Fencing training
The Paak knowledge base for the maître d’armes — from first discovery to the competitive fencer. Pick a weapon and an age band: priorities, drills and sessions adapt.
Every drill, session outline and rule carries its source. We separate three levels — federation text, peer-reviewed research, coaching literature — and we also say what nobody publishes. Verified · July 2026
These four bands are Paak’s own. No federation uses this grid — seven federations use seven, mutually incompatible. See the seven grids
Train as a priority
- Discover fencing through play — the J+S manual contains no loaded strength work at this age
- 2 to 4 hours a week, sessions of about 1 h 30 (J+S Fechten manual, ages 5–10)
- Salute, handshake, stop on the hit: the values before the vocabulary
- General movement literacy: running, jumping, throwing and catching, skipping, ball coordination
Avoid at this age
- Naming actions and teaching priority theory
- Loaded resistance work
- Picking a weapon — no federation publishes a starting-weapon rule
- Competition that counts: in France it only opens at M9 (about age 7)
Train as a priority
- 4 to 7 hours a week at 11–12, 7 to 11 hours at 13–14 (J+S Fechten manual)
- Commit to a multi-sport training culture — the J+S manual states it explicitly for 11–12
- Simple attack, parry-riposte, chained attack / defence sequences, then start naming the actions
- Straight grip mandatory to M13; thumb and index in constant contact with the cushion to M11 (FFE)
Avoid at this age
- Second intention and counter-time
- Making the counter-attack the primary weapon: it wins against children and is punished later by counter-time
- Letting the rear foot pass the front foot — forbidden in French youth categories
- Loading the bar before squat technique is clean (the DFB position, stated without an age)
Train as a priority
- 11 to 15 hours a week at 15–17, sessions of about 2 h 30 (J+S Fechten manual)
- Second intention, counter-time, pulling distance
- The full tactical wheel for the weapon, then opponent-specific game plans
- Learn to manage the priority minute and non-combativity — the P-card regime changes on 1 September 2026
Avoid at this age
- Driving athletic load off chronological age alone: biological maturity counts (DFB)
- Letting the on-guard asymmetry settle in without non-dominant-side work
- Teaching priority-minute stalling, medical-break gamesmanship or exploitation of the P-card asymmetry: legal at senior level, out of place here — the fencer has no game worth protecting yet
Train as a priority
- Full tactical wheel, opponent scouting, rehearsed endgames (4-4 in pools, 14-14, the priority minute)
- Explosive preparation: alternate strength and power session to session in-season
- Train the reverse stance too, to limit the leg-to-leg imbalance the sport builds
- Roughly one elite épée direct elimination in four is decided in sudden death — rehearse it
Avoid at this age
- Long slow distance running: the authors describe it as counterproductive for fencing
- Presenting these prescriptions as federation guidance — no federation publishes an accessible senior programme
- Back-propagating adult loads into the youth bands by proximity
The three weapons are not one sport
Foil and sabre have right of way, épée does not. Target, hit type, apparatus timing and legal footwork all change with the weapon. Select a weapon above to see it alone.
