His First Fighter Practice

I certainly wish it was my first fighter practice with the local shire, but loaner armor was scarce, and at least by this point I have been in a suit of armor once and know what it’s like. It genuinely was Adam’s first time getting to check out heavy fighting and the SCA, so this time I wasn’t upset to see everyone excited to suit him up. I was very nervous on the sidelines watching him spar, but he was so comfortable and natural and made fast friends. After he had a few hours under his belt, he came and declared his new love for heavy fighting and expressed the urgency with which he wanted to get his own set of armor together so we could practice together.

He’s sold. I’m sold. We have a humble, but workable, budget for kitting up together. Sounds like I’m actually going to do this.

Battle Maggie.

Getting on the Right Foot with Two Left Feet

I was reading an article today called Life Ain’t Easy: Train Anyway. It came across my Facebook feed at a pretty opportune time, and got me thinking about a lot of things relating to heavy fighting in the SCA. I did a thing I don’t normally do when a blog asks you to write something down and see what your brain comes up with: I actually did it. It was a little bit surprising what I came up with. Apparently I have only just perceived that I have obstacles at all. After looking over my list, it really was just a bunch of excuses, and nothing that I couldn’t overcome by just getting up and doing something. I think these excuses that have to do with my avoidance of actively working out on a schedule are relevant to heavy fighting in the SCA because I think these excuses overlapped a lot. The more I examine my circumstances, the more aware I am that I have a ridiculous amount of resources, both within the SCA fighting community and in the local fitness community.

It’s time to shelve the excuses and dive in.

I found this awesome 6 Week At-Home CrossFit Inspired Workout that I am looking forward to experimenting with since there’s no way I am going to shell out $120-$150/month on a CrossFit membership. Let’s do this!

Let’s Try This Again?

It has certainly been a while since I last posted to Woman at Arms, and longer still since I first had the idea to begin this little project in the first place. So many things have changed since I first dreamt of heavy fighting, in a coat of plates with heavy chain mail and leather and steel. It is very interesting to me that I have had, and still fee like I have, such a hard time getting into the swing of it. There was eventually a large amount of hospitality and tutelage offered, but not after having to push through road blocks, and it left me burnt out and exhausted. I know that it isn’t much of a warrior’s spirit to quit once you meet resistance, but I enjoy these hobbies as part of a community. Without the support of the community, it didn’t feel like I was meant to do it anymore.

Fast forward to now, I’ve moved to another city, found myself in a new relationship, and will finally see to my other dreams – the prospects of getting married and starting a family. With this settling in came a new wave of interest in heavy combat and getting back into armor to fight. I’m not sure what about getting comfortable and finding love have done to push me back in this direction, as he isn’t into this hobby as of yet, but here I am anyway.

I look forward to future installments to Woman at Arms, and hopefully with more forward progress! Next Sunday is the local fighter practice, and it will be my first time meeting everyone. I’m tentatively excited and hope I can find a more welcoming community than my initial foray into the SCA.

Hurdles

It’s amazing what can change in so many months, or how fast they can get away from you, and I can hardly believe it’s June. There have been some interesting developments on the armor front, and some hurdles that needed clearing before I could really get into the swing of it.

Hurdle 1: My Schedule. Working nights is not really conducive to any sort of extra curricular activites, especially ones that rely on a set, steady schedule where I can be awake. I have moved employment to something more daytime, and more Monday through Friday, This hurdle being cleared was a huge relief. But, that leads us into another issue.

Hurdle 2: No Girls Allowed. Okay, to be fair, this wasn’t said verbatim, but it was a not-so-subtle sentiment from the main person “helping” me get into heavy fighting. Day 1 of expressing interest left me regarded indifferently, but he would look behind me at the gentleman I had brought to practice and ask him, “Well, what about you?” My friend had shrugged a little and said he hadn’t really thought about it, but that same weekend he was fully suited up and swinging at a knight. Repeated trips to armor night and continually expressing interest became more discouraging the more that no one wanted to take me seriously.

As it turns out, I was just talking to the wrong person! Once I expressed my frustration to new friends, there was a casual newbie night happening and quite a few people showed up with gear to help me get fitted. Every one was patient and helpful, and it was absolutely fun and completely overdue. I will be keeping my fingers crossed that this happens a lot more often.

Once I kept talking to other groups about my interest or told them how much fun I was having now that I had been in armor, I got a LOT of offers for help getting a kit together. Go figure!

Here’s to more adventures!

A Sworded Affair

I did it! The hardest hurdle to getting started on blogging was deciding what to name it, but now that I’ve cleared that, I have to figure out what I want to even talk about. I’m not a writer by any stretch, so this will be an adventure twofold. Adventure one will be building the armor, researching the armor, wearing the armor, and eventually hitting other people wearing armor. The second adventure will be learning how to write, being consistent with it, and hopefully creating something entertaining. The loftier goal is for this to someday act as a potential resource for women (and maybe a few men!).

I truly am beginning from scratch – I have no experience, no armor, no blogging skills, and not even the faintest idea of what I’m doing. Sounds fun, right?