Modern Self Defence: Evaluating the Sword and Shield Approach
First things first, let’s address the elephant in the room – when you think about home defence, a sword and shield may not be what comes to mind. However, Icy Mike from the YouTube channel Hard2Hurt, recently argued that perhaps we’re missing a trick here. Uploading a video titled “Is a Sword and Shield Good for Self Defense?” on December 10, 2022, Mike dived into this debate headfirst, garnering almost 97,000 views in a short span. Mike opens up the video sharing a brief history of how he intended to make a joke video about the best sword for home defence, but upon experimenting, began to see legitimate value in it. Alarmed or intrigued? Maybe a bit of both. But let’s understand his reasoning. The first point Mike makes is that access to firearms may not be an option for everyone. Regardless of the reason – geography, personal choice, or legal restrictions – a firearm isn’t always feasible. In such scenarios, he proposes that a sword can be a practical alternative for home defence. More intriguing, however, was his suggestion that a sword combined with a shield could offer an even better defence solution. Debunking The Myths As Mike and his team demonstrate various scenarios of a home intrusion, one thing becomes quite apparent; having a shield with the sword significantly changes the dynamic. There’s still room for speculation, of course, till we hear what sort of sword Mike believes would be best for self-defence. And Mike encourages viewers to share their opinions on the same. What adds an extra layer of intrigue to the video, apart from the vivid sword and shield demonstrations, is his take on Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) and its effectiveness in real-life situations. Despite having an elaborate list of rules and training methods, Mike labels HEMA as ‘unnecessary and stupid’ for home defence. But wait, isn’t HEMA about mastering historic European weapons, like, you know… swords? Although it may seem counterintuitive at first, Mike’s argument carries weight. The reasoning is simple – mastering a form of martial arts that centres around controlled environments and one-on-one duels may not necessarily equip you for unpredictable real-world confrontations. MMA vs HEMA: An Unlikely Pairing Throughout the video, Mike sticks to his guns (or should we say sword and shield?). He argues that an MMA fighter armed with a sword would likely outscore a HEMA practitioner under the same circumstance. The reason? MMA provides a more realistic gauge of range and body movement. Not to say HEMA is useless. If you’re interested in traditional sword fighting, then it’s undoubtedly a fascinating discipline to learn. However, when it comes to practical self-defence, Mike suggests that an individual with a good grasp of martial arts could pick up a sword and defend their home effectively with just a few hours’ practice.A Call to Rethink Our Approach
In conclusion, Mike’s argument isn’t an academic judgement on the value of refined martial art forms such as HEMA. Instead, he provides us with a fresh perspective on the implementation of practical self-defence methods. This may include traditional weapons such as a sword and shield, adapting them to our modern reality, and questioning conventional wisdom when necessary. Perhaps the most critical take away from his video isn’t about whether a sword and shield make for an effective defence strategy, but to not shy away from questioning the norm and exploring unlikely solutions for modern self-defence.Blablabla
Hard2Hurt is a distinguished YouTube channel owned by Icy Mike. The channel is dedicated to providing self-defense, martial arts, and fitness information. Mike, a certified Personal Protection Specialist, leverages his vast training and experience to offer practical, real-world combat techniques and fitness tips in an engaging and accessible manner.
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He said a hema guy cannot go in reverse to a boxing class as easily as mma to hema, but the funny thing is boxing comes from Hema. Boxing was made as a way for hoplite soldiers to practice sword and shield tactics in a safe way. The lead hand is the off hand, same as a shield while the rear hand is dominant, the one that would hold the sword. Boxers use the lead hand to defend & set up for a power shot, hoplites use the shield to defend and set up for a sword strike. The correlation in tactics is there, if someone knows to look for them.
Soooo… because you can beat some guys, who have inferior weapons and don't really train in weapons much… you don't actually need to train in the specialty weapons styles to beat the guys who do that 52 weeks a year for decades? Ok… getting a bit silly lately I think.
Just seeing how you fight and flail lole you guys obviously dont know what youre doing and what youre trying to convince me on is that someone whos trained with a weapon or even pankration can be beat by someone with no training??? Like bro half lf mma is based entirely on one part of hema.
Well people have used swords in the past for murder destruction salvation self-defense so of course swords can be used but there's multiple different factors number one you have to be willing to use it and go balls-out number to you might have to really have to learn how to use a sword and number three get over the fact that you might murder someone or getting murdered yourself
Hell yeah I would say you Sensei Seth and Jesse would be awesome as characters in that game hell yes
This video makes me think back on the whole "Kung-Fu beats Western Boxing" where KF guy grabs some untrained random dude from street to prove that "Boxing sucks". I saw more finesse and skill from "full contact"/ "simulated injury" Larping fighters in my country (Czech Republic/Czechia) than from fighters here. When someone says "I didn´t take any Hema class and I show you how Hema does not work"… With regards to Sensei Seth and Hard2Hurd and as much as I like and respect your other content- this is nonsense to put it mildly. It is the same mindset such as anyone can punch so anyone can fight well with their fists ungloved/gloved.
I agree, but a full weight bat would knock that shield either out of your hand or your arm so far afield that you'd be vulnerable to another strike.
Wow. That sword you have is Super Cool
I think you're wrong, but I think you are correct in your context. >:)
watch seki sensei with his kenjutsu
The reason there’s an emphasis on historical egged weapon combat is because that’s how they won wars and survived and the difference between living and dying has a lot to do with technique… why wouldn’t learn from people who have studied the mistakes of people who died?
You should use a gladius or messer or even a smallsword (rapier/poker). Men used swords and shields in battle for thousands of years. A sword/long knife is definitely the next best thing to a gun in self defense. There are sword manuals(treatise) from the past that teach you how to use one properly. Cheers
Kurki
14:10 Yeah definitely not.
The 50 Legions Rome had could not all be wrong…
Rapier, because I'm a stereotypical lesbian and an ex fencer
Seth is such a good dude. Mike, keep taking care of him.
A pitchfork is good too😅😅😅
At 10:40, you hit the inside of the leg with a sword. That's your femoral artery. You bleed out in seconds.
I agree with everyone here saying to bring a HEMA instructor in to demonstrate.
Gladius.
Agree any "relatively competent" ma or mma person would learn quick how to defend themselves with a long weapon but the HEMA guy or whatever has already trained. They haven't learned quick, they've learned long. By the way, a rapier isn't just fast, it is very long and also very heavy, for a sword . Also , any sword is just a sharp metal stick. Put another way, a stick is just a blunt, wooden sword. Won't slice offf your finger but it will break your wrist. As for why to go back to the old manuals,, they didn't do that shit for Youtube channels. The streets were deep dark at night, the roads were unguarded, there were no police. Also,, those weapons were how you settled many disputes, more often than now, and not just illicitly but in law as well
11:56 This is where his attack would end. Good night. Ten blows to the back of the head with a buckler. Btw, he couldn't take those two sword thrusts either.
A sword has been “legit” for thousands of years and millions of dead men proved it.
A Shashka
Used to go to a Kali class and we fought with padded stick. Me and my mates mainly grappled at the time and stick fighting or knives fighting always descended into wrestling and brawling. Except with one guy who was like a master or something it was like fighting a monkey with a stick he just lept about clonking ya.