Food for fencing

Whether you train like an Olympian, or just noodle around once a week, the things you put into your body can strongly affect how well you fence.

Let's take a quick look at three things that sources say can help:

Protein--protein has probably been associated with physical activities longer than any other substance. Most obviously, protein helps build muscles, which are made out of protein. While building muscle isn't the thing that comes to mind first when one thinks of swordsmanship, muscles are unquestionably involved. Consuming protein after working out gives the body materials to help rebuild the muscle, as well as connective tissues, and speed recovery time.

There are plenty of way to get more protein into your diet. Protein powders & supplement are easy to find in health food stores, and offer protein from various sources that are generally easily digested and rapidly assimilated. Whey protein comes from milk and is the most rapidly assimilated. Soy is also popular, for people who don't do well with dairy. Some proteins, like casein (also a dairy derivative), are more slowly absorbed, and popular with weight-lifters who want to consume a protein that offers their muscles a slower, more continuous supply.

Protein bars are convenient ways to get protein, but be careful--some of them have a lot of calories!
Low-fat cottage cheese is considered to be a good dietary source for dairy protein.

Meat is, of course, a very traditional source of protein. Unfortunately, meat often also includes a lot of fat/cholesterol and salt, which are less than ideal, particularly red meat. Another important consideration is that meat is digested rather slowly and can slow your whole metabolism down. Avoid consuming large quantities of red meat the day before a competition or serious training session. It can make you feel like you're made of lead. Save the barbecue for the day after.

Chicken and fish are usually lighter and healthier, and more easily digested depending on how they're cooked.

The more active you are, the more protein you may need. However, too much protein can increase nitrogen in the blood which damages the kidneys. For average people, sources say you should have a hunk of protein no bigger than your fist (which is a charmingly unscientific, and not terribly useful, definition).

Do some research, and experiment to see what works best for you. You might find your muscles recovering faster when you begin to increase your protein intake. Remember to avoid sources that will also increase fat & salt. Take as much as you feel you need to help your recovery, but you won't need much extra, since "bulking up" isn't your goal, and too much at one time will not be absorbed.

Carbohydrates-- "Carbs" are the fuel your body actually runs on. After you burn through the carbs in your blood stream, you body begins to break down muscles into "burnable" compounds, and if it still needs more, it will then metabolize your body fat into fuel. (Your fat is like your body's savings account, it will break down and "spend" muscles before it goes for the fat reserves. This is why some people who exercise for weight-loss don't loose much weight: their body is reserving the fat for an emergency!).

Supplementing with carbs before you exercise can give you more energy to run on. If you've found yourself running out of steam before you're done, or you just can't find the energy you need to get up to speed when you train, you may benefit from increasing carbs before you start. Be careful, though! The unused carbs you consumed will be converted to fat and stored for future use.

As with proteins, some sources for carbs are better than others. Simple carbs are usually starches and are easily metabolized, while complex carbs, like sugars, take a lot more work for your body (in the form of an insulin release) to metabolize. You can find simple carb supplements in stores, or you can use dietary ones, like pasta, or starchy vegetables. You can consume them a couple of hours before training. Highly conditioned individuals facing an extended competition might even "carb load" which is to say, consume a lot of carbs the night before a competition to saturate their bloodstream with usable fuel. Any carbohydrate that isn't utilized gets converted to fat, so don't overdo it!

Hydration-- Experts say that almost all people in industrialized societies are going around in a state of mild dehydration! Dehydration will make you uncomfortable, it can make you confused or even become overheated. You body needs plenty of fluids for the chemical exchanges going on inside your muscles: bringing carbs into the muscle and taking waste materials and heat out. Hydration is vitally important for strong exercise. Always try to drink 16 ounces of water or a sports drink before working out to keep you well hydrated.

Water is great for hydration. Sports drinks frequently include mild mineral salts, or "electrolytes," to replace substances your body may be metabolizing or sweating out. These minerals are considered to help your nervous system work properly. Avoid sugary beverages for hydration! The sugar can actually make you more thirsty, and the sugar also causes your body to release a burst of insulin to break down the sugar, and that can also cause your energy level to drop fast.

