Spartan Martial arts?

Question

What martial art or form of sword play should i do if I wanted to use shields, short swords and spears and fight like those guys in 300 and how fit and strong could i get from doing it?

Answer 1

there aren't many actual martial arts that will teach you things like the phalanx. if you want to learn how to use a short sword you may want to look into fencing clubs in your area, occasionally you'll find a broadsword enthusiast that may also be willing to teach you to use a shield.

the best advice i can give is to try and find an SCA or Dagorhir group near you. the SCA (society for creative anacronism) is a group that uses rattan based weapons and full armor and such in a full contact sport based on mideval war fare. google it and you should find something.

Dagorhir is more of a full contact LARP group, we make weapons out of , most commonly, pvc, camping foam mats and glue but many use full armor and we do have shields, i myself have a small roundone that i built.

dag is all over the country and if your interested i'm sure you could find a group near you (check locations on Dagorhir.com) and i'm sure they'll be willing to teach you how to use these weapons (albeit fake weapons but it translates and you'll actually be able to *use* these skills in a fight)

Answer 2

Ignorance is bliss, stupidity is not.

There is not 'Spartan martial art'. The sword fighting actual Spartan hoplites did was part f combat training. That's like saying what martial art will make you shoot like Rambo. The Spartans didn't use martial arts, the fighting was an innate skill that was bred into them.

And by the way, nobody uses short swords or spears or bronze Shields anymore. So all that training is useless in a fight... you'll get KTFO.

Empty-hand fighting, Spartans boxed, wrestled (kinda like Greco), submission grappled, and were probably doing Pankration too. It is Greek, after all.

Answer 3

SCA is also a partial contact LARP group.

they train for play and don't use historical techniques. they use what works for thier gameplay ruleset.

if you are looking to learn combat there are a number of WMA groups that teach the real deal.

Historically the fight scenes in the movie are going to look nothing like real historical swordsmanship.

There are a number of groups depending on where you are but I'm not aware of any that teach "spartan" tactics.

Try:

AEMMA (academy for european mideval martial arts)

ARMA (academy for renaciance martial arts)

Ochs

Christian Tobler- look up his school, I forgot the name

for a start.

you will be as fit as the energy you put into it. if you are looking for stregth and fitness, I suggest learning about nutrition and stregth training.

However your question about a movie did give me an idea for a legitimate question about spartans.

Answer 4

u could call using a blade and spear a martial art there entire fighting style was based around there natural born strength they were born to fight. to be perfect warriors and nothing else. unfortunatly there training died with them there is almost no documents remaining today so for the most part its unknown besides the legendary reputation

Answer 5

The nearest thing you can get to that type of training is the standard crowd control battle formation techniques that anti-riot police use against unruly mobs. They form a phalanx of shields against violent demonstrators and beat them away with their truncheons. They also form a turtle formation to defend against rock, bottle and molotov throwing mobs. I'd guess you need to join the local police academy for that.

Answer 6

Like those guys in 300?

I'd hire a Hollywood choreographer.


Otherwise, there's Bushido, fencing or eskrima.

I'm afraid the methods of the Spartans have been burried by the sands of time.

Answer 7

pankration look it up on the net dont know if it was actually used in spartan times who knows

Answer 8

u can't a lot strong by doing any of tht the guys in tht movie lifted weights