Is beginner Judo right for me?

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sark9guy

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Hello all,

I looking for some reasonable opinions from fellow Martial Arts enthusiasts:

I am a soon to be 31 year old. I am a male interested in getting into a martial art, preferably where I can get in-shape, gain some more self defense, and compete. At this point, I am leaning toward Judo. I have always had an interest in Judo and also Aikido (which has no competition as most of you know).

I have fallen greatly out of shape due to time spent laid off from work, and addressing an injury I sustained in a fall. As such, I didn't work for nearly two years or do anything physical for the most part. This led to about 40 or so pounds overweight and minimal flexibility.

Here's what I am curious about: is it possible to reach the above goals at this point with Judo? Moreover, with the right amount of effort, taking between 3 to 5 hours of Judo a week (the regular class schedule that is offered), can I actually gain a level of skill to compete and become successful? I am not delusional, and talking Olympic level competition, but rather local/state/regional?

Thanks for the input guys and gals, I appreciate it.
 
I think it is. You have a decent plan.
 
I would do some serious conditioning outside of Judo if you want to lose some serious weight.
 
1neeto said:
I would do some serious conditioning outside of Judo if you want to lose some serious weight.
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Thanks for the input, I appreciate it. I also joined a local gym and had a meeting with a personal trainer. I may workout with him 3 times a week for a half hour each time. Then I can also follow up with his suggestions on my other days I am working out alone. Hopefully, that will help.
 
sark9guy said:
Hello all,

I looking for some reasonable opinions from fellow Martial Arts enthusiasts:

I am a soon to be 31 year old. I am a male interested in getting into a martial art, preferably where I can get in-shape, gain some more self defense, and compete. At this point, I am leaning toward Judo. I have always had an interest in Judo and also Aikido (which has no competition as most of you know).

I have fallen greatly out of shape due to time spent laid off from work, and addressing an injury I sustained in a fall. As such, I didn't work for nearly two years or do anything physical for the most part. This led to about 40 or so pounds overweight and minimal flexibility.

Here's what I am curious about: is it possible to reach the above goals at this point with Judo? Moreover, with the right amount of effort, taking between 3 to 5 hours of Judo a week (the regular class schedule that is offered), can I actually gain a level of skill to compete and become successful? I am not delusional, and talking Olympic level competition, but rather local/state/regional?

Thanks for the input guys and gals, I appreciate it.
Click to expand...

Depends on the competition emphasis of your particular dojo. Some schools are very competition-focused and a 90 minute class will put you through the wringer. You will also spend a lot of time drilling competition techniques.

Some clubs are less competition-focused and tend to be less physically intense and may focus less on competition techniques and practice a more complete repertoire of judo.

Have a chat talk with the instructor when you visit the club. In my experience, judo instructors tend to be very frank and matter-of-fact. Be honest about your ambitions and the instructor can tell you if you're in the right place. If you're not, he'll probably refer you to the right place.
 
learning Judo will be a good start, my first martial arts is also judo during my college years, and after a while I trained muay thai :)

Good luck :)
 
lts5025 said:
Depends on the competition emphasis of your particular dojo. Some schools are very competition-focused and a 90 minute class will put you through the wringer. You will also spend a lot of time drilling competition techniques.

Some clubs are less competition-focused and tend to be less physically intense and may focus less on competition techniques and practice a more complete repertoire of judo.

Have a chat talk with the instructor when you visit the club. In my experience, judo instructors tend to be very frank and matter-of-fact. Be honest about your ambitions and the instructor can tell you if you're in the right place. If you're not, he'll probably refer you to the right place.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I appreciate your advice. I have reached out to a couple of Dojos, and have candidly and respectfully inquired. I am sure I will receive the same in their response.

Thanks again.
 
The question is will your injury recur when you get repeatedly thrown?

If yes, do BJJ. If no, do Judo.
 
Judo, I have found is very hard on the body. I've done bjj from 98 and have very minimal injuries...fingers, toe fractures. The worst which are debilitating are tweaked back and neck, but that is usually fixed with a foam roller. I have received numerous injuries in judo in a very short time. Torn labrum, quad, multiple bicep, ribs. Brain injuries in my gym are common. I can count 4 in the last year off the top of my head. The margin of error between the two sports differ. Judo especially IJF competition type judo requires a much more ballistic game that encourages big throws. Being thrown there is very little margin of error. The tempo of judo and bjj differ. Many bjj schools of thought is to flow with the go, while competition style judo imo you impose your will on your opponent to set up a big throw combination.

As much as I get injured in judo, I am in love with it and wish I began as early as possible. imo judo in a legitImate competition gym is only for the tough of spirit and mind...possibly tougher than bjj, wrestling and boxing. The toll it costs on your body is high.
 
Definitely, we have a few ex-soldiers and policeman who were out of shape and came and some of them are fairly high grades now and certainly in better shape than when they came. One of them was an ex national runner and said he hasn't been in as good shape as he is now than since he used to run.

My instructor is still competing at almost 50 years old on a national level. In the UK they have a senior category which is >18 and a masters which is >30. One of my coaches only stopped competing when he was 58, actually.
 
Oh and as for an idea on competing, there's lots of local ones which are usually up to blue belt but when I used to go to those there weren't many blues locally and you had to travel a bit to get hard competition.

The next level up would probably be local dan gradings or competitions which is brown belt and over.

Then you have the national ones which tend to be lots of Olympian wannabes and ex-Olympians or Olympians who train in a few hundred mile radius.

That's from my experience anyway.
 
Judo, with a little S&C and good diet on the side, should get you in good shape. At least in my experience, every judo class I've taken has been brutal, regardless of club.

