Ways to improve.Urgent assistance required.

[PrinceOfori]

Okay, I'm trying to phrase this in a way that doesn't seem like naive rambling or simple impatience, I think you need to understand my background in Kendo to best assist me. I've been training for a year and a 2 weeks now and I've had 1 'real' match at mumeishi 3's last year(which I lost in 20 to 30 seconds). In January my sensei started teaching me the Kata and to be honest I'm finding it abit difficult. I can do the first 2 with ease but from 3 onwards its a real uphill battle. It feels as if my muscle memory is not picking up the movements, but I don't want to foster imperfections in my kata.

Secondly,shinai work, I simply need to get faster. I'm tallish (5.11" 6.0") really skinny(something that people constantly tell me) and I have pretty strong legs. I just can't seem to move fast enough! So please tell me things that I can do to increase speed and aid muscle memory.

Stats:
Age:17
Shinai Length: 39" (weight distribution seems a little off)
Grade:Haven't had a grading as of yet(have to learn all Kata first)
Dojo Training: I only train once a week, please tell me if I have to increase.
Stamina:Poor.I run often but my stamina is still very poor.Kirikaeshi speed is slow.

[Trent]

The best way to improve in kendo... keiko, keiko, keiko. I was recently told that to maintain your level of kendo, 2 trainings per week, to improve you will need 3. I do not know exactly how applicable this is, but I think that the more you train, the quicker you will improve (to an extent, of course)

Not overly helpful, but I do not think that there is any quick-fix answer. Just keep training and putting in the hard work, and you will eventually reap the rewards.

[b8amack]

Keep at it. You'll be fine. A year is nothing.

[tagonagy]

I'm not sure if I'm really qualified to answer your questions since I've been doing this only a few months longer than you, but here goes:

Firstly, patience grasshopper patience. Mastering Kendo is a LOOOONNNNGGGG term comitment. There's a reason why the 8th dans are in their 50's.
With regards to the Kata's, #3 does have rather complicated foot work. It and Kata #7 were the ones I had difficulty with. Just keep practicing - especially with the higher ranking members of your dojo.
Shinai work: When I first started sparring I thought that everyone else was faster than me, the senior students would strike my men before I could even lift my shinai. However, as the months passed, my swings became "faster" I started landing a few blows on my seniors, and when I sparred with the beginners, I could strike before they could react. I don't think my reflexes have gotten faster; but I've learned to read some of my opponents' moves. My swing has become smoother, with fewer pauses - making me "faster"
As for building stamina, I did hayasuburi as part of my daily workout. I started at 300 and over the past year have worked up to 1000. My stamina has gotten better, and my swing has improved.

Hope this helps.

[PrinceOfori]

Thanks so much for the help so far, please keep posting, the more information the quicker I can Improve.

[ben]

Go to training. Do your best. Go home. Eat and sleep well. Rinse and repeat as often as your schedule/budget allows. There is no short-cut.

Kendo has some milestones along the way (wearing bogu, shiai, gradings, first time you score a valid ippon on your sensei, etc, etc) but there is no final destination, no goal. It's a journey. That's why it is called a Way. In Japanese 道 (do, michi) This character also means road or path. So enjoy everything along the way: the good stuff and the bad stuff, it's the all beautiful scenery of your life. And it all goes towards making you better.

You could also check out this which I wrote for my students who occasionally have some tough kendo hurdles to get over.

b

PS - You get faster with practice due to a combination of relaxation and efficiency. But it only comes with practice.

[Neil Gendzwill]

Your title kind of gives it away. What's so urgent about it? You're very new to kendo and also at a great age to be learning - keep practicing, it will come. And enjoy being skinny while it's easy.

[D'Artagnan]

I agree with everyone that improvement will take time,

However, you will improve MUCH quicker than you currently are if you -

-Practice more, loads of keiko doesn't always mean you will improve, but once a week is not enough to improve to a decent standard. DON'T practice in only one single Dojo, there are LOADS in the London area. If I were you, I would be caning Mumeishi, Wakaba, Hizen, UCL, Tora, Imperial and anywhere else I could squeeze in. Oh yeah, and go to GB squad training, as you'll learn loads.
-Practice harder, do each pass of Kirikaeshi in one breath, even if it kills you. Don't stop for breaks, go for the short ques not the long ones, be DETERMINED to get better.
-Practice at home, do suburi - if you have been doing Kendo for a year, you should be able to do suburi at home without cocking up everything else.
-Look for people who are better than you, and play against them, as much as you can. Don't pick easy fights.
-Watch more Kendo - Youtube is your BEST FRIEND in Kendo.