| Your weapon | Foil | Épée | Sabre |
|---|---|---|---|
| Right of way | Yes — t.83 to t.89 | No — t.92: both lights means a hit scored against each fencer | Yes — t.100 to t.106 |
| Valid target | The trunk only, limbs and head excluded; upper limit the collar up to 6 cm above the collar bones; plus the part of the bib beneath a horizontal line 1.5–2 cm below the chin, which may in no case be lower than the line of the shoulders (t.77.1) | The whole body, including clothing and equipment (t.91) | Everything above a horizontal line drawn across the top of the hip bones (t.97.1): trunk, head and mask, and both arms including the hands — the hand is valid through the conductive glove (m.33). Legs and feet excluded |
| How a hit is made | Point only (t.76.1) | Point only (t.90.1) | Point and cutting edge; the flat and the back of the blade count too (t.96). Hitting with the guard is annulled and penalised as a 1st-group offence (t.96.3) |
| Apparatus timing | Lockout 300 ms ± 25. Minimum contact 14 ms ± 1 | Under 40 ms between the two hits: double hit. Over 50 ms: a single hit. The tolerance is the band between the two — not a 40 ms lockout | Lockout 170 ms ± 10 — a certain value, word-for-word identical between the 2021 and 2025 Material Rules. Compliant boxes carry a magenta "FIE 2016" label. The earlier value (widely quoted as 120 ms) could not be verified against a rulebook of that period |
| Flèche and crossing steps | Flèche legal. Crossing steps forward are legal but constitute a preparation: any simple attack has priority over them (t.84.3). This is the least-taught rule in foil | Flèche legal, crossing steps legal and unpenalised | The flèche is forbidden, as is any forward movement in which the rear foot completely passes the front foot (t.101.5): a 1st-group offence, the offender’s hit annulled, the opponent’s valid. The "flunge" exists because of it |
| Off-target | Stops the phrase and annuls any subsequent hit (t.78) | Does not exist: the whole body is valid | Does not stop the phrase and annuls nothing (t.98). This is the key asymmetry with foil |
| Basic on-guard | Sixte — supinated hand, point above the hand | Sixte, with the elbow drawn into line with forearm, guard and point | Tierce — pronated hand |
| Parry system | Sixte / octave and quarte / septime | Sixte / octave and quarte / septime, with seconde heavily used in the low line | A smaller, structurally different set: tierce, quarte, quinte (the head parry), plus seconde for the outside low line. Sabre parries block rather than deflect, and are taken as late as possible so the feint cannot deceive them |
| Bout format | Pools: 5 hits in 3 minutes. Direct elimination: 15 hits over three 3-minute periods | The same. At 4-4 in a pool the fencers fence for a deciding hit and any double hit is not counted (t.38.1b) | The same, except that the first direct-elimination period ends at 3 minutes or at 8 hits (t.39.1). For veterans, whose direct elimination is fenced to 10 hits over 2 periods, that first period ends at 5 hits (t.42) |
| What to teach first | The arm starting before the leg, and the bent-arm preparation that hands priority to the opponent | The nearest target before the deep one — hand, wrist, forearm — and the "dead zone" where you are simultaneously too close and too far | That the hit must arrive at the latest when the front foot lands (t.101.3.a): the sabre attack is an action with a deadline |
The apparatus timings, to scale
This is the single variable that best explains why these three weapons produce three different games.
- Foil — 300 ms lockout
- Sabre — 170 ms lockout
- Épée — double hit under 40 ms, single hit beyond 50 ms
Today's session
Pick an outline and Paak fills it with drills matched to the age band and the weapon. Each outline states whether it comes from a federation or whether we assembled it.
The drills
Every drill states its source, its key points, a harder version and an easier version.
Glove toss on the move
In pairs, one fencing glove. Throw the glove back and forth while moving through the whole hall: running, walking, going backwards. No weapons.
Key points: This is the very first block of the very first session: fencing kit becomes a toy before it becomes intimidating equipment.
↑ Harder: The manual publishes none; the next block of the same lesson turns the idea into a timed dressing contest.
↓ Easier: Walk instead of running, shorten the distance between the pair.
Federation Source: J+S-Kids Fencing, lesson 1 (Swiss federal sport office)
"The master said" — advance and retreat
No weapons, every play-form built on the "the master said" formula. The advance moves the front leg first, then the rear leg returns to the starting position; rear leg perpendicular to the front. To go backwards, reverse the order.
Key points: The manual's printed key point: dissociate the arm action from the leg action. The lesson's stated emphasis is concentration.
↑ Harder: Trigger advance, retreat and lunge on visual then acoustic signals.
↓ Easier: One instruction at a time, at the group's pace.
Federation Source: J+S-Kids Fencing, lesson 2 (Swiss federal sport office)
The robot game — learning the lunge
Press on the rear leg to full extension to arrive in the lunge. Weapon arm extended, rear leg extended, front leg bent to 90°.
Key points: The manual describes an arrival position, not a speed: the lunge is built first as a shape.
↑ Harder: Trigger the lunge on a visual, then an acoustic signal.
↓ Easier: Lunge without a weapon, hands on hips.
