Academy of Fencing Masters Blog

Fencing doesn't happen all at once. You don't walk into the club one day and suddenly execute perfect attacks. You don't fence one great bout and become successful at the national scene. You don't have a single breakthrough practice that transforms everything. Instead, your success builds up over time - lesson after lesson, bout after bout, and day after day of showing up and doing the work. A fencer who trains consistently for a year doesn't train harder in any single session than the fencer...

You wouldn't dream of stepping onto the strip without a physical warm-up. No one walks into a bout cold - no footwork, no blade work, no stretching - and expects their body to perform at its best. Everyone understands that muscles need preparation. But what about your brain? Most fencers think that their mental state is some “inherit” attribute of their personality, they either have it or not. Most perceive there are “naturally born” athletes with superior mental ability. If a fencer,...

A few years ago we had a fencer with an interesting habit. Before every bout she performed the same routine: adjusted the mask three times, tapped the guard twice with her left index finger, took four steps back, then advanced to the en garde line. She'd been doing this exact ritual for two years. When I asked about it, she shrugged: "It just feels right. When I don't do it, I feel... off." Welcome to the world of competitive superstitions, where lucky socks can feel as important as proper...

Talk to any fencing coach (actually any sports coach) and you will hear many stories of overtraining. They all watched a promising young fencer collapse during what should have been a routine lesson. Not from exhaustion—from sheer mental fatigue. This athlete had been training seven days a week for months, convinced that more practice would translate to better results. Instead, their performance had been declining for weeks, their enthusiasm had evaporated, and now their body was sending an...