lunging pads

[Alain]

Hey,

I know a lot of the recent posts have talked about using balls (y'know which one I meant) for target practice. The original question was for a lunging pad, and it's just an idea but you could always try to find (padded) flat surfaces. As an example, the horsey thing in a gymnasium is great - you can hit it straight on, or practice flick-hits around the different sides. If there's any way you could similate that kind of thing, then it would probably be just as good. Not only for the benefit of technique, but repeating actions for a long time will help strengthen your muscles, too.

All the best

[raymac]

Well, personally I don't see why you would ask other people whether or not you should buy one. You probably have them at your club, and if they help you, buy one. If not, don't. I don't want to come off as a dick or anything but you need to start making your own decisions, not relying on others for every little nuance of information. I realize all you want is an opinion, or some piece of advice to help you in your choice, but sometimes you need to come up with those things on your own; maybe asking your coach about areas that you need to work on, then purchasing the corresponding equipment to aid your training.

When I started fencing back in September of this past year, a lunging pad was one of the first things I made. I stopped at Fabricland on the way back from a lesson, and bought a foam chair pad as well as a metre of grey fabric, so it would look a little nicer. After measuring out the size after the foam was wrapped, I put a dot with permanent black marker in the middle of the pad, and hung it on a hook on my bedroom door. Another thing I use is a tennis ball, which has been hung from the ceiling by a string, and is a measured distance (barely inside lunging range) of a golf ball. I beat the tennis ball out of the way, hit the golf ball, resume en garde and disengage the tennis ball as it swings back.

On a side note, I was obviously referring to o_o, and it's good to see his post has been deleted, and his posting privileges suspended.

[drippingwet]

No, haven't used a lunging pad before, but have now made one.

[Twinkletoes]

"Another thing I use is a tennis ball, which has been hung from the ceiling by a string, and is a measured distance (barely inside lunging range) of a golf ball. I beat the tennis ball out of the way, hit the golf ball, resume en garde and disengage the tennis ball as it swings back. " (RAYMAC)

Actually I like that suggestion since I hadn't considered using both a tennis ball and a smaller ball behind it to simulate the beat attack + disengage. Very clever.

Regarding a lunging pad, the thread's topic, I would simply add that I also have a makeshift padded thing which I lunge at repeatedly. It's good homework to lunge every day.Even at home.


cheers,

Marc

[drippingwet]

OK, I learned some uses for the lunging pad from Ziemowit Wojciechowski's book. Actually, it would be interesting to hear what you guys use them for. For those who are using lunging pads just for practicing lunging, there are many interesting uses and exerises for them.

A typical lunging pad is about the same area as an adult torso (about 50cm long and 30cm wide). It includes 5 circles of 5cm diameter, orientated in the same way as the number 5 on a dice i.e. one in the middle, and four surounding it.

Some exercises:

- lunging followed by fast remise while recovering.
- hitting a circle with balestra-lunge as many times as possible in 20 seconds.
- hitting a chosen circle from different hand positions and from different distances e.g. various lengths of lunge, step-lunge, step-jump-lunge.
- from riposting ditance, hitting a chosen circle after parrying, parrying with step forward, parrying with step backward.
- change distance and hand position, waiting for trainer to call a particular circle to hit.
- hitting a circle at various degrees of arm extention.

Can't be bad for coordination/speed/accuracy. They're just one part of a fencer's complete training programme. A lot of us may not even realise the huge number of exercises that can be done to improve your fencing. Individual coaching is just another element. But even then, some people may be lucky to get 10 mins coaching/week. It seems that top fencers should get roughly a total of at least 2-4 hours individual coaching/week. So 10 minutes, or even an hour, is perhaps something that seriously needs to be sorted out if those people are going to really achieve.

I'm doing something about my situation. I take my playing with swords very seriously, but currently have been getting 1hr 1:1 per week. NOT enough, so am getting a job to push it up to 2 (although it's kind of an ambition to achieve at least 4 hours coaching and 10 hours sparring per week). Combine that with independant training exercises and a physical exercise routine, sparring, frequent competition, and I'm sure I'll start improving much faster than I have been. The thing is, if you don't get much coaching, then you don't get much time on repetition/drills on top of your tactical training. Compare an hour/week with fencers at world-class centres, who can maybe drill pretty much every single day.

We aren't born as complete fencers. Some might have a gift of tempo, or tactical thinking, etc, but we still need coaching. For people who are disillusioned, think of it like this... fencing is a bit like chess, and if an average person were to have a game of chess, they'd win some and lose some, just like an average fencer. The chess player/fencer with more experience will win even more. But a well taught chess player/fencer will perhaps have the ability to think ahead and strategise, use tactics, etc, and win many times. If you're not doing that, then I wouldn't be surprised if you're not winning/progressing as much as you want, ergo disillusioned. It's not necessarily your fault, just that you haven't had the coaching, just like you can't exepect to pass an exam if haven't been taught the stuff.

Anyway, the book is a good book. Useful to coach. Useful to fencer e.g. some tactical ideas and ideas for independant training.

[drippingwet]

P.S. The book is Theory, Methods and Exercises in Fencing.