shinai feels heavier

[meow]

Hi,

I did not know how to discribe this any better: my shinai feels like it´s getting heavier.

Ok, I will try to explain a bit more: I am a bloody beginner (startet about six weeks ago). I try to practice suburi at home as often as I can. I always felt that the shinai was pretty lightweighted and I had no problems to do about 100 suburi in a row without feeling any effort. (maybe I could also do 200 or 300, haven´t tested that...)

Now I am trying to use my whole body when I make a cut. I try to "open up" my chest and make a fluid movement when doing ashi sabaki.

When I did my suburi practice this morning, I felt it harder then the times before. Usually I do sets of 50 joge-buri, then 50 naname-buri, then 50 suburi men etc...with a short break and stretching between each set. This morning I found it a bit hard after doing only 30 and I had to really concentrate or I would completely mess up the swing. (I mean mess it up even more then I do as the bloody beginner I am...) I also feel that the backside of my shoulders seemed to have done a lot of work.

Is this a common experience? Does it feel different maybe because I am using more muscles now instead of just chopping with my arms?

Is this a good sign or am I doing something completely wrong? Am I just cramped up?

Anyhow I have the chance to see my kendo teacher on Tuesday. I will talk to him if this won´t get better till then.

Any advice about this would be really a great help.

Thank you

meow

[Will]

ever trying lifting at the gym one set of muscles (such as bis ) and the next day doing it again?

you'll be suprised on how much less you can lift.

[Anderzander]

Hello



I would say that there are a number of possibilities and all of them are ok.



It is more than likely that your focus is improving and as you say, you are putting more and more into it. As a simple example - doing press-ups with perfect form - completely straight body, elbows kept in to the body, down until the nose touches the floor and then up until the arms are straight - requires a substantial increase in the amount of effort required compared to just pushing yourself up and down.



As Will said it could be that it is a residual tiredness from previous training.



You will have days where your focus is good, where it isn't, where the body is good and where it isn't. Training has a rhythm and it ebb's and flows.



hth

[Wout]

maybe you are doing it faster than you did before. Your shinai hasn't become heavier but you are just putting more effort in your suburi's and even though a shinai is very light, it has a certain wheight which means tha faster you want to move it the more power it requires to move it, like any other object.

[meow]

Aaaargh....

woke up this morning with an aching back. Damn....I seem to do something terribly wrong.

I will stop doing suburi and speak to my kendo teacher on tuesday. i hope that a few days rest (only slight aerobic workout) will help it.

thanks for the replys so far...

greetings

meow

[Wout]

hmm maybe you should stretch more after you did suburi's, or you just did more than you are able to do, which is good cuz if you do more than you could every time you will always go further. Unless you over use a muscle, on which case you are boned. word of advice: If you start feeling pains other than stiffnes, especially in the end of your muscles where it connects to the bone, go see a doctor or at least treat it. My sis had it in her hamstring from gym and it was 6 months no gym or other sport in 6 months.

But mostly stretching is the answer, or time and patience, or moving them, but not to fast.

[meow]

hmm maybe you should stretch more after you did suburi's, or you just did more than you are able to do, which is good cuz if you do more than you could every time you will always go further. Unless you over use a muscle, on which case you are boned. word of advice: If you start feeling pains other than stiffnes, especially in the end of your muscles where it connects to the bone, go see a doctor or at least treat it. My sis had it in her hamstring from gym and it was 6 months no gym or other sport in 6 months.

But mostly stretching is the answer, or time and patience, or moving them, but not to fast.

Yes, I did some stretching today at the gym and some slight aerobic workout. It helped: My back doesn´t ache this much any more.

Nonetheless I will stop doing suburi for the next two days at least. When I start doing suburi again I will be very carefull and do them slowly.