[nodachi]

You may be pushing yourself harder than you should. If you can make the time for more practices each week, of course that would help. However, sometimes it helps to nicely ask your sempai or sensei how you are doing. I often find that people are much harder on themselves than they need to be and have often had to tell people at my dojo that they are better than they realize, that they are doing quite well for the short amount of time they have been doing kendo so far, and similar types of statements.

Remember, it is good to chase people who are better than you in the hopes of challenging yourself to improve, but be very aware that the standards that people measure themselves with change over time and you may be comparing yourself to standards that are way beyond you at this point. Push yourself, but don't put yourself down.

[hl1978]

lovely, i lost my post, here is the shorter version of what I wrote last time.

Are you learning anything from your seniors hitting you first? Are they telling you why they are hitting you first?

Better yet, are they showing you what you are doing that enables them to hit you first?

If they aren't, ask them.

I worked out with a student who has been in kendo for several years and had heard the comments I made to her more than a few times in the past. It was once I did a round of keiko in the same manner that she was that she began to understand how I was able to hit her first.

The following are potential problems related to speed and/or telegraphing common to less experienced kendo players. These all signal to your opponent that you are about to attack and provides opportunity for your opponent to hit you first.

If you are doing small waza you are pulling back before striking forwards.

You might be leaning before begining your strike.

You might be pulling up the rear foot before you strike.

You might be shifting your gaze to your target before you begin to strike it. I mean you look at kote before you hit kote, or men before you hit men.

[TheJRK]

Thanks so much for the help so far, please keep posting, the more information the quicker I can Improve.

What's the rush? Kendo takes a lifetime to get good at... you would get bored with it if you figured it all out in the first year.

As far as stamina goes... you need to do kakari geiko every practice until you die. When you aren't at kendo practice, run until you die. You say you run often but unless you are exerting yourself while running, it isn't helping you... unless you are just trying to get from point A to point B. You need to maintain your maximum heart rate in order to improve conditioning.

Shinai weight distrubution is off??? This has absolutely nothing to do with your speed in kendo, unless you are holding your shinai on the monouchi and hitting with the tsuka.

Keep working on that kata, that will help your kendo tremendously. And yes, if you can, go to practice more than once a week. Aristotle once said, "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act but a habit."

[Neil Gendzwill]

When you aren't at kendo practice, run until you die. You say you run often but unless you are exerting yourself while running, it isn't helping you... unless you are just trying to get from point A to point B. You need to maintain your maximum heart rate in order to improve conditioning.

This is just flat-out wrong. For one thing, you can only hit your maximum heart rate under certain conditions, and you can't keep it there for any length of time. For another, you get maximum benefit by doing the majority of your runs at a fairly easy pace, about 75% of max HR. Running training theory is definitely derailing this thread, but start by reading this and if you're interested in discussing it further we can start another thread.

Shinai weight distrubution is off??? This has absolutely nothing to do with your speed in kendo, unless you are holding your shinai on the monouchi and hitting with the tsuka.

I agree that absolutely he should not be looking in the direction of his equipment at his level. But saying it has absolutely nothing to do with it is misleading - different shinai design definitely have an affect on speed of certain waza, which is why many people prefer their shinai to be of dobari design and light in the tip.

[ender84567]

speed in kendo has less to do with physical speed and more to do with mental/physical readiness and efficiency of movement. Practice more and worry less, you've only been at it for a year, not even long enough to know what you don't know. I've been at it for 5, and that's just long enough to be dangerous and think I know what I dont know....

[kurisu]

There is no short cut. Just practice as much as you can and expect that it will take many, many years to get good.

[hl1978]

There is no short cut. Just practice as much as you can and expect that it will take many, many years to get good.

I would disagree, there are short cuts. Namely if you think critically instead of repeating the same thing endlessly. If you aren't asking questions or trying out different things to see if they work, you probably aren't learning.

This is true in both academics and martial arts.