Terra Prime Light Armory (Lightsaber Combat Training)

[SirLiftaLot]

Does the video have to be a single take? I have a few clips that, if put together, would provide a better representation. But if you want a single take/day, I totally get that too. Thanks!

[Xiphos]

Does the video have to be a single take? I have a few clips that, if put together, would provide a better representation. But if you want a single take/day, I totally get that too. Thanks!

I'm sure if you have a few different clips that you wanted to edit into a single video that would be fine.

[mrg149]

Have any masters to partner with in New Jersey?I'd love to work live

[Nodachi]

Start here! Shii-Cho, Form I. Learn your basic guards, stances, footwork, cuts, and parries.

https://tplafightingwords.com/2019/01/08/shii-cho-the-beginning-formula/

Some statements there are very questionable:
- Rider stance is an awful choice for the sword combat, please do not use it as there is no advantage whatsoever
- SAI strike - first of all no matter how hard you strike with the sword - you don't want to finish your strike deep in the back far beyond your center body line as depicted. It is ok stance for the combat start when distance between fighters is still big but not when you finished your strike and now your opponent has right of way and doing counter attack. But most important - there is no reason to do powerful chops with lightsaber, neither in star wars world nor here - lightsaber is the light weapon, and tournament rules forbids powerful strikes
- thrusts - are also forbidden by tournament rules due to multiple reasons

[Darth Sabre]

For a peek behind the scenes: today at 4 pm EST.

https://youtu.be/sVgqAEY2wN8

[Darth Sabre]

Some statements there are very questionable:
- Rider stance is an awful choice for the sword combat, please do not use it as there is no advantage whatsoever
- SAI strike - first of all no matter how hard you strike with the sword - you don't want to finish your strike deep in the back far beyond your center body line as depicted. It is ok stance for the combat start when distance between fighters is still big but not when you finished your strike and now your opponent has right of way and doing counter attack. But most important - there is no reason to do powerful chops with lightsaber, neither in star wars world nor here - lightsaber is the light weapon, and tournament rules forbids powerful strikes
- thrusts - are also forbidden by tournament rules due to multiple reasons

We teach lightsaber combat and are the only certified partners of the FFE in the US. Some techniques are not allowed or useful in the French system but still highly useful in combat.

With TPLA, you can develop those skills and learn the rules and applications of the French system that was created by one of our Knights.

[Nodachi]

We teach lightsaber combat and are the only certified partners of the FFE in the US. Some techniques are not allowed or useful in the French system but still highly useful in combat.

With TPLA, you can develop those skills and learn the rules and applications of the French system that was created by one of our Knights.

certification etc. doesn't matter, rider stance is still awful for the sword combat as well as moving your sword faaaar back after the strike, this is what your opponent would like to see in combat to have unprotected body for the strike

Rey style "combat skills"

[SirLiftaLot]

Some statements there are very questionable:
- Rider stance is an awful choice for the sword combat, please do not use it as there is no advantage whatsoever
- SAI strike - first of all no matter how hard you strike with the sword - you don't want to finish your strike deep in the back far beyond your center body line as depicted. It is ok stance for the combat start when distance between fighters is still big but not when you finished your strike and now your opponent has right of way and doing counter attack. But most important - there is no reason to do powerful chops with lightsaber, neither in star wars world nor here - lightsaber is the light weapon, and tournament rules forbids powerful strikes
- thrusts - are also forbidden by tournament rules due to multiple reasons

Come on man. Am I misunderstanding what's going on here, or are you, at this point, coming into someone's topic and arguing with them, claiming you have the objective truth and reality of combat? If you're talking about in-universe lightsaber fighting, then powerful strikes can of course have a place, either to try to overpower an opponent, or against someone with lightsaber-resistant armor.

[mrg149]

You may also wish to refresh yourself on the TOS for these forums as you're approachong that thin red line…

If you ddon't ike it…read another thread.

