Ezkrima.Com

by David Littell
Updated 8/22/09 for Point In Line online Magazine of the United States Fencing Coaches Association www.usfca.org

Here are some ideas about fencing and movement. Most come from the discipline of Alexander Technique that I have been studying for a number of years. Clearly it’s easier to convey these concepts in person, but along with some of the exercises, hopefully you will find this material useful.

Alexander technique is a methodology for teaching people how to use their bodies efficiently (in Alexander terminology “developing good usage”). An important objective is to help eliminate excess tension so that the body returns to a natural posture using the correct muscles for support. Of course this can be incredibly useful to fencing–as it is for any other movement. Think of parries that are too big, extensions that are too stiff, or movement that is awkward and out of balance. A good Alexander teacher will be able to solve any of these problems and more. Unfortunately, Alexander technique is not well known in the world of sports. It’s much more likely that actors and musicians will know what it is, since it is taught in acting schools, and musicians with injuries will seek out an Alexander teacher. To learn more or to find an Alexander teacher world wide go to www.ati-net.com

Always In Movement

In fencing (and in other sports) it’s easy to think that you have to tighten or somehow get prepared to move. There’s something that feels good about exerting a lot of effort to lunge or retreat or even to thrust. I think that we also can equate mental intensity with physical tension. The reality is that if you tighten to move then it takes longer to get started. The quickest most efficient movement actually comes when you are already in movement and joints are free and moving easily. Think of animals in movement. Even the quickest and deadliest of movements, like a tiger pouncing, looks easy and graceful. Also, we often admire the ease and effortlessness of movement in our greatest athletes, like Roger Federer in tennis or Golubitsky in fencing.

With Alexander technique you help the student make a transition from this idea of tightening or gathering to move to learning to release or free into movement. Alexander also described this as learning to inhibit the desire to tense. I have gone through this transition myself, and it is quite a powerful change. I can change directions more easily, hide my intention longer, and react to unexpected responses more easily. I feel a very clear sensation of freeing or releasing the joints as the beginning of any movement. To get an understanding of how this applies to leg movements try this exercise.

Exercise: Standing with feet shoulder width apart and legs straight begin to let your weight go into one leg. Respond to the extra weight by letting the leg bend a little as it accepts the weight. There is clearly a difference between focusing on bending the leg and responding to the added weight by letting the joint soften. This is a subtle movement that can be accomplished without moving the hips or torso very much. I mention this because as soon as you ask someone to put their weight in one foot they exaggerate and move the whole torso over. Think about walking. We transfer weight from foot to foot with very little side to side movement. Once you have the feeling softening the leg to accept the weight, push off that foot and jump to the side. For example, weight the right leg and jump to the left. Then weight the left leg and jump to the right. This should feel easy and natural. From the bend to the jump should also feel like one action.

This simple exercise can teach you a lot. First, you’re learning to pay attention to what needs to happen first (weighting the left foot)—not the outcome of the movement (moving to the right). Second, you’re learning to take the time to begin the jump by releasing into the left foot, not by pushing off a stiff and static leg. Third, you notice that the movement is not entirely lateral, it has some roundness to it—and a little bit of up and down.

An important part of Alexander technique is developing awareness of freedom of movement as well as awareness of your tension—and lack of movement. To begin to build more sensitivity in your fencing try the following exercise.

Exercise: To test yourself, get on guard try moving all your joints a bit to ensure that you haven’t added more muscular effort than necessary. Can your elbow bend easily, is there the ability to move at your shoulder joint? Have a partner move your arm around. Can you let go and let them move your arm freely? To test your legs get on guard and just straighten and bend them a little (slowly) to see if the movement is easy and effortless. Are you allowing all your leg joints (hips, knees, ankles) move freely. See what it’s like to advance or lunge from this place. Now try tightening your joints. What’s it like to advance or lunge now? Be aware that when you start to make these changes, you may experience more physical ease, but it might not feel all that great. We are so accustomed to excess effort, that this new condition may not feel right. Try and trust that if you keep working toward more ease that it will help your fencing. You will begin to move more quickly and be able to react to changing circumstances more quickly.

Weight In The Floor

There isn’t a saying that I use more when teaching fencing. The only way to explain this is to try the following exercises.

