Thing about me is I want something that can double for a historical design as well as be usable in combat, thats why I was thinking a great helm would work well as well as look cool. Maybe I need something more practical but all I really want to do is do a more entertaining version of endurance training in all honesty.
I guess the only way to get better at it is to fight frequently, unfortunately I dont have that at my disposal because of my location as all my friends live far from me and I can't really drive. Guess the pell IS the best choice then and to work on cardio treadmill will work best. Strength wise I think I'm fine because I still can lift stuff just fine and weapons really don't weigh much if you use the properly balanced stuff, I do plan to practice at the pell with my practical norman which is rather balanced and not too heavy. The only issue I really have with weight is when the stuff is too heavy, such as my friend who I practice with complaining that the other old rattan sword he has was too heavy (IE 5 pounds) as well as the wooden shields which were rather heavy and dense. I did read SCA stuff is heavier typically than WMA/Historical stuff, like the helmets are 12-14 gauge rather than the historical 16-18 gauge. I get bored with weight lifting easily so I think I should just get some of those sword weights I saw on here a while back, that would make things a bit more interesting and make me work out the muscles I actually NEED for sword fighting. I am not interested in becoming bodybuilder buff, just maybe gain maybe 15 extra pounds and have higher endurance like I used to when I frequently ran and hiked a while back. I did read knights historically used to do acrobatics and running and other endurance building stuff in their armor and stuff to build their own endurance, I think I might try that once I tailor it. But would simply fighting and working out in armor make me build endurance? Or do I need to just regularly do it? I would prefer doing it in my armor simply because it would get me used to wearing it so I dont get tired or uncomfortable, but I WILL say with that new gambeson maille is A LOT more comfortable, I guess the arming clothing really does make a difference.
When I first fought I had a nasty habit of holding my breath whenever I did anything straining which lead me to get tired quickly, thankfully I dont do that anymore and the other time I fought I did much better, only issue I got is fighting another opponent with a shield, I constantly dont have a target to hit, so I often go for the head or legs rather than try to hit the body. All I have is maille and a helm and a few pieces of leg and elbow plate so I dont think I can do anything more than backyard fighting practice with "pulled" blows... but that could still build up my stamina to wearing armor. I mean I can fight a while in just a gambeson with a helm and shield alone, it's when I start wearing armor I start to get more tired, especially heavy SCA armor, maybe I should invest in boiled leather or spring steel armor like you have?
Yeah thats why I wanted to go for that GDFB helm, it seemed period for the era I want to reenact and it looked kinda cool, only thing I'd be limited with is vision, I do plan to wear a coif and padding under it though so how much would that make it slide around? Personally I would prefer trying it out before I buy it... Thats the main issue I got, unable to see if it fits me properly before I buy anything. My parents said they would be willing to buy it as well. I just would like to try it out first...