So, in a nutshell consider:
Carbohydrates before practice
Protein after practice
Hydration before and during practice.

I have not found a single, ideal source in book or on the web to recommend for specific amounts, since everybody is different, and it depends on your level of training. The best thing is to do your own research to start, then experiment --slowly and sensibly-- to find out what improves your performance.

Looking forward to your feedback!

Cheers,
Jeff

Blackbeard's Sword!!

Blackbeard set the mold for everything we think of when we think of a pirate. Heavily armed, wily, hairy... A crazed biker of the sea who never lost...

Here's some fascinating new discoveries....Like his sword!




http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Blackbeard-Ship-Ornaments-Discovered/ss/events/lf/011411blackbeardship

Thinking with your feet! The importance of knowing the right distance

Trench warfare –or– don’t use your head, use your feet!

One of the hallmarks of fencing, regardless of style, is footwork.* In fact, it’s apocryphal that fencing spawned ballet. Nearly every historical treatise describes it’s own very particular footwork patterns or techniques... St. Didier, Agrippa, Thibaust, DiGrassi, Viggiani... you name it. And certainly, modern competitive fencers are drilled in footwork, lunges, and distance until they do it in their sleep.

So it’s a peculiar thing that many fencers neglect this area of their training. It seems endemic in nearly every gym except the most competitive: fencers love the blade-work, but seem loathe to do the footwork.

This 4-page, downloadable report discusses the importance of proper footwork--why it is vital to your ability to defend yourself, possibly even more than the parry.

It explores how distance effects the effectiveness of your parries and your timing, and most important, offers practical solutions solutions and exercises.

read it, try it out, and share you opinions and experiences!

Use the link below to get the report!

Trench Warfare -or- Think with Your Feet, Not Your Head!

Unhappy end to a gladiator--Discvovery News

Fascinating story from Discovery News:

Gladiator Stabbed, Tossed as Trash?
It's interesting hisrotically, and also regarding the kinds of injuries he suffered.
http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/gladiator-stabbed-tossed-as-trash.html#mkcpgn=emnws1

"The bones of a Roman man, who was stabbed to death and left to rot with the rubbish, have revealed gruesome details of what appears to be a gladiator combat, according to British researchers who have examined the skeletal remains.

Unearthed in January only 12 inches under the grass the Yorkshire Museum’s gardens, in York, England, the bones show that the man, most likely a disgraced gladiator, met a violent and bloody death.

"The physical evidence reveals he was a swordsman and that his body was literally dumped with the rubbish –- there was no hint that he had been buried in a ceremonial way," said Andrew Morrison, head curator of the Yorkshire Museum, where the bones are going on display this week..."

Read the whole story here:
http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/gladiator-stabbed-tossed-as-trash.html#mkcpgn=emnws1

Time Warp Reaction Speed Video

It's back, and now on YouTube. This video is GREAT for people interested in reaction speed and the nervous system (people like fencers and martial artists). If you read our Reaction Speed Report, you'll especially appreciate this video. In a nutshell, you can see the difference in reaction time depending on how close the stimulus is to the brain of the responder.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsSd58jjih0

Here it is--The Reaction Speed Report!

(PLEASE NOTE THE REACTION SPEED REPORT HAS BEEN TAKEN DOWN! IT WAS ONLY BEING OFFERED FOR A LIMITED TIME. A REVISED VERSION MAY BE OFFERED FOR SALE AT SOME TIME IN THE FUTURE. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN OTHER, SIMILAR FENCING REPORTS, PLEASE LET US KNOW.)


I'm very pleased to be able to offer this to all of you. I'm also a little bit embarrassed, since we've been promising to deliver this for a long time now, but technical and other difficulties have prevented us from getting it to you sooner.

I truly believe that this little PDF will have a real impact on improving the fencing ability of anyone who applies the techniques contained in it.

With out any further ado, here it is. Please read it and give the material in it a fair trial. I think you'll be very pleased!!

And remember to check back to this blog--we don't update it too often, but when we do, the material will be practical and topical and fun!

You can download it here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/34756952/Reaction-Speed-Report

Please note: The "Timewarp" video referred to in the report (Season 1, Episode 18, "Body Modification") currently does not seem to be available anywhere on line. If we can locate a link to it again, we'll post it to this blog.

