Iai Battōjutsu: 4 Weeks Later

Fun Rating: ★★★★☆    Difficulty Rating: ★★☆☆☆     Results Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

   I forgot to write a post for Iai Battojutsu after two weeks, but in truth there wasn't much to tell. I worked through the DVD, and it comfortably took me a month. It's not easy stuff to learn but the instructor was relatively clear, and after repeating the same few minutes of the DVD over and over again I gradually got the hang of the katas. That damned bokken gets very heavy very fast.
   I have got to admit that I was disappointed with this, but I know why: it wasn't high impact, and it wasn't supposed to be. This isn't a workout DVD, it's a training DVD, and while it's likely that once you've mastered the katas enough to do them at full speed you'd probably get a good bit of cardio and strength out of it, but I didn't manage that within June.
   Having said that, however, I did expect that to be the case, so I can't fault the sport, only myself. But if you were looking to learn Iai Battojutsu, then I can say that the DVD is very good and easy to follow, you just have to be patient. I did get a bit of practical research for my writing out of it, which is also what I wanted. No, kata is different to ordinary sword fighting, which I believe is different still from fencing, and all of that is different again from genuinely trying to kill someone, but from this I have gained some idea of the way a blade moves, it's weight, and shifting your own balance to compensate for the movements.

   I can't say that June was a success, but as I said, that's my own fault for choosing this as a workout. As far as learning new things goes, June was brilliant, but as far as losing weight is concerned, which was my primary goal, I'm not that happy. I did do other things along with this, including restarting the 30 day shred, but I can't say that I got any improved results from this. Even if it was a huge amount of fun.