I wrote this for my club newsletter after noticing that half the club either had, or was developing, the same bad lunging habit that I'd spent the last year trying to get rid of myself.
No, I'm not going to tell you how to perform the perfect lunge, I haven't figured it out myself yet, so I'll leave that job to our
coach. What I'm about to reveal to you is how *not* to do it. For lack of an appropriate fencing term, let's call it "pulling your
punches".
It's a common enough problem, I'm not picking on anyone in particular here (really!), and after spending much of last year
trying to cure myself of the bad habit I sure as hell wish someone had mentioned it to me back when I was but a fledgling
fencer. Sure, the coach will tell you off when you pull up short or fail to finish the attack, but you know that the coach will
stand still and wait for you to hit, the real world's not like that, so you adjust your style.
For most of us, I suspect the problem starts as follows. As a beginner you learn some basic attacks, and some basic parries.
Now the simple attack is no match for a simple parry, and as soon as you learn to disengage your opponent is learning
counter-sixte. As soon as you start your attack, you know you're not going to hit them, that they'll parry, or move out of
range, so your mind turns to defense. You haven't quite got the hang of recovering from the lunge yet, so there you'll be,
stretched out in a full lunge, vulnerable to their riposte. Given that you know you won't hit them, you pull up short, after all if
you only half-lunge then you're already halfway back to on guard, and can defend yourself. The perfect solution, right?
Wrong!
From such small beginnings do large problems begin. I offer you three reasons why this is a bad idea.
Firstly, you don't know you won't hit them, you only think that. Sure, they probably will parry, but you might just break
through. Don't deny yourself a point by holding yourself back!
Secondly, if you know you can't hit them, don't attack them in the first place! Fencing isn't just about hitting people, it's about
picking your time and place - tactics in other words. Wait for that lapse in concentration, that moment when their point dips
down with fatigue, or they get too close, then strike, and don't hold back. Don't be afraid to wait.
Finally, you risk doing yourself an injury. A foreshortened lunge puts quite a bit of pressure on the front knee, and you're
unlikely to be landing properly so you risk hurting your ankle. I rather suspect that's how I bruised mine.
The only long-term solution is to practice your lunge, and your recovery. A strong fast lunge and rapid recovery are the
greatest weapon in your tactical armoury, but it's a darned tricky move to get right.
After you warm up, do a dozen practice lunges against a wall, watching your stance carefully and keeping your balance.
If you're really serious about perfecting your lunge, practice at home in front of a mirror.
You think you've got problems with foil? Just imagine how I felt when I took up sabre, where the lightest touch on my
extended wrist would give victory to my opponent. It's a popular perception that sabreurs don't lunge, and indeed many of
them do only use a very short one. Most of the time they can get away with it, however for someone with limbs as short as
mine, doing that meant I had enormous difficulty coming within reach.
In foil you can't just settle for a wrist, you have to extend right to the torso, the farther back you can be when you hit them
the safer you'll be.
So unless you're a born epeeist with legs to your armpits and knuckles dragging on the ground as you walk, practice doing a
full and proper lunge, not just in lessons, but also in the heat of battle, the midst of a bout.
Believe me, it makes thing so much easier later on.