Exercise: Try getting on guard and then tighten your whole body, now release. Notice that when you tighten your weight doesn’t feel like it goes through your legs into your feet and into the floor. When you release, you feel the floor much more. Staying connected to this grounded feeling is one of the simplest ways to help yourself stay more relaxed and at the same time in the present.

Exercise: This one might seem a little strange but it’s a great way to get grounded. Start lying on the ground flat on your back. Think about letting your whole weight sink into the floor. Now roll to your side and think again about sinking. Roll back to your back and sink again. Now go up to your knees and back to the floor. Try again up to your feet but crouching. Finally stand all the way up. In each position and while your making transitions keep thinking about gravity and the incredible support that you get from the ground. By the time you’re standing, you will probably feel like nothing can knock you over.

These exercises help you to begin to think about your body and movement differently. Instead of ordering your body around with your brain (arm go here leg go there) you are using your brain to pay attention to your body. You can pay attention to sensations (like feeling the ground), whether you are allowing movement, or whether you are experiencing balance or lack of balance. I can learn a lot simply by making simple footwork movements while seeing if I can get a better feeling of the ground or allowing more movement. It’s a process of trusting that your body has something to teach your brain and letting your brain record the information, versus using your brain to teach your body how to move. Here’s a final exercise to explore your balance.

Exercise: With a friend have one person stand on guard with relaxed soft joints while the other person gently pushes the fencer in different directions. It is quite typical for the fencer to try and retain balance by bracing against the force. Instead, try moving with the push and retaining balance by making adjustments in the joints, especially the hips, knees and ankles.

I Wish My Head And Neck To Be Free

This is a classic Alexander suggestion. If your head is not balanced and moving freely over your torso, your spine will be out of alignment, and it will be difficult to have full freedom of movement in your arms and legs. Most people tighten the back of the neck shortening the neck and lifting the chin. As your neck frees your head rolls forward, comes back over your torso and your neck lengthens and your spine can move in relation to the head and neck. To understand this fully it’s helpful to have an awareness of the head-neck joint—which is located behind your ears. Many people perceive the joint to be somewhere lower than that. Try touching your ears and visualizing the joint in the middle, and bend your head forward and back.

Exercise: Take some time and look in a mirror. Stand sideways and see if your chin is up or your head seems pushed forward. Experiment with trying to find tension in your neck, releasing it and see where your head moves to. Think about the weight of your head. See if you can find a balance point where it takes the least amount of effort to balance your head over your torso. Experiment by sending your head forward and backward and even sideways to see how this feels. Also try lifting and dropping your chin and see which position requires the least effort.

After developing some awareness of not tightening (freeing) the head and neck while you are relatively still, now your job is to continue to pay attention to freeing the head and neck and how the head and neck relate to the rest of the spine as you move. Alexander calls this leading with the spine as you move. The whole Alexander suggestion is actually “I wish my head and neck to be free so that my spine can widen and lengthen”. Alexander calls this the primary control. If you focus on this connection, the rest of your movement will be more coordinated.

Exercise: Try some simple movements while paying attention to the primary control. For example, extend your arm. Does your head move forward or down, or does your torso come with you. If you pay attention to freeing the head and neck and leading with the spine, the extension might look quite different. A good way to test whether you are leading with the spine is to take some light weights and while looking in the mirror try a few exercises. As you do the exercises continue to focus on the head and neck concentrating on not letting the exercises tighten or move your head. If you do this, you might notice that the weights feel heavier—which means that you are moving freely and you are more likely to be using the appropriate muscles to execute the exercise.

I often find myself making more and more complicated suggestions to students to resolve their movement issues. Then something happens that brings us back to the central Alexander idea–focusing on the head, neck and spine and all the other problems seem to disappear. I’ve had this happen repeatedly and each time the student and I learn at a deeper level about “primary control.”

Exercise: Try some fencing footwork in the mirror focusing on the primary control. Add arm movements. Notice what you see and keep practicing until your head and neck remain neutral and relatively still (not stuck) while you execute your fencing actions. Try it again against an opponent. See if you feel more control and balance and whether you have more control of the weapon. Keeping the torso stable almost always improves point control.

