Armour is Hot

 Greetings,

There is a certain amount of assumption that is made in regard to gear that is worn, especially when it is made of fabric that it will not affect a person particularly much; only rigid protective equipment, "real" armour is considered when the issue of heat and restriction is considered. This may not be a conscious thing, it may be a sub-conscious thing, I have found myself doing the same thing. Sometimes, especially during the hotter months of the year, we don't bother with the protective equipment during practice, for heat reasons. We get used to not wearing our protective gear and then when we do this is a problem. 

Armour is Hot

Our protective gear (PPE/Armour) needs to be taken into account.

Now, I've already had a discussion about the difference between protective gear or Personal Protective Equipment and armour. I am going to be lazy and bounce between "PPE" and "Armour" knowing the difference between the two. I will use both and "protective gear" assuming that my reader will understand what I am aiming at. 

Back to the subject at hand. This PPE adds extra layers of material and extra weight to what we are used to carrying when we are usually walking around, even usually clothed. It is heavier and warmer than the clothes that we usually wear, thus "armour is hot." We need to get used to this "heat" and the presence of this armour and get to a situation where our movements are not distracted by the presence of this gear, what's called "Armour Fit."

The military gets its trainees used to carrying a pack and their weapons by getting them to run obstacle courses while wearing the gear and carrying the weapons, so the soldiers are used to carrying the gear and using the weapon under all circumstances. This approach to armour fitness has been present in military training since the Romans indeed the tactician Flavius Vegetius Renatus, known more commonly as Vegetius wrote about this in his Concerning Military Matters. Part of it was even plagiarized as the "Poem of the Pel" in the Middle Ages. I am not suggesting that we should do such extreme training, however some of it might be of use to us, especially if we want to get really "Armour Fit".

If nothing else, we need to get used to the heat of the armour. We need to get used to simply wearing the armour as a part of our normal practice. This way, when we have it on for when we are bouting or competing in competitions, there will be substantially less restriction.

Training in Armour

So, am I suggesting that we should do all of our training in our PPE? Yes, mostly. Am I suggesting that we should do the training in all of our PPE? Well, maybe not all of it, all of the time. There will be times when masks are not required and maybe gorgets, however the more armour that you wear during the training, the more that you will get used to it, the quicker you will become used to wearing it.

"But that will tire me out quickly." Really? That certainly says something about your armour fitness if you can't go through a training session wearing the gear that you are supposed to be bouting or competing in, maybe this sort of training is exactly what you need to build up your endurance.

"But the armour is hot and uncomfortable." Then maybe this is your chance to get used to the heat that it supplies, and find the areas where it is uncomfortable so you can make some modifications. This equipment like any form of clothing should be made to fit the wearer, not just taken off the shelf and assumed it is going to fit.

During your first couple of times training in armour as described above you will have to pay close attention to your heat tolerance. Be very aware of any heat stress that you may be suffering and attend to it immediately. If you feel that you are beginning to suffer from heat stress, go sit down, drink water, remove some layers and rest for a while. Do NOT push it until you drop or dehydrate yourself. This will take some time to get used to and build up your tolerance. Besides if you do push until you drop, you are likely going to have to start at all over again as you recover and then build up again.

You will notice some quite interesting differences between being in armour and being out of armour. Maybe this might require re-learning some skills, or modifying them to suit while you are in armour. The armour will change your movements.

Armoured vs Unarmoured

You will notice that movements while wearing armour is different to not wearing it. This will change your actions. Likely one of the reasons you do not perform particular actions during your bouts is simply because you can't, because your PPE will not allow you to execute such actions. There is a significant amount of weight present and it is more bulky in different places this needs to be taken into account. While Musashi was talking about "real" armour, the same, in part, applies.

"You cannot profit from small techniques particularly when full armour is worn." 

Miyamoto Musashi Go Rin No Sho

Certain techniques may not work for you because of the PPE that you are wearing. You need to take this into consideration. What is even more interesting about this situation is that we are supposed to be performing an unarmoured art, yet we are doing it while wearing armour, in a lot of cases. This is going to make a lot of difference to the way that we can and cannot move.

This is especially the case when we look at a lot of HEMA combatants. They can't perform the correct actions because they can't move in the way that they need to because of their protective gear. Questions could be raised as to the reason that they need all the protective gear. It does not take all that much effort to damage an individual, so what is the reason for the hard blows? I think this is a matter for another article, or maybe one I have already discussed previously.

All a learning process...

This is all a learning process, but one that will be well worth your while. You have to learn what it is like to move in your protective gear, and your body has to learn to get used to the heat of the armour that is being worn. This is not a slow process and there will be some times, especially in the beginning, where you will need to slow down, not that this is a bad thing in training, so you can learn to cope with the increased stress.

If the armour gets too hot: stop, take a breather; even take the gear off if it is not required. The point being that the gear is there to protect you from harm, but if it is harming you then there is something that needs to be adjusted. The PPE has been proven to protect the individual, so it is really the individual that needs to change not the gear. The individual needs to get used to the heat and weight of the armour. Practice in the armour, get used to the heat and movement of the gear that you are fighting in so it presents less stress to your body and you will be a lot more comfortable when you fight, and you will be able to fight for longer.

Cheers,

Henry.

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