The Armour Archive

Greetings,

I have been out of the "swing" of things for a while. I wanted to ask if anyone could suggest ways to help the ole muscles remember how to do the things they use to do. I know that more of you will probably say to just get back into armour and start fighting again and I will have to agree. But is there any other ways that you all may suggest.

Thanks in advance,

Ld. Christoforus Fortescu of Castel Risinge

Pell.

I`m facing the same thing right now. Except for a few scattered practices, and checking out the local Amptgaurd group (and that didn`t resemble practice so much as it resembled clubbing baby seals, but I think the seals would put up a better fight) I have been out of armor for several years. I do occasional pell work, but not enough to be considered training.
My armor which is replacing the god-awful plastic I now have is all do to arrive around September eighth, and the first event I plan on attending is the fourteenth, not much time to get used to the weight of thirteenth cen. transitional as opposed to the plastic palidin rig I was using!
I figure My fighting will pretty much suck at this tourney, but at least I`ll look good while having my ass handed to me!
What I plan on doing to get back into the swing of things is alot of pell work while wearing my armor as much as practical, and unarmored pell work too. I have a riveted mail shirt coming to me too, and I plan on wearing that around the house a lot just to help build some strength back up ( I`m a stay at home daddy, so this isn`t a problem for me, and the baby loves mail!). I`m also going to set up my heavy bag and start doing some boxing and kickboxing workouts again to help with hand-eye speed and endurance. There are also some endurance and strength building exersizes I learned while doing Muay Thai kickboxing, Filipino Kali, and Gracie-jitsu that I might work into my training regime.
Maybe at some point, especialy if I can manage to quit smoking, I`ll start running too. All that plus practice, plus some hard physical labor I`ve got coming up that I have a deadline on( I need to clear some of my woods to make room to set up my dogs by October) ought to help get me where I need to be.
Good luck, and keep us posted on your progress!
John

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"and the springfieldians heroicly slaughtered there enemys while they prayed for mercy!"

[This message has been edited by muttman (edited 08-23-2001).]

If you have a mail shirt try wearing it often, under a sweater or large shirt or over it. It helps get your torso used to some extra weight. Also do stretching exercises and slow work with a pell or nothing. Mentally go through all the fighting positions you know, your favorite moves and past experiences. Some health experts believe that muscles retain motion memory so if you've done it a lot before you should be able to do it again without too much practice, hence slow work with a pell.
Just my two cents,
Marcellus

IMO a lot depends on the caliber of practice you have in your local area. Some places have a very "teach/learn" oriented practice with drills and such and a great deal of examination of technique. Other places have a ver "tourney/Crown" type of practice where fighters generally fight constantly and hardly talk about technique. relying almost exclusively on the individual to increase their own skill through self examnation and the occasional question AKA " how did you get that shot in there?"


in the first type or teach/learn practice Id tell you to rush right in there and goto work.

in the latter Id tell you to pick out persons of your skill level and work with them, talk with them about things they see becoming exposed etc. and slowly go hunting for larger Carnivors:-)