Archive for February 2nd, 2014

Winter Training!

Sunday, February 2nd, 2014
South Korean Soldiers Training Old School

South Korean Soldiers Training Old School

I love winter!

I love the cold the snow and even the treacherous driving (sometimes). Why, you might even think I am crazy but any ninjutsu practitioners should be training in all weather conditions, and yes that mean getting out in the cold! Now let’s take a step back here and identify a few different types of training you could be doing:

1)      Skill based

2)      Activity based

Here is a more detailed look at these two areas.

Skill based

When was the last time you practiced your camping skills in the winter? Setting up a tent or emergency shelter and then spending the night out in the elements? How about your cooking and water purification skills? Personally, I get out several times in the winter to do just this, I have built lean two’s, trench and debris shelters, as well as my hammock tent and spent pleasant nights in them nice and warm. I also enjoy physical training outside taking my ukemi, and striking drills out into the real world, hey when was the last time you took your pistol out to the range on a cold day and see how you would function and deploy a concealed weapon? So you are probably getting my point here, get out side and practice in a natural environment, without doing this you are only a “dojo trainer”.

Activity based

Here it is time to have some fun and stay in shape in the out of doors! Skiing, snowshoeing, snowboarding (one of my favorites), shoveling, trail running(another of my favorites) hey you could throw in a biathalon event just to have some fun. I love snowboarding, facing your fear as you line up into the jump, using your legs and hips to carve and control the board, great training for your taijutsu! Last week, I was out on the slopes for 5 hours. The slopes were almost bare, no one around why? Well it was 0 degrees at the base, and now add you coming down the mountain on a board to throw some wind chill at you and it was ~-20 degrees! But it was awesome, I had so many runs I lost count! So get out there and choose something you like to do and pursue it with a passion!

O.K, now you have a few ideas to add once again to your training, so get ready and hit the cold temps!

Bufu Ikkan

Ps: More winter training tips coming…