Fencing Blade Drills You Can Practice At Home - 400 Touches Epee/Foil Drill

Three. Three. I'm going to let the upper body drop. One. Two. Now, just the action of turning the wrist over is going to be the pulling through. Hi, my name is Coach Tyler with Fencers Edge. And I'm here to show you a target practice drill you can use to practice at home. This drill is designed for both epee and foil fencers. I'm going to be demonstrating using an epee today, but if you're a foilist, you can do this entire drill using a foil as well. We're going to be doing 400 touches on our trusty target here today. And there are some options that you can do to make this drill even more challenging for you if you want a little bit more of a challenge. The first thing that you can do to make it a little bit more challenging is while you're doing this drill, you can be stepping in place. So, moving those feet, not forward or back, but just stepping in place while you're performing this drill. Okay? The next option that you can do is you can use a wrist weight to weight the arm and make it a little bit more challenging and work those arm muscles a little bit more. The next thing that you can do is you can put some markers on your target so you are really having to concentrate on the accuracy of your touches, making sure that you're hitting that marker each time you extend. All right, so let's go ahead and get started with this drill. For this drill, you're going to want to be at maximum scoring distance away from the target. So, when your arm is fully extended, you should be creating a small bend in the blade. Now, you don't want it to be a large bend in the blade. We are really close in creating a large bend in the blade. You don't want to be so far away that you're just barely touching the target and not creating enough pressure to depress the point of your weapon. So, just enough to create a small bend in the blade, letting you know that you're for sure making enough contact to fully depress the button of your weapon. Okay? Also, you don't want to be moving the upper body to make these touches. So, you don't want to be leaning in to make the touch and then leaning back out to recover back to on guard. You want to keep the upper body as still as possible, just isolating the arm extension for this drill. Okay? So, for this first part of the drill, we're going to be doing 50 slow touches using the six angle. Now, with the six angle, your arm should be fully extended and your wrist should be slightly above your shoulder. You don't want it to be super high and you don't want it to be down here. You want it to be just slightly above the shoulder. You want your wrist to be to the outside of your body and you're going to angle your point in towards the target that you're trying to hit. Okay? So, we're going to do 50 slow touches using that six angle. And for this video, I'm just going to demonstrate the action a few times and then you can pause it and complete the full 50 touches. And you guys are going to have to let me know whether or not you prefer the videos where I do the whole exercise with you or the videos where I just demonstrate the action, let you pause the video and complete the workout on your own. So, let me know in the comment below which type of videos you guys prefer. Okay. So, to demonstrate this action, I'm just going to do five slow touches and then you can pause the video and complete the full 50 touches. All right? So, unguarded position, maximum scoring distance, and full extension using that six angle, leading with the point and recovering right back to unguarded. Full extension, creating that nice angle, being accurate with where you're placing the point and recovering back to unguarded after each touch. Nice and slow. Okay? So, you're going to do that action 50 times nice and slow. All right. So, for the next part of the drill, we're going to be doing 50 fast touches using that same six angle, and we're going to really concentrate on being really fast with the extension, but on the recovery, we're going to slow it down, leaving the point out there just a little bit longer. This is really crucial, especially in foil and in epee, because you might miss that first touch and you don't want to jerk your hand back and take away the option for a faster knees. Okay? So, arms should fully extend nice and fast, and then recover nice and slow, leaving the arm out there just a little bit before you recover. All right? So, unguarded position, and I'm going to demonstrate five fast touches, then you can pause the video and complete the full 50 fast touches on your own. Ready? All right. Good job. So, go ahead and pause the video now, 50 fast touches. Make sure the arm explodes out there nice and fast, but then recovers nice and slow back to the unguarded position. All right. So, for the next part of the drill, we're going to be doing 50 slow touches using the eight angle. Okay? Now, the eight angle is very similar to the six, except for you're going to be coming low with your attack. Okay? So, again, the arm fully extends, the wrist is slightly to the outside of the body, and the point is angled in towards the target. Okay? So, eight angle, 50 slow touches. I'll demonstrate five of them, then you can pause the video and complete the 50 touches. So, going nice and slow, unguarded position, and full extension, touch, and return. All right. So, go ahead and pause the video, complete those 50 touches nice and slow. All right. Great job. So, for the next part of the exercise, we're going to be doing that same extension using the eight line, but we're going to add speed to it this time. So, fast extension, and then a slow recovery back to unguarded. Okay? So, I'll demonstrate it a few times for you, then you can pause the video and complete this part of the exercise on your own. So, unguarded position, and extend, and slow recovery. Extend, and slow recovery. All right. So, go ahead and pause the video, 50 fast extension with the slow recovery. Awesome. Great job. All right. So, for the next part of the drill, we're going to be doing 50 slow touches using the four angle this time. So, for the four angle, your arms should be fully extended. All right? And your wrist should be angled into the inside of your body with your point angled back out towards the target area. Okay? So, this is the four line. The wrist should be at shoulder height, arm fully extended, wrist towards the inside of your body, point angled back towards the target. All right. So, I'll demonstrate this part of the exercise a few times for you guys, and then you can pause the video and complete the full 50 touches on your own. So, on guard position, maximum scoring distance, and nice and slow, full extension with that four angle. Recover back to on guard. All right. So, go ahead and pause the video and complete those 50 touches on your own. All right. Great job. So, now we're going to do that same four angle, but we're going to do it with a fast extension and then a slow recovery. So, I'll demonstrate it a few times, and then you can complete the exercise on your own. Again, 50 touches. All right. So, go ahead and pause the video and complete those 50 touches nice and fast with the slow recovery. Way to go. Good job. All right. So, for the next part of the exercise, we're going to be doing 50 slow touches using the seven angle. All right? So, just like the four angle, the wrist is going to be coming inside, except for this one, we're going to be angled low. Okay? So, arm fully extends, wrist low, wrist to the inside of your body, and point angle back out towards the target area. Okay? So, the seven angle should look like this. All right. So, let's go ahead and get in the on guard position. I'll demonstrate it nice and slow a few times, then you can pause the video and complete the 50 slow touches on your own. All right. So, go ahead and pause the video and complete that 50 touches nice and slow. Great job. Almost done. Last set. So, for this last part, we're going to be doing that same extension using the seven angle, and we're going to do it nice and fast extension with the slow recovery back to on guard. So, I'll demonstrate it a few times, then you can pause the video and complete the workout on your own. All right. Good job. So, go ahead and pause the video, 50 fast touches with the slow recovery. All right. Great job. That completes this 400 touch FAN foil target practice drill. I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope it helps bring you improved results in your fencing game. Thanks so much for watching, and as always, please remember to like, share, subscribe, and comment below. Let me know what you guys are thinking of these videos. Let me know if there's anything else I can do to help you become a better fencer. Until next time, have fun, work hard, and practice.