Just got back from an Encino Judo Club tournament and Clinic on Saturday. We were fortunate to have AnnMaria De Mars, 6th Dan and former World Champion to teach the clinic. I thought I’d pass along a few tidbits from the class.  One interesting concept that she passed along was on the topic of the turtle. She comments that there are just three possibilities when your opponent turtles at a shiai:

1. They just forgot all they ever knew about Judo.
2. They are deathly afraid of you.
3. They are acting as bait, hoping that you’ll come after them.

Now, as AnnMaria asserts, with a record of over 1,100 matches, (12 of which she lost!) – she won an overwhelming majority of her matches with Newaza. So you might imagine that she was emphasizing choice # 3. She went on to show the familiar ‘Hook elbow with your arm and roll’ when uke places their arm across your back – but what was distinctive is that she knew that you’d not be so lucky as to have someone place their arm far over (like a wrestler’s position), so AnnMaria emphasized rolling up toward uke to meet the arm.

I’ve often commented on the necessity of being able to go on the offensive from all four basic newaza positions, and there are many more attacks that can be made from the turtle. This is the only one from the turtle that AnnMaria worked on today.

Another interesting concept that she covered was turning an opponent over who is flat on their stomach. AnnMaria showed a fairly standard turnover where you place your hand on uke’s back, and grab the near leg just above the knee, and pull up on the leg, and push them over. AnnMaria had a good laugh at Judoka who complain that this is a very low percentage turnover – for she admits that all she’s really looking for is for Uke to put an arm out. She demonstrated a lightening fast Jujigatame, then apologized for having slowed down as she’s getting older. She also demonstrated the half-nelson turnover on the turtle, and demonstrated that if someone keeps their elbows tucked in tight enough to avoid you getting the half-nelson, then simply pushing them over (just like rolling a ball!) is quite easy.

There were quite a few fun games, that even the adults enjoyed. One rather unusual game was started by splitting the class into four groups, and each person in a group had a number. Let’s imagine 20 Judoka – split them up into the four groups by size… the four biggest Judoka would all be “# 1″, and would be split into four groups… then the next four biggest Judoka get ‘# 2′, and are split into the four groups, and so on. Now, separate the four groups of Judoka to the four corners of the dojo, and toss a belt into the center of the dojo. Call out a number at random… if you call ‘# 5′ for example, the number fives in each group (which would be the smaller Judoka) all try to run to the center of the dojo and grab the belt, and return it to their group. One ‘wins’ by managing to get the belt to his or her’s group. If Sensei calls ‘# 1′, then the biggest Judoka in each group (who hold that number) would rush out and try to get the belt. This game emphasizes listening ability, speed, hand coordination, and if you aren’t fast enough, pulling ability! It’s really a nifty game – give it a try if you have enough Judoka to make it fun!

AnnMaria also emphasized two important aspects of newaza: speed and combinations. She illustrated in her demonstrations an amazing fluidity and speed that can only come from a lot of practice. Combinations she illustrated with her shifting turnovers… often starting a turnover not with the goal of actually turning Uke over, but forcing Uke to give up an arm to stop the turnover…

Another fascinating bit of information that AnnMaria passed along was the myth of training in Japan. Everyone knows that if you want to be an International competitor, and have a shot at winning the world championship, you must make the trek to Japan, and train at the Kodokan. However, as AnnMaria pointed out, her training was conducted at a local club in San Diego, with additional trips to Los Angeles. But she did make the point that she trained 4 days a week in San Diego, adding 3 visits a week to Los Angeles clubs. Now, it’s been awhile since I attended school, but as best as I can recall my math, that seems to mean that AnnMaria trained every single day. It’s this, and not the mythical trek to Japan that seems to be the key to high level Judo competition. Granted, however, that there is some really excellent Judo in the Southern California region – but AnnMaria’s experience seems to contradict the idea that you have to “Go to Mecca” to become really good in Judo.

