Armoured Combat, Rapier and Solomon Kane.

Been a long while since I posted. Not much to report. Not much to say. I haven't fought heavy since before November sometime. I injured my left elbow, and have been in physio since December. I am now at a point that my physio wants me to give heavy a try and ease back into it. So we shall give that a shot. In other news. I fought rapier last night instead. Sitting and watching practice was boring and I could be using my time more productively. Although I have done some training of my guys and a few others it is few and far between and.... did I mention I haven't fought in several months? So this combined with a new interest in RPGs and such I was on a facebook group where someone was discussing the merits or lack there of, of the new gunslinger class. "How do guns fit into high fantasy!?" Followed by, "Have you not read the Dark Tower trilogy" I personally have not read it, but I wanted to contribute a little, and so I went looking.... If you know me, you know I am a fan of Conan, and love the '82 film. As of recent years I have read more and learned more about Robert E Howard, the creator of Conan as well as other heroes. Heroes like......

Solomon Kane. Wikipedia says this, "Howard described him as a tall, sombre and gloomy man of pale skin, gaunt face and cold eyes, all of it shadowed by a slouch hat. He is dressed entirely in black and his weaponry usually consists of a rapier, a dirk, and a brace of flintlock pistols. During one of his later adventures his friend N'Longa, an African shaman, gave him a juju staff that served as a protection against evil but could easily be wielded as a weapon. It is revealed in another story, "The Footfalls Within", that this is the mythical Staff of Solomon, a talisman older than the Earth and unimaginably powerful, much more so than even N'Longa knew. In the same adventure with N'Longa, Kane is seen using a musket as well." Why is this on my fighting/SCA blog? Some days I am tired and I find the SCA to be too serious. I feel burned out just being in a supporting role along the edges. Rapier is something different, maybe it can be fun? Maybe a change is needed? If a change is needed a new persona is probably needed. I had always assumed I would continue with the Mongol theme in some way. Stay on the Eastern edges of Europe.

Solomon Kane is of course a work of fiction and the character is out of SCA period by about 100 years. So how does this help? Kane is a Puritan. That movement does start within the pre-17th century doctrine of the society. So maybe I look to explore a persona from England. 1599. And? In style and combat? Perhaps I let the hand of Howard guide me somewhat? As I continue along this path, if I do, I will try and update the blog. Right now my list looks like. Research: I know nothing about England. A rapier: SK's main weapon A dirk: SK has a dagger as well 2 pistols: He also has a brace of pistols A staff: and a staff....a magic staff..... :D Clothes: Not sure here. His clothing is of course depicted as late 17th century. A hat: He has a signature hat. Will need something similar from Period. A cloak: Also drawn with a cloak.

Progress: Weekend

I ate too much on Saturday and Sunday.  My average calorie intake was about 2158 (Mon-Sun).


I readjusted my target calories for losing weight and I believe my target is about 2000, so not horrible, but I really do need to clean up my weekends.  Less pizza/ more intelligent pizza buying options.  Or both.




Weekend otherwise was good.  Friday and Saturday were rest days and Sunday was a lifting day: Squats, Bench Press, OHP, Tricep accessory lifts.




I built a simple weight and equipment storage shelf for the garage gym over the weekend and was in general productive. 

General me wise I started learning leather tooling and began working on my new arrows as well.




Also decided I need to do some serious thought about myself and certain behaviors.  In short I wish to be a better person and I wish to have a more positive impact on those around me.

Progress Report: Weekdays recap.

This is an end of workweek recap.

Calories have been pretty much right at 1700, which is my current goal.  Some days a little over, some a little under.  Veggie intake remains up.  Social nights have included food, but in general better choices with available daily calories.  Beer intake has been down.  I will probably have 3 this whole week vs the 6 or 7 I would normally have.

The week looked like this:

Food:
Mon: 1345
Tue: 1934
Wed: 1617
Thu: 1777
4 day avg: 1668

Weights:
Sun: Squat, Close grip Bench, Bench, Overhead press.
Mon: Deadlift, Curl, Rows.
Wed: Squat, Close grip Bench, Bench, Overhead press.
Thur: Deadlift, Curl, Rows.

