Stomach contracted?

[kendokamax]

I was wondering if people contract their stomach when they play kendo?
I started to do it since a while and it seems it helps my kendo to get stronger (fumikomi etc). Also contracting the left side of the "derriere".

my arms and shoulders get more relaxed that way too.

but it is really tiring to keep that condition during a whole keiko. I guess just more active practice..

I was told many times to do kendo with my belly, but I never really understood how, now i feel like i somehow understood what people meant by that.

[mystic_kendoka]

my teacher was talking about that in the stage in Lille, today, she said that if you do kendo you should do stomach excercises like sit-ups, she said its useful for fumikomi and taiatari...

[Danny Boy]

Yeah, our instructors tell us to contract the abdominal muscles and the muscles of the lower back before while going through the strike. Keeping the hara strong.

And yeah, abdominal exercises are great for kendo.

[AlexM]

Maybe contracting the stomach is also related to the purpose of kiai. I've been told that proper kiai comes from "down low", as opposed to "from the throat".

So if you do proper kiai shouldn't you automatically have a contracted stomach?

Must try that out...

[amatsuda]

I think abs are the most overlooked muscle in Kendo...People just don't train them enough...A lot of people mistakenly focus their energies when doing supplemental training on swinging a heavier suburito, etc. without ever realizing the importance of strong abs and hara...this is where the balance and power come from...

I always make sure to include sit ups, crunches, flutter kicks, etc. into my workouts...It sucks but it pays off...

Abdominal training was brought up to me about 12-13 years ago from a friend of mine who was an olympic level gymnast. She watched a tournament of ours and her comment was that many people wasted precious chances to score because they did not tighten the abs and also the sphincter when striking...I don't know how she could tell...possibly how the body is postured or off balance....but even her assistant coaches and students said the same thing...

amatsuda
http://mywebpage.netscape.com/sjkendo