My wife has been defeating the purpose of a yardsale for 3 years... Purpose of yardsale is to clear out junk. What I bought (can't say the same for wife's purchases) falls under training aids and dojo supplies. So, is good thing, dah?
i have another one. get your sword and put it in your belt (sheathed), then hold an orange or a tennis ball or something at eye level(with your right hand). drop it, and try to cut it as it falls. it is easier if you start with a shoto or wakizashi and move up to the daitou.
Do it blind folded. When you do your techniques/forms blind folded you'll get a better feel/understanding of the way you are suppose to move and you will, hopefully, learn it faster also. When you do your punches and/or kicks do them with weights. Ankel weights for your legs and maybe also for your wrists. About 3 pounds each. If you don't want to use ankel weights for your wrists you can always hold dumbbells. The reason why this is good is because it will remind you and your body to tense up your muscles right before impact, so you will get a stronger more true strike. Also, punching with those hand squeezers will help strengthen up your hands. You know, just before you complete your punch you squeeze with squeezers as if you are tightening up your fist even more. And maybe the best training tip of them all. Make everyday activities into a training experiance. Like if you are going to sit on the ground or in a big chair sit in the seiza position. If you are going to work at a table instead of sitting in a chair stand in the hira/flat stance or horse stance. To prefect your balance just stand on one leg instead of standing on two. To prefect your "seeing beyond" ability. Walk around the house while holding a plant. The leaves of the plant should be in front of your face so you have something distracting your eyes. But be sure you can see through the leaves of the plant so you don't dump/smack into anything. To prefect your peripheral vision tie a ball to a string then the string to the ceiling. The ball 'n string should have the ability to swing around without hitting anything. Now, stand almost arm's reach away from the ball (if you arm is 26" long only stand 20" away). Position your body so you are facing the ball sideways (cheek to ball or ear to ball) so you will only be able to see the ball out of the corner of your eye. Here comes the hard part.... Now, swing the ball. It should go back and forth without hitting you. Don't watch the ball out of the corner of your eye. Just look straight forward and notice the ball swinging. Once when you have accomplished that then try and hit the ball with the hand that is closest to the ball. Ball comes by and extend that arm outward hitting it, then proceed to duck or dodge because the ball will be coming for you. To boost up your enderance/stamina do swimming, biking, or jump roping. Do about 20-30 minutes of swimming, 30-40 minutes of biking, and 5-10 minutes of jump roping. Your heat beat and your breathing will quicken, then will do time so will your stamina. With with exercise learn how to breath. For the jumping roping, breath in at the jump and breath out at the landing. Biking, breath in when your right leg is up and out when your right leg is down. Swimming is harder, but this also applies when it comes to running. Breath in when the right arm/leg is up and out when the left arm/leg is up. The hardest part will be developing the pace of things. But keep on trying and start out slow so you get to understand the basics of when you should and shouldn't breath. Then speed it up. With this type of breathing you will be able to go farther without losing your breath as easily.
This isn't much of an original idea, but as far as swordwork goes, a lot goes into wrist/forearm strength. I read in a kenjutsu book a good while ago about a useful exercise. If you have a bokken, or really anything heavy that resembles a sword, you can do this. Grab the bokken (or stick) by the end of the hilt, and swing the bokken down, using more of your wrist in each strike. Think of them as wrist flings more than full arm swings. Do maybe 100 flings with each wrist daily for a week or so, and you'll notice a difference in your control and power with your sword.
one of mine is like walkers but i try to do about 200 of all the basic swings but it gets hard after awhile. another thing is to try to hold positions for prolonged periods of time like holding your arms strait out from your sides for 5 minutes (pain) or siting in the horse stance as long as you can. for the night training i live in the woods and i just test on my brother. i let him know im outside by throwing a small pebel at his window and he usualy comes out with his airsoft gun, but he doesnt find me most of the time and for sneaking past pets try puting a little of black pepper on ur clothes
One idea that I've found pretty useful for developing upper-body strength and coordination is to take two of those big rubber gym balls, put your hands on one and your feet on the other, and try to do push-ups on those. I read this in a cycling magazine, and it's worked very well for me. I know it seems impossible at first, and believe me, I had a rough time with it myself, but after a while, it gets easier and easier.
At my dojo we do a blind fold drill. all the studenrts get blind folded and the instructors try to sneak up behind you and put a wooden knife to your throat, i find this helps me with awareness and you have to use your other senses like hearing and even smell more (mind you our dojo main room at the time is hard wood floor) so it probably is easier than other places. another one ive been doing is find a bar and hang from it for one minute without moving then drop, wait 30 seconds then do it again, repeat this until you cant do it anymore. it really has helped my arm strength and also has improved my wrist strength as well hope this helped out
I LOVE alllllll of those ideas! am gonna have 2 go practice all of them 4real LOL shud be fun.....I dont think ma mom appreciatez me sneakin up on her though am surprised she hasnt slapped me yet
Trainingngingn This is a method i frequently use...lately i've found i have been becoming some what of a coke fiend (coke as in the drink) so as a result there are constantly coke cans laying around. Why throw them away, i am probably too tired or lazy to pick them up anyway, when you can you them for practice? I then get my younger sibling to come and sit in seiza. After he is comfortably seated i place a coke can on top of his head. I then run, full speed towards his head draw my sword, sayabiki, and slash the coke can above his head. Very good accuracy and distance practice. P.S. It is best to either blindfold your sibling, make sure he's half asleep, or promise him something rewarding like ice cream if he does it. Also do not tell him what you are about to do, he'll find out in due time.
I would not advocate anything that introduced the risk of hurting someone. Especially a family member. Not only would it really bite if you hit them and and hurt them, but it is just a plain stupid idea. Any training should be done in a safe enviroment. That's the purpose of training. To safely practice our art without anyone getting hurt, so that when the time come we can do what needs to be done. Put your coke cans on a pole or tree stump, but please, stop using siblings as a target holder. Wouldn't you feel bad if you whacked him and broke his nose or worse?
Those are the types of posts in which you should be using the smilies. I just hope no one took your advice to be good and actually try it...
Coke Cans and Siblings I think I know why everyone is so upset at the thought of it. They are hoping you did it out in the backyard and not in the front room. Can you imagine the mess on the carpet if the can was full or even half full?......your mom would have a fit! Also, a thing I was wondering was, do you think if William Tell was alive today, he'd have used a Coke can instead of an apple? We have two young girls at class who shall remain nameless but they know who they are (Elizabeth and Bethany) and all they do is gossip all the time and never pay attention to any of the techniques being demonstrated, much less try them out. I was thinking of asking my Shidoshi if we could use them for some 'live' shuriken practice. We could also try the seiza/Coke can thing.
i still think the seiza coke can thing was a genius idea....and i have to admit I did try it once....it was a long time ago though!...heheh and it was very funny....and yes it was indoors.
heres one thts a little different our last class my freind and i rigged a rope system and hung him by his feet off the ground, he stared doing sit-ups upside down...just remember try at your own risk and hopfully your good with knots
Quote: Originally Posted by Albert You could pour gasoline all over your face and then light it, to practice being resistant to fire! But that could get messy, so i wouldnt recomend it. Albert, you should use smilies when posting this sort of thing LOL. why, do you think im kidding?
Really?.. This is probably way too late but I'll try anyways. Kagebushi, does that board training really work or am I just gullible? Running up trees, sounds a bit cartoony. But unless you're just over-exaggerating, i might try it. How long should the board be?
