Belegarth

So, I don't often get photos/video taken of me fighting, so my technique tends to be modified when I feel something is wrong (like I'm throwing X shot wrong and it's going to cause injury) or someone else points it out.

At the day event this weekend, there are finally some good (and in focus) pictures of me and I noticed some problems in my stance.

As you can see from the following pictures, my adopted guard is way too high, exposing my sword-side hip way more than I should be. I'm also cheating my shield way too far over to my sword-side.







I know I should be keeping my guard lower, and rely on the sword blocks more than the shield for the sword-side... So, my question is: Any suggestions on how to help train my muscle memory on keeping the guard down and the shield more centered?

Having fought you multiple times, I always assumed you used the high guard to bait a swing to your hip/leg. You are plenty quick enough with your shield and a twist at your waist / raise of your right leg to get away unpunished from most shots. Your guard does put you in great position for that high cross to the opponent's right lat when they go for that opening - something most of you Forsaken punish a ton of people on regularly.

Now that you are aware of something you feel needs changing, I would suggest you square up with someone and repeat openings ad nauseum. Set up with the stance you want, someone throw a shot and defend, and then reset so you can build the muscle memory. Nothing will get you to do it save for actively forcing yourself to do it.

Had you been taking an increase in shots to that side that made you realize it, or was it just from looking at the pics and deciding you didn't like it?

High guard has its uses, but not so much the rudimentary A-frame. That loses its effectiveness against stronger opponents.

Your hand should be about even with your navel. Think about it while fighting. You'll die more for a while, but so it goes. Play block-strike with hips as legal target zones, and find a lefty counterpart who has more than two shots and will hit you in the hip.

Left-handed single blue.

Remy the Wroth wrote:Left-handed single blue.

Working on it. I hurt my left elbow earlier in that day in a grapple/non-incidental strike, so I had to revert to s&b.

As soon as I recover, I'll be back to lefty blue.

Dane wrote:High guard has its uses, but not so much the rudimentary A-frame. That loses its effectiveness against stronger opponents.

Your hand should be about even with your navel. Think about it while fighting. You'll die more for a while, but so it goes. Play block-strike with hips as legal target zones, and find a lefty counterpart who has more than two shots and will hit you in the hip.

Good advice. I'll be working on it.

Tiberius Claudius wrote:Had you been taking an increase in shots to that side that made you realize it, or was it just from looking at the pics and deciding you didn't like it?

Just looking at the pics and realizing that what I'm doing isn't what I'm feeling.

When I'm in stance, I feel like I'm in a lower guard than I really am. Thus a weakness that can be exploited.

Your gaurd is high because you lived in High-crossland for so long. You got used to just resting your shield there and auto blocking idiots. It'll drop as your side starts to hurt. Also, you tend to match shield position with whomever you are fighting, which can get a bit high if your opponent is a punch user (See Picture #3).

Honestly, you do leg bait quite well with that high stance, but you'll slow down sometime. Maybe if you just got fat? Eat nothing but bacon for a year. When you're chunky you need better shieldwork, and your ribs won't be so damned stabby.

I'm sorry. I couldn't resist.

It's okay, I've been thinking of doing that as well, since well before I posted.

I strapped my left to my body so that I couldn't raise it past my navel when I first switched to southpaw, it worked pretty well.
When I see someone with a guard like that and I'm going flo or single I usually kill them with a shoulder pop, hip chop/wrap, pocket/kidney shank.
Correcting my fixed high-guard after years of high-cross land was the hardest thing I've done in fighting lol

If you're still working on it come Chaos, I could be your lefty. You gonna be at WW? We could spar there, too.

You guard is high because most fighters out here throw shoulder chops and high crosses. Or the newbie 1-2 combo.

I haven't exploited the open sword side hip much because when we fight, I'm generally righty sword and board and I don't darkside much. If you want, I can switch up to flo and teach you to lower your guard... Thats what im doing to the SCA peeps also..

i dont see a huge problem with the stance.it has issues but i will attempt to break it down.

high sword gaurd, yes it exposes inide leg shots and dark sides. but you have a tear drop, so you have extra defance against those attacks too. the higher gaurd has advantages against high crosses, so against many opponents you are fine. against some hard core darksiders just lower the hand 12 inches or so, or use a shield edge against that elbow of theirs when they dark side. i would try and lower it, just to keep sharp, but it isnt an emergancy

cheating sheild to sword side, well it makes up for your highish gaurd. it baits poeple into the outside shield side shots, allowing a quick shoulder rotation and arm shots. it covers stabs well too. i often cheat my shield to the inside( sword side) aganst most fighters, unless they have a flail, then my gaurd goes all the way out.

i think your bigger problem is that your hand is very far back, making your shot longer and slower. if you move the hand forward 5 inches or so you will cut reation time and increase your perceived speed for free. also it will close off some of the high cross angles and darkside angles.

some positives, you seem to have decent balance. also looks like you are switching stance some, that is good too as it changes what the opponent needs to do against you.

to help train hand position, put a 3 inch long peice of duct tape on the edge of your shield where you want your hand to be at. then to make sure your hand is forward and low touch your wrist to the tape before every series of shots. i bump my spot a couple time whenever i need my guard to be perfect.