Not to argue with anything, but after observing it for a while, I cannot treat HEMA seriously. And this is true about most of the "reconstruction" stuff. The problem is, that guys who "do" it are almost exclusively not the guys who would participate in city-level wrestling or even powerlifting competition. To say it bluntly, most of them don't have the most basic fitness level.

The point of that entire activity is to learn by experience what is doable/not doable with some historic tools, and hence derive, how these tools were probably used. But their learnings aren't very valuable, since it's pretty evident they aren't anywhere near of strength and coordination of a trained person. I would bet a fucking (professional) figure skater would beat them with a stick.

And this is super important, because the supposed original users of a given tool are almost exclusively supposed to be people trained to wield it daily from the childhood. Not to mention they wouldn't spend much time in front of a monitor ever.

Lots of people say this. Then they come to fighter practice, and when they can walk again, they tend to rethink their position.

The overall fitness level of reenactors isn't great! Granted freely! but: skill does mean something.

Mostly, also -- the people doing the most historical research tend to be the fittest. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afqhBODc_8U, e.g. are a pretty athletic bunch.

What does HEMA community refer to?

Historical European martial arts

Can be used on bears too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5rhOfa8Woc