Practice:
Tue: Archery - New high on our Royal Round
Thur: Fighter practice - one set of passes with Sword and Shield and Two sets with the Zhanmadao.
Friday: Archery - Still to come.

Progress Report

Today is Wednesday.  It has been a couple of days since I laid out a few goals.

As of right now I am on target for my goals, food intake is down, vegetable intake is up, beer intake is down. Sleep is sitting at around 6 1/2 to 7 hours with a good breakfast to start the day.

Sunday and Monday were lifting days, Tuesday was an rest/archery day.  Today is a squat/push day and Tomorrow is deadlift/pull day.

Things are on schedule and we shall continue to move forward and excel at these goals.

Martial Pursuits.

I often complain about people who do not take the fighting aspect of what we do seriously enough.  They can't consistently make practice and they don't make it a priority.  They want to be better, but they do not but in the requisite work.

I do the same thing as this when it comes to my life.  I see myself a certain way, a way that I am often far short of, but I do not do what is required to move in the proper direction.  I want to be in better shape, I want to be more creative and I want to be better in my martial pursuits.

I've been in the SCA since I was 18 years old and I started fighting at 19.


I've taken some breaks here and there, the largest being for school, which was close to 2 years.  Other than that, the majority of the time I have fought between 1 - 2 times a week.

These the Barony hosts a single heavy practice a week, which I make a priority to attend even if I am not fighting.  Last year I took up archery and began target shooting.  I shoot twice a week.  Right now I am shooting or fighting three nights a week.


Unfortunately besides that I have had little physical activity and eat far too much.  These things negatively affect my mental head space and cause a downward spiral.

I see myself as strong, as someone who has been Knighted and as someone who has been Prince.  I know in the past I have physically and largely emotionally turned my life around.  There are days I may look down on myself, but these are typically the result of letting myself down.

Best way to tackle the current life is to identify some of the causes.

• Not enough exercise
• Too much food
• Not enough sleep

Not Enough Exercise
I used to lift fairly regularly.  I do not now.  Going to the gym for 5:30am is too much and I am not very good at it.  I know when I do manage to do it, it makes a physical difference in how I feel.
Solution: Picked up a 300# Olympic set, bench and power rack.  I set them up in the garage so I can workout when it is convenient for me.
Measureable goals:  Lift weights at least 3x a week




Too Much Food
I eat out far too much.  Too many onion rings, too many cheeseburgers.  I do it more often than I would like to admit, and this is compounded by the crap eating I often do at work.  COMBINE all of this with socializing after training and I am consuming even more calories.
Solution: I can fix a lot by eating well during the day and include more vegetables.  Today started with 2 eggs and turkey sausage for breakfast, Oatmeal for a snack, a frozen lunch and sausage and cheese for an afternoon snack.  Total Calories for that is about 830.  I also have about a cup of chopped misc. vegetables to eat.  I will leave work easily under 1000 calories.  Leaving me approximately 1000 calories for dinner and such.
Another thing I mentioned was socializing, which includes pub food and beer.
Solution: Drink beer less often, opt for diet pop.  Eat pub food less often.
Measurable goals:  Remove beer from one of the social nights, remove food from one of the social nights.


Not Enough Sleep
I struggle with sleep as well.  Stay up late, get up too early.
Solution: I need to be up by 6, so in bed by 10 is ideal for eight hours.  Ideally I will be up more like 5:30, which will still give me 7 1/2 hours of sleep.  The latest I should be hitting the sack is 10:30, giving me 7 hours of sleep for my 5:30am wakeup.
Measurable goals: Get at least 7 hours of sleep a night.

Practice March 26, 2015

Made it to practice, but I was pretty tired and not feeling it for the most part.  Worked the first 1/3 of my practice with the group doing a bear pit and fighting pretty constantly for most of it, but lacked any real direction.

Next 1/3 I spent filming other people and didn't fight at all.

Final 1/3 I did a few pick-ups against some of the more advanced fighters, thought I did ok considering my get up and go had got up and left.

Feeling a little under the weather this week.  Would like to fight, but might end up just doing slow work today + filming.

Outside of practice I hit the gym a few times as well as a minor bought of pell work.  Thinking of incorporating my pell into a backyard circuit.  Swings (Might require a 20kg bell though), Snatches, Jump rope, mace and pell maybe?

