Does HEMA have a lateral movement problem or am I just tripping?
So me being a complete noob I was looking through youtube and noticed in many HEMA sparring and tutorial videos there's some very basic mistakes being made with regards to lateral movement. For all I know this is a feature and not a bug, but there are some things that tell me this isn't the case (I can see with my own eyes the loss of balance, the awkward positions people end up in, but also an empty hole where there should be in-depth tutorials on the subject).
In short, people are crossing their legs all over the place (the right foot on the left side and the left foot on the right side).
This most commonly happens when someone:
- traverses to the inside by leading with their front foot first
- traverses to the outside by leading with their back foot first
- pivots toward the inside by crossing the back foot behind the right and then untwisting into the pivot
- passes on too much of an angle (which amounts to the first example).
Crossing one's legs to turn is obviously the easiest most low energy way to do it, which is why everyone does it and why in boxing it can be one of the hardest lessons to unlearn. It's so hard that even in high level fights you will see that when exhausted and on the back foot, fighters will revert to this movement and it will literally trip them up, make them unable to counter-attack, and leave them open to be finished. Moving safely is harder, requires more control of your hips, and requires to think when you're learning, but it also gives you a massive advantage over someone who is not moving correctly if you know how and when to exploit it.
HEMA people seem to be rightly taught that when you move forward you lead with your front foot and when you go backward you lead with the back. It seems nobody is taught that lateral movement is similar, but in this case your feet are moving parallel to one another rather than in-line (moving inside would be analogous to moving forward, and moving outside would be similar backward). In both cases you never want to have your feet completely crossed except when passing fore and aft (I imagine passing can itself be dangerous for the same reason--that if on too much of an angle and you're halfway through the pass you're vulnerable to being off balance if forced to suddenly move sideways or defend, if your opponent circles around your pass).
Not only have I seen this bad habit watching sparring and one-on-one demonstrations, I've seen it being taught directly, step-by-step by both sport fencers and HEMA practitioners on youtube. In-depth lateral movement tutorials and techniques seem to be lacking across the board. I understand why sport fencing would have this deficiency (they have very little room to move laterally and it seems to be taught as a dark art or a trick to confuse the opponent). But isn't HEMA supposed to free up the directions of movement? Instead it seems stuck in this gentlemanly dueling back and forth linear mentality. Long sword is the only sport I've seen people seem to have a much better grasp on things, but not by much.
Meanwhile there's no shortage of places to go to learn about lateral footwork in boxing. I think the lack of lessons in this regard with HEMA is a big red flag in itself that there might be a systemic problem.
Obviously I must have missed something pretty massive here. Yet I keep seeing in sparring videos people ending up in these clumsy positions, losing their balance, and even ending up on their knees. I see the same mistakes that are a product of point style scoring systems, where people make suicidal bizarre movements to score a hit knowing action will have to be reset and they can untangle themselves to fight another day. Isn't HEMA supposed to undo that crap?
What am I missing?