Heavy swords and training
So, having my collarbone dislocated and being unable to train has led me to be slightly frustrated. However, it has also led me to think a lot, a large part of said thinking being devoted to HEMA and ways to improve my training once I can get back to action. My train of thought took me to an unexpected conclusion — well, not completely unexpected, as I’ve already read it in the very awesome book by Luis Preto (Understanding Physical Conditioning, which I highly recommend), but it had just slipped my mind for a while. Simply put, it would seem that training with heavier feders is highly beneficial. To start off with an anecdote that spurred me to write this short article:
The BAM effect
Our group was having our regular trainings. Now, there are a few folks that have trained with us for quite a while but still haven’t got their feders — instead, they have the Pavel Moc Lichtenauers. Yes, those great big hulking monsters of swords that weigh in the vicinity of 2 kg. So when we do drills, they do them with the Lichtenauers. But then came the time for sparring and the Lichtenauers are obviously out of the question, as the general consensus in our group is that concussions are unpleasant. So a feder is found to replace it. I, mostly having trained others, have been neglecting my own training a bit, and so just started getting back to the joys of actually training myself. This meant that I haven’t sparred the guy in a while, and was used to the speed from the drills — which were high intensity, and performed at about the same speed as sparring for those who had used feders. So we start the clock, and BAM I get hit in the face. Unsure of what happened, I go out of distance and start anew, making sure I’m more caref — BAM hit in the head again. After a few of these BAMs, I slowly managed to adapt, but damn!
At the start, I attributed the reason for the change in speed to the difference in weight — I mean, of course a 1.6 kg feder will be faster than a 2 kg monster. But then I started thinking — many of the fastest fencers I know train with heavier swords. Martin Fabian used the same Lichtenauer type of sword as the guy in our group for a long time, and then switched to a 1.8+ kg feder by Moc. Anyone who has fenced him knows how fast and technical he is. Anton Kohutovič has been using Trnavas in the 1.75—1.85 kg range, and he is fast enough to put lightning to shame. So maybe, I started thinking, using a heavier sword trains you to be fast. By this I mean that someone who trains to their maximum speed with a heavier sword for say, a year, will be closer to their full speed potential than someone who has been doing it with a lighter sword.
This doesn’t seem to be a particularly original idea: boxers often use weights to improve their speed when shadow boxing, the key being not using weights that are too heavy (so up to 1.5 kg) so that the muscles don’t switch to working slowly. Of course, I’d imagine similar rules apply to HEMA. Don’t overdo it with the weight, and if you want to be fast, you have to train fast. I know a lot of people in the community disagree on the importance of speed, but it is a big aspect of fencing, one that shouldn’t be overlooked. And while I do agree that speed is only an aspect of it, it still is an aspect. One more thing needs to be said about training the speed of our strikes: people have a tendency of doing things in the opposite way of what they should do, especially in fencing — so when they spar, they try striking faster than they are able to, thus losing proper stance and posture, while going slower than they can when drilling. If you want to be efficient, you must only strike as fast as you can while maintaining correct, and try to go as fast as possible when training. Don’t destroy what you have trained for by trying to be just that little bit faster when push comes to shove.
Don’t overdo it with the weight, and if you want to be fast, you have to train fast.
Again, by heavier swords I do not mean we should start using feders of 3 kg and above. If nothing else, those would hit way too hard for comfort. However, swords that come in the 1700—2000 g range are more in line with what I’m talking about. This allows for the achievement of our speed potential, while still being reasonable in the severity of their hits. If you are uncomfortable with using such a heavy sword for drilling, I’d recommend looking into the 1.95 kg version of the Swing by MBlades. Also to note is that while feders of the weight I recommend in this article are great for drills and friendly sparring, I wouldn’t want to see them prevalent in tournaments, since a greater weight means heavier hits as a rule of thumb, which can easily lead to more severe injuries.
So, that’s it for my short ramble. What do you folks think? Has anyone come to similar conclusions? And if anyone will actually start using a heavier sword, please share your experience!
DISCLAIMER:
The article is written with people who have been training longsword for a while, and have proper form when striking. If you are just starting out, listen to the advice your trainer gives you. A sword too heavy for you might stress your joints.
EDIT/UPDATE:
I had the luck of talking to Luis Preto a fair bit this weekend, and since is far more educated in the area, asked him about using heavier/lighter than normal swords. Heavier swords do indeed build better explosive strength (training with up to 25% of your maximum strength is the rule of thumb for starting strength), and so help with speed. Lighter than normal swords can be used to make an attack at a greater speed and remember the muscle pattern, hopefully moving that muscle pattern to the heavier sword to break muscles being used to the weight of a normal sword, thus also increasing speed (provided of course that weight distribution etc. etc. is still good). So, ideally, you should train with 3 swords: one very light (let's say 1,3-1,4kgkg) one normal (let's say 1,6-1,9kg) and one heavy (2,5-3kg). The weights are given for swords of 130+cm, of course.
