Francesco Altoni is one scientific fellow. He likes to keep his sword point as far forward as he can while on guard, but he noticed that if he lifts or lowers his hand, it effects how far he can reach. To compensate, he decided to shorten or lengthen his guard position to make the point stay equally far in all heights.

He has three heights: mezzana, alta and bassa, middle, high and low respectively, which all have different lengths of the passo, or the pace. He tells us to form a circle with the radius of the length of the pace in the middle position (2/3 of your body's height), place our right foot in the center, left on the diameter and the fist with the sword on the diameter opposite of the left foot.

To get the correct variations for the alta and bassa guards, and also the mmezzana, type here your height in centimeters and hit "compute". Have fun!

Here is a short video clip of the "funny walks" or "animal walks" that I keep in high esteem. These exercises come in many ways and forms, and now that I videoed myself I can't be too happy about the form, but well, at least there is room for improvement.

These form one of the most important conditioning routines I personally use, and I like them for the easiness, as you don't need anything special in order to do them.

Note about the way I usually do these: I do the animal walk on one side of the room, and then casually walk around the room until I start the next one. I did most of the exercises for this video that way, apart from a few exceptions. This way allows me to breathe in between and actually make the walks comfortable, as they get associated with casual walking, which is really important. This is not the only way to do these, so you are free to experiment. And remember to control your actions through breathing, wherever you see my movement look jagged, it is mostly due to not breathing as well as I should.

Since I have made the decision to gently turn my life upside-down and therefore the right way around, and begin to concentrate full-time on the study of Western Martial Arts, and the tradizione Bolognese in particular, this website will serve not just as my private blog, but as an information resource concerning these styles, and a channel of promoting my study.

This will involve a major overhaul of the site itself, and I will transfer it to another service provider (a cheaper one with better suited features). This might also result in some time off-line, but I hope I can keep that to minimum.

I will be posting about the progress of the new site as it happens.

A few pictures from the camp at Hungary (the pics under "Edzőtábor 2008 Csattogóvölgy"), at the Order of the Sword website.

John Clements, the controversial figure unfortunately considered a lead researcher in the field by the ignorant, has put online a near hour long web documentary about the European martial heritage.

Before getting into trouble, I say unfortunately mainly because of the sad attempt to either present what amounts to an innocent, but very lacking understanding of Fiore dei Liberi, or an attempt to mislead people on purpose he gave us in his new work Masters of Medieval and Renaissance Martial Arts. I can, from reading the original Italian in the treatise, without bringing my own opinion to play at all, indicate that a great deal of what was presented was simply factually plain wrong.

Anyway, to come back on topic, here you can find the documentary. John states that he is not a professional video editor and that is true, watching a slideshow of images from treatises and period artwork is painful, because you only see a glimpse of the context where the image is taken from and it does not relate accurately to what is spoken in the narration. You don't have a list of the sources of the images either, which is a shame because at least I don't recognize all of them and it would be cool to know where they come from.

As for the content, I haven't had time to watch the whole thing yet, so take this more as simply posting a link than a full-scale review of the material. I actually gave up all hope when the topic turned from the basic John-style rant of movie fighting and misconceptions of medieval combat to a generalized view of the history of personal combat to the actual masters that wrote our source literature. This part reveals the unfortunate, and surprising truth about John's lack of knowledge. The only structure in this part is a loose chronological one, and the rest is simple name-dropping that does not dive deeper than that in any way. And what on earth does Malipiero have to do with Fiore at all? He should be given credit for publishing the facsimile, but what is "Fiore dei Liberi of Malipiero" that John is talking about here? That should tell you everything you need to know about this documentary, if my ears did not simply betray me.

Interestingly, shown and mentioned is an earlier, color painted version of Joachim Meyer. I didn't know one existed, and I'd love to get my hands on that, if it truly exists.. again, if the sources had been listed, this thing would be of even some use to us.

I might write more on this effort after seeing the whole thing. I guess it is worth watching even if the information is to be taken with a grain of salt. If I had seen this when I was starting out, I would've been twice more excited than I was back then (and I already was excited!).

