Fighting with these things is far more dangerous than going at it with the blunt steel machetes. I highly recommend this thing for home defense. When actually fighting with this oversized replica of a Roman training sword the knees are a prime target, especially if the opponent's shield is round. As with boxing level change attacks tend to pay big dividends and staying on the center line is dicey at best. Early on you can see Cory almost knocks my shield loose. As for his arm strap shield, I have bruised the arm underneath by chopping it with this diabolical training tool. Note how the mass of the synthetic blunt, as well as the heavy pummel, permits me to put enough force into a thrust with just a jab step, to stagger Cory. When I have stabbed him and others to the body with this, they have gone down. I, coward that I am, will move around all day if necessary looking for my clean shot, rather than take a chance of getting stabbed with this weapon.

The stab to the face is not just set up via level changing up from a leg attack, but by using the blind spot generated by his shield. What armchair fighters do not realize about shields is that they all generate a blind spot. Once the business end of the blade is obscured behind his shield he needs to move or sustain an attack from any of three angles, giving him only a 1 in 3 chance of guessing at the right defense.

We will get into more shield work in other videos.