Burn Night update 22nd December.

The last Burn Night of the year last night, but we'll be back January the 4th.

 

 

Andy and Nick feeling the burn...

As it was a quiet night Andy and I started off working through Talhoffer's messer work with the rattan canes, this was done very free-form to emphasise the timing of receiving the blow rather than obsessing about perfect poise...

Talhoffer's messer work from 1467

The action was from downward strikes from any direction countered with either a downward blow/parry or a rising blow. No pause no, let up, then as the timing improved slipping the occasional counter in, then gradually increasing these in frequency.

In the few minutes remaining before Nick arrived for his first burn out, we went through the simple messer techniques a little more slowly, looking at the shape and structure of the moves.
This is an unusual format for Burn Night usually all this will be done on the H.I.R.T.S. But we wanted to save the real burn for Nick's arrival...

Nick (right) notices he's arrived.

 The Burn drills were very simple last night:
Entry with Zornhau and krieg against the parry.
Zwerch against a free oberhau, countering that zwerch with another.
Zorn against a free oberhau using tactile sensitivity to dictate the secondary technique.
All this of course performed while attached to the H.I.R.T.S ropes (the enormous blue rope you can see attached in some of the pics).

Andy looks like he may go flying backward, that's because he may go...

Although we started the burn a little late everyone put in a hell of an effort, change overs were quick and the workout furious, and I think burn night won another convert. 
Burn night will return Jan the 4th at the O.L.F gym in Hither Green.