Practice with a low ceiling?

[Ruleslawyer]

Any tips for practicing at home with a roof not high enough to swing a shinai properly? I have plenty of floor space, just not the height. I've seen thicker shorter shinais at the stores- would those work?

[Anorymous]

Personally, if it's just for suburi, I squat as I arm and cut as I stand. This kind of squatting suburi requires about two metres of ceiling height or so, which is quite minimal.

[hl1978]

Any tips for practicing at home with a roof not high enough to swing a shinai properly? I have plenty of floor space, just not the height. I've seen thicker shorter shinais at the stores- would those work?

go swing outside or take up iaido?

[b8amack]

Any tips for practicing at home with a roof not high enough to swing a shinai properly? I have plenty of floor space, just not the height. I've seen thicker shorter shinais at the stores- would those work?

They're not the same, but they work well enough for an at-home supplement to the real thing.

[rfoxmich]

I sit in a chair.

[Alicia]

suburi from seiza or sonkyo or a lunge position or an imaginary chair seated position - except for sonkyo this will help to build leg strength, and core muscles. I made a cut down shinai at one stage and weighted it with lead inside, but it is hard to get the balance right, and to be honest I never used it much. Better off spending the time and energy you would've spent making/buying one on the options I mentioned above IMO. If you want to practise footwork you can always do it separately, swinging your arms to get the timing right but not using a shinai. I've been to seminars in the past where sensei got us to practice suburi with our hands together kind of in a prayer-position.

[InfernoMunky]

this was the first obstacle i ran into...

learn't early on that this could be overcome, by not picking up the sword, the swing still counts...if you make it.

or a sake bottle filled with sand can replace your sword for indoors...
i need to find something new since ive gone oval, the bottle doesnt feel right... need more koban... :}

be excellent...
Json.A

[Ruleslawyer]

Thanks for the advice guys. Its starting to get warm enough that I can do it outside to the stare of my neighbors.

[Maro]

Use a hammer

[michaelm]

Cheap solution: old shinai + hacksaw + suburiko + duct tape.

Personally, I need to work on my footwork and complete body form when doing suburi--otherwise I revert to my faulty over-reliance on arm strength to generate power.

Or maybe I need to do more iai.

[dillon]

Not practicing suburi per se but for practicing tenouchi with a low ceiling:

I have an old armchair where the uprights wings wrap around a bit. This is at about the same height as my head if I'm at seiza plus is thick enough that I can mount my men on it. So in seiza I can practice the snap for chisai-men-uchi starting with the kissaki close to the men-dare. I wrap the upright with some old towels to prevent damage and stains to the armchair. Also since it's in seiza, it's a good way to get used to sitting in seiza for longer periods if you need to work on that.

It's noisy though so family members, housemates, etc. may get annoyed.

Of course, tenouchi practice doesn't actually require a high ceiling since the shinai doesn't need to be raised much more than head height. However, it's normally difficult to mount a men anywhere for striking without it getting knocked off position, so the armchair wing works quite well.