How often do you get that feeling...

[Will]

Just curious, how often does everyone practice Kendo? and for how long (like, in hours per class). And do you guys get that "burn" after practicing a couple days in a row? And maybe, what was the longest you've done kendo non stop?(time or days)

[Will]

oh one last thing, do you guys feel like you're improving during the days that you feel "the burn?" I guess the burn is basically a lighter version of "the wall" Like, you can still practice, but your strikes lack that certain intensity.

[Matthew Lagden]

Surely you should allow your body time to recover between sessions? I do a specialist form of strength training (Keiser Training - very good for back and posture) and they recommend a 48 hour break between sessions of the same kind of exercise to allow the muscles to recover/grow.

Otherwise, they claim, you weaken the muscles. A sports masseur of my acquaintance concurs with this.

[JSchmidt]

Due to injury, only once a week in the moment, normally 3-4 times a week @ 1.5-2 hours + cycling on non-kendo days.
Friday is my rest (pub) day.

Jakob

[Charlie]

If I had my way, I would practice twice a week. As it is, with my pretty full-time life that includes my family, I practice kendo once a week and judo once a week and try to squeeze in a kick-boxing workout once a week. The only problem with this is I don't feel I do enough basic health/conditioning type stuff, such as running or swimming or light lifting. Sometimes I forsake judo for kendo practice in a given week, kendo is the primary art for me.

[durrell4]

I practice 2-3 times a week. With work and family it is hard to make more time than that. Before the nationals last month I was practicing 3-4 times a week.

[Charlie]

If I had my way, I would practice every morning for, like, an hour. Just an hour of wake up, stretch, kiri-kaeshi, jigeiko, kiri-kaeshi, and go take a shower and go to work.

[lewis]

As with Charlie, I have a full life and can only practice once a week as the dojos with more classes are too far away. But I lift weights three times a week and do suburi training (200 to 500) everyday with a suburito.

[alexpollijr]

Three times per week of approx two to three hours on weekdays and three hours on saturday. Longest practice ever was 4 hours and a half.

[David J]

Originally posted by Matthew Lagden
Surely you should allow your body time to recover between sessions? I do a specialist form of strength training (Keiser Training - very good for back and posture) and they recommend a 48 hour break between sessions of the same kind of exercise to allow the muscles to recover/grow.

Otherwise, they claim, you weaken the muscles. A sports masseur of my acquaintance concurs with this.

Certainly if you are aiming to build muscle, you must rest, as this is when the growth occurs. Putting excess strain on a muscle causes fine tears in it, which on re-growth cause an increase in muscle size and strength. Obviously if these tears get no chance to be repaired, you dont get growth. If you are simply working out for fitness or to increase aerobic / anaerobic perforance, you may not be pushing the muscle fibre itself to excess (regardless of how tired you may feel). I guess it depends on what you do in keiko as to whether your muscles get over-expended (as opposed to just heavily used). For example Suburito practice will probably increase muscle size, regular keiko...maybe not that much.

<rei>

Dave

[Justy]

I normally practice twice a week, both iaido and kendo, for a total of 5 hours practice each week.

When two high-ranking sensei from Japan visited Vancouver last year, there was one week when I practiced kendo every night (approx. 14 hours total). That hurt. I took the next week off.

I've done an 8-hour class, and it was one of my best practices ever. Actually, I did two 8-hour classes in one weekend, but I was terrible on the second day. Interestingly enough, I wasn't as sore as I had been after the week of short practices, but my feet BURNED for days!

[olaf]

Thrice a week; two 1.5-2 hr practices and one 2 hr kata session.

[kendokamax]

Minimum 3 times a week. Sometimes 4 when I visit an other dojo.

Now it is summer so we do only 1.5 hours per practice, and practices are really relaxed. Lot of jikeiko, 1 little shiai every practice.

During normal semesters we have 3 times a week( 2 hours practices). Also practices are a bit thougher during that time.

Since I started kendo I didn't miss many practices (maybe 5). I like kendo too much :o

!!It's a good thing you can make friends in a kendo club sigh..

[inner_cent]

I used to do minimum of 3, and sometimes 4 times per week. However, ever since I came back to my home country, i end up only train like 1 or 2 times per week. This is all affect because of my jobs.

Not sure how u all think, once the amount of training drop, seems my muscle get crampy easily, and also weight goes up as well......

*sigh*...........

[ben]

Minimum twice a week. I try and ride or do suburi in between trainings but it's hard with a young baby to look after. I find twice a week is not enough to maintain fitness in kendo without some cross training. I'm always fighting my own body as well as my opponent. If I train 3 or more times per week I very quickly notice not just the greater stamina, but my technique seems to fall into place better.

Most number of days in a row would have been at the Summer School in Kitamoto. I think we had one day off in 14.

b