Plus, it's fucking fun. It's the most fun I've had in combat sports, especially after my cardio got up to snuff. Drills I used to dread I'm now looking forward to.

Regarding injuries... I'm currently nursing three separate judo-related injuries, though they're not bad enough for me to avoid training. It's pretty rough on the body, especially the fingers and lower extremities. Every other judoka at my dojo has something wrapped in an ace bandage.
 
Judo is great for getting into shape and awesome fun. A friend of mine lost 17kg (37 pounds) in the first year after he started with no other exercise.

Just take it easy until your fitness levels improve. Training partners should take it easy on you at the start anyway. I started Judo at 34 and have been going 3.5 years now and love it and compete when I can. When I started I was already in ok shape, but died when it got to Randori; that's a total other level of fitness. It took me 6-12 months training to be comfortable doing more than a couple of Randori per night. Now I can handle 5 or 6 total including a few back to back but I'm pretty wiped out by the end. Compare that to my BJJ gym we usually roll 5-6 back to back and that's much less effort.

General classes are fine, but once you get into Randori and comps the injuries become more common. I've had a bunch of injuries and missed maybe 5 months training all up because of that since I started. Many times more injuries than I've had in 6 years Karate and 1.5 years BJJ put together. BJJ is great for getting fit too and less impact on the body, though it's much more expensive in my experience. Maybe try both and see how you go. I do both for more variety.
 
I started judo at 37 and did it for 12 months, i have since joined an mma gym and train bjj, wrestling and thai. My reasons for leaving judo were mainly financial what with paying a monthly sub to the mma gym it just made sense to train there 6 nights a week plus my goal was always to train bjj. Thats not to say I didnt love judo, I still do and would one day like to train some more but out of all the arts Ive trained I have to say judo hurts the most, it will certainly get you fit and help drop the pounds but it could also injure you and leave you sidelined imo quicker than any other art.
 
sark9guy said:
Hello all,

I looking for some reasonable opinions from fellow Martial Arts enthusiasts:

I am a soon to be 31 year old. I am a male interested in getting into a martial art, preferably where I can get in-shape, gain some more self defense, and compete. At this point, I am leaning toward Judo. I have always had an interest in Judo and also Aikido (which has no competition as most of you know).

I have fallen greatly out of shape due to time spent laid off from work, and addressing an injury I sustained in a fall. As such, I didn't work for nearly two years or do anything physical for the most part. This led to about 40 or so pounds overweight and minimal flexibility.

Here's what I am curious about: is it possible to reach the above goals at this point with Judo? Moreover, with the right amount of effort, taking between 3 to 5 hours of Judo a week (the regular class schedule that is offered), can I actually gain a level of skill to compete and become successful? I am not delusional, and talking Olympic level competition, but rather local/state/regional?

Thanks for the input guys and gals, I appreciate it.

Judo is awesome, start training as soon as you can. It is a hard road no doubt but the physical and mental benefits are incredibly massive. If you have the will to do it, it will literally change your life.
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I started judo at 34. I had/have a very bad back and my cardio is crappy because of breathing problems. Nonetheless I got my yellow belt within 6ish months of starting to train and did my first tournament within the same time period. I won silver in my category.

Yes, I do have previous martial arts experience but, between my age, my weight, my back and my breathing, I'd say that I started off with as much disadvantage as anyone my age would. So far so good. Training with guys who are 10 years younger than me, are in great shape and are advanced in judo is certainly challenging but the benefit is that, when I compete in my own age / weight / experience category, it's that much easier.

Anyway, my suggestion would be to give it a shot. At the very least, it's certainly better than doing nothing and you'll definitely get a good workout. At best, they'll slowly ease you into it, you'll develop some good skills and you'll have a good time.
 
Regular Joe said:
I started judo at 34. I had/have a very bad back and my cardio is crappy because of breathing problems. Nonetheless I got my yellow belt within 6ish months of starting to train and did my first tournament within the same time period. I won silver in my category.

Yes, I do have previous martial arts experience but, between my age, my weight, my back and my breathing, I'd say that I started off with as much disadvantage as anyone my age would. So far so good. Training with guys who are 10 years younger than me, are in great shape and are advanced in judo is certainly challenging but the benefit is that, when I compete in my own age / weight / experience category, it's that much easier.

Anyway, my suggestion would be to give it a shot. At the very least, it's certainly better than doing nothing and you'll definitely get a good workout. At best, they'll slowly ease you into it, you'll develop some good skills and you'll have a good time.
Click to expand...

That's reassuring that another "regular joe" may have an opportunity to go out and try something that has always interested me despite a few issues I'm at odds with. Thanks for sharing - I appreciate it.
 
Judo Thai Boxer said:
Definitely, we have a few ex-soldiers and policeman who were out of shape and came and some of them are fairly high grades now and certainly in better shape than when they came. One of them was an ex national runner and said he hasn't been in as good shape as he is now than since he used to run.

My instructor is still competing at almost 50 years old on a national level. In the UK they have a senior category which is >18 and a masters which is >30. One of my coaches only stopped competing when he was 58, actually.
Click to expand...

Good to know. I was never overly athletic, but was definitely in better shape a couple of years ago. I too, was in law enforcement, prior to sustaining an injury outside of work. I eventually want to go back to the field after I meet a few other goals with my college education and such. I figure Judo is a good all around goal for consistent with the self defense and shape I will need to be in when I return.

How does ranking work in Judo? I was told you advance by testing or competition, is that accurate? Also, on average, how long does it take to get the fundamentals and basics down for most students?

Thanks.
 
Thanks everyone for the information and experience sharing. I appreciate it.
 
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