At class last night, one of our brown belts announced that his knee was giving him problems… I congratulated him on earning his undocumented points towards his black belt promotion.  Then, checking around, I discovered that all of our brown belts either had knee pads or knee problems.

Coming from a history of two dislocations of my right knee, and one dislocation of my left knee, I’m well qualified to hold the rank I do.  It seems that if you hold a black belt in Judo, and don’t have knee problems, perhaps your rank was not earned the ‘old-fashioned way’.

Another undocumented requirement for higher rank is the ability to show up to class just after all the mats have been laid out.  Some have thought that this requirement works better if they show up after warmup exercises … but they only end up getting injured…

Hmmm… maybe this is where the bad knees come in?

Any other suggestions for undocumented requirements for Black Belt?

 

 

Like many other Judo clubs, we have our visitors from BJJ, as well as some of our students and yudansha who practice BJJ in addition to Judo.

Perhaps the most powerful concept that I’ve seen come over from BJJ is a simple one – we already do it in tachiwaza…  it’s the simple concept of uchikomi.  Repeatedly performing the entry for a technique.  But in Judo, we seem to restrict it to throws, and yet, there are many opportunities for practicing setup moves in newaza as well.

One interesting drill, as an example; is having someone in your guard, taking both of their sleeves, and alternating your leg over for a Jujigatame.  Working left and right sides, alternately… an excellent drill, particularly if you learn to do it correctly, with the shift of your hips to the correct location…

Everyone knows that proper dynamic uchikomi is, next to randori, your best weapon to hone your skill – yet we rarely do it in newaza.  Something to think about – particularly the next time you have a visiting BJJ’er… ask ‘em to demonstrate some various drills, and see which ones you can use at your club.

After all – if they embarrass you too much with a wealth of good drills – you can always stand ‘em up and throw ‘em…

 

 

It’s really rough in the Judo world when the only thing I can think to gripe about is the strain of ordering a new black belt.

I finally got my ‘Deluxe, Olympic, Elite Competitor, Super-duper, 2-inch wide’ black belt, and I hate it already.  I suspect that by the time this belt will hold a knot I’ll be ready for my Judan.  Call me a traditionalist, but I really expect to tie my belt just once for class. 

Perhaps if I start a ‘tug-of-war’ competition during class warmups… using both ends of my new 2-inch wide belt…

Back to the traditional 1 1/2-inch belt for me…

 

 

I was dong randori last night with some kid (a 7 year old girl), and as is normal for such a matchup, I was doing my best to avoid Osotogari.  I continuously kept pulling my right leg back, so that the Osoto would miss – hoping that my young uke would pick up on the lesson I was offering…

And indeed she did… for when she kept failing at Osotogari, she switched her attack to the leg that was close and not moving away from her – Ouchigari!  Naturally, I took a nice fall, and congratulated her on her slick change of tactics.

I believe that much instruction in Judo is done just this way – non-verbally.  For another example, I will virtually never let someone cross their feet in front of me.  Deashibarai awaits anyone foolish enough to do so.  And while I’ll occasionally remark that you can’t step across like that – I generally just let the technique teach the student.  It’s amazing how often people will stop doing that which gets them thrown.

Another little ‘trick’ I do is to push with my hands… and when some white belt pushes against me with their body – it’s Tomoenage or Seoinage time…  Then I do it again and again… until they catch on that I’m not pushing with my body.

Another example is when I run up against someone who likes to take a defensive crouch.  I merely snake my right hand over their shoulder, grab their belt, and force ‘em lower than they ever wanted to be.  Good Judo is done standing straight up… head up, not staring at your opponent’s feet.

I think that a great deal of Judo is taught exactly this way – non-verbally.  As the instructor, you have to learn to be consistent in how you teach this… and as a student, try to understand that much of your learning is going to take place without words.  I always try to teach as I do randori with students… it’s never just randori for me.  Much of the fun in Judo is to see if you can pass on what you’ve taken years to learn…

Now, on the other hand, I’ve been in classes where the Sensei would almost never say a word, the entire class being non-verbal as far as instruction goes – and I’m firmly against such a ‘tradition’.  Many believe this to be the essence of martial training – and perhaps in other styles it is.  But Judo has from the beginning had a strong verbal component to its instruction.  Jigoro Kano was extremely verbal in his approach to teaching Judo, and this is, in my opinion, one of the reasons that Judo did so much better than the existing styles of Jujutsu.

