Four Training Lessons from the World's #1 Ranked Epee Fencer

Sera Song is the number one ranked women’s epee fencer in the world — and her training is worth studying not because of the specific exercises she does, but because of the principles embedded in how she does them. Four details stand out.

1. All Lower Body Work Is Done Barefoot

Every lower body movement in Song’s sessions is performed without shoes. For fencers, this matters more than it might for athletes in other sports.

The feet are the fencer’s primary connection to the piste. The quality of footwork — the precision, the balance, the reactive capability — begins at the foot. Spending training time in tight, narrow athletic shoes that restrict natural foot mechanics works against this connection. Training barefoot, or in minimal footwear, allows the foot to function as it was designed: toes splayed, arches actively engaged, the entire structure contributing to balance and force transfer.

Over time, barefoot strength training develops the intrinsic foot muscles and the proprioceptive sensitivity that improve footwork quality on the strip.

2. Training the Movement Patterns, Not Just Exercises

Song performs what look like different exercises across her sessions. What they share is adherence to the four fundamental movement patterns: a squat or lunge movement, a hinging movement, a clean or power movement, and pulling movements.

The specific exercise within each pattern matters less than consistently getting stronger at each pattern over time. Whether the squat is performed with a barbell, dumbbells, or a machine — the adaptation is in the pattern. Fencers who understand this are free to build fencing training programs around whatever equipment is available without losing the benefit.

3. She Trains Strength and Power Differently

This is where many fencers make a significant error. Strength and power are distinct physical qualities, and they require different training approaches.

When Song performs strength movements — machine squats, Bulgarian split squats — the loads are heavier and the speed is lower. This is not a lack of intent. Heavy loads at controlled speeds build absolute strength: the ceiling from which everything else develops.

When she performs power movements, the load drops to approximately 50% of maximum, and every rep is executed at maximum speed. The intent is completely different. Power training at heavy loads is not power training — it becomes strength training with poor mechanics.

Fencers who train all movements at the same intensity and speed are likely developing neither quality optimally.

4. Her Accessory Work Is Logical

Song’s accessory exercises are chosen with clear purpose: adductor strengthening with the leg cross machine, hamstring knee flexion with the yoga ball glute bridge leg curl, and mobility and balance work drawn from functional movement patterns.

The contrast with what often passes for accessory work — novel exercises chosen for their novelty, Instagram-driven movements with unclear mechanical rationale — is stark. Song’s choices target the specific muscles and movement qualities that fencing demands: hip stability, hamstring resilience, and single-leg balance.

A Session Structure to Apply

Based on Song’s approach, a logical training structure for fencers would be:

1. Mobility and balance — warm-up, movement preparation
2. Power movements — light loads, maximum speed, three to four reps per set
3. Compound strength — heavier loads, three to six reps, full recovery between sets
4. Accessory work — targeted, purposeful, eight to twelve reps

The sequence matters. Power work done before fatigue accumulates produces the highest quality output. Strength work after power work is still highly effective. Accessory work at the end, when the nervous system is already trained, finishes the session with controlled, technical movements that reinforce the main lifts.

Song trains at the highest level in the world. The principles behind her training are accessible to any competitive fencer willing to apply them with the same consistency.

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Related: The Olympic Gold Medalist’s Strength Routine — Giulia Rizzi applies the same four movement patterns with a similar power-first session structure. How the #1 Ranked Junior Epee Fencer Trains for Speed — Mahmoud Elsayed’s speed and agility session to pair alongside strength work like Song’s.

The Hybrid fencing training program at Fencing Strength applies Song’s exact principles — power first, strength second, accessory work last — across a balanced 3-day split that develops every athletic quality simultaneously.