Cheers,
Jeff Sauber
www.cavalierattitude.com

Occam’s Razor

William of Ockham must have been a swordsman. 700 years ago, he penned the following, which stands today as one of the most common sense standards of scientific method. It’s also one of the best possible pieces of advice a fencer can take to heart:

entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem

which translates to:
entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity

and in practice means:
The simplest solution is usually the most correct one.

In science, when a researcher is experimenting to prove a point, or laboring under an overriding belief system, it’s not uncommon for a researcher to overlook the most apparent solution to a situation. For example, when Lister, the 19th century doctor, suggested that doctors might actually be spreading disease between patients, and could stop this by simply washing their hands after each examination, the medical establishment was outraged, and Lister was drummed out. After all, patients got sick because of their lifestyles, or evil humors, or other possibilities that science could not then account for. But the idea that germs could be passed from hand to hand? Outrageous! Childishly simplistic!

And, as history has proven, correct.

One of the wonderful things about fencing are the amazing number of combinations and finesse of blade-work, and we work very hard to master those. But I’m always surprised to see how often good fencers will exercise poor choices when it comes to crossing swords, by applying overly complex or poorly practiced techniques.

In fact, the evolution of fencing is one of continually distilling and refining. The correct solution to any situation was the simplest. If you study the history of the art, you can see that the weapon and the way it was used was continually refined, and old methods and swords left behind to history.

I’m not a great fencer, but I have been lucky enough to train with some of the best in the world, and while they all had different styles, one thing that was abundantly clear, after learning the gross motions, the true art was in continually simplifying, distilling, every move. Sometimes the simplest was as easy as a thrust, sometimes the simplest was a beat-feint-coupe with a ballestra-fleche. But it was always the purest, most direct that won the day.

Some more theatrical teachers may poo poo this idea as a modern concept, something like “that’s just trying to score quickly,” but if you think about it, you can see the value in a real life and death situation: The more time you spend fencing with an opponent, the more you give him to use against you. In bullfighting, the fights don’t last longer than 10 minutes because if it continues longer than that, the bull will have figured out the toreador, and the man has little chance defeating the bull. How much faster can another swordsman do the same? In a real fight, you don’t want your opponent to know any more about your ability.

Once, in college, I had the opportunity to lose brilliantly against a high ranking Polish fencer who had years developing his basics, and nothing I could do could get me past his simple beat attack or parry riposte. No doubt he had more complicated attacks, but I wasn’t good enough ever to find out. It was a good lesson.

Several years ago, at a rapier event, I was free-fencing with a guy who seemed to be quite good, yet never protected his arms. I landed two hits to his wrist and was surprised that he didn’t even try to defend. The rapier I was using was a pretty heavy 4 foot Del Tin, and I felt a little bad, since even with a moderate hit, I could feel it impact with bone. Finally, I stopped and suggested that he might want to displace his arm to avoid the touch. He just shrugged: “My teacher says hitting the hand is dishonorable, and so we don’t deal with it.” Dishonorable? Fencing, as at least one renaissance master said, “is the art of deception.” It’s arguable how much is really honorable in meeting someone for a game of murder with big knives. It’s not arguable that a cut to the wrist of an armed assailant can save your life, and if honor is in question, win the duel whilst sparing the life of your opponent.

Nuts and bolts: Simplify! Drill the bits and pieces until they’re “airtight.” If you’re doing a beat attack, drill that until you know with 99% certainty that as soon as you’ve made contact with the opponent’s blade, he’s hit. If you’re doing a disengage or a coupe, practice it until it’s as reliable as humanly possible, or more.

Try this: Pick one simple attach and one simple defense, and use only those for a night, or a week, even if it means you get hit a lot. After a while, you will find you get hit a lot less.

Think about your fencing—you can be your own best coach—analyze it for anyplace you can simplify and purify. Never give the opponent a stronger dose of your skill than it takes to defeat him. Leave him wondering.

Compound attacks are comprised of these simple pieces all put together, anyway, and the better your “alphabet” of simple techniques, the better your “dialog of the blade will be.”