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mikes
17th March 2002, 20:11
I've been told I should wear knee-pads for doing ukemi on a wooden floor. Especially from kneeling. The problem is the knee pads I have (and most I've seen) don't seem to work too well in seiza, they tend to cut off the blood flow and chaff.

Anyone have any sugguestions?

thanks,

Gene Gabel
19th March 2002, 07:50
Originally posted by mikes
I've been told I should wear knee-pads for doing ukemi on a wooden floor. Especially from kneeling. The problem is the knee pads I have (and most I've seen) don't seem to work too well in seiza, they tend to cut off the blood flow and chaff.

Anyone have any sugguestions?

thanks,
.......................................................
Yes, go with knee pads. Even on carpet you are hurting sensitive areas without pads on them
BTW You are in luck .I posted this on the sword forum (www.swordforum.com...Japanese Sword Arts area) a week or so ago.Check it for their replies
I recently bought some wrestling (not wrasslin") Asics sorbathane neoprene knee pads at the suggestion of the forumites and I am sure they will work out fine.
I was unable to find any to my liking locally and I used an online sporting goods store

Gene Gabel

mikko oksa
27th March 2002, 21:15
Knee pads i use for iaido are intended to be used in volleyball. I think it is important that the pad is open on the back side so that it won´t get irritated from sweat. Theese kneepads are rougly half inches thick that makes them grate for seiza as they won´t lift my knees up and so add more pressure to my ankles and feet. If you want a picture what they look like mail me. Sorry for my bad english.
All the best Mikko:toast:

Dragonfly
28th March 2002, 11:33
Does anyone know whereI can purchase a small bench for siting in seiza for fun (watching TV, reading, etc.) I've seen an ad for them somewhere, but I just don't know where anymore....

Blues
28th March 2002, 12:58
Originally posted by Dragonfly
[...] siting in seiza for fun [...]
:nw: :D


I've been told I should wear knee-pads for doing ukemi on a wooden floor.
I don't think I really get the picture...what kind of ukemi makes your knees touch the floor? Or do you mean braces to 'stiffen' the knees?

mikes
31st March 2002, 17:16
A lot of the time we do ukemi from seiza, and end up back in seiza. I think it helps form as there is little or no momentum.

For a seiza bench:
http://www.mro.org/dc/store.shtml
http://www.samadhistore.com/

Thanks for the replies. I have volley ball ones right now but with no open back. I'll give wrestling pads a try.

MKL
5th April 2002, 11:00
I recon this would not work that well for ukemis, but its perfect for iai practise (at least for me)

simply sew pockets to your pants in front of the knees (outside) and put pieces of camping mattress into them. this eliminates completely irritation to the back of the knee since there are no bands whatsoever around the leg. Of course to avoid looking ridiculous, you should wear hakama on top of the pants.

you can also use different materials for the cushion, aerobic matress, thick bathroom carpet etc works as well. the problem with camping mattress is that it "dies" quite fast and you need to change them quite often. some materials are more durable than others, so my advice would be to experiment. you can also increase the lifespan of the cushions by locating the pockets so that your knee sits on one corner of the cushion and thus you can use the same cushion four times by turning the different corner.

Todd Stephens
9th April 2002, 18:45
This topic might already be dead and buried, but what the heck--

I have to say that there is some value in doing ukemi on hardwood floors without kneepads, providing that you are not causing any kind of serious or lasting injury--emphasis on the second part of that sentence. First, there is a matter of conditioning. Especially for beginners, sitting in seiza can be particularly uncomfortable, no matter what the surface is. It does get better over time, and although it might be horribly painful for the first few months, it might be worthwhile to accustom yourself to doing so. You might not be doing yourself any favor by relying on kneepads.

Second, if your knees are hitting the floor while doing ukemi, this is a pretty good indicator that you are doing something incorrectly. Where I train, we have really large wrestling mats in the fall and winter, but during summer we switch to a room that only has hardwood floors. Those first couple of weeks can be tortuous, but it also points out the weak spots in a roll or breakfall, because you get nasty bruises wherever your body hits the ground too hard. But as a result, almost everyone improves rather quickly, because you figure out how to fall or roll to minimize the pain. While doing ukemi, your body should smoothly flow throughout the roll, so if your knee is smacking down on the floor, you might want to figure out why and fix it.

If you have just started and are unaccustomed to training on hardwood, then go ahead and use kneepads so that you can safely practice your rolling and breakfalls. But consider that you might want to go without them eventually--just make sure you don't hurt yourself in the process.

_____________
Todd Stephens