Rapier Exercise: Visualizing Your Fencing Measures

Many historical fencers when trying to work through actions in various measures (aka misura, or distance) take way too big of steps forward or backwards, getting either way too close or getting too far away to properly attack their opponent or defend against attacks. It often makes for messy attacks or huge cavaziones (disengages) and other blade actions. This is especially true of new fencers, in general, and shorter fencers who are trying to bridge the gap between their opponent’s measure and their own. However, big steps also means BIG tempos, with means big opportunities for our opponent’s to try to strike us in. Often the distance between one measure to the next is relatively small. But getting people to understand that can sometimes be tricky. Measure, after all, isn’t a very tangible concept in Italian rapier. So my Beginner & Intermediate Rapier class at @Boston Academie d’Armes tried to come up with one. This video shows one way you can create a visual representation of your fencing measure -- both as a partner training exercise as well as a solo exercise. You’ll need: - Yourself (and optional training partner) - A sword simulator - Something to use as visual markers (we used bean bags) It was interesting to see the distance covered by our various students, plus see how stance & mobility plays a role in our measure. TOC Defining Our Measures - 01:32 Measure Visualization Exercise (with Partner) - 02:49 Measure Visualization Exercise (sans Partner) - 04:40 Things to Keep in Mind - 06:03 Historical Note: The early-17th Century Italian masters typically only talked about Larga and Stretta. Capoferro also mentions Strettisima. Giganti just talks of being “in-measure“ or “out of measure.“ Meanwhile, Alfieri coined the term Misura Perfetta or Perfect Measure, which is the distance you can strike your opponent with a lunge without overextending yourself; it lies between Larga & Stretta. IMAGE NOTE: The background image of this thumbnail is from “Regole di molti cavagliereschi essercitii“ by Federico Ghisliero (1587) (Federico_Ghisliero) ---- DONATIONS: If you found this video useful, please consider a small donation so I can continue to produce rapier & other historical martial arts content. Donate at ⚔️ABOUT JUSTIN⚔️ Justin Aucoin (aka Remy) is the product of when a five-year-old boy who fell in love with Zorro and The Three Musketeers grows into a mostly functional adult. His life-long love of athletics and swashbuckling has led him down the road to practicing the art of historical fencing. He’s the founder of Boston Academie d’Armes , a hybrid in-person/online fencing school for HEMA & SCA historical fencers, with a focus on French and Italian rapier, smallsword, and dueling saber. He puts an emphasis on good body mechanics and helping his fencers to improve their physical fitness, athletic ability, and fencing skill while operating within their current physical limitations. As a competitor, Justin has won numerous rapier tournaments in the SCA -- both in singles and in group melee -- including Carolingia’s Baronial Champion, East Kingdom Crown Champion, and named 6x to the Pennsic Champs team. He is 15th member of the East Kingdon’s Order of Defense, holds a Silver Broach and Maunche for his historical martial arts research, and a Silver Wheel and Silver Crescent for his coaching. Outside of the SCA and the Academie, Justin teaches rapier at Athena School of Arms, has taught workshops at events such as Iron Gate Exhibition (IGX), and is a certified personal trainer through NASM. You can follow his historical martial arts research at ⚔️SOCIAL⚔️