One Sharp Workout: Fence Yourself in (Shape)

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If for no other reason than to feel like a star of the Zorro sort, you may find fencing a sport worth pursuing. But there are other reasons to think about giving it a try. For me, a recreational fencer who took up foils well after my reflexes had seen better days, one of the big attractions is that fencing entails all the tactics and footwork of boxing without that annoying business of being punched in the face. In fact, the mask that allows us to keep our good looks unmarred is what gives the fencing its name: For instance, the Italian term for the sport, scherma, derives from a verb meaning "to screen."

Another appealing aspect of fencing is that it's a terrific workout. Fencing classes inevitably start with practice footwork, and because the basic position for both attacking and defending is a straight back with bent legs, there's no better way to strengthen and firm up those delinquent thighs. An hour of fencing instruction is a great cardio conditioner, and the tactics of actual matches (which, depending on the instructor, may start before too much time is spent on fundamentals) are good exercise for the mind as well as the body. Think of it as chess with blades.

More accurately, it's like speed chess. Unlike the swordplay we are used to seeing in swashbuckler movies, which is more choreography than dueling, fencing is lightning fast, and the points scored tend to come very quickly. The time limit for a fifteen-point match is only nine minutes, and bouts rarely go the full distance. Touches are so rapid, in fact, that some kinds of fencing utilize electrified weapons and vests that indicate pointscoring hits on a wall-mounted board.

Three forms of fencing exist, determined by the type of weapon used. The foil has a flexible blade about a yard long and weighs less than a pound, making it a nimble, quick weapon. Foil fencing has many rules and a limited target area (torso only), and the foil is almost always the beginner's first weapon. The epee is about twice as heavy, and the target area is the entire body, including the head. The saber, descended from the weapon cavalrymen wielded from horseback, is a relatively large weapon with a wide handguard. Saber fighters can score with either the point or the side of the blade against any part of an opponent's body above the waist.

Though fencing has an elite reputation (probably engendered by all those powder-wigged aristos crossing blades in the movies), it is anything but. Fencing clubs are located all over America -- there are twenty-six in Illinois and twenty-two in Virginia, for example -- and most offer beginning classes and club equipment. And, because fencing depends more on brains, agility, and stamina than on size and strength, women can compete with men without disadvantage. In fact, the ladies who lunge make up a significant portion of most clubs. My longtime instructor is a woman, a lawyer who was a competitive fencer in college. She is a foot shorter than I and weighs (I'm guessing) sixty pounds less. But beating her in even one bout is a goal I'm quite sure I will never accomplish.