2012-03-06 22:31:00
As awesome as last week's training went, so humbling was today's experience. Not even into the fifth round of kihon practice I had to bow out. I simply couldn't lift my shinai anymore and was out of breath. I tried to push myself during the fourth round, which is why I made it through the fifth one, but after that I was gone :(
The first two rounds were kirikaeshi, which went alright. In the first one my partner unexpectedly had strikes like a mallet, so my men took some rocking and shaking! Rounds three through five were men-strikes, without end: A does three, B does three, lather-rince-repeat. That's when I bowed out. After gathering my gear and commiting my first faux pas of the evening (sitting down while others practice), Roelof-sensei quickly pulled me into the beginners' group.
With the beginners' group we practiced men-strikes and dou-strikes. First starting with the left foot and passing left. Then starting in normal kamae, but still passing left. And finally the dou strike as we're used to.
There were plenty of things that were just plain wrong.
I am -very- glad that I joined the Amstelveen group for the tuesday night! Not only is it highly educational, but it helps me find more and more flaws in my kendo. And of course it's just great exercise. With regards to my stamine, Marli rightly points out that "well, maybe you should just start lifting those damn weights and run more!". When she's right, she's right ^_^
kilala.nl tags: kendo, sports,
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Posted by Thomas
I think I may have missed one or two :D There sure is a heck of a lot of stuff that comes your way during a training, especially with perceptive teachers! What I usually do is make a quick voice memo on my phone right after class, so I don't forget the key points.
I also emailed Raoul-sempai about the lady whose name elludes me. He gave me an obvious and simple answer: "why not just walk up and introduce yourself next time?"... Duh! I really -do- rely upon email waaaay too much, don't I?
Posted by ZvA
Even though I'm aware this is going to be "unsolicited advice", I'm trying to learn from it as much as you are, so please tell me if you (or anyone for that matter) disagree. But maybe I can say a few valid things about those pointers you received, since I used to receive them too:
1 - Breathe deeply with -every- strike, but not so deep that you have to put in extra effort to do it, it still has to feel natural. This means that you'll be doing a -lot- of breathing for hayasuburi.
2 - Pay careful attention to doing the techniques properly -especially when you are tired- if you do this your technique will become more and more fluid everytime.
3 - no comment there.. if your grip is too tight it will use up more energy to move your shinai around so do as he says. In fact, if you read that blue kendo book, you can see in one of the final chapters that the pros only have a tight grip the moment they hit a target. So that's virtually zero energy used for gripping.
4 - This depends on who you're talking to. When I watch your clip it does seem like you're somewhat high with your strike, old and/or dutch people will say you should lower your left arm (so the technique becomes smoother), while Japanese teachers will say you should relax your right arm (so your reach and final posture will be more extended and relaxed).
5 - This is a very common problem in the beginning, using your right hand too much will actually cause you to become slower and it will reduce your reach. What you want to aim for is that you can do a proper men strike without having to use your right arm. You can train this by, obviously, not using your right arm while doing suburi.
6 - Well you know how to solve this, try to keep the shinai between the shoulders of your opponent. But dou is a very difficult strike anyway, so don't worry if you're having a difficult time with it.
7 - Don't get too frustrated with yourself, be patient and all will come together at some point.
8 - Yeah that's something koseki would say, although machi is usually the one leading the mokusou. Anyway, it's nicer if you do as she says, i guess judges will award you an ippon faster.
9 - :P I really wonder what the consequences of something like this will be in korea or japan..
Posted by Thomas
Hi Zi :)
Thanks for the feedback and your thoughts on the matter. I obviously welcome all opinions. There's definitely food for thought in what you write!
One of the things I'll definitely need to do is daily practice at home: suburi and weights. I hate getting "pudding arms" so quickly.
Posted by ZvA
The reason of you getting pudding arms is not the lack of strength but the lack of technique. Doesn't matter if you've got arms like a body builder or like a skeleton, no technique = no endurance. This is one of the reasons why elderly people can still do better kendo than those who are in the prime of their lives, those old folks just have more skill. So don't worry about those weights for a while, focus on your swing instead.
If you want to practice suburi at home see if you can make a small shinai. I constructed one by basically cutting it in half and adding a steel bar inside to make it the same weight as before. The trick is to make sure the center of gravity remains the same. (I think i can bring it with me when i train on tuesdays. There's also a te-no-uchi exercise that's very useful that i will show you when i can.)
Posted by Thomas
Thanks for clarifying :)
I've heard of the idea of making a shorter suburi shinai, but luckily my attic is high enough to actually swing a shinai :)
And seeing how the weather's getting nicer, we can also moved it into the backyard again :D
All content, with exception of "borrowed" blogpost images, or unless otherwise indicated, is copyright of Tess Sluijter. The character Kilala the cat-demon is copyright of Rumiko Takahashi and used here without permission.
2012-03-07 12:57:00
Posted by Menno
Good! :)
btw; how the hell do you remember all those pointers you get each training? I count nine! :)