Suburi 素振り

So with our Wednesday practice cancelled I actually decided to nip outside on the patio for a bit of suburi 素振り. I like suburi I'm not entirely sure why, I have a lasting recollection of marathon sessions from my first dojo -  that aching sensation that my arms were about collapse, the desperate glances at sempai to see if there was any indication that we were about to stop. This loathing is now a love, maybe it's the Stockholm Syndrome? I have the same issue with painting my garden fence, I regularly do it but I spent a childhood painting my Grandparents fence but with the mildly toxic creosote which required me to be dressed head to foot, with woolen gloves on in the middle of summer! I hated that job but now I love it, anyway I digress.

I think as Sempai I continue this tradition in our dojo, I'm pretty sure they often look at me in the same way regarding how long it takes. There are a number of reasons for why I want our members to experience these things the way I did. One simple excuse is I often lose count on how many we've done so I just keep going until I feel tired, which isn't particularly fair on those who may have just started, but what an experience hey? The other reason is I like doing suburi but I have very little motivation to do it outside of the dojo and I feel that when I have the motivation and facilities to do it it's worthwhile 'going the whole hog'.

Back to yesterday, I'm not sure how long I was out there, probably no more than 10 minutes but I think it's at least keeping things in the forefront of my mind and if I have the willpower to actually venture out and do a bit then that's an achievement in itself! One major benefit to all this is that I've been observing my efforts in my reflection in the patio doors and I've already started to adjust my swing. In particular I am trying to focus on the transition between upswing and downswing - the jodan position. We've already identified that going too far back is wasted energy, it's slower, it employs biceps over triceps which results in hard, heavier swings that are again more energy consuming. These were reasons enough to change but equally I'm aware my predominantly big cuts are not what's expected for sandan and are highly unlikely to be effective within my shinsa as they are too slow and 'telegraph' too much my intentions to guarantee success.

Having observed my  jodan position I've started to ensure I don't go too far back. In some types of suburi this has still to be improved but single cutting is OK and I can feel significant benefits in that I am less tired and the cuts are much quicker and easier to perform. Hopefully this will be of benefit come March but at least I feel like I'm doing something pro-active. If you are interested there's a fantastic 'Suburi Swing Speed Study' that helps understand how to improve your suburi, click the link.