I'm quite happy about the fact Weapons Sparring kinda sucks! Because life is good! XDXDXD

No one sees a boxer jumping rope and then infers that the whole art of boxing revolves around those motions alone, or state that because that particular exercise has no direct and evident application to a knock out punch, then these isolation drills should be removed from practice. Why then, suggest that in order to learn how to use a weapon, you need to train how to kill or cut open wounds? That level of desensitization may be part of a hitman's training... or something we see in a comic book. Coach Ramsey may be assuming that all weapon training is for a kill or be killed scenarios, completely skipping the historical, academic and philosophical approach a person can be interested in seriously investing time to HEMA. And I've been reading the argument that his video was aimed toward those deluded "tacti-cool 100% street" instructors that guarantee you can handle 10 armed opponents at once, but that particular idea was never laid clear by him in that video.

@jonathanbartlett1098

2 ай бұрын

I got the impression that he conflated all weapons training together as one big group. He used both "self-defense" weapons and fencing as examples. I know he was referring to Olympic sport fencing, but he is also at least aware that HEMA exists because he has referenced it in the past. Strangely enough, those references were more positive, so it's really hard to tell where his position is regarding any sort of historical fencing. Overall I agree with you on this, his argument was not very clear in his video

Is this a trend where KZread MMA folks speak with supposed authority on HEMA matters, and glibly dismiss them. Icy Mike from Hard2hurt called HEMA "stupid and unnecessary" but he's just a provocateur so I expect it of him. I thought Ramsey would have given a more considered reaction to HEMA sparring. 🤷

@snowcelt

2 ай бұрын

Even Sensei Seth has tried HEMA and Buhurt and came away with a new perspective. He seemed open to learn at least.

@ianalexander7082

2 ай бұрын

Right! They're coming at hema sparring with a very specific set of assumptions about why we do it, because they can't imagine anyone would do sparring for any different reasons than them. The only justification any of us ever need to do sparring is because we enjoy it.

@FedericoMalagutti

2 ай бұрын

Well to be honest, Ramsey didn’t talked about HEMA, it was a general discussion about weapon based sparring

@beyondthestaticnoise

2 ай бұрын

MMA KZreadrs have been talking about other styles being useless for a while now. I view this as a marketing strategy that's used to get others into MMA. They might not even realize that is exactly what they are doing, but that is how it sounds to my ears. In the end all martial arts self-defense, weapons, and hand to hand are simulations of the real thing. Just ask any combat vet.

@snowcelt

2 ай бұрын

@@FedericoMalagutti Ah, thanks for the correction. I conflated the two. Mea culpa.

I only got into HEMA because MT/Kickboxing is so damaging over time at the same INTENSITY when I spar in HEMA. If I go 80% in HEMA, worst I get is one or two bruises that heal within 2 weeks whereas the guys I trained with always had a new injuries let alone CTE. As a dad, I can't see myself doing KB competitively long term, but HEMA I can.

I used to watch Deweys vids a few years ago but I just couldn't stand his pontifical condescending way of speaking. He comes across like he is this great wise sage. I just can't stomach it.

@nilsprior7229

2 ай бұрын

I have the same problem with his manner, but I eventually figured he has to sell himself somehow. Unfortunately, balanced views don't help much in this respect 😉

@robnewton1942

2 ай бұрын

100%

@m88888

2 ай бұрын

I agree. Also, reading through the comments on that video, he keeps moving the goalposts when people disagree with his take.

@RealZeratul

2 ай бұрын

I agree, plus him making a video about the infeasibility of a global vegan lifestyle that was based on a unit conversion error on his side. I pointed it out to him, he even responded, but never acknowledged or even corrected it. 😕

In Dewey's best work, you get a really well thought-out, reasonable perspective on things based on his experience. He comes across as someone who really knows a lot. Unfortunately, just as often he just says things as if they were true whether he's looked deeply into it or has any experience in it or not. It's been that way since way back in the day when he was trying to prove Taekwondo's efficacy by getting trashed in local tv fights. What do you do?

His understanding of armed sparring is negligible at best tbh

@FedericoMalagutti

2 ай бұрын

I mean, I think he is right to a degree but he explained himself in a very weird way XD

@ArsBellorum

2 ай бұрын

@@FedericoMalagutti Its like asking the military to do their training with live ammo and killing each other, which removes the whole purpose of training altogether. I'm primarily a fencer, but I do Muay Thai and BJJ, and I understand the purposes and ways of sparring in each are different worlds. I go hard in each, as hard as I can go without crippling my partners. In BJJ it translates to stopping once the technique is in, in Muay Thai in reducing the intensity and focusing in technique and so forth. Sparring is not the purpose of the art, and is something Martial Artists of all kind must remember.

