Why you Should Lead with your Point - Understanding HEMA

[@lokuzt]

you can see on 1:58 Sean is silently proud of those clean cuts :)

[@storyspren]

It's always nice to see clean cuts and those demonstrated here especially.

[@TurulHEMA]

The production value of your videos are certainly improving. Great job!

[@tarkajedi3331]

My old teacher used to say Leading with the Point is sincere respect for your opponent. It means you take them serious!!!

[@dmshampton]

Fantastically done, I've never seen this conceptualized better.

[@thesickhorseranch]

Lead with your cup! :D

[@lazarus4759]

Yalls videos are very helpful for people that have to teach themselves thank you

[@tarkajedi3331]

Providing a solid base helps you lead with a solid sword. If you are caught changing guards/wards or caught while moving it is important to be able to ground yourself and control the centre. When starting try to feel the swords weight and pull and then advance. Remember that the sword is traditionally very sharp and you barely needed to touch their arm or neck and they would be finished. This reveals good posture, edge control and point control were far more important. It does not take much when the technique is done right to cut through a target. One of the most important points made in this video was about leading with the point. The old masters would gain control over their blade while positioning their blade before thrusting. It would often go like this... Cut... Blade Control... Thrust... If you are starting out it is excellent to drill it with the Blade Control step added. You may be able to do it in one fluid motion but trust me if you master this you will also have the control to decline the thrust. My final tip would be don't just practice this with advancing!!! Make sure you add in evasion and retreating! For example the Evasion step can be added... Evade... Cut...Blade Control... Thrust... If you are a beginner make sure to train at school with someone experienced. Don't go into your backyard and try it without guidance. Experienced eyes will notice your mistakes and save you hours of your life!!! Trust me!!!

[@visageliquifier3636]

Your videos are quite useful - thank you for them! You are informative, that is to be sure, although a bit stilted. Some bits of advice: Try having the person who is not talking look at the person who is. This simple bit of directing attention using built-in social cues can help the audience a lot. Try talking to the cameraman, and not the camera, or if you have a tripod mount, talk a foot past the camera. It can help to now and then flick your eyes out of line with the camera. Direct, sustained eye contact is a sign of intent interest in humans - either romantic or combatative, either way it tends to make people uneasy and cause the other party (the intended audience) to look away more often. Take a look at a news broadcast to see how the anchors deliver stories, speak, how and when they pause, their eye focus and how they hand off control to one another - how they make information delivery feel like a conversation.

[@anthonyz.2607]

Thanks guys! Your video's, especially your tag line at the end is very motivating!

[@algi1]

OMG, this is so subtle for an outsider!

[@Templarzealot89]

!! you guys are awesome

[@PjotrFrank]

I agree with the concept in principle. Hence Liechtenauers Zedel: "Der Ort sucht die Blöße". But your advice to lead with your point while doing a longsword strike (Oberhau), is not sound. 1) Your strike lacks kinetic energy that way and may put you out of balance more easily. 2) You do not conquer the attack line and leave your left side exposed for counters. 3) Leading with the crossguard while striking provides you with more versatility (e.g. to execute a feint / Fehler) and speed of the point.

[@tarkajedi3331]

If you don't learn this well enough you can be sure that in the chaos of competition or sparring you will constantly be punished - Good Schools and Teachers might drive you crazy with practicing this over and over but trust me it is worth it!!!

[@trodai9607]

MMM THEM V CUTS @ 1:52 THO

[@sharkinahat]

You should do something to promote your channel, you should have +140K subscribers not 14K as your videos are by far the best as far as HEMA videos go. Maybe ask Skallagrim for a guest appearance (and to post a video on his channel)? Maybe also other 'sword' youtubers would be willing to help?

[@vovantuongquang8586]

Grzegorz Kalinski They did have a collab with Skall in the past

[@brokenursa9986]

This is something that i think i might be mostly okay on, but i haven't actually been able to test it to find out. I really need to find a sparring partner.

[@jthewelshwarlord6331]

What manufacturer made those longswords?

[@BloodandIronHEMA]

Swords used are in the Description

[@JustAnotherLondoner]

is this not fencing?

[@tonydowney106]

well random ambulance amazing

[@stitchowi]

How about some axe fighting ;)

[@chickensandwich1589]

An Axe as a primary weapon is for the plebs. 😎

[@ctrlaltdelete200390]

But more realistic historically than actual sword fights

[@chickensandwich1589]

@@ctrlaltdelete200390 nuh uhh

[@CoffeeSnep]

@@ctrlaltdelete200390 depends which period and what kind of axe. As a secondary, the axe was more common simply out of cost to make it in the early medieval period (dark ages), but as we go along and more people can afford swords, the sword becomes a much more common sidearm. Heavier, two handed axes like the Dane axe and bardiche were also popular amongst some in the earlier periods, which gave way to the extremely popular and effective poll axe, halberd, and other complex pole arms as primary weapons.

[@adamhunter1223]

Do you see a lot of newbies doing this kind of thing?

[@tarkajedi3331]

You see it all the time in media from movies to tv to games. It means you are not controling the centre line. The centre, the point and the measure are all lost when you don't lead with the sword. Watch HEMA competitions and you will see it all the time from beginners. The other thing is they are like a nervous colt prancing about....

[@codyschmidt510]

i cant do this by myself ;-;

[@Gatsu1995]

CodeWolf Gaming you could record videos of your swings, and then self correct hard on the footage.

[@chickensandwich1589]

I practice my shortsword skills by myself every night. 😸

[@wes2017]

I listened again and Nope...it's a female voice where the close up of the groin strike is. In fact she is still laughing and smirking in the very next scene at 1:02. Like I said, it's weird.

[@BloodandIronHEMA]

Wes no... that was Sean laughing. We were there, we filmed it. In fact, we film these side shots after all the other talking segments so her laughing has nothing to do with the previous scene. Stop creating drama for a non-issue.

[@wes2017]

Don't be insulting. Being critical over finding groin shots funny is not drama. I will say that in your editing some sound of her laughter may have been mixed up with other footage, but that's it. You find groin injury or attacks funny is just weird. Nuff said.

[@l33tsamurai]

I'm not sure I get the point of this... I'm sorry. had to do it...

[@chickensandwich1589]

You two need to make some babies. :3

[@chasecurtis5824]

The woman married.

[@wes2017]

It's weird how females laugh when a guy gets hit in or near the groin. For a teaching video the female instructor laughing was highly inappropriate.

[@BloodandIronHEMA]

Wes you realize he's the one that laughed right?