We have been taking a long hard look at Wechsel lately and have come to the conclusion that we’ve been doing a few things wrong. Most importantly, we’ve been allowing our arms to hang low and fully extended. But if you look closely at the illustration, Meyer doesn’t do that.

As you can see, his lower hand is at roughly his hip level, the upper hand nearly to the sternum. By keeping the hands high like this, our cuts are tighter and faster with less chance of exposing the hands and forearms.

Other things to note:

The feet are inline

The back foot is turned out slightly more than 90 degrees

The weight is forward with the front knee over the front toe

The whole body is leaning forward such that the lead shoulder is over the lead foot

The long edge is turned back

The right hand is at the level of the hip or groin

The left hand is very loose on the pommel

The left hand is about level with the sternum

Both arms are bent

The point is on or near the ground

Jonathan’s Thoughts on Meyer’s Wechsel

John’s Thoughts on Meyer’s Wechsel