Hmmm....I guess it might be a good idea not to practice suburi every day, as a beginner...!? I will try it out, practicing suburi only every second day. I will let you know, if this helped. Seems, I first have to get my muscled used to this new movements.

greetings

meow

[not-I]

Yeah, take it easy. If you just started kendo, there are surely a lot of muscles you're not used to using, and after taking them for a ride, you need to give them a short break. Suburi is good for strengthening your arms, but make sure the main effort is coming from your left forearm and wrist, and that you're not chopping hard with your right arm, as you might with an axe. Relax your shoulders -- try doing Joge-Buri, where you swing the shinai all the way back to hit your butt and then forward to about knee level. And (if you're not doing it already) try moving a step forewards and backwards with each cut to improve your ashi-sabaki (footwork). A good program is to train hard one day, then take it easy or don't train at all on the next. Your muscles need some time to recover.
But, as others have mentioned, consult your sensei for specifics.

Yes, I did some stretching today at the gym and some slight aerobic workout. It helped: My back doesn´t ache this much any more.

Nonetheless I will stop doing suburi for the next two days at least. When I start doing suburi again I will be very carefull and do them slowly.

Hmmm....I guess it might be a good idea not to practice suburi every day, as a beginner...!? I will try it out, practicing suburi only every second day. I will let you know, if this helped. Seems, I first have to get my muscled used to this new movements.

greetings

meow

[LNGUYEN]

It is probably when you tried to apply new way of doing suburi, you were too tensed up, or before, you used both hands to swing shinai and now you used your left hand more than your right hand and it felt heavier. You should try to do one hand to see how much can you swing.

[BozzDK]

Suburi is something that you should do everyday even when you're not in the dojo. Suburi is also something that has to be done properly in the beginning so even when you are an advanced player, your suburi is done properly as the first day you practiced.

If your shinai feels heavier as you are doing your suburi can mean only one thing, that you are putting strength in your arm which will tense up your shoulder, hence, pain in your shoulder when you come home.

When your are doing suburi, your shoulder should be relaxed including your arm, wrist and hand. It's the last second when you make contact, that's when you use your wrist to make that cut, this is when the strength goes in and only for that brief second.

Think of your shinai as the real sword and you will get the idea, when you cut down, the blade will hit the tip of the forehead and that's the second you push the blade down to cut your opponent from the tip of his forehead down to his nose. This is the idea behind the suburi, it's not about how hard you can hit your opponent but how precise and proper.

I've seen eighty year old hachi-dan senseis doing suburi on a daily basis, that's how important your basic is. It's a long way for you to go but that shinai will feel better in your hand one day if you learn to relax.

[itachi]

i was encouraged to do it everyday as well by my senseis.
anyways, i think that you were doing it wrong before thats why it was so easy to you. you were probably not doing it to the point that it should benefit you. but it hurts now right? you might be doing it right, and maybe you won't even feel pain at all next time. but only your sensei can varify that. so to be on the safe side don't try any until you get advice from your sensei.

[regularyojimbo]

I would love to do suburi everyday but the ceilings are too low where I live and I cannot do it outside...

[kageXkaze]

ok... This reply is if your right handed. When I began swining the shinai was quite easy for simply because I felt it was "light." However after a bit more practice I had to use my Left hand more (which is my weak hand) and suddenly the shinai felt 10 pounds heavier I swear. The only way I can say to remmedy this like I did is practice suburi left hand only with a heavy base ball bat or weight or something... A hundred times

[Dave Fowler]

I would love to do suburi everyday but the ceilings are too low where I live and I cannot do it outside...

Ah easy fix. If your doing suburi to mostly work on your arms and not surashi then simply do this (my sensei gave me this trick)

1. Kneel on the floor and make sure that there is nothing in front or behind you that you will hit.

2. Sit up as far as you can on your knees and reach up with your shinai to make sure you still can't reach the ceiling.

3. If all those are fine your in business. Do your suburi and when you swing forward make sure to rise up on your knees using your hips and stomach muscles to help with the swing.

[Kendoka]

Don't train EVERY day.

Don't overdo it because you are keen.

Do your kendo stuff on alternate days and other exercise on the non-kendo days and alays have one day off with no training every week.
Fianlly, try to listen to your body, sometimes it is better to go to bed early or read a book.

Richard