Leg Exercises for Kendo Outside the Gym

Yesterday, I did not go to the gym but did some more suburi and in particular dusted off some suburi that were aimed at improving leg stength and endurance.  I am going to talk about two that I use:

• lunge with men-suburi
• horse stance with men-suburi

Why Leg Exercises for Kendo are Important

As I have said before, in Kendo the legs are important - if you can't move your legs into a cutting position you won't be able to cut.

This means that I wanted to focus on two things - leg strength (including endurance) and flexibility (agility).

To date I have been working on the strength - I have yet to give much thought to agility exercises beyond stretching. I have thought about Yoga as one option and will explore this further.

Leg Strength Exercises Outside the Gym

These exercises have focus on the quadriceps - these are the primary muscles using in running and jumping.

I try to combine these with some cutting practice (so I can work a bit of upper body at the same time).

I have a couple of drills:

• lunge with men-suburi
• horse stance with men-suburi

Lunge with Men Suburi

Is modeled on your basic lunge:

There is an animated image of a person doing a dumbell lunge here (the leg movement is the same).

1. start from chudan no kamae (you can use a shinai or bokuto - I used a suburi-bokuto)
2. without moving your left foot, push your right front forward. Allow your left knee to bend.
3. (at the time) raise your hands to begin a men cut (remember you want a BIG movement)
4. Drop your body downwards and bend the right knee to about 90 degrees, your right knee should be directly over your foot. (If your right knee extends past your toes than you are going too far.)
5. As you drop, cut men (kiai or exhale).
6. Push back from the right leg and come back to chudan no kamae
7. Now swap, pushing out your left leg and repeat the exercise with your left leg forward.

Tips:

• start slowly, if you have not done a lunge before or just beginning, focus on getting the lunge right (leave the men cut for now)
• keep a straight back and focus on dropping your body downwards (if you find you are leaning forward slow down and correct yourself)
• when cutting, make sure the tip of your bokuto or shinai stays above the head during the back swing (the tips regarding jogeburi from Kendo World are relevant here)

Horse stance with men-suburi

The horse stance was a favourite of one of my teachers. I remember being quite sore and now, having read a few sources I see why.

The Horse Stance works most of your leg muscles, your abs and your back. It is a great way to improve your leg strength and work on core strength.

How to assume the Horse Stance

1. spread your feet until they are two shoulder widths apart
2. keep your feet flat on the ground and your toes facing forward (they might point outward)
3. drop down - bending your knees
4. tuck your tail and keep your back straight (your spine is perpendicular to the ground)
5. hold this position
6. add a men-suburi cut - starting from chudan no kamae, cut men and return to chudan no kamae

Tips:

• Variation: as you cut men, briefly drop into a deeper stance, as you come back to chudan move back up to the original horsestance.
• Variation: to work the calves, try standing on the balls of you rather than flat footed. This is a slightly more advanced position - you need to have good balance.

I hope to get some illustrations put together (stick figures or maybe photos - shock horror) to help explain these exercises better.

They are certainly worthwhile in my opinion.

As with all new things, start slowly and focus on form first rather than speed. It is better to do it correctly slowly, that do it wrong quickly.

Until then, Ganbatte.