I’ve placed photos from this clinic/tournament here on the website – contact me if you’d like a CD with all of them – or you can ‘right-click’ and save any particular photo… the thumbnails must be clicked on to see the normal sized photo – and these are not cropped or changed – so they are fairly big files, averaging around 1.7 Megs. Just go to AnnMaria Clinic Photos

Brazilian Jiu-jitsuka – when they remark on Judo’s Newaza, will often comment on the explosive and fast nature of it, in comparison to the slow, deliberate, and patient nature of BJJ’s technique.

This came about because Judo sees newaza as merely an extension of tachiwaza, and not an area apart.  In Judo, we take our opponent’s balance, convert it into a throw, and then continue that domination with newaza.  Whereas, in BJJ, how they get to the ground doesn’t matter to them, but is the beginning point for their technique.  There’s nothing wrong with either approach, they are merely different from each other.

Unfortunately, due to factors at play in Judo dojo’s… we sometimes don’t train this connection between tachiwaza and newaza as often as we should.  Mats are often crowded, and it’s difficult to allow everyone doing randori to follow up a successful throw with proper newaza.  So the connection becomes lost – and rather than emphasizing the connection of proper matwork with the throwing effort, we tend to break it up into separate parts of the class…  Naturally, with limited mat area, it’s safer to not have some Judoka engaging in matwork while others nearby are throwing their uke.

But when there are few Judoka, and plenty of mat space – be sure to practice your randori in a complete manner – ending each and every throw with control on the ground.  If you fail to connect each throw with a pin, armbar, or choke – be assured that your opponent at your next shiai will not fail to do so!

A problem that frequently crops up with Judoka who don’t train to connect their newaza with their throws is the situation where you throw an opponent, and because of your failure to immediately shift into newaza, your opponent takes the advantage … and converts your wazaari, yuko, or koka – into successful newaza – turning your initial advantage into a loss.

This is actually quite common when Judoka meet Brazilian Jiu-jitsuka – the Judoka throws, and doesn’t get the full point, and the BJJ’er takes advantage of the Judoka’s failure to convert the throw into successful newaza… Don’t ever let it be said that we can’t learn from other arts – this is a good example…  If Judo were being performed the way it should be – it would be far more difficult for BJJ’ers to do this to Judoka!

This naturally leads to the thought of how to transition your tachiwaza into newaza.  I hold a natural advantage, because I like to use a collar grip – so I often land uke into an almost perfect Kesa Gatame.  But what happens if your favorite throw is O Uchi Gari?  Tis more difficult to convert to a successful pin/armbar/choke than a throw such as Tai Otoshi, for example… but it can be done if you practice it…

So even if you don’t have the room to shift into matwork – at least you should keep it in the back of your mind how you would continue each throw.  When there is enough room, be sure to transition each successful throw into some sort of ground control, whether it be a pin, choke, or armbar.

In my last post, I explored briefly the advantages of randori & kata, and why they have their places… but a recent post in ‘rec.martial-arts’ newsgroup brought a new facet to light.  A martial beginner tried three different classes in the same week, one was Judo, and two were jujutsu styles that evidently don’t train the way Judo does.  Here’s a snippet of the post:

The nihon tai-jitsu and aikijujitsu classes were fairly similar to one
another: practices of locks, some defenses against a “static” attacker,
a little throwing, no randori. The instructors were a lot more into
proper technique than the judo instructor was.

Of course I jumped in and explained this, but I thought I might expand a wee bit here.  When those that you train with always “jump” for your techniques (if you’ve practiced Aikido, or many Jujutsu styles, you know what I’m speaking of!), there is no check on your technique.  What I mean, is that unless an instructor is there, correcting you, there’s nothing else inherent that will allow you to realize that your technique was deficient.

In Judo, when we have a resisting opponent – a technique is well executed when it works, and poorly executed when it doesn’t.  This isn’t to say that a white belt who manages a throw has no room for improvement – having performed the perfect throw… but that the throw was perfect for the conditions and opponent.  We can use our resisting opponents to improve our own technique – for we have a natural ‘check‘ of whether the technique was well executed or not.  In Judo, we recognize that there is no specific method to execute a given technique that works for everyone.  Something that works quite well for me … may be an absolute disaster for you.

