JUDO IS NOT THE GENTLE WAY

Judo is an intricate and complex martial art. It takes significant study. You aren't going to pick up a trick here and there by attending a few classes. A "trick" will not advance one in skill level or competition. If you train judo committ to the level of study that it requires. Throwing someone who doesn't want to be thrown isn't a simple thing that one just "picks up". A throw isn't just a throw there are many technical intricacies, nuances to learn and develop to have good judo.

In actuality judo is the most efficient use of a person's mind and body. Judo is based on practical considerations and not theoretical.  Judo uses strength to its most efficient means, yielding when necessary and then applying force tactically.  The most efficient use of power is a necessary component in the application of  judo. Power however, should not be confused to mean brute strength. Power is force multiplied by the distance that you are able to move your opponent when you are moving him to set up your throw or when you are executing your throw. 

Judo is often termed or defined as the gentle way however this is not an accurate description of judo. Simply describing judo to mean "gentle" or "soft" does not accurately describe the concept behind judo. Ju is flexibility, it is also the efficient use of power and lastly Ju relies on a well conditioned body. 

Central to the principle of ju is the application of kuzushi. Kuzushi is the most efficient and most effective use of a person's body movement. When applying kuzushi, you break your opponent's balance and posture by controlling his movement. How well a judoka can control the movement of his own body and the movement of his opponent's body determines if his throw will be  successful.  A important factor in controlling your opponent’s movement is how well you can maximize your power and are able to transfer it efficiently to your technical skills. Ju is the most efficient use of physical and mental energy. It is adaptable, flexible and practical. Judo is athletic, explosive and dynamic in action. For the principles of ju and kuzushi to be effective, you have to be physically fit enough to efficiently apply them.

This applies to all judoka from the elite judo athletes to the noncompetitive recreational judoka. It goes without saying that judo specific training and conditioning is essential. Judo is a rigorous and demanding physical activity and it’s demands are unique and rather complex.  A Judo fight is too long to be pure anaerobic effort, and too intense just to be purely aerobic.

I tend to get right into static and dynamic uchikomi (speed drills and power drills) as my warm up process instead of a stretching routine. I find that the uchikomi drills tend to get me loose as much as the stretching does.

 A judoka must be powerful and ALSO have great endurance, be fast and very strong in ALL planes of motion. The battle ropes have very quickly become one of my all time favorite training and conditioning methods. It is a very versatile and eclectic piece of equipment and the varying degrees of workouts make the battle ropes extremely fun and enjoyable...not to mention extremely effective for judo. The versatiliy of the tempo and the intenisty of Battle rope training makes it possible to go back forth either gradually, suddenly and explosively from a pure muscle strengthening exercise into a collection of more mixed exercises going back forth ranging from pure strength to cardio to strength endurance, aerobic to anaerobic.

The battle rope is really an essential tool that is ultra-specific to the judoka. It simultaneously develops grip strength, wrist strength, the muscles of the back, the rotator cuff, scapula stabilizers, abdominals, biceps, triceps and the forearms. A major cardiovascular and injury preventative dimension is added with the intense muscle engagement.

 As mentioned before one has to use strength in situations strategically and tactically. We may find ourselves in a position where our base isnt stable and often we are even on one leg during throws. One of the neglected aspects in training is co-ordination of  both hands and feet. Battle ropes offer a great method of training because you can make both huge improvements in strength and stamina yet also incorporate the feet.

Benefits of battle rope training:

You can maintain a high intensity over an extended period of time.

You can use it to get in a full-body workout.

It increases lactic acid threshold in the upper body which is super unique because most of the time work like this is done with the lower body. 

You can alternate between low and high impact by the way you move the rope.

Great for developing grip strength.

You’re able to work the upper body independently.

You can engage the wrists to develop wrist strength.

Helps improve balance and coordination.

Circuit battle-rope exercises to boost arm and shoulder strength.

Effective exercise for grip-fight in Judo.

A battle rope is one of the few pieces of equipment that targets almost every major muscle group in the body. You can use these ropes for individual exercises, as a finisher, or as an entire training routine.

As a judoka, in practice one gives 100 percent and engages with the opponent constantly using everything you have physically in randori/free practice. The battle ropes can be used hundreds of different ways to “mimic” the exertion that a judoka has to put forth in randori/competitiion.

My own personal training and conditioning program is very Judo specific. An average day consists of three different workouts; a bodyweight/calisthenics and core workout in the morning, a conditioning workout at mid day and a strength workout mid after noon followed by judo in the evening. This generally is about 5 to 6 hours a day.

The following is one of the conditioning routines:

JUDO MID DAY WORKOUT

Judo specific training/conditioning.         

