Whether I Should Practice
A number of people have asked me whether they should practice, due to this ache or pain, so I thought that I would give this opinion on the matter of whether you should come to practice, or not.
- 'I have a cold' - You can come to kendo - it’s probably good for you. I usually keep a vicks sinex in my bag just in case I suddenly get snot build up the weekend of shiai.
- 'I have a temperature' - If you have a temperature DONT come to kendo.
- You'll give it to everyone else and I dont want it.
- There is evidence that the flu virus, for example, will move deep into muscle, including cardiac muscle during exercise and will weaken these muscles- not good.
- Get better, wait two days, then come back. Hopefully you won’t be a carrier then.
- 'I have blisters/cracks in my skin' – use anti-septic/plasters/tape and get back to it. Treat cracks in feet with Lamasil first just in case its athlete's foot. It never hurts during practice anyway. After practice, if it’s bad, Compeed or Scholl blister plasters are amazing. I also find that ibuprofen gel will take down the swelling around cracks, which is what I found hurts the most. Put it on before you go to bed. Cracking feet should be treated with Australian recipe foot cream to soften the skin, from Boots - cant remember what its called but its got wee in it (urea).
- 'My Muscle aches' – Stretch and you’ll be ok; before and after practice if you can. Try and have a day rest between practices if poss. 3 or 4 practices a week is perfect. You have to really eat, rehydrate and sleep well, plus rest fully on your days off to make 5 or 6 practices a week work for you – that’s what a squad member does – hopefully some of you will experience this. Generally, if your muscles ache all the time - it’s too much. Honda Sensei said to me that I if I think I have one more practice left in me, then that is when to stop – I believe this is good advice.
- 'Sudden Pain' - Sudden pain in practice is to be respected – STOP. Full stop. Don’t come back until its better. If you have been pushed hard, you should really feel it the day after the day after – not suddenly during practice.
- 'Being hit' - Due to how well the shinai is constructed, most hits wont be a problem, just a bruise or a love bite looking mark – its just kendo love – knock and bumps can be treated with cold spray initially at practice and ice at home (see below)
General Advice
Treat most injuries with cold – not hot. Ibuprofen also helps, as it is an anti – inflammatory and a pain killer. Hot is for aching muscles only – not injury. You should have a gel ice pack in your freezer at home; also available from Boots. This is invaluable. Whenever you have an injury and get home and wrap a tenugui round it (not direct on the skin) and ice the injury for 10 minutes - no more, more than this and it will start to have a negative effect. Then follow the R.I.C.E. principle: Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation (look it up on the internet) to treat it and see a doctor if its bad of course.
You should have a little med kit of your own that you bring with you to practice. This should contain: plasters, cold spray, tape, and gauze, blister plasters, anti septic, ibuprofen gel, little scissors. You can buy a little green med bag with most of this from boots for £10 and it will fit in your bogu bag – stop borrowing my stuff and get your own!
It’s a challenge because you have to learn to be tough, but you must survive to fight another day. So doing *'yourself in' like an idiot, is just, well, being an idiot. However, you must be stronger than your little aches and pains. Knowing when to stop and when to carry on is something you have to learn – but remember the injury rate in kendo is very low when compared to most sports, so usually, if you are warmed up, your sensei will know how hard to push you. Your lungs will feel like they’ll want to burst and your legs may start to disobey you, but you can take it and get stronger because of it. Being disciplined, you’ll soon be trying to remember when to stop, because your instinct will want you to continue…then that’s a new problem about learning your limits and strengths – some of the more senior among you probably need to learn this already.
Anyone with special circumstances, by this I mean asthma, previous injuries etc need to look after themselves and explain to us – but the discipline still applies – as long as the resulting training makes you stronger and you can make next practice. Talk to your sensei, if you are not sure, or if there is something they need to be aware of. By the way, being weak is not an excuse, although I have heard this used a few times – but when I think about it, it was me - nobody knows though, as all witnesses have quit - who’s laughing now?
P.s. I am not a doctor, and the above is not medical advice. So if you go to practice with previously diagnosed cardiac arrhythmia, don’t blame me if you keel over during kakari-geiko – you’re an idiot. However, it could be seen as natural selection at work – so there’s an upside; double-edged sword really, perhaps rendering my advice meaningless. Hmm…
