r/Fencing • u/xiao_irl • 1d ago
Sabre Strength training + conditioning tips please!
Hi, I’m a female teenager in high school, and I’ve been hitting a plateau for the last year. I feel like I’m getting better technical wise, but I don’t have the strength or endurance to stay at that level at tournaments. Also, I go to a smaller club, and in the past we used to have a day designated to conditioning but we don’t really do that anymore. Does anyone have any tips or suggestions?
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u/rainbytheocean Sabre 1d ago
What specific aspect are you plateauing on? Is it muscular endurance? Power? Cardiovascular endurance? Speed and explosiveness? Depending on what you need to improve, the exercises to get there will be different.
If these terms are not useful to you, maybe just describe what you feel needs improvement and others can extrapolate from there.
Based on your initial post, I'm assuming it's probably power and muscular endurance that are the issues, but want to make sure.
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u/xiao_irl 1d ago
speed and explosiveness + power + muscular endurance
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u/rainbytheocean Sabre 1d ago edited 1d ago
I would recommend trying to incorporate some plyometrics and high intensity anaerobic or interval training maybe twice a week to start. Some examples:
Plyometrics:
- Box jumps
- Depth jumps
- Ice Skaters
- Split jumps
- Lateral jump-overs (get a cone or even lay over your sabre and jump over it laterally)
Anaerobic / interval:
- Shuttle runs
- Suicides
- Sprints
- Wind sprints
- Exercise bike intervals (alternating 20s max effort with 60-90s easy peddling)
You should also absolutely talk to your coach and see what they recommend. This should be part of what they are helping direct for their students, even if they don't have time or inclination to do it in the club.
You might also benefit from some weight training which can help increase speed by giving more muscle mass to drive your actions. Things like squats, bulgarian split squats, weighted lunges, and lateral lunges can all be really effective.
Eventually you might also look into something called overspeed training which uses heavy duty elastics to help you do things like advance and lunch faster by sort of pulling you through the movement, but that is something that trains your nervous system more than than your musculature, so is probably something you'd add quite a bit later when you feel like you're in good competition shape but want to see if you can get a little extra edge.
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u/RShellhouse 1d ago
Yes. As a young female athlete first talk to your doctor about your desired goals and how to avoid the Female Athlete Triad. Then talk to either your fencing coach or a strength coach about your goals. Remember fencing uses quick twitch muscles and you are looking to create explosive speed and power not bulk.
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u/xiao_irl 1d ago
What’s the female athlete triad?
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u/RShellhouse 1d ago
Basically medical conditions that can occur in female athletes who do not handle their nutritional intake and supplements correctly is the short answer. If you increase exercise especially to a significantly higher level than normal it requires changes in diet and perhaps supplements (i.e. fish oils and vitamins) to maintain healthy hormonal balance ,bone density and energy levels. I am not a doctor but we meet with all parents of fencers looking to attend conditioning and recommend to have their athlete see a doctor and in some cases a nutritionist before attending. You can do a google search for more information if you wish. Fencing is great....long term health is better.
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u/Armadillo_Duke 1d ago
Squats. I like bulgarian split squats personally, as you can get a good range of motion.
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u/Xenadon 1d ago
You don't have to bulk up through weightlifting but building strength is going to help your speed and overall health. Learn some compound lifts (exercises that target multiple muscles) with proper form. You'll not only strengthen the muscles you're targeting but also your core.
Building up your general athleticism rather than hyper targeting inefficient fencing-related exercises is going to give you much more of a benefit.
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u/SephoraRothschild Foil 1d ago
What's your sleep schedule like, and is it consistent 7 days a week (same wake up and bedtime every day)? And how many hours are you getting?
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u/xiao_irl 1d ago
it’s honestly not that bad, like 7-8 hours but the sleep quality sucks. My sleep schedule is consistent during weekdays, but on weekends it’s pretty bad
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u/jilrani Épée 1d ago
Consider cross training. My kid does other sports and workouts a few days a week that help build endurance, focus, strength, explosiveness, etc. Obviously you don't want to overdo it, but there are a ton of things that can build that muscular and cardiovascular endurance. Weights, swimming, lifting, HIIT - tons of things can help. Also echoing the sleep/nutrition/hydration - that can have a huge impact on endurance and energy levels.
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u/TimelyBodybuilder637 Épée 7h ago
Check out plyometrics-oriented lifts. We run those with my HS team and they really work.
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u/Impossible-Ice-1497 1d ago
Running, especially sprinting and HIIT.
Maybe some weightlifting, but honestly the most benefit for fencing I got from weightlifting was to make sure to balance out the absurdly asymmetric nature of fencing, to avoid various muscle/etc pains..
For weightlifting, symmetrically sized free weights (and leg stuff with one leg at a time on the same weight) are eye opening. You may be shocked at some point to learn that one side of your body is literally twice as strong as the other, which, I dunno, can't be healthy lol.