Hi all, it's Brion with the requested post on some exercises we do to help with sword control. Sorry for the wait. We decided to do a long, thorough job and it ran on.

IMO, power and speed come from technique. Almost anyone can throw a REALLY CONVINCING shot at an open head or leg. Aim, control and to some extent recoveries are a little different, however. Fighters who lack the everyday strength to casually manipulate a sword will always have trouble hitting small slots, changing their aim in mid blow, shifting from a blow to a sword block, recovering swiftly and strongly, and doing a myriad of other little things that help separate people from the pack. In my experience the key muscles for controlling a blade are those in the hand, wrist and forearm. The following five exercises are designed to strengthen those little control muscles.

The first five exercises refer to a "pipe." This means a three-foot long, 1-1/4" outer diameter iron pipe from a plumbing supply store. For tougher exercise, use a double-walled or longer pipe. You can also add weight to the end or fill it with something. For easier work, choke up or use a slightly thinner pipe. Don't go thinner than your sword hilt, however, because the exercises help your grip as well as your other muscles and you want to train to the right size. You can also do these exercises using a reversed sword, but the pipe works better.

In doing these exercises keep in mind the following rules of thumb: (A) It's important to do all the reps because the nature of our sport calls for constant, low-level strength more than sudden burst strength. (B) Use both arms to avoid uneven development. You may not want to do two-sword now, but some day you might. Also, this is exactly the sort of work your off-hand probably needs to become useful. (C) Make sure to BREATHE. Breath training is key to all martial arts, so you might as well train your lung control at the same time you train your arm. (D) A little bit every day is better than a big workout every once in a while. With one exception, all of these exercises are designed for being done in front of the TV.

Exercises 1. Hold the pipe in your sword hand with your arm straight out in front of you, your elbow at your side and the pipe facing straight up. Now, without moving your hand, let the pipe drop to your outside for as far as it will go so that it dangles and stretches the bottom part of your forearm. This is the starting point. To do the exercise, twist the pipe SLOWLY up and then down to your inside, letting it drop as far as it will go and dangling it to stretch the other side of your forearm. Now reverse the motion and go SLOWLY back to the starting point. That's one rep. Do at least 15 reps, choking up as necessary to complete the last ones. This exercise strengthens the muscles in your upper forearm that help to aim a sword blow. Do it often and your aim will improve to as far as your mind and technique allow. The same muscles also help with recoveries and, to a lesser extent, the "tick-tock" motion of onside-offside combinations. This exercise also strengthens your grip, for better power, and your wrist, which helps you change the sword's motion in mid-blow. It's an overall good thing. Please note that you really should let the pipe go all the way down on both sides. That makes the exercise a stretch as well as a strengthener. You should really, really make sure to do it SLOWLY. Most of us have a weak spot or three that can be hidden if you let momentum support the motion.

2. Hold the pipe in one hand and raise that arm so your bicep pushes on your ear, your forearm rests on your head, and the pipe hangs limply, straight down and just behind your opposite shoulder. Now squeeze the pipe up until it's parallel to the floor, and then lower it back to the starting point in a controlled manner. That's one. Do at least 10-15 reps. Do NOT move your elbow or pull with any part of your arm. This exercise works the motion of throwing a blow. Squeezing the pipe up works the hand muscles that support a snapshot and controlling it on the way down works the hand and wrist muscles that support a wrapshot. Building these up will help make your blows "stick" and will facilitate good recoveries.

3. Hold the pipe in your sword hand with your arm straight out in front of you, your elbow at your side and the pipe facing straight up. Without moving your hand or elbow, twirl the pipe slowly around so the tip describes a circle over your hand. Do this slowly and under complete control for 15 times in each direction. Controlled figure-eights work well too. Both drills are great for bettering your wrapshots and wrist strength.

4. Holding the pipe like a sword, get in your stance and do VERY SLOW slow work through the air, like Kata in karate. Start off with the easiest four-blow movement, onside head, offside head, onside leg, offside leg. That's one. Repeat 10 times. Strive for smooth motions and pay attention to your breath. It's better to do this exercise slow and smooth than with the heaviest weight you can support, so don't feel bad about choking up. This exercise works your body as a unit. Moving very slowly through your kata will identify and work exactly those supporting muscles that are the weakest and most in need of building up. Is your tip falling when it shouldn't? Don't let it. Are you having much more trouble moving from leg shot to leg shot than from head shot to head shot? If choking up makes it easier, you have a strength issue on top of any technique problems. BTW, after doing 10 reps with the pipe, pick up a sword and try the same blows. You'll be amazed at how good your control is. (P.S. - This is a neat trick for getting your body ready right before a tourney bout. Doing a few exercises with your sword reversed is sort of like swinging a weighted bat before going up to the plate in baseball). I don't know for sure, but I strongly suspect that this exercise can strain your joints if you use too heavy a pipe. That happens more often than you'd think, too, because one set of support muscles is likely to be stronger than another. Please be cautious.

5. Go to your pell and do your routine, extra-slow, using the pipe instead of a sword. Then do your pell routine with a regular sword. This will have a lot of the benefits of #4 and will also tend to make your regular routine better. The pipe will not allow sloppy blows the way a lighter sword might.

6. Take a sturdy stick about a foot long (a piece of sword works fine), drill a hole through it and tie a two-foot long piece of light rope through the hole. Tie the other end to a lightish weight. Try starting with a pound or two. Hold the stick out in front of you with both hands, palms down, and wind the weight up to the top. Then wind the weight down to the bottom. That's one. Repeat 10 times. Then reverse the direction in which your winding and do 10 more reps. You can expand this series by trying it palm up, moving your elbows closer to and further from your body, and sitting or standing. They're all a little different. If it gets easy, increase the weight. This is an unbelievably vicious little exercise that will develop your overall grip and forearm strength like nothing else.

I hope this is useful, Brion, Aethelmearc

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