• HOME
  • ONLINE TRAINING
  • JOIN US
  • CONTACT US

Self Defense Tutorials

Learn self-defense quickly and efficiently

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Face Your Fears

February 7, 2017 By Stephan Kesting

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • reddit
  • Google+

facing fear in a mensur duel with live bladesMy mom grew up in the German speaking part of Switzerland in the 1950s, and occasionally she would reminisce about her high school and college teachers.

I was always intrigued by her stories about the old teachers – the regal “Herr Professor Doktors” – who proudly sported big scars on their faces, tokens of a time when they themselves had engaged in a strange custom known as ‘Academic Fencing’ or ‘Mensur’.

Mensur fencing swordIn this form of live blade fencing, practiced among the university fraternities of the time, the participants protected their eyes and sometimes their noses, but left the rest of their heads exposed.  Footwork and dodging were not allowed.  The goal was to stand right there in the pocket, be brave, endure the injuries, and try to cut your partner on the head.

(Apparently the chicks at the time really dug the scars.)

Now I’m not advocating cutting your own face open with a straight razor just to look tough, and I also don’t want to do a deep dive down the Mensur rabbit hole just at this time.  But while researching this topic for my own enlightenment I did come across an awesome quote to share with you that relates directly to martial arts training.

Here’s what one enthusiastic participant in these duels had to say about this stylistic form of combat:

“My knowledge of pain, learned with the sabre, taught me not to be afraid. And just as in dueling when you must concentrate on your enemy’s cheek, so, too, in war. You cannot waste time on feinting and sidestepping. You must decide on your target and go in.”

Let’s concentrate on the first part of that…

“My knowledge of pain, learned with the sabre, taught me not to be afraid.”

Ain’t that the truth: if you’re facing another human being with a very real chance of getting your ear separated from your head then you’re going to experience fear.  And if you keep on doing it then you’re going to get better at dealing with it.

Fortunately a little of fear induced by hard training goes a long way.

My point today is this: if you actually put on the boxing gloves and risk getting punched in the face then you’re facing your fears…

If you actually put on a gi and risk getting choked you’re learning to deal with discomfort…

If you actually pick up a stick and fight with it then you’re inevitably going to learn to deal with pain.

The mental toughness you develop in one area has carry-over to other areas. If you get used to pushing yourself to the limit then operating near that limit stops being so scary.

Get used to having big sweaty people trying to rip your head off in the relatively controlled setting of a class and then you’ll be able to keep a much more level head when some idiot is in your face, yelling and screaming at you.

Bravery is contagious; congratulations for training!

P.S.  We’re just beginning to grow out the Self Defense Tutorials instagram channel.   A sample of that is below! Give us a follow and some likes there, won’t you?

Live blade fencing from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s was known as academic fencing or ‘Mensur’ fencing. Facial scars were common and the chicks supposedly loved them. The full quote is “My knowledge of pain, learned with the sabre, taught me not to be afraid. And just as in dueling when you must concentrate on your enemy’s cheek, so too in war. You cannot waste time feinting and sidestepping. You must decide on your target and go” and it comes from Otto Skorzeny, who became a very famous WW2 German commando. #duel #dueling #liveblade #mensur #bravery #training #fencing #scar #putitontheline #skininthegame #faceyourfears

A photo posted by Self Defense Tutorials (@selfdefensetutorials) on Feb 7, 2017 at 11:26am PST

Comments

Filed Under: Featured, Mindset, Weapons Tagged With: fencing, preparation, psychology, quotes, swords, weapons

Facebook Comment

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

SELF DEFENSE TUTORIALS

Detailed Self Defense Tutorials coming soon - click here for more info

Recent Articles

How Martial Sports Were Used to Train One of the Deadliest Army in History

How Martial Sports Were Used to Train One of the Deadliest Army in History

I listened to a really good podcast episode recently about how sports and games helped create one of the deadliest armies in history. And the amazing thing is that close to a thousand years later many of these same sports are still being practiced today! I learned about this on the Villains and Virgins podcast […]

Back Pain from Martial Arts Training

Back Pain from Martial Arts Training

Almost every martial artist experiences back pain at some point in their training. It hurts like hell and brings your training to a screeching halt. And in the worst case some people are even permanently sidelined by it. Understanding what’s causing your pain, changing your movement patterns to prevent it, and implementing ‘spinal hygiene’ so […]

Kime in Martial Arts is Mostly a Bad Idea…

Kime in Martial Arts is Mostly a Bad Idea…

The idea of ‘Kime’ is very widespread in Japanese martial arts like Karate, and is also found in Okinawan and Chinese Martial Arts. While the term can be translated as ‘intent’ or ‘decision’ the truth is that, most of the time, it’s used to describe that robot-like freezing used all the time in kata and […]

The Trap of Placating Your Ego with Terrible Form

The Trap of Placating Your Ego with Terrible Form

Over 40 years of martial arts training I figure I’ve done something like 500,000 pushups. Practice makes perfect, so with that many reps under my belt you’d probably think I’d be good at them, right? Sadly the answer is a resounding “No!” Or, more precisely, the answer is “Not right now” You see, 9 months […]

Recent Articles

  • How Martial Sports Were Used to Train One of the Deadliest Army in History
  • Back Pain from Martial Arts Training
  • Kime in Martial Arts is Mostly a Bad Idea…
  • The Trap of Placating Your Ego with Terrible Form
  • The Most Fierce Improvised Weapon – The Scythe!

ARTICLE INDEX

  • Advanced Tutorials (2)
  • Conditioning (7)
  • Featured (104)
  • Firearms (2)
  • Grappling (39)
  • Lethal Force (6)
  • Martial Arts Mythbusting (6)
  • Mindset (19)
  • Product Reviews (2)
  • Self Defense Basics (84)
  • Self Defense Tutorials (5)
  • Striking (47)
  • Weapons (17)

Go Shopping

Self Defense Products on Amazon

Other Great Sites

Grapplearts

Resources

Striking
Grappling
Weapons
Mindset
About Us
Privacy Policy
Contact Us
©Stephan Kesting, All Rights Reserved