JUDO: SHIME WAZA

Tonight I walked into dojo in a very nostalgic mood. My thoughts predominately on old friends and friendships built in my judo class back home. I have become rather homesick in the sense that I miss the comradery of my old friends who I have known for my entire judo career. I am building new friendships but still feel like much of an outsider to this class. They are more than friendly but I find myself wanting to see a familiar face and hear encouragement from longtime training partners. Strong ties were made during those years and judo is starting to bring back those memories.

We worked on different shime waza (choking techniques). Shimewaza is probably the most difficult area of judo to master. Few judo practitioners will ever attain total mastery of shimewaza. The majority of shimewaza techniques require compression of the carotid artery. Also shimewaza attacks must be precise especially if attacking an experienced player.

The basis for all chokes/strangles is to attempt to render the opponent unconscious. A good strangulation hold should render the opponent unconsciousness without injury or significant pain in a matter of seconds regardless of whom the opponent is. The most basic requirements for applying such an effective strangulation are:

* Make sure your own body always has complete freedom of action so that you are in the best position for the technique you intend to use and you are flexible enough to be able to respond to your opponent's attempts to escape. Your position should be stable so that in applying the technique you can use your entire body.
* Lead your opponent into a position in which it is most difficult to put up resistance, and control all of his or her actions. Your opponent must be unstable and under your control as much as possible. Very often this means stretching out your opponent's body backwards.
* Train your hands to get an accurate hold the minute you begin a technique, make your choke work in a very brief time, and once you begin the pressure refrain from continually releasing to adjust your position. Your techniques will have much greater effect if you are firmly resolved not to let your opponent get away but to continue until the end without slackening. Constancy of pressure, rather than extreme force, is what is called for. Excessive reliance on strength would indicate a defect in the technique since very little pressure is needed to compress an artery and render a person unconscious.