Good Movement Begins With Bending Correctly

Getting on guard primarily involves bending the legs by releasing the ankles, knees and hips. When your knees bend they go way forward. Your pelvis, which is angled forward when standing upright, straightens when the knees are bent, putting your sit bones more underneath you. This slight change in direction straightens the lower spine somewhat, which feels good as you feel a slight stretch in the lower back. Many fencers do not ever get into this optimal position. They will either not straighten the pelvis (which results in the buttocks sticking out) or they don’t bend at the hip joint enough (which appears as tucking the hips forward.) Many fencers never think about the ease of movement in their knees or ankles either.

Exercise: You need a mirror and your hands. Stand sideways to the mirror with your feet pointing forward and shoulder width apart. Put one hand on your lower abdomen and the other at the base of your spine. Begin to release your hips knees and ankles. As you begin the movement do your buttocks release down (as your pelvis angle changes slightly from tipped forward slightly to upright)? If you don’t adjust your pelvis, your buttocks will stick out a bit. If you tilt your pelvis too much your hand will notice your lower abdomen coming forward. This problem usually occurs if their isn’t any bending in the hip joint. The pelvis follows the direction of the legs. I find that this is the more common problem. One thing that can help is to pay attention to leading with the spine thinking up with the spine and torso as the legs are bending. A simple way to determine if you’re doing this correctly is to look in the mirror to see if your torso looks the same when standing upright as it does after you’ve bent your legs. It should look exactly the same—upright and full sized. If you haven’t bent your legs correctly, you’ll see your shoulders coming down or your pelvis coming forward.

Exercise: Most people that I work with struggle with bending at the hip joints. A simple way to get a better feeling of this is to stand in a mirror and lift your knee forward and flex your ankle (lift the toes). With your hands feel where the bend is in the hip joint. Now from a standing position bend both legs using your hands to feel if you are still bending in the hip joint. Also, think about using the same muscles to bend the legs as you did to lift the leg forward.

Fencing And Walking

I never thought much of the relationship between the movement of fencing and walking. There are some similarities and some differences. One similarity is that the lower part of the front leg needs to swing forward when you walk and when you advance or lunge. This concept seems difficult for fencers to understand and for instructors to teach. A major difference between fencing and walking is that in the low on guard position the body weight doesn’t come over a straightened leg. To stay down the knees have to continue bend as your weight moves on to a leg.

Exercise: Part 1—Walking: First stand in a mirror with your feet shoulder width apart ready to walk. Walk a few steps and see what you notice. Now looking in the mirror isolate the beginning of each step. Notice that before the lower part of the leg swings forward, the front hip bends in as the knee bends forward. As the knee bends forward the heel naturally comes off the ground a bit. This freeing of the three leg joints facilitates the swinging forward of the lower leg.

Part 2—Low Walking: Now this is the tricky part. Standing in the mirror, bend your legs a bit. Now begin to take steps forward maintaining this low (bent leg) walking position. Many people who try this find that when they bend the legs the hips and knees tighten and stop moving. The lower leg stops swinging and the whole leg moves as one solid mass (it isn’t pretty). If this is happening, you are also probably struggling with swinging the leg forward on the advance. To improve, just keep practicing until you can swing the lower leg forward with each low walking step. Change back and forth from regular walking to low walking until they both look the same. The low walking also helps you to understand the difference between fencing and walking—that is that to maintain this low position you must let the knees drive forward as your weight comes on to each leg. Learning about this will help you keep your weight back, and more in between your feet when you are fencing.

Part 3—Advancing: The hard part is learning the low walking. Once you can do that you should be able to turn to an on guard position and take advances that look just like the low walking—stepping from foot to foot. Try moving down a strip going from high walking to low walking to advancing. No matter how good your footwork, this exercise will help you feel smoother and more balanced. It’s a great warm up exercise before you fence.