Battle rope workout with Seoi nage drills using bicycle inner tubes for resistance at the end as finisher. For this particular workout I will finish it off with specific throw uchikomi using bicycle inner tubes for resistance. 

BATTLE ROPE

4 sets of 40 reps of each exercise. 30 seconds to 1 minute rest between sets. 1 superset of all 4 exercises 30 to 40 reps each no rest period between exercises.

1. Alternating waves

2. Rope Slams

3. Hip toss

4. Snakes on the ground

One handed Ippon seoi nage drill - 20 reps to pick up only - Finish throw on last rep

SEOI NAGE DRILLS w/inner tubes

I will pick a few different throws and  do five sets of 20 to 30 reps of each techniques with 30 seconds of rest between each set for more of a power uchikomi drill and then I will do 3 sets of each technique for speed. 

Take both ends of inner tube in one hand and perform ippon seoi nage

1. Right side Seoi Nage

2. Left side seoi nage

3. Right side Ippon seoi nage

4. Left side Ippon Seoi nage

4 sets to failure 30 seconds rest between sets.

Alternating left side right to side seoi nage

 Armpit grip Ippon Seoi Nage with split step entry - 20 reps to pick up only - Finish throw on last rep

1200 REP BODY WEIGHT WORKOUT

For this workout do as many reps as you can per set of each exercise until you hit the 200 reps. Then move to the next exercise.  

200 x Mountain Climbers

200 x Bulgarian Split Squats (200 reps each Leg)

200 x Pushups

200 x Flutter Kicks

200 x Sit Throughs

THOSE WHO EARN RANK AND THOSE WHO JUST DONT MATTER

I recently received an email from one of my instructor’s daughters. My instructor passed away several years ago and since his passing some have popped up claiming to have trained under him, claiming to be black belts under him. To make a long story short they did not. There were some under handed things pulled by these people using her father’s name in various deceitful ways and his daughter of course is very understandably upset about this. I wont get into everything they have supposedly done other than to say that they managed to set the bar for a new level of low. 

Martial arts are supposed to be about honor. This isn’t honorable at all. But She isn’t dealing with those who have honor or even respect.

Some of these people claim to be tenth dans under my old instructor. I know these people and they have made a lot of bullshit claims in the past. My old instructor’s highest rank was only an 8^th dan. He did come up with his own system but he only considered himself an 8^th dan in it. He didn’t give himself a grand master title or a tenth dan like some of these wannabes did......so where did ya 10th dans come from fellas? Ya made them up...just like ya made up everything else.  

I do want to point out.....my old Sensei would point this out as well.....if you never actually trained with someone you can’t be a black belt or even a student of theirs of any rank, not even a kyu rank. As an instructor myself, if a student only sticks around for six months I don’t consider him/her a student. Teaching someone a few techniques doesn’t qualify them to be training under me or part of my school/style. It certainly doesn’t mean that they were “trained by me”. A few seminars doesn't grant someone some sort of inheritance or a partnership of someone's system. This is crap or lines that frauds use to feed and fool the ignorant. To be considered an actual student of an instructor takes years of training and constant consistent practice under that instructor’s direct tutelage and supervision. 

Anyone who actually knew my old instructor knew that there wasn’t a person who walked the face of the planet that he was prouder of than his daughter. She served her country made a career of it and was every bit as tough as nails as her father. These people have treated my old instructor’s family with a lot of disrespect. They took advantage of his widow. They ignore the family’s wishes and requests. They have been rude to his daughter in their emails. 

My response to my instructor’s daughter was that anyone going against the family’s wishes was obviously never a friend of her father's in the first place....so don't waste anymore time with them and move forward.... as her father would want her to do. If my old instructor were alive and knew how they were treating his daughter….he would track them down and cut their head and nuts off…..nuts first of course. 

 When my old instructor was alive these pretenders held him in disdain, tried to undermine him. They did this all because my instructor would not budge from the truth, he wanted nothing to do with them or how they did things. Now that he has passed away they leach off him, use his name, claim some kind of inheritance of his system. 

My advice to my instructor's daughter was to no longer waste her breath on these people. They just aren't worth it. She already has plenty out there to prove her side of things. I also pointed that there are those who earn their ranks and those who don't, those who don't....don't matter. Personally, I quit writing about the pretenders. I refuse to soil my blog with their names. They are desperate to be recognized for something they didn’t do. Take credit for something they were never a part of. Those of this ilk are quite frankly beneath me and like I communicated to her, just don’t matter. 

I am interested in the well being of my instructor's family. His wife, his daughter, they all went through enough in dealing with their loved one's illness and his ultimate passing. I expect trying to talk her into no longer dealing with these people will generate nothing but hate from them even though I didn't mention their names.....again not going to soil my blog. 

