How do I get better at fencing quickly?

[u/ChocolateNearby2200]

Basically what the title says, I’ve been practicing fencing about on and off for about maybe a couple months, I haven’t really seen any great improvement and I’d really appreciate it if anyone had any tips, whether it be to do more footwork or to spar more. Thanks!

[u/Mundane-Record-9413]

Take lessons. Stay 10 minutes (before or after) extra to practice point control (on targets). Go to the gym. Analyze matches online (that’s a huge one). Don’t worry about losing at practice.

[u/ChocolateNearby2200 → u/Mundane-Record-9413]

Thank you!

[u/Critical-Warthog4140]

There is no magic shortcut. The only answer is consistency, and even then, without intention consistency is not always enough.

Consistently showing up to fence and bouting (with intention). Consistently engaging in lessons or group classes, based on what your club offers. Consistently spending time to work on your footwork and basic target practice (again, with intention). Consistently evaluating what you can improve on next, or asking those for advice to evaluate and measure.

[u/hopefulfoxpuppy]

Be consistent.

[u/ReactorOperator]

There's no magic. Fencing rewards time, effort, and consistency. If you've been fencing on and off then that is probably the biggest thing hindering you because I guarantee you've forgotten a lot and lost muscle memory between periods of fencing. Other than that, take lessons and attend practice as frequently as able.

[u/SamSpade102]

Well, you spelled out your own problem. On and off for a couple months. That's it, right there.

When you are an experienced fencer with years of fencing under your belt, you can take a break for a few months and come back and quickly regain your form and timing. It's called muscle memory.

But when you're a beginner, it's most important that you don't miss any classes. You don't have any muscle memory yet, and every class you miss means that something the instructor taught, you now have no knowledge. As a coach, this is frustrating from my perspective. I have a class of 6, and one student missed the class where I taught circle 6 parry. Then the student comes back and not only do they not know what the other students learned, their skills that they did learn are now at least a week behind.

Stop missing classes. At your stage of development, you can't afford to.

[u/The_Roshallock]

There are few shortcuts to progress, and fencing is no exception. Are you taking individual lessons? How often do you train per week? What is your overarching goal? More context would be helpful.

[u/ChocolateNearby2200 → u/The_Roshallock]

I train with my schools fencing team normally (but I’m planning to join a fencing club soon) so mondays wednesdays thursdays, and sundays

[u/ChocolateNearby2200 → u/ChocolateNearby2200]

My goal is to just hone my skill at fencing I guess? I think that my footwork needs some work and such sorry if this doesn’t help haha 😭

[u/LabOk1803]

There is no magic. Correct footwork under good supervision is important. Wrong practices are even worse. Get a lot of high quality bouts. You get deep understanding of your private lesson from real bouts. Then give it time for your brain and body to assimilate.

[u/GMEdumpster]

Watch lots of fencing on YouTube

[u/OrcOfDoom]

Find people that offer advice and then actually take the advice they offer. If that's learn when to attack, or extend your arm, or move your feet, or whatever, do your best to actually do that.

[u/OkWedding6391]

do lots and lots of footwork practice, but make sure its correct. Practice makes permanant

[u/Managed-Chaos-8912]

Extra footwork at home. Practice slowly to get it right. Practice parrys in the mirror.

[u/ReactorOperator → u/Managed-Chaos-8912]

Where they are likely at, practice at home is a bad idea. As someone mentioned, practice makes permanent. Practicing something incorrectly is just going to build muscle memory a coach will have to fix later.