Official Judo Thread

The main throw you attempt (the dropping seio of sorts) has good grip and some idea but you don't commit to it. The direction is also off. I get the feeling your brain has clicked into "grip and down on an angle", but there's more to it than that for the drop seoi. You do have a good "body configuration" when you attempt this in some of your other videos but commitment isn't there and throw direction/opportunity is wrong.

What's really letting you down is your feet / stepping. You're somehow ponderously heavy in a way that I can't quite explain.

You've had three of us here tell you pretty much the same thing and suggest some options for you. Will be curious to see where you go next.

TL;DR: if you want to improve your judo, improve your foot speed and stop dropping.

Thanks. What is it about the angle and opportunity of seionage that is wrong; and how what would be a good way to improve foot speed and stepping? My gym offers a Mauy Thai class; would it be worth it do do that to get better at footwork and moving around?

It sounds like my main problem is general lack of fitness and coordination more so than anything related to judo...
 
It sounds like my main problem is general lack of fitness and coordination more so than anything related to judo...

Judo takes long time to develop. There are no shortcuts. You need at least 1000 mat hours of practice to get something that does not look bad.

On your video your posture is bent over. This kills your speed and ability to attack. Neither seoi, nor sacrifice throws work when your opponent is upright and you are bent over. It should be the opposite. That's why you fall down and your opponent is still standing. Fix your posture, this will fix your foot speed and coordination.

Bent over posture is natural for beginners. They do not like being thrown and they think more about defense. They are trying to attack with some big throw like osoto or seoi. When they get more experience they get more comfortable with falls, and start attacking with footsweeps they get more upright. They still stick their butt out for defense time to time. Really good posture starts when they are able to read opponents and counter their attack.
 
Thanks. What is it about the angle and opportunity of seionage that is wrong;

You attack at the wrong time, in the wrong direction and without commitment

and how what would be a good way to improve foot speed and stepping?

Plyometrics and solo footwork drills. Good article here...second video especially for you

http://beyondgrappling.com/solo-judo-drills-improve-judo/



My gym offers a Mauy Thai class; would it be worth it do do that to get better at footwork and moving around?

No.

It sounds like my main problem is general lack of fitness and coordination more so than anything related to judo...

You're biggest problem appears to be reading comprehension and/or trying to find magic bullets :)

Do the footwork drills every day for 15 minutes for the next 30 days. Post a video now and then in 30 days. We'll talk after that.

(Or don't - you're a grown ass man and can make your own choices )
 
thanks for the video, that was what I was looking for actually. A month is actually a fast amount of time for me to see improvement. I will work on that footwork in my own time.

I probably will post another video of myself and update the thread with my progress. After all I did post a video back in March and I posted one in April as well. And the video of me haplessly falling down is from October I think.
 
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Lots of good drills here using fitball and BOSU (note the drill @ 1:10, among others)


Using a step


And an agility ladder with uchikomi (hers is not so good...)


Pick several of these and do them along with the ashiwaza that D'aquino shows. Keep doing your uchikomi in class. In 2-3 months, your footwork speed will improve tremendously.
 
Hey @BKR

I've got a problem and I need some help figuring it out.

How do you encourage people to develop good randori? Right now, we seem to have the following problem

* Beginners get taught throws
* They build up speed and power on the crashmat, uchikomi, moving uchikomi etc

But then, when they do randori....they often end up doing weird and stupid things and hurting each other. I've seen too many knees go twang over the past few years and I want to put a stop to this.

IOW, "do good randori" is taught by osmosis...and not all of them get it as they move up the ranks. Then when the hit the intermediate class, they end up fucking each other up.

I want to be explicit as to what randori is (ie: not shiai, keep your partner safe etc).

Myself and one of the other assistants are taking time and trouble to demonstrate throw for throw (French) randori. I'm also spending a fair bit of time on ukemi drills. I'm also giving a 1-2 minute spiel at the start of the randori phases as to why we are doing this, what not to do etc.

Are there any other steps? I'd be pretty happy if I could get them to do good French randori without someone fucking something up.

As I see it, there are a couple of different types of randori that need to be taught to beginners before getting to the heavier stuff

* Throw for throw (French): uke ONLY defends by moving. Swap uke/tori roles every minute
* Footsweep only randori (once they're better)
* Final phase before moving onto real deal: gripfighting randori with fit-ins
 
throw-for-throw is great! i think kumikata-only is good too. a lot of people sleep on it and then as they progress can't figure out why they can't get throws going.

directional uchikomi/nagekomi is huge too. having people go around the square and practice tokuiwaza in all directions is really helpful for developing entries.

beginners have two problems i've noticed consistently: they'll throw in randori the way they practice uchikomi, so if they do a lot of pick-up-and-stop they won't have any follow-through on their throws. they're also limited to throwing either moving forward or backing up, rather than being able to throw to all corners of the compass.
 
Went to visit a friends club tonight to do some training. The beginners did French randori flawlessly. There's something to be said about training in the traditional way.
 