@FedericoMalagutti

2 ай бұрын

@@ArsBellorum I 100% agree with you!

@timhema5343

2 ай бұрын

@@FedericoMalaguttiYou're too kind with him, he clearly made a clickbaity video without understanding very little about what he is talking about.

@johnmrke2786

2 ай бұрын

@@FedericoMalagutti Giving him too much credit for some reason.

I would be careful comparing open hand /empty hand disciplines to fencing...whereas in principle these are both martial endeavors....the speed generated by a weapon even a baton increases exponentially compared to what we can do with our body alone. IT s a whole different game in my opinion...and they can be both lethal and the cause of lethal/crippling injury in their own way...still sharp steel would always win over flesh ...even blunt steel pinching your skin the wrong way can break skin and cause injury.....but also a rattan baton strike to your unprotected cervicals/trachea can delete you quite efficiently too.

Great overview Fredrico! Coach Ramsey’s original video brought up some very interesting points that I think the greater sword community should explore, and you and scholar general are bringing some wonderful views to the conversation. We will keep striving to uncover how things were conducted in the past and this is a good exercise in that endeavor!

I really needed this one Federico! ❤

Informative as always.

So I would look also into these on this topic specifically....combat IQ, environment of the conflict/rules (if any)of engagement, exercise of control even on a threatening situation and also that nasty intention on causing injury(and I almost forgot...the artificially/naturally increase of that pain/recovery threshold).

Thank you for this great videos Hema is really interesting

4:09 guy on the left has a cool jacket. Anyone knows who made it?

If someone goes to the head coach of a national fencing team and asks him or her to stop having sparring, there is a good a chance for that person to be seen as either ignorant or trolling and likely laughed off by everyone on the team.

In a real fight there is an active intention of causing injury also the mind set is, hey I m going to get injure, maybe lethally/crippling injured. When sparing in kendo, my personal mindset was, "Im not getting injured " because to a certain degree I trust my fellow kendoka that I usually trained back home. In HEMA I had a mixed experience. For example I was sparring with Rawling synths yesterdays with this guy from SSG...he has a background in modern martial arts and SCA rattan combat games. I wouldn t usually expected but he showed an out of character lack of control on this sparring session. And he could have injured me even while I was wearing my full HEMA gear....Rawlings still can bruise organs and fracture bone if use in an uncontrolled manner. I m a graduate nurse and medical assistant....so I have a knack at gauging when someone is trying to cause injury . Also and unfortunately I have been on plenty of street fights in Puerto Rico of all places lol. So that behavior on the part of the colleague in my book raised a big red flag. My point is bringing this very recent and specific example the exercise of control or lack of it at some points may even blurr the distinction between what I was writing about on the very first sentence....that active intention of causing injury. For me it makes no sense to find HEMA fencers, experience ones that willingly go to the side of lack of control....there is no need to it. We can put our skill and combat IQ to the test while making use of sufficient force and good control.

3:10 Yo! You will awake the neighbours! :D

I belive that weapons sparring could be beneficial even for pro fighters, if we consider that CTE is caused most because of intense training and not because of the fights, why cant we swap some of the tradicional hard striking sparring sessions to hard knife/sword sparring sessions (foan weapons). Of course we cant exclude hard striking sparring, but substitute some of the sessions could make you get the precision, timing, speed and strenght without damage your body a lot. Obs: i know is not real and you maybe dont feel the adrenaline and bla bla bla, but still, cant we take something useful out of it?

I'm thinking that the human being, in his never ending quest for understanding ourselves and the world around us, is destined to exchange and integrate information about fighting just like with any other form of art (graphic arts, music, cooking... Even religion, aesthetics, and so on). The human being simply can not stay stagnated where there is a whole world of unknowingness on the outside; he will plunge to the unknown with what he knows. I believe my previous comment serves as a good base to understand why we keep poking at different disciplines. I see so many people here that practices combat sports AND HEMA... Of course, for people like us it's only natural, but for someone who has been focused on modern self defense, for example, it is really hard to come outside looking for answers without the conditioning of our thoughts. Say, for instance, that I have mastered the Mediterranean cuisine. I know a great deal about it, but someone comes and tells me "thai food is great". My natural reaction to that, as long as there is a "hidden self", is to think: "no way! There's nothing as good as what I know". The next step would be to look at it, still from the ego, and confront it: "I'm sure it's not as good as they say, and I'm gonna prove it". I believe this is exactly what's happening with all the recent blabbering about HEMA being unrealistic or whatever. There is an unknown thing and, instead of asking or listening to those who have been there, some choose to plunge face first into it leaving themselves wide open. Of course, this approach denotes a lack of humility, and I wonder if there is no other way to bring HEMA to the public and potential martial arts learners. I think there is. I think we could ask the question firat and then listen... But, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter. There are only positive outcomes from these interactions and I thank you, Federico, for offering your perspective in a very welcoming way. Happy spring time!

