One inch

What Inch?

It's been my experience that most of fighting comes down to one inch increments.  One inch is the difference between a stab that connects and a stab that misses.  One inch is usually the distance between a leg sweep that connects or misses.  An inch separates a swing that lands on an arm instead of the torso.  An inch can easily be the difference between a shoulder pick and a head shot.  An inch is the difference between the pommel being where it needs to be to block that hip wrap and your torso.  An inch is the difference between having gotten that block for your arm and losing it.

An inch can be a lot of places, and in a lot of things.  It doesn't just have to be shots, it follows for body mechanics too.  You can be an inch short of a step, you can fail to reach extension on your arm when throwing a shot.  You can fail at getting a wrap shot because you didn't throw out far enough (by an inch).

Flinch, I Dare You.

Florentine taught me all about those inches.  About the difference between the block that was and the torso swing that wasn't.  But once I learned to see that inch, that small gap, it appears everywhere.  My fighting style eventually became an homage to that inch.  If I could get someone to flinch by just an inch then I could find the one inch gap they'd left in their defenses and exploit it.  Perhaps it was a shot to the gut, or perhaps it was a shoulder pick.  Wherever that shield had moved to compensate for them flinching my swings weren't.

This revelation of that one inch gap cuts in two directions though.  The one inch gap isn't just about offense it's about defense too.  If almost everything in fighting comes down to an inch in one direction or another it means that the most effective styles will use minimal amounts of movements to capitalize on that one inch.  A classic new person mistake is to wind up for their swing.  Any decent fighter knows that a good swing starts from your guard and returns there as quickly as it can.  Taking a huge swing not only exposes you to being swung at but it also gives your opponent plenty of time to react.

One Inch Revelation

A good defense uses minimal blocking in order to make those blocks fast.  It also means that if a person causes you to move your guard due to a feint you move it a very minimal amount.  It still amazes me how sometimes good fighters are able to be faked out so that they make enormous movements in an attempt to block a shot that hasn't even been thrown yet.  (A certain gnome comes to mind...).  It means that when you go to block you block as much as you need to... plus about an inch, so that if the shot would go through your guard because you misjudged the distance you'll still be okay.  What that doesn't mean however is that you block an extra 6" out, just because you're afraid of that wrap shot.  It means that until you learn exactly what that distance is, you're going to miss a lot of blocks, but once you've figured that distance out, not only will you get most of your blocks but it will be harder to feint you out, and your return strikes will be faster.

When it comes to offense it's a question of finding those gaps.  There are plenty of one inch spots that most fighters don't guard well enough so this will not be an exhaustive list by any means... but here's a few of my favorites: wrist rather then hand on weapon, chicken wing, on either side of the arm, hip just below your opponents pommel, stab to the gut in between a sword and a shield (thrown to the sword side), hip on the shield side (if it's not a square tower shield), and shoulder on the shield side when it drops (often from a feint to torso or a leg swing).  The caveat for most of these swings is that they aren't high percentage shots, in that because you only have an inch gap to make them with most of the time they won't connect.  However, many of these shots are much safer then (for instance) getting into a high cross war with your opponent (if you're fighting board to board) or trying to go for big swings with a red, or deep stabs with a green.

All of this eventually comes down to practice.  To get the defense good, you just have to block enough shots.  To get offense good, you just need to throw enough shots that your overall accuracy gets down to about an inch.  Because my friends, if you can master that one inch, it will change your world.

How about you?  What's your favorite one inch gap that you exploit?  or, What's an example of a sloppy block that you see a lot?
Comment below :-P.