Kendo and pregnancy

[jorunikmv]

I'm a dedicated kendoka (1:st dan) and I've just discovered I'm 8 weeks pregnant, wow!

Now I've started to read about pregnancy and exercise and although it seems that exercise is warmly recommended (James F Clapp, "Exercising Throughout Your Pregnancy"), I have been unable to find any information about martial arts and pregnancy.

Is there any woman or budo expert out there who could give me some advice about how to modify my kendo regime throughout pregnancy? If it's totally unsuitable to engage in full contact activities, please let me know... I would very much like to continue practise though and perhaps you could tell me how to work out a "pregnancy program" involving solo drills and the like?

I will of course talk to my sensei, but all the women I know who have become pregnant in our club have dropped out and never been seen again since...

Would also like to take up medieval sword fighting this autumn, if possible considering that I'm pregnant. There will be a training camp with John Clements (author of Medieval Swordmanship) in September here in Stockholm. According to an article by S. Matthew Galas ("Kindred Spirits - The Art of the Sword in Germany and Japan") the long sword is comparable to the Japanese katana, a theory that I would like to explore in practise.

Hope to hear from you soon!

[Ian Remi]

Hello and congrats!

Although I'm a man (and certainly no budo expert) and don't really know too much about being pregnant, my wife recently gave birth to our now two month old boy, so it's still relatively fresh in my mind what she went through. Our doctor basically told my wife to continue whaterver physical activity she currently had, within reason (bogu won't fit you too well a few months down the road). At some point, you will not be able to practice kendo as certain physical shock could prove harmful to the baby (e.g. taiatari). Other than consulting your physician, you'll know when you must stop actively going to keiko. Every pregnancy will be different so listen to your body and your doctor!

As to not coming back to kendo after giving birth, I now can understand why that can happen. Having a baby WILL make kendo hard. It's been two months (i've been going to keiko pretty regular) but it's not always easy. Our son is my first priority, kendo comes after. But that doesn't stop me from going to practice after a long day of work and little sleep (most of the time).

Good luck and I hope your pregnancy goes well.

[jorunikmv]

Thank you, this was really helpful!

[red_fists]

Hi.

I don't practice kendo, but my Wife went through the same thing 2 yrs ago with our son.
We also had a few other ladies in the class that did the same thing 1 yr later.

Best is speak to your Kendo Instructor and ask him/her for an opinion.
Often the Instructor can offer slight changes that will work for you, but not for others.
My Wife did with our Tai chi instructor and practiced until 10 days before giving birth.

As for coming back after pregnancy it depends, most women I met have dropped out for a few years.
My Wife had to give up Tai Chi after 1yr as the Class schedule (afternoons) interfered with the sleep cycle of our Son and we have no other Family in japan that could take over.

So it depends if you got somebody else that can do a bit of child minding while you train or not.

Hope this helps.

[gendzwil]

Talk to your doctor, explain as best you can, ask for his advice. Asking for medical or legal advice on the net is iffy. Having said that, I suggest that you could continue for quite a while but I would suggest you use suri-ashi instead of fumikomi-ashi (ie don't stomp, especially later). Tell all your training partners to avoid taiatari with you, and don't practice with the ones who don't have enough control to avoid slamming in to you. Later on you might want to reduce your practice to suburi, kiri-kaeshi and easy kakari-geiko. Especially when your doh no longer fits!

For reference, I know some women who have skied past 6 months, just being careful and not risking a crash.

Good luck with your pregnancy. If you're feeling well enough to practice, sounds like things are already going great!

[jorunikmv]

I will see my doctor in two weeks and, provided I'm in good health, I'm hoping to get some personalised guidelines for trainig. However, from what I've read, the opinions about exercise may vary tremendously among doctors, relatives and friends, so I've tried to read books and ask around to create my own opinion as well.

I will also talk to my senseis, but since all the women I know of in the club dropped out immediately once they discovered they were pregnant, I don't know how much experience they have in the subject.

We will start kendo practise again in August/September, until then I do Low Impact aerobics and some weight training, just to keep fit.

Right now I'm in good spirits and feel as strong as ever, so I do hope I will be able to continue doing kendo as long as possible, with some modifications.

Thank you very much for your suggestions as to how to modify practise!

[Don Cunningham]

While I don't have any advice, I do have a funny story. I had entered a kendo tournament and grading many years ago in Atlanta. At the grading, the students in each rank were lined up and paired with each other for a demonstration match. There was no distinction made for gender.

The woman who lined up behind me, realizing we would be paired together by our respective places in line, said something to me. Because we already had our men on, it was very difficult to hear, though. Basically, I thought I heard her say, "I am nervous because I am pregnant."

Thinking she was asking me to be careful, I decided not to go full out. When our match came up, though, she immediately attacked with a strong rush. Catching me by surprise, she ran directly into me like a brick wall. As a result, she bounced off and fell hard on her back toward the wooden floor. In a near panic that I might have injured a pregnant woman, I dropped my shinai, grabbed her by the do, and tried to prevent her falling. We both ended up on the floor.

Afterwards she explained that she had really commented, "I am more nervous than when I was pregnant." We both got our promotions, but I was just glad I hadn't hurt her or an unborn child.