Training Curriculum

IV. Langenschwert (Longsword)

Zucken

If you thrust at your opponent from the bind as in the Zornort and he pushes your thrust actively off to the side, or if he does so before you even thrust, then he has yielded the center line by taking his own point offline.

We know to react to strength (his push) with weakness, so just as (Indes) he pushes your blade offline you must leave the bind; since he will expect you to resist this will cause his blade to fly out farther than he intended, giving you an opportunity to attack.

Figure 1 Figure 2
In figure 1, Hugh has tried to attack with the Zornort but Matthew reacts by pushing Hugh's point off to his left.

Hugh reacts to the strength of Matthew's push by Indes pulling his blade straight back with a scissors action of his hands (not by pulling back with his arms — that's too slow) just until his blade clears Matthew's (figure 2).

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Figure 3

Hugh then cuts to the left side (Matthew's left) of Matthew's head, again using a push-pull action of his hands (figure 3).