Fencing "off season"

[D+F+P=Hadouken!]

Ok, most sports have an off season of sorts, but fencing doesnt. The majority of athletes in these other sports take this time off to weight train and recover, getting themselves in peak condition for the up coming season. However, if you do this during the fencing season, you lose recovery time for fencing. With skill training (footwork, bladework, bouting, drilling) being intensive and requiring rest time to prevent injury, you lose time to weight/endurance/speed train, and you eventually slip further, and by the end of the season, you're more injury prone. What are the top athletes in fencing doing to balance conditioning with skill training?

[ThatReallyHurt]

I've read several posts that say that the best way to improve your fencing is to go and fence. Why try to do an intense weight training program at the same time?

[D+F+P=Hadouken!]

I've read several posts that say that the best way to improve your fencing is to go and fence. Why try to do an intense weight training program at the same time?

Sure, you can get good at fencing from fencing, but its when you start training, and not just fencing, that you run injury risks. When you push yourself past daily dummy work and footwork, plus tournaments and practices, the wear and tear on your body is considerable. You also develop inbalances that, when left un-attended, will be detrimental to performance.

[Inquartata]

I lift weights three days a week during the season. I have never noticed this deleterious effect on my fencing/recovery time of which you speak...

[Durando]

I've read several posts that say that the best way to improve your fencing is to go and fence. Why try to do an intense weight training program at the same time?

What me worry?

You write like you've never had an injury before. Enjoy it while it lasts.

[D+F+P=Hadouken!]

I lift weights three days a week during the season. I have never noticed this deleterious effect on my fencing/recovery time of which you speak...

Lucky. I'm prone to various injury's, so I try to budget my exertion/recovery time.

[veeco]

I'd say the US is a little bit different from the other countries, in terms of fencing season: all other countries I have fenced in have an off-season where there are no competitions, and clubs are sometimes closed during this off-season. Top athletes do take the time off during the off-season to rest and enjoy the rest of their life.

They do weight training during the season, but try and keep a lower level of exercise going during the rest period in order not to lose their shape. Usually this means running about 1/2 hour every 2 days or so.

[Ordway]

I've always considered the summer to be more or less an off-season. My typical routine has been to take a break from the end of Nationals to around September. On the East Coast, or at least in Maryland where I was the last five years, most of the clubs go into dormancy during the summer, when it's so awfully hot. There's some fencing going on, but not much, and few to no tournaments.

This year I only took off about 3 weeks after Nationals - here in San Diego the season seems to keep rolling all year round, and the weather makes it OK to fence even in August! But I'm glad I took the break, short as it was. It's psychological as well as physical.

[ThatReallyHurt]

What me worry?

You write like you've never had an injury before. Enjoy it while it lasts.

I wish I'd been so lucky... yes, I've had injuries that have affected my mobility before. I just sometimes have a hard time wrapping my head around the differences between the levels of dedication to the sport. I love fencing, practice at home, and compete in tournaments whenever I can, but I'm not nearly as dedicated (or spend as much time working at it) as DFP is. I forget that sometimes.

[nyacfencing]

The summer (July, August and September starting with the conclusion of Nationals) is generally considered the off-season, and you will see very few is any events during these months (as compared to the rest of the year). I think that this, in part, has to do with fencing being an in-door sport (primarily of course) and fencers want to get out and enjoy the summer.

We have virtually no fencing at the athletic club over the summer. However we do have training sessions once or twice a week where interested fencers will get together to do some basic non-weapon strength training drills (squat-jumps, foot work, etc.). The coaches don't even show up during the summer.

[telkanuru]

I agree. For about a month after SN's no one shows. I don't know about others, but I start upping my training starting in mid-august, and reach a full schedule again by the end of august. Unfortunately, I take a break then to go to school, so I resume (again) about a week and a half into September.

I don't train with weights. I do plyometric and endurance exercizes, as well as coordination exercizes. I run sometimes, but I have not found it particularly helpful. I have also never suffered an injury in 4 years of fencing (and 3 years of competative cross-country before that), or not one that stopped me for more than 30 minutes *knock on wood*, but I'm young yet.

[Aestro]

The summer (July, August and September starting with the conclusion of Nationals) is generally considered the off-season, and you will see very few is any events during these months (as compared to the rest of the year). I think that this, in part, has to do with fencing being an in-door sport (primarily of course) and fencers want to get out and enjoy the summer.

We have virtually no fencing at the athletic club over the summer. However we do have training sessions once or twice a week where interested fencers will get together to do some basic non-weapon strength training drills (squat-jumps, foot work, etc.). The coaches don't even show up during the summer.

I'm sure school has a good deal to do with it as well - most of the clubs around here are based out of either a college or high school, so during the summer it just becomes harder to pull members together.

On a side note, one of the drills we do in practice is to do some footwork on the opposite side from what we normally fence. I would imagine other training would help much more, but from what I hear fencer tend to become "one-sided", especially with the arms, given the linear nature of the sport. I know my right arm is significantly stronger than my left, but then again usually the single-handedness applies beyond fencing. Fencing just makes it worse.

[Durando]

I wish I'd been so lucky... yes, I've had injuries that have affected my mobility before.

Time to consider, then, your general level of fitness and what injuries you might have avoided by doing a little cross training.

I just sometimes have a hard time wrapping my head around the differences between the levels of dedication to the sport. I love fencing, practice at home, and compete in tournaments whenever I can, but I'm not nearly as dedicated (or spend as much time working at it) as DFP is. I forget that sometimes.

Yeah, it is a hard sport to just do on a leisure time basis. I'm coming back to it for the third [!] time.

Seems like I keep getting older, in spite of my best efforts. To fence at a level which I enjoy requires a certain level of dedication. It's my age that requires I do more on the physical side. I don't mind doing PT as much as I did when I was, say, 19. In fact, in some ways I'm in better shape at 37 than I was at 27.

It is also interesting to watch the final of any NAC-level tournament. I can't really remember seeing a fencer who made it into the final tableau who didn't have a good general level of fitness. (Someone will correct me with an hysterical counterexample now). Yeah, every now and then, you get some local hotshot A who is carrying around a few extra pounds, but they're *always* sweating hard and struggling with distance and point control by then.

[Lemberg]

My coach insists on having 4 practices a week over the summer, just like during the regular season. However, my coach does not mind when soemoen take s a week or two off during the off-season. Overall, in summer months we spend much more time playing soccer/basketball or doing strength or plyometric type excercises. Lots of footwork, much less bladework. I am actually on my way to a beach training right now.... footwork in the sand is something else... Anyone else do it?

[Inquartata]

I don't know how you people do it, really I don't. Taking time off from fencing? As much as a MONTH?! I'd go crazy...well...crazier.