I do love me some good Lindybeige. Thought I'd add some good commentary here: He does a lot better than I'd expect, and I actually see some reasonably decent techniques in there. I wouldn't say these are an easy weapon and they really do struggle against longer weapons because these are more a side-arm than primary weapon for land-troops, and more like a pair of hangers for the naval versions. He does get a fair amount of doubles and after-positions which I think might have done him in but all in all he lands some decent blows. He's prevented from doing thrusts for safety reasons. Likely also why he's not attacking the neck. I'm surprised incoming thrusts weren't more of a problem for him. I expect he'd do much worse against a lighter weapon with more tip play like a rapier or smallsword. I'm also surprised that his opponents didn't clue in to attacking, and then feinting to the leg to draw him low, which really is a weakness of the short blades when fighting longer weapons, especially if you leave a leg forward. A large shield is something I've never had the chance to try against but I suspect it would give FAR more trouble given it can just passively cut off an entire side of the body from attack....at least initially....given these weapons were common when people also commonly used medium sized shields. Given what I just said I also for a long time have found it surprising that the wing chun repertoire doesn't include techniques for dealing with shields. He hits himself in the wrist once...which is an actual danger. His criticisms about the defensive nature of most people's training, focusing on countering and not on attacking is entirely valid. Many schools simply train that way. The wu dip do do have attacks for you to initiate but I think a lot of the defensive focus with them really is a result of not encountering weapons shorter, meaning you're closing on someone with a longer weapon, and therefore are usually going to have your opponent react before you reach them. Mostly, it's just nice to see people doing some live-work with the do. It would be neat to see some which could be used to harder contact and thrusting, but I'm not sure that's possible as the extreme flexibility needed to make a short blade like that safe enough for full contact would cause significant issues in being able to resist, deflect, and block opposing weapons.
I don't really like Lloyd as a presenter, but I do have a lot of respect for his journey from typical reenactment guy who thinks he knows a lot about fighting to someone who actually trains.
