The modern on guard

[drippingwet]

Lukovich said the advantages of a low on guard were as follows:

- unstiff shoulder.
- relaxation of arm and shoulder, ergo easier manipulation.
- makes blade contact harder for opponent.
- easier time thrusts against low line attacks.
- the upper line can be better controlled. The direction of parry is concealed, making feint attacks dfficult.
- practically the whole side of the fencer is covered.
- more difficult to get a fencer out of a defensive position
- easier to limit parries by going up from down rather than vice versa.
- eliminates leaning on blade for support and orientation while distance is being kept.

Few things though:

Why would a low guard conceal the direction of a parry any more than parrying from a high guard, considering you can vary the parry from a high guard too?

Easier to limit parries - does this mean that if you're in a high guard, you may have to parry high or low, whereas from a low guard, you generally only have to move upwards?

And I didn't get what the last advantage was all about???

This is interesting though. I don't see many high level fencers on guard in octave much. Have things changed since Lukovich published this stuff? Did widespread use of the low guard ever manifest?

What are the disadvantages of a low guard?

What are the advantages of a high guard?

[oiuyt]

The majority of the movement coming from low to high is the upwards movement. most of the change to one side or the other is therefore concealled in that "noise" (as well as being somewhat more gradual). A blade moving left or right is obviously moving left or right. A blade moving 10 degress left of up is not obviously different than a blade moving 10 degrees right of up. Theoretically.

I think the easier to limit parries is on attacks from a low guard, although that is unclear.

Last advantage is the removal of a common bad habit. Many/most fencers use the relative position of the blades to help determine distance. This, then leaves them vulnerable to a smart opponent. A fencer who fencers with a low guard MUST learn to correctly judge distance based on how far away an opponent actually is.

Which Lukovich book/document was the source of this? Was he proposing unvarying use of a low guard position, or using it as an option?

I tend to use a low guard a relatively high percentage of the time in both epee and foil. I tend to have a better sense of real distance than most of my opponents (see the final advantage). I also tend not to have the handspeed of many foilists and I'd prefer to fence the game with as little blade interaction as possible. Removing my blade from common lines helps with that (advantage #3). That said, I do not think that it's always the right choice. As with everything else in fencing it is situation/opponent dependent.

-B :)

[drippingwet]

Electric foil fencing: advanced competitive training.

"Both methods of on guard are adopted in the electrc foil. Many fencers prefer the older method while others use the new one. In the future we must reckon with the combination and alternate application of the two as a tactical weapon on the part of the fencers. The new style, the new way of fencing will make use of the mechanical, tactical and technical advantages involved in both methods of on guard."

[davtsung]

Observe Golubitsky's DVD and it should be more clear what those advantages correlate to.

[oiuyt]

Originally Posted by drippingwet

Electric foil fencing: advanced competitive training.

"Both methods of on guard are adopted in the electrc foil. Many fencers prefer the older method while others use the new one. In the future we must reckon with the combination and alternate application of the two as a tactical weapon on the part of the fencers. The new style, the new way of fencing will make use of the mechanical, tactical and technical advantages involved in both methods of on guard."

Okay, that fits well with what I agree with. Always nice to agree with the recognized experts. :)

Note that his book isn't particularly recent. His future is now.

-B :)

[drippingwet]

So what are the advantages of high guard and the disadvantages of low guard, and why don't I see much low on guard being used at the top?

[drippingwet]

Originally Posted by davtsung

Observe Golubitsky's DVD and it should be more clear what those advantages correlate to.

Could you please explain a bit more? Are you on about Golden Bouts or the other one? I've seen both but no great facts spring to mind concerning a low guard???