Drills

	A	B	C	D	E
1	Name	Single/partner	Objective	Level	Description
2	Form/footwork warm-up	single/partner	Form, strength	Beginner - Intermediate	Start upright, not in guard. Assume guard in a single motion and carry out salute. Then stay in prima, hold 10 seconds. Then advance; advance; retreat; retreat; advance, advance; retreat, lunge; recover back, turn to seconda... Repeat through seconda, terza, and quarta. Then, finish with a salute and return to upright position. Fencers should do this slowly and maintain guard the entire exercise (from salute to salute). Add/replace footwork to taste.
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4	Offline lunge	single	Form, offline motion	Intermediate	Begin in guard in terza, lunge offline (towards your inside) in seconda, recover back and towards the inside. This should occur in 3 beats (lunge, step to the inside with back foot, recover onto that foot)
5	Giganti 1-9 series	partner
6	Giganti 1	partner/single	lunge form, measure	Beginner	Patiente stands in place in terza, agente begins out of measure; agente proceeds towards patiente and lunges when he reaches measure (patiente keeps his sword out of the way)
7	Giganti 2 & 3	partner	measure, finding the blade	Beginner	Patiente stands in place in Terza, agente begins out of measure; agente proceeds towards patiente and gains his blade (2: to the inside; 3: to the outside) as he enters measure; agente then lunges to strike patiente (2: in quarta; 3: in seconda)
8	Giganti 4& 5	partner	finding the blade, counter-tempo action	Beginner	Patiente and agente begin in terza out of measure; Agente moves forward, gaining the blade as he enters measure; patiente performs a cavazione; agente lunges to strike during the tempo of the cavazione (In drill 4, gain is made to the inside (in quarta); In drill 5, gain is made to the outside (in seconda)).
9	Giganti 6 & 7	partner	counter-tempo action	Intermediate	Same as drill 4&5 except that rather than lunging to strike in the tempo of the cavazione, agente instead performs a contracavazione in that tempo, reestablishing his initial gain, then lunges to strike (gain and strike are made to the inside (in quarta) in drill 6; to the outside (in seconda) in drill 7)
10	Giganti 8 & 9	partner	feints	Intermediate	patiente and agent begin out of measure in terza; agente advances, gaining the blade as he enters meaure; patiente performs a feint by cavazione; agente attempts to parry, patiente performs another cavazione and strikes with a lunge (Drill 8 begins on the inside, drill 9 begins on the outside)
11	Feint Game II	partner	feints, tempo	Intermediate	Agente and patiente perform the actions of Giganti drill 8 or 9 except rather than having agente attempt to parry the feint, agente chooses to either respond with a parry or to do nothing. Patiente must either complete the feint using a cavazione or simply strike depending on the actions of agente
12	Feint Game II	partner	feints, tempo, tells	advanced	Agente and patiente begin out of measure; agente enters measure, gaining the blade; patiente performs a feint by cavazione, agente responds to patiente either with a parry or by doing nothing (That is, if patiente makes it obvious that this is a feint, agente doesn't respond. The idea is that patiente must "sell" the feint and eliminate any tells).
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15	Footspeed I	single	footwork, speed	intermediate	Fencer performs two passing steps forward followed by an advance while having good form, small footwork, and at speed
16	Footspeed II	single	footwork, speed	intermediate	Same as footwork I, only carried out using claps or beeps in order to set the pacing of the footwork (i.e. do the footwork to the beat)
17	Footspeed III	single	footwork, speed	intermediate	Pick one form of footwork (advance, passing steps forward, passing steps back, retreats). Fencers do that footwork at the tempo of a series of beeps or claps. The rhythm should be irregular and quick, forcing good form, small actions, and preventing fencers from anticipating the next action
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20	Hip stretch	single	flexibility, form	beginner	Fencer stands with feet shoulder width apart and toes pointing slightly outwards. Fencers lean out over each knee in turn, ensuring that their knee and toe are aligned
21	Hip bends	single	form, body sense	beginner	Fencer stands with feet shoulder width apart and toes pointing slightly outwards with their knees lined up with their toes. Fencer places their hands behind their head and keeps their elbows back (This keeps the shoulder from rolling forward and likewise keeps the back from bending). Fencer bends at the hips (NOT BENDING THE BACK) forward and to the side. The point is to become accustomed to bending at the hip without bending the back.
22	Hand extension	single	form, body sense	beginner	Fencer stands in guard without a sword. Fencer extends their arm SLOWLY, making sure that it moves straight forward without curving or being "thrown" Essentially they should be moving from terza to an extension in terza. Variations include extending from terza to quarta and from terza to seconda. This builds the action for both offensive actions and for defensive "parries" with rapier
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