A friend and I want to start practicing and sparring, but he doesn't want to use protective gear. He just says "we'll just go slow and pull our strikes". No way in hell will that work. We're using hard plastic weapons, but they'll absolutely break some finger bones when struck, even if the strike is pulled. Money is tight for us, sure, but being safe comes first above all.

I would like to support our professional teachers by adding all of the online courses to the wiki.

I've got Swordschool and St. Louis School of Arms, but I know you'all have mentioned others in the past.

I can't find a partner, and there no club anywhere i can get to regularly. I want to learn longsword, shortsword or rapier. What do i read? What gear do i get (and can I just DIY a foam sword)? I'm rly confused to all of that.

Hey, I've been looking around looking for videos detailing Fiore's techniques. But, the most I can find tend to be longsword videos. I occasionally come across other techniques involving daggers, polearms, and some unarmed fighting. But, I can't find any channels that cover the entirety of Fiore's teachings, like I see for Mair, Meyer, and the likes.

I'm looking for a bit of advice. I mostly learn from sparring and watching content on youtube. I find the way manuals are written to be difficult to break down. Does anyone know if the book is written in plane language or simply a direct translation?

I was watching the Spanish Princess and in the second season she sallies forth on horseback with a longsword and full body armour.

I have seen some women train muay thai whilst pregnant on IG and I was wondering how realistic/unrealistic is this?

https://preview.redd.it/dhsp5k4ztc4e1.png?width=1000&format=png&auto=webp&s=74bc0c151786449c7996dc9174387a7a027d72f6

I wanted to ask for people's opinion on using the 3 section staff in HEMA, it's an interesting weapon that could potentially have a lot of use if learned properly. I want to use a weapon with a relatively steep learning curve that would feel rewarding after figuring it out, and the 3 section seems to be good for that, though I'm not sure it would fit in HEMA.

Finally got some proper pants and some new leg protection!

In Meyer's longsword, parrying can be summarized with three rules.

1. Against anything other than an oberhauw, use an oberhauw.
2. Against an oberhauw, use any other basic cut.
3. If you want to use a single-time counter, use the short edge.

In the rapier section, Meyer spends half a chapter just on the various kinds of parries. And if we look at the Lund manuscript's rapier section, we find each guard has a list of parries to use from it.

Why is there such a big difference?

Hello everyone, I'm looking for HEMA related christmas gifts for my boyfriend. He's still a beginner but already has all the basic equipment (longsword user). Unfortunately he's been unable to attend classes for quite some time due to a very busy schedule, so I figured that there might be some good books out there that can help him train by himself at home. I'm also down to buy books that just revolve around history as he's very interested in that as well. And if you have any additional recommendations for cool/funny merch or QOL equipment I'd be very grateful! :)

Is there a limit for rapier blade length in tournaments? Is there a standard length? My club essentially has a 44" standard because we all got rapiers from HF. Heard that's already considered too long by some. Might order from Castille and wondering if I should still get 44" or go for 40"?

I don't know what this is, but I need to learn it.

I've heard that Lulu is doing major sale this weekend with the code HOLIDAY30. They've got a lot of HEMA books so it's worth checking it out.

Do you like fencing? Would you enjoy a three days of non-stop training, sparring, and socialising with historical fencers from all around Australia? You should come to Sword Camp!

7 - 10 March 2025, Melbourne, Australia

Website: https://historicalfencingaustralia.com/camp/ Bookings: https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1320375?embed

fb Page: https://www.facebook.com/HistoricalFencingAustralia/ fb Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1853772375069244/

I want to get started in rapier and I was planning to pull the trigger on a Castille economy rapier during their Black Friday sale this weekend. I was looking at their two blade options and it looks like neither of them have spatulated tips. Just rounded tips. Are those still safe for sparring with a rubber tip? Of course I see videos of people sparring with them, but I have also been told that sword tips need to be spatulated or rolled to be safe.

Is there anyone with rapiers from both Castille Armory and HF and have tried if Castille rapier guard fits HF renaissance blade?

So, I've been practicing spear for a couple months now, and I'm trying to pass forward the basic thrusts with the spear. I've seen it's important for most weapons to get a sense of flow so I wanted to ask if there's any resource where I could find some spear flow exercises, as well as spear training in general. Thanks!

I come from a mostly japanese martial arts background, aikido, karate, judo, jjj. Aikido and jjj have lots of knife defense techniques that just don't work. I was surprised to learn very similar techniques in a hema dagger seminar. Dagger vs dagger also seems full of techniques that require precise parties, arm grabs, etc.

Does anyone spar dagger vs dagger, or dagger vs unarmed, and reliably pull off these techniques against a resisting opponent? When I've trained with folks everyone gets stabbed, most of the time.

My thoughts are if so many living martial arts have crappy knife techniques that don't work, I wouldn't be surprised if period martial arts manuals also had lots of crappy knife techniques that don't work.

Hello! Any recent experience with in-stock gloves from Thokk shipping time? I’m moving country at the end of December but i hope i’ll get the order in my hands before. If not i’ll have to change the shipping address. How long did it take to ship them from the moment of your order?