The
Rapier (Continued)
Techniques
In
this section I will cover various Rapier techniques.
Stance
Ok,
now that you have found your grip. It is time to find your
stance. Get into your fencing "on guard" stance.
If you are not familiar with that, put your lead and rear
foot together so that your heels are touching to form an L,
for lefties and a reverse L for righties. Now, with your lead
foot take a comfortable step forward. Your feet should be
about shoulder width apart. Tah Dah fencing stance. With the
Rapier you want to open that up a bit. Take your rear foot
and turn the toes so your foot is in a 45 degree angle. Now
sidestep it out about shoulder width with your feet evenly
balanced. Turn your shoulders a little more square. Play with
it a little bit. You want it to be comfortable and mobile.
The fencing stance it great for linear movement but sucks
for any sideway or circular movement. You want a happy medium.
Your posture should be more or less straight. Don't lean too
far forward.
Your
balance should be evenly distributed. But, because you use
your rear foot to catapult you forward, sometimes you put
more weight on it. Other times your weight will be on the
balls of your feet for all around mobility. Yet, other times
more on your front leg to propel you backwards. You need to
be prepared to move and move quickly in any direction and
balance is a key.
*Just
a note on your stance. Your stance will open and close, change
and move, depending upon you or your opponents intent or actions.
But, this is a good starting point. More will be explained
as we go along.
There
are basically three different arm and hand placements that
make up your guards. A high guard, a middle guard and a low
a guard. There are a few other guards we will cover later
on but, these will more than get you started.
High
guard:
Arm straight out from the shoulder, weapon held out horizontally
with your hand "pronated" or palm side down pointing
at your opponents face or midsection.
Middle
guard:
Arm more bent. Elbow about a hands width from your body. Hand
should be held in a middle type position, between "pronation"
or palm side down and "suppination'' or palm side up.
You can have your hand at a "noon" position or slightly
in pronation but not too much. The hand can also be held in
total suppination but, there are pros and cons you might want
to think about. Your Weapon should be pointed at your opponents
face, throat, chest or midsection.
Low
guard:
Drop your hand down from middle guard pointing the weapon
more toward your opponents knee and below.
Some
people like their arms more straight than others, some more
bent. It's a personal preference that you need to work with
and weigh the pros and cons. Too straight your shoulder tires
too fast, Too bent, and pending upon your physical attributes
and hand position, it can deminish your reach and speed plus
expose your arm to attack.
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