It is very good that people do this kind of thing, and had this been done by anyone other but John I would praise it more. But from a "leading authority", even if that's completely self-proclaimed, I would expect more than name-dropping when it comes to the actual sources, which are the single most important aspect in making it possible for us to properly practice these arts today. In fact, it is these texts that define proper for us. Perhaps unfortunately for some hot-heads, this means that we need to understand the language of these texts to be able to read them and not to rely on translations made by others (which John can't do, especially for the Italian texts, as is apparent from the various beginner-level mistakes that even I can spot from his article in the aforementioned book). It means we have to think, and be completely open to the ideas presented in the texts. Our own, personal experience and preferences, our natural reactions and so are not to be trusted. It is not proper approach to attempt to see what we expect and want to see in the texts, rather, we need to build into ourselves what is written and attempt to make it natural for us. And what constitutes as natural is not that easy to define, culture has an effect on this. (Think how movies and boxing has made the straight punch feel like a natural action, and think how many times people brake the bones in their hand when they throw one).

But... go see the thing yourself if you have nothing better to do. It is worth it just trying to see how many of the illustrations you can recognize. That's a good exercise for those into research.

The amount of material in the Bolognese style is vast, and I hope that it will gain more attention in the future.

Here is a short video of me and Maaret practicing the first solo form of Giovanni Dall'Agocchie, in an informal setting after some training. Note also how I step differently with my bare feet.

For the names of the actions, see here.

The discussion of the usage of flow drills in teaching and practicing western martial arts has been going on quite a bit lately.

I see flow drills as being of great use to practice flow, of course, and also to bring instinctive reactions and learned responses closer together and finally making techniques more easily applied in more chaotic situations.

Regarding flow-drills generally over so called two (or more) -step drills is in my opinion not correct. Not only do the techniques need to be learned outside the flow first, but also the very way of practicing reflects the nature of the system studied.

The flow drill basically serves the following purposes:

1. To provide an alternative platform for practicing techniques
2. To teach flow, meaning the ability to move between techniques and respons to changing environments without delay
3. To ensure efficient use of training time by cutting out resets and pauses

The last one is related to the second, and while it is more about hows and whys of the exercise than what is being learned I list it because I wish to emphasize that the flow drill is a training tool and a concept in which and with which other things are practiced, whether the emphasis be in footwork, the application of a single technique, endirance or simply flow.

The caveat with the exercise is that most (all that I can think of right now, at least pre 18^th century) of the styles at least I am familiar with (and I use the word style in the sense that it is what do, since unfortunately we don't have much period information on ways of practice, and even if we had we couldn't take it to reflect every masters' approach) praise the strike done while your opponent tries to strike at you as the highest and most effective means of defense. This is also the hardest and most difficult to learn, and as an easier, or safer option is given the defense done in due tempi, or in two times. Instead of being a parry-riposte in the sense of launching a new attack without keeping the advantage gained by the initial defense these actions involve keeping control of the opponent's weapons through the use of a sidearm, a presa or a control with the off-hand, through measure or through bodily alignment. In either case, neither of these ways of defense leave much space for the continuation of the opponent so as to give any possibility for flow.

As an example we have the control of both the sword and the buckler by using the buckler after the bind in I.33, where, even if the defense (bind and strike) is done as two actions, the measure is controlled and the weapons held under control while the strike lands. Fiore has the Scambiare di punta, or exchange of thrust, where a counterthrust is placed as the opponent casts his own. And if that was to miss, Fiore advices us to take a hold of the opponent's sword handle with our left and then strike with the sword only held in one hand. The same theme is repeated; most of the techniques involve controlling the weapon with the left hand in various ways while delivering the strike. Only a handful of techniques involve leaving the attacker's weapon uncontrolled by contact when the strike is landed, and even in those cases the implication is that the weapon is in control through measure and configuration of the combatants, thus leaving enough safety margin to strike first and to continue if the opponent manages to again defend themself.

The Bolognese, given the state of my research, would tend to be a very good place for applying flow drills. They are different in this sense, and do describe something of the like even in the texts themselves. This does not mean they would not have the option for directness and quick kills, but, given the state of my research, the Bolognese is more suited for fencing or play than the earlier styles or the later use of the sword in the 17^th century. I will be writing more on this later, as I know more.

Coming to the 17th century we have the "true" rapier, still called by the Italians simply a spada. This weapon generally favoured attacks with the point. Working in a direct line to the opponent it aiming for a committed attack that was specially designed to be effective from the furthest possible range. Because of the slenderness of the blade it excelled in the actions of changing from one side of the opponent's blade to the other, always looking for an advantageous position. Because of this quickness it was not easy to control by force, but had to be controlled by very subtle and precise actions, which all led to the effectiveness of the thrusting attack. The favourable way of using the weapon was to force the opponent in to a committed attack and dispatching them with an attack of one's own at the same time. Properly executed, this works as a sudden, lightning fast approach from a very wide measure into a position where one of the antagonists has received the sword penetrated through their body all the way up to the hilt.