Federation Source: J+S-Kids Fencing, lesson 2 (Swiss federal sport office)
Place the ball in your partner's hand
One tennis ball per pair. Place the ball into the other fencer's hand while moving with fencing footwork: single steps, then double steps.
Key points: Distance is regulated by a manipulative task, with no blade: the child corrects their own measure without being told about it.
↑ Harder: Double steps, then advance-retreat before placing the ball.
↓ Easier: One step only, distance announced.
Federation Source: J+S-Kids Fencing, lesson 4 (Swiss federal sport office)
Follow the footwork with your eyes closed
In pairs, fingers touching. One follows the other's footwork with eyes closed. Fencing footwork throughout; the feet never cross.
Key points: Printed safety instruction: the fencer leading keeps their eyes open and does not go too fast.
↑ Harder: Swap roles without warning, add the retreat.
↓ Easier: Eyes open, a hand on the shoulder.
Federation Source: FFE, fencing in schools — session 1
Bouting with differently valued targets
Bout while keeping a tally of hits at different values: for example trunk = 1 point, leg = 2, hand = 3, foot = 4.
Key points: The printed key point: "imagine you are a moving target". These values are a game convention — the regulation target itself changes with the weapon.
↑ Harder: Call the target before hitting it.
↓ Easier: Two values only.
Federation Source: J+S-Kids Fencing, lesson 3 (Swiss federal sport office)
The dialogue — bouting with an observer
In threes. Two fence, the third watches and must say who is doing what: who attacks, who defends? Then rotate.
Key points: The manual notes that these notions have to take on meaning through the dialogue of the blades. It is the most cognitively demanding decision drill published at this age.
↑ Harder: The observer also calls the hit and justifies it.
↓ Easier: The observer answers one question only: who started?
Federation Source: J+S-Kids Fencing, lesson 5 (Swiss federal sport office)
Priority — never attack into an attack Foil · Sabre
Bout under a single rule: "I do not attack if my opponent attacks; in that case I must avoid the attack in order to be able to attack". The rule as given to children: the first to attack — the one who straightens the arm and lunges — has priority.
Key points: The printed expected outcome: fewer "at the same time" attacks. The story that goes with it is historical — you guarded against the attack before hitting, and the double hit was the worst possible result.
↑ Harder: Allow only the parry-riposte as an answer to the opponent's attack.
↓ Easier: One designated attacker per bout.
Federation Source: FFE, fencing in schools — session 1, situation 12
Finding your own lunge distance
The attacker stays behind a line and only crosses it to develop the lunge. The defender stands in different places to help the attacker find the greatest distance from which they can still hit with a lunge.
Key points: Printed expected outcome: large-amplitude lunges start to appear. It is the defender who calibrates the attacker, not the other way round.
↑ Harder: The defender moves during the preparation.
↓ Easier: Distances marked on the floor.
Federation Source: FFE, fencing in schools — session 2, situation 5
1, 2, 3, fence!
Grandmother's footsteps. Advance with fencing footwork while the leader's back is turned, freeze on guard when they turn round.
Key points: End-of-session block: inhibition, acceleration — and it finishes on a win.
↑ Harder: The leader calls louder and louder; victory pose on arrival.
↓ Easier: Shorter distance, freeze standing rather than on guard.
Federation Source: J+S-Kids Fencing, lesson 1 (Swiss federal sport office)
The footwork session
Prescribed equipment: cones, slats, skipping ropes, tennis balls, table-tennis balls, hoops. Four families: general exercises, specific exercises and sequences, combined arm/leg exercises, opposition without a weapon. Everything can be run eyes open, eyes closed, with the pupils' laterality swapped, cooperatively or in opposition, in play form.
Key points: This is the FFE's official vehicle for physical qualities: coordination, balance, speed, change of rhythm, explosiveness, mobility — and simultaneously decision-making, concentration, observation and management of distance.
↑ Harder: Move to opposition, then eyes closed.
↓ Easier: General exercises only, no sequences.
Federation Source: FFE, Recueil pédagogique Animateur-Éducateur, Sept. 2024
Footwork line on the slow-fast cadence
Fencers in a line facing the maître d'armes, no weapons. The maître d'armes retreats and calls the advance: "eeeeeh — one". On "eeeeeh" the front foot moves slowly forward and lands on the heel; on "one" the rear foot comes up fast. Occasionally he reverses and advances: the line converts the half-advance into a retreat.
