Bend knees and straighten: From a standing position with feet shoulder width bend the ankles, knees, and hips while staying upright.  Weight is distributed evenly on both feet.

Concepts and suggestions

·        Lead movement with an extending spine

·        Push through tops of feet and engage (lift) through the front of the legs, bend the ankles first (bring the calves forward) as knees and hip joints follow

·        Start with good posture. Engage abs lift through chest, shoulder blades down, weight over ankles (not over heels).

Bend knees and jump: From a standing position bend the legs staying upright and prepare to jump by bending and then moving into the balls of the feet. After several repetitions, jump a few times.

Concepts and suggestions

·        Further explores leading with the spine

·        Sensitizes student to the use of the foot. Pushing off movement from heel to toe.

·        Also can recognize power of lifting through abs and chest with the jump.

Weight shifting and releasing leg: Start from a standing position and bend a little but this time aim toward one foot and release the other. Shift weight with as little movement from side to side as possible. Releasing the weight from the foot means that the knee will move forward a bit and the heel will come off the ground. Move the free leg around in a number of directions. At the end concentrate on moving the foot forward, noticing the release of the knee followed by a straightening of the leg and landing on the heel.

Concepts and suggestions

·        Movement feels weak if the spine is not leading and the torso is bearing down on the one leg.

·        Support is added when the abs are engaged and upper body held upright.

·        Learning to become more aware of the amount of weight on each foot.

·        The idea that the knee goes forward and heel releases as the weight is removed is subtle and natural. Notice that this is happening, don’t make it happen.

·        The last exercise teaches the fencing skill of swinging the leg forward properly.

Full step to the side: Start in a bent position with the weight evenly distributed. Transfer weight to one foot and reach the other out to the side. Slowly transfer weight to the other foot and when that is complete finish the step and bring weight back to the center.

Concepts and suggestions

·        Simulates non accelerating advance appropriate for marching forward.

·        Keep the weight to the left when moving to the right as the leg moves and lands.

·        Let the weight and pelvis move slowly as student finds balance on the second foot.

·        Be careful not to shift too much, otherwise the feet will come together and the weight will not easily go back to the center.

·        Fully explores concept of constantly changing weight distribution.

·        Explores staying in constant movement

Half step and step the other direction: Start with the previous exercise but after the half step change directions, taking a full step in the opposite direction.

Concepts and suggestions

·        Simulates half advance retreat or half retreat advance.

·        Explores value of staying in movement.

·        Demonstrates how easy it is to change directions when there is a lot of movement in the leg joints and the pelvis is moving slowly and staying between the legs.

Jump to the side: Reach leg to the side but this time before the leg lands push off and jump to the side.  Really try to push off.

Concepts and suggestions

·        Simulates accelerating advance or retreat.

·        Can not be done unless weight stays on the first leg at the time of push off.

·        Emphasizes proper use of the foot and leg when pushing off.

Walking forward: From a bent knee position, swing a leg forward and begin a slow walk staying in a bent knee position.

Concepts and suggestions

·        Illustrates the similarities and differences between fencing movement and walking.

·        To stay low the knee has to keep moving forward as the weight is transferring.

·        Most do not immediately allow a free swinging leg from the bent knee position.

·        It is quite useful to move from normal walking to this low walking.

Moving in opposition to the floor: Stand two feet from a wall and lean forward and make contact with the hands. Place the feet far enough back so that there is significant effort not to fall into the wall. Straighten and\ bend the arms a bit and change weight from one hand to the other. Clearly gravity pulls toward the wall and effort is required to oppose this force. Then stand up with a wide stance bend the knees and move around feeling this sensation that movement opposes the forces pulling toward the floor. Pay attention to staying connected with both feet, even as the weight shifts from foot to foot.

Concepts and suggestions

·        Great way to learn about balance and the force of gravity

·        Immediately the student will typically move properly from foot to foot, moving ankles knees and hips before the torso moves.

·        If the student still rocks back and forward with the torso and doesn’t move in the legs enough this would be a good time to make that correction.

