Personal Goals in fighting...

[MJBlazek]

Recently I feel that I have hit a brick wall in my fighting.
I don't feel that I am getting any better, no matter how I try and mix it up.
and I am starting to feel that I am disappointing people with the quality of my game.
My trainers, my household, but mostly people I fight. Generally I feel lately that unless the person has picked up a sword for the first time that day, that everyone in my local group has become better than me. And I don't feel that I am offering them (or others at wars and such) a fight they find satisfactory.

So I think I need to set up goals.. or benchmarks to try to reach so that I don't end up 100% frustrated and disheartened.


Do any of you have goals that you work towards, be them big or small?
Have any of you been in this situation before?

[Cisco]

Yes, it happens to everyone.

Learning in things is often more a series of plateaus than a constant upward slope. Probably not what you wanted to hear, huh?

When I get frustrated and stay that way I try and take the advice of someone who did it far longer than I have: just have fun and if you can, learn one thing each time you fight.

Sorry man, I hope it gets better.

[Diglach Mac Cein]

Don't over-think it.

Have FUN. Getting 'stuck' or in a slump is natural in any activity. However, the more you fixate on it, the more it will affect what you do NOW.

Let go, be the ball, and you'll find it takes care of itself....


.

[Seaan O'Hagan]

This is something I needed to think a lot about before coming back into SCA combat.

My Goals:
*. Have fun- no point in doing it otherwise.

*. Stamina- Each time I go out, I want to fight a little longer than I did last time. My goal for the fall is to sucessfully fight a series of bouts to 100 counted blows. Currently for training I am running and splitting a whole lot of wood. Once the wood is done, I'll switch to building stone walls, carying bags of cement, etc.

*Practice- Each practice I try to pick a specific thing I want to work on...lately it's been fakes and misdirection.

*Tourneys- Bring my best game and learn from every bout, particularly against folks who I don't see often. The goal is to win the tourney or progress as far as I can.

[Jan]

1. Have FUN!! Believe it or not, this was the hardest lesson for me to learn.

2. Don't worry about disappointing "them", worry about disappointing "you". In the end a lot of this game is in *your* head, not theirs.

3. Work one thing at a time. Pick a specific part of your game that needs improvement (and if you have some high level fighters local to your practice to ask that would be a help) and work that ONE thing for a period of time - possibly as long as a month. Make sure this "thing" is very specific like "approach footwork", "defensive footwork", "throwing a snap", &c.

4. Do your best to ensure that your primary weapon - your body - is up to the task. Sometimes this can be as simple as fighting "One more" when most days you'd stop.

5. When in doubt see rule #1.

Now...granted...training is not always fun, especially the out of armor stuff, but when you put that helm on you should have a smile on your face.

[Seaan O'Hagan]

I have a great excercise for getting out of a funky mood:

Step ONE:put on your gear
Step TWO:enter the list
Step THREE:put your arms out straight in front of you
Step FOUR:advance upon your opponent
Step FIVE:repeat the word "brains" over and over in a wheezy deadpan voice.

[Mord]

Well, first, have fun, of course.

But, since that is a given, hitting a wall, being in a rut, whatever, means that you're taking what you are doing for granted. You need to change your environment. Try a different shield size/shape, or anything that changes what you are doing. A smaller shield, for instance, means you need to attack differently.

Mord.

[William Freskyn Murray]

Having just started to climb out of a multiple YEAR rut I think I can comment.

As many have said, you loose the fun you loose the game. I reached a platue where it was work VERY hard or stay right where I was. Life didn't allow me to work very hard and going to practice every week to fight the same level against guys that were still better than me, and in many cases still improving, well honestly SUCKED and it limited my fun and desire to play at practice... which meant I didn't do any better in tournaments and got frustrated there.

My brother at arms and I decided to do a hold the field with matched weapons, I decided I had taken to much of my fighting style for granted and dropped my heater shield in favor of a center grip kite. I have to say, a six plus hour hold the field with a shield you've never used before fighting a style you never done to three counted blows against some VERY good fighters will get the blood pumping! That and the matched axes, spears, pole, etc made for an awesome experience. I've never gone back to the heater except in melees. Since switching I have seen a marked improvement in my fighting and I am again having FUN playing the game.

