield, and for projectile weapons like arrows, darts, and javelins which are designed to remain stuck in the opponent, but it's application to swords and knives probably does stem from the observation of a person who was run through with a blade, and thus fatally injured, but continued to fight for a good while longer, as they were high on adrenaline, and weren't actually loosing blood very quickly since their wound was essentially plugged tight. For an individual user I don't think it matters very much -- unless you are defending yourself against an aggressive wild animal with a hunting sword, like against a boar or a bear -- but on a battlefield where everyone in your army has weapons with blood-grooves, this might actually fair difference in the overall speed of lethality from thrusts of your troop's armaments. Or at least that's my thoughts on the blood-groove concept. Tl;dr: Blade groove generally = fuller Fuller = Wider, stiffer, thinner blade Fuller also = slicier, stabbier, bigger, sturdier, lighter, and cheaper OR prettier blades Blood Groove = very narrow, sharp fuller Blood Groove = more bleed damage from stabs Blood Groove = useless at all the other functions of a fuller, except maybe for adding prettiness

[@greygoblin9491]

The flexible tip also makes it easier to non-lethaly stab the other guy, practice rapiers are built the same way.

[@funkyfromage]

"Life, the Universe and Everything" Thanks for the Douglas Adams reference.

[@martialmouse7582]

Hey coach Ramsey, there's been something I've been thinking about for awhile and I'd like your opinion on it. Before transitioning to MMA, I was a Taekwondo practitioner starting since I was 8 years old. Throughout my time then, the bond between me and my instructor had grown to the point where I once saw him as a sort of father figure. Eventually, when I was 14, I discovered the vast world that was martial arts and soon grew in love with everything combat. I told my instructor about my new found passion but he was a bit dismissive, saying how dangerous it could be and how most gyms don't even teach proper techniques. He then offered to teach me kickboxing. However the techniques he taught didn't feel right, almost like taekwondo mixed in with sloppy boxing. Eventually I moved on and trained at other gyms, where I found myself improving and learning more and more. It's been 3 years since I started training in MMA, but I never told him. I wonder whether I should? After knowing him for so long I realised how stubborn he can be sometimes, and how traditional the taekwondo classes were (Sparring once in a blue moon, one step self defense techniques, gross imitations of boxing/kickboxing/grappling techniques). However, a part of me feels like I owe it to him to tell because he really did help me gain confidence in my younger years and I appreciate him for that. I just don't want him to feel like he isn't needed by me anymore because I prefer MMA over just Taekwondo. What are you're thoughts? If you would like me to clarify anything, please ask. Thank you, take care :)

[@nikm2106]

nailed it bro

[@briangeiger6153]

The groove is a fuller, designed to remove weight without sacrificing strength.

[@kez_the_reaper2657]

Ha no way! I was looking at weapons based martial art videos today gonna enjoy this ☺

[@MasterZhang]

"relatively safe thing" Keyword "relatively", ha.

[@PegLegNinja]

It's called a fuller. The shaved out section of the blade to reduce weight.

[@mafiamole]

Very similar to the foil in the West. Which was originally used as a training tool for the Smallsword. Designed to be cheap and safe to train with, the flex is important to reduce injury during training. Actual examples of Smallswords are stiff and ofc very pointy

[@Smokeywolf64]

You should look up mr Scott M Rodell he knows alot about the jian and its history

[@daniel-zh9nj6yn6y]

Ramsey, how many weapons do you have in your collection ?

[@assoverteakettle]

Another reason why modern Chinese straight swords are bendy is because they will make a satifying snapping sound when you thrust them as the bendy tip cracks the air like a whip. It is just for aesthetic purposes but in wushu aesthetics is everything. In fact, it's not uncommon to keep the hardware and fittings a bit loose so the sound of the sword is amplified as it is thrusted or stopped abruptly. There's typically a fastening bolt at the bottom of the pommel which squishes all the sword parts together and where you can attach a decorative tassel. It is not just the straight sword. The wushu version of the sabre, or broad sword, is also bendy for the same reasons. The bendy wushu and taichi versions of these swords are also made to be light and flickable for competition and demos and are not practical for cutting purposes. They cannot be sharpened as the metal used does not have the metallurgy composition, nor forged for that purpose. They are actually very flimsy. Not sure if Ramsey is referring to bevel or the grind when he talks about the side of the blade. At least that's what it is in knife culture. For example, a knife that has totally smooth sides on both sides, like a chef knife, is called a full flat grind.

[@mennorach]

The tassets are decoration and they are there because for most of the time swords were not actively used. They were carried around by people and people like nice looking things. If you have to carry something around every day, but only seldom use it, you want it to look nice. Same goes for any other sidearm.

[@opperbuil]

@Ramsey Dewey, I suspect the blades are made with elastic style spring steel because the alternatives are even worse. One can use brittle steel, which breaks when damaged. One can use ductile steel which bends back only a little, resulting with a wrongly curved blade. Spring steel blades bend back to their original form, which is the desired effect. By laws of physics, any energy stored in elasticity is energy not spent on damage. That can be damage to the environment, like actors and scenery, or the clashing blades.

[@heavymeddle28]

Must be the same reason as groundskeeper willie in Simpsons says about kilts... "to blind your enemy with luxury and beauty"