Judo Techinques, Tips and Discussion Thread

[BruceLee]

All judo related discussion should go here.

If you do judo, post here what belt you are, I have many questions. Also is it normal in Randori to be going up against Black Belts when you are a beginner?

[bigjay]

I'm a shodan with about twenty years experience. I was on the Canadian national team for about 12 of those years and have competed a lot both nationally and internationally with tournaments like British Open, British Commonwealth Games, Francophone Games, US Open and others. I should probably be a ni or san dan but I hate kata and have pretty much not bothered to go for further gradings for that reason.

I've been retired from competition for about five years now and really only train sporadically now. I was kind of burned out a bit I think and it's been hard for me to continue as a recreational player since I feel unfocussed without any goals plus judo doesn't seem the same without competing (I work weekends so even rec tournaments are pretty much out). I still go out to the club once a week or so. Doesn't help that I've moved and the clubs in my area don't have any guys who are really at my level.

Black belts when you're a beginner is fine and a good way to learn. I always tell adult beginners that I randori with to relax and let me throw them so they can feel how throws should feel. Too many get really stiff and tense and it makes it difficult to work with them. If you're working with a black belt, expect to get thrown. Loosen up and don't be afraid to try things. It may be intimidating but you're much less likely to get hurt in randori with a higher belt if you stay lose. Just check any ego at the beginning of the round.

The above is more about tachi-waza (standing randori) than ne-waza. Ne-waza you can push things a bit harder, especially if you have a wrestling or BJJ background.

[telerion]

All judo related discussion should go here.

If you do judo, post here what belt you are, I have many questions. Also is it normal in Randori to be going up against Black Belts when you are a beginner?

I'm a brown belt. I did judo for about 5 years as a junior, but stopped for about 12 years. I came back to the sport a year ago. It's not unheard of for a beginner to face a black belt. In most clubs it will happen during randori because, like bigjay wrote, it's a great way for the beginner to learn and a lot safer than going up against a more skilled novice. I've never seen a black belt injure a beginner in randori, however, I've seen some senior greens and blues do it more than once.

Even in most local and regional tournaments a beginner can face black belts if they choose. For the regional tournaments there is usually a form that your sensei has to fill out basically saying that in his/her professional estimation you are able to enter the black belt division without getting killed (literally).

[BruceLee]

The above is more about tachi-waza (standing randori) than ne-waza. Ne-waza you can push things a bit harder, especially if you have a wrestling or BJJ background.

I have no problem with the Newaza since I have some experience in BJJ. The only adjustment I have to make is they try to go ridiculously fast, whereas in my BJJ I always try to go as slow as possible to avoid injuries and not create space.

Also they tend to just try to pin you in side control or kesa gatame for the 20 seconds or however long a pin is.

The rubber guard seems to be a good way to neutralize the judo guys to see up triangles, etc, but once again their isn't that much time on the ground to go for a sub before the stand up.

[BruceLee]

I'm a shodan with about twenty years experience. I was on the Canadian national team for about 12 of those years and have competed a lot both nationally and internationally with tournaments like British Open, British Commonwealth Games, Francophone Games, US Open and others. I should probably be a ni or san dan but I hate kata and have pretty much not bothered to go for further gradings for that reason.

.

Did you ever meet the late Canadian Judo great/olympian and former pro wrestler Allan Coage? (Bad News Brown/Bad News Allan/Buffalo Allan Coage).

[BruceLee]

I'm a brown belt. I did judo for about 5 years as a junior, but stopped for about 12 years. I came back to the sport a year ago. It's not unheard of for a beginner to face a black belt. In most clubs it will happen during randori because, like bigjay wrote, it's a great way for the beginner to learn and a lot safer than going up against a more skilled novice. I've never seen a black belt injure a beginner in randori, however, I've seen some senior greens and blues do it more than once.

).