[Nodachi]

Come on man. Am I misunderstanding what's going on here, or are you, at this point, coming into someone's topic and arguing with them, claiming you have the objective truth and reality of combat? If you're talking about in-universe lightsaber fighting, then powerful strikes can of course have a place, either to try to overpower an opponent, or against someone with lightsaber-resistant armor.

No, man, you misunderstood, I agreed with some posts as well.
But here, yes, some questionable statements.

Physics and biomechanics are universal, yes.
And by the way, through history there were plenty of powerful strikes described without moving your blade behind the back by inertia, this is just bad for you to remove blade between your body and your death. A lot of techniques are actually tailored for this type of overcommitments by your opponent

[Nodachi]

You may also wish to refresh yourself on the TOS for these forums as you're approachong that thin red line…

If you ddon't ike it…read another thread.

What rule did I break?)
It's not about what I like, it is about open discussion what is usefull or realistic and what is not, at least in this subforum this is pretty important discussion, don't you think?

[SirLiftaLot]

No, man, you misunderstood, I agreed with some posts as well.
But here, yes, some questionable statements.

Physics and biomechanics are universal, yes.
And by the way, through history there were plenty of powerful strikes described without moving your blade behind the back by inertia, this is just bad for you to remove blade between your body and your death. A lot of techniques are actually tailored for this type of overcommitments by your opponent

You literally said “there is no reason to do powerful chops with a lightsaber…”

That’s just not true in-universe. At all.

This isn’t the first thread, or probably even the second, you’ve come in and masqueraded your personal opinions as the sole, objective, irrefutable reality.

And there are plenty of martial arts where some sword strikes can finish/carry a fair bit past the centerline of your body. Again, don’t pretend that your given style of swordsmanship is the only true or valid one.

[Darth Sabre]

Peace. Let me elaborate a bit.

First and foremost: let's keep the discussion of our online training program and the French ruleset seperate. Our curriculum is built around real world martial arts techniques and is designed to enable even someone with no sword experience to learn some basics.  This curriculum is not designed to fit the ruleset ... it is designed to develop a fundamental skillset for swordsmanship, which you can then use to enter a competition system like the French ruleset. Learn to walk first before you start to run.

But even within the ruleset, there is a difference between applying powerful strikes like Sai, which is totally legal, and use of excessive force, which is forbidden.

For a beginner, it is necessary to build up the body mechanics for powerful strikes, too. As has already been said: there are many appliances in and out of the ruleset for that. Shii-Cho, as we see it, is designed to work on a battlefield, not in a 1 on 1 duel. Thus, there are obstacles to smash, droids to slash and multiple opponents to be defeated, who will employ force on you and your lightsaber.

To train these strikes without a partner, so without making contact with a body or a blade, it is helpful to build up your muscle memory to train these strikes in the full arc and it is done so in various systems. I encountered it in HEMA longsword.

While I agree that the position you criticise can be a disadvantage in closer range if you hold it: it is not meant to be a stationary position there. You can use the power of the strike, in case you missed, to do a quick follow-up just moving through this position.

When you have destroyed the obstacle in your way with a Sai and have a fair distance to your next target, this position is useful, as for example the high guard which also has the tip of the blade pointing backwards, because your next strike is already 'armed'. As you said: it is a starting position in various systems.

So it all is a question of context and a matter of how to train your body to do certain things. Once it can, you can think about useful and not so useful contexts to apply these things.

If you are interested in how we apply the dewback rider stance (horse stance) to see how we think it can be useful, check out our Shii-Cho Sarlacc Sweep Acceleration (Cho variant) and our Ataru rotations (especially the En Su Ma) as examples how this stance is useful in generating power and turning.

[Nodachi]

You literally said “there is no reason to do powerful chops with a lightsaber…”

That’s just not true in-universe. At all.

This isn’t the first thread, or probably even the second, you’ve come in and masqueraded your personal opinions as the sole, objective, irrefutable reality.

