Skip to main content

Training Through Adversity



We are officially out of the old dojo and into our new (temporary) location in the valley.  Fortunately we were able to keep the same schedule in the same location, instead of having to change the training days and/or locations throughout the week.  We were also able to continue training from the old dojo to the new location without missing a beat, as we only took a day off for Independence Day last week before we were back at it that weekend. 

All is not fun and games, though, depending on how you look at it.  The new location comes with its own challenges and we're all going to go through some growing pains as we adjust and learn to use the space effectively.  This change has made me think about the way I train and how to put a positive spin on it and use it to continue to improve, hence the reason for this post!  Hopefully this will shed some light on my thought process when it comes to training in conditions that aren't ideal or optimal. 

Two of the biggest issues that I've seen so far at the new place are the heat and the floor.  The heat is temporary, as it only really affects us during the summer, but it is brutal!  We are in a space that has no airflow right now, and I can see it wearing on people as time goes on. We're looking into some options to remedy this, but during my practice on Monday I tried to use the suffocating heat as a challenge and did my best to work through it.  I feel that it can not only help with my endurance, because if I can train hard in the heat I can train hard in anything, but also with the mental fortitude that is oh-so-important in kendo.  it would be easy, real easy, for me to throw in the towel and take a breather, but learning to push through the heat and the discomfort it brings can also help me push through mentally when necessary, whether it's during a taikai or shinsa or some other time where I find myself in mental distress.  This is not to say that I would push through it regardless of whatever my body is telling me, though.  I'm always conscious of how I'm feeling and whether I need to dial it back a bit or step out for a round or two to attend to injuries or other issues.  Train hard, but train smart, right?

The floor is the other major issue right now.  A lot of people are new to the feeling, but for those of us that were around when we first started in our old dojo we still remember how slick that floor was.  This is that floor, revived in all its icy glory.  There is little to no grip on most of it so movement is a challenge and fumikomi, if not careful, can be a killer.  We've already had a couple of casualties, with people falling.  Again, this can either be a reason (excuse) to step out and avoid training hard, but if you use it to your advantage then it can produce some really helpful benefits.  One that struck me right away was a sense of center.  There's no way you are going to stay upright on that floor if you're not well aware of your center and keeping everything moving with it, or keeping your feet and legs under it.  Any kind of leaning, or any kind of lag in bringing your feet under you while moving, has the potential to end with you on the ground, so personally I've been concentrating a lot on that.  I'll usually take a few passes on the floor before class to get used to the feeling, and then build on that as training goes until I'm comfortable.

Speaking of legs and feet, the floor lends itself to helping us vastly improve our footwork.  I, for one, always need to improve my movement and footwork, and this floor is going to do wonders for me, helping to keep everything moving properly and my feet under me, as noted above.  I feel like this is one area that's easy to overlook.  Honestly, who wants to think about their feet all the time, or how they're moving?  We've all been walking and using our limbs for quite a few years, it should be fairly natural!  As one of my senpai said before, most people see the sword as this fun, new thing that they want to learn about, but footwork as boring in comparison, even though footwork and body movement are, in my opinion, more important in kendo.  With that in mind, I look forward to training on the new floor and seeing how I can evolve with it.

There are a few issues that do need to be addressed about the floor - some indents that need to be filled and so on - but those are being handled soon and should help us cut loose a bit more afterward without fear of tripping or stubbing our toes or anything of that nature.  These are also just a couple of examples of the challenges that I face with our new location.  I know that others have their own issues, but I think that if we approach them with a positive mindset and a little creativity then it's easy to flip a possible negative situation into a positive one, and kendo is way more fun when done with a positive mindset!

Comments

  1. Powering through it! Mental fortitude; gaman! It's always great to see training through the eyes of an experienced kendoka writer, Chris. I'm looking forward to seeing your insights after training in such a location.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed the post. Kendo and writing both provide me with lots of benefits and challenges. Hopefully as I become more proficient at one, I'll do so with the other!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sutemi

 The Japanese-English Kendo dictionary, located at www.kendo-usa.org, defines sutemi as: " Sute-mi   (n.)  1.  Concentration and effort with all one’s might, even at the risk of death.  2.  Concentration of all one’s effort into one strike, even at the risk of defeat." Ok, so risking everything at the risk of defeat or death.  But how does that apply to our own training?  Fighting to the death is a very foreign concept to many of us, but I believe that we can all understand fighting at the risk of defeat.  This is a concept that we've started examining in more detail at our dojo lately, and one that I believe can be learned at any stage of practice that you're at. To put it simply, Sensei explained that sutemi is putting 100% effort into a strike.  Holding nothing back and leaving all cares and worries behind so that you can give all of yourself over to that strike.  it sounds like a complicated idea, and it is, but just like all things in kendo I believe that

Nuki Men - A Personal Look

2010 Kent Taikai This month we'll be focusing on nuki waza at our dojo, specifically nuki men and nuki kote.  Here are just a few of my own (emphasis on own!) thoughts on the subject. I, personally, love nuki men. It's been one of my favorite techniques for years and years, and I used it a lot when I was a mudansha.  I still use it now on occasion, for that matter, but in order to become and stay effective with it I had to learn a few things.  These are things which work for me and your mileage may vary, as one of my friends like to say.  First off is the movement itself.  I'll start with the "classic" version with kote-nuki men.  One person attacks the kote, and their opponent responds by raising the shinai up and countering with a men strike of their own.  In this scenario there are a few things I like to keep in mind.  The first being to get my hands out of the way!  I can't just lift my shinai and expect to be ok, I have to also get my hands (and my

Harai Waza

Photo courtesy of T. Patana, Kendo Photography Another month down, another new focus for training.  This month we'll be focusing on harai waza.  Here are some of my personal thoughts on it, from my own training and experience. I really had trouble figuring out how to start this entry.  Normally I just open the page and go to work, letting whatever ideas and thoughts I have flow out onto the screen, but this one really had me stumped for a while, mainly because everything I started to write sounded really negative and I didn't mean it to, so I think I'll just go with it and try to get to the point that I was trying to make in the first place. When I first started learning harai waza it was part of kihon kata three.  If you want to be fancy, that would be the Bokuto ni yoru kendo kihon waza keiko ho, kihon san - harai waza .  The idea was simple: strike the motodachi's shinai out of center and deliver a men strike, all in one smooth movement.  It was one of the