Fitness for Bujinkan...

[Varg05R6]

I will be starting Bujinkan in early March & as I have a couple of months I thought I would ask what practitioners of Bujinkan recommend along the lines of exercise or areas to strengthen.

I have never trained any joint locking/grappling stuff & have only briefly touched on weapons. I am not worried about cardio fitness as I have been a personal trainer for five years but am more interested in any exercises for areas that need to be strengthened.

For example when I was training muay thai we did lots of work conditioning the shins and strengthening the neck.

Anything anyone could suggest to get me started?

Thank you.

 

[stephen]

I have 3 recommendations:

1. Stretch - By far, the one area that holds most new students from learning quicker is their lack of flexibility.

2. Stretch - It's worth repeating.

3. Core Strength - You're a personal trainer, so you probably know more about this than I.

 

[Varg05R6]

Thank you.

 

[Bigshadow]

Dynamic stretching, breathing, and check out Scott Sonnon he has a great deal of exercises that are good for Bujinkan practitioners.

 

[MSTCNC]

First off, welcome to MT, Cobber!

There are some really great people on this forum... and the exchange of information can be very beneficial to all of MT's Members...

Nothing to contribute other than my welcome I'm afraid... and I look forward to reading the answers and they come...

Secondly, thanks to David for the link to Mr. Sonnon's website... interesting information I will have to look at more closely...

Best regards...

Your Brother in the arts,

Andrew

 

[Bigshadow]

Secondly, thanks to David for the link to Mr. Sonnon's website... interesting information I will have to look at more closely...

Your welcome!

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

Hey Rhys. All of the above advice is good. Stretch alot and that will help a bunch. Also do alot of deep squats. (with or without weights) You will be doing alot of ukemi and rolls so leg strength is very, very important in Budo Taijutsu.

Also stick with it as those first few months can be pretty tough.

 

[Alan Witty]

I find that cross training is a big help. I lift and have for years. I found this a handicap until I began to cross train. Now I mix up lifiting with lots of swimming, biking and in the summer fast paced hikes in the mountains. Say 6-10 miles at 3.5mph. Also, stretching every day in some form or another. I would avoid any work that will tighten up the hips as this can be an issue. But than again this is all very body specific.

 

[bydand]

Hey Rhys. All of the above advice is good. Stretch alot and that will help a bunch. Also do alot of deep squats. (with or without weights) You will be doing alot of ukemi and rolls so leg strength is very, very important in Budo Taijutsu.

Also stick with it as those first few months can be pretty tough.

Boy you are right there Brian! I still remember the day after my first class, or should I say my legs remember the day after the first class.

 

[Don Roley]

Stretch as has been pointed out.

The old exercise of getting into a low stance until you feel a burn and holding it for as long as reasonable is something else you might want to try. A lot of teachers do not get very deep in their stances, but the Japanese reccomend it for new students and it seems to be very important.

 

[Seattletcj]

Generally to participate in typical Bujinkan practice you will not really need anything beyond what you already have.

Flexability is probably most important, which has already been mentioned. Focus on hip adductor stretching IMO.
Multifidus and other core muscle group strengthening will help keep good posture, which will make everything easier. You probably do this anyway...bridges etc.

Good luck.

 

[Cryozombie]

Pick up a book, excercise the Muscle between your ears, its the greatest one we have.
​

 

[Varg05R6]

Thanks all.

Re all the flexibility stuff does Bujinkan use high kicks? I am not a huge fan of them after Wing Chun.

 

[Don Roley]

Re all the flexibility stuff does Bujinkan use high kicks? I am not a huge fan of them after Wing Chun.

One of my first sessions with a Japanese instructor had him telling us to practice the kicks from Hicho- no- Kamae no Kata with kicks to head if we could, as well as the one we use in Ku no kata. But in a real situation to not kick above the waist in real situations and not above the knee if there was even a chance the other guy had a weapon. If you practice kicking high in the dojo, you can pull off the low kicks even when your capacity is lowered due to stress and such. If you only practice low kicks, you may not be able to pull them off if a real situation.

 

[Varg05R6]

That is good. I have a fairly comprehensive list of injuries & kicking above the waist is painful for me.

Don I was interested in your thoughts on practicing high kicks to allow you to kick low properly during a high stress/adrenaline dump situation. Have you found that to be the case? My personal experience (though not so vast as your own...I made a point of reading these forums & others & have noted and respect much of what you have had to say ) is that if you spend many hours practicing a great low kick then it becomes second nature after a time and more likely to work in the aforementioned situation. Muscle 'memory', neural pathways & all that.

Just curious...?

Thanks!

 

[Don Roley]

Don I was interested in your thoughts on practicing high kicks to allow you to kick low properly during a high stress/adrenaline dump situation. Have you found that to be the case?

I can honestly say that I do not know. The concept of practicing things harder (i.e. higher) in training than in reality seems sound and meshes with other aspects of what I have experienced. But in regards to using kicks in real combat, I will have to defer to those with more experience than I.

 

[Varg05R6]

But in regards to using kicks in real combat, I will have to defer to those with more experience than I.

Yeah...I often find myself pleasantly amazed by just how many of those there are. And most of them are only too happy to share a bit of that experience with you if you ask them nicely.