Mose useful Pell Exercise?

[BdeB]

What's the best pell work drill that you can recommend?

[St. George]

500 to 100 shots a day in combination with footwork around the pell, and 15 minutes of mirror/ video work so you can see what you are doing.

Also, you have to wear most of your armor (helmet, arm harness) and use your shield, otherwise it is not nearly as worthwhile.

The 500-1000 shots a day will get boring after a while, and if you are creative or think about fighting at all (like I know you are/do BdeB) then you will start to work on those shots/ combinations that you need to, as well as see new actions/shots to create. The video/ mirror work will also assist in this and help greatly in showing you what other people see while you fight (hence showing you your gaps in your defense as you move, etc).

Alaric

[Dagonet]

IMO there are two uses for pells. One is working out movement in new blows and the second is perfecting form for specific blows. The method I use and teach is accuracy, then speed, then power. This gives the body the most oppertunity to learn both how to control specific shots but more importantly the weapon. If you try to go out and throw a blow fast and hard that you have not gotten close to the correct form on, you are likely not going to have an effective shot.

The drill I recommend is pretty simple. Lets take a flat snap as an example.

1) Pick a spot about eye level and throw flat snaps at it VERY slowly. Make sure that you have the correct form in your body. You don't want to teach yourself bad habbits/form. The goal is to throw ten blows in a row that land exactly on that spot. It is important to reset your body between blows, so each is coming from the shoulder (or where ever you start the blow from). When you miss, start over counting.
2) Once you hit that spot ten times in a row SLOWLY, then start to pick up the speed a little. The step up in speed should not be large. Repeat this until you hit the spot ten times at the slightly quicker pace.
3) Continue increasing the speed as your success warants until you are throwing about as fast as you can and can hit the spot ten times in a row. You should not have any power in the blow at this point. Once you succeed in this step power is added.
4) Now begin to add power to your blows. Again this evolution should be gradual starting with a very little amount of power up to throwing thunder, but only take a step in power as you complete an accurate fast semi hard set of ten to the spot you are aiming for.
5)after you have made it all the way through one shot, pick a different spot for that shot and do it again. You don't have to work all the way through one shot at a time. You can do slow flat snaps, off sides, wraps, etc. to many different spots but be honest with yourself and work your way up from the bottom. If you cheat you only hurt your own skill.

The purpose of this is to teach your body how to move with a blow, how to control your sword, be quick as possible with the blow, and maintain your power while throwing. You want to pick multiple spots for each type of blow so your body doesn't get used to only throwing one shot of each type. Remember that fighting is a 360 degree activity, and targets change constantly. I have seen very good success with this drill. If you follow it and are honest with the process you might just be amazed how much your targeting and overall fight improves. There is nothing quite like a shot opening up and your body reacting to hit it before you even recognize mentally that the shot was there. This only happens if you train your body though.

Alaric made a really good point. While its good to have your shield on while practicing like this, if you don't want to for whatever reason atleast hold your arm like your shield is there.

Remember: Speed, then accuracy, then power!

Dagonet

Edited cause I didn't want Alaric to seem TOO much smarter than me.

[Asbjorn Johansen]

Alaric,

Do you do pell work with approximately the same equipment you fight with, and how is your pell set up? I have a heavily padded pell, but it only moves minimally. I’ve found my elbow gets sore with much over 50 shots a day if I’m using a full weight sword. I’ve found a PVC pipe to be more forgiving, but it is only really useful for thinking through shot mechanics not cleaning up technique.

Asbjorn

[Hamish Bear Shoulders]

The Sir Jade, West kingdom, Pell routine.

Divide your pell in to six target areas and number them 1-6

Onside leg – 1
Onside body – 2
Onside head –3
Offside head – 4
Offside body – 5
Offside leg –6

Now work though throwing this shot routine
1,1 1,2 1,3 1,4 1,5 1,6 2,1 2,2 2,3 2,4 2,5 2,6 3,1 and so on until you reach 6,6 this is the basic form on this routine….. try to do this at full speed and no stops.

The next level of this is to go from 1,1 though to 6,6 and back to 1,1 all at full speed and try not to have to stop

For the more skilled fighter break each of the target areas in 3 again ( to give you 1 – 18)

Then for added fun add in 3 target raps
Then break those up into 3.

Hope this helps..

Have fun

[Hamish Bear Shoulders]

hope that helps i shall talk to some other members of my household and see what they have to say