Category: Martial Arts

Pugilism For Real-World Fighting?

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Real-world fighting isn’t a lot of fun. It’s nasty, brutal, and the anything-goes nature of a fight means people can get hurt. Badly.

Yet, let’s be honest for a second. Learning to fight can be a blast. Especially if you’re a history buff and are learning a historical method of fighting.

However, the question I’ve asked and seen asked more than almost any other is whether or not any of this is practical for the real world.

I took a look at that question myself a while back, as an outsider to the world of Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) and offered my take. Over a brief time, I’ve started modifying some of my thinking a bit, but I’m fairly well settled on the validity of pugilism as a valid style of fighting for both HEMA uses and application on the streets.

I’m not the only one who thinks that, either. Continue reading “Pugilism For Real-World Fighting?”

HEMA Thoughts: Armor or Unarmored

As I’ve noted before, I don’t think the swordplay aspects of Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) has much real-world applicability. But it’s also cool as hell.

With that in mind, I see myself using it as a pretty important part of my training going forward.

While looking into groups, I found that my closest group–a couple within reasonable driving range for the occasional class–does things a little different than most. They place an emphasis on the historical nature of things, including fighting in armor.

That led me to ask, “Do I want to fool with armored fighting?”

Continue reading “HEMA Thoughts: Armor or Unarmored”

Using HEMA In Real Life: Where To Start

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When people familiar with Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA), their first thoughts tend to be using a sword. It’s certainly mine. However, as I noted earlier this week, HEMA in real life can totally work for self-defense.

Unfortunately, it’s not just so easy as hitting up the internet, watching some YouTube videos on HEMA, and getting rolling.

No, you need to know where to start. As such, here are my thoughts on viable places to begin HEMA training if you’re interested in real-world applications.

Continue reading “Using HEMA In Real Life: Where To Start”

What’s Missing From Most Western Training Methods

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I’m generally not someone who automatically assumes we in the West have gotten it all wrong. I’ve known people through the year who are convinced that anything that comes from India, or the East in general, is somehow superior, more “right” than anything we do in this part of the world.

Again, I’m not one of them.

Hell, part of what I liked about DDP Yoga was that it was all the exercise without the mumbo jumbo.

But what if some mumbo jumbo is something we all need to add to our training, particularly our combat training?

Continue reading “What’s Missing From Most Western Training Methods”

HEMA For The Real World?

The other day, I wrote about Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) and how they can be useful for us today.

At the time, I figured the real-world applications for HEMA was limited to shoulder and wrist mobility. After all, we’re talking about sword fighting. Who the hell uses a sword these days?

But, truth be told, I might have been a little hasty.

Continue reading “HEMA For The Real World?”

Martial Arts As An Approach To Bullying

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There are a lot of people in this world who have had to deal with bullying. I won’t speculate as to which ways of dealing with it are more positive and which ones aren’t. I’m not remotely qualified to do so.

However, I came across a story earlier about an Australian study that looked at how martial arts training was beneficial to the victims of bullying. That got my gear turning just a bit.

Continue reading “Martial Arts As An Approach To Bullying”

HEMA And Health: Any Benefit In Old-Time Swordfighting?

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Recently, a friend suggested I start talking a little bit about HEMA. It’s really to be expected, what with the whole Barbarian thing going on here.

My initial reaction was to reject it. After all, while I use the imagery of a barbarian here, I want to focus on real-world applicable activities. But I decided to delve a little deeper and see if there were any applications we could use in our modern world.

For those who are unfamiliar with the term “HEMA,” it stands for Historical European Martial Arts. Generally, it’s thought of as a whole set of historical sword fighting methods, though it also incorporates unarmed techniques like pugilism and wrestling.

Other than those last two, can the modern Barbarian derive any real benefits from learning how to swing a sword? Continue reading “HEMA And Health: Any Benefit In Old-Time Swordfighting?”