The Sword Guy Podcast

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 78

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/improve-your-striking-in-november/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Your challenge for November is to improve your striking. Really, what we are looking at more than anything else is your precision and accuracy, which you can apply to any domain. Someone who drives a car might look at the smoothness of their gear changes, or the precision with which they take a corner. There is no domain in life that this cannot be applied to. Of course, as sword people, we will tend to apply it to swords first, but it is no bad thing to let it leak out into other areas of your life.

Whether you are striking with a fist, a foot, a stick, or a sword, there are fundamental components in common. I’ll cover these in this episode, along with ideas for training, equipment you can utilise, and the use of forms.

The bulk of this episode is taken from my book, The Windsor Method: The Principles of Solo Training, which is available to buy now.

For all the other monthly challenges so far this year, head over to the Challenge of the Month category of my blog. We have covered topics including sleep, getting stronger and more flexible, meditation and more.

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 77

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/strategy-and-war-episode77/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Dr. Lynette Nusbacher is a Strategist and Devil’s Advocate. Her work has included being a logistics officer in the Canadian Armed Forces, a writer of books such as Bannockburn 1314, a lecturer at Reading University, the senior intelligence advisor to the UK Government Cabinet Office, as well as a TV presenter of various military history shows, and she now runs a management consulting company, Nusbacher and Associates. Of course, most importantly from my perspective, she is also a historical martial arts instructor.

Our conversation covers military strategy, government policy, Clausewitz, Iraq and Afghanistan. We do bring all this back to HEMA and talk about the difference between strategy and tactics and how this applies to fencing. You might also like to hear that Lynette thinks of George Silver as a “bit of a bullshit artist”.

As promised, here is the link to the Rob Roy final duel: https://youtu.be/ERmM5l2ceoY

You can find Lynette on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nusbacher

The Sword Guy Podcast, episode 76

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/armour-of-the-english-knight-episode76/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Dr Tobias Capwell has a lifelong love of arms and armour, since being taken to the Met Museum in New York as a small child. He has made this passion into a career and is now the curator of Arms and Armour at the Wallace Collection in London. We talk about how he got the job as a museum curator, including offering his services to the Met Museum at the tender age of twelve.

If you are in the vicinity of London and are interested in seeing the wonderful Wallace Collection, or if you are far away but want to check out the online content, have a look on their website. And here is a video by Toby from The Wallace Collection, Armour as Renaissance Art.

In our conversation Toby tells us how he came to be one of two mounted knights in armour escorting the procession at the recent re-burial of Richard III, whose remains were found buried under a car park in Leicester, in the East Midlands of England. Click on the link for a YouTube video covering the event.

We talk about Toby’s ground breaking research into English stone funerary effigies that depict armour in exquisite detail, including showing repairs and bits which don’t match the rest of the armour. This research formed his Ph.D. and then became his trilogy of books, Armour of the English Knight. His eagerly awaited second book, Armour of the English Knight 1450-1500 is out now. His first book is sold out so get your hands on this one quick!

A couple more links:

• Toby’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tobiascapwell

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 75

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/youtube-lauren-danger-episode75/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Lauren Shaw is from Calgary, Canada and is a founder of the Calgary Fellowship of the Sword, where they practice 14th – 19th century martial arts, including longsword, sword and buckler, and - since Covid social distancing rules came in - quarterstaff.

Lauren is also known for her YouTube videos as Lauren Danger Adventure Ranger, where Lauren posts videos on just about every single historical martial arts topic imaginable, and each one of them starts with a rhyme. We talk about Lauren’s skill for rhyming and why she includes them in her videos, as well as her passion for welcoming people into the HEMA world.

The answer to the usual question of “what would you do with a million pounds to improve historical martial arts worldwide?” is one that really got me thinking and is an excellent and potentially very doable suggestion.

You can find Lauren on Twitter, and of course, YouTube.

As mentioned in the introduction, you can access Guy’s new Sword and Buckler course with the 50% discount (expires on Wednesday 20th October) at www.guywindsor.net/buckler. Don’t miss out!

The Sword Guy Podcast Episode 74

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/hope-and-black-powder-episode74/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Milo Thurston is the founder of the Linacre School of Defence in Oxford, UK. He’s an absolute bastard with a single stick and a leading expert in the work of Sir William Hope. In our conversation we talk about the essence of Hope’s New Method of Fencing and what is so good about it.