The point is your stagnant and you need to do something you are not comfortable with in order to get the brain (or as suggested the zombie attack BRAINS!!!) fired up again. Make sure your armor is in good shape and go out with a buckler, you're going to lumped but a couple stout blows and you're going to find yourself wanting to find ways to make them stop. Or switch to fighting two sword, or go to a center grip, or...... do something is what matters. Once you step into the uncomfortable you will be forced to really analyze the new style and what works, what doesn't and why. For me my biggest struggle is knee fighting because not having the corners of my heater to hide behind means I have to really work/think when I loose a leg. I also try to block with the non-existent corner when I am pressed hard by a fighter rather than blocking with my sword like I should.

Hope that helps, good luck brother - as everyone has said, find the FUN!

Will

[Rutgur]

You have to distinguish between performance & results. Only YOU get to determine your performance (100% ownership). You AND your opponent get to determine results (50% ownership). Concentrate on the thing in which you have the biggest stake.

You can have the best day of fighting in your life, and still lose.

You can have the worst day of fighting in your life, and still win.

Concentrate on performance, and forget about results. As others have said, "Let go!" Results will come on their own time.

[TallTom]

Recently I feel that I have hit a brick wall in my fighting... Do any of you have goals that you work towards, be them big or small?

I agree with the other responses in that we can't be at the top of our game all of the time. Some (obvious) goals to to motivate and perhaps improve one's fighting:

1) Pick a fight with someone new at every event. (Train your fighting mind in new situations.)

2) Game yourself during fighter practice: before each bout pick what shot you want to land as the killing blow and make your opponent give you that shot (Controlling the fight goes a long way toward winning it)

3) Make yourself look forward in fights; and not just 'one move ahead.' Expand how far you can see and work to improve your combat intuition/vision. Example: rather than just a 'leave a small opening, predict your opponent's strike and have a response combo prepared' try for 'leave a small opening, and predict the counter that will result from your response strike and what combo will defeat that counter. (Another way to improve your fight control.)

4) Is there a melee team in your group/house? Are you on it? No? Start one! I've met a lot of fighters who are deadlier on the battlefield than the listfield. Serious training with a melee group is going to help your overall fighting. It won't replace pell time but it will improve other parts of your warrior skillset (footwork, timing, vision, etc.) The camaraderie of a small unit is unbeatable; even after a loss you'll probably feel like you've climbed Mount Suribachi.

5) Challenge yourself to smile more often when fighting. You might want to put a piece of Duct Tape with 'SMILE' in big letters on the inside of your shield. Fighting is tough; our minds and bodies get dinged a lot. Remind yourself that fighting is fun.

6) Champion a consort and train for crown list. This is probably the top goal of any fighter who hasn't. It involves a lot more than just prowess: Do you satisfy your kingdom's requirements for an invitation/LoI? Is your name and device registered or in progress? Is your kit acceptable? Is it time to repaint your shield or finish that new, snazzy surcote? These can all be motivational.

I realize this is over-long but if I might offer some additional thoughts:

A) Make sure your armor isn't binding you. Can you touch your toes? I can stretch in my armor and 'warm up' my joints. Being loose and feeling a bit 'warm' (when you have just the hint of a sweat) is good for my fighting; perhaps it is also good for yours. It may also put your mind in 'stretch' mode since we're talking about 'stretching' fighting ability.

B) Do echelon drills with other fighters to learn and improve techniques. In an echelon drill, the lead fighter repeatedly performs a shot or combo, starting in slow motion and slowly increasing speed. There is no opponent. The concentration is on accurate movement, especially footwork and body motion. Other fighters stand behind and to the sword-side of the lead fighter so that they can mimic the lead's actions. I find that the rear-aspect point of view helps me learn moves better (and I can lower my shield to get a better view if needed). Mix things up with this: throw 15 long leg wraps then 5 "overhand + shield-press + hesitate + leg-shot' combos.

C) Wear a token or favor and take it seriously. Don't be afraid to ask for one. Bearing the honor of another on the field is an inspiring joy. The person you fight for can also help (by beaming smiles to you) with #5.