And there are plenty of martial arts where some sword strikes can finish/carry a fair bit past the centerline of your body. Again, don’t pretend that your given style of swordsmanship is the only true or valid one.

ok, I shouldn't mention in-universe case, agree, let's remove it from the plate as my interest is fully in real life combat. Hard to elaborate what should be done in imaginary world during imaginary cases.

But let me ask you then - do you have any real arguments against mine? you are constantly attacking person but not the argument, which is wrong imho

[Nodachi]

Peace. Let me elaborate a bit.

First and foremost: let's keep the discussion of our online training program and the French ruleset seperate. Our curriculum is built around real world martial arts techniques and is designed to enable even someone with no sword experience to learn some basics.  This curriculum is not designed to fit the ruleset ... it is designed to develop a fundamental skillset for swordsmanship, which you can then use to enter a competition system like the French ruleset. Learn to walk first before you start to run.

But even within the ruleset, there is a difference between applying powerful strikes like Sai, which is totally legal, and use of excessive force, which is forbidden.

For a beginner, it is necessary to build up the body mechanics for powerful strikes, too. As has already been said: there are many appliances in and out of the ruleset for that. Shii-Cho, as we see it, is designed to work on a battlefield, not in a 1 on 1 duel. Thus, there are obstacles to smash, droids to slash and multiple opponents to be defeated, who will employ force on you and your lightsaber.

To train these strikes without a partner, so without making contact with a body or a blade, it is helpful to build up your muscle memory to train these strikes in the full arc and it is done so in various systems. I encountered it in HEMA longsword.

While I agree that the position you criticise can be a disadvantage in closer range if you hold it: it is not meant to be a stationary position there. You can use the power of the strike, in case you missed, to do a quick follow-up just moving through this position.

When you have destroyed the obstacle in your way with a Sai and have a fair distance to your next target, this position is useful, as for example the high guard which also has the tip of the blade pointing backwards, because your next strike is already 'armed'. As you said: it is a starting position in various systems.

So it all is a question of context and a matter of how to train your body to do certain things. Once it can, you can think about useful and not so useful contexts to apply these things.

If you are interested in how we apply the dewback rider stance (horse stance) to see how we think it can be useful, check out our Shii-Cho Sarlacc Sweep Acceleration (Cho variant) and our Ataru rotations (especially the En Su Ma) as examples how this stance is useful in generating power and turning.

Thank you for the answer, appreciate
Powerful strike can not be done without excessive force, fast strike - yes, but not powerful by definition, you need power which is synonym of strength in our case
But again, if we talk HEMA as an real life example - I don't recall any suggestion to finish your strike deep in the back, this is against all principals to be protected by the sword between you an your opponent. You can bring tip of the sword behind the back, true, but not entire sword, too many disadvantage with no advantage whatsoever (besides starting stance which is different from strike over commitment).

When you have destroyed the obstacle in your way with a Sai - so this is in-universe teaching, not real life? Because there is no obstacle to be removed by lightsaber in real life besides opponent which brings us to my statement about excessive force.

Regarding rider stance, let me just give arguments against:
- proper lunge is not possible in rider stance, cornerstone of western fencing
- not possible to slide leg back from the attacker sword (as second leg will remain on the same position\level due to stance) you remove one leg but second are still there on the same distance from attacker - key technique to protect leg and create counterattack opportunity in many fencing disciplines and even MAs like muay thai
- removes your mobility due to bended parallel knees, only short distance slow steps are possible from it
- imbalance - with proper fencing stances - you can shift your weight back and force between your legs, but rider stance? very static and vulnerable for any imbalance actions. There is no place for static stance in ultra-dynamic sword combat
- shorter reach - your are killing 30-40 centimeters of reach due to fully parallel stance comparing to 30-45 degree fencing stances

That is why you will not see it a lot (if any) during real fencing combats.
Second opinion regarding the same:
horse stance in kendo discussion - https://www.reddit.com/r/kendo/comments/4dv8yy/q_horseriding_stance_in_kendo/
And about both issues by shadiversity - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irvU09MM-l4

etc etc etc