How to Flourish a Sword

Learning to flourish a sword seems tricky. But a flourish is just a series of circles. Not just a combo, this is a progression from start to finish. Anyone from beginner through more advanced may still learn something. If you are just starting out, DON'T SKIP THE BASICS!

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0:00-1:59 Intro
1:59-3:26 Warm up
3:26-6:14 Basic circles
6:14-7:09 Progression
7:09-8:14 Figure Eights
8:14-9:38 Figure Eight Transitions
9:38-12:35 The Snake
12:35-13:20 Dual Wield Snake
13:20-15:51 Flourish Placement
15:51-17:27 Grip Change
17:27-19:23 Behind the Back
19:23-21:16 Pivot Step
21:16-22:45 Short Combo

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Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

[fetch]

"Do not scoff at the fundamentals" is an advice more people who want to achieve excellence should take to heart.

[Matsudai]

People often underestimate a good flourish, cool and sometimes very practical, always good to learn. As always, great video and really good tutorial, with those basics almost any flourish can be learned.

[ThePageTurnerPT]

Shoutout to:
1.) The teaching technique. It's simple, to the point, and starts from the basics that are ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL and then builds into the cool stuff after
2.) Kramer's hair. Looking fabulous my dude

[Randall_Kildare]

You know that quote that claims: *" The definition of madness is: Trying the same thing over & over again, & expecting differnt results. "*
That's actually the definition of *Practice.*

[fizz]

I have been trying to practice flourishing with my left hand so it's great to have a resource going over the basics to be honest I forgot about the basic principles since I have been able to do flourishes with my right hand so long it was all just muscle memory.

[Glorfindel_]

THANK YOU. I learned from Shad's video, and your tip about going behind the back for the Snake is incredible. Shad didnt really have any voiceover so I had to try and piece together what he was doing, and I keep hitting the blade directly into my armpit every time. Problem solved, thanks to you!

[ЯрославФилоненко-ыю]

“You already know that”, “I thought you that”…
I love how encouraging you are! Those reminders are very motivating!

[thedoubleboiler]

Sir.. I just want to say thank you. AI really enjoy your videos and teachings as well as teaching styles. No flashing from frame to frame, or unnecessary headaches. It's just focus. I really, REALLY appreciate you, your teachings and teaching styles and THANK YOU for being a YouTuber. I genuinely appreciate your efforts.

There's so much value here, especially with that fundamentals quote. It means so much.

[CreepyMF]

I do so thouroughly enjoy a good instructional video. Will i be doing any of these not likely, but its never a waste to watch instructional videos cause the brain retains some of that knowledge and that knowledge is never a waste.

[csbuster]

I'm watching this because I'm a housecleaner and want to learn to flourish my duster wand. It would make the job so much better.

[noctisthehumanslayer]

Wow, honestly I had no idea people had a hard time doing flourishes with both hands. I've always done it as a fun pass-time with canes and homemade spears/clubs and stuff. Thank you for making me aware of my own strengths and weaknesses.

[Castawayassassin]

At 10:31 when he turns around and his hand behind faceing towards me, i have an irresistible urge to run up and hifive it! :D

[rhett]

Very cool! As someone who had muscle memory with my right hand and now has seen noticeable difference in how my left was and now it’s feels like my left hand can be a good sword arm and definitely helps with ambidexterity.

I think you missed something however! It’s nothing drastic and the building blocks are definitely more important, but I think there is something to note for two handing a sword or staff for flourishing. The limits of not being able to circle on the other side (with your wrists) means you can’t do figure eights as easily, so it gets more restricted but I’ve found you can still do snakes which at first was pretty hard but now feels natural, because of left hand intuition training.

Very cool video, look forward to the next!

[theMindwalker]

Yeah one thing I'll point out is in class, those who practiced flourishing regularly would A) often attack with more than 1 strike when sparring, B) were better prepared when fighting 2-3 opponents. Flourishing is just as important as any other technique or skill you need to be a competent swordsman.
Great video as always. I've always used two handed weapons when flourishing, this video has been a great help in learning the snake with my left hand.
(I have a couple requests, though with almost 40k subs I won't feel bad if you never get to this comment)
1. Do you/would you perform a full flourish routine, uninterrupted or edited, to some music you'd be willing to share?
2. If you do a video like this again, could you color each side of one of the blades you use? (If it ruins the blades in anyway don't worry about it) The reason I ask is that for me anyway, it helps when I need to know where the false and true edge should be when I'm in a guard.
Just a suggestion.
Again, thanks for the video and the time put into it. Much appreciated.

[johnproctor]

Very well thought out and thoroughly explained warmup video. Thank you.

[texasbeast]

At a much younger age, I used to effectively do the frontward and rearward circle with items on a lanyard, like a Maglite flashlight, sharpening stone, hammer, etc.

It was almost like flourishing with a threshing flail, in that there wasn't only the lag at the loosened hand, but also another lag at the junction between the cord and the weighted item. I had to stop the wrist flick really early in order to allow the item's momentum to take over and then slow itself enough just in time to land comfortably back in my hand.

It wasn't any kind of attempt to pull off a fighting move. I just thought it seemed like a challenging thing to do to fight boredom, and I felt pretty good after doing it successfully.

[markfergerson]

BOOKMARKED.

That was exactly what I was hoping for without knowing it, breaking everything into small easily assimilated pieces that can be Lego-ed together pretty much infinitely.

The thing you keep emphasizing, doing what feels natural, seems key to me. If you're fighting your own body mechanics or the sword's momentum you can't help but fail. Stance, footwork, off arm position and awareness of surroundings and where observers are watching from are obviously important but in the end you have to use your own body the way it wants to work.

And also thank you for mentioning the warmup. We all know of sports injuries due to failure to warm up.

I regret that I have but one upvote to give!

[Marcellus]

Best tutorial ever, the light, the music, the clear narrative voice matching the level of the live one so it's impossible to tell the difference. Thank you Syrio Forel, dancing Master for this!

[benjaminblack]

Yes! I've been looking forward to this one.

[ahmednaveedalam]

The Witcher theme do be hitting hard for this
Absolutely love it
Witcher training 101