This is the only good response to that video that I've seen. Every other response video insinuates things that Ramsey didn't say and just seems deeply offended at his opinion.

Medieval Weapon sparring is SUCK if,IF you wanna go to Modern war with Medieval Weapons. We practicing Medieval Blunt Weapon with lots of protection JUST FOR FUN ANYWAY. We know we are wasting our time,but we practice it just for fun.

@FedericoMalagutti

2 ай бұрын

I honestly don’t feel I’m wasting my time, but I get what you mean ;-)

And yess, sparring and even the competitive environment(including most commercial cage fighting you see) is not a real fight...there are controls and limits to it. The intention of injury is nerfed. Because like kumite, kisokumite , sparring in kendo and/or hema , sparring is a preparation for a more intense version of the discipline....can it be counterproductive, sure...depending on the approach and how conscious all parts involved are about the task at hand....but even in sparring we can mediate different levels of intensity, rules of engagement and we can also alter the environment of the conflict.....so I guess there is different qualities of sparring. Unfortunately most of our HEMA friends do spar training focus on the competitive more sport-like environment...some even forget about the lethality of the techniques illustrated and described on the historical sources...because they want to score a point...or simply the rules of engagement from the tournament environment restrict and for good reason certain activities.

Who cares what some youtuber saids, (Except Gabriel Varga he is a six time world champion and it shows from the wealth of information he shares on this platform alone) If you enjoy sparing do it and when those days come when it seems silly or dumb take time away from it. All forms of sparring causes those days to come with or without weapons. If I feel like copying every movement a boxer does in one of his fights I do so knowing that none of that is ever going to help me win a real fight due to that boxer knowing why he is dong every step. punch, and slip/roll/pull in that moment and I am just wondering why this over that the whole time while trying to guess what they are thinking. I swear Mayweather counts the seconds of the round and also counts punches he lands and slips as dollar bills and ignores any punches that land on him and any he misses. next time you are sparring imagine any strike you evade as a dollar bill you just earned. From moving like Mayweather and feeling his style this concept just fit and seems to allow me to move faster.

Federico You should practice kendo, it would benefit your Hema a lot.

@paulconrad6220

2 ай бұрын

I did kendo for years, but I only find it useful in some specific HEMA situations. Not all too often, honestly

@FedericoMalagutti

2 ай бұрын

I would practice many things, but I lack the time unluckily.

@scassoniostrarompi1691

2 ай бұрын

@user-pl2or1ou1v - How so, exactly?

@scassoniostrarompi1691

2 ай бұрын

@@FedericoMalagutti Absolutely, there is only a number of fencing styles one can proficently practice at the same time, and if you do multiple things you'd better be careful to evaluate if they actually get along well or if they mutually interfere in a negative way. Historical fencing not being my source of income, one year I trained in three different schools/styles and from the next one onward reduced to two due to not having enough time to seriously practice them all.

Pretty sure the head trauma that he recieved affected more than his eyesight.

I'm getting pretty tired of mma influencers not even bothering to engage with what we do before rendering a bogus clickbait judgement.

This is no longer a hypothetical situation. In Texas the open carry of swords, or any bladed weapon, is now legal. If I were in that situation I would most certainly want the weapon(s) I've trained with at my side.

i honestly believe an american football player has as much a claim to his sport training self defense as any, since he's training how to run a way from a bunch of huge guys trying to grab him xD most people who think martial arts and combat sports will get them ready for self defense scenarios are destined to get killed one day imo. its not a duel, there are no rules, they might talk to you before attacking, they might be someone you trust, they might be armed, it might be someone who could hurt you worse if you fight back, it might be someone who gives up and picks a different fight at the first sign of resistance, you might be outnumbered, plus most fighters dont expect to break their hands punching without gloves. i could go on, but i honestly believe an american football player has as much a claim to his sport training self defense as any, since he's training how to run a way from a bunch of huge guys trying to grab him xD

It's a waste of time to engage with his clickbait nonsense.