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How to develop your throws.

The heart and soul of Judo is the big throw for Ippon, but how do you develop a wonderful tachi waza technique that scores big and scores consistently? That is the topic for this blog post. As a Judo athlete you need to learn not only the Judo but also the methods to improve your Judo; in this post we shall look at some of the methods you can employ to improve your throwing ability as opposed to the specifics of a throwing technique.

Photo by Michael Penkov

Technique Selection:

Before we start, lets consider the throws you use. Lets consider them in relation to you as a Judo athlete. Are the throws you have learnt to date suited to your physical size, shape and physiology? By this I mean, if you are a tall, long legged, thin player a Ippon Seoi Nage is probably not going to suit you. If however you are “stocky”, with short powerful legs then perhaps Ippon Seoi Nage is right for you.

Are you a light or heavy weight player (and if you are younger what weight/size will you be when you fully develop?). If you are tall with long legs then maybe Ashi Waza or Uchi Mata? There is a reason why many heavy weight use Maki Komi techniques, it suits their physical dimensions.

You also will want to consider your fighting style and capacity. Are you a all out, dynamic, explosive fighter or a slower more tactical fighter? Can you attack for 5 minutes solid, or can you only do a few good attacks in a fight? Have you got great upper body strength? Is your footwork great or slow? Have you got great timing?

Do you fight with a standard “Japanese/Standard” grip and posture? Do you fight with a “wrestler” posture/grip? Do you take an Extreme left/right grip? Do you grip high, do you grip low?

All these elements need to be considered and factored into you selection of a throwing technique. You might need to choose a new throw or change the way you fight to match your throw and style.

Create your own throw:

Having found a throw or throws that match you as a Judo athlete and your fighting style and abilities, it is time to develop your own unique version of the throw. This is where the development begins and where you must work hard. All the great champions have unique throws, Yamashita’s O Soto Gari, Koga’s Seoi Nage, Neil Adam’s Taio Toshi, etc.

One of the keys to developing a great throw is to develop a unique version of a technique that is yours and yours alone.

To do this you will need to watch and learn a variety of different styles of your selected technique. So if it is Taio Otoshi you will want to leanr how to do it like Adams and like Quelmaltz. You want to be able to do it like, or at least understand how, the heavyweight in your Dojo throws and the Japanese lightweight on a YouTube video.

Work with your coaches and training partners and try to do your technique as the poeple you observe do it, understand the mechanics and assess how it feels to you, how it works for  you, how it fits your style of fighting. Leanr as many variations on how to execute your chosen techniques as you can; then “cherry pick” the bits you like best.

No compile the best bits and practice, practice, practice! Find out what works for you and what doesn’t. Tweak your method of doing the throw everyday. Try the throw against everyone, all sizes all levels and assess what works and what does not. Then take it back and review and revise your throw. repeat this over and over with as many players and coaches as you can.

Your Throw, your grip, your strategy, your opponents:

Throws do not exist in isolation, they are affected by your opponents and teh dynamic between you and them. Your throw may work perfectly against everyone in your club; but may fail against the girl from across the road as she takes a grip that blocks yours. So you need to develop not only the throw itself but your methods of getting into a situation where you can execute your throw.

This includes developing a gripping pattern and strategy for as many styles as you meet. It includes movement with your opponents to put them in positions and postures that assist your throw. It includes working out the tempo you need your oppoenent to be at (as well as your own).

Can you control the fight so as to put your opponent and yourself in a situation where your throw will work. By this I mean, can you establish a grip against people you fight from which you can do your throw? Can you, having got your grip, move your opponent in such a way to make your throw possible/easier? Do you need your opponent upright or bent over? Moving forward or backwards? Moving around a lot or static?

Do you need “setup” throws (combinations), do you need your opponent to attack you a certain way (conuters)?

Summary:

As you can see developing an Ippon throw is not merely a matter of doing a throw the way you were shown over and over. You need to be smart and analyze every aspect of your self as a Judo athlete and of the throw and of your opponents. You need to develop a unique method of doing a throw and know how to engineer situations where that throw will work, not just hope the opportunity comes along.

Throw analysis, revision, reflection and repetition you can develop an amazing throw that gets the Ippon. If you work hard enough and smart enough perhaps you will develop one of those amazing throws of the great champions that seem to “just happen”. Don’t be confused, for the great throws they do “just happen”, but that is because of the hours and hours spent in preparation. The hours of conscious practice will translate into the almost magical moment where the throw just happens unconciously almost. But without the hours spent developing the throw that moment does not occur.

A good set of training partners and good coaches are essential to developing a great throw. Be sure to talk to your partners and coaches and work with them in and outside the Dojo on your throw. Start today by discussing this post with them, set up a schedule to meet and discuss your Judo and to develop your throw.

As always, email me any questions to lw@judocoach.com

Lance

Running for Judo athletes.

Photo By ADrop on Flickr

“To me, the best exercise for this is running”
Bruce Lee

As a Judo athlete you will run, I have yet to meet a competitive Judo athlete who has not spent some time running. As an exercise, running is pretty well recognized as valuable tool for developing aerobic and anaerobic fitness as well as other fitness elements such as leg strength.

As a Judo athlete, you will need a mix of endurance, speed and power. Judo is not a sprint nor is it a marathon. Running is very versatile and can provide specific benefits to match most stages in your Judo specific fitness programme.

For example distance runs at low intensity but longer durations will help you develop your aerobic capacity and endurance. Sprint sessions will help develop speed, hill runs will work those quadriceps and develop strength, and will help your mental toughness! More sophisticated methods like interval training and Fartlek training will allow you develop more specifically.

