Training with the Long Sword

I have 20 years experience in Western Martial Arts, have trained students and written my own manual.The footwork here is not only ineffective but could be dangerous if used in the round. Not only does it put excessive strain on joints, it greatly effects over all mobility. Longsword is not strip fencing.I would recommend the works of Palpable Hit Productions by Anthony DeLongis, anything involved with the Martinez Academy.

This is a great instructional for HEMA enthusiasts and fills an important void in many current schools of historical fencing. For example, the Lichtenauer teachings are widely taught to everyone including new students who have no prior fencing knowledge and this was not Master Lichtenauers intent. Common fencing was a prerequisite and such techniques are very well demonstrated in this video from the perspective of a living Portuguese tradition. Utilizing these drills will increase one mastery of the necessary skills of blocking, parrying, distance and timing. These skills should be mastered before one begins learning winding and binding techniques.

Watched on prime. Not sure where the video creators got their info. NOT HEMA or WMA that's for sure. No Historical source in German or Italian school of fencing will back this video up. Made up junk content with dangerous foot and leg positions. Pass on this.

You don't extend your knee past your foot, or you'll have joint problems. I don't know what this was supposed to be but it doesn't resemble the longsword traditions of the Italian or German traditions. This would need to be unlearned before progress could be made.

Like other reviews, the footwork is WAY too deep. He looks like he's squatting for a jump. Putting all of that weight on your lower half is way too much strain on your legs for NO purpose or gain. Most of the techniques, if you can call them that, are half baked variants that look like crappy self-taught reconstructions of ACTUAL MANUALS. DO NOT WATCH THIS IS YOU WANT TO SWORD FIGHT. Go join your local fencing club. Save your money for anything else. Read the manuals, not as fun as a video, but by God, it's better than this.

Perhaps one day I will be able to graduate to the sword.An excellent art form for correcting and maintaining proper posture while working and stretching every limb. Luis and Julia effectively show the art form in a repetitive fashion.

This DVD is a nice, short introduction to some logical training strategies on striking, parrying and tactical application with longswords. Actually, it looks like pretty classic Jogo do Pau to my eyes, and Luis could just have easily substitued the normal longstick for the nylon longswords used.But that doesn't matter, the material is what counts and it is very good, albeit a bit too brief (I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because of the brevity - I wanted to see a lot more and would happily have sat through a DVD that was double or triple the run time here). As good as Luis' books are, I would like to see more DVDs from him, as seeing drills and exercises performed in motion is just so much more useful than just reading about them and having to mentally visualise them from static photographs.

Be sure to read the product description carefully it says it is for ADVANCED beginners. I just got the DVD and was very excited to watch it but ended up disappointed. It does not go over any of the basics like basic moves and their names. It mainly goes over things like maintaining correct distance and parrying well. If you don't know the basics this DVD will not make much sense to you or be very helpful. It is also very short: like 9 short segments.