Derping Thursday

I did a bit of fencing on Thursday. This is better than the amount I had expected to do, which was none. This is just a quick "reporting on what happened and what I need to keep in mind for the future" post.

Reverse-foot, blade-extended posture doesn't really foot. In order to get the explosive passing step/lunge that I'm looking for, I really need to put my body's weight on my back foot, instead of my front foot. This allows me to kick off from the back foot, shift my weight to my front foot, then fall forward into a lunge with my previously-back foot. During that last shift of weight I can alter my approach by about 45 degrees - not a huge amount.

My shoulder has been hurting a bit when I angle it down into a Giganti-ish guard with a sword in it. It doesn't get more intense when I throw a thrust from a gunslinger type stance though, so I think that the tendon is just irritated. I bumped into a doorframe in about that place about a week and a half ago, and it has been bothering me since before last Monday, so it's probably a combination injury/overuse thing. I probably am also not using correct form. If I pull my scapulae tight,I load two shoulder tendons instead of one, so that might be a good plan.

Additionally, I've been experimenting with some gunslinger type stance stuff, because why not. That tends to load the tendon harder, and if I do a passing step then it loads the tendon even more. I'll try to rest it, take some ibuprofen, and tone down the amount I fence at practice for a bit. Maybe I'll try to teach? Who knows.

My intensity was pretty good, but could always be better.

I fought a bunch of people. One thing of note is that I didn't get very many chances to do straight-up push-through opposition from the outside. People kept defending themselves well, and also frequently responded well to the yield around. They also fought more defensively, so I should probably be hand-sniping more when that happens.

I totally blanked on how to fight against someone who is way taller than me. I forgot to do the good ol' destreza opposition-from-above thing. Ah well, life goes on.

For next practice, I should keep my already-known strategies better in mind. I should also think about what to do if someone is waiting to pick out their time to approach,