But if you’re teaching – keep in mind that it’s not only when you open your mouth that you’re teaching others… and if you’re learning, it’s not only when your ears are in use that you’re learning.  Of course, all of us are both learning and teaching… white belts are merely on one end of the spectrum, while yudansha are on the other end.  But think about this during your next class… non-verbal teaching is quite important!

 

 

To improve your Judo, particularly shiai, you must speed up your techniques… one of the ways to do this is to shorten the number of steps that you take when entering for a throw.

Let’s examine any forward throw (as opposed to a backward throw such as Osotogari).  Right-sided Tai Otoshi, for example… we normally teach students to take a step forward with the right foot, placing it generally close to uke’s right foot.  Then we step around with the left foot, placing it so that the toes are now facing in the opposite direction from your beginning stance.  Then your right foot shoots over beyond uke’s right foot to execute the technique.  This is the normal three-step entry that every Judoka is familiar with.  Nothing wrong with this stepping pattern – it’s merely too slow for advanced Judoka.

Now, when I’m teaching a competition form of Tai Otoshi,  I tell students to stand with their right foot forward (taking a right-handed grip).  Now there’s no need to do a three-step pattern for Tai-Otoshi, as you already have step one completed!  And, I might note, it’s a more natural posture… having one foot forward.  (Taking a right-handed grip, it’s natural to have the right foot forward, and ditto with a left-handed grip, you’d naturally have the left foot forward.)

Now, here’s the trick.  With your right foot forward, you must spin your hips, and take your left foot around, and plant it, facing the opposite direction from your right foot.  You must transfer most of your weight to that left foot as well.  This must be done at a fast speed, and your left foot must stomp into the mat.  This provides the driving force needed to move uke forward as well.

Note that I’ve not described the hand/arm movements, as they’d vary with the throw you’re doing… but as you stomp your left foot, your arms will be doing their job as well.  For example, with Tai Otoshi, your right forearm will slam into uke’s chest – preferably midway between the left side of his chest, and the left-facing side of his chest.  (Do you get this?  You want your forearm to exert pressure to uke’s right direction, not to his back direction!)  Your pulling left hand will be doing exactly that… pulling uke diagonally to his right.

If you’re advanced, you already know this footwork… you can practice synchronizing your stomping left foot with your hand/arm movements.

By the way… this stepping pattern can be performed as a sort of uchikomi – with no particular throw associated with it – it makes a wonderful warmup exercise at Shiai, without giving any clues to possible opponents as to your tokui waza.

 

 

One of the earliest defensive moves that any Judoka somehow manages to learn despite a complete lack of teaching on the topic – is how to stop an opponent by straight-arming him. This is a wonderful defense, and generally works even occasionally up to the brown belt level.

Unfortunately for Judoka who’ve mastered this comprehensive defense – it’s generally brushed aside by any opponent who wears a black belt, and even most brown belts. But rarely does the methods for attacking the ’straight-arm’ get taught, and perhaps if it were more commonly taught, this defense would disappear more quickly.

I’m going to list some of the different ways to attack the straight-arming opponent – in no particular order. Some will be more effective than others, depending on your body build, technique preference, and opponent.

One of my earliest defenses to those who straight-armed me was Sode Tsuri Komi Goshi – the technique that almost single-handedly won me all the points I needed for my Shodan. In this technique, you merely drive one arm up, and the other arm is ignored as you move in from the side.

Another nice set of techniques is virtually any of the Sutemi Waza – as they aren’t stopped at all by a straight-arm defense. So if you like Tomoenage, now is the time to work on perfecting it.

Another move that stops the straight-arm in it’s tracks, assuming a right-handed grip – take your right hand, circle it over then under uke’s left arm, then turn violently to your left… use your hips… this will give your right hand enough reach to grab the back of uke’s gi. This negates the straight-arm with the help of your hips… by gaining a grip on uke’s back, he can no longer straight-arm you, as there is no longer the distance needed.

Ippon Seoinage is very nice in this position, from the right-handed grip, take either hand, up, around, over, and under uke’s opposite shoulder for Seoi… I like to hold right-handed, and use my left hand to drive over uke’s left arm, then under my own right hand (holding his lapel), as I turn into a left-sided Ippon Seoinage. Very powerful! In fact, most Te-Waza techniques work quite well against those who straight-arm you.

Another set of techniques is simply move in from the side… rather than directly challenging the straight-arm. Twisting your hips, throwing your driver leg back then shooting in for Osotogari is always quite effective. (Yasuhiro Yamashita made quite a Judo career doing exactly this!)