Respectfully,
Thomas

[Milan H]

I sometimes get discouraged with my fighting as well... I too feel very stagnant at times, so I spoke with some of the better fighters I practice with (a Count, a Viscount and Knight, so obviously good fighters)

Here is what they have told me, and it may apply to you. I am consistently fighting guys who are better than me, so even though I am not winning, I am still improving. Then there is the fact that people plateau. It was explained to me that on the scale of success, you will rapidly improve, then stabilize and plateau for awhile. Right before you start to improve again, you <i>will</i> slump. The reason is that you have learned a new group of skills, and are trying to make them work. Because of that you are going to lose more fights until you get them working for you. When that happens the cycle restarts.

Finally, a part of any martial pursuit is being wrought with self doubt and overcoming that... It makes you a stronger person as well as a better fighter. Embrace the struggle, fight better opponents, and enjoy the game.

Cheers,

[Lord Galen]

Are you noticing a trend here? Have Fun comes up alot.

I can understand your frusteration, I was lucky when I started fighting I had a bit of natural talent that helped me rise to the middle of the pack early in my fighting I was having alot of fun then started creeping into the deeper end of the pool and hit a wall.

Since then it has been has been a slow climb, I plateau out for a while, work on things, then have a moment of brilliance where I suddenly get something and make another rise to the peak of the mountain, then plateau out again until the next one comes along. Some people just rise faster then others.

Honestly its a real tricky balence act. While it is 100% true that you get out of SCA fighting what you put into it, and the training will pay off, it is also 100% true that if you treat it like its your job and its more work then play...you will mire yourself down with to many minds.

I used to be that guy, worried about how I was doing, worried that the crowd thought I looked like a monkey swinging a stick, its all Jedi mind tricks you play on yourself. I treated it more like work then play and critized every little mistake I made until self critisim became my own self destruction.

In closing, be serious about your art, but not to serious. Have your fun, if its not fun why are you doing it? Quit worrying about all the other people around you, to many minds clouds your thinking. You will have all the time to be serious, and worry about what you say and do and wear, when you win crown and are truly under the microscope. Until then have fun enjoy the fact that while he gets to wear a crown that poor bastard is actually having to work his tail off, and silently chuckle to yourself.

[Kilkenny]

You can have the best day of fighting in your life, and still lose.

So very true. The single bout in which I fought the very best I have ever fought in my career, I lost the bout. Still, I was absolutely at a peak I've never reached again. For fifteen minutes (at least subjective time) I was as close to perfect as it gets.

Don't worry about disappointing anyone - including yourself.
We're all glad to have people out there to play with.

Improvement in this game is usually a process of intermittent leaps forward, rather than a continuing steady climb. In between those leaps, there are periods of what appear to be stagnation. Then one day, the stuff you've been processing for the past 6 months will finally click, and you'll have one of those leaps forward

[DukeAvery]

Take heart my friend, many of us, including myself, have been there before. Perhaps if you posted a video of you fighting I could be of more help.

One of my most important habits is to ask myself after every fight I lose how I lost and what could I do different next time. For example, at Crown recently I kept throwing fights to single sword by taking arms and dropping my shield - it sounds silly, but obviously I need to practice single sword (which I hadn't been doing). Understand how your opponents are besting you and develop counters. I always look for patterns and tells in my opponents as well. What are the nuts and bolts of your defeat? Analyze that and turn the tables.

People in our social circles exert pressure on us one way or another, but it isn't automatically a healthy thing - consider finding a fighting mentor. I remember a squire who had plateau'ed, and I waited for him to come and ask my advice - which is when I hit him with the 'you need to stop smoking'. Which he did to his considerable advancement.

Regards

Avery

[Aaron]

Aaron's Goals:

1. Fight at least once per month, event or practice, either is OK.

2. Get great exercise.

3. Have fun.

4. Touch my armour or weapons once per day.

5. Pell work daily, done in a careless, foolish manner.

6. Wear Clovenshield colors or hoist the Clovenshield banner at events.

7. Come home to my wife and kids healthy, relaxed, tired and happy.

8. Offer matched weapons & counted blows.

9. Remember that we play dress up and tag -- therefore be childlike but not childish.

10. Play the fool and laugh, this is a fun and silly game.

[Anton]

At every practice I try and have a goal. Last practice was 'be more aggressive and control the flow'. The practice before that was 'work off sides' and the one before was 'do not throw the leg shot as an opener'. I'm not always successful, my next practice will be another 'control the flow' practice as I didn't do a good job of it last time.

