Myth of Knees Over Toes
A common piece of advice you may have heard is to never let your knee move forward beyond the front of your foot. This is well-meaning, but not actually true.
Articles by Sean Franklin
Do Swords Really Wear Out?
Does HEMA gear really wear out? You may be surprised to hear the answer isn’t necessarily yes…
Slow is slow and fast is fast. And don’t let anyone tell you otherwise
The quote “Slow is smooth and smooth is fast” is a good reminder to prioritize learning speed through coordination, but it is seriously misleading if you think that it means you can get away with training slowly all the time.
Historical Injury vs Modern Tournament Targeting
Comparing the archaeological injury patterns from Matzke’s 2011 “Armed and Educated” to statistics from modern HEMA tournaments.
It’s Not “All in the Hips”
A colloquialism associated with generating power is “it’s all in the hips”, but this is a little bit misleading, as the hips themselves aren’t really the source of the power.
Don’t Give Points When People Withdraw From Matches!
In some tournament formats a competitor will be given a win and the maximum match points if their opponent doesn’t fight. This is a terrible idea and unfair to all the other competitors.
Geometry of a Flat Hit
You can tell when a sword lands flat. With MATH!
Tournament Season? Tournament Countries? Where and when does HEMA happen
Even though we have tournaments all year I kind of felt like we had a tournament season. I was wrong…
There is no horizontal zwerchau cutting plane!
That’s right, you heard me. Geometry forbids keeping your edge in line while the tip is below the hands.
Batting a cut out of the way – a.k.a. “How You Cut Your Hand Open”
I know it sounds ridiculous, but I have come across someone who thought they could bat a cut out of the way by hitting the backside of the blade with their hand…