How Heavy Is My Sabre?
By Lawrence
Answering one of the many odd questions I received, “How heavy is the sabre you mentioned in your post about your exercise practice?” What they are referring to is a piece I wrote last year, Back to Rigorous Exercise Regime and Planning for Next Year. Obviously these readers must be some kind of exercise or martial art enthusiasts.
The feature image of this post is my practice sabre. It weights about 10 pounds, custom made by one of my Tai Chi teachers for his own practice. The whole thing is cut from one piece of metal all the way to the handle. It is tip heavy meaning that by design the front part of the sabre is two times as heavy as the handle end.
The sabre is just the base for the add-ons. I have magnets each weighting from 2 to 5 pounds that can stick on the side of the sabre to increase the intensity of my training. When I was younger I can manage my practice effectively up to a total weight of about 30 pounds.
It is a fun toy to play with as the sabre does not have a sharp edge like a real sabre. Similar to the dumbbells we use in weight lifting, dropping this onto your feet can cause serious damage. Hence it is important to not overload myself with weight that I cannot handle.
A normal practice sabre weights about 2 to 3 pounds. A real sabre made with steel is usually about 3 pounds. My friends who are very into body building cannot effectively manage this practice sabre with the simple posture of just lifting it horizontally with arm extended sideway. It is not because their arms are not strong enough, it is their wrists are not trained to handle the dead load coming from the extended centre of gravity away from the body.
