The Armour Archive

I am still laboring through the concepts, so please be patient with me, gentles, and if you see a flaw in my reasoning, please share it with me.

I was fortunate enough to have a lesson from Duke Paul. Not the deep teaching I feel he deems necessary, but he was kind enough to teach me a thing about power generation. I am far from mastering it, far as well from a decent grasp of the mechanics, but I can claim to have understood what he meant, and that understanding blew my mind and opened new horizons to my solo training.

Let me see if I can articulate this. When we use a standard type of pell, we need the energy of the blow absorbed, we want a solid, sturdy pell, a pole planted on the ground. That way we can 'feel' in our hands the impact and repeat the blow, right? Well perhaps not.

The way I felt it durign his instruction, the "correct" blows felt light in my hands while delivering force I am not used to deliver, while the "light" blows felt nice and sturdy in my hand. Completely opposite to what I would have judged. So if the purpose of the training is to deliver energy to the target and not have it rebound into our hands, we need the pell to tell us, not our hands.

I have thought about taking a rattan stick, and tying the top to a branch or bracket with a strong bungee cord, and the bottom tied with a weight to a bungee cord. Then we can ignore the sensation in the hand and the shock of the impact, and use this lightweight pell as a sort of dynamometer target. The motion of the rattan and not the impact on the hand will tell whether enough energy has been delivered in the blow.

I hope this does not sound goofy, but it may help separate between false impression and actual delivery of energy and power generated.

What do you think?

Glaukos

I have seen similar done, but not recently. And I've recommended using just a suspended string with marks on it to drill slow-work form.

Might work, worth a try. I've considered putting a pell onto a coil spring, but it'd take some experimenting to get the right strength spring, so i haven't gotten around to it yet.

Sounds rather like a home made double end bag. I don't know how useful it will be for your desired purpose. Should be interesting.

Kilkenny wrote:Sounds rather like a home made double end bag. I don't know how useful it will be for your desired purpose. Should be interesting.

Your Grace,

It was inspired by the method used by HG Paul to teach me this concept. I.e. he held a sword in my had and had me go at it, and then had me hold the sword and he hit it with his own.

The idea is very much copied from a double end bad, but substituting the bag by a piece of appropriately secured rattan. I think about it as a sort of double end bag meets "Mu ren zhuang" (the wooden dummy used in Wing Chun Kung Fu). Because of the elastic nature of the ties and the straight and rigid rattan, it may even serve for "sticky" sword training, if held slightly tilted forward, so that the tip of the stick is closer to the user than the base as opposed to vertical. (here is where I regret being useless in computer drawing)

It should not be too expensive to make or install, should work indoors and make a decent cool weather project. I'll report on it when I built one. or if anyone is compelled, please try as well.

Thanks for the kind comments.

Glaukos

Practitioners of Kali and escrima have been doing this for ever. They also leave one end free so that it moves very erratically when you strike it. Makes for very dynamic training.

bkillian wrote:Practitioners of Kali and escrima have been doing this for ever. They also leave one end free so that it moves very erratically when you strike it. Makes for very dynamic training.

Interesting. I can only think that a free end would lead to something beyond "dynamic" with typical SCA strikes I definitely get the benefit of having a target that moves around a bit, but I know with the kind of drive my blows typically have, I would be waiting much too long for the pell to swing back into "play"

Not to mention, if you happen to have the rope long enough and be standing in the wrong spot, the pell hitting back

One of the reasons I like using something like the Everlast Free Standing Heavy Bag.

Absorbs enough of the blow to more realistically present some dynamism (without swinging wildly away taking alot've time), and also absorbs enough of the blow so as to better minimize potential tennis elbow and other joint damage.

Max Von Halstern

maxntropy wrote:absorbs enough of the blow so as to better minimize potential tennis elbow and other joint damage.

So many jokes....

I use a heavy bag not hooked at the bottom. It gets moving during a workout. It usually wears a shield of some kind, set as a lefty or righty. In war season it wears a big shield. It has marks on specific targets, armpit, neck etc.

