Maybe I'm looking at it wrong, but there was a tell throughout most of the examples. Your sword came up and paused for a fraction of a second before you attacked. The first three examples, even at normal playback speed, the raise and pause was noticeable enough that a re-alignment or reset could be forced by the opponent repositioning the sword or offhand to close off the line. It's still a fast action, but not so fast as to be unaddressable. The fourth example I'd say is about as close to "no tell" as it got--there was no hesitation on your sword moving, it was down in a low guard and then there in the person's arm, no pause or other action giving it away when compared to the first three examples.

Hi Rob, This is a bit of an unrelated comment. I'm halfway through your book and I have realised that I had not trained at all the basics of fencing during these 3 years. Most of our training is on bladework and positioning but things such as how to efficiency perform a lunge or a parry were never taught in depth. On top of that I realised I need A LOT of training to properly understand measure. I still think these 3y of Destreza were useful, but I would have liked to build these bladework and positioning techniques AFTER properly understanding how to do the fundamentals: lunge, parry and understand time and measure. Thanks for your book and videos :)

You consider your preparation of bringing your sword online as part of the hand extension of the attack?

The "not being historical" argument as I see it hinges on what definition we are using: colloquial or academic? Let's say you are fencing Fiore and throw in a Zwerchhau when it suits your needs. If we are using colloquial definition of historical, then you are perfectly historical, there is a mountain of evidence for people being trained in both Italy and HRE of the time (exhibit one being Fiore himself), so someone knowing both styles is so likely it is almost inevitable, ergo you are fencing like someone in the period would've fenced. The academic definition of historical, however, is very strict, either it is written down or it isn't - and there is no trace of Zwerchhau by name or by execution in Fiore, therefore what you are doing is not historical. It may be appropriate to the period, but it is not historical, and if we take Fiore at his written word, it is not how he himself fenced. Thing is, I'm convinced that while you can do fairly well in tournaments if you fence strictly according to a particular manuscript, you will never be able to be the best. One part is what was said in the video, you have your own strengths and weaknesses, but the setting of tournament itself is biased to some approaches as opposed to others by virtue of psychology, equipment used and people you face. I mean, I like Destreza as much as the next guy, but even historical diestros decided to cut it out with their tall stances after the first major war they fought.

Great video as always, Rob. Thanks for taking the time to break down your thoughts and methods. I've always been a sword first person (primarily, there are always exceptions) and I believe I actually learned this from working with you at a Pennsic years ago now. Speaking of, I hope I get the opportunity to work with you again. Been too long since I've been at the same event as you. Cheers!

From experience, it is better to not feed the trolls. They are just going to waste your time. They are seeking attention and arguing with them is giving them exactly what they want. Keep releasing great content and ignore the trolls for your own mental state.

That was informative. Showing how it is intended to be used in context with other techniques. 👍

Are you HEMA trained, or have you had classical/Olympic style fencing?

So this is false as I did not say the sword and the body should leave at the same time on every attack. I said that both are nessasary and people to much strain on always doing sword before body. I said it's not about sword before body it's about being aware of which body part tempo you spent and using your fastest one at the right time. I also clearly stated when cutting the sword should go first. I also said if you have dealt with the threat through means of time you do not need to lead the way with the sword. Example if I have the line covered and I fient with my feet or body and they react with a parry. They have now spent thier fastest tempo and I have not. I still have my fastest tempo to then attack and the ones ones they have left are slower then mine. There is not one place I said to do it every time. The entire post I made was about how both are useful. If you had also watched the videos I posted talking about it I clearly say that alot on the videos. You definitly did not look into or understand my opinion on the matter before making this video .i also stated that you do body and sword same time more often then not. As I looked at a ton of your footage and our footage expcially in rapier and dagger you usually start the action with the body. Literally your reasons for doing body before sword I had stated in the post, I had stated it's not about one or the other it's about when to do one more then the other. I also did not menchin the no Tell Lunge once in my post.

The guy on the right keeps always a low stand and a low guard. Not of my choice indeed.

Good point and easy to put into practice!

Mouth breather

The camera man is breathing so hard

I just rewatched this video and it reminded me that back in 2018 I got to battle a really tall fighter with Singlestick, that was dominating his pools, twice in consecutive tournaments, firstly in the eliminations, and then in the gold medal match. I couldn’t reach him, I tried and got hit, then switched modes and did all these things Rob suggests: when he went into a hanger, I struck the inside of his sword hard, so his blade slid under his armpit such that he couldn’t riposte while I hit his leg and escaped. I chased his guard changes to his wrist or forearm. I provoked to his head and mutated to his knee. I waited in fool and then parried and counter-struck his leg as he stepped forward. I used my mobility to void and counter-strike to his head as he leaned out to strike wide. I bobbed and weaved and swerved and then when he chose to wait me out I pounced and caught him when he didn’t think I could reach him. When he acted aggressively, and chased me down, I ran straight at him and risked the doubled, or sidestepped and clipped his leg under his attack… They were tough matches and exploratory, so not fought with known tools, but I don’t think I did the same exact thing twice, which further helped me succeed, but also illustrated to me that there is a whole bag of tricks for battling taller opponents… 😊

Wish I had heard of this sooner. When might be the next class? I’m mostly interested in rapier & dagger

Two top-tier rapier masters in the present.... what a match!

Some folks may find that regularly performing static side planks will be of great utility here.

Thanks Rob, this really made me stop and think. I hope there’s more!

