Lilley Fitness is offering new classes on Saturday mornings at 10:15 in the Funk zone.
Whole body training with a Japanese wooden sword.
A bokken is a wooden sword that is the same length as the well-known katana, a sword used by the samurai. These workouts strengthen the grip, arms, core, legs, and back together, raise the heart rate, and focus the mind.
Suburi is the practice of repeated cuts. A sword held at full extension taxes the upper body through leverage. Holding a stance while swinging the bokken and then stopping it strengthens both the arms and the back. When it is done well, each cut is its own reward. The goal is to execute each cut with form and grace.
Leg Strength
The stance supports each cut of the sword. Quads, glutes, and calves support the broad arc of the sword. Sword training is dynamic, with body movement a key part of every cut.
Back Strength
Raising the sword and cutting uses the arms, the hips and the core. Stopping the swing engages the back muscles.
Core Integration
Accelerating the sword and then stopping it on a line loads the back and core as much as the hands and arms. That is core integration: the body and the sword arriving together with the cut. When the core is engaged, the bokken feels lighter.
Cardio Health
A suburi session is a cardio workout too. Japanese swordsmen would practice 10, 20, 50 repetitions.
Mind and Body Harmony
The repeated cutting motion is a moving meditation. Breath, arms, legs and back all work together to focus the cut while also focusing the mind. The Japanese call this Ki-ken-tai-ichi.
- Ki — spirit / intention
- Ken — sword
- Tai — body
- Ichi — one
The spirit, sword and body move as one. When it is done correctly, it is a beautiful movement.