Key points: Governing principle: momentum is the enemy of the fencer. You must be able to start a step, see a change, and reverse without losing balance.
↑ Harder: Add the weapon, then work in pairs.
↓ Easier: Advance and retreat only, no reversals.
Coaching literature Source: Allen Evans, notes from Vladimir Nazlymov clinics
The advance in preparation
Find the distance at which the fencer scores with a simple direct attack, then have them take one step back: that is preparation distance, marked on the floor. The fencer initiates with an advance. The maître d'armes either stands still — the fencer must finish with a lunge without hesitating — or steps back on the first movement — the fencer aborts and resets in balance.
Key points: The decision point is the landing of the front foot, at the very latest. The lunge accelerates through the whole rear leg; it does not kick the front foot.
↑ Harder: Add a slow, obvious blade sweep (four situations), then a deliberately late retreat that forces a feint-disengage in the lunge.
↓ Easier: One option, announced in advance; low-line target.
Coaching literature Source: Allen Evans, Coaches Compendium
Recognising the danger zone Épée
Two fencers of clearly different height, on guard. Both extend the weapon arm: the taller places the point on an easy target, the shorter notes how far their own point reaches. Thereafter, arms relaxed and while manoeuvring, the shorter fencer never attacks deeper than that mark; the taller attacks or counter-attacks whenever they feel the other has come too close.
Key points: The danger zone is defined physically, not verbally. The logical follow-on: attacks and counter-attacks without blade contact, to near targets only — thumb, wrist, distal forearm.
↑ Harder: Allow deep targets only as compound actions or while controlling the blade.
↓ Easier: Static measurement only, no footwork.
Coaching literature Source: Sise, épée lesson book (2007)
Understanding tempo, in four parts
1) The fencer advances; the maître d'armes stands still (the fencer lunges) or retreats on the first sign of the front foot (the fencer aborts). Blocked until about 80% correct reads, then random. 2) Add a slow, obvious blade sweep: four situations. 3) The retreat becomes progressively later, forcing a feint-disengage in the lunge. 4) The fencer trains the maître d'armes into a fixed retreat rhythm, then breaks it with a half-retreat into a lunge.
Key points: The maître d'armes must move exactly on the fencer's front-foot movement, never late. The trap named in part 2 is "Pavlov's lunge": reacting to the blade cue while ignoring the distance cue.
↑ Harder: Run the four parts in an order the fencer chooses.
↓ Easier: Part 1 alone, options announced.
Coaching literature Source: Allen Evans, Coaches Compendium
Real cues and false cues
The maître d'armes shows the top of the wrist: that is a real cue, the simple direct attack scores. He shows the same opening while retreating: that is a false cue — and the fencer, restricted to simple direct attacks, must ignore it.
Key points: A false cue looks like a real one; it arrives at the wrong time, tempo, distance or direction, and it is designed to tempt the fencer into acting and failing. The fault to correct is taking every opening.
↑ Harder: Mix real and false cues at random, then hide the cue inside another blade action.
↓ Easier: Real cues only, from immobility.
Coaching literature Source: Sise (2007), after Gary Copeland
Find the blade instead of riposting on reflex Sabre
Every repetition starts with an advance by the fencer, as reconnaissance. The maître d'armes cuts to any line as the fencer's front foot lands; the fencer parries and ripostes. Occasionally the maître d'armes feints then stops the cut: anyone who ripostes anyway has not found the blade.
Key points: Feints are small in amplitude and delivered on the advance. The warm-up should mirror the content of the lesson.
↑ Harder: The maître d'armes retreats late to force an accelerated advance-lunge, then counter-attacks on the second step.
↓ Easier: Announced cut, one line only.
Coaching literature Source: Allen Evans, Coaches Compendium (USFA level 3 programme)
The four distance situations Épée
On guard just outside forward-target distance. 1) The fencer attacks the hand, the maître d'armes answers with the blade without retreating: the fencer closes and takes a deep target with a second action. 2) The maître d'armes retreats exactly as the hit lands: the fencer re-attacks the still-near forward target. 3) The fencer attacks the near target while retreating, reopens the distance, then re-attacks the near target as the other closes. 4) The fencer attacks the near target, the maître d'armes closes, and the now-reachable deep target is taken.
