Open Session last night was a real eye-opener. With Ilkka, we were doing many new things, including cutting, abrazare, single-hand techniques, and some conditioning. Of great interest was the concept on the position of strength and leverage (see the elbow, push the elbow!), the relative order of the three joints (wrist, elbow, shoulder) and where to exert said leverage based on what the opponent is trying to do.

Finally, while doing a demo on single-hand techniques, Ilkka put me a lock, with the swords ~ and it was something we could have done right out of abrazare, firmly convincing me that the foundation of Italian Swordsmanship is based on the unarmed techniques of Fiore’s . Get abrazare right, and everything else becomes easier. More foundation training on the basics from now on, I suppose.

After attending O/S for the first time after so long (damned %$#@! work schedule….), I’m all fired up and more enthused about swordsmanship than ever before. On a side note, I think my new diet of just having a vegetarian meal for lunch is working ~ I’ve actually lost about 1kg in the week I’ve gone semi-vegan, and I feel more alert and energetic this whole week. Shall continue and see if I can trim some more.

Gaming Humor
RPG Motivational Poster

It’s kinda like how I feel at work sometimes. After all, there is no problem that cannot be solved with the suitable application of high-explosives :D