Saber foot work

Nothing is more important that foot work in Saber. If you can't move you are dead. If you slow down at the wrong time you are toast. If you can't catch your opponent, well things could be worse. You could be fencing Div 3 Foil.

When you work on your saber footwork concentrate on making steps the appropriate size. So about the length of your own foot. You can also make small advances which are about half of normal size.

Next is to work on changing between small and regular advances without hesitating or stopping.

Now for speed. Your normal speed is your normal speed......Ok. Half your normal speed is slow and twice your normal speed is fast. Now practice changing between slow, normal speed and fast. The important thing is to do it without stopping or hesitating. Hesitation is death in saber.

For retreats it is important to maintain distance with your opponent. But you must be ready to accelerate out of there if your opponent decides to attack. So to practice this change speed with your foot work on a regular basis. Also practise breaking: which is a fast passe back and withdrawal of the weapon arm. Then start going forward again.

None of this speed practice is going to do you any good unless you sit down in your guard. You are a race car and you must have a wide stance (slightly bigger than shoulder wide) and be low to the ground. If you stay low and wide you will be able to change direction and explode forward or backward when necessary.