On going thoughts about fighting

Haven't been practicing as much as I would like and I also missed out a stellar oppotunity for a lot of good pick-ups at the last war due to slightly excessive partying the night before.

My armor fits horribly as well.  I am in a word, fat.  I need to lose weight and I need to make new armor for Crown as well.

My last entry was February 19th.

February 26th - No real recollection of this practice.  Assume I fought.
March 5th - Excellent practice.  The gym seems like a positive influence (Shocking)
March 12th - Work interfered and I couldn't make it to practice
March 19th - Filmed a little.  Didn't fight.  Lazy.
March 26th - Tomorrow.  Lets do this.

Goals:
New armor
Clean garage out, set up pel.
Still half considering setting up a bench, but as weather improves I think I will just see about adding what I have to the pel area and seeing if I can actually make time when I am at home to work on me.  Training at home is something I typically have an issue with.

Fight Practice. February 19, 2015

Current goals

• Working on staying cognisant during the fight.
• Not a lot of metrics here.
• Not over fighting - practicing in a non-exhausted state.
• Get tired?  Stop.  It's practice. 

Fought off and on all night.  Took breaks for the most part when I was very tired and felt like I was slipping from my focus.  Breaks were short allowing a lot of fighting.

Worked mostly on keeping my shield in the right spot and staying cognisant of the fight.  There was a few fights that I was successful not doing that.  There was a few fights where my focus slipped from the overall fight to my offense and I paid for it instantly.

Worked on lowering my center of gravity to help guard my legs a little more near the end of the practice as well.

New goal

• Fighting from a slightly lower stance.
• Work on footwork from this position.
• work on the pell from this position.

Fight Practice. Thursday, Feb 12, 2015

I haven't fought for a little while.  At Christmas I either sprained or fractured my foot, so I was giving it some time to heal.

Over the past month I've slowly headed back into the gym and started lifting and doing stationary cycle work.  Today I got bored on the bike and put twenty minutes in on the treadmill. 

Today I started back to practice as well.  I also started back up a fighting log and I am planning on updating this blog a lot more.

Goals last night were to work on defense, it was the paramount think I wanted to work on.  Secondary was to fight from a lower center of gravity.

In general I did well and kept the shield between me and the opponent.  I kept my attention on their weapon.  I had a few laspses when I was pressing hard, and typically payed the price.

One of the other things I worked on last night was not over working.  When I got tired I took a break.  It yields less fighting.  But it yields more fun and better fighting, and hopefully more productive fighitng.

An Tir Crown Tourney. Sept 2013

I fought in our Crown Tourney this past weekend.  After such a large tourney it is a good time to reevaluate.

It was a standard double elimination and I was out in 4.  My last fight was against one of the finalists and I was able to watch the video.  He fought well.  My first fight was my other loss.

Round 1.  This has traditionally been an issue for me.  I have trouble getting up.  Getting started.  Warm-ups done before processional count for nothing as they occur a long time before the fight.  The guy I am fighting is almost always someone I don't know.  Sometimes it is a decent fight and I lose, sometimes I just lose.  End result is I lose.  This is something I need to address.  I need to get past this first round.  Bring my game.  Do my job.

Round 4. Although I was out fought I feel I could have brought a better fight.  I knew we were at range, but I am unsure I knew just HOW much we were at range.  Hitting him where we were would have been nearly impossible.  Instead of being patient I moved into a closer range to try and land a more dangerous shot.  I lost for this.

Take home lessons

1) Fight your fight
2) Patience, fight at the range you want.

Awareness

Had a good practice last night.  We had one other knight out and a few long time players. 

During one of my sets with the other knight I was working on a tight leg wrap.  I would throw it and be pummeled.  I was on the tired end of the spectrum but it was ridiculous.  Close.  Low wrap. Pummel. 

I became aware that I was throwing that wrap, but I was looking at it.  seeing how it traveled, watching it hit his shield.  When I knew this I could correct it.

My last fight in the set was so much better.  Close, low wrap, low wrap.  I was able to stay in.  Stay aware of my opponent and finally land the shot.  Then while in range I let myself relax a little, look for an opening, become less aware.  I got popped in the face for it.