Key points: Vary the footwork endings — jump-lunge, advance-flèche, half-lunge into lunge — and the deep targets: thigh, flank, not only the chest. The situations pair naturally, 1+2 then 3+4.
↑ Harder: Absence-of-blade variant: attack where the hand would be.
↓ Easier: One situation, blocked.
Coaching literature Source: Allen Evans, after Maître Gary Copeland
The four kinds of bout
The FFE distinguishes four: themed bouts (only certain behaviours are scored), directed or applied bouts, free or warm-up bouts, and competitive bouts. Pick one kind per block, and announce it.
Key points: This is the federation's conditioned-bout taxonomy. The themes themselves are not published: setting them is the maître d'armes' job.
↑ Harder: Move from the directed bout to the themed bout on the same content.
↓ Easier: Warm-up bout, no scoring.
Federation Source: FFE, Recueil pédagogique 2024
2-4-2 m shuttle — weapon-specific intervals
Three lines at 0, 2 and 4 m. The shuttle is run with fencing footwork, facing forward at all times: both feet return behind the line on each shuttle, and part of the lead foot must cross the 2 m and 4 m lines. The prescription varies by weapon and by sex, in three sets, one minute of recovery between sets.
Key points: Do not push these numbers down into the youth bands: the authors write one sentence about it — adjust intensity and repetitions. They also recommend running the shuttles in the non-dominant stance to limit leg-to-leg imbalance.
↑ Harder: Finish each shuttle with an attacking lunge.
↓ Easier: One set only, no closing lunge.
Peer-reviewed Source: Turner et al., Strength Cond J, 2013
Age categories do not map across countries
Seven federations, seven grids, three ways of computing age. A French M11 is not a British U12, which is not a Swiss U12. There is no clean crosswalk.
| Federation | Grid | Age computed on | Youngest category |
|---|---|---|---|
| FIE | Cadet · Junior · Senior · Veterans 40/50/60/70 | Midnight on 31 December of the season for cadets and juniors; age reached during the calendar year for veterans | Cadet (under 17) |
| FFE — France | M5 · M7 · M9 · M11 · M13 · M15 · M17 · M20 · M23, with sub-years (M13-1, M20-2…) | Year of birth, season 1 September to 31 August | M5, "Éveil escrime", with no competition format at all |
| Swiss Fencing | U8 · U10 · U12 · U14 · U17 · U20 · U23 | Age on 1 January | U8 |
| British Fencing | U12 · U14 · U16 · U17 · U18 · U20 · U23 — but rankings only at U14, cadet, junior, U23 and senior | Age on 1 January; some minimum ages are computed on the day of the event | U12 |
| USA Fencing | Y8 · Y10 · Y12 · Y14 · cadet · junior — deliberately overlapping bands | Birth-year bands, and the grid changes mid-season at the Junior Olympics | Y8, with no minimum age |
| Deutscher Fechter-Bund | U11 · U13 · U15 · U17 · U20 | The year completed in the calendar year containing the first part of the season | U11 — U9 exists but is not a separate class |
| Canada — CFF | U13 · U15 · U17 · U20 · U23, with minimum-age floors and explicitly non-exclusive categories | 31 December of the licence year | U13, floor at 11 years old |
Which blade, which protection?
The French table, the most completely published one. The FIE itself publishes no age-based blade-size rule: the size 0 to 5 system is national and industrial, not international.
| Category | Blade | Grip | Protection |
|---|---|---|---|
| M7 – M9 | Size 0 blade | Straight grip | Jacket 350 N · plastron 350 N |
| M11 | Size 0 or 2 | Straight grip | Jacket 350 N · plastron 350 N |
| M13 | Size 2 | Straight grip | Jacket 350 N · plastron 350 N |
| M15 | Size 5 | Free grip | Jacket 350 N · plastron 800 N |
| M17 and above | Size 4 or 5 | Free grip | Jacket 350 N · plastron 800 N |
- British Fencing caps U12 and U14 at size 3 in foil and size 2 in épée and sabre.
