Yesterday was my first interaction with HEMA, also know as European historical Martial Arts. I had a very positive first impression of the sport, the skills involved and the people that are part of the community.
In this article, I’ll walk you through my first experience with European Historical Martial Arts and how I see myself going from here.
My first contact with Hema
Hema stands for European Historical Martial Arts. When I first read about it on Reddit, I thought; huh? European Karate or kung fu? It sounded weird, and I had no idea what to expect, but it sounded intriguing.
I started reading the Reddit threads, and that’s when I found these amazing combat videos of guys and girl fighting with swords, katana’s, daggers and axes while dressed in full knight armour.
When I say this, I was hooked instantly. I imagined myself wielding a long sword as I did in World of Warcraft 10 years ago.
For me, no other type of martial arts came close. I hadn’t seen a more exciting martial arts video in ages. I wanted to learn more. I had to find a place in the Netherlands where they practise HEMA.
Six months of research and rabbit holing on the interwebs lead me to Amek Amsterdam. Amek is a sword fighting community with a clan leader named Mishaël Lopes Cardozo.
The AMEK instructor / Viking
Mishaël Lopes Cardozo (image below) is a fascinating figure. He looks like a Viking, and he even plays a Viking in the tv-series Vikings. He plays King Hakon in season 6. He is a beast of a man with a monumental Viking beard.
During my first introduction lesson, it was awe-inspiring to see him wield a sword during breaks in which he showed the group how it’s done. He was even kind enough to drive me to the secret location in the woods where the lessons are held.
All in all, a nice guy with a strong sense of honour and discipline. He felt like a true clan leader, and he’s a patient instructor. I respected him from the start.
My first HEMA lesson in the freezing cold
My first introduction lesson was on a Saturday morning. It was beautiful but freezing. It was -9 degrees celsius, and all lakes were frozen to the bone. It actually was the coldest day of the year in the Netherlands. In total, 6 People attended the lesson which was held in the middle of the Amsterdam woods.
Three girls from Utrecht told me straight away that they had a D&D session planned afterwards, which I thought was fantastic. My type of crowd.
Next to the three girls, three guys also attended. All participants knew each other and treated each other with respect. All participants brought their own sparring swords, also known as Federschwerts (see below – a sparring/ practice sword without a sharp edge and no pointed tip).
All in all, these people were my type of people, authentic and nice guys and girls. They were friendly and inviting. I liked that a lot.
Mishaël (the instructor as mentioned) gave me a sparring Federschwerts too, and right away, it felt like they accepted me in the group. The lesson was about to begin.
Finding a buddy
First, we did a warming up. This warming up consisted of running and jogging through the woods. During the running we did knee lifts, nothing fancy just moving and getting your body warm quickly. After multiple rounds of this through the woods, we were warm.
After that, we did two types of drills back to back with some short breaks in between. The entire lessons took 1.5 hours in total.
We did defensive drills and attacking drills, and sometimes they were combined. I don’t know the exact names of the exercises and the manoeuvres, but it felt like most exercises were designed for technique and stamina development. I quickly learned that I lacked a lot in both attributes.
All drills required us to partner with a buddy. I partnered up with one of the girls. For some reason the guys were shyer than the girls, maybe it was because I was a male myself. I was new in their territory, who knows what they were thinking…
My sparring partner had a bright smile and purple hair. “I will teach you”, she said. I felt very thankful that she sacrificed herself to teach a noobie.
Attacking and defending
During the drills, one would initiate an attack to the head while the other had to parry it. After you parried an attack from your buddy, it was your turn to make a swing for the head of your partner: Parry and attack, parry and attack. Most of the drills were like that.
I find it very interesting that many movements require lots of skill to do them correctly. In my head, after watching many youtube videos, I had the idea that fighting with a sword was easy. But boy was I wrong. Fighting with a sword-like weapon is challenging and exhausting too.
The movements are filled with intricate details and techniques. The placement of your hands, how you hold your blade, how you move your blade through the air, it’s all essential. There’s only a small margin for error. It’s high stakes, I like that a lot.
A single drill consisted of 20 repetitions and man was I exhausted after those 20. The sword you’re wielding is pretty heavy and you have to move it around a lot. Also, you have to wield it above your head when you’re parrying, which is a movement I’m not used to.
Besides that physical strain on your muscles, it was also very intense on the mind. You’re swinging a sword, and you’re swinging it toward another human. I had to wrap my head around it for a second.
In the end, it felt more natural and even enjoyable. Swinging a blade around feels powerful, very masculine and strong. The more I swung, the more the sword and I became one. It’s fascinating.
Was it all fun and good?
There was only one moment where I had no idea what to do, and that was at the very start when the entire group gathered in a circle to do a mysterious Latin greeting.
They told me to follow along during the greeting, but I had no idea what to do. It felt a little bit embarrassing, and I think that was the point. I think this greeting was designed to impress new attendees. It worked.
This was the only awkward moment for me during the entire experience. Overall not to bad for a total HEMA noob.
Concluding, I give the entire experience a solid 9 out of 10. I felt great afterwards, the people are friendly and relaxed, and it was a lot of fun in the end. I’ve signed up for another lesson next week, let’s see where it takes me.
To be continued
In part two of this series (coming out next week), I will go a little bit deeper into my experience with HEMA: I want to go into the stats, and I will check out my Fitbit and my Oura Ring data to see what interesting insights I can find.
I also want to write about rapid improvement: what things can I do to quickly get better at this sport? I have some general ideas of what you can do to improve quickly, but I need to think about it.
Have a great Sunday and I will see you guys next week.
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