Shadow Fencing

[big poppa]

How does one shadow fence? Do you use only footwork and no lunges, or do you lunge? How long, is it an intervial exercise? will it quicken one's foot/hand speed.Please give me feedback on how it has helped your fencing?

[Oor Wullie]

I do shadow fence, although I have no set time. Normally I do it until I am too tired to do it any more.

When shadow fencing, I use any and all moves I would use in a fight. Aside from the obvious benefit of improving fitness/ footwork/ blade action (if done correctly), it also helps your confidence and ability to visualise. Most top athletes use some kind of visualisation, and if, while shadow fencing, you can 'see' the opponent in front of you, you can practice a whole variety of moves at speed that you might not be able to use in a bout/ lesson.

Personally, I think it's an invaluable tool towards improving fencing. Recently, I've been using it to practice my defence against a particular move that no-one in my club uses, and I am seeing some improvement in competition.

[Bugaboo]

I fenced against my shadow the other day and actually scored eight touches on it! Boy, you should have seen my shadow's response afterward! You could tell it was confused and couldn't figure out how I had moved faster than it did.

[Wafath]

Originally posted by Bugaboo:
You could tell it was confused and couldn't figure out how I had moved faster than it did.

Your opponent was merely confused. The director was astonished!

[attila]

Shadow dancing is ok, but it is better to use video tape to check your form. Else you could just be re-enforcing a lot of crap.

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"Kill the men, save the women, and by the gods, do not spill the wine"

[arcon]

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

[Dragoneye]

I don't know if this classes as shadow fencing, exactly, but I often will pick a point on a wall (preferably one with some padding to save my poor tip) and focus on it. While I let myself move around all I please (in proper fencing form, of course), every attack I make must land on that point. I've found it helps a lot with both point control and distance control.


Cheers,

Dragoneye.

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"Violent delights have violent ends." R&J - WS.

[ledgerto]

I put on my headphones with some fast paced music, grab my foil to reinforce position, and then go at the footwork; advances, retreats, lunges, etc. to the the beat of the music. A good piece of music will have beat and tempo changes. I usually wear myself out, but I have a great time doing it.

I think this has helped me to improve my response time as well as change of direction. I can also get much deeper lunges and can go for longer periods of times without tiering when I use music for some reason.

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Old dogs CAN learn new tricks!

[This message has been edited by ledgerto (edited 05-11-2001).]

[Gav]

I don't shadow fence per se. Rather I fence in fornt of a mirror and analyse posture, fluidity etc...

It's useful, but I would still prefer to practice with someone. That way you can get feedback on area's you might have missed.