Newbie: Epee uniform

[scrapinpeg]

Are there special pants for epee? Like with extra padding or some such? Just asking.

[Lemberg]

Nope

[scrapinpeg]

Dang. I'm either gonna have to get better fast, or get used to these nasty green bruises.

[Duelatdusk]

You can try 2 things first i wear a very tight fitting pair of shorts under my knickers. I have been fencing epee for 12 years now and they help a little bit. Or a friend of mine wears a pair of long underwear under his knickers.

[Katman]

They've got some FIE fencing shorts out there. They fit like spandex from what I hear, and I understand they're 800N.

[ThaProfessor12]

Yeah I wanna get a pair of FIE shorts but I'd rather spend $100 on a blade or something then shorts. A good thing for padding your legs is just get sliding shorts the baseball players wear , they provide alot of padding.

[Artisan]

Originally posted by scrapinpeg
Dang. I'm either gonna have to get better fast, or get used to these nasty green bruises.

heh, heh...distance distance distance.

I've discovered three other things that help too. FIE clothing helps soften the hits some. A longsleeved poly undershirt (Like Undearmour) allows the jacket to slide some over the arm reducing the impact of hits to the arm a bit, and for practice I've sewn padding into my plastron at the collarbone and in the bicept / inside elbow regions.

[Victor]

You won't realize it until afterward, but you'll go through a phase of "epee pox" that will subside as your sense of distance improves. When I first started, I used to come home with red marks (turned to bruises later) up and down my arm, with the occasional splotch on my torso or thigh. It's very rare that I get bruised now.

[klauver]

Yes, the FIE pants are 800N puncture proof, but padding is the question of the day. I wear baseball "slider" shorts under my knickers. I like the NIKE version the best. They are made of a spandex outer layer with a cup holder that allows you to adjust the position of the cup and the legs have a padded layer that covers the upper thigh around to the outside of each leg.

Since wise men always wear a cup I use this for all weapons.

$29.99 at Sports Authority, Mizuno had a similar version for $34.99.

[lfortier]

the only tournament-allowed "epee uniform" pants are knickers; the ones that are the safest, toughest material are FIE, but since theyre hidiously expensive, I dont recommend you buying them right away at a beginning level. You can, however, wear shorts underneath them, and choose 100% cotton instead of 100% nylon- the difference is the nylon gives you a much comfortable,larger range of motion, but theyre thinner.

[Inquartata]

Get a big pair of those padded epee coach's sleeves and wear 'em like hose under your knickers...

[scrapinpeg]

Excellent suggestions all. Thanks! Hope I get over the epee pox soon. In the meantime, I'll try those slider shorts or maybe some cutoff sweats.

[Popper]

FIE 800N protective clothing does not help against bruising.. trust me on this one..

[MyraTrue]

I MISS my epee pox.

I had a coach who had had sewn a hard platic guard into the legs of his coaching uniform. Apparently, you can get a conformable platic from the sport trainers... or so her told me.

Honestly, they're right when they say you GENERALLY will bruise less with more time fencing. Its been almost a year since I got any really good spectacular bruises... I used to play rugby, and learned quickly that either you whined and felt sorry for yourself, or you showed off the bruises and were proud of them. I always opted for the second option.

Wear those bruises proudly! They mean your an epeeist. And in time, you'll get less of them. And you wear THOSE proudly too.

[pkt]

Originally posted by ThaProfessor12
Yeah I wanna get a pair of FIE shorts but I'd rather spend $100 on a blade or something then shorts. A good thing for padding your legs is just get sliding shorts the baseball players wear , they provide alot of padding.

Originally posted by lfortier
the only tournament-allowed "epee uniform" pants are knickers; the ones that are the safest, toughest material are FIE, but since theyre hidiously expensive, I dont recommend you buying them right away at a beginning level. ...

... but no money can buy what's under your pants...
You have to set your priorities.


Learn to move better, faster.
I agree with Artisan,
Distance, distance, distance.
and add:
Footwork, footwork, footwork.

When an opp't goes for you, move away and pick him off...

PK