For this awareness has two components.
1) Be aware of what you are doing.  What is working, what isn't, how can I change that.
2) Being aware of my opponent.  watching what they are doing.  Keeping my defense in the game.

If #2 lapses I lose.  If #2 happens I can less effectively work on shots.

If #1 happens practice just becomes a big non directed sparring session.

An Tir Crown, May 2013

Final showing: fourth round in a double elimination tourney with 94 entrants.

Fought decently enough.  Although I think a smarter approach to my fight might have avoided at least one loss.
Warm up fights were good against Erik, Martin and Arminius.

Pressed the attack strongly in the first fight against a smaller opponent.  We closed to short range and I got caught.  Will use some defensive work and range holding drills and exercises.

Another problem is recognizing what I am fighting against.   Need to work a pre tourney check on my opponent.  Shield type, handedness.

Second loss involved a decent fight that ended when I tried to throw an opening pendulum.  Need to stick to bread and butter and fight.  No stopping to see how the shot landed.

Drills
Pell work
2 second drill
Frozen man
Surfing

Test post

Testing posting blog enteries on small tablet.

In general, this tablet was largely purchased as a way to film and review fights at practice.

100 blows. 100 days: Finished

I set out to complete the century drill.  I survived it.  I used it to work on some new shot techniques at the end. 

Basically the first bit was getting it done.  Coming up with ways to comlete 100 shots without becoming bored with it. 

Then I moved on to more flow and flourish work, constantly working with 1-6 drills and 100 slow-medium flow strikes.

The end was working on throwing the basic Oplomachia shots, warm-ups and some left handed work as well.  I recorded some of this, and have meant to do more but haven't.

All in all it was a worthy endeavour, and one I am happy to say I did.  I am still out on the pell working most days, but no longer every single day.

100 strikes, 100 Days

Eques Vilius Antonii contacted me among others and suggested we all start a 100 pell strikes for 100 days routine.  After deciding I could do pell work in my garage (single car garage, space is tight) I agreed.  I started getting into it the previous week and did 100 strikes on a couple different days, working through the 1-6 drill and then doing some repetitive form work at the end.

We started officially on Monday, Novemeber 12.  Did my 100+ swings, again working through 1-6 and then doing a few extras at the end.

Had a small tournament in our Barony a little while ago. I did ok, but am really not super happy with the results.  It was a round robin.  I won victories against the newer people, but anyone that was even a little bit of a challenege I hit a wall on and nothing would come together.

Still like the new sword though, it's pretty awesome. 

Monday practice & a new stick

On Thursday I fought only a few sets because the rattan was SO worn out.  It wouldn't flow.  Maybe I was a little off, but the rattan was not helping.

Monday rolled around again as it always does.  I largely squandered my weekend and avoided making a new sword.  For some reason I alway see this as an onerous task, I would apparently rather fight with a broom, making it nearly impossible to land a good blow.

Yet, here we were again.  Monday after work.  Old worn out rattan.  If I went to practice with it I wasn't going to fight.  So I grabbed new rattan and craved up a sword. 

For the past 5 or 6 iterations I have been carving my handle a certain way.  It is a sort of modified saber grip, fatter at the top than at the bottom.  Over trial and error I have determined I like it a little on the larger side over the smaller side.

I do not plane my swords, I don't really believe it helps make it look more like a sword or function more like a sword.  It's a stick.

When I was fnished and I had it all taped up I noted despite the length being identical to my previous sword, this one was significantly heavier.  Rattan must be denser.  I have 2 more blanks from this piece of rattan.

Although Monday practice was small it was a joy to fight with a new stick.  Absolute joy.  I always think this when I have a new sword.  ALWAYS.

Practice was a light sparring session with 2 other fighters.  It was good to put the armor on and swing some stick around.  Often with only three of us on the Monday we do not.

October closeout. November start.

Final day of October.

Goals were as follows:

Goal updateNutrition: 19
Pell & slow work: 8
Practice: 6
Blog: 4

Nutrition:
Out of 21 days, I have eaten well for 17 of them.  I am aiming for around 1900 calories a day.  Some days I have come in pretty low, but haven't suffered for it.  I have felt fine, not hungry.

