Suburito

[wayofthesword]

I've been out of training for kendo for around six months now, I have a bokken, but I'm curious about the usefulness of suburi-bokkens. I have the idea that they are useful for building more strength while training. Any help?

[mark]

Google Tanren bo. Taylor sensei has a full how to article.

[xvikingx]

It's a good way to end up with tendonitis, especially if your forearms are not used to the repetitive motion. I would suggest very light weight training, to condition your arms, accompanied with suburi with your shinai or bokken if you must swing something.

[wayofthesword]

thanks a lot, Mark. That article is really helpful!

[wayofthesword]

so you think it's ok xvikingx, as long as I train for a while with a bokuto for a while before taking up the suburito?

[xvikingx]

so you think it's ok xvikingx, as long as I train for a while with a bokuto for a while before taking up the suburito?

The reason I advise against it is because just recently I got some bad tendonitis. My left forearm is sore to the touch, wrapped from elbow to palm in a half-cast, and I am out of kendo for 3 weeks (starting Sunday, I swear!:wink: ). I thought I would try to improve on my speed by adding suburi with a 1kg suburito to my regular training, and I am pretty sure that is what blew my arm out.

[wayofthesword]

yeah, Mark, that Tanren bo is HUGE! I just noticed in the pictures. It must weigh a ton, no wonder people get injured using it!

[Gessho]

Google Tanren bo. Taylor sensei has a full how to article.

That bo workout didn't seem to do much for his midriff....

[cesarekim]

Not sure you want to have "strength" as one of your objectives as you come back into kendo. Technique and speed are probably more important imo. Did you consider doing classic suburi in greater repetitions? Inoue Sensei once said he did 2000 suburi every day and this helped him when he challenged hachidan. I use a suburi shinai but mostly for warmup purposes. I don't do more than 50 reps and stop before if I am breaking form...

Funny thing I saw with a couple of hachidan sensei was that they were using a really light balsa wood bokken. This enabled them to see how tenouchi affected their swing and work on pure technique. It's an eye-opening experience to swing something this light as you see the directions your hands imprint on the bokuto.

hth

[Halcyon]

I third the opinion about not using something too heavy for suburi.

The point of suburi it not necessarily to develop "strength" in the upper body. If you do suburi correctly, a regular shinai is plenty heavy. IMHO, it's more about reinforcing good swing mechanics and good tenouchi. Good swing mechanics also involves good coordination between the upper and lower body, and swinging a very heavy suburito increases the risk that you'll ingrain bad swing mechanics. Don't forget that suburi is also a lower body exercise -- remember to pull up that left foot quickly and really stick it to create good ki-ken-tai-no-itchi.

[bobdonny]

I fourth the opinions here.... stay away from suburito.
I damaged my left hand (and fingers) with a suburito being used incorrectly. That was 5 months ago and i still have the issue.

On the flip side the damaged hand made me look at what was going on and try to sort it out much faster than if i was unhurt.

[ScottUK]

Go buy a chunky bokken and try suburi with that - it only needs to be a little heavier to make all the difference. My shinken weighs 150grams more than my iaito and if I practice for an hour with the shinken then swap to the iaito, it feels like a rapier by comparison....

[xvikingx]

suburito.. subu rito.. su bu ri to... sub uri to.. su burito.. burito.. burrito.. BURRITO!
I'm hungry.