How to Lunge in Foil Fencing

Video Transcript

"Alright so let's review your advance. Both your advance and your retreat are the most basic steps that you are going to have in fencing. They are very important. As you advance these will become second nature but at first your technique is really important so again your feet are shoulder width apart and your knees are bent. In keeping your knees bent there are a couple of things it keeps your center of gravity low so you are very well balanced and you have a lot of stability. It also makes it equally easy for you to look forward and backwards because ideally your weight is centered between your front and your back foot so you don't want a stance that is back here or one that is up here. As you are moving in the middle of the step at the beginning of the step and at the end of the step you want to always be balanced between your two feet. So if I take a step forward my toes kick up first and my back foot follows. If you notice my feet are just as far apart as they were when I began. If I take a step a back my back leg moves first and this is called the retreat. Back leg, front leg and you don't want to hop up and down so if I take two advances my eyes should be at the same level as they began the entire time. You never want to take a step up and come back down. That way you will maintain your balance and you will be able to move with speed and security as slow and fast as you like."