Establish goals for the practice so in a tournament if you need it you've done it 'real speed' and it becomes second nature.

Anton

[audax]

Change your style completely. If all you do is polearm, pick up sword and sheild, or vice versa. It will change your game and refresh your mind.

Do nothing but single sword with your offhand for a while. That'll wake you up.

Travel to a different practice, if that is an option for you. New people will liven up your game.

Don't worry about it. The fun part of this is really critical to long term happiness. Worrying will take all the fun out of it.

[D. Sebastian]

Matt,

Fight with a different weapon style for a while - that always helps me.
When I come back to the old style, there's a new-ness to it because some of the things I learn wit the other weapon style come with me.

Make a matched set of something and ask people (especially Chiv) if they would do you the honor.

[zippy]

I am afraid i cant answer that without more information. What was your motivation before, and has your training changed? How adventurous are you with you style and fighting? If you arent inspired to change weapons you fight with then dont change, but are there people discouraging from changing weapon styles. I had the most fun when i was ignoring dukes and knights when it comes to fighting, and thats ok.
Give us some more info if you want to make some legitimate changes to your focus.
oh and have fun
zip

[MJBlazek]

Recently I have become much more involved with SCA fighting.
I have been fighting Great-Sword only for about 4 years, and for about a year have been trying to practice in every other weapons form but GS. At practices I fight GS to warm up, then pretty much rotate through weapons forms on a weekly basis.
EX:
Week 1: Warm up with GS. Fight S&S
Week 2: Warm up with GS. Fight Pole
Week 3: Warm up with GS. Fight Two-Weapon
Week 4: warm up with GS. Fight Spear
Week 5: Warm up with GS. Fight S&S
and so on... it's not always the same set rotation either, that was just an example.


I train with a Knight, and the Squire of another Knight.
I am not squired to him, nor am I a man at arms to the squire, and sometimes I feel that I am taking away from them working with those they are attached to, and have more invested in.


I have been told that I have a tension problem while fighting. As in I tense up to a point that the weight of my armor starts to work against me.
I end up trying to power my shots through the weight and against the flow of the weapon. I tend to fight on pure muscle instead of momentum.

My shots land hard, but not exactly where I want them too. I don't move my feet enough, I don't change my guard enough, and I find myself falling for the same shots over and over again.

[Violen]

EX:
Week 1: Warm up with GS. Fight S&S
Week 2: Warm up with GS. Fight Pole
Week 3: Warm up with GS. Fight Two-Weapon
Week 4: warm up with GS. Fight Spear
Week 5: Warm up with GS. Fight S&S

This dosent make sense to me. As a musician if i worked on 1 piece every day and then rotated out a different piece of music every five weeks, i wouldnt expect to get any better at any one of the rotational pieces.

You aren't developing a repitore with anything but greatsword. If you you want to get better at sword and shield, you need to forget about fighitng spear and two weapon and pole arm and Focus.

Also you need to be practicing with said weapon form every day, or every other day. Fighting Spear once every five weeks doesnt create any muscle memory, and frankly is an easy way to reinforce bad habits.

How is your greatsword fighting coming?

are you stuck there too?

I was about to talk about "perspective" and "getting outside opinions" but i dont think thats what you really need.

1. Fight people who can whip your ass, all the time. Stop fighting the same people you see every week.

2. Video tape your shit and watch it.


If you want to raise the bar, find people who have the bar out of your reach.

Videotape dosent lie.

You need to be honest with yourself as well.

Quick summary again:

1. Focus on a task untill you have it down.
2. Fight people who can whip your ass.
3. Video tape your practicing and fighint.
4. Practice EVERY DAY.
5. In case its an issue: Dont be a Pussy. Just Do it.

[MJBlazek]

EX:
Week 1: Warm up with GS. Fight S&S
Week 2: Warm up with GS. Fight Pole
Week 3: Warm up with GS. Fight Two-Weapon
Week 4: warm up with GS. Fight Spear
Week 5: Warm up with GS. Fight S&S

This dosent make sense to me. As a musician if i worked on 1 piece every day and then rotated out a different piece of music every five weeks, i wouldnt expect to get any better at any one of the rotational pieces.

You aren't developing a repitore with anything but greatsword. If you you want to get better at sword and shield, you need to forget about fighitng spear and two weapon and pole arm and Focus.