We also talk about Napoleonic battle reenactment, being late to class, Ken Monschein’s PhD, and why Milo would use Guy’s imaginary millions to pay off his mortgage.

Milo’s books:

A Newer, Shorter and Easier Method of Fencing

Defence in the Street: Translated from Jean-Joseph Renaud's La Defense dans la Rue (Amazon Kindle edition)

Link to The Linacre School of Defence, which has Hope’s works and poetry, plus works from other masters from the period.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/october-challenge-episode73/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Today’s episode is your October Challenge. This year I have been setting a different challenge every month, as I really don't like New Year's resolutions, and it struck me that there was an opportunity for self-development and self-improvement that we were missing by making these nebulous resolutions at pretty much the worst point in the year to make any kind of changes. It's right after Christmas and if you're in the northern hemisphere, it’s in the middle of winter. Not a great time to be trying to make a resolution that's going to last all year. So instead, we have a different challenge every month.

So far we have looked at breaking and making habits, prioritising sleep, prioritising food, learning a new skill, stamina and strength. Last month we looked at improving our range of motion. If you want to have a look back at all of those monthly challenges, you can go to guywindsor.net/blog and look at the category called “Challenge of the Month”.

Your challenge this month is to improve your footwork. And I borrowed this from my new book, The Windsor Method, The Principles of Solo Training, which you should definitely go and buy, of course, at guywindsor.net/solo.

There is a transcription of this episode on my website for you to read at your leisure.

The Sword Guy Podcast, episode 72

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/viruses-and-bats-episode72/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Emilia Skirmuntt runs the Oxford branch of The School of the Sword, and in this episode we talk about running a school with different branches and specialisations, and improving diversity and inclusivity within historical martial arts schools.

Emilia is also a virologist at the University of Oxford, which brings up some topical questions about a certain virus. We talk about her fascinating research into virus-like genes in bat genomes and some truly game-changing theories about memories and consciousness.

Emilia has started a cookery blog, called The Corgi, The Princess and The Kitchen, which we also chat about in the podcast. The molecular gastronomy book that Guy refers to is: On Food And Cooking: The Science And Lore Of The Kitchen by Harold McGee.

You can find Emilia on Twitter @ESkirmuntt, or look out for her on Sky News and other news outlets where she is frequently interviewed about the pandemic.

The Sword Guy Podcast episode 71

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/talking-tempo-episode71/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Today’s episode is a bit different to the usual format. Dr Cornelius Berthold, who is a well-known historical fencing instructor in Hamburg, Germany, contacted me because he is doing a series of YouTube videos on the topic of tempo and had some questions for me.

We had never met or spoken before, but Cornelius very kindly agreed to have the discussion in the form of a podcast, so that you all can listen in to two absolute tempo geeks geeking out about tempo.

Here’s a link to Cornelius’s fencing school in Hamburg, Dimicator Schola, and the Dimicator Schola YouTube channel.

Rachel Bown-Williams

Ruth Cooper-Brown

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/guns-blood-and-swords-episode70/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Ruth Cooper-Brown and Rachel Bown-Williams are the founders of RC-Annie, the UK’s leading dramatic violence company, specialising in training, fight direction and intimacy direction for stage and screen. They hire out guns and swords (not to just anyone!) They are also purveyors of fake blood; thick or thin, “splat or spurt”, depending on your needs.

When creating a fight, Ruth and Rachel like it to look real and messy and painful, and in our conversation we talk about good fight scenes and bad, and why so many films show great unarmed combat, but are absolutely terrible as soon as the actor picks up a weapon. We also talk about sex, or rather what intimacy direction is for, and the difference between the ways sex and violence are portrayed on screen.

Here's a showreel of some of the fights RC-Annie have directed: https://youtu.be/yg3WMXRt3P0

For more on intimacy direction, you can also listen to episode 9 with Siobhan Richardson.

RC-Annie’s website: https://www.rc-annie.com/

Their YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqBl-eaYxK0KN5b_j_RZ8Aw

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to https://swordschool.com/podcast/monthly-challenge-get-more-flexible-in-september/ 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Your challenge this month is to engage with your ranges of motion. Much of this episode is adapted from my new book The Windsor Method: The Principles of Solo Training.

You can follow along with a pre-recorded flexibility-based training session at:

Guywindsor.net/hamstrings

Guywindsor.net/trainalong