Speed and agility

[Parabellum]

Other than the regular training at the dojo what other things any of you would do, that is if you'd like to share to the forum, to train your speed and agility? I wish I could be as fast and agile like my cats when it's time for me to catch them for their regular bath. ;-)

Mike

[aru-ma]

Other than the regular training at the dojo what other things any of you would do, that is if you'd like to share to the forum, to train your speed and agility? I wish I could be as fast and agile like my cats when it's time for me to catch them for their regular bath. ;-)

Mike

ugh...last time I tried to catch my cat for a bath I hit my head on the table, didn't feel bery nice.... :hurt:

as for things I do outside the dojo (not necessarily to increase speed & agility), swimming, short jog + sprint (kinda hard when you do it in the city), carrying heavy shopping bags, trying to catch my friends cat when it runs out of the apartment.

[angryshinai]

Ive recently started jogging cos im a pritty big guy, nothing close to a marathon just 2-3 km on a sunday afternoon...It kinda clears out the cobwebs from a big sturday night :) I also work out at the gym 2 times a week. Recently ive changed my work out from heavy upper body excercises to working on my legs ie calf press and leg press.

[Charlie]

I think any exercise, when done with a committed spirit, will increase your speed and agility. I'm not sure! I started out in kickboxing and try to keep up with it and callisthenics/weights, and play a lil' judo in addition to kendo, my main passion, so I think I've become more agile from all of that. But speed I think comes from doing one thing well, over and over again. You shave off on excess movement. I don't think there's any way to become just generally fast, although my reflexes have really improved through martial arts.

[Nishi]

Boxing circuit...

Skipping, for cardio, fatburning, rythm, and timing.

Speed bag, for eye hand co-ordination, and hand speed.

Heavy bag, for shoulder strength, hip strength, and foot speed.

Shadow boxing, for overall co-ordination, footwork, cardio, and posture.

Reflex bag, for...reflexs :cross_eye

(Light)Sparring, for distance, pressure, movement with a partner, and technique selection.

I trained quite hard this summer in an amatuer boxing gym to get ready for a grading...kihon became easier and better, and i became faster in ji-geiko, not to mention confident and aggresive. I think the boxing circuit is a great compliment to kendo, especially the mid-body strengthening drills.

[Atama]

I second that the boxing circuit training is one of the most demanding forms of excersise I have ever done, plus punching the crap out of a bag is great for stress, next to hitting people with sticks of course.

[John W]

In kendo, my legs are typically getting the best workout apart from the old brain and heart and the old abdominals.

But I also try and get to the gym 3 times a week.

I workout for 20 mins on the exercise bike, rowing machine and cross trainer to get a decent sweat going. Then its time for strectching. After that onto the weights but I mostly concentrate on my abs- a solid tummy = good kendo!

By the way swiss balls are great for this!!

You also hear about sensei saying that by having a solid tanden (lower stomach area) your kamae will be strong and therefore your kendo will be strong- who am I to argue with an 8th Dan Hanshi?

[Miyu]

One of the best things for agility with your feet is DDR. It's both fun and you get get a cardio work-out. But I find that speed really comes with time and conditioning. Doing some strength training along with cardio training will help and eventually after some time you will notice your strikes getting faster and faster. I always tell my peers that form comes first and after you get the form down, speed will comes eventually.

[Charlie]

What's DDR?

Interesting about the boxing workout! I typically squeeze in a shadowboxing and bag session a week.

[aru-ma]

What's DDR?

Interesting about the boxing workout! I typically squeeze in a shadowboxing and bag session a week.

DDR is Dance dance Revolution, it's a dancing game where the 'buttons' are on your feet and you step on the buttons according to the music beats and direction on the screen (up, down, left, right). As the title suggests the music is dance music, the beats also differs according to the music.

It usually leave your legs tired after 1 or two music

[dorkusxmaximus]

try playing ddr until your legs feel like lead. I know mine has in the past. that game teaches you how to be light on your feet due to the speed of the arrows, unless you play an extremely slow song and in easy mode
(-____-)*. Haha it's kind of a good way to practice footwork ^_^.

[Charlie]

Oh! Gotcha. For a second I thought you meant the former East Germany, der Deutsche Demokratische Republik.

[nollaig]

for speed and distance in kendo
the answer is simple..(kind of like me!!!)

One leg subri
on the left leg
try do 50 on the left leg only!!!!
BURNING FUN

enjoy
Nollaig

[burger boy]

Interesting comments about the boxing circuit, could be something worth trying. Question though, I'm familiar with speed bags and heavy bags, but what does a reflex bag look like? Don't think I've ever come across one...

burger boy

[hamish]

Do a search on cross training, there've been some good threads on this topic before.

Hamish

[Nishi]

Question though, I'm familiar with speed bags and heavy bags, but what does a reflex bag look like? Don't think I've ever come across one...

Mabye you call it a "floor to ceiling bag"?, anyway its a ball/bag about the size of a medicine ball connected to the ceiling by a bungie and again connected to the floor the same way.....

Purpose...when you hit it, it flies back at you allowing you to practice your slipping and counterpunching...its great for rythm, timing and co-ordinating your movements with another object. Learning how to use it takes a while though, its an art in itself :confused2

[Charlie]

Personally, as a karate-boxer-kickboxer with a few years' experience, I find that some of the peripheral boxing exercises are of use only to someone who is really serious about their boxing and is working with a good coach who knows how to max out the benefits from such thing. But that's just my amateur opinion. I've mostly stuck to just shadow-boxing and heavy-bag work, never a speed bag or reflex bag or makiwara. My home workout is:

-partial stretch

-skip rope for 5-10 minutes (or, suburi!) plus any kind of callisthenics you want to do, sometimes sprints, to get the sweat flowing

-full stretch

-2 three-minute rounds shadow-boxing for form, hands and feet

-8 three minute rounds on the bag, dividing them up into groups if I want (ala, one round jab, one round jab-overhand, one round hooks, one round straight kick, one round roundhouse kick, etc. Usually the last two rounds I go balls out.)

-cool-down stretch

-water before, during, and after

-lots of James Brown on the CD player

:D

[Twobitmage]

sorry if its been said, but there are 2 types of muscle

type 1 is endurance, which you get from LONG jogs etc.

type 2 is more for speed and power(?) and like another poster said, sprinting, and other more "intense" exercises develop this kind of muscle

I have a link somewhere to a detailed article on it, if I can find it i'll post it

[monkeydo]

I remember reading in The Art of Expressing the Human Body by Bruce Lee (well Bruce really didn't write it... it was just compiled workout patterns and his view on "expressing the Human body" - complied by John Little.... anyways... i read that more strength one has, faster one can move.

*now my take on that is*
it is true that more strength one has, faster one can move. but strength also comes hand in hand with muscle (no matter what kind of muscle you have). So you'll just have to do a little calculus, maximizing the speed of the muscle movement against the weight of muscle.
...

[lwegerich]

Budo principle is to do things with the minimum effort necessary. Therefore it is utmost important to move with appropriate tension in your muscles. Not too much, not too little, just appropriate.

Most people in the beginning tend to use too much tension in their muscles which is like trying to accelerate a car while braking at the same time. You have two options then:

1) Apply more throttle to "overcome" the brake and eventually ruin it in the long run
2) Release the brake.

Approach 1) is typically a "western" approach, 2) is what all martial arts in the East are about.

It's that simple.

If you watch experienced Kenshin (about 4th Dan or higher) you can observe what I'm talking about.