The Importance of Sleep for Martial Artists
December 10, 2018 No Comments
We all lead busy lives, there are limited times to catch up with friends or spend time with family, and there are tons of distractions that can occupy you into the wee hours if you let them. Perhaps if general life needs won’t motivate you, consider how your lack of sleep might be affecting your training.
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News & Updates
Vancouver International Swordplay Symposium 2019
December 3, 2018
Registration is open! The event, which takes place from April 5-7, is a conference focused around intensive three-day programs with an aim to help people along the path of mastery in the many disciplines of Historical European Martial Arts.
Basic Courses
September 17, 2018
Basic courses contain high quality, individual step-by-step topic videos. Track your progress as you make your way through the course, and pick up where you left off last time you visited the site.
Premium Courses
September 7, 2018
Premium courses contain high quality, individual step-by-step topic videos. Included are quizzes, practice notes, discussion and self-assessments.
Featured
Why Fight Light? Using Less Gear When Sparring
May 22, 2018
A bulk of medieval and renaissance fighting manuals depict swordplay in shirts, jerkins, or gambesons, generally with light gloves, with both two handed and one handed weapons. These are often presented alongside depictions of combat in full armour.
The 5 Minutes Per Day Practice Regimen
March 19, 2018
Rhythm is the most important thing to cultivate on the path to mastery. Whether you leverage our online course or simply get started with your own practice ritual, start making those little steps. Five minutes of real practice time honours your commitment more than hours of good intentions.
Vancouver International Swordplay Symposium 2019
December 3, 2018
Registration is open! The event, which takes place from April 5-7, is a conference focused around intensive three-day programs with an aim to help people along the path of mastery in the many disciplines of Historical European Martial Arts.
Am I Strong Enough to Do Swordplay?
November 26, 2018
Not only is swordplay a wonderfully fun and fulfilling physical activity, it is also a great way to build physical health and to do so in a low impact way.
Is Full Speed and Full Contact Required?
November 19, 2018
Full speed sparring is a type of simulation that has a hard time approximating the real world, and as training environments go it is not focused enough for efficient skill development. So what’s the use?
Why Go Slow? The Benefits of Slow Sparring
November 6, 2018
Slow sparring is used in boxing, MMA training, diverse Eastern martial arts, as well as sharing many similarities to slow tactical training exercises in lots of different sports. And I have found few swordplay students that don’t benefit greatly from its practice.
Triangulating the Centre of the Art
October 31, 2018
I recently visited many groups in all the major cities of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and found myself reiterating over and over why I was there and what I was personally wanting to get out of our meetings. It came down to three activities I used to get closer to the centre of the art of swordplay.
Bruce Lee’s 10,000 Kicks and the Real Meaning of Mastery
October 22, 2018
If my only need was to survive martial encounters in a specific environment, I would most certainly focus my practice on the narrowest set of skills with the highest percentage chance of success. But martial arts and its mastery is more than this.
To Build Proficiency: Show Up
October 15, 2018
When I speak with people who have found places of deeper proficiency and mastery, a common thread among them is often “I just kept showing up.”
Assaults and Martial Forms
October 10, 2018
One of the primary benefits to practicing assaults is that they provide a means to build your strength and capacity with moving your weapon (or weapons). A good assault brings you through common attack and defense patterns, as well as a great diversity of them.
Training to Defeat Intense Techniques
October 1, 2018
One of the most challenging things to deal with in sparring is the mental or emotional intensity of a very forward motivated opponent, someone who throws powerful blows, or someone who comes very ferociously.
Event Report: L’Arte delle Armi
September 26, 2018
This event sought to rid its attendees of at least some aspects of its ignorance of the art of arms as taught by Marozzo and his contemporaries in early 16th century Bologna. And I feel that it very much succeeded.