Judo Gym - what to look for?

[peregrine]

I am looking into practicing judo to enhance my bjj.
It is fortunate that there are about 5 judo gyms with in 3-5miles of my house.

What are somethings to look for in a good judo gym?
What kind of comparative analysis should I be looking at?
A couple of them have sent persons to the olympic trials.

Note my judo is limited to what I've done over the years in bjj, had some exposure as a kid in pe and some for about 6months. I can do various tumbling and take a fall.

 

[xxUFCxx420xx69**]

me too, only difference i never trained bjj, only boxing in high school and wrestling in jr high/high school.

I'm in san diego

 

[fourfif**]

A couple of them have sent persons to the olympic trials.

Now you're down to two.

Watch them both roll newaza.

If they are not playing for pins and using the guard for sweeps and subs, you've found a home.

 

[nefti]

not all competition judo gyms are ideal for noobs. What you want in a new gym is the one that forces you to practice breakfalls for the first say two weeks or so. FUN damentals are so much more important in judo than in bjj. You can't tapp while getting thrown head over heels

 

[stile0]

if they do a lot of uchikomi and at least 40 min of randori every night you're good to go.

 

[fourfif**]

not all competition judo gyms are ideal for noobs. What you want in a new gym is the one that forces you to practice breakfalls for the first say two weeks or so.

They didn't get to be good competition gym without knowing how to deal with people who are new to judo. That's how I felt going into a gym new to judo that is producing elite level players. Also TS isn't a newb. If he's been doing BJJ for years as he stated he's going to ateast be able to competently roll tachiwaza and be more than a handful during newaza.

You can't tapp while getting thrown head over heels

sig worthy

 

[Thrawn33]

If they are not playing for pins and using the guard for sweeps and subs, you've found a home.

Whats wrong with playing for the pin? If you can pass guard and hold down your opponent, thats just as legit as a throw for ippon or sub.

Or did you mean points?

 

[fourfif**]

Whats wrong with playing for the pin? If you can pass guard and hold down your opponent, thats just as legit as a throw for ippon or sub.

Or did you mean points?

Pins are great for judo comps, but he wants to learn judo to improve his bjj

 

[fourfif**]

Whats wrong with playing for the pin? If you can pass guard and hold down your opponent, thats just as legit as a throw for ippon or sub.

Or did you mean points?

Pins are great for judo comps, but he wants to learn judo to improve his bjj and so it won't translate for him

 

[nefti]

They didn't get to be good competition gym without knowing how to deal with people who are new to judo. That's how I felt going into a gym new to judo that is producing elite level players. Also TS isn't a newb. If he's been doing BJJ for years as he stated he's going to ateast be able to competently roll tachiwaza and be more than a handful during newaza.

Some competition gyms won't even teach you breakfall cus breakfalls will give ur opponent the ippon

 

[Thrawn33]

Pins are great for judo comps, but he wants to learn judo to improve his bjj and so it won't translate for him

Explosive guard passing and suffocating top control won't help?

I have to disagree. Sure a pin won't instantly win you the match in BJJ and neither will a throw. But they can both put you in a position to win.

 

[Thrawn33]

Some competition gyms won't even teach you breakfall cus breakfalls will give ur opponent the ippon

Then they must suck. Kind of hard to keep training when people are being thrown all the time without knowing how to absorb the impact.

I know some elite coaches and players, and they do ukemi in practice.

 

[nefti]

No just very elite , not all gyms are for noobs

 

[Balto]

Explosive guard passing and suffocating top control won't help?

I have to disagree. Sure a pin won't instantly win you the match in BJJ and neither will a throw. But they can both put you in a position to win.

Yes, pins are incredibly important in BJJ.

An ippon pin in Judo is only 25 seconds. You definitely pin people for at least 25 seconds in BJJ all the time.

Pins are great for wearing out your opponent. A lot of people make the mistake of rushing through the positions in the tournament. It's much better to manage the match time. If I pass guard early on and am up on points, I'm going to hang out in side control for a while before I even think about moving to the mount or really taking risks with submissions. That way if I do happen to get reversed at the very end, my opponent has very little time or energy left to catch back up with me.

 

[Thrawn33]

No just very elite , not all gyms are for noobs

If you're training at an elite gym, chances are you already know breakfalls and thats why they don't teach them.

My thought is that if you know how to breakfall but don't want to give your opponent the win, its your choice to post or try twist out in midair. It'd have to be international comp for me to risk serious injury like that but to each his own.

