Meyer's Hierarchy of Defense

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Published on August 26, 2025 12:00:25 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ8AUqssUJk

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"The first is that you only counteract in the common way, due to fear and without any specific advantage, in which you then do nothing except hold your weapon in opposition to your counterfencer, such that you catch the strikes as they occur from your opponent. Also, you do not desire to damage them; it is solely sufficient that you can withdraw from them without injury.
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Firstly, when you proceed to move your counterpart’s strike aside or rebuff it with a cut, and after you take their frontal defense, you rush their body with a cut.
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The other type of counteraction is that you simultaneously counteract and injure your counterpart, which the Old Masters then praise as deservedly superb."

Meyer technically sorts these in a Type 1, 2a & 2b sort of way, but I figured dividing them out as a clean 1-3 would be a bit easier to digest.

Translation by Rebecca Garber

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