Big half-step forward: Instead of normal walking forward, take a very large step with one foot—figuring out how to stay balanced during the step. Then recover to a standing position and try the other leg.

Concepts and suggestions

·        Simulates the lunge.

·        Helps to learn about keeping the weight back and moving in the hip to stay balanced.

·        If there is not enough movement in the hip the student will lean back as they make this move.

·        Torso should stay upright through the movement.

Swing arms forward and back: Start from a standing position with the arms to the side, simply swing them forward and back.

Concepts and suggestions

·        Many fencers move their arms without allowing proper movement in the shoulder joint.

·        This movement requires free movement in the shoulder preparing the student to understand this concept in fencing.

Bend arms and swing: First try the straight arm swing forward and back. Then bend the elbows and try to get the same swinging motion forward and back. If this is successful then begin to extend the arms forward when the arms swing forward.

Concepts and suggestions

·        This is a terrific move to teach shoulder freedom and to begin to explore how to extend.

·        If it’s not working well, the student has probably tightened the shoulders on the arm bend.

·        The next exercise helps understand how to bend the arms without tightening the shoulder if this is a problem.

Bend and straighten arms: Start with the arms falling to the sides and bend elbows with hands coming forward. Explore this movement quickly, looking for a swinging motion, feeling the weight of the forearms. Now do it slowly feeling the movement in the elbow and shoulder joint. Try the same exercise with the hands aiming toward the side.

Concepts and suggestions

·        A lot of shoulder tension comes from not allowing enough movement in the shoulder joint when bending the elbow.

·        This can be seen as the shoulder literally rises when the bend is incorrect. Bending and swinging quickly often helps eliminate this problem.

·        Going slowly helps the student notice where movement is required in the elbow and shoulder.

·        A student can feel the shoulder movement if they bend with one arm and place the other hand on the shoulder.

·        Doing the exercise to the side starts to simulate fencing.

Bend arms to side and extend:  Arms bend at the side and elbows slowly move out as shoulders stay down. Go slowly then quickly.

Concepts and suggestions

·        This simulates arms on guard and extending properly.

·        Hopefully at this point the student already has released the shoulder tension.

·        Describing the exercise as move the elbows out away from the body is important.

·        It should help result in a widening across the chest and back.

Coordinating arm extension and bending legs: From here forward arms are in fencing position (to side with elbows slightly away from the side. Explore extending one or both arms with bending legs. At first have the weight go into both feet equally. Try arms starting the movement, arms and legs together and legs then arms.

Concepts and suggestions

·        This is a crucial exercise to help student understand that the upright body position as the knees are bending is crucial to support the arm extension. .

·        This is a powerful exercise to teach students that arm and leg movements need to be coordinated.

·        It also can start to teach about the different timings that are used in fencing, extend first, extend at the same time as the lunge, begin to lunge then extend.

Coordinating arm extension with weight shifting: Now try the same exercise as above, but let the weight go fully to one foot or the other. For example, working with the right arm extend with the bend, putting weight on right leg. Do it again with weight on the left leg. Now try with the other arm.

Concepts and suggestions

·        A student who can do this has gone a long way toward learning to fence. Lunging requires extending with the fencing arm as the weight goes into the back foot. Thrusting as the fencer is moving back requires coordinating the extension with the weight going into the front foot.

Coordinating extension with half step: Start with legs bent and arms bent to side. Reach with the right hand as weight transfers to the left foot and right foot reaches to the side. This can be good group drill. A leader gives a cue to reach to the right or left in this “lunging” movement.

Concepts and suggestions

·        This is the coordination of extending with a lunging movement.

·        The aspect of responding to a cue helps the student get used to the proper coordination at a higher speed. After a short time, students get more and more successful.

Coordinating extension with fleshe: Start with legs bent and arms bent to side. Reach with the right hand as weight transfers to the right foot push off, landing on the left foot as it crosses over. Try the other direction. As with the previous exercise this can be a group drill. Combine the two, tell students to lunge left or right or fleshe left or right.

Concepts and suggestions

·        This simulates the arm/leg coordination of a fleshe.

·        The combination drill really illustrates the difference between the lunge and fleshe.