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Aug 30, 2009
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starstarstarstarstar 		Some cheap training with your b?gu
by: Jeong

You could try practice your strikes without using a suburi-to by putting your bogu bag (with the armor inside) on your arm (the straps) and doing kendo strikes while putting on the strap of the bag. It sure is some good work out.

Or you could put it on your ankle and do some basic kendo footwork with that lugging around (never tried this one yet, but I will when I have time)

Kendo-Guide.Com: Thank you for your post.

Let me clarify what you do with the b?gu bag with b?gu inside. You carry the b?gu bag on your shoulders like a backpack. Am I right?
The second one is also an idea. However, I do not want you, or anyone for this matter, to strap a b?gu bag with b?gu inside around an ankle and drag it around.

The reason is very straight forward.

We, kendoists, have to pay respect to our kendo stuff. We treat all the swords (including iai-to, bokut? and shinai) as the real swords. That means we pay respect to all the swords. That is why we have certain rules to treat our shinai and bokut? properly.

B?gu as well. We have to show our respect to the b?gu. So dragging them around is not seen as a very respectful behaviour. At least to me. Probably to most of Japanese senseis too.

The idea is good so use something else if you want to add some weight on your feet.
Mar 16, 2009
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starstarstarstarstar 		Aerobics Training
by: John M.

As Masahiro mentions, there was an excellent submission on developing stamina.

What I offer is my personal experience. Adding some form of aerobic training has certainly helped me and I recall from a "Hanshi" column in "Kendo World" a Hanshi dan recommending jogging, rope skipping, esp., as one gets older. So it isn't foreign to kendo.

I jog using a jogging machine (with variety of programs), and will at times wear a weight vest which I found to be quite beneficial. I also skip rope, using the weight vest which really helped me. Also some plyometric drills I found beneficial for a quicker take-off, like jumping from standing to an elevated platform, with the vest on, say 10 to 15 times, a couple of reps.

Depending on your age (also body type), if you're over 50 say, you may have to modify your kendo to fit your age group. Older kendoka can't do kendo like College kendoka. If you're carrying extra weight, a weight lost program is essential too. But certainly, a lot of keiko is indispensable. And of course kirihashi, etc.

Kendo-Guide.Com: Thank you for the nice input as usual. I am sure that a lot of people find the info very useful. I should try some of your exercises.

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