The lunge is the fundamental footwork technique used with all three

fencing Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also ''saber''); winning points are made through the weapon's contact with an opponent. A fourth discipline, ...

weapons:

foil Foil may refer to: Materials * Foil (metal), a quite thin sheet of metal, usually manufactured with a rolling mill machine * Metal leaf, a very thin sheet of decorative metal * Aluminium foil, a type of wrapping for food * Tin foil, metal foil ...

épée The ( or , ), sometimes spelled epee in English, is the largest and heaviest of the three weapons used in the sport of fencing. The modern derives from the 19th-century , a weapon which itself derives from the French small sword. This contain ...

and

sabre A sabre (French: �sabʁ or saber in American English) is a type of backsword with a curved blade associated with the light cavalry of the early modern and Napoleonic periods. Originally associated with Central European cavalry such as t ...

. It is common to all contemporary fencing styles. The lunge is executed by kicking forward with the front foot, and pushing the body forward with the back leg. It can be used in combination with different blade work to deliver an offensive action such as an attack. The lunge is one of the most basic and most common types offensive footwork.

Relation to the attack

The lunge is often used to deliver an attack. In

, the end of the attack is defined by the front foot of the lunge landing on the piste. An attack can be made with a lunge on its own, or can be made with a step-forward-lunge, which are both considered single tempo actions.

History

The characteristic motion of the modern lunge traces its ancestry to European swordplay of the 16th and 17th centuries. Scholars of

fence A fence is a structure that encloses an area, typically outdoors, and is usually constructed from posts that are connected by boards, wire, rails or netting. A fence differs from a wall in not having a solid foundation along its whole length. ...

such as Egerton Castle attribute the first true lunging attack to Angelo Viggiani and his ''Lo Schermo'' of 1575 (the ''punta supramano'', or "overhand thrust"). A simple advance or pass during the thrusting attack is common as early as the

Royal Armouries Ms. I.33 Royal Armouries Ms. I.33 is the earliest known surviving European ''fechtbuch'' (combat manual), and one of the oldest surviving martial arts manuals dealing with armed combat worldwide. I.33 is also known as the Walpurgis manuscript, after a fig ...

, roughly dated to the mid-14th century.

References

* Selberg, Charles A. (1993) ''The Revised Foil''. * Castle, Egerton (2005) ''Schools and Masters of Fencing : From the Middle Ages to the Eighteenth Century'',

External links

* Fencing {{fencing-stub

Relation to the attack

History

See also

References

External links