Archive for November 2014

Cognitive Distortions That Impede Improvement   10 comments

Since you have a human brain, you should know that it does not really work all that well most of the time. Sure, it’s amazing and wondrous and a genuine marvel of evolution, but it is nonetheless marred by all sorts of biases that are very useful for keeping a hunter-gatherer alive and are less […]

Posted November 25, 2014 by Dante di Pietro in Fight Psychology, Teaching and Training

First Giganti Redux 5: Tempo   4 comments

Many sport fencers and SCA fencers who’ve inherited the traditions of sport fencing talk about “the tempo of the fight,” meaning the speed of actions and the rhythm of actions and counter-actions.  This works for the weapons and style of strip fencing – light, whippy, and able to land valid touches without actually having your […]

Posted November 21, 2014 by Wistric in Giganti, Italian Rapier

Proposed Order of Defense   12 comments

We are now at the stage of the rapier peerage where the language for the changes to Corpora has been made public for further comments. Honestly, this feels like it is a done deal, but given the time spent getting here, it is worthy of our attention and consideration. This is a Big Deal, and, […]

Posted November 15, 2014 by Dante di Pietro in Musings

First Giganti Redux 4: Measure   8 comments

“That distance from which you can hit him with a firm-footed attack [lunge]” For the longest time I thought this was the only thing Giganti really had to say about measure.  I reached this conclusion because in his chapter on Measure and Tempo, that was the only thing he said about measure.  He devoted seventeen […]

Posted November 13, 2014 by Wistric in Giganti, Italian Rapier

Cut and Thrust: Armor and Calibration   20 comments

“That looks like a lot of fun, but I’m scared of getting hurt.” I’d like to say that the above isn’t a direct quote, but it is. I give it without attribution because it is something I have heard over and over from, by my best recollection, over two dozen different people. These are only […]

Posted November 11, 2014 by Dante di Pietro in Musings