Question for Judoka

Ya think? :)

USJA AFAIK, so not exactly some small org either

I find more often than not that USJA belts are laughable, all the way to the top.

For people outside the US, the US has three Judo orgs, which splintered off from the original. I think the original became the USJF.

The USJA came from grievances against non-Japanese getting high ranks, so they broke off and awarded themselves high ranks. Then followed scandals like rank selling.

I don't know the whole history but from my random sampling with them, I take USJA belts with a grain of salt. Obviously they have managed to attract some legit players to serve as officials, from time to time, and some good clubs don't care enough about politics. But my impression is that the USJA contains most of the easy belts in the US.
 
The biggest thing I notice with wrestlers transitioning is stance. The Judo stance is much more upright than wrestling, and a typical folk wrestling stance is going to get you penalized for passivity. In addition, because foot sweeps and turning throws are such a huge part of Judo, having your feet and hips far away from your opponent both makes offense hard and makes you vulnerable to forward throws where tori slips under you. If you had a very movement and angle oriented wrestling style it'll help you, guys with more static, power, collar + elbow style generally have a harder time transitioning because that just doesn't work very well in Judo (grips + movement can really shut down that sort of power game in a way that is much harder in wrestling).
 
...wow that's...that got someone a shodan? that's ridiculous.
@RJ Green , make sure to post your test video when you have it. We'll laugh together. <45>

My kid's club is the one of the oldest and the most competitive club in Nothern California. They award black belts to 1-3 USJF judoka every year. To get black belt they have to consistently practice, compete and win fights for about 10 years (~2000 mat hours). To receive shodan they do not have to pass any tests except for the first 3 sets of nage-no-kata.

Their main tachiwaza techniques are tai otoshi and uchi mata. This is what they do very well. Ouchi, couchi, osoto and footsweeps as set ups and continuation for the main throw. Sacrifice throws are not taught at all.

On the ground they can pin and escape. Chokes are rudimentary, armbars are not practiced - you can only start using them as shodan in competition.

If you pass them through the test on that video it would look even more ridiculous. They would not even know all those techniques names.
 
we don't do a demo-style shodan test, you're expected to hit throws to both sides and all the matwork in a live context, plus all of nage-no-kata.
 
we don't do a demo-style shodan test, you're expected to hit throws to both sides and all the matwork in a live context, plus all of nage-no-kata.
...wow that's...that got someone a shodan? that's ridiculous. :p
 
The biggest thing I notice with wrestlers transitioning is stance. The Judo stance is much more upright than wrestling, and a typical folk wrestling stance is going to get you penalized for passivity. In addition, because foot sweeps and turning throws are such a huge part of Judo, having your feet and hips far away from your opponent both makes offense hard and makes you vulnerable to forward throws where tori slips under you. If you had a very movement and angle oriented wrestling style it'll help you, guys with more static, power, collar + elbow style generally have a harder time transitioning because that just doesn't work very well in Judo (grips + movement can really shut down that sort of power game in a way that is much harder in wrestling).

My wrestling style was largely more upright than the average wrestler anyways. I tended to rely on baiting shots and sprawling on people rather than offensive techniques, at least when it came to competition. I actually think Judo will really fit well with me in that sense.
 
Hey guys. I've wrestled for a long time and I am now going to start training in Judo.

I've done a bit of BJJ in no gi but I never trained it nearly as much as wrestling or boxing.

I'd love some tips on how to do well with my training etc. Is two times a week enough to realistically get to brown belt within a few years?

I think someone with experience in another grappling art should be able to make brown belt in two years, but that's IF they have a good instructor. The instructor part may be the bigger factor even.

Of course, for me, a brown belt is like a blue belt in BJJ, and people get blue belt in 2 years all the time. You just need to be able to perform mechanically sound techniques, know fundamentals of posture, grips, kuzushi, stances.
 
@RJ Green , make sure to post your test video when you have it. We'll laugh together. <45>

My kid's club is the one of the oldest and the most competitive club in Nothern California. They award black belts to 1-3 USJF judoka every year. To get black belt they have to consistently practice, compete and win fights for about 10 years (~2000 mat hours). To receive shodan they do not have to pass any tests except for the first 3 sets of nage-no-kata.

Their main tachiwaza techniques are tai otoshi and uchi mata. This is what they do very well. Ouchi, couchi, osoto and footsweeps as set ups and continuation for the main throw. Sacrifice throws are not taught at all.

On the ground they can pin and escape. Chokes are rudimentary, armbars are not practiced - you can only start using them as shodan in competition.

If you pass them through the test on that video it would look even more ridiculous. They would not even know all those techniques names.
That's my experience, good obsessive attendance and comp wins for 10 years, 8 if you accrue mat hrs at seminars and camps. The Nage No Kate's a given but I like that stuff cause I'm an old broken dawg.
 
...wow that's...that got someone a shodan? that's ridiculous.

Sitting here patiently at nikyu......


To be fair I'm doing bjj for the past 2 years because of no judo in my area....
 
Sitting here patiently at nikyu......


To be fair I'm doing bjj for the past 2 years because of no judo in my area....

i feel your pain bro.

i've been a sankyu since 2010, and that was after a 4-year wait at whatever fuckin rank orange is. i've had standing offers to promote to black from other clubs since like 2011 but felt i should make amends at my original club. i should get promoted this Fall, but if that doesn't happen i'm taking the other guys up on the offer, if only to get my national referee certification.

well, and because i want my damn black belt...
 
i feel your pain bro.

i've been a sankyu since 2010, and that was after a 4-year wait at whatever fuckin rank orange is. i've had standing offers to promote to black from other clubs since like 2011 but felt i should make amends at my original club. i should get promoted this Fall, but if that doesn't happen i'm taking the other guys up on the offer, if only to get my national referee certification.

well, and because i want my damn black belt...

The 2 years totally off the mats because of ankle didn't help either. Several Dans at my last club said I would've made shodan if that hadn't happened.
 
dude i can't even blame you after an injury like that. i'd be real wary getting thrown.
 
This is my first post in years, promoted to a USJF Nikyu in 09, in 2010 the building we rented was sold and we tried to find a place that was in our price range{ dirt cheap }. That did not happen and as my coach was having some back problems that kept him off the mat from time to time our club never got back up and running.

Fast forward to 2017, a purple belt opened a BJJ club and we again have some were to train in this vast grappling wasteland. I very much enjoy BJJ as it is easier on the 47 yo body than Judo was 12 years ago, the up side is we start every class with Judo, the down side is we want to get a judo club up and running but be do not have a BB in the area. In the mean time i have rejoined the USJA, as that is were my coaching and referee certs are out of, but have been looking at other organizations.

https://www.freestylejudo.org/about/ I remembered Steve Scott, as i had one of his books on armlocks years ago and remembered he was at the time trying to get a new org up an running while i was still active. I would love to get a USJF club running but there is very little support in my area, so we have been looking at Steve Scotts organization. Any one frustrated about the Judo politics and rule changes, i have not competed since they went into effect, should look at Freestyle Judo. One look at there rank requirements and you will see they do not promote unless you deserve the rank and there tournament rules are the best any were for Judo.
 
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