10 Kendo Practice Drills at Home
The modern Japanese martial art Kendo ('way of the sword') is an excellent activity to perfect at home.
Compared to many other martial arts, training in Kendo is pretty noisy, but this likely isn't a problem if you're practicing at home!
There are lots of things you can do outside the dojo to improve your performance in Kendo.
In This Article - We've outlined 10 Kendo practice drills you can do at home. Bur first, let's look at why practicing Kendo is important.
Table of Contents
Why Practice Kendo
The purpose of Kendo is to mold the body and mind, to strive for improvement, and to pursue your own cultivation for your whole life.
Kendo skills
The martial art is all about holding honor and human courtesy in esteem and associating other people with sincerity.
Though this is a martial art that involves swords, it isn't about killing someone or hurting them - quite the opposite!
Why Practice Kendo at Home
If you learn Kendo, you'll know that there is always something to improve on.
Good habits aren't made in a day, nor are movements kept once they're mastered the first time.
Kendo requires a contact re-evaluation of all of its elements and practicing things like posture is essential.
Unless you're taking hours and hours of Kendo classes a week, you will need to practice what you've learned in class in your own home too.
So, without further ado, let's look at our 10 Kendo practice drills to do at home.
1. Practice Relaxing
This seems like an easy task but people often find it more challenging than they think.
Practice relaxing
When people start Kendo, they're often tense because they are ready to fight. However, having a relaxed body and being aware of all of your muscles is key.
To Practice Relaxing - Take up different postures (standing, sitting, kneeling, laying down) and concentrate on what the different muscle groups are doing in your body.
Focus on each muscle at a time and try to relax it and relieve any tension.
If you practice keeping your muscles relaxed in a variety of postures (not just Kendo ones), it will become second nature to you.
2. Practice Alignment
Body alignment in Kendo is important.
Practice alignment
Practice aligning your body. Stand straight and see if you can get your ears, shoulders, hip bones, knees, and ankles aligned in a straight line.
Look in a mirror from the side or film yourself.
The idea is that you'll begin to learn how to feel where each part of your body is when you can't see it in a mirror.
3. Practice Shizentai (Natural Posture)
The natural posture in Kendo is the ideal posture to attack an opponent whenever you need to.
Posture and muscles
To develop this natural posture for Kendo, the key elements are:
Straightening the back of the neck
Pulling the chin in
Tightening your glutes
Then, once you've mastered that, do the following:
Bring up your shoulders
Push them back so that it feels as though your shoulder blades are almost touching
