Sword swinging into shape

Finally, there's a killer workout for sword slayers.

It involves learning how they took one another down in Medieval Europe, and it's all in the name of getting in shape.

Blood and Iron Martial Arts in New Westminster is a Western martial arts studio that teaches the ancient - and almost lost - art of sword fighting.

And the training provides a vigorous workout, which is the reason Blood and Iron co-owner Nicole Smith picked up a blade in the first place. 

"I wanted to get fit, (but) I'm not a gym girl and running doesn't appeal to me," she says. "It's really good fitness. I dropped about three dress sizes, but I didn't lose any weight. So I basically just put on a bunch of muscle and shrunk."

Nicole and her husband Lee Smith teach people how to use swords as a part of their fitness regime.

During a visit to the studio, Lee and another instructor engage in a physically challenging sparring match with long, heavy swords that swoosh as they cut through the air and clang when they come together. The back-and-forth dance is done in full protective gear, including face covers.

Nicole and Lee started their business about seven years ago. In the beginning it was more of a "study group," she says. Classes were held in a church hall, but eventually it was time to have a more legitimate base, and they opened shop on Front Street.

After a couple of years, they outgrew those digs and moved up the hill to Carnarvon Street - a space that is three times the size and can accommodate their growing business, which caters to people from all walks of life.

Space is important to the classes because large swords are used for training and sparring. While it sounds potentially dangerous, participants are safely suited, Nicole says.

"Most of these people are looking at fitness, but something different – (they’re) not so much interested in the gym or going out for a jog," she says.

It is generally a mixed bag of clients, but history buffs are drawn in.

"We (do) get the people who have been looking for this for a long time - they are the Game of Thrones fans, the Vikings fans, Lord of the Rings people that look at sword fighting on the screen and say this is really awesome, I'd really like to do that," Nicole says.

The sword scene has grown over the years, Nicole says.  

"It started with the sword swinger movies - Lord of the Rings was a good one. It sort of just built in from there," she says.

The challenge for those who enjoy the combat style of Medieval and Renaissance Europe is that a lot of the history has been lost. But the Internet has helped the keeners find one another, and the scene is growing, specifically around international sword-fighting competitions.

"Five years ago, there was maybe three or four national events that you could go to, now there are more events going on than we could possibly hope to attend," Nicole says.

And the Blood and Iron reputation has grown with it.

"We've gone from paying to go to conferences to being invited to teach and run tournaments," Nicole says.

And when they do turn up at tournaments, they tend to take home honours. They recently returned from the SoCal Swordfight in Huntington Beach, California with six medals in the four categories their team members performed in.

The SoCal Swordfight is an annual event for historical European martial arts practitioners and draws more than 150 participants and is one of the larger North American events.

Blood and Iron Martial Arts also offers kids classes, including upcoming summer camps for eight to 13-year-olds. The kids use foam swords.

"We don't let them have steel or hard plastic," Nicole explains.

Each day in the camps they will focus on a different period in history Vikings, Romans, knight, guild. Along with the history lessons, the kids will get a legitimately old-school workout.