He doesn't say I suck balls, but he makes me work on actions I don't perform well and tells me to practice things outside the lesson. He also gives cues to improve stuff, like "relax your shoulders"

One of these days I want to take a group lesson, so the coach can watch me fence an actual bout and note how my form breaks down. I feel like an individual lesson doesn't cover that as well because I'm allowed to focus on form a lot more. The reason I haven't gone yet is half the group lesson consists of conditioning.

I think it's because my recent fencing logs have been longer, they used to be just "I fenced today". I still only fence twice a week and take one lesson a week. Though I recently got a raise at work, so I might take lessons twice a week now.

The goal is definitely to dominate the upcoming tourney, but I'm debating between doing 5-3-1 for a month, or upping fencing to 3 days a week. I think since I'm probably the strongest person in my club (including all the olympians), but I'm in the mid-bottom rung as a fencer, doing more fencing makes more sense, and then focus on strength training post-season.

I'm guessing instead of "epic" she probably taught "epee". An epic epeeic fencing teacher, perhaps? Yeah, it's a niche sport that requires a ton of equipment, so meeting a fencer is pretty rare. So far the only fencers I've met outside the fencing clubs have been people who took a class in college (which is basically the equivalent of learning about poker hands and saying you're a poker player).

PS, actually there was one girl on the subway who said she used to compete in NCAA and knew a bunch of high level fencers, but she only came up to me because I was carrying fencing stuff, so I didn't just run into her by accident.

I requested a log title change to "F*ckarounditis log", which violated rules so Aidan made it "Fluffarounditis log". That didn't sound that great, so I requested a change to "DWarrior's fencing log" and he made it the current title. I'm guessing it's best not to push it, and the title is kinda cool imo.

I'm no expert on fencing (or fluffing for that matter ) but it seems to me doing fencing specific training and maybe a bit of lifting to keep general strength levels will help you with fencing at this point waaaaaaay more than just getting stronger. It seems like an extremely technical sport and if your technique and experience aren't where they could be, you're leaving a lot on the table.

On the other hand, at some point of course having a huge boost in strength will probably allow you to really bear down on other guys and be a huge monster....but if the best fencers aren't really strong then I'm guessing that's much more secondary.

You're right, I'll up it to 3 practices/week, continue to do oly (it's largely technique practice for now), and just find time to lift heavy whenever I feel good.

Thursday: fencing. A little under 3 hours. Started off really well, went 4-5 vs a really good chick (but she was returning from a long break). Got tired toward the end, probably because I didn't eat enough the past two days.

The problem I've been having since I've started taking ibuprofen pre-practice is after about 2.5 hours, my left quad muscles start to cramp up. Today I brought gatorade and chips, so I don't think it's electrolyte shortage.

I know it's definitely from fencing at higher intensity, but I don't know what I can do to fence longer. Is this just a matter of conditioning? It feels like something biochemical that can be fixed.

I'm having pretty ****ty muscular pain in my upper back and right pec/shoulder. Not sure why, since I haven't been doing that much this week comparatively. Only new thing is I'm GTGing 105x5 OHPs a bit more than usual, but I haven't done any gym/oly lifting this week.

Sunday: fencing. Went out Saturday night and only got home at around 2am. Planned to sleep in and skip the tourney, but instead woke up at 6 and couldn't go back to sleep. Figured I might as well go fence, so I did. I'm glad I went, but I didn't do very well.

Even though my left foot is supposed to be solid callus, I managed to get a blister right in the center of my underfoot. So until it heals, I kind of have to walk on the side of my foot, which is making all sorts of ankle muscles hurt.

Tuesday: Fencing. Felt tired and out of sync.

The blister returned after Tuesday, so I decided to skip gym and stuff.

Saturday: fencing, 3.5 hour class. Did drills and fenced tons, and I think I did really well after the 3-day break. Still need technique work, and I'm also focusing on starting slow on the attack and accelerating at the lunge (per my coach's advice). It's pretty difficult now, so I gotta keep working on it.

Sunday: did 10x10 pullups with 5-10 minute breaks between sets. It was pretty easy the whole time, so maybe I took too long between sets. Shortened it to 2 minutes on sets 8-10 and it got harder. Tried another set after 2 minutes and only got 8.

Wednesday: I fenced.

Lots of fencing, no fluffing ITT

You're right

Saturday: skipped fencing yesterday to buy stuff, and apartment-viewed today

Gym:

BP: 165x5x2, x8
- ez

Chin-ups: +45x6x2
- ez

DL: 315x2, 365x0
- forgot wrist straps, and the gym was closing so I couldn't lower weight. Rematch tomorrow, perhaps.