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Messer and dussack. Photo by Keith Farrell, 2020. 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 …
An interview with Christian Tobler about studying HEMA: the messerRead More
Messer and dussack. Photo by Keith Farrell, 2020. 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 …
An interview with Bill Grandy about studying HEMA: the messerRead More
Messer and dussack. Photo by Keith Farrell, 2020. 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 …
An interview with Joeli Takala about studying HEMA: the messerRead More
Messer and dussack. Photo by Keith Farrell, 2020. 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 …
An interview with Ross Bailey about studying HEMA: the messerRead More
Alex and Marc performing an exercise during a lesson at Liverpool HEMA. Photo by Keith Farrell, 2018. A common problem for small or new HEMA clubs is how to ensure that everyone keeps practising the fundamentals, while still introducing new things …
How to drill fundamentals while still teaching new materialRead More
Marc and Jon getting ready for an exercise at Liverpool HEMA. Photo by Keith Farrell, 2018. 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 …
Keith Farrell and Jens Geuens fencing with the longsword at the Bunny Bash event. Photo by Gert-Jan Laureys, 2019 (edited by Keith Farrell). We all have certain things that we like to rely on during sparring. It might be a technique, a concept, or …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb6PDjg86wY& My interpretation of the flourishes from the Anonymous Unicum, as a video submission for the So You Think You Can Sword 2020 competition for videos of solo forms and flourishes! Back in 2017, I was …
Alex and James performing an exercise during a lesson at Liverpool HEMA. Photo by Keith Farrell, 2018. I often hear questions about how to design drills and exercises for a HEMA club. Sometimes it comes during discussions in person at events, or …
How to design drills and exercises for your HEMA clubRead More
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLEf7IxPC1A Keith Farrell doing some test cutting in the garden at the end of April 2020. I believe that test cutting practice is an important element of our HEMA training. It keeps us honest and ensures that our …
Keith Farrell practising some flourishes with the longsword in the garden. Photo by Keith Farrell, 2020. Are there flourishes in the German longsword sources? Flourishes are solo forms, sequences perhaps a bit like kata, that can be used to …
Alex and Marc performing an exercise during a lesson at Liverpool HEMA. Photo by Keith Farrell, 2018. It is perhaps quite a contentious statement, but I do like to use the Red Dragon synthetic longswords in my club. Not everyone likes them, …
Why I like to use the Red Dragon synthetic longswords in my clubRead More
I recently realised that there are certain longswords that I like borrowing at events. When I travel for teaching, I often ask the organisers if I can borrow a sword, since this makes my travelling easier and usually makes the cost of travelling …
The longswords I realised I like borrowing at eventsRead More
Keith practising karate at a Shoto Budo course in 2010. Photographer unknown. Late last year, I returned to practising karate on a weekly basis (when I haven’t been away teaching, or in self-isolation due to the current coronavirus). I used to …
Marc and James performing an exercise during a lesson at Liverpool HEMA. Photo by Keith Farrell, 2018. Every system has a doctrine, an algorithm or set of instructions that describe the best advice for the vast majority of situations that will …
Keith Farrell and Jens Geuens fencing with the longsword at the Bunny Bash event. Photo by Gert-Jan Laureys, 2019 (edited by Keith Farrell). Is it alright or frowned upon for people to make noise, to scream, or to make a kiai of some sort while …
Some thoughts about screaming, kiai, and making noise in HEMARead More
Alex and Marc performing an exercise during a lesson at Liverpool HEMA. Photo by Keith Farrell, 2018. I teach several workshops each year on the subject of 16th century Germanic common fencing, because I find it an incredibly interesting subject, …
How to start training 16th century Germanic common fencingRead More
Keith Farrell training with a dussack. Photo by Daria Izdebska, 2018. Is it a good or bad thing to develop a personal style within the practice of HEMA, which is essentially the recreation of fighting systems from the past? If we commit to an …
Developing a personal style within your HEMA practiceRead More
A cup of coffee helps the work flow! We often talk about the importance of scholarship in HEMA, about the academic side of historical swordfighting. We acknowledge that there are many facets of HEMA and that they all play an important part in …
Daniel and Marc performing an exercise during a lesson at Liverpool HEMA. Photo by Keith Farrell, 2018. While attending a first aid course recently, we did the usual sorts of things, including CPR practice (the breaths and chest compressions). It …