As an example, a back injury has given me a left hand that has the gripping strength no better than a quarter of my right hand.  Would I perform a right-sided Tai-Otoshi in the classical method, with my pulling arm at eye level and pulling uke strongly over my right leg?  Sad to say, it works quite well on white belts who don’t weigh over 100 pounds… but if I want to use this technique – one that has won many a tournament for me, it now looks quite different.  My pulling hand is now no longer at eyelevel (the ‘looking at your wristwatch’ technique), but locking at my chest – and my body torque takes the place of the pulling hand.  It works for me!  In most Jujutsu style classes however, it would be frowned on at best, and certainly discouraged.

The reason that precise technique is constantly emphasized in Jujutsu styles (other than Judo) is that they don’t have any ‘check’ on what works!  So they must constantly work on perfect technique.  Sad to say, unless they have a resisting opponent, they’ll never really know if they’ve reached the level of perfection to make the technique work.

In Judo, the reaching for ‘perfect technique’ is still there… after all, no-one would accuse any of the white belts at our class of having a De Ashi Barai that matches mine (nor, to be honest, does mine quite measure up to my seniors).  But we recognize that although there’s a ‘textbook’ form of a given technique, if it works… it works.  There’s no need to force everyone into a specific textbook form of a given technique – only to help each Judoka improve what works for them based on the principles of Judo.   I’m sure that everyone realizes (experienced Judoka, that is!) that if you gathered together 10 international competitors who’s tokui waza was Seoinage, and asked them to demonstrate it – you’d have 10 different techniques.  Yet none of them are wrong, and all of them are equally “Seoinage”.

The advantages given by a resisting opponent in training is the reason, in my opinion; why the ‘Mixed Martial Art’ competitions favor those who train in an art where there is a resisting opponent.  Judo, Brazilian Jujitsu, Muy Thai, Wrestling, and so forth.  Rather a disappearing act for the formerly “deadly” arts of Ninjutsu or various styles of Kungfu.  Where’s “Count Dante” when the UFC’s came around?

There was a time when I believed that randori – being what set Judo apart from Jujutsu, was the key to learning Judo.  I felt, as did many sensei, that you should do your warmups, then spend 70-80% of the class time in randori.  (With the other 20-30% spread among ukemi, uchikomi, kata, and instruction).

Down through the years I’ve greatly modified that original impression.  I’m of the opinion nowadays that you should spend far more time doing uchikomi & kata versus randori.  While I’d be hard pressed to defend any particular breakdown, doing 5 times as much uchikomi as randori seems appropriate to me.

Even when you do randori, I think it’s essential to do at least half or more of your randori in a cooperative (rather than competitive) mode.  “Exchange” randori, where you trade throws, and provide only about half of your normal defensive skill – is a valuable means to improve your Judo.

Many Judoka approach randori as a non-formal version of shiai.  But in order to practice your Judo skills, you should be looking at a good portion of your randori as an opportunity to ‘play’ Judo.  When you were a child, play is where you learned the skills to be an adult.  You learned what was appropriate, what was allowed, what worked, and how to influence others.

In Judo, doing randori in a loose manner (and not as shiai), can be the ‘play’ that Judoka need to improve.  This is where you learn new combinations, try out new techniques to see if they ‘fit’ your style.  While there is always a place for hard randori – it is the final test just short of shiai, it should be less than half of your randori practice.

One Hachidan at the Kodokan gave as his reason for his superb ability at Judo was his constant practice of rarely doing randori with equal or better partners… he did most of his randori with those of lesser rank.  Such a way of practicing gives the better Judoka a much better chance to improve his skills by actually doing them.

Sport coaches have long recognised that the best way to improve the performance of any particular skill is to do that particular skill.  And what is uchikomi but the continued practice of a particular skill?  What is non-resisted randori but the practice of performing your skill in a random situation?

Give it a try… ask your partner to give only half resistance – and to ’swap’ throws… see if your shiai (or hard randori) skills don’t improve!