Body Movement and the Mediocre Fighter by Ben "Rohde" Grant
Once a fighter gets to the point where they are competent, they will hit a plateau. This plateau is usually caused by the fact that they can win a fight here and there, maybe place in a tourney so they feel they have a good fighting stance and they don’t need to work on it anymore.
The number one thing a fighter at this plateau can be doing to get to the next level is to be working on body movement. Sidestepping is the first thing that can help a fighter see new angles and keep a fight in their favor. You can side step in offense and in defense. Offensive side stepping is usually the easier one to work on. If you take someones arm in a fight, they are most likely going to be angling their body to put their sword in line with their arm. A simple side step can aide you in getting the angle necessary to clip their arm or get around the block entirely for a chest/stomach shot.
Sidestepping on defense is usually done to counter an advance, thus being a bit harder to work on because the situation isn’t facilitated by you, it happens when it happens. Again though, a simple side step can make your opponents offense miss or get caught in your block in such a way that it gives you that much more time to counter strike or separate the fight to reset and give you that offensive advantage again.
A bit more advanced but it is my number one tip for every fighter out there is to remember that you are not a statue. Your body has many many joints and you can bend and twist at so many of them. What’s better than making a block? Making a block as well as a dodge, it assures you you won’t be hit and gives you a better angle at a counter attack. A wrist can bend inward or outwards while you swing to let you get around a hand on weapon block. your hips and knees can bend and twist so that when an opponent swings over the top at you you can duck to a side with a twist in the hips that puts you at an angle that they are not prepared for blocking. Someone swinging at your side? twist those hips into the block, again giving you the angle to strike back.
There are so many little tweaks you can do to improve form and body movement. If you feel you are at a plateau, try changing your stance. Bring your feet closer together or farther apart, try crouching a bit more into your stance, lower or raise your swords a few inches, angle them out, point them at your opponent.
Hope to see you all soon in The Pit