The Forge: Western Martial Arts
3716 2 St NW T2K 0Y4 Calgary, AB, Canada

We have made it to the end of the #30daychallengeForgeWMA! Saved the toughest and best for last - 1,000 cuts! One of our most fun and torturous exercises we do at the club! Done with a longsword, to the tune of Staying Alive by the Bee Gees on repeat until it’s over. 100 diagonal cuts (downward and upward), 100 vertical cuts (down and up), 100 middle cuts (left to right, right to left), 100 zwerchhaus (left/right), 100 thrusts, 100 krumphaus etc...= 1,000. This exercise will ...really teach you to power from the hips, relax your grip when not cutting and find balance in your body movements as your arms will give up, if you are tense throughout and rely on arm strength alone. Tip: wear grip gloves on your hands or suffer blisters. Great job and appreciation to those who accepted and completed the challenge! Share in the comments below your experience! Now keep up your motivation and stay active as we continue through the pandemic because, whether you're a brother or whether you're a mother, You're stayin' alive, stayin' alive. Feel the city breakin' and everybody shakin' And we're stayin' alive, stayin' alive... #longsword #swordcuts #stayingalive #sworddrills #1000cuts #yycmartialarts #yyc #trainingmotivation #HEMAcanada #historicaleuropeanmartialarts #trainingathome #putyourhipsintoit #stayhealthy #staysafe #stayactive #yourenotalone

Let’s give the body a break before the last hurrah tomorrow. Spend at least 30 minutes reading on whatever HEMA subjects that interest you, whether it’s on wiktenauer https://wiktenauer.com/wiki/Main_Page or if you have some of your own books or online sources to peruse. Get the blood circulating in the legs after with at least 10 minutes of footwork. What are your favourite treatises or books to look at? #30daychallengeForgeWMA #yycmartialarts #yyc #trainingmotivation #HEMAcanada #historicaleuropeanmartialarts #footwork #fundamentals #trainingathome #bookstudy #brainexercise #reading #asitiswritten

Get in touch with your spirit animal! Do Bear Crawls and Shrimping for 2 minutes each! Use whatever floor surface area in your home that works (if you don’t have your own personal gym). B.E.A.R. (Brutal, Explosive, Aggressive, Relentless) is a philosophy we drill into our modern combatives training. When you are having to defend yourself, you give them the bear. No matter how much bigger your attacker is than you, you want to do everything in your power to fight them off, if ...it comes to that. Shrimping is an excellent drill for ground wrestling, so you can get yourself out if you’ve got someone trying to pin you down. If you haven’t done bear crawls or shrimping before, you can find examples with a quick online search. Both are great exercises for core control. What is your spirit animal? #30daychallengeForgeWMA #yycmartialarts #yyc #trainingmotivation #moderncombatives #groundwork #shrimping #groundwrestling #bearcrawls #trainingathome #beabear See more

It’s another good day to cozy up with a warm beverage and pass the time with some good reading. Spend some time reading on Hans Talhoffer here https://wiktenauer.com/wiki/Hans_Talhoffer then warm up your feet with 10 minutes footwork. Talhoffer’s writings exist in over a dozen manuscripts created in the fifteenth through nineteenth centuries,covering assortments of weapons, including Messer, dagger, unarmed grappling, which we lend from in our training. There are lots of colourful pictures from the manuscripts, if you’re more of a visual learner. #30daychallengeForgeWMA #yycmartialarts #yyc #trainingmotivation #HEMAcanada #historicaleuropeanmartialarts #grappling #footwork #fundamentals #trainingathome #bookstudy #brainexercise #reading #talhoffertreatises

Knowing how to breakfall can save you from serious injury in normal day-to-day situations, like when you slip on the ice out there! Today’s challenge, work 10 minutes on breakfalls and then 10 minutes footwork (hands up, heels off the floor!). Training your footwork will help with your balance and body awareness as well. Never shrug off the importance of the fundamentals, it could save you from getting thrown on your ass! #30daychallengeForgeWMA #yycmartialarts #yyc #trainingmotivation #HEMAcanada #historicaleuropeanmartialarts #moderncombatives #footwork #breakfalls #fundamentals #trainingathome #grounded #falldowngetupagain

Convince someone in your household to get into a grappling clinch and push each other around for 10 minutes. If you live alone, do 10 minutes shadow boxing! If you found a willing partner, practice manipulating their weight and try it in different clinch holds, such as the standard mutual arm clinch and the half clinch. Practice breaking their hold, or setting up to get them off balance. Allow your partner to do the same, teach them what you know! You’re not wrestling, so just relax and have fun with it; you’re just getting the feel of moving someone around again. Share a sweaty selfie after you’ve done either challenge today with the tag #30daychallengeForgeWMA! #yycmartialarts #yyc #trainingmotivation #HEMAcanada #historicaleuropeanmartialarts #grappling #clinchhold #partnerdrill #trainingathome #shadowboxing

The Forge will remain closed for the rest of this year, due to the ongoing pandemic in our province. Earlier this year, when we first had to halt training, our #fightteam member Nathan shared a sad sentiment with this image. Wow, that feels like so long ago! Surely, there are many of us who miss the oddly regular meeting of #nerds around #martialarts and #swords. We look forward to 2021, when we can perhaps spar again! #fornowstayhome #covid19 #lockdown #buzzkill #wefighton #hemacanada #westernmartialarts

We regretfully have to cancel our #longsword #hema class tonight and for the rest of the month after the announcements from the Government of Alberta on the covid19 restrictions. We hope that these restrictions will be effective and case numbers drop, so that we can start again in December! Until then, stay healthy and keep swinging swords at home! #sadfeelings #covid19 #yyc #martialarts #hemacanada #jonsnowsword #safetyfirst

Tonight's our first class back inside the hall! It'll look a bit different to how it does in this picture from a past #maverickcombatives class. Now, we can only have 12 people at a time, but there are still lots of spots available tonight, so please pre-register at forgewma.com if you want to join in! Class is from 7-9pm. #yyc #martialarts #hemacanada #wma #yyctuesday #onehandedweapon #training

Happy Halloween everybody! The Forge is readying for the next phase of this year, when we move back inside the Highland Park Community Hall in November. If you want to attend classes this winter, you will need to register online first. Attendance is capped at 12 participants, so it is first-come, first-serve! More details and link to registration form on the forgewma.com website. Pictures above are from previous "Fight the Bite" events, the last one being in 2019. If you don’t know how to survive a zombie apocalypse, you really ought to catch the next session. For now, stay safe from the plague! #yyc #halloween #hemanerds #zombies #fightingforfun #fightthebite #westernmartialarts #HEMA #hemacanada

Here are some dynamic shots from last Tuesday evening during our #polishsabre #messer mash up. Tonight's the last free class we have outdoors, so dress warm and bring your #longswords! #Training starts at 7pm, please don't forget face masks! #yyc #swords #hemacanada #wma

Here's a video from last month of Tim demonstrating a #polishsabre technique. We will be doing more of that weapon form tonight. It's our last week outside and the weather is fine! Class is on from 7-8pm, join us why don't you? #free #training #yyc #yycmartialarts #hemacanada #onehandedsword #swords