The Sword Guy Podcast

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.shop/blogs/podcast/episode-214-swords-in-your-seventies-with-deborah-fisher 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Deborah Fisher is a member and instructor with the Whidbey Swordplay Association, a historical martial arts club on Whidbey Island, a ferry ride north of Seattle, Washington. She specializes in rapier and small sword. Knighted as Dame Virago, she is a former assistant director and instructor for the Seattle Knights, the Pacific Northwest’s premier sword fighting and jousting theatrical troupe. And as Captain Highjack, she is the former leader of a very scurvy and entertaining band of pirates known as the Pirates of Puget Sound. We talk about how and why Deborah got into swords at the age of 50, and what her current training looks like in her 70s. We discuss how some physical and mental abilities change as you age, but how one’s peak is still an attainable future goal.

Deborah is a professional writer, specializing in instructional materials for teachers, health-care practitioners, and community youth advocates. She has written six books on positive youth development and served as a national trainer for the Minneapolis-based Search Institute. She is also a co-author of Stamp of the Century, a nonfiction book about the history of flight and a famous airmail postage stamp called the Inverted Jenny.

Two of Guy’s blog posts mentioned in this episode are 100 Days No Booze Results: What Really Changed (and What Didn’t) and You’re probably holding your sword wrong. Here’s why.

Find out more about the Whidbey Swordplay Association at: https://whidbeyswordplayassociation.com/

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.shop/blogs/podcast/episode-213-armoured-martial-arts-with-jenny-habry

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Jenny Häbry is an armoured martial arts competitor who has crowned UK's best female fighter in both 2022 and 2024, and again in 2025. And since 2024 has served as the Women's National captain. She has founded her own team, and her favourite discipline is pro fighting, where she remains undefeated. In 2025 she secured three World Championship gold medals, further cementing her place as one of the sport's leading fighters. Jenny also travels worldwide, sharing her expertise and passion through teaching. She runs Armoured Martial Arts Nottingham with UK men’s team captain Daniel Winter.

In our conversation, we find out what the modern sport of Armoured Martial Arts involves; the different elements of competition, the physical risks, how Jenny trains, and what this very small sport needs to grow. We also hear about her titanium armour!

Jenny also tells us about her recent trip to America, where the sport is much more popular. Here’s a photo of her winning the crown in the first female five-round championship fight: https://swordschool.shop/blogs/podcast/episode-213-armoured-martial-arts-with-jenny-habry

Find Armoured Martial Arts Nottingham here: https://www.armouredmartialartsnottingham.com/

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.shop/blogs/podcast/episode-212-physio-for-ninjas-with-erick-ellison 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

This episode is with Erick Ellison, who is a Bujinkan instructor and physiotherapist in Helsinki Finland. Regular listeners will already have heard of him as the person who fixed very old injuries in my shoulder, my knee, my neck and various other places. He qualified as a physiotherapist in 2007 and has been running his own practice since 2012. His list of professional credentials is both very long and very varied, incorporating modern medicine and traditional Japanese approaches.

In our conversation we talk about the history of Ninja, their strategies and techniques, and some of the misconceptions around them. We also talk about physiotherapy and the training involved, and how a practitioner like Erick chooses which technique to use on a person.

Erick also shares a set of movements called the Five Tibetan Rites, which he believes are a great general guideline for maintaining strength and flexibility.

You can find Erick online here: https://www.fysiosakura.fi/

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.shop/blogs/podcast/episode-211-embodying-martial-arts-in-an-aging-body-with-jess-finley 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

The inestimable Jess Finley is back on the podcast! If you’re not aware of her work, she has written a wonderful book about medieval wrestling, starred in several of my online courses, and we recently collaborated on an online course about Von Baumann’s wrestling. On her Patreon account, she produces translations, interpretations, previews of books in progress and videos. She also teaches swords around the world.

We start by talking about travelling with knives and guns, before moving onto the main topic, which is looking at the ways to mitigate the downsides of aging as we train and get older. One of the main things to work out is understanding the difference between discomfort and dysfunction, i.e. is this pain OK, or have I catastrophically injured myself? And at what point should I listen to the fear? We talk about what lessons a long term martial arts practice has given us in our daily lives, especially when dealing with life’s big moments.

Links of interest:

Jess Finley on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/jessfinley/

Books and publications: https://wiktenauer.com/wiki/Jessica_Finley

Von Baumann wrestling course: https://swordschool.teachable.com/p/medieval-german-wrestling-the-twirchringen-of-von-baumann

How Emotions are Made, by Lisa Feldman Barrett: https://lisafeldmanbarrett.com/books/how-emotions-are-made/

The book that Jess and Guy discuss about the Olympic athletes was Howard Schatz’s Athlete.

For transcriptions and more detailed shownotes, please go to: https://swordschool.shop/blogs/podcast/episode-210-from-homeschool-to-author-with-amos-wilson 

To support the show, come join the Patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/theswordguy

Amos Christian Wilson is an independent Christian author, poet and musician. He is also a home school graduate and third born of 12 who loves reading, the outdoors, theology and history. He went from high school to a wide range of trade jobs, from carpentry to piano tuning to horse shoeing. He seeks to write books which centre around religious characters and immersive world building.

In our conversation we talk about growing up as one of 12 and being homeschooled, and how a picture book about arms and armour sparked Amos’s love of swords, followed by a Fiore manual from a homeschool organisation’s catalogue of “toys for growing men”.

We talk about some of the different jobs Amos has done over the years to support his true career as a writer. He describes his four-book Gwambi series as Treasure Island meets Chronicles of Narnia, with maybe a little bit of Charles Dickens thrown in there. You can find Amos on Substack and download a free ebook there. Or find out more on his website, https://www.acwilson.net. 

As Amos isn’t a historical martial artist, he has a different idea of what he would do with $1 million, and it’s one that Guy is fascinated by.