In the rapier play, the flow only becomes possible when there are actions performed in two times instead of a single-time action as above. This is good practice, and serves as an excellent platform for practicing the single-time response out of the context of a set drill starting from a wider measure. It also serves to teach flow, which is important even with the rapier, since your attacks may always end up being parried, or you may end up missing during the encounter.

It is important to remember that with the rapier, even if there is the possibility for playing in two tempi, it is not the preferred method, and as with the longsword and other weapons, here too it is possible to look for dominating the opponent's weapon after the initial defense thus depriving him from the possibility of easily continuing. If there is interest, I can provide examples of these ideas later.

When used with a dagger as a sidearm, the single time defense of the rapier becomes easier to perform and also the absolute preferred method of wounding. Apart from the issue of keeping your own sword free from the dagger of the opponent this is simple business. The whole purpose of the dagger is in making it possible to close one line of attack while striking another. The only other purpose is to make a stronger defense by conjoining the sword and the dagger for defense. This creates essentially two times, however. This technique is shown at least by the Bolognese, Fabris, Capoferro and Di Grassi. This is done against a cut, as against a thrust it is not wise (if I read him correctly, Di Grassi actually states this as being ridiculous). This is the only place where proper flow drills could in my opinion be created for the rapier and dagger, unless involved are vey complex forms of constant feinting, changing of measure and disengaging an closing of lines with the dagger that could be called a flow drill and would unarguably generate skills. A pass backwards to stifle the opponent's action is done in Capoferro's rapier and dagger, and such actions would possibly elongate the exchange. Indeed in the Bolognese style of Dall'Agocchie the basic way of rendering the opponent unsuccesful in their action is a pass backward with possible simultaneous cut to the sword arm.

Returning briefly to the Bolognese, there is slight implication to the use of yet another type of flow drill, where instead of both parties working in two times, alternately exchanging strikes and defending themselves from each this kind of drill involves one person defending in single or two times, and the other constantly throwing either continuing attacks or new attacks if they were hit. This type of practice is excellent preparation, but basically requires the one getting hit by correctly executed actions being of superior experience, or both being very experienced so as to keep the exercise properly structured and controlled, without instincts and reactions coming to play in the wrong places.

The understanding of flow drills is essential for teachers of the art and also for practitioners. The one thing to look for is a drill where all the actions are performed correctly, so that the flow is not generated by the expense of depriving one from their offensive part of the defense. Simply keeping one person in the defense, closing lines of incoming attacks as sometimes seen is not efficient and effective practice in most cases, especially if it is done without proper understanding of what is the goal of the exercise.

To explain more clearly, an exercise where one person throws strikes at the partner, and the partner is simply to avoid with footwork is very good practice. Sometimes this kind of action might be necessary, and it is a skill set independent from perhaps the most preferred method of defense (using a weapon of your own). Similarly, only defending by controlling the weapon in a similar exercise can be good, as long as it is done with the understanding that the defender is trying to control the situation as much as the attacker. Being able to keep the other person from hitting without hitting them back is again a skill set independent from the standard response, and can be useful in learning more subtle ways of controlling the opponent's weapon, especially if this kind of exercise is done from a position of unequality. This type of flow drill should, however, alway lead up to an exercise where the defender is allowed to express the proper way of defense, with as much domination and directness as necessary. The build-up by restrictions is not wrong, if properly done – but it is something to consider and to be careful with. As a further example, simply defending by way of controlling the weapon works as good build-up for opening lines in which to enter with attacks of the off-hand, but perhaps less so as a build up for working with the blade in the offense too, or for situations where the off-hand controls and the weapon offends.

To summarize here defined are different types of flow-drills. Those that are built around a technique that works in two times, and can be broken with an action that disrupts the flow. Then drills that are built around techniques that do not flow, but ask for a more dynamic platform and context where to be trained in. And finally flow drills where the flow comes from freedom of working with restrictions that prevent braking of the flow, such as one being simply able to avoid the attacks by footwork. This last one is more conceptual, and even there the flow can be stopped by clever way of playing within the rules: by using the freedom you are given to disrupt the flow.

