Crosstraining

[Cygne]

I have the same interest as hilite...I've heard that fencing is an excellent sport for ballet dancers and Epee has always fascinated me. Do fencers use their turnout extensively while practicing on the piste, or is that just a rumour?

[Touche]

Hmmm...well fencers do use their turnout to a certain extent, depending on the kind of schooling your salle has been trained in. I am also a ballet dancer and a former rhythmic gymnast, so from my own experience I can tell you that fencing is a great way to strengthen you're muscles; not just your arms and upper torso, but your legs as well. Being a dancer, you have an advantage of knowing the complexity of foot coordination, and the physical asset of flexible limbs (i.e. high extensions) than those who do not or did not train in that field of art. In other words, if you try lunging at your opponent you won't get that nasty tweak in your hamstring, like some of the "rigid" fencers at my school's club. Oh, and you should begin with foil before heading off in the direction of epee...it teaches you the basic techniques of fencing.

[saberkid]

well, yeah you were right with everything except one thing, you dont/shouldnt necasarly start with foil, that is the "traditional" way to do thing, but, now days if you want to fence sabre, you start with sabre, you wana fence epee you start with epee... its just kinda the way things go now days, a lot of epee ppl go to foil, and visa versa, but if you wana be good, you gota train in only that one weapon... hmm, did that make sense? ah well, i tryed

Chris

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Fence with the best die like the rest!

[stuwatts]

Saberkid - although I'm a sabreur too, I've got to go with Touche on this one and say that it is better to learn the basics in foil first of all. Having said that, when I started many moons ago, we didn't even get a foil for at least one month - it was all footwork. Foil teaches you the fundamentals, and gives you good grounding that's applicable to both epee and sabre. The fundamentals are the most important part of fencing.
And to make sure we're not getting off topic, I've fenced with a few girls who were gymnasts (or ex-) and they had the advantages of poise and power over me (although they were generally only about 5'-5'4", so at 6'4" I kind of had the reach thing sorted...).

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"Just because I don't care doesn't mean I don't understand" - H. Simpson.

[ledgerto]

My coach was trained in gymnastics before fencing. I had ballet and a liitle gymnastics as a kid. Both activities have carried over to fencing. I also just started kick boxing.

I use the basic ballet moves when I warm up; doing squats in each position.

The point is that anything you do has applications to fencing. I've noticed also, that many of the footdrills we do are the same for basketball, football, etc.

So, have fun and try other things!

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Old dogs CAN learn new tricks!

[This message has been edited by ledgerto (edited 05-15-2001).]

[Gajuith]

I was a martial artist before i was a fencer. Martial arts is a great cross trainer for fencing because it teaches you to act quickly and helps strengthen the legs and arms for actually quick use. Shotokan especially because of the low stances...the back stance is just a lower version of the enguarde stance.

[arcon]

[ 10-23-2001: Message edited by: arcon ]

[Touche]

saberkid:

I've seen beginners who started out in epee and ended up kicking themselves for not learning basic foil -- because for one thing, epee does not have distinct right of way rules regarding techniques as strictly as foil does, thus you are apt to sloppy fencing.

stuwatts:
Did you have a hard time beating these gymnasts/fencers?

ledgerto:
That's so cool you were in gymnastics! Was it artistic or rhythmic? Oh, and please don't call them squats, they're called "plies." Squatting is something you do when your hip isnt squared, legs aren't fully turned out, you're butt is sticking out of proper alignment and you're using your outer thighs (quads) instead of the inner leg muscles to properly execute graceful bending of the knees. In other words, you're basically sitting on your lower limbs instead of lifting up your back and holding that position, whether its a half bend (demi-plie) or a full one (grande plie).

Gajuith and arcon:
Martial arts helpful in fencing? Gotta try that myself! What style do you recommend?

[This message has been edited by Touche (edited 05-15-2001).]

[Gajuith]

I am taking Shotokan-ryu Karate right now. Real good for strengthening the legs and building speed through the whole body. The stances are similar as well...the forward stance is just like a lunge only the knees go over the toes and the back foot is pointed forward. the back stance is like the enguarde stance except the torso is held closer to the back and the back knee is bent more. There are three of us in our club that are taking Shotokan. thank god for college sport clubs

[Gajuith]

we do squats in Shotokan...but it is closer to a plie i suppose. it is basically going in and out of a deep Shiko-dachi. the out side edges of the feet are 90 degrees apart at a little wider than shoulder width. then you just go up and down keeping the torso straight and the butt in line. actually a little difficulte to imagine without actualyl seeing it i suppose, but it also really helps in fencing because it works the quads and the inner thighs at the same time...and it is no easy task either...try holding a Shiko-dachi for about 5 minutes...

[ledgerto]

[quote]Originally posted by Touche:
[b]saberkid:

Oh, and please don't call them squats, they're called "plies."

Pardon moi. It has been very many years since my ballet days. My memory has faded, but you are right I do plies, not squats. Guess I've been hanging out with the boys too long.

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Old dogs CAN learn new tricks!

[Touche]

No prob, ledge!

I'm just so picky when it comes to terms...you have to forgive me on that part...LOL!!!

Gajuith:

I'll definitely look into Shotokan-ryu karate! ^_^

[stuwatts]

Touche,
Yes I did. Although I had the reach advantage, it was outweighed by their (distinct) speed advantage!! But this was back in the days when you could fleche in sabre, so I had an outlet for my frustration...


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"Just because I don't care doesn't mean I don't understand" - H. Simpson.