Victoria Enaut is a Body Control Pilates teacher with over 10 years’ experience of teaching movement. She took up fencing as a hobby and quickly became interested in applying her knowledge of movement to the requirements of the sport, so as to help her fellow fencers with injury prevention and rehabilitation. She spoke to The Sword in November 2023.
“The main thing I’m noticing at my level with recreational fencers – some of them competing – is a lack of mobility of the hips and the spine as well as poor balance. With more advanced fencers, you find that they have trained so much in a sport that is so asymmetrical, that they suffer from imbalances which cause injuries. My aim is to help to set these off, whilst obviously accepting the fact that fencers will always be asymmetrical and that they have to be in order to be good at their sport.” she said.
“My focus is on increasing fencers’ performance by reinforcing good movement habits and improving their technical and physical fitness in a way that is most effective and efficient. I want to help fencers increase the range of movement of their hips, shoulders and spine and increase the stability of their ankles and knees. This in turn will feed into their general agility, balance and endurance.”
Pilates is a system of physical conditioning involving low-impact and low-intensity exercises designed to strengthen core muscles and improve posture, balance and mobility. Enaut previously worked with Beth Davidson, the founder of Fencing@Home who produced an online training programme during the pandemic.
The fencing experience has raised other issues. “It is important to understand that every body is different. For example, we now know that there is no point in insisting on the back leg being at a 90 degree angle. For some fencers, depending on the structure of their hip, it might just not be feasible, and will actually cause more problems than anything. As long as the person is able to fence efficiently without injury, then that’s great.”
“But there is still a lot of misconceptions based on old school beliefs: things like ‘knees shouldn’t go over your toes’. This is something that happens each time you go up and down the stairs! Instead, what we should be focusing on is strengthening the knees within their full range. I want to help fencers understand and be knowledgeable about biomechanics and what’s good and what’s not good for them.”
The Pilates method also emphasises a mind / body connection. By moving consciously, the practitioner can become quite mindful, which can have a very relaxing effect.
“Pilates is conscious movement which gets you to focus on yourself.” says Enaut. “Another aspect that I’m interested in is breathwork. Breath has a huge impact on our physical and mental health. Breathing better helps you in a variety of ways, including calming down the nervous system, which will help you in competition.”
“Pilates is not rocket science. It’s movement therapy. I’d really like it to be used more as a preventative measure. By getting people to move better and be more aware of their movement, be a bit more savvy about the way they move and what they can do in between sessions, hopefully people will not get to that point where their pain comes in the way of their game.”
Having previously run online classes, Enaut is now available for in-person or online sessions. Find out more about her via her website and Instagram, or email [email protected] ⚔️