fencing

[DrT]

Hi all,

I'm a fencer and I stumbled across this forum while looking for training tips.

Basically, I wondered what training people do for other martial arts that could be adopted by fencers. The priorities would be foot and hand speed, and aerobic/anaerobic fitness. Upper body strength isn't really important, but we need power in the legs. Fights are generally of 3 rounds of 3 minutes if that's any help.

Any thoughts?

[Tom Yum]

You know, they say that boxing's technique and application were built off of fencing. The only difference is that your dominant hand stays away from the opponent in boxing, while the reverse is true in fencing. Never tried fencing before...

For power in the legs, try plyometric jumps; vertical, long and zig-zagging over a low box. Each jump is as explosive as you can get. Also try lunges, with weights on your shoulders - does that move mimic how a fencer strikes forward?

You might try jumping rope to stay light on your feet, while conditioning your whole body.

Boxers (and kickboxers) also need a lot of hip tourque, but do fencers also?

[DrT]

jumping rope and plyometrics might be good. Certainly lunging is the most common type of footwork when making an attack so that might be useful too. What would you normally do - put something heavy in a rucksack?

I don't think hip torque would be important in fencing. I guess this is needed to add weight to a punch? You don't need to hit someone hard with a sword - if it had a point it would slide right in anyway! The power is only to allow a fast attack from longer range.

[terry]

I spent a few years working foil and saber under an old Hungarian guy. Sheesh, but that was a long time ago.

As far as training I would think backwards from the motions you use to the muscle groups involved. A lot of people undertrain their hamstrings and glutes, so I would make sure to do some lunges, hamm tractor, good mornings and sumo-style squats. Quad work you can do with leg press and hack squats. Next, you'll need both endurance and explosiveness in the soleus, so jump rope and toe raises might be in order. And because of the funny position of your feet you may want to look into making sure your adductors and abductors are up to speed.

Plyometrics would be a must. You might also try doing some extended jump rope sessions, aka 40 minutes at a time to get both cardio and toe-calf spring/mobility. That's just off the top of my head though, so I would take it with a big grain of salt. Finally, I would be willing to be that you also need to tune up your stretching program because fencers need a lot of hip flexibility.

Well, that an $2.25 will get you a latte. What you're missing from this perspective is program design that works into the specifics of your fencing routine and also addresses your specific needs/weaknesses as an athlete. I bet with some research and persistence, you could contact find some high-level fencing coaches who could tune a program very closely to what you would need and monitor your performance in your event. One of the big Universities might be able to refer you to a good coach.

Terry

[DrT]

Wow, lots of advice! That sounds good. There are a couple of pretty good coaches round here, but it seems that (in the UK at least) coaches mostly work on the technical side with very little fitness training.

Still, I'll have a look around to see if I can find someone who could help develop a specific program.

Thanks!