I hope this gives also an idea of how the flow fits to the arts we practice, and how the training methods are a different thing from the actual expression of the art. By understanding the difference we can effectively utilize various training methods and get the best possible results. Early on this post I mentioned the two-step drills and suggested that some did not value them that much. It has been said that they involve one person practicing to lose, but this is really no different in a flow drill if the flow is eventually broken (as it should, otherwise the flow doesn't surve the purpose of learning the two mentioned goals; even the flow seizes to exist if the same coreography gets repeated tooo much). Finally, taking a hit and properly taking it with a smile on your face is hardly practicing to lose. It is practicing to practice and practicing to see what happens and what it looks like. It is an essential part of training and the study of martial arts, and it can be seen as borrowing your body for your training partner's sake - there's a lot to learn from that experience!

Routine. That is what it has felt like during this week. I am yet to write a positive summary of our splendid trip to Hungary, of some of the thoughts it woke in me (and perhaps us), about the experience of witnessing weapons, armor, original manuscript by Angelo Viggiani and so on, but I haven't quite been in the mood for that. Let me do it bit by bit, I might be reflecting back to our trip in the coming few posts.

Back to routine. After teaching three longsword classes and a rapier class for the Hungarians teaching has started to feel like routine. In no way am I saying it is any good - I personally sense a million things that need improvement and could be done so much better. But still I am confident in doing it. Yes, I can answer questions. I don't run out of ideas. I see the whole in my head quite clearly, which means that I also see the hole that is yet to be filled with new material. I get the sensations of "I wish I had actually read my Fabris properly", and that "I wish I knew what Marozzo would say about this". I see the boundaries and I like to go peeking beyond, shaking the walls. That is actually the most inspiring thing I can do to myself. I see the limits and I see the path that walks me beyond, further expanding the space in my mind which is the knowledge and understanding of this art.

Guy once related it to a painting. First there is the canvas, that, to start with, is either without boundaries to small and expandable. Then we get the first few strokes on that canvas with a lead pen. We can smudge them a bit, but they are there. Then we get some underpaint on, colors and shades. We then get more depth and finally more detail and so on. While one spot on the canvas eventually emerges, other sketches are made elsewhere, and the painting grows bigger and smaller areas are combined, revealing connections between them and in the end forming a whole, sensible picture. I like this metaphor, even if as an amateur painter I was always guilty of overpainting too much. :) I guess that doesn't quite apply here.

Capo Ferro puts it nicely. There is the reason, the nature, the art and the practice. The reasoning of swordplay "exists" regardless of our presence, understanding or ability to express it. It underlies everything, and applies in any possible world. Thus, I guess he would have called it divine, but I will leave that to those who wish to see it in such a way.

Then there is nature, which is the potential for following that reason; nature has given us two hands, so with those two we need to defend ourselves and utilize the weapons we have built to augment the defenses we were given directly by nature.

Art is the expression of this reason in accordance to the possibilities of this nature, and even if some of the masters would disagree with me, the rules can be expressed in various ways, thus creating different styles of this one art. Many go on about their true art, claiming their expression to be more close to the reasons and workings behind the limits of human ability, but I believe this to be an artifact of a competitive environment. As a researcher and practitioner of diverse historical styles I can not but to accept that while all of the arts I practice follow the reason and expressed by the same medium, the expression can be somewhat different and still sound. No two persons will ever perform and think exactly alike in any case, and while one would always emerge victorious in the science of a perfect world, psychology, natural disproportions, cunning and coincidence will always play a part in real-life fencing.

Finally there is practice, without which there would be no expression of the art and no ability for us to take advantage of the reason we as the only animals are able to comprehend. Without practice the art is of no use to us in defending ourselves, while just the practice, even without understanding the art can serve us a little. Both together, is however what we aim at.

I wish everybody to consider the above, since for me it puts beautifully the idea of how, what and when we should practice, and how we should think of ourselves as swordsmen, or -women, and how to conduct ourselves. Every discussion builds the art in us, and brings us closer to the reason. Every lunge we make, every step, every strike or cut, is an expression of the art and thus serves the reason just as the reason serves the practice.

In a modern perspective, there is perhaps no divine reason of swordplay unless there is knowledge of it. But there is nature and certain laws and things that occur from which this reason can be derived. The thought works either way, and I like the idea of putting the reason in the place of the highest thought, subordinating everything under it.

