Intermediate Solo Practice

[Neinteen]

So Far:

I obviously have the week off from school with the holidays and all, would like to spend part of my time working on foil in general. Last meet I had a successful 3-0 as B strip while our A Strip went 0-3. So I've now been bumped to A-Strip and we have a streak of all the good and private schools in January.

So...

What could I do, in a house ( It's cold outside... ) without punching holes into the walls or breaking something. Looking for something beyond just moving back and forth in a hall with footwork or just parrying the air 100 times. But it's probably all I can do.

Thanks!

[Inquartata]

Possibly you should work on eliminating split infinitives from your writing instead.

Meanwhile, kudos for finally tracking down the location of your shift key!

[Neinteen]

Originally Posted by Inquartata

Possibly you should work on eliminating split infinitives from your writing instead.

That's a literary preference not an error.

[Inquartata]

Meh, that's like saying murder isn't a crime, just a "preference".

( Just to be clear, both are incorrect. Murder IS a crime, and a split infinitive IS an error. )

[KidLazy]

Originally Posted by Neinteen

So Far:

I obviously have the week off from school with the holidays *snip* Looking for something beyond just moving back and forth in a hall with footwork or just parrying the air 100 times. But it's probably all I can do.

Thanks!

Visualization.
Imagining bout situtions while you are doing footwork and bladework.

It would be helpful if you build an adjustable dummy arm and practice with it.
See if you can hang the arm (instead of attach to the wall), let it swings freely (and responsively), that would be great.

[tbryan]

Originally Posted by Neinteen

What could I do, in a house without punching holes into the walls or breaking something. Looking for something beyond just moving back and forth in a hall with footwork or just parrying the air 100 times.

I'd do whatever your coach suggested when you asked her.

You could go through David Littell's footwork exercises. There are hours of fun there.

These exercises can help you think about and feel your balance and weight distribution in your footwork. Of course, it helps to have someone who is knowledgeable watch you and help you tie the exercises back to your footwork. If you have been fencing for any length of time, you may not be aware of places in your footwork where you are not well-balanced. Or you may be well-balanced until you are moving against an opponent on the strip.

Then again, restructuring anything in your footwork can take time, so that's probably not the best option if you're looking to sharpen up something in the short term.

[RITFencing]

Target work. Footwork. Work on things slowly; make sure you're sequencing everything properly, make sure what should be relaxed is relaxed and what should be tense is tense. Make sure you're on balance. Do it agonizingly slowly and make it PERFECT. Doing this enough will pay dividends. Do footwork with different tempos. Work on tempo and direction change. Work on keeping your hand relaxed and still as you move. General physical work is also excellent; a good core workout can be invaluable for a fencer.

It will help if you can set up a checklist for yourself. Even if it's just "2 strips of advances and retreats and ten lunges at the target." That will help you stick to your plan, especially if you write it down and check things off as you go.

[Peach]

Originally Posted by Inquartata

( Just to be clear, both are incorrect. Murder IS a crime, and a split infinitive IS an error. )

Split infinitives have a long history in the English language, and it was only in the mid-1800s that anyone suggested they were unacceptable (some think because of the analogy with Latin, which has infinitives that can't be split because they are only one word). Split infinitives have been the subject of much argument and controversy, and students were taught for some time in many grammar classes that they were wrong, but the construction isn't really incorrect. Sometimes it can be clumsy, of course, but then so are many otherwise correct constructions.

Murder, OTOH, is by definition a crime, because to name a death murder is to name it a crime.

[AdamH]

Doing training outside of coaches and other fencers can be a two-edged experience.

One thing to consider, is it may be prudent to practice what you're comfortable with. It's a spike in the orifice to have someone at your club correct you within the first 30 seconds of an action if you've spent dozens of repetitions teaching yourself to learn that action in that way!

Small, finger disengages and conceived deceptions with the point of your weapon. Can't really go too wrong with these. Try to remember to train them as much as possible whilst in an enguarde position and whilst moving, rather than sitting in front of the TV with the point up at the ceiling At least try to have your training exercises match your fencing.

If in doubt, plyometrics!

The BBC have a useful series with some exercises to develop speed and power here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/heal...ss/4293608.stm

The frappier square is a great example of having training being somewhat useful physical training. There's less value in going to the gym and doing slow squats if you want your legs to operate explosively on the piste.

Otherwise; eat, drink, be merry! Enjoy the time off and look forward to returning to the club and future competitions!

[Neinteen]

Well I don't go to a club and our coach is just a gym teacher. She has never touched a weapon in her life and is just there as a supervisor. So pretty much I always have to teach myself, but now I don't have a strip to hook up onto, freshmen to hit/flick, and an open gym.

But I'll try the above-mentioned.

