Being able to mechanically conduct a technique is important for establishing a combative base. However to be successful with a given technique require…

Even brand new students who’ve never held a sword before share experiences of feeling like they look stupid at their first class. Many resist ever h…

Keeping a new skill in the active portion of the brain allows you to return to serious study of that skill (for example in a weekly class) more ready …

I’ve recently become more aware of a "helpful" person in my classes. This person is so helpful they want to make sure that their partner never fails…

Ideally every lunge, every cut, parry you perform on your dominant side you would echo on your non-dominant side. This not only leads to a more physic…

Slow practice and fencing does not prepare you for combat. The truest test of martial combat exists without self-imposed limitations on speed.

Often when we start into something new, we’re eager to get past that first awkward and potentially embarrassing stage and get onto looking like a ba…

Perfection is the enemy of a healthy training mindset. Not simply the pursuit of it but more dangerously the achievement of it. There’s no ‘up' fr…

This week we’ll examine some useful tools to help alleviate stress during combat training and get us on the path to sound tactical responsiveness.

My student's flight response has been engaged. She is reacting, not responding. She knows what she wants to do but every time the particular stimulus …