Routine. There really is no such thing yet. It is always an adventure. When I teach I delve into a different world, where nothing else matters - not in the same way at least. The interplay between me and the students is beautiful even when it is not working as well as it could. It still teaches something constantly. I love the process of seeing what things I seem to understand and what I don't, and then trying to fix it on the fly. However I do hope that in time this will become more subtle as my understanding grows larger.

The Bolognese spada da filo, a struggle of mine. There is so much information about the tradition, and some other researchers are so far beyond in their knowledge, that I am seriously planning on spending a month in the States simply to learn from them and get myself a head start. I will form my opinions, drills, my own emphasis and way of execution, but I wouldn't mind doing that. We will see.

The footwork is yet a bit clumsy, I am not absolutely confident how all the attacks should be performed, some things are still a bit sticky, but it gets better all the time. I love the style, and am planning on starting to teach it to others on a regular schedule here in Helsinki at some point fairly soon, if there is interest. Everybody seems to love it, so I guess it would work out fine. We will see!

There is an amount of negative feel in me at the moment, and it is coming off with me saying blunt things, there is a hint of rage in my eyes, there is frustration.

Maybe there is fear.

I feel like there is no understanding, no respect, no gratitude...

Bitterness is not good, and it is a dangerous thing that I seek when I lack courage, and it brings no results.

I have these books around me. I have this language to learn. I have these translations and I have this training in my head and some of it in my body.

I have one will, one passion that is greater than anything else. I have a struggle in my mind. This has gone on for quite some time already.

I wish to do things my way. I need a few people that would actually trust me and would actually respect me enough to do what I tell them and be at least remotely happy about it. They would get their say, especially if they would themselves go through the same trouble I am trying to put myself through. But, at least it feels to me like most take everything for granted. Like rain from the sky.

There are not many people doing active research with any kind of responsibility for results in the field of WMA in the world, let alone in Finland. I get the feeling that most people don't really see what this process is about, and how much trouble it takes, how much money it takes and how much time it takes. It is slow, it is boring and sometimes full of disappointment, and the moments of understanding are sometimes rare and in scattered along an uphill road.

The question why I do this is a good one, but easily understood. I wish to bring these arts accessible to other people, I want them to be taken for granted, I want them to be part of our culture and everyday life, but this is a dream that will perhaps be fullfilled by generations to come. For me, I simply want to use this art in the context where it can most often be used more or less as it was back then, and that is teaching it.

I don't travel around the world for myself because I enjoy it, I don't put time in learning styles that don't interest me because I'm a masochist, I don't labor in office work that I detest to make a fortune, I do all of this to be a benefit for the arts and the people who wish to have the arts as parts of their lives, no matter how small a part I wish to be useful.

I should not be bitter, since I feel like I have come a long way. I have taught people in Singapore, in Sweden, in Hungary, in France and a couple of times some have even been interested in my teaching in Finland. I have made a great many friends and learned things I did not imagine existed back when I started.

But this minor progress, this minor success makes me not thirsty for more, since that would not be the point, but it makes feel the potential, and the possibility for finally, finally discarding the dust off my sleeves, lettting go of the things that hold me back, and the possibility to be what I want to be and concentrate on the things that would benefit everybody.

I am not much use to any single individual by sitting in an office, but when teaching corpo a corpo I can be of direct use to people and make them happy and hopefully get closer to what they wish to be.

A lot of talk about myself, yes. I wish to make no claims. I welcome a fair fight anytime. I will teach anybody who wishes to learn, and I will keep my ears and eyes open to learn myself. I wonder how many people really understand my position and my goals? I really don't know. Usually these days when I travel abroad I am thought of as a professional, and I have to make the correction of being merely a student on the path. This is OK, and a good thing. Makes me wonder if I was better off somewhere else, in a different country. Maybe I could be a bit more positive.

There could be more honesty. More realization how much in the beginning we still are on this path. There are so many false claims made. There's a lot of bad research published on this subject, like Mr. Clements' essay on his fresh Masters of Medieval and Renaissance Martial Arts, which shows that he has not even read Fiore dei Liberi's treatises... If he had, he would know that leverage is discussed in the text and that there is no longsword techniques against multiple opponents. The poor people attack one by one, once specified even so as to have just one strike each.

I have a confrontational attitude towards the world and some other people; I am afraid to state my ambitions and that is why some don't know about them. I hope this to change by actually posting this small rant... this is not the kind of thing I wish to be posting, but I believe in honesty and the way I feel right now is no secret.

