Interesting Staff Guard

[Jake Norwood]

Hi Frederico. Welcome!

That's very interesting. It's not really an approach I'd thought about much in regards to this (I come from a background of "Never ever ever ever turn your back when fighting," although I confess to doing it on occasion, usually during a retreat!). I confess to a near-total ignorance of Jogo du Pau (other than the name). I wonder if our Irish stick fighters have any similar input?

@Ben

Thanks for the vids! That's

I know I've gotten into this "mittelhut" position after doing a swing like that, which necessitates that I know what to do next, e.g., how to fight from that position.

Lots of good stuff here, guys.

Jake

[James Head]

Big tangent here, but is there a way to find a larger resolution image of this picture? I am interested in taking a closer look at the Flail being used in the upper right hand region of the pic. Also, does this version of Meyer have any other info about the Flail inside of the text?

[Frederico Martins]

Jake, It is not a safe thing to do indeed, that is why it is only done in jogo do pau under a guard and when you know you have time and distance to do so. It is dangerous. But has the advantage of being very powerful and can surprise your opponent, so, see that as a tool you might use. But if I was going to have a real fight next month, i wouldn't practice that, to use effectively you must practice it allot more than that, it is very hard to execute correctly to take advantage of its power.

about the turning you back to the opponent, I totally agree to NOT do that(as a rule), but in the situation in the videos i showed, after a guard on the dominant side and when you notice your opponent is off guard, it is a non stop, high speed moment to do, isn't that much faster to execute than going to that guard(we are discussing), from the same side, doing a full stop to arm the attack, and then initiate it?

I believe it is Much safer to turn around(in the situation I described) and show your back if you are ever to be in that pose(even if as transitory) than to ever be in that position in as static guard.

I would really like to see more people interested in studying staff combat, it is my specific area of interest so I'm glad to be able to discuss it.

Cheers!

[Ben Floyd]

Thanks for the vids! That's {not a finished sentence}.

I know I've gotten into this "mittelhut" position after doing a swing like that, which necessitates that I know what to do next, e.g., how to fight from that position.

I hadn't thought of that. Good point though.

Ben thanks for the Vids, thats excellent, the second vid showing you coming around quickly, Good stuff there. Keep studying Staff, i can see you dig it. I've gotta get some vids up that i made, just messing around. this position was important enough to use 80% of the time when showing polearms in various Plates.

I didn't like the second quite as much in execution, mainly because I was worried about hitting her hands (could've been faster). The second play for side guard is actually the same as that vid done to the other side but followed through differently.

As far as digging it, I like all weapons.
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Here's what I was talking about in the last post. The first strike is not really even all that close while I'm not in danger (I had actually already moved forward some in the pic), but I was able to close the range with a powerful strike that has to be dealt with. I did make a little extra room in there so I wouldn't whack her on accident as well. Maybe I'll finish out the rest of the device sometime soon on video. My 'training partner' otherwise known as 'person I roped into helping with the video' has to train up the some speed to make it more realistic.

[Ben Floyd]

I don't study the books but by the european staff combat art I practice that seams like a "turns around" attack(not a static guard indeed).the point of the staff goes down on one side, after a block for example, and then the entire body pushes the staff to the other side performing a full rotation, creating what is possibly the strongest attack with a staff, since it uses the rotation of the entire body 360 degrees printing it's weight and speed on the attack.

*videos*

let me know if that makes sense to you.

Thanks for the videos. That'd be a hard thing to pull off right in sparring. It doesn't seem like that's what Meyer was talking about (but you wouldn't know since I didn't post his words), but I'm sure the staff guards are the same as for longsword and everything else. You don't stay in them long and can you strike through some. Generally though, most guards are a starting or ending point from my understanding of things.

[Ben Floyd]

It's a two-handed flail. It was originally used by peasants for threshing grain, I believe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flail_(weapon)

[James Head]

It's a two-handed flail. It was originally used by peasants for threshing grain, I believe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flail_(weapon)

Exactly! I was just asking about the Flail being used in the original Meyer illustration just a few posts earlier. The Flail is a big weapon of interest to me. I find it maddening that Meyer and some of these other masters include the Flail in their list of weapons that their fencing schools taught, but there is never any mention of any techniques in the text.