Also you need to be practicing with said weapon form every day, or every other day. Fighting Spear once every five weeks doesnt create any muscle memory, and frankly is an easy way to reinforce bad habits.

How is your greatsword fighting coming?

are you stuck there too?

I was about to talk about "perspective" and "getting outside opinions" but i dont think thats what you really need.

1. Fight people who can whip your ass, all the time. Stop fighting the same people you see every week.

2. Video tape your shit and watch it.


If you want to raise the bar, find people who have the bar out of your reach.

Videotape dosent lie.

You need to be honest with yourself as well.

Quick summary again:

1. Focus on a task untill you have it down.
2. Fight people who can whip your ass.
3. Video tape your practicing and fighint.
4. Practice EVERY DAY.
5. In case its an issue: Dont be a Pussy. Just Do it.

So you are going to send me the money for a video camera?

[zippy]

then in my opinion the problem isnt diversifying
it is focusing on one weapon style
take a break from the changing it up

[DukeAvery]

then in my opinion the problem isnt diversifying
it is focusing on one weapon style
take a break from the changing it up

I agree - I recommend a couple years of small shield forms. I didn't pick up another form until I had fought small shield for 4 years. I didn't make it past 3rd round until I had been fighting 2 years or more.

Regards

Avery

[Violen]

EX:
Week 1: Warm up with GS. Fight S&S
Week 2: Warm up with GS. Fight Pole
Week 3: Warm up with GS. Fight Two-Weapon
Week 4: warm up with GS. Fight Spear
Week 5: Warm up with GS. Fight S&S

This dosent make sense to me. As a musician if i worked on 1 piece every day and then rotated out a different piece of music every five weeks, i wouldnt expect to get any better at any one of the rotational pieces.

You aren't developing a repitore with anything but greatsword. If you you want to get better at sword and shield, you need to forget about fighitng spear and two weapon and pole arm and Focus.

Also you need to be practicing with said weapon form every day, or every other day. Fighting Spear once every five weeks doesnt create any muscle memory, and frankly is an easy way to reinforce bad habits.

How is your greatsword fighting coming?

are you stuck there too?

I was about to talk about "perspective" and "getting outside opinions" but i dont think thats what you really need.

1. Fight people who can whip your ass, all the time. Stop fighting the same people you see every week.

2. Video tape your shit and watch it.


If you want to raise the bar, find people who have the bar out of your reach.

Videotape dosent lie.

You need to be honest with yourself as well.

Quick summary again:

1. Focus on a task untill you have it down.
2. Fight people who can whip your ass.
3. Video tape your practicing and fighint.
4. Practice EVERY DAY.
5. In case its an issue: Dont be a Pussy. Just Do it.

So you are going to send me the money for a video camera?

You built a full plate rig on a college kid's budget.
Be resourceful.

[Aaron]

Ask a friend to videotape. BTW regular cameras for ~$100 come with a video option now. Videotape is sobering BTW.

[herrhauptmann]

Have they said that you're disappointing them? If not, you probably aren't. It could also be that the planets aligned to let your entire local group level up within a few months, so while your skill hasn't actually deteriorated, it's just less effective than it was.
If you're going to 'set some goals' for yourself. Make them something clearly defined. If they're poorly set, your feeling of being in a slump will make your successes seem less than they are. Or make a success feel like a failure.
Your feeling of being in a slump could also be a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you're going out thinking "How do I get out of this slump/I suck today" chances are you're not going to perform near as well.

In Nithgaard, I'm not an especially skilled fighter. There's a bunch of fighters with less time in armor than me, so currently I'm better than they are. I also fight on a slightly more regular basis than they do, so a higher skill level isn't something to brag about.
Though I've identified 2 who seem to be more of a natural than I am. They learn quick, and have good stamina and muscle memory. Once they get to fight regularly, they'll probably leave me in the dust.
The other regulars all have several years of experience on me, so their higher level isn't something for me to fret about.
Worrying about my performance just creates performance anxiety, and it causes me to freeze up as I try to decide what I need to do in a given instant. So I just fight. I try to fight hard enough/long enough to get myself exhausted, it gives me the endorphins for a happy exhaustion.

