HMB training is starting to return to the daily life of our community. So, HMBIA News decided to report how the fighters from the UK, Switzerland and Spain began to return to their combat shape.

Pawel Kurzak, the well-known HMB athlete and the best fighter of the HMB World Championship Battle of the Nations 2019 headed the training session to UK fighters.  

“We decided to restart a post COVID training with national training focused on technical and tactical aspects without armour. 

We started a fun warm up and team building exercises. I mixed the fighters completely so that they would have to work with people they’ve never seen before. Later we trained in 4 groups with experienced White Company fighters as instructors. The final of the training was dedicated to character building by wrestling in the rather scorching weather. 

The whole purpose was to start building the team towards next year’s BotN and give the inexperienced fighters the idea of what’s expected from them to qualify to the national team”, Pawel told us.

We are confident that with such a head coach, and mentors from one of the strongest teams in the world, the UK fighters will quickly get in shape and excite us with thrilling new fights at tournaments around the world.

As soon as the first opportunity to gather in groups in Switzerland appeared, the fighters of this country did not have to be called twice for training. They try to get together at least twice a month. Fortunately, the weather allows you to train outdoors.

Rose Ramundo, the captain of the female buhurt team of the Helvete HMB club, that Swiss fighters have started to regain the combat shape immediately when they had such opportunity: 

“We train twice a month, we would like to do it weekly but we are all living far apart to do so.

When we do our monthly training, we do one time with soft stuff to get into the techniques with our coach and the other training we try to implement what we learned.
We also do the national training with the boys from Suedalp, White Wolves, Caterva Violenta HMB clubs whenever everybody can.

At our soft training we have a part of a list that we use to learn about the grappling techniques for example. We also use kettlebells, tires and we are also doing burpees, squats and so on.”

Rose also mentioned that they usually train on their own at home. 

It’s reassuring that nothing and no one can force HMB athletes to quit their favorite sport activity. We wish them success in their training and hope to see them soon in the lists.

Samantha Chapman, the fighter of the Bohurt Zona Sur HMB club in Spain, told us that they already had 2 training sessions in the post Covid time. 

However, she noted that it is not very easy to train at such a difficult time for them. Malaga, the city where Samantha and her teammates live, is geared towards tourism, and it was not easy during the coronavirus restrictions to handle economic problems. However, people who love HMB sports still find opportunities to train and develop.

“My team is trying to have at least 2 training sessions a month. We have limited time as people need to work, so scheduling is complicated. Our post Covid training was dedicated to outrance combat and buhurts techniques and training for duels. Luckily other teams in Spain like The Sala de Armas Carranza, Bohurt La Mancha and Mañowar Combate Medieval have been able to start training up a lot earlier and more frequently and are also super eager to get back into the lists.

It was an amazing feeling to get back into armor again, see my teammates and continue to learn and improve. We missed it so much, and have to train a lot to get back the physical form we had. Pedro Otero from team Guardia de Poniente, a great Spanish dueler joined our training and taught us techniques. This Sunday we may have another training day, but it all depends on our fighter’s working situation”.

Samantha also shared some good news with us. At last they have a place for training in Malaga thanks to their team mate Fernando Bermudez. According to Sam, usually they just train in a forest park and pray they don’t get told off by the local authorities. 

The news is really great, because now the fighters of one of the largest HMB clubs in the country will be able to train more often and in more comfortable conditions, which will undoubtedly have a positive effect on the quality of training in Spain.

The HMBIA News staff is glad that we have the opportunity to hold training and tournaments in different countries, that you love our sport and are devoted to it. As we are to you. We will be glad to tell our readers about even more positive news about the resumption of HMB events.

We thank our guests for the interview, wish them success in training, and look forward to meeting them and all of you in the lists.

Photos by White Company, Rose Ramundo and Samantha Chapman.