Introduction
I recently (actually 4 months ago...) started going to a local fencing "club" (they are apparently called clubs, don't ask me why) in my city with a friend of mine. He had the idea to maybe do something productive or healthy in life and asked if I wanted to come too. First off I acted like I absolutely loved that idea, but I was pretty certain I'd dislike it and quit in a week. Fortunately, that didn't happen and there's a good reason for it: I actually enjoyed it.
Ok now before going into the nitty gritty of fencing facts and more of my personal experience, I just want to warn you that I am by no means an experienced website maker. I am doing this purely hoping I can teach someone something and my style of teaching can absolutely be really lame to some people.
If you aren't the type of person to sit through countless paragraphs with a lot of creative words and weird wording, please click this button:
Sooo... what's it like?
First of all, in my humble opinion: fencing is extremely underrated, although there are plenty of peeps who agree on that.
I live in a pretty big city with about 200 000 residents and I know, from my city's only fencing club, ~15 people who regularly fence.
Not just that, it's clear to probably everyone that fencing isn't seen or heard in everyday life like other sports.
It's like chess, at 90 miles an hour, oh and there's swords!- u/dieth
and
Fencing is very strategic and fast paced, if you enjoy mind games and trying to figure your opponent out over the course of a match then this is probably for you. It also easy to learn hard to master, after one to three lessons you will most likely know everything you need to fence your first match. After that it is just practice.- u/Yegie
I absolutely agree with these dudes. Actually, that first quote was literally my adrenaline filled mind after the first session was over! "Offense is the best defense" is a line usually thrown to beginners by experienced fencers. It's a good way to grasp your head around fencing. You have to get aggressive and just rush to the guy you are fighting against like a wild bear.
Nevertheless, there are also times when you have to go backwards and be a bit more passive, giving your enemies false hope of rushing you to oblivion.
But then when they try to pull it off, you counter their measly attack and rise victorious! Sounds cool, right?
That brings us to one of the biggest elements of fencing alongside determining where you're going to hit and how, movement.
I am not going to lie, first few times you'll do actual fencing, your legs will probably feel like quitting forever. You need your legs to about everything in fencing ie.
moving, lunging (going as far as possible with your other leg so you can hit your opponent without him/her being able to reach you), dodging...
You can even leap towards your opponent and hit him in midair :D
All of this affects your legs a lot and, in a very short time frame, they will get much slimmer and stronger.