What about a large climbing rope with a weight on the bottom? I believe duke paul mentioned this somewhere. Plus you could climb it for excersize.

I use the Punching Bob punching bag. I wish I had the one with the shorts though. I have it filled about half way with sand, so it has a nice rock to it, but still stays in place well.

I would recommend grabbing a cheap duffle bag from an Army Surplus or a friend in the military (I think I've acquired about 20 in the past few years). It already has the hooks and could easily be re-enforced with tape and filled to your desired firmness and weight. (Loosely packed if you want more give or movement. Well packed if you want more weight or a harder target.)

I did this a couple years ago and I've been happy with it. It's an Everlast stand with 1 inch PVC supports and camp foam for the "body". The PVC flexes enough to absorb the shock (theoretically saving my joints some wear and tear) and the stand moves a bit when I'm getting good power. I like having the shoulder targets and I intend to someday add thigh targets.

-Tegan

Now my head is trying to filk "I want a new Pell" to the Huey Lewis & The News tune....

Baron Eirik wrote:Now my head is trying to filk "I want a new Pell" to the Huey Lewis & The News tune....

Ask and ye shall recieve:
* I want a new pell
* One that won't let me flick
* One that wont make me thrash my arm
* Or make it be three feet thick

* I want a new pell
* One that won't hit my head
* One that won't let me swing too high
* but helps my wraps to the head.

* One that won't make me nervous
* Wonderin' what to do
* One that makes me swing like I swing when I fight you
* one on one with you.

- I really should get back to reconciling the company computer inventory, but spreadsheets get soooo boring after a while.

Malek wrote:

Baron Eirik wrote:Now my head is trying to filk "I want a new Pell" to the Huey Lewis & The News tune....

Ask and ye shall recieve:
* I want a new pell
* One that won't let me flick
* One that wont make me thrash my arm
* Or make it be three feet thick

* I want a new pell
* One that won't hit my head
* One that won't let me swing too high
* but helps my wraps to the head.

* One that won't make me nervous
* Wonderin' what to do
* One that makes me swing like I swing when I fight you
* one on one with you.

- I really should get back to reconciling the company computer inventory, but spreadsheets get soooo boring after a while.

You rhymed head with head... tsk tsk

MJBlazek wrote:

Malek wrote:

Baron Eirik wrote:Now my head is trying to filk "I want a new Pell" to the Huey Lewis & The News tune....

Ask and ye shall recieve:
* I want a new pell
* One that won't let me flick
* One that wont make me thrash my arm
* Or make it be three feet thick

* I want a new pell
* One that won't hit my head
* One that won't let me swing too high
* but helps my wraps to the head.

* One that won't make me nervous
* Wonderin' what to do
* One that makes me swing like I swing when I fight you
* one on one with you.

- I really should get back to reconciling the company computer inventory, but spreadsheets get soooo boring after a while.

You rhymed head with head... tsk tsk

EVERYBODY's a critic!



Max Von Halstern

Similarly, I use a rugby tackle bag (cause it was free) suspended on a stand; free swinging at the bottom.

Duke Paul suggested this also when I asked for ideas for the workout/practice/dojo/yoga studio/bonus room in the house I'm building. I'm going to go with a thick rope tied to eylets anchored in the ceiling and floor, but this will mainly be for slow work.

I use a 6'x8' carpet rolled up and bound with nylon straps. I hang it over a treated board nailed way up between two trees. Like Nissan, I have targets (head, neck, armpit, rib, hip, thigh and knee) marked off with tape. I've tried hanging a shield on it but I always end up knocking it loose.

Since there is nothing rigid inside and it is freely hanging I can whack it pretty hard without it messing up my joints. Once it starts moving around it makes for a decent targeting exercise.

I use my enemies as they are driven before me while I listen to the laminations of der vimen.

InsaneIrish wrote:I use my enemies as they are driven before me while I listen to the laminations of der vimen.

Laminations?