Back to the grind

Tomorrow, I leave the great weather of Georgia to go back to the cold weather of Indiana. More homework, more studying but most of all, more Kendo!

I do have an idea on things I can do to improve. I want to make sure that I am competetive for the next tournament in Cleveland (if I can go) and totally ready for the test.

First of all, I need to make more frequent visits to the co-rec. I am pretty sure if I run for 15 minutes or so (might just make it a mile to a mile and a half) and lift weights, I should be able to actually last in jigeiko and kakarigeiko no problem by the end of the semester. I do have plans on building a little muscle mass. I am 5'7" and 125 lbs and I would like to add a little muscle mass to it. I don't want to do too much or my kendo might suffer per what the nice folks at Kendo World has said.

There are some things technique wise that I would like to work more on. There is the hikiwaza that I want to work on. It's really hard because you have to stomp hit and kiai at the same time while moving away. The footwork is pretty hard to deal with but it's something that is extrememly necessary. I also need to work more on the do strikes. For some reason, we haven't worked too much on that particular strike and that is the one I need the most work on, clearly. But after the last tournament, we should have some more varied practices that might improve on the quality of instruction. I also need to work on keeping my back straight. It's especially the case when I go to do a hit or go backwards as a result of a hiki-waza. It's really hard to break a bad habit, but the only way that I can solve this problem is to keep that in mind as I am practicing waza. I can do it with jigeiko as well, but it would be hard.

On the kata side of things, I need to just keep doing them. For now, I can memorize the movements but I need a plan beyond that. The only way to do that is to research the meaning of each kata and clean up some technical problems along the way. I also need to learn to loosen up. Even I can feel the stiffness in my body as I carry out each kata. It might be just the fear of losing control so I stay stiff to keep my bokken from making extra movements, but it just impedes it more than it should help.

For the informational side of things, I would like to do some research on Kendo history, names, techniques, and shiai rules so I know exactly what is going on in Kendo and will be able to spout out the information to whoever wants to know it.

I got my #8000 hakama and whicking layer keikogi and suburito in the mail and it's sitting in my dorm now. I can't wait to try them on to see if they fit and use them in hard practice. For my other set, I might just sell them on ebay or to a fellow Kendo World member since I only need one set really.

For some reason, buying the new equipment makes me feel non-worthy since I don't think that my abilities don't fit with the quality of the stuff I have. The bujin bogu bag plus the equipment that I have now seems like something that someone of a more advanced or better nature would have. All I can do now is earn them by improving a great deal by improving on the things stated above as well as some smaller things that might have not popped in my head just yet.