A to Z: Lunge

This awesome challenge is hosted by founder Arlee Bird at Tossing It Out, Damyanti Biswas at Amlokiblogs, Alex J. Cavanaugh, Tina Downey at Life is Good, DL Hammons at Cruising Altitude 2.0, Jeremy Hawkins at Retro-Zombie, Shannon Lawrence at The Warrior Muse, Matthew MacNish at The QQQE, Konstanz Silverbow at No Thought 2 Small, Stephen Tremp at Breakthrough Blogs, Livia Peterson at Leave it to Livia, L. Diane Wolfe at Spunk on a Stick, and Nicole at The Madlab Post

My A to Z theme is fencing and swordplay, focusing mainly on fencing terminology, but with a few favorite movie fencing moments thrown into the mix too.

L is for Lunge

Lunge: an attack made by extending the rear leg and landing on the bent front leg.

 

This is the move that everyone thinks of when they think of fencing, because it is THE attack position. A fencer can attack and have the right of way without the lunge, but a lunge is usually part of the attack position.

 

 

(This is a very clear picture of a fencer establishing right of way, in a nice lunge, and getting the hit/point because his opponent's parry has been unsuccessful)

 

In any attack, the attacker's blade must be moving towards the target (opponent) first to establish right of way, which then lets the director/referee know who started the attack and who "should" get the point. So, a lunge usually starts with the blade arm moving forward first, followed by the front leg and the rest of the body.

 (Inigo has a partial lunge and an attack, but the man in black successfully parries)

 

 

Of course, in a live fencing match between Olympic fencers, the blade is usually moving forward a fraction of a second before the fencer's body. Or the lunge could be preceded or replaced by any kind of forward movement. And that's just in the first established attack - this isn't getting into ripostes or what happens when both fencers seem to attack at the same exact time.

 

 

 (And this is what it often looks like and feels like in a competition - stretched out beyond the limits and in full movement)

 

Other L fencing words:

 

Lame': a metallic vest/jacket used to detect valid touches in foil and sabre. (This is worn with electrics, and not used when fencing "dry") 

Line: the main direction of an attack (eg., high/low, inside/outside), often equated to the parry that must be made to deflect the attack; also point in line.

In honor of this post today, I added 20 fencing lunges per leg into my exercise routine, and then did 20 front lunges. Ouch. I used to be in better shape. I think I need to add them in regularly.


Happy A to Z!