Of course, to do this with earnest appreciation for the underlying principles requires safety equipment. Certain types of blunt props and fake sword substitutes can seriously distort the nature of swordsmanship and the significance of this must be underscored. It is through practice with accurate replicas of real swords that will reveal just how different they function from any mock versions. In the end, one should endeavor to supplement whatever method preferred by cross-training with others. Training exclusively with only one means of drilling, exercising, or sparring is very limiting and eventually leads to a narrow interpretation of both technique and fighting.
Serious practice requires much more than drills and exercises.
In contact-sparring the presumed value of fixed drills and arranged practice routines often crumbles in the face of a skilled adversary who uses unorthodox and unrehearsed actions to earnestly hit. The longer you train and study Medieval weaponry and fighting arts, the more readily apparent this becomes. The Boar's Tooth is actually a low forward posture and not a Pflug-like position. Diagonal cuts were Zornhau and vertical were Scheitelhau . Draw cuts and slicing pulls were usually known as Schnitt.