It was a fantastic event! Thank you so much for hosting.

Great video! Your rapier's twisted swept hilt and quillons are absolutely gorgeous. May I ask where you acquired such a hilt?

Thanks for the great and helpful video. If my half+3 lands on a 38" blade, and my choices are 37 or 39, which would you suggest?

What style is this? Italian?

Are you a millionaire?

The title makes me see Russel Crowe shouting. "Are you not entertained?" Lol.

Excellent lesson/advice as always, Rob. Always appreciate you sharing your knowledge.

I watch a video of a master kendo fighter and teacher in Japan watching top HEMA fighters. He was impressed and admired the skill and ability of the HEMA fighters. There is a video of the same master handling a long sword and a rapier He very much liked the pommel and the cross on the sword. He said the rapier was scary because he could not see the tip. He was very impressed.

Funny enough we receive a lot of criticism from fringe living history activities like SCA. Which is funny because they are playing their own game with rattan bats or adopt less than optimal rules of engagement on the C&T ignoring most of the time the historical sources. On the other hand this organization loves to piggy back on the attention HEMA receive. On the other hand I have observe mostly here in Missouri and Kansas a casual approach to the historical sources or even a complete absence of it....individuals who are making money out of HEMA, but completely eschew the "H" on it. Which is a shame of itself but it is inevitable.

For an outsider to the community the academic and the martial artist may seem segregated. There is plenty of martial artist who never touch a historical source , just like plenty of academics who never go for the practical application of whatever sources they are studying....and this is true not just for HEMA but for almost anything martial arts related. But we are seeing similar HEMA analogs in the form and study of Historical Asian Martial Arts and Historical African Martial Arts. At the end at least in HEMA we are observing the martial artist gravitating towards the historical and academic elements and vice versa in the best of cases. After all HEMA is in nature a Multidisciplinary field of study with some very unique ramifications.

I know that this is an old video, but what are those tennis balls on ropes for?

I am researching sabers from the Middle East. Mainly, when Turks used rapiers, they held high guard and made diagonal cuts. Looks like it was used. If a right-handed person does it, there are two ways: from the upper right to the lower left, and from the lower left to the upper right. He slashes at them with his rapier, knocks them off, and tries to get in by shifting the tip of his sword. One of the successes（1:28） on the Saber side seems to be intercourse with the method used by this Turk.

Good lord this guy is scary with a rapier but he really should switch weapons hallway through.

This is one of the smoothest rapier fencers that I’ve seen

I would recommend for further experimentation to pair the messer with a buckler ( this should alleviate some of the disadvantages for the messer user). Also it would be interesting to see sidesword/ rapier and buckler vs rapier and dagger.

Love how none of the tips involved faster footwork, it goes to show how many elements are involved in speed, amazing tips!

Maybe a parry dagger could make a difference for the Saber user. Just an idea from a person who never held a sword in his hand.

Staying on the outside to try and snipe against a rapier is extremely tough and in my limited experience, usually ends badly for me. If the saber or side sword guy doesn’t parry or overpower the rapier and move in quickly leading to an effective strike, it is a big mismatch. And of course that’s easier said than done with the reach difference too. Fun to experiment for sure!

This looked so one sided I wonder if the sabre/messer guy could have done anything to even the odds

Nice. I really like mixed weapon sparring. It can do a good job of highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of a weapon.

Hey it me!

Nice experiment, it is hard to fence with a sabre against a rapier and it must be nearly impossible to confront one with a messer, however weighted scoring may level the odds a bit, a cut with the rapier and a cut with the sabre are not the same thing. Maybe 2 points for a rapier thrust or a sabre cut or thrust and 1 point for a rapier cut?

I enjoy the experiment of Sidesword Vs Rapier, it almost always end bad for me until I finally get the measure right lol

Your raffier game broke my prejudice. Very good. I'd love to meet you in the near term and try sparring. If you can play an exotic game, you can go where you are. :)

Good match! Is there any situation where is advantagious to fight without the dagger? If I recall correctly, Thibault stated that with just the rapier you could fend a rapier and dagger opponent, but I am not convinced at all.

How do these parries change when fencing rapier+dagger instead of only rapier? Where I practice we only move the arm in rapier vs moving the hip as well when paired with a dagger. Do you advice it so?

Visiting back your "old" videos after having precticed a couple of years of Destreza. Our school is quite obssessed with controlling the blade at all times and it's quite funny to see you performing an "atajo" and "estocada de medio circulo" (these are the Destreza terms for the movements you do when you use force to concol the opponents blade). Arguably, you would need to do a diagonal step instead of a straight one, but still, very similar movement. I have bought your book and I am looking forward to see which concepts I can apply so I can improve my fencing while maintaining the main characteristics of Destreza :) It's a bit complicated as we do not count cuts unless they are made to the neck. In a similar way, we only count thrusts to the shoulders, neck and head. Besides, our guard is a mix between a high and a mid one, putting the sword in an almost straight angle, 90º from the body. With all these differences, not all your teachings can be applied, but it looks like the root concepts can. Looking forward to get your book shipped and start analysing it!

Hope I could see the saber match between you and Josh. The guy has a very interesting style of footwork, curious to see how your style adapt against him jumping all over the place

That high low feint on the second point was very nice.

The moment I saw the small ring, I could already tell this video won’t be too long. I’m looking forward to see your saber match.

What a small ring! Not a lot of room for error in there.