I guess it also depends on the type of guy you are going against. There are 1 or 2 wild, competitive guys who are trying to go full speed, even at the gripping stage. I took an elbow to the face because this black belt guy was going fast in trying to set up his throw.

Then this blue belt was trying to do drop seio-nage really fast, which sort of give it a DDT effect.

The rest of the black belts were cool and calm.

[BruceLee]

Would you say there is a much higher injury rate than in BJJ? Obviously so because the manuevers are much more high risk and aerial than newazaa but how much more?

A friend of mine disclocated her shouder from judo 3 times before quitting and I have heard other stories.

It seems like your partner has a big part in terms of ensuring your safety (sort of like in Pro Wrestling).

I just bring it up because getting injured just sucks becasue then you can no longer train when hurt. So saftey is very important to me.

[telerion]

Would you say there is a much higher injury rate than in BJJ? Obviously so because the manuevers are much more high risk and aerial than newazaa but how much more?

A friend of mine disclocated her shouder from judo 3 times before quitting and I have heard other stories.

It seems like your partner has a big part in terms of ensuring your safety (sort of like in Pro Wrestling).

I just bring it up because getting injured just sucks becasue then you can no longer train when hurt. So saftey is very important to me.

I don't have enough experience with BJJ yet to say firsthand whether its injury rate is lower. I know a BJJ purple belt who is also a judo black belt that claims this is so. The majority of moderate to serious judo injuries that I've seen occur while some one is being thrown. The injury may be sustained by uke, the one being thrown, tori, the thrower, or an unsuspecting bystander. Less experienced students tend to be on both the giving and the receiving end of these injuries. I've seen uke turn his shoulder out rather than taking his fall which caused the force of technique (and his opponents weight as well) to dislocate it. I've seen tori not pull his opponent correctly to finish the throw and toss uke on his own ankle, breaking it. I've seen a novice student goof off while others were fighting and end up with a some one being thrown on the back of his legs, damaging his knee.

These are all cases an experienced judoka is much less likely find themselves in. Experienced judoka pay attention to what's going on around them. They have enough control of their techniques to stop or divert a throw that will put some one else in harm. They have better throwing form to place uke correctly as he falls. They are not afraid to fall themselves so that when they are thrown they protect their body. Now injuries still occur among the higher ranks, though most often I see it in competition, when the desire to win causes one to neglect the wisdom of experience.

So is the injury rate higher in judo? Probably, but in my experience if you practice your ukemi (i.e. breakfalls) seriously and pay attention to your surroundings you won't get injured too much.

P.S. All this said, I'm currently recovering from a badly sprained thumb and turf toe (or maybe a fracture) in my big toe. They hurt but I wouldn't count them as moderate injuries. Besides I hurt the thumb in BJJ.

[LiveinTokyo]

I did Judo for a few years at the Kodokan in Tokyo. I still go every now and again, but I was getting alot of pain in my fingers and wrists (I work as a pianist so this is not an ideal situation) so I havn`t been going lately. Anyway at Kodokan they make you learn breakfalls and proper throwing technique for a couple of months before you can do any randori. It sort of sucked at the time, but I think it really cut down on the chance of injuries. It is often the beginners that get to the randori stage of training that get/cause injuries. It was also a little hard on the foreign guys, because alot of the Japanese students have an image of foreign guys being stronger/bigger than them so they go a bit harder than they usually do. I actually think doing randori with black belts is better for your training - you can learn better technique from them, and they arn`t as caught up in the ego thing, as newer guys.

[BruceLee]

I don't have enough experience with BJJ yet to say firsthand whether its injury rate is lower. I know a BJJ purple belt who is also a judo black belt that claims this is so. The majority of moderate to serious judo injuries that I've seen occur while some one is being thrown.

What do you think about making or buying a Judo Dummy to practice with? Is that effective at all. (considering the lack of resistence)?

Also do you use the inner tube or rope around the Tree that Kimura used to use, and Fedor uses now. I think they use it for Seio-Nage but I'm not sure if it can be used for more than just that.