- Switzerland steps up at U14, going from size 2 straight to size 5, with no size 3 or 4 rung.
- Chest protection is mandatory for girls from M11 in France, and from U8 in Switzerland.
- The FFE contradicts itself on the plastron: its per-category table leaves it at 350 N through M13, while another passage raises it to 800 N from M13. Where in doubt, apply the higher figure.
- Transparent visor masks are banned at all three weapons in France, and fencing in shorts is prohibited outright.
Where what you are reading comes from
Provenance is not a footnote here: it is a column in the table. Here is what we know, what is only research, and what we cannot know.
Verified in federation texts
- The articles of the FIE technical rules, December 2025 edition: target, right of way, apparatus timings, cards, formats.
- The five-part architecture of the individual lesson, with the body of the lesson at about 75% of total time (FFE, Recueil pédagogique Animateur-Éducateur, September 2024).
- The age-banded weekly volume table in the J+S Fechten manual — the only complete table published by an institution in any country.
- The British safety cap: no more than twelve children fencing at once per instructor, fewer for young children, and above that the group is split into relays.
- Straight grip mandatory from M7 to M13, and the rear foot passing the front foot forbidden in youth categories (FFE).
Published research, not federation doctrine
- All the senior physical preparation on this page comes from peer-reviewed literature (Turner et al., 2013 and 2014). No federation publishes a freely accessible senior programme.
- In those authors’ interval table, the sabre and the female foil / sabre rows are explicitly hypothesised, not measured.
- The per-weapon work durations — sabre 1.7 s, foil 5.8 s, épée 17.9 s on average per exchange — come from a 2023 study of 96 elite fencers.
- These prescriptions are adult and small-sample. They do not travel downward into the youth bands.
What nobody publishes
- Our four age bands are ours. Seven federations use seven incompatible grids, with three different ways of computing age.
- The date the flèche was banned in sabre: sources range from 1988 to 1999. The rule is certain (t.101.5), the year is not.
- The sabre lockout history. The 170 ms figure is certain and unchanged between 2021 and 2025; the "120 ms before 2016" sequence circulates everywhere but no rulebook of that period could be obtained. We publish the value, not the history.
- The bib being added to the foil target: the specification is called "M2009" and the approval list carrying it is dated 18 December 2008, which makes 2009 plausible — but the Congress decision itself could not be located.
- A double hit at 14-14 in an épée direct elimination: no governing article could be located. The 4-4 pool rule, by contrast, is certain (t.38.1b).
- The rules of British Fencing’s GO/FENCE games: the names are published, the rules never were. We will not invent them. And there are twelve, not thirteen: "Reprise" belongs to the footwork column, not the games column.
- No federation publishes a starting-weapon rule: "foil first" is club habit, not policy.
- No federation publishes a duration in minutes for the individual lesson — only a proportion.
- Non-combativity changes on 1 September 2026: the P-yellow disappears, the red falls on the first minute and the black on the second.
Reference guides
The depth behind the tools: seven sourced guides, from the three weapons to physical preparation.
Three rule-sets, three sports. Priority, targets, apparatus timings, the flèche, formats — never flattened into one.
Read · 12 min Fundamentals by ageSeven federations, seven incompatible grids — and what the institutions actually publish about volume, blades and progression.
Read · 12 min Building a sessionBritish Fencing's beginner outline, the timed blocks of the J+S manual, the FFE warm-up and the four kinds of bout.
Read · 10 min The individual lessonThe FFE's five-part architecture, one complete worked lesson, real and false cues, and who is allowed to give a lesson at all.
Read · 12 min Core techniqueOn guard, advance, lunge, flèche, parries and prises de fer — with the rule articles and the documented faults.
Read · 12 min TacticsThe foil tactical wheel, the épée hand game, the sabre 4-metre zone, and score-state management.
Read · 12 min Physical preparation & preventionWork-to-rest ratios by weapon, strength in the young, the injury profile and heat under the uniform.
Read · 12 minLicences, seasons, attendance, membership fees, match sheets — Paak runs the club, you keep the piste.