[SirOlafr]

Goals can be very helpful but keep it in perspective. Assess where you are physically. Assess how much you practice. Does your gear work for you? You have to know where you are working from to know what to work toward. Do you want to be a Duke or do you want to just stop that guy from ass wrapping you at practice?

If you aren't practicing much, practice more. If you are winded quickly or overweight, exercise more. You will see improvement. It is all dependent on your level of desire, and what will be fun for you. Some people are blessed with natural physical abilities. If you are not one of these people you will have to work harder.

In my opinion, if you aren't practicing at least once a week, your progress will probably be slow. Additionally, you have to constantly fight people better than you, and then get their advice. Try to find out how they beat you so you can stop them. So much goes into fighting with angles, body position, leverage, etc. It helps to have someone that puts time in to helping you learn those things. Find someone that knows what they are talking about at events and practices, and pick their brain.

Olafr

[Stahlgrim]

Violen,
fighting and music are two different arts.You don't play a french horn against a flute.By using a greatsword against sword and shield you can learn the inherent strengths and weaknesses of the style so when you are faceing a greatsword you know what should work against it.
MJBlazek,
Don't let it get you down even dukes have hit the wall sometimes.
The advice so far has been good especialy the have fun part.
Video taping is also good advice see if anyone at the practice has a camera,check yard sales, pawn,and thrift stores it can be an old vhs as long as it works.We even used an old fisher price kids camera you would be surprised how much you can learn about your fighting from 2 minutes of tape.

[Foxman]

There has been some great advice so far. Based on your comments I have a bit of feedback.

I know I’m repeating some points above (bear with me, there is new stuff too). (oh and in no real order)

1.

I train with a Knight, and the Squire of another Knight.
I am not squired to him, nor am I a man at arms to the squire, and sometimes I feel that I am taking away from them working with those they are attached to, and have more invested in.

If you are feeling like this I think you need to address it. A mindblock like this can be a real downer. Feeling like you are taking away without giving anything back is very negative.

My suggestion is to address this head on. Talk to these two people and explain your feelings to them. (I feel like I’m taking away your time) discuss it with them. If they sit up and say yes, and don’t want to play with you, take your lumps and move on. I strongly suspect they will tell you to remove cranium from rectum and get playing again (LOL). But in all seriousness discuss it with them and get their feedback, clear the air and don’t let this feeling become a weight.

2.
PELL WORK. I cannot stress it enough. If you EVER feel like you’ve hit a wall, or are just not improving, its time to go back and work the pell. Pell work really works the body memory and does make a huge difference. (Youtube, Duke Uther’s 1 through 6 drill. Do it!)

3.
Slow work. This is like pell work. Start 1/2hr of every session doing slow work, work on moves that aren’t working, or you want to improve on.

4.
“A jack of all trades is a master of none.â€

[Mansur]

1- Clear my mind
2- Fight the bout
3- Repeat

[WilliamThomas]

You have to distinguish between performance & results. Only YOU get to determine your performance (100% ownership). You AND your opponent get to determine results (50% ownership). Concentrate on the thing in which you have the biggest stake.

You can have the best day of fighting in your life, and still lose.

You can have the worst day of fighting in your life, and still win.

Concentrate on performance, and forget about results. As others have said, "Let go!" Results will come on their own time.

Wow This is really good advice, thank you.

Sir William Thomas
Knight, Kingdom of Atlantia

[Edward of Yarborough]

Greetings all,
One of the things you learn in this game is....there will be plateaus in your fighting. I can't count the number of plateaus I have had in my some 29 years of fighting....boy now I feel old...lol... seriously, everyone goes through these even if it is just for a moment for some. I find that you must love the thrill of the fight and just relax and let it flow....don't fight against yourself. Sometimes I wish I would take my own advice. Enjoy the ride. Fight with all your heart and everything else falls into place. Hope that helps some.

Edward of Yarborough,CP

[Euric Germanicus]

Goals? To have fun.

Everything else is just gravy.

[Bleddyn De Caldicot]

I have been told that I have a tension problem while fighting. As in I tense up to a point that the weight of my armor starts to work against me.
I end up trying to power my shots through the weight and against the flow of the weapon. I tend to fight on pure muscle instead of momentum.

Do you have a person you are 100% comfortable around at your practice? See about fighting them in the most causal way possible and training with them. Maybe you won't be as tense.