 

[fourfif**]

Explosive guard passing and suffocating top control won't help?

I have to disagree. Sure a pin won't instantly win you the match in BJJ and neither will a throw. But they can both put you in a position to win.

This + Balto have lead me to change my position. If someone who competes in bjj says pins are good for bjj then obviously I'm talking out of my arse. I concede. So then between the two elite gyms, it's going to maybe end up just being a matter of distance, price or just preference.

Then they must suck. Kind of hard to keep training when people are being thrown all the time without knowing how to absorb the impact.

I know some elite coaches and players, and they do ukemi in practice.

Agreed again. Even elite gyms get newbs. What makes a gym elite is that they are able to turn their newbs into quality players. It doesn't happen by accident, and they aren't recruiting knowledgeable judoka to win comps. If they have done it for others they can do it for you. Trust them, they know what they are doing. Can't go wrong going with a gym that produces elite players.

 

[Rod1]

I wouldn't instantly assume that the ones that sent people to olympic trials are instantly good, sometimes they mean they only train for competitions which is good and bad.

I would first go for the highest ranked and more experienced sensei, you first will need to learn judo, then you can hone your skills.

For example by going to an "elite gym" you may forego ukemi and traditions, you may not learn or even find a good technique, they will probably have you choose from the 5-10 most succesful point scoring throws in the book and have you practice non-stop, you will not learn to teach judo, nor will be able to fully understand and modify to your needs. In newaza you may find a lot of someone stalling and other attacking.

I would much rather go and learn judo basics from a high dan ranked instructors and once i achieved shodan i would go and spar with the elite team, sometimes you don't even need to join a team, sparring partners are always welcome, so if you want to test against the competitive team you can drop sometimes to the dojo and with proper etiquette ask for a chance to spar.

I started judo in college, we had to crash course to make a judo team capable of competing, we have little grappling background and we still managed to learn enough judo to get a few medals, from there it was always competitive judo, while my sensei trained under both traditionalist and an elite coach (who also had good traditionalism) he had a great base in everything and teached us good judo, with good newaza, but the format of training never really let us develop or understand judo.

I had to learn judo backwards, i had to go from what i did which is competitive judo and backstep into the basics, it was hard and i hope i had done it the other way around.

Now that i have backstepped i had made my game a LOT better.

The BJJ analogy would be rolling all the time with blackbelts never learning, you will develop the game fast, will probably learn a few moves that you will excel and get excellent technique, eventually you may catch up, but when facing with teaching or understanding you will be in zero.

 

[Freezing Winds**]

if you are already training bjj, would you even care if the judo place did newazza?

 

[lts5025]

I wouldn't instantly assume that the ones that sent people to olympic trials are instantly good, sometimes they mean they only train for competitions which is good and bad.

I would first go for the highest ranked and more experienced sensei, you first will need to learn judo, then you can hone your skills.

For example by going to an "elite gym" you may forego ukemi and traditions, you may not learn or even find a good technique, they will probably have you choose from the 5-10 most succesful point scoring throws in the book and have you practice non-stop, you will not learn to teach judo, nor will be able to fully understand and modify to your needs. In newaza you may find a lot of someone stalling and other attacking.

I would much rather go and learn judo basics from a high dan ranked instructors and once i achieved shodan i would go and spar with the elite team, sometimes you don't even need to join a team, sparring partners are always welcome, so if you want to test against the competitive team you can drop sometimes to the dojo and with proper etiquette ask for a chance to spar.

I started judo in college, we had to crash course to make a judo team capable of competing, we have little grappling background and we still managed to learn enough judo to get a few medals, from there it was always competitive judo, while my sensei trained under both traditionalist and an elite coach (who also had good traditionalism) he had a great base in everything and teached us good judo, with good newaza, but the format of training never really let us develop or understand judo.

I had to learn judo backwards, i had to go from what i did which is competitive judo and backstep into the basics, it was hard and i hope i had done it the other way around.

Now that i have backstepped i had made my game a LOT better.

The BJJ analogy would be rolling all the time with blackbelts never learning, you will develop the game fast, will probably learn a few moves that you will excel and get excellent technique, eventually you may catch up, but when facing with teaching or understanding you will be in zero.

Great post. Exactly what I wanted to say, but better.

 

[Stun Gun]

Now you're down to two.

Watch them both roll newaza.

If they are not playing for pins and using the guard for sweeps and subs, you've found a home.

Absolutely right. Watch them both roll newaza!