Indywest HEMA: The Random Cut Drill

The random cut drill is a web based application that can be used to present a random cut line for someone to execute solo or with partner drills.

Link to drill location : http://www.indywesthema.com/p/blog-page_8.html

The settings :
- In the first drop down box you choose the time between strikes to be displayed. This can be used to tune how fast or slow you want to react to the cut in seconds.
- In the second drop down box you can choose the number of cuts you want to display or set it to non-stop (9999) to get a continues chain of cuts
- Once you have the desired settings you can click start and the first cut will be displayed X seconds (based on setting) in the display window.
- Click reset to reload the page with fresh settings
- To help keep track of the number of cuts there is a Count value at the bottom you can use.

* For a solo drill you can use this to practice random cuts or cut combinations. It is important when doing this drill alone you avoid sword twirling and perform well executed strikes at an imaginary target in front of you. One thing I personally do to help this is lay a sword pointed at me on the ground and something at the hilt to show the location my target would be. This helps keep in mind the target has a sword while also working on measure. Another possible way to use this is with cutting mats or with pells.

* For a partner drill you can have this set behind a partner at a safe distance and try to attack the target with the displayed line. A faster speed can be used to help combo many strikes together or a slower to allow for more of a sparring style system. This may force someone to address target areas they are not comfortable with and get outside of their comfort zone.

The application should work on mobile devices such as phones and tablets. I have also found that the chrome browse seems to respond better and quicker even to such a light weight little application.

Here is a list of the available cuts in the application.

I avoid using terms such as oberhaw and fendente to help keep it neutral as possible to any system and also allow for flexibility between strike types as long as they are to the target location.