Lunging

One of the biggest problems with a lunge for most is falling forward. For many, the weight moves forward much too quickly. This telegraphs your intention, makes it impossible to change the distance of the lunge once you start, and even makes it more difficult to avoid a parry once the lunge begins. To maintain balance, control and the ability to make decisions about the length of the lunge, the back foot needs to be fully weighted as the lunge begins. As with the low walking exercise the back foot is your balance and support. A lack of movement in the hip joints often makes this difficult. If the front hip joint isn’t free, the body goes forward as the front leg moves forward. Also, if the back hip doesn’t continue to adjust as the lunge progresses, you won’t be able to stay balanced on that back leg. Both of these points can be illustrated with the following exercise.

Exercise: Face forward in a mirror with the knees slightly bent, like in the low walking position. Try a couple of low walking steps to get comfortable. Now begin to take much longer steps concentrating on staying balanced on the back leg as long as possible with each step. Be careful to swing out the front leg while leaving the weight back on the back leg. Notice that to reach way forward, you have to continue to bend the back hip to keep your weight back. Now turn into an on guard position and try to get the same sensation. A large step out while keeping the weight back on the back foot. If you struggle with this, go back and forth from the forward position to the on guard position until both actions feel the same.

What’s Going On In My Back?

In fencing (and other sports) it is easy to think about what’s going on in front at the point of contact. This emphasis on forward in some ways explains leaning forward, and shortening and narrowing in the front. It also contributes to leaning forward in the lunge. It is extremely helpful to simply focus your attention on your back, back arm and back leg. Sometimes when I fence I concentrate almost entirely on my back and back leg. When I do this I feel balanced and able to recover from the lunge better.

Exercise: Try fencing in the mirror or actually on the strip thinking about staying as wide and as upright as you can the whole time. Give yourself the suggestion, keep your back back as you advance or lunge.

Movement Directions

One other instruction that seems helpful is to focus on the direction of movement. For example, if a person tends to pull down thinking about keeping the torso up as you bend the legs to get on guard can improve the problem.

Another place this can help is with the arms. If you look at a person with too much tension in the arms and shoulders you often notice that it looks like their arms are pulling in. Thinking about letting the arms releasing out away from the body is a concrete focus that can counteract the urge to pull in.

Understanding the Arms

The upper arm (humerus) is connected to the collar bone in front and the scapula in the back. This structure is not connected to the ribs–even though many people move their arms like they are. One useful thought is can you make more space between the arm structure and the ribs. Fencers tend to pull their arms (especially the front arm) down from the latisimus muscles. Somehow pulling the shoulder down makes you feel like you’re more “into it”. This pulling down gets in the way of the freedom of movement in the arm.

When the arm extends the collar bone (which is part of the arm) should raise slightly and the scapula rotates. Fencers with what we refer to as tight shoulders generally do not allow enough movement in either bone.

Exercise: Experiment by raising your arm up over your head and see whether there is any movement in your collar bone. If there isn’t much, see if you can allow more. Also, working with a friend put your hand on your partner’s scapula and notice the rotation as the arm moves up over the head. This same rotation should occur with the forward extension as well.

Also proper arm movement requires proper support from the rest of the body. This is hard to explain but it’s easy to show you. One way to say it is that if you are upright, supporting your weight through your spine, and letting the weight go through your pelvis and legs to the floor, your arms are then properly supported and can be used better. Going back to the idea of primary control it can be helpful when working with the extension to focus on extending the arm without disrupting the spine or lifting up off the legs.

A whole different approach when working with an extension is to focus on the muscles used to extend the arm. At first the shoulder releases and the effort comes from the triceps and the latissimus dorsi muscles. At the end of the extension the shoulder muscles do engage, but the shoulder should not be pushed forward.

Exercise: To get a better feeling for the muscles involved in the extension work with a partner. One person makes a fist and the other uses their hand against the fist to provide some resistance. The person with the fist makes a slow uppercut punching motion while the other person resists the movement. The person making the punch should clearly experience the engagement of the triceps and latissimus dorsi muscles. After that experience try making a fencing extension feeling the effort from the same muscles.

Conclusion

Using these concepts have been very helpful teaching fencing. Today, instead of focusing on technique in isolation, I concentrate more on developing better body usage. I do this because I now realize that I can’t fix the technique until I work with the underlying usage issues. Also, once usage is improved, teaching technique is easy, and comes with many fewer repetitions. Even more important to me, is that the student leaves having better kinesthetic awareness and some tools to tackle their next movement experience.