i suck at kendo

[hammock]

geez.. i was loving this sport for the past couple years...

it felt good cause i always had this feeling that i was improving slowly, steadily... getting positive feedback from my sensei.

and bam, for the past couple months i feel like i've gone backwards in the learning curve. I'm starting to "think" too much in keiko, and the more frustrated i get, the more i'm losing confidence in what i'm doing.

i'm going through a crappy spell in my kendo, it's losing it's fun, but i love it too much to quit.

i'm sure many of you have experienced kendo "slump" before, any suggestions to break out of it?

:disapp:

[Nishi]

kakari-gieko till you drop! Do it with a buddy at the end of every class and punish yourself for saying silly things.

On a positive note...your kendo is about to get better. We studied this in my kendo coaching workshop, you actually "slump" for longer periods the longer youve trained, and your gains are smaller if youve been at it a while....factors are age, life, and fitness etc.

Beginners make the biggest gains with smaller spells of "slumps", while advanced kenshi can wait years for gains, but "level out"for the bulk of the training. The plateau(sp?) is broken by "new learning" meaning you have to find new ways to learn the same information.

Personally, i use different dojos as they all teach differently, i seem to minimize my plateaus(sp?)

[Rawoo]

I suck too, especially when playing with bossy Korean chicks.

[xvikingx]

I get into slumps every once in while too. Its a bad feeling but what helps me is going to practice at a different dojo. That usually snaps me right out of it.

[Neil Gendzwill]

Everybody slumps, keep slugging.

[aru-ma]

I had a slump that lasted me for about 3 and a half months, I've had slumps before but it usualy last for about a week or two. In the end it just passed and I felt better and my kendo is improving even more.

a slump is good in a way, it lets you see how your kendo is at its worst, and when you get another slump later you can compare how much you worst kendo has improved. In short, you can see how your lowest standard have imporved.

[kendomushi]

A slump is a good time to reinforce and perfect your basics. Focus on the basics and you'll soon come out of the slump refreshed and knowing you are back in the groove. I've found that if a slump gets really bad, it sometimes even helps to stay away from kendo for a week or two. The time off tends to eliminate bad habits that might have been forming, give you time to clear your head, and when you come back, your basics come to the fore and push you right along.

[qpuppy]

I agree with kendomushi... even though I havent been in kendo for a long time... I feel at the current moment I am getting into abit of a slump too...

I notice it when somehow my kendo began to change abit.. and something new or improving an aspect to your kendo tend to put you into that position... so hang in there.... it's all part of kendo.. and every other things we do... there is always ups and downs.. but if you hang in there... the good results will show...

cheers

[hammock]

i think part of what is wrong...
is you stop thinking what you are doing right, and your mind is full of everything you are doing wrong...

oh well.. gotta keep hacking away at it, hopefully it will pass.

[Rawoo]

Nobody is perfect, lol

[emitbrownne]

but thats why I keep training... in the hope of getting better.

Stick with it :)

[Hongsermeier]

All of us below the rank of Hachidan suck to some degree. Just keep trying and you will suck less. I remember when I started, I didn't think I"d ever win one round in a taikai. Now I'm starting to get trophy's. Next year another step up to Shodan and it's back to the bottom of the pile. :cross_eye

[sminki]

Hammock, I know exactly how you feel. I think everybody in this forum who's trained kendo for longer than a few years knows this feeling because at first you hit the learning curve rapidly then slows down. As someone pointed out, longer you've trained, longer are your slumps. But don't think of it as slumps but rather the preparation stage to get to the next level. At some point, your kendo becomes not a linear curve upward, but a step function. Meaning you hit a level then your kendo stays at that level or even regresses a little then you hit the following level and so forth. Honestly, despite having experienced these, I'm still worried about upcoming "slumps" just because I know that they'll be longer and more difficult. But we all gotta push on...

[Rawoo]

It's irrelevant to measure who is good or who sux at Kendo I think, coz everyone is doing their own version of Kendo, and everyone's Kendo is different from one another, u shouldnt be too negative or too positive, my opinion is u should know ur Kendo well.

[AlexM]

I said this to Nodachi once and I'll say it again to you:

You suck.

Just quit. Save us from hearing about how much you suck. Your kendo is slow, weak and you just can't handle it. The God of kendo has looked down upon you and said: "Thou shalt not do men!" (which is how Christian fundamentalists mistakenly thought He was condemming homosexuality).

It's time to hang up your shinai and take up ping pong.

Crying yet?

Seriously, what the Hell is with this lovefest of a post? Can't you people be negative anymore? :D

Everybody slumps at one point, maybe you should stop for awhile and then come back to give yourself a fresh perspective, that really does help sometimes. I've only been doing kendo for less than two years and I can feel myself "leveling off" to a certain extent: It's tougher to improve now that I have to correct the details, and then the details in the details and then the details of the details in the details, etc...

Even hachi dans have their "off" days, sometimes all of their days are "off" if you catch my drift.

[Phlebas]

I find it helps me to remember that these slumps are almost always a precursor to a notable improvement.

Learning a musical instrument can be very similar in terms of frustration and improvement -- large amounts of the former and few of the latter, which becomes even more evident the longer you practice. There are giddy rushes of progress at the beginning, but after that you must face expansive plateaux before each incremental breakthrough. It almost seems like skill itself is slowing you down! Kind of like fitness -- the fitter you are, the harder it is to give yourself an effective workout, which you need to keep you in top condition.

