This is from an email exchange I had with several coaching friends a few years back. I was reminded of it by several of the discussions about the word tempo in Allen Evan's blog. I've revised it a bit to be more applicable to a blog entry.
Up until a few years back, I'd never had any direct, coherent instruction in tempo. This is hardly surprising given the strength of American fencing coaching (which has been vastly improved) and the chimeric nature of the word tempo, used differently by
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Well, it's been a while since I've blogged. I've been upping my fencing, my coaching, and my out of club working out. This has left me less interested in keeping a detailed training blog. As I settle into the new routine, I might return to some of the training blog, but it will probably be less intensive.
As of now, I'm more going to focus on training thoughts and coaching thoughts. Maybe that will be more interesting for folks to read.
This week is the beginning of a new quarter at t
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Started off with soccer this morning, followed by sprints.
Then another plyo circuit.
Then footwork, focusing on fast, controlled steps and change of tempo. Two sequences we did were: fast double advance, slow advance, fast advance lunge and fast double retreat, jump back, slow advance, fast advance lunge.
Then suited up for drills. Worked several off the line options starting with a small slide preparation. First, takeover attack v. an opponent that settles on their first step. 5
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Warmed up with the agility ladder, then did some medicine ball tosses.
Did a bit of pole work, focusing on slow start, accelerated finish and hitting with the top 3 inches of the saber. Lots of mechanical issues, so probably didn't set up the sequence very well.
Suited up and worked on long attacks, focusing on a tempo change for the attack finish. Attacker presses while defender retreats. Defender stops and attempts a stop-hit, attacker should accelerate and finish.
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Warmed up with jogging with direction changing and sprinting. Stretched.
Then did footwork. Focus was on low, strong lunges and a relaxed shoulder. Conditioning was mixed into the footwork, sometimes as punishment.
Then some dummy work. Focus initially on cutting with just the top 3 inches of the saber. First from slow step, advance lunge. Then slow step, double advance lunge, then slow step, triple advance lunge. Always attacking off the back foot in the s
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Started the day with plenty of "not so young anymore" pains, mostly in my hips, knees, and feet.
Warmed up with 1.2 mile run. Then plenty of sprints. Then a plyo circuit. One of the plyo drills was pretty awesome.
Mirroring drill:
Set two cones 3~4 meters apart. Partners face each other in a low, athletic stance across the line made by the cones. One partner is the leader and may side shuffle towards either cone. If they reach a cone, they touch it. The leader does not move in a p
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Started off with a 1.2 mile run. 12:30ish, 2nd to finish. Then 40 yd sprints, 6 seconds each trial.
Then some fitness metric stuff. Good stuff, which we will be using throughout the year in the sports agility and fitness class.
Footwork:
Length of strip with small steps. Slow advancing, slow retreating. Medium advancing, medium retreating. Fast advancing, fast retreating. Focus on keep all steps small. Then advance lunge, recover back. Then small, slow double advance accelerated
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Good stuff:
Toward the end, better focus off the line. Smoothed out my hand a bit.
Not so good stuff:
Mostly everything else. Rushing in my preparation, finishing my attack slowly (and with a lunge). Standing up in my preparation. Rushing off the line. Big with my hand in preparation. Puling my arm rather than hiding my blade. Attacking to closed lines. Basically, fencing like crap.
Had a good talk with the head coach before class started. Told her after the clubs performance at nationals (3 medals), I wanted a national medal. She was glad to see the hunger. Told me she was going to have to break me in order to get me out of my head. She's probably right, but I think I want it enough to work through the changes. It kind of reminded me of the scene in Empire when Luke starts training with Yoda.
Warmed up with some light jogging -> plyometrics -> footwork.
Suited up. Warmed up blades. Then started with simultaneous actions. Focused tonight on being deep and ready at the line and making a fast, strong start. The deep stance allows for a greater, earlier utilization of the legs for strong movements. For a strong advance lunge off the line, the focus was making a correct attack immediately, which if your opponent is used to a more relaxed tempo simultaneous, can be your
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Yesterday 10:25 AM 