So last night my instructor informed me and a few other guys that he is holding a promotion test in August I believe after a little in house tournament. I will be testing for my brown belt finally. I do however have to learn the nage no Kata which has me a little worried.


After 6.5 years I am finally progressing again somewhat.

Note: not all those years have been judo or at the same place. 2.5 bjj/mma, 3.25 years a one judo club and about .75 at the current one.
 
I'm a big fan of randori where one person can only evade through movement (suteigeiko or something like that). I think the problem with poor randori (not just beginners too) is that many people never learn to mind their own posture and how to use small changes to disrupt a throw. It's not hard to do, but many people just never learn the concept. Once you do you become hard to throw even without grips, and the other person gets to practice without unproductive resistance.
 
absolutely. it really sucks to see the lower rank try to play counter-randori where they spend the whole time ass-out trying to stop any throws coming in. and i get that when you start out you're counting your wins and trying not to get tossed on your ass, but it really sucks when people play defense the whole time or refuse to throw so they don't get countered.

i've been trying to get better about taking falls for decent throws. i used to always counter or round off out of things, but a lot of people just stopped trying to throw me altogether. now if they get decently low or put good effort into things i'll go over.

i'm not saying to just fall for any dogshit, but i think some people get so discouraged early on not being able to catch people with timing and technique that they just give up altogether.
 
absolutely. it really sucks to see the lower rank try to play counter-randori where they spend the whole time ass-out trying to stop any throws coming in. and i get that when you start out you're counting your wins and trying not to get tossed on your ass, but it really sucks when people play defense the whole time or refuse to throw so they don't get countered.

i've been trying to get better about taking falls for decent throws. i used to always counter or round off out of things, but a lot of people just stopped trying to throw me altogether. now if they get decently low or put good effort into things i'll go over.

i'm not saying to just fall for any dogshit, but i think some people get so discouraged early on not being able to catch people with timing and technique that they just give up altogether.


I have this problem too. A couple of the people I train with play very defensively. But

On the other hand others overcompensate for a lack of timing and coordination and try to power through me with everything they have, which is kind of funny because they weigh more than I do by over 20 pounds and are several inches taller.


In randori what do you guys do against people bigger than you?
 
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If light and fast: crush and control

If heavy and slow: move and tire out
 
If light and fast: crush and control

If heavy and slow: move and tire out

Do you use different grips depending on size too? It feels like the standard sleeve and lapel grip doesn't work so well against taller and heavier people.
 
it'll depend on the throw. you really wanna stick with the orthodox grip above the elbow - if you're low on the sleeve and they've got long arms, you'll waste most of your kazushi just getting their arm straightened out. if you rely on a collar grip, you'll bring them forward but you won't get the turn that you do off of an elbow grip.

as a developing judo player it's really good to force yourself to play with the orthodox grip before switching to other fancy grips.

on considerably taller people it'll help if you grip a bit lower on the collar. gripping too high can cause you to overextend, which can reduce power.
 
Do you use different grips depending on size too? It feels like the standard sleeve and lapel grip doesn't work so well against taller and heavier people.

Well, I do, yes. For shorties, I'll take a deep over the shoulder or back grip.

For tallies, I try to control a hip and a wrist. The closer you can get their hand to the ground, the better. You can also do double wrist,

OTOH, there's something to be said about learning to adapt the same grip to different heights.
 
I can generally get back, double wrist or belt grip on most people in randori, but I don't always do so and I don't know if I should. I can move the person around more and even throw them but it isn't clean or pretty when I do so. When I do this I tend to overcommit as well and end up throwing myself. This happens when I try koshi garuma or sumi gaeshi

On the other hand if I try a standard grip I mostly just get stuffed and its very tedious. This happens when I do seonage.

I probably should ask my training partners not to resist so much
 
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Knee update! Post ACL surgery it wasn't quite straightening fully, well it straightened, but it wouldn't do the couple of degrees of hyperextension that the other one would.

The scar above the screw on my shin had never healed properly either and would ooze pus every so often so I got called back in.

So, the graft had some scar tissue which had grown around it and the tunnels which he trimmed off and a fat pad was impinging on it too so that's been trimmed back too and it seems to bend and straighten a lot more smoothly now.

The pus filled bit has been cleaned out and rather disgustingly has been left open to heal from the inside out so is getting packed with some gel stuff and having its dressing changed daily until it heals, which will be about a week or so at least. The repacking hurts like a m%$%&@@£ f^%£*^&@. So, looks like another 3 months until I can get back on the mat and do very light uchi komis and get used to moving again. Look after your acl's guys!
20150923_171358_zpsnszz0kbx.jpg

So that post was September 2015. Just got back on the mat for some light Randori the other night after 3 surgeries all in, the initial reconstruction, the debridement and then another to clear out some more infection. Felt good to get back to it although at 35 I reckon it'll have to be masters if I ever actually compete again. Still, finally back!
 
Here is more footage of me.




In this one I'm mostly being controlled by by someone taller and heavier and those are intentional guard pulls I'm trying.




In this one I'm more active with my foot sweeps but I do get countered doing so.
 
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