Push harder when you feel you are in a slump... it usually means you are ALMOST at the next milestone. Unfortunately when you are in a slump it's harder to make yourself go to practice, but it's the most important time to go.

Good luck!

[samurai999]

Just remember that everybody has peaks and plateaus like any other sport. You'll have your bad weeks and your good weeks. Just keep trying.

Tim

[KATSUJIN]

i recently had a slump for abt 4 + mths......couldn't cut properly....almost everyone can whack me.....and then I just forced myself out of the slump by refusing to think abt it.....it seemed to have to worked for me......

[Rawoo]

When u have a slump maybe u can try only to do Kiri kae ashi during training sessions for a couple of weeks, do nice big men cuts, do it slowly first speed up gradually, when u get ur feelings back then go back to shiai lol, I am trying this now, not sure it will work lol.

[Atama]

I constantly feel like I'm in a slump, more so recently coz I have nidan test this weekend. One thing I found helped is video taping myself in class (if your sensie is ok with it) I did it mainly to see what I was doing wrong, but on studying the tapes not only did I see where I needed to improve but I saw that I didn't fence half as badly as I thought I had on the night.

Slumps come and go but 9 times out of 10 you find your not as bad as you believe yourself to be.

[sminki]

Originally posted by Atama
Slumps come and go but 9 times out of 10 you find your not as bad as you believe yourself to be.

Good point by atama. Your atama is pretty good atama. :D

Also, in a slump like situation, you also find yourself doing better after a shiai or a promotion test. This may be more of a mental thing provided by a catalystic event, but I think it's true.

Atama - good luck on your nidan test.

[moocow65]

i always went through one in february. february of 2001, i got fed up and started nito. haven't really had a slump every since. meh, worked for me. i also agree with what alex said.

[PhilMcLaughlin]

Whoever said that you are the best judge of your own kendo ?

YOU may feel in a slump - your sensei may be pleased that you are transitioning from one level to another - you could ask.

Unless you are injured this is NOT the time to back off for a while - get stuck in, grit your teeth and go to practise even though your expectation is for another 'slump' night

At some point during this period of training you will suddenly find something start working and your kendo will lift.

One of the key reasons people quit kendo after a year / couple of years is that they hit this kind of problem and lack the mental resolve to get through it. You can get through it if you want to.

just keep training

cheers

[m_french]

I agree with what phil said about sticking to it! I recently took two weeks off for vacation and found my already questionable kendo went from bad to worse and my lack of conditioning made me feel like a turd. I still don't think I've gotten what little rythym I had back, but my conditioning is slowly comming back.....don't suppose it helped that on vacation I drank myself stooooopidd! Anyways I think that working through your slump and practicing on one technique you want to improve on each practice will help you see improvement.:beard:

[John W]

I am going for my 2nd Dan next month and I cannot admit that I have felt a slump in my kendo.

It really is all in your head.

Whenever I feel that my kendo is not at its best I just tell myself to totally not accept this as the fact. I push harder until I am pleased with the results.

I would go as far to say that some of the best kendoka's I have met do not give in no matter how bad things are.

I think you learn all the time in kendo no matter what grade you are.
If you are a 4th Dan for example and say you are not learning anything or not getting anywhere that is just plain arrogance.

[PhilMcLaughlin]

Jonn W

What you are feeling is probably less a slump in your kendo & more a relaisation that your kendo could do with improving ;-)

pre grading anxiety makes you start finding the faults youve been trying to ignore since the last one but all of a sudden there they are & you can see them too

Its a good time to dig into the depths of spirit and try to lift yourself a bit. Ideally wed all be doing this every moment of practise but for most of us this just isnt realistic (but its still a good goal.)

Ive come to see this as the norm rather than the exception - rukle 1 applies - just keep training (unless injured)

Good luck with your grading

[kendomushi]

My thoughts after my first year of kendo: I suck at kendo.

My thoughts after my tenth year of kendo: I suck at kendo, but not nearly as much as I did in year one.

That's why we practice, to try and suck less than we did. Kendo is as much about fighting and beating yourself as it is about beating the opponent.

[13th warrior]

I suck as well.

[Winter_Wolf]

Hello,
Well look at it this way, your in the extreme!
I mean some kendoka stay in the same spot, never really getting better but not falling behind either, so now your different, which means your not in the lukewarm (sp?) area, which means you have the chance to improve!

P.S.: I suck to...
Thanks,
W.W.

[Kiki]

When I begin to focus on fixing a flaw often one of the old ones sneaks back or I start getting hit a lot during practice. It's like going backwards. Some days I feel good about my kendo and most days I feel like a slow, old fool. I have to remind myself I am in this for the long haul because I love kendo.

Like in Life, we have to master our minds so we don't defeat ourselves in the long run. Keep challenging and don't give up. Also if you can encourage other kenshi in your dojo who are struggling you will encourage yourself at the same time.

Hong - I am in the same boat as you. I feel like I am looking up at a big mountain and can't rest until I get to the top.

PS My kata sucks too

[hammock]

i don't suck anymore.
:nervous:
hammock's back