Fencing Workout

Since I am a former high school/college athlete, and current coach, I have done some research as well as have experience in fitness for fencers.

Fencing is a sport that requires both full body and mental health. You use every muscle from your fingers to your toes, and perhaps most important––your brain!

Stretch: Getting a good stretch all over is important for any sport or physical activity, but when it comes to fencing it also helps to relax the mind. Take around 10-15 minutes to stretch.

Cardio: running/jogging and jump rope are two big favorites among fencers. Both are simple, and require the full body.

Strength: A lot of fencing involves the legs, you need the strength and explosiveness when it comes to footwork. Try doing wall sits, lunges, squats, calf raises, and the leg press.

Even though your legs are bent, your upper body needs to remain upright and still. So a strong back and core is necessary. Any weight training exercises that target the core or back will be essential. To name a few: pull ups, bench press, push ups, crunches, rows, cable pulleys, and planks.

Footwork: Any fencer will tell you how important footwork is. When I was in high school, my coaches had us do a minimum of 1 hour per day of footwork. Most people are so fascinated by the weapons and think that being able to hit with it is all that's necessary. But a fencer can win bouts with footwork alone. Being able to move and control the tempo of the match is physically and mentally demanding. Since most of my classes are an hour to an hour & a half, I usually have the kids do a half hour of footwork. But if on a particular day it's not up to par, the entire class time could be devoted to footwork. And it's not just Advance and Retreat. We do singles of those, doubles, triples; change the speed to be slow or fast; change the lengths to be long or short; add some jump backs, flunges, fleches, lunges, and combos of any/all the above.

Now this doesn't just apply to fencers, anyone looking for an all over body strength or conditioning workout can follow these ideas. You can also read about Olympic Fencer Tim Morehouse's training here. If you want to try fencing, or get more info, go to www.usfencing.org. Or you can just Google it.