books | swords | teaching
I like to share my thoughts about life, business, and martial arts. I find writing a blog is one of the best ways to order my thoughts, so that I understand myself better. Sometimes my thoughts may even be of interest to other people.
I have collected a list of my most popular articles, as well as the various articles I have written with advice for shorter fencers. My various reviews of HEMA gear have been collected together for ease of reference.
Finally, I keep a curated page setting out my philosophy for training, teaching, and fencing. This links to the various pages and articles on this website that I believe help to explain my approach to these elements of life and martial arts.
How did people practise their fencing and sparring before fencing masks were invented? This was a question asked a couple of weeks ago in a thread on Reddit, and I think it’s an excellent question well worth considering. If we didn’t have modern …
How did people practise sparring before the invention of fencing masks?Read More
I recently finished making a new video course about working with Indian clubs, because I want to share this activity with people. Mainly, I would like to be able to give my own students some resources that I think they would find useful - and since I …
Why do we use the original and potentially foreign terminology when studying HEMA, instead of translating everything into English? This was a question asked through a video on YouTube a couple of weeks ago, and I would like to propose an …
Why use original and foreign terminology when studying HEMA?Read More
The messer is an interesting HEMA discipline to study. There is quite an active and vibrant community of people who practise it regularly, and I would like to interview some of these instructors to help show some of the different approaches to study …
An interview with Katja Poppenhaeger about studying HEMA: the messerRead More
The messer is an interesting HEMA discipline to study. There is quite an active and vibrant community of people who practise it regularly, and I would like to interview some of these instructors to help show some of the different approaches to study …
An interview with Jess Finley about studying HEMA: the messerRead More
The messer is an interesting HEMA discipline to study. There is quite an active and vibrant community of people who practise it regularly, and I would like to interview some of these instructors to help show some of the different approaches to study …
An interview with Oskar ter Mors about studying HEMA: the messerRead More
The messer is an interesting HEMA discipline to study. There is quite an active and vibrant community of people who practise it regularly, and I would like to interview some of these instructors to help show some of the different approaches to study …
An interview with Robert Brooks about studying HEMA: the messerRead More
The messer is an interesting HEMA discipline to study. There is quite an active and vibrant community of people who practise it regularly, and I would like to interview some of these instructors to help show some of the different approaches to study …
An interview with Jim Campbell about studying HEMA: the messerRead More
The messer is an interesting HEMA discipline to study. There is quite an active and vibrant community of people who practise it regularly, and I would like to interview some of these instructors to help show some of the different approaches to study …
An interview with Kelly Anderton about studying HEMA: the messerRead More
The messer is an interesting HEMA discipline to study. There is quite an active and vibrant community of people who practise it regularly, and I would like to interview some of these instructors to help show some of the different approaches to study …
An interview with Christian Tobler about studying HEMA: the messerRead More
The messer is an interesting HEMA discipline to study. There is quite an active and vibrant community of people who practise it regularly, and I would like to interview some of these instructors to help show some of the different approaches to study …
An interview with Bill Grandy about studying HEMA: the messerRead More
The messer is an interesting HEMA discipline to study. There is quite an active and vibrant community of people who practise it regularly, and I would like to interview some of these instructors to help show some of the different approaches to study …
An interview with Joeli Takala about studying HEMA: the messerRead More
The messer is an interesting HEMA discipline to study. There is quite an active and vibrant community of people who practise it regularly, and I would like to interview some of these instructors to help show some of the different approaches to study …
An interview with Ross Bailey about studying HEMA: the messerRead More
A common problem for small or new HEMA clubs is how to ensure that everyone keeps practising the fundamentals, while still introducing new things for the more experienced members. How do you manage a class with several different levels of experience …
How to drill fundamentals while still teaching new materialRead More
The Cold Steel synthetic rondel dagger is a good training tool if you want to practise 15th century dagger fencing according to the source material from that period. It is a cheap and cheerful tool and it looks the part while being acceptably safe …
If there are two or more HEMA clubs in the same city, how do you handle this from the point of view of marketing your own club? There is competition for members, so how do you advertise? How do you differentiate your club from the others and how do …
I have been using the Red Dragon synthetic longsword for HEMA since they were first introduced to the scene. Although many people dislike them for being plastic and floppy, I find that they have many advantages and I use them regularly as loaner …
When you are running a HEMA club, or starting a new group, it is important to have a website for the club. You maybe don’t need one right away, but it should be high on your list of priorities. Having a website for your club will bring significant …
We all have certain things that we like to rely on during sparring. It might be a technique, a concept, or a special trick - it might be something that you learned while studying this discipline, or something that you picked up by studying something …
I have been using the Albion Liechtenauer at different events over the course of several years, and recently acquired one of my own. It is one of my favourite swords and is unfortunately expensive to buy new in the UK. …
