Physics of Fencing

Before I begin my discussion about how physics effects fencing and how fencers use physics for more effective fencing, I will briefly discuss the origins of the sport of fencing. The first two fencing manuals were created and published in 1471and 1474. These emerged from an attempt at developing a system to teach people how to weild a light sword more effectively inbattle and duels in Frankfurt, Germany. Over the years, two distinct styles emerge. They were French and Italian. The french style relied mostly on strategy while Itialian used mostly physical strenght(Roswell).

The first foils emerged during the seventeenth century for a more effective way of teaching students the "art" of dueling. In the eighteenth century, the rules were created for fencing as a sport. It is from these rules that today's rules for fencing were created(Roswell)

In fencing there are three types of weapons that are taught. They are the epee, foil, and sabre. For the sake of this paper, the weapon being demonstrated is foil and the style is modern Italian.

So without further ado.... Let us begin our discussion of physics with basic moves, and then move on to more advanced moves in fencing.

Basic Fencing

To begin with, we will discuss the effects of gravity on the body in the regular or "on garde" stance., and what forces are used during the "thrust" and the "lunge".

On Garde

Look at a picture of what a fencer looks like in the "on garde" position. As you can see, the larger arrow shows the pull of gravity. The smaller arrows show where gravity is pulling the limbs. Red being for the legs and yellow for the arms.

Lunge

Next, we will discuss the lunge. Below you will see two more images. First it is from the thrust position. Then the next image shows the lunge position. The lunge picture shows the forward momentum in the blue arrow. As in the previous pictures, the same colors are used for the same gravity applications, but the major difference is the effects of gravity on the legs. In this position, the effects of gravity are more severe because the legs are again further from the center mass of the body and therefore, more of the force of gravity is "pushing down" on the legs.

So that will conclude the discussion of basic stances and physics of them. Next, we will discuss the more advanced moves and how fencers use physics to their advantage with them.