The Judo Mcdojo

One handed Ippon Seoi Nage drill

I am going to attempt to explain this as simply as I can; I am all about teaching, learning and promoting only good judo. Doing Judo to the best of my ability. I am writing this article so that anyone who is potentially looking to get involved with judo doesn't get the wool pulled over their eyes and fooled.

 Judo is pretty well regulated It is regulated to keep and hold the standard high. Judo is one of the few styles that don't have too many mcdojos. Thank God! However, there are some judo mcdojos out there. There are so few Judo mcdojos that the good news is that they are pretty easy to identify. 

First and Foremost

If your instructor or his dojo isn’t recognized by one of the official Judo organizations, USA Judo, United States Judo Association, or the United States Judo Federation you might want to take a harder look and question some things.

The recognized Organizations - There are only three! 

USA Judo, the USJA and the USJF are the only National Governing Organizations that are recognized as such by the Kodokan, the Birthplace and headquarters for Judo in Japan. 

Other things to look out for   

If the same instructor is teaching or claiming to teach several martial arts; judo, karate, jiujitsu, and aikido, etc. then I would suggest that you start trying to learn more about their actual judo accreditation and history make sure it comes from one of the NGBs.

Be careful of phrases like, “we don’t do sport judo” or “we only do self-defense” or "the NGBs (USA Judo, USJA and USJF) are all about sport" These phrases should automatically get your “spidey” hairs up. 

Questions you should ask;

1.) What governing body is the club associated with? USJA, USJF, USA Judo are the only recognized NGBs in the US. AAU is for freestyle judo which is also good though not as widespread. So be leary of any judo organization not mentioned in this article. If they don't have any association with any of these, you should look elsewhere or leave if you are already a member. 

There are grass root dojos and programs out there however they should be affiliated with an NGB. 

A legit judo instructor has no problems with being a member of any of the NGBs if they do you should consider this a red flag. (National Governing Bodies). 

2.) What rank is the head instructor, where/who did he/she train and how many years of experience? If they don't give you any information on clubs and names that you can confirm on the internet, that could be a little concerning, but not necessarily a red flag so long as they are accredited with one of the above organizations.

3.    3.) Do their students compete in tournaments affiliated with USJA, USJF, USA Judo, etc? Some schools teach judo mainly as a hobby which is fine, however Not being affiliated with one of the National Governing bodies, and not being involved in competition even at a recreational level should be a big red flag.    

Attaining rank In judo

Judo rank isn’t easy to come by and this is simply because it is one of the hardest martial art styles to learn. Judo takes years and it should. If the instructor is testing students every few months this should be a red flag. If you have gone from white belt to green belt in less than a year chances are your judo is total bullshito.

Advancing in black belt rank is even more difficult and often takes years in grade between each rank. If your instructor is advancing in his black belt rank every year or two chances are you are not dealing with a legitimate black belt judoka.

The NGBs are there for a reason - to regulate and uphold the standards put forth by the Kodokan. Is it easy to get rank in judo? Absolutely not, it isn’t supposed to be.

Randori and willingness to Randori

There can be no judo without randori. To randori is to do judo.  According to the founder of Judo there are two methods of practice, Kata and randori. Of the two, Jigoro Kano stated that Randori is the most effective means of judo training.  Practicing throws on a compliant and non-resistant partner is not judo. Not even close. Throwing someone who doesn’t want to be thrown in randori/free sparring is judo. Judo is the act of applying judo principles on a partner who is 100 percent resistant and trying to throw you..... you are not actually doing judo until you are doing that.  

The same thing applies when practicing judo for self defense randori is a must. Learning to execute throws on a person who is fighting back and moving is a skill set in and of itself. A good judo instructor can perform his techniques with and without a gi. 

Ippon Seoi nage from armpit grip

It is very rare to find a good Judo instructor who is unwilling to randori or spar with white belts or any of their students or anyone else for that matter. If there is an absence of randori and only just kata style training this is a red flag as well. 

I have given a simple rundown of what you might encounter when dealing with Judo Mcdojos and Judo Bullshito instructors. All Judo is not equal, by any means! There are bad legitimate judo instructors just like there are good teachers and bad teachers. Fraudulent instructors however, don't even come close to performing good judo. Most legitimate yellow belts are technically better than the Judo fraud. Most of these bullshito judoka move like a pregnant giraffe that's trying to traverse a frozen pond. 

Bottom line is if they are shunning the NGBs or bad mouthing them, and staying away from practices explained in this article they are covering something up so get as far away from them as you can. Nuff said!