Seminar on Saturday: discover your unknown unknowns

We all have gaps in our knowledge and skills. To a large degree, training in any martial art is a question of discovering what you should be practising next, and then practising it. The key is discovering the gaps and filling them, before a serious opponent discovers them for you. These gaps can be in … Read more

Categories Uncategorized

Teaching online

I have been teaching a lot over Zoom since the Coronavirus epidemic screwed my usual teaching schedule. The primary benefit is that people and groups who couldn’t afford to fly me out to teach them can zoom me in instead. But it comes at a cost: it is astonishingly tiring to teach through a screen. … Read more

Learning Rapier from the Workbooks

It is hugely satisfying for an author to see their work put to work. I received an email recently from Anthony Klon, who is using my Rapier Workbooks. He described how he’s using the area for notes to make cross-referencing the steps of the Rapier Footwork form with the translation he’s using. I’ve been working … Read more

Longsword Mechanics seminar, November 22nd 7pm UK time

Do you want to learn precise control over the sword, for enhanced speed, power, and the ability to deceive the opponent? In this seminar we will cover some basic handling drills, then move on to the specifics of shortening the path the sword must take. Beginners require a long movement to generate speed and power, … Read more

Categories Uncategorized

That awful meme

There’s a sword meme going round the internet which features some self-important prick that can’t hold a sword properly and has the posture most commonly associated with a lifetime spent hunched over a porn site, and words along the lines of the following: While you were out partying, I studied the blade. While you were … Read more

Tick-tock-BONG! the ultimate health goal.

I have finally managed to articulate my health goals precisely. It’s just this: I want to play tick-tock-tick-tock-bong! with my grandchildren. In case you don’t know the game, it’s simple: you hold the (enthusiastically willing, squealing with glee) child upside down by their ankles. Swing them a few times side to side like a pendulum, … Read more

What to read? Some healthy suggestions

I read a lot. Most writers do. You may think I spend most of my time reading sword books, but it isn’t so. Probably the most important books I’ve read in the last year or so are entirely sword-free! My home is filled with books- and about half of them are in boxes in the … Read more

Excalibur Book Nook

 I came across the idea of a book nook quite recently; one just popped up in a search for something else (a book, I think). And I just had to have a go, as it’s a perfect crossover between several of my interests. I was about half way into it when I realised it would … Read more