I identify myself as this classic example of a clumsy kid who wanted to do sports, but was bullied by those quicker and stronger and with better eye for team sports and thus was left kicking a football alone at home against the door of the garage.

And quite true this is. These days I say to people that I am a dog who needs his daily walk, if I don't get exercised I don't feel too good. But this change happened not so long time ago – basically just some time before I got really into training swordsmanship and so on. The Finnish army played a part in this, not that I got much exercise there, but I got to sit still so much that I realized something had to be done. So when most of the people headed to the town at night after the service I stayed at the island, ran around it, went to the obstacle course, went to the field to do push-ups and there it started.

Going back in time to my school years, I can't remember whether I was nine or ten or eleven, but something on those lines, and I was forced to try performing a cartwheel. A simple exercise for many, but not for this clumsy and unsure kid with weak arms and a level of control over his body that left a lot to be wished for. So I end up smashing myself on the mats, pulling a bunch of muscles from my flanks and walking funnily for a few days.

That has bugged me for years. Every single time I've seen a cartwheel done, by whoever, regardless of their physique or training or whatever, I have felt pain inside me. A longing, a wish, a hope. Even determination, even if I never took any real steps to overcome this problem.

A week ago, visiting Gunnar in southern Sweden I thought I'd give it a go, and it didn't go too well. And then there was Maaret standing in the doorway, looking out and laughing at my efforts. With a certain amount of pity in her tone she said: "Look, you need to go one extremity at a time, one-two-three and then around." She left me to practice, and sure enough, when she got back after a minute or two I was able to do it. Not too gracefully, but enough to be passed as a cartwheel.

A small thing, perhaps, but it is the joy found from small things that often feels the greatest. And the teaching of this story, if we need one, would be that – at least for me – it is swordsmanship that has taught me most of what I now consider part of myself (although in this example, Maaret gets credit for having the right words at that instant), and it never ceases to give and surprise.

I am writing in a hurry, which feels like a constant state at the moment. The Singaporeans have returned home, after a great month that lead up to two weeks which were even better with so many foreigners here, besides Ken, Greg, Tome, Yu Sarn and Anthony from Singapore we had Eli-Johanne and Petter from Norway and our own Henrik from Sweden, and we had a great time.. I will write a longer description of the Fiore five days when I get time. Right now I can say that I miss all these people, as I pack my things to leave to Sweden to meet another friend missed, Gunnar who now lives in southern Sweden.

Meanwhile check out a video clip from the Dagger Charity seminar held here some time ago: link.

There is a clear quality copy of Marozzo's 1536 edition online at the Bayerische Staatsbibliotek website. See here.

Nice to see these popping up. :)

The invasion has begun. We have had Ken from Singapore already for a week training with us, and he will be staying for the whole month, with others following soon for the Five Days of Fiore camp.

The best thing about this is that Ken writes a very informative blog which details my life as well because I spend most of my time at the salle, too. This saves my time as I don't have to write that much (just kidding).

Due to a few changes in my life lately I had the chance and got the drive to train almost every day for hours and hours for a full month, but there is a point where too much training and not enough rest starts taking a toll. I'm of the type that gets over-excited about things and tends to ignore certain warning signals. This is no good, and I need to pace myself more. As Mr Windsor rightly pointed out, this is something we need to be able to do and I need to be able to teach when I am over 70 years old, and wrecking myself by going too fast, too soon is not the correct path to this.

But it is hard too see it at times, I admit. But pain tells me that maybe I've seen it now, and there is no need to take it up to the point of injury simply to prove myself that yes, there is a limit. Perhaps it actually is wiser to listen to the warnings, respect the body for all the hard work and provide it with sufficient rest and recovery.

What then is sufficient? Well, there might be scientific answers to this question, but it does not take a scientist to say that it is more than I have given myself lately.. I have punished myself simply for the pleasure of having the time to do so, but that is oh so pointless.

Now with this said out loud in public I hope I will take this seriously and set a good example. Everyone's body is different as is everyone's current level of ability and fitness, but we can all listen to ourselves and act accordingly. The last thing I'd like to do is have to write here about a significant self-caused easily-avoidable injury that prevents me from training properly.. so I'll do my best to avoid such a situation.