[aamct2]

A tennis ball dangling from the end of a string is always good to practice with to help your point control. You can practice extending in again and again, and later lunging in.

You can also build a target to fix to a wall. Just make sure it has some give so that you don't ruin your weapon (rubber works well). Having a felt back so that you don't wreck your wall either is good.

You can have a family member or friend call out parries. You can use this to practice parry-ripostes against a target, or moving from one parry to another, etc.

As mentioned above, footwork should always be practiced and can be done in the confines of your home. Practice all sorts of combinations, learning how to fluidly go from one piece to another.

I hope some of these help.

~aamct2

[remistress]

For an inhouse target try standing an ironing board up against a wall/door...noisy, but has nice give and usually rubber on the feet (check first).

I also have developed one I like. I don't know if this is the case with you...but I have one room in the house below a hallway (three steps separate the hall and the room). Get a Balance ball, set up something somewhere near the other room side of the hall.....if you do footwork and hit the ball it will bounce hit the item blocking the hallway and bounce towards you. I like the lateral movement a little more than a tennis ball and it's about the right height.

Hope this helps

[veeco]

Originally Posted by aamct2

A tennis ball dangling from the end of a string is always good to practice with to help your point control. You can practice extending in again and again, and later lunging in.

The tennis ball is a bad idea. Everyone suggests it, but it doesn't help at all. It actually teaches bad arm extension habits to people.

[OROD]

How about working on some conditioning and strength training and dont think about fencing for a week? Sometimes not thinking about practice for a while helps more than spending your time obsessing about it.

.

[RITFencing]

Originally Posted by veeco

The tennis ball is a bad idea. Everyone suggests it, but it doesn't help at all. It actually teaches bad arm extension habits to people.

I disagree... to a point. Things like tennis balls and baseballs can be very useful to more advanced fencers who can already do the motions correctly, and can be really great for teaching accurate remises and good distance (I like to do hit and remise drills with a baseball) but with a fencer who can't reliably do that, I would definitely say that it's probably not a good idea.

However, I would also say in general that target practice on your own is a bad idea for any fencer who isn't good enough to have decent form and sequencing on basic extensions with footwork, and certainly a bad idea for any fencer who can't reliably self correct.

A really spectacular coach I've had the privilege of working with told me that they really don't advise much work on static aids until a fencer is more advanced, which was in direct contrast to what I've seen a lot of mediocre coaches do.

[flyingfencer]

Go to Youtube.com and check out David Littel's footwork videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qz2Kj5Pn4Qo

Practice this footwork with tempo changes. Then check out some of the footwork at the highest level. Watch this team match Russia against Germany:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKKMt33kHWs

There are nine bouts in all, plus some women's team foil too. Practice your footwork again. Then practice adding some controlled blade work with your footwork like a beat to the inside, beat to the outside, then advance, beat to the inside, then lunge. That should keep you busy for a while.

[fatfencer]

Originally Posted by Inquartata

Meh, that's like saying murder isn't a crime, just a "preference".

( Just to be clear, both are incorrect. Murder IS a crime, and a split infinitive IS an error. )

And to be clear, nerds usually LIKE to split infinitives as they are likely to be Trekkies!!!

Silly Inq!!

Inq's version: To Go Boldly where no gender neutral has gone before....

Shatner et al. (the more poetic version): To Boldly Go where no man has gone before.

Here's to bending the rules!!!

Fatfencer

[Schiavona]

Originally Posted by veeco

The tennis ball is a bad idea. Everyone suggests it, but it doesn't help at all. It actually teaches bad arm extension habits to people.

I totally agree with this

Originally Posted by RITFencing

However, I would also say in general that target practice on your own is a bad idea for any fencer who isn't good enough to have decent form and sequencing on basic extensions with footwork, and certainly a bad idea for any fencer who can't reliably self correct.

A really spectacular coach I've had the privilege of working with told me that they really don't advise much work on static aids until a fencer is more advanced, which was in direct contrast to what I've seen a lot of mediocre coaches do.

I find this a very interesting idea. I don't agree with it, but I find it interesting. Are you saying that only mediocre coachs have beginning fencers work with static aids?

I find that most foilists could really use a lot of work on point control, BUT like footwork, point control work done alone and at speed can screw up a fencer more.

My advice, which RITfencing will think mediocre, is to practice VERY SLOW thrusts, with no footwork, against a very small target. This way Neinteen won't put a hole in her wall and going slow can allow her to control as well as correct her extension. Downside is that this is very boring.

[Neinteen]

Originally Posted by flyingfencer

Practice this footwork with tempo changes. Then check out some of the footwork at the highest level. Watch this team match Russia against Germany:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKKMt33kHWs

wow. ending rocked. But i refuse to praise it since Joppich wasn't the hero.