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at the fencer’s side. The French call it the "elephant’s trunk". Once
upon a time, fencers held the back arm up, straight out from the
shoulder at a forty-five degree angle, and then straight up at the
elbow. The hand was held limply. Beginning fencers tend to think
this looks dumb or silly. I’ve heard one explanation that swordsmen
used to hold their hand this way because they were holding a
lantern in their free hand. This is erroneous. They did occasionally
employ lanterns. They also used daggers, cloaks, mailed gloves, and
extra swords. But in those cases, the free hand was held forward,
not back, as it had a role in offensive-defensive maneuvering.
So-called "advanced" sport fencers think of holding the free arm up
as an affectation of another age, a useless holdover of polite, artsy,
eighteenth-nineteenth century fencing, a kind of ballet with swords.
to become tense. Their thought is that dropping the arm "keeps the shoulders relaxed, and so
promotes freer movement". Sounds reasonable, huh? Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way.
The free arm does have a purpose in fencing. Actually, it has a number of purposes, all of which are
totally lost when the arm is allowed to drop downward. Certainly, there is some initial tension in the
shoulders when one assumes the classical fencing position during the early stages of fencing training,
but it passes as the fencing student learns to relax with fencing in general. I have been fencing for
thirty-three years, and I can assure you that the initial tension is replaced by relaxation, if the student
perseveres. So, in actuality, dropping the free arm has become a short-term fix for lazy fencers.
that the absence of the free arm’s
counterbalance places the fencer’s
balance forward, putting more weight
on his front foot. This slows movement
responses, and the fencer is reduced
from smooth accelerations and retreats
to uncontrolled stepping and running.
counter-balance. It keeps you upright, promoting a balanced position whereby your body weight
remains distributed equally on both legs. This is a good thing for fencers who don’t want to fall down.
Holding the arm at a forty-five degree angle from your torso, keeps your body angled in relationship
to your opponents, giving them as little straight-on target area as possible.
When the bent arm is snapped straight back from our classical position, it adds to the acceleration of
the lunge ("for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction"). Once you are in the lunge, the
straight arm held behind you, with the free hand held palm-up in supination, helps you to remain
balanced. In simple language, it keeps your backside from sticking out. Then, when you come back
on guard from the lunge, pulling the back arm up quickly aids in the recovery.
Keeping the free arm up when you are on guard keeps your arm out of the line of fire, as well.
Consider this: fencers receive calls against them for "covering a valid target area" with the free arm --
this simply could not happen if the arm was held correctly behind them. Finally, your back arm serves
as a rudder, like the steering pole on the rear of a boat. If you use it properly, it will steer you straight
ahead, enhancing your point control. As far as I can tell, all these are positive things.
Now, let’s look at the fencer who has been seduced to the dark side of the force. He drops his sword
arm because this is what he was taught to do. Oops! He loses balance. Without a counter-balance,
his weight shifts to his front leg. Now, all he can do is step or run or jump at his opponent.
He is constantly off balance. If he has fenced for a while, he probably has, or will, hurt his front knee
or ankle since his weight constantly shifts unevenly as he moves. When he drops his free arm to his
side, his sword arm shifts sideways toward the outside line (opening his inside line), and his chest
squares to his opponent, exposing his entire chest to an easy attack. When his sword arm moves to
the outside when he is on guard, he will automatically make wider parries. And, to be sure, hanging at
his side like a wet noodle, his free arm will not help him with his lunge, his balance, or his recovery.
But, he will have relaxed shoulders. Nice trade-off.
Fencers Quarterly Magazine, 848 South Kimbrough, Springfield, MO 65806
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