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Sunday, October 29, 2017

Inktober Day# 29 - Hank Reinhardt - Old fencing trick


2 days left to October and that means 2 pictures left for Inktober! Can you dig it?

Flipping through Hank Reinhardt's book, this caught my eye. Hope it helps in your MA and/or your defense.


From Hank Reinhardt's Book of Knives (2012)

There’s an old fencing trick that can be adapted here, as well. Since the lunge is made from the left foot, draw the left foot close to the right. Your opponent will judge your effective distance from your normal position, but when you lunge forward, your reach will be greater than he expects.

I once taught a judo and self-defense class at a YMCA that had a fencing team. One of the fencers was interested in knives, so we made some dummy knives to work out with after class. He was good at fencing and had won several matches in the Southeast. He moved beautifully and with frightening speed. When he lunged, he had about a 30 percent chance of landing a good hit. When he failed, however, he would have been crippled or killed.

Or else the right hand, holding the knife, can drive the point into your arm, causing you to slice your own forearm as you move forward.

Fencing lunges are always preceded by some fake or series of attacks designed to bring the opposing sword out of line so that the thrust can reach home. This isn’t possible with a knife, so the thrust and lunge have to be made as a single movement, with speed as the keynote for success. It just doesn’t work all the time. To sum all this up, I would advise you against lunging. You’re safer staying with cuts to the arm and leg until you can move in and finish your opponent off safely.





My drawings for Inktober 2017 - drawing at least 1 pic each day in October:


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