Uchimata is always a useful technique – as you can do it by coming around to uke’s side – again, negating the power of the straight-arm. (Interestingly, Uchimata is one of those rare Judo techniques that works in virtually any situation – regardless of what uke is doing.)

You may begin to notice that all of these techniques follow the simple guideline of not attacking directly into the line of the straight-arm, where uke is the most powerful – but in attacking under, or to the side of the straight-arm, where uke is at his weakest. Try this yourself: Put your arms straight out – now, where can you exert the most force? Clearly to the front… but can you exert force at right angles to your arms, ie; to the right or left? Can you exert force downward or upward? Not with a straight-arm position, you can’t!

 

 

The topic comes up frequently about rules in Judo regarding Newaza… the fact that referees will stand you up after 5 seconds or so.

Although I think this should be extended to 20-30 seconds – I certainly don’t want major changes to this rule… if you want to do matwork, you can do all you want in wrestling, BJJ, or even in the Judo club during randori.

Judo has always had the idea of taking your opponent’s balance, and converting it into a winning position… you should offbalance, throw, then immediately pin, armbar, or choke.  If you cannot continuously move into a newaza technique from tachiwaza, then you’ve essentially failed in your control of uke.

Now BJJ would say – okay, let’s work at regaining control… in fact, they are usually willing to go to the ground with no particular control on their opponent – relying on the fact that they can gain it with superior technique and skill once they are on the ground.   There’s nothing wrong with this approach – it’s just not what Judo practices.

Just like wrestling, which does just fine without Judo’s armbars and chokes… yet produces extremely fit and competent athletes nonetheless.  Each martial art or sport which works on controlling an opponent on the ground does so in their own way, and are fully competent within their sporting arena.

So those who advocate making major changes to the rules simply prefer another martial art or sport to Judo… or perhaps more accurately, would like to convert Judo to their concept of what Judo should be – which often looks more like BJJ… myself, I like Judo, and plan to stay with it.

I wonder… is the same argument going on in BJJ regarding standup throwing skills?  I can easily imagine myself in BJJ telling such people that they don’t understand the philosophic underpinnings of BJJ – and only need such takedown skills as are minimally required to get their opponent to their fighting range, ie, the ground.

Judo is in the middle… it has great standup technique – and it has quite adequate matwork technique to follow up with.  Those who wish more matwork skills have many alternatives available to them.  Even in Judo… but to change Shiai rules – I would argue against it.

Or at least, that’s my two cents worth…

 

 

The most common mistake made in Ouchigari is Tori’s persistence in swinging his whole body in the direction of the throw.  If doing a right-sided Ouchigari, for example, it’s all too common for Tori to insert his right leg to hook, and then arch his body to uke’s left rear.  This is always a mistake.

Uke can take advantage of this by pulling with his left hand, and pushing out and to the left with his right hand… ’steering’ his opponent’s shoulders in the direction that he’s already moving.

The best way to perform Ouchigari (to avoid this counter) is to insure that your head is placed on the opposite side of uke’s body from the Ouchigari.  So if you’re attacking with a right-sided Ouchi, your head must stay to the left of the vertical line bisecting uke.  If you do so, then your Ouchigari attack cannot be countered this way.

Although I loved Ouchigari as a young white belt – I actually gave up on it for years because of the quite frequently successful counters… I didn’t learn to properly perform tsukuri for this throw.  It wasn’t until I’d gotten my black belt that I finally learned just what I’d been doing wrong all those years.

Next time you’re practicing Ouchigari uchikomi, ask your partner to defend each time by pulling with the hand on the same side as the attacked leg, and pushing with the other arm.  See if your Ouchi is strong enough to resist this powerful counter.  If you keep your head solidly on the other side of your attack – you should be able to resist this counter.  Try it!

 

 

One of the most common problems I see in Judo technique is poor usage or placement of Tori’s dominant hand/arm. To give an example that everyone should be familiar with – in the classical version of a right-sided Osotogari – where should Tori’s right forearm go?

All too often, I see no forearm contact at all – yet this is the primary means of converting the forward thrust of your driver leg to uke’s upper body. How many times have you seen Judoka practicing Osotogari with their right arm virtually straight out to their right, and behind the plane of their shoulders as they execute Osotogari? When clearly their forearm should be pointing up, their entire arm from elbow to hand grip, punching uke’s chest…

In general, on many throws, the dominant hand (the right hand for right-sided techniques), is the main ‘transmitter’ of force to uke’s body. Look to your techniques to see where your right hand & arm are – and see if it’s doing the function if should be doing. In most cases, the power of your Judo technique will be greatly increased if you simply use your right hand and arm correctly.