Kendo, Aikido, martial art related

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Stay Fit Friends

4:20 PM Posted by author , , , 1 comment


Its time for the season to change, from hot, sunny season (kemarau) to wet, rainy season. In time like this, the weather often change quickly, today the sun shine brightly, tomorrow its rain heavily, or hot from morning until noon, and rain in the evening. And its common that in time like this, people will start get sick easily, from influenza, fever, cough, etc. Especially when they get too tired.


So, whats the relationship between transitional season and martial art? Well, one of our goal to train MA is to stay fit. If our training didn't make us fit, instead make us to take bed rest for 3 days or more, then there's something wrong. When you train your body long enough, whether its in MA or another sports, you should already knew how far your body can go. There are people who train 5 times a week, 3 times or maybe just once a week. Everything is fine as long as your body (physically and mentally) could stand the heat. But sometimes, there's case where you feel that your body isn't as fit as usual, maybe you get too tired from your daily work, or maybe when people close to you got influenza, etc. When you feel that somethings not right with your body, take a break, and consider what will you do next. Will you follow the next training class, or should you take a rest at home and drink your vitamins, its your call.


The point is, take good care for your body, when he need rest then you should rest, when he in full performance, then you could go all out with him. Of course we dont want our training give negative effect to people surrounding us, our family, our coworker, etc. So take care, stay fit and healthy friends :).


pic source : here

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Mid 2009 Kendo Grading

2:35 PM Posted by author No comments
I try to came early to dojo. Arrived at 8.30 am, people start to came to JJS. Moment later, as expected, the place become crowded with all the grading participants. But soon i realized that there were so many unfamiliar face, i rarely saw them on sunday training, who were they? A bit asking here, a bit asking there, and oh, found that the participant of the grading weren't only from Jakarta, but also from Bandung, Jogjakarta, and Surabaya. No wonder the dojo get so full of people.


Shortly, the grading started. Each participant got their own vest with number, functioned as participant ID, so its easier for sensei to do the grading. Next, we make three line, so on each session, there'll be 3 person scored by sensei. Grading material for beginner and non bogu member is to do men-uchi, kote-uchi, do-uchi, and kote-men-uchi, 4 times each. As for senior, if im not mistaken, same with the beginner, plus kirikaeshi and keiko. Before the grading start, sensei told us, that two important thing to do in grading is big swing and kiai, thats the basic. For me, kiai is very usefull, when i feel nervousness start to get into me, i'll do my kiai as loud as i can, then start to strike my uchidachi. So kiai is a good way to get rid of your nervous feeling.



The grading started with beginner non bogu first, continued with beginner bogu, then senior bogu. For dan grade, there also kendo kata exam. After all grading process finished, all participant gather and listening to the grading result. Sensei call for the participant name and the new grade he/she obtained, along with applause from other grading participants. As for me, from next training, i'll start to use bogu. I feel very excited with that, but it also means that there's so many thing i'll have to learn, so i have to ready for that. Another chapter in the long journey ahead.