I am a few days from my goal however.  I was aiming for 90% compliance and ended up more like 81% compliance.  I had a few days of emotional eating, but over all I did farily well.  17 day of eating well is a far cry from where I was, which was pretty much 0 days of eating well.

November starts a new month and it will be time to set some new goals.

Pell & Slow work:
As usual I did pretty much zero pell and/or slow work away from practice.

Practice:
I made it to six practices over the last half of the moth, but we only fought four of them due to low numbers.

Blog:
Have managed to keep up with the blogging, and have easily posted 4 times since the middle of October.

November goals
I will keep up my momentum.  I will be looking to increase my dietary compliance, see if I can bring it up to 85%.  That is 25 days in November where I am eating at my designated caloric limit.  Coronet is also in Novemeber so it will affect the number of practices I make it to.  Still I should be able to make 7 next month.  I will continue to work at putting slow work into my training schedule.  Be looking at once a week for now, so if I can get it in four times next month that would be awesome.

For new goals I am going to add resistance training to the goals in this blog as well as using my training journal.  Using the training journal will constitute writing in it after practice and then reviewing it before next practice.  Identifying areas I believe I am having trouble with and coming up with ways to fix them.

I have no real plan for resistance training.  It will most likely take place at home.  I have items in the garage I can use to make a fine workable gym.  If I can get in there and lift something a couple times a week it will be a vast improvement over where I was.

GOALS:
Nutrition: 25
Practies: 7
Training Journal: 8
Slow work: 4
Resistance: 8

Goals & Thursday

Went to practice in a foul foul foul mood.  Strangely hitting people with sticks made things all better.  Thankfully there was a couple or three guys I could fight hard and had good fights.

Had some good thinking fights at the end.  Fights I could explain what I was doing and why it was successful.  Usually the fight is governed by the animal mind and I have a hard time articulating things.

I skipped my drills this week.  Bad mood, and only one new guy had showed up.  I will do them this thursday, and select a second set for more exprienced guys a well.

Big demo this weekend.  Will need to spend some time working on my equipment and such so I look half decent for the fighting portion of this.
Goal update
Nutrition: 10/19
Pell & slow work: 0/8 <-- BAD at this.
Practice: 3/6
Blog: 4/4

October Drills & Goals update

Made it to practice on Monday.  It was pretty lack luster.  4 of us total.  2 knights and 2 regular fighters.

Camera work sucked.  All the heads are cut off.  Need to find a decent place for the camera.

Still haven't done any real slow work since I started this.  I have a real problem doing it.

My night to do drills at practice tonight.

Fair number of new guys right now, so I will do the following:

• Compass foot work
• Walking snap and return
• Maybe a line drill of some kind to simulate pressure.
• Pig sets up in the middle
• Fighters press Pig.  Close strongly and apply pressure, no shots.
• Pig disengages in a defensive manner, perhaps with a shot

Goal update
Nutrition: 6/19
Pell & slow work: 0/8
Practice: 2/6
Blog: 3/4

October Goals

Practice on Thursday was largely drills.  We ran two first blood line drills.  One to work on knee fighting and one to work on single are left handed fighting.

Practice was in general good, but I found myself not caring about fighting certain people.  And by this I mean I didn't care if they hit me or not.  There was zero negative reinforcement.  I was willing to just not care about my defense and work completely on my offense.  Not a great habit to get into.

I took a fair bit of footage, but most of it was no good cause of people in the way.  Will try a new spot for the camera tonight. 

A couple of our newer fighters seemed to have issues with overly aggressive advances.  If I came in fast left handed with my sword cocked hard to the right to throw and then stopped in that positiong WELL within range, they would simply freeze up.  It is my week for drills, so I will probably try and work something in to try and address this. 


GOALS

October is half gone, but I thought I would post some goals for the month.

• Nutrition: approx 1900 calorie/day during week. 21 days left aim for 90% compliance (19 days)
• Blog once per week.  4 times between now and the end of the month
• Pell/slow work 8 times between now and the end of the month
• Aim to hit 6 practices this month

Goal update
Nutrition: 4/19
Pell & slow work: 0/8
Practice: 1/6
Blog: 2/4