On another subject, I have a new sidesword coming from Darkwood with a matching dagger, and a really lovely sharp, early-style sidesword coming from Vladimir Cervenka in Autumn 2009. To those starting with the sidesword, do so slowly, and make sure you keep your joints healthy, the weapon can be a bit strenuous to begin with.

I have always disliked solo forms. I have always thought that pair exercises are the most effective means of learning, I've always been about context, context, context!

I have also been known to be wrong, and have a head full of bumps after banging it against all four walls of the imaginary salle inside it.

I still agree with myself that it is all about context, but this goes beyond the obvious. A cut performed in the air is a cut performed in the air, a cut against a target, your partner, is just that. You can imagine the same context in the former example, and similarly you can imagine cutting your partner with such ease as if you were cutting thin air.

But that is obvious, that is not the context I am trying to bring up. Training methods are a vast and multi-faceted subject which applies differently to each individual. This comes down to the context of training practice, where a certain method needs to be applied to a certain person to achieve certain goals. This certainty is a thing that can be understood only after a relatively extensive amount of practice.

Everybody knows I'm into spada da filo at the moment, and propably for life since in it I feel like I have found a everlasting love. I'm talking about it all the time. And I extract a set of actions from the source text, and feel like I've found a gem, a treasure hidden for over four hundred years. Then I go somewhere private, take up my beloved sword, I feel the connection and a notepaper in my left hand I go through the solo form, step by step, getting it right*, repeating, repeating and repeating until my arms hurt from holding the sword up, and then some. And I love it all - and am confused as to why I love it so much.

Context. Each weapon needs to be taught differently, applying the same method to each of them does not yield the best results. Some of the weapons are more natural, some need to be made natural. And here comes the difference: in rapier, I feel that any solo exercise I practice is necessary to transform my body in a way that I can perform the actions required with ease (I am into the more "flashy", athletic style of using the weapon), with longsword, the solo exercises teach me mainly structure, but even that I feel like I learn better with feedback from a partner. I love wrestling, and I roll on the ground on my own a lot to teach myself how to move on the ground, and it is necessary. I learn to fall on my own before having someone throw me to ground. With the spada da filo, I practice solo forms to express myself through the aesthetics of the art, it is simply so beautiful, almost dance-like to me, while still maintaining effectiveness and grades of potential for incapacitating and lethal actions.

Wherein lies my issue, then? Why do I ramble about this? Why is it the longsword that I feel no need for solo exercise? It is because I have not yet found what it is that I can learn through doing the practice on my own. For me, the longsword has always been too versatile, and it applies on training context as well. Using the word "too" is a negative statement I leave into the text, for the instinctive use of it tells me a lot. It doesn't actually come as a surprise to me that the one system that is the least task specific (well, it isn't: Fiore is the archetype of dispatching your opponent in the first possible occasion with simplest means available, and that variety makes it less task specific in this discussion) is the most challenging to understand.

And wherein lies the solution? By practicing other weapons and leaving the longsword aside for a while I get perspective, which can perhaps lead to seeing the issue above as a possibility to use the longsword, or Fiore's material in general, to improve every aspect of my skills, to bring things together and then applying back to other areas of my interest: sidesword, rapier and smallsword.

There are still pieces yet to fall in their place, since I would like to see the sidesword as the weapon that brings everything together, but even if it can fullfill the task, longsword does it better.. Honesty is key, these thoughts can not be forced and reality can not be bent here. In the end what matters the most is with what system you wish to express yourself the most, which is the one weapon you would like to take with you to any fight. And after realizing this, going into a longsword fight you have the strength to leave the weapon of your love on the rack and instead pick up the tool that best serves you in the context at hand.

We are in a unique position for the first time in history: the era of swords has concluded in the use of it's original, lethal context. However, wielding weapons has always required skill and acquiring skill has always included practice. This we can take as seriously as it was done in the pages of history. Today, we can look back and see the emerge and decline of swords as a complete period, and use this view upon it to better understand the art as a whole as well as in it's individual expressions. A lifetime of study and learning, bettering oneself in every instant, challenging oneself and learning to overcome.

Next time going through a practice routine, give this a thought. Put yourself into the context of this. Yes, maybe it is silly, but try the make the masters of yesterday proud while you perform. Have them watch over you. Do them a service by doing your best. And perhaps one day their bones will seize to spin in their tombs.

^{*) as in the context of what I believe to be correct, I make mistakes regarding what I think would be the ideal way of performing, and I try to correct these. The actual ideal in my head is evolving and has sort of a life of it's own.}