Getting started…

Before launching into running you need to consider several things, some of which are listed here.

1.Injury status.
Running involves a large amount and number of impacts, your entire body weight will bear down through your spine, hips, knees, ankles and feet. Each step you take will apply serious forces on your body. Injuries are very common in running and you need to consider your current state and your likelihood to become injured running.
If you know you have a “trick knee” or a “bad ankle”, then you need to consider this and decide if running is going to provide enough benefits to balance the risk of injury.
2.Decide your objectives
Do not run simple because it sounds like a good idea. Running must be part of your larger training programme. And the type of running you do must be with specific goals in mind. I would suggest starting during your endurance phase, during your “base training”. Take slow runs that are low in intensity but grow in duration. This will help your aerobic capacity and endurance, be aware however if you are just starting that you need to start small and fitness benefits will take some months to start occurring potentially.

3.Buy good shoes from a specialist store.
This relates to point one, injuries are common in running and running in the incorrect footwear can contribute to this. Proper running shoes will help protect you from injury and make your running progression easier.
Don’t go to your local sportswear store to buy your running shoes. Go to a specialist running shoe shop. Take your existing running shoes with you if you have some and allocate about an hour to buying your new shoes. A good store will look at your legs, feet and shoes perhaps even get you on a treadmill and use fancy equipment to assess your gait and other factors.
They will then choose shoes that are designed to match your feet and running. If you over or under pronate you will need shoes that address that. If you have high/low arches, wide/narrow feet etc, this all affects the shoes you need.
Be prepared to spend £100 (GBP) or there about, trust me you’ll appreciate it once you start putting the miles in!
4. Start small and slow, start with a walk.
Even if you consider yourself fit, or are in fact fit, start slow and easy. My recommendation is to follow a “couch to 5km” programme (C25K programme). The reason being that by taking it very careful will help ensure that your body adjusts to the new stresses being placed upon it without breaking. Running is very different to Judo and you will feel the urge to run further and harder than you should, as you are already fitter than a “couch potato”.
However, you are not fit yet for running and your Judo fitness can allow you to run longer and harder than your body can take and lead to injuries, which will affect your training. So, be patient and accept that the first nine weeks will be maddeningly easy. Perhaps you can fit this 9 weeks into a easy phase in your training programme and use it as relaxation more than fitness training?
5.Obey the 5%-10% rule
A common rule in running is the 5%-10% rule. Which means that you should never increase any aspect of your running by more than 5%-10% per week. In other words, you need to balance your duration against intensity and time. If you ran 1 mile this week, then don’t run 2 miles next week. It also matters between runs, increase your running gradually and you shall hopefully avoid injuries.
Using a good training programme and diary will help you here, plan out the distances and speeds you want to run in advance as part of your larger training plans and ensure that you increase no more than 5%-10%
6.Recovery is important!
All that slamming your feet into the ground is hard on your body, running is also very draining on your energy systems. As such, you need to ensure you are planning adequate recovery time between runs and also between runs and Judo.
There is little point running to increase your fitness for Judo if you leave too little time between a run and the next Judo session and show up tired or sore.
You will need to learn what your body needs in terms of recovery times, typically it might be two days from a long run before you are fully recovered. So there is little point in doing a long Judo session in this time. It might be a good time for some skill work or perhaps even some strength work, in short bursts. Perhaps it is the time to hit the gym and do your chest and arms strength workout?
Equally, the morning after a hard Randori evening is probably not the time for hill sprints. A nice gentle jog might be good though, it will help your fitness and perhaps your relaxation whilst allowing your body to recover from the randori session.

Probably the most important advice I would give is to start small and progress slowly, even if you feel you can do more. Listen to your body and always be willing to take it easier if you feel too tired and always stop if there is pain involved! ALWAYS!

You could do worse than attending a running club and getting some coaching on technique or having a proper running programme designed. This should be done in collaboration with your Judo coaches, to ensure you are not over training or developing in the wrong ways to match your Judo and your Judo training plan.

As always, please do contact me with any questions you might have.

Lance

P.s. A good Judo friend of mine (and friends) are running a half marathon to raise money for a VERY worthwhile charity, please consider donating to the cause via the follwoing websites: http://www.justgiving.com/boneys_cf and http://www.justgiving.com/boneys_transplant

References/Further Reading: http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/, http://www.halhigdon.com/, http://www.c25k.com/, http://www.running4beginners.co.uk, http://www.coolrunning.com.

Mental Toughness and Judo.

Judo is a difficult sport, it is not only immensely demanding physically but mentally also. As a Judo athlete you need to be aware of the mental and physical demands and prepare yourself to deal with them. In this article we will explore briefly the mental aspects of Judo and how you will need to be mentally tough to succeed.

In the video to the left you will watch a master of the strategy of a Judo match and an incredibly mentally tough fighter, Ryoko Tani (nee Tamura).

In this video you will be able to observe a closely fought match which Tani controls Alina Dumitru well to take a well deserved victory.

In the first minute you will see how Tani forces Dumitru to adopt a crouching stance, which Dumitru tries to avoid doing, but Tani forces her into.

Immediately after both players get penalized, Tani makes an effective attack and gets Dumitru onto the floor, although for no score. Consider for a moment the mesage this conveys both to Dumitru and the referees. Tani is able to knock her opponent over “on demand”, imagine being Dumitru. You have been fighting a legend and holding your own for 60 seconds, then the moment Tani gets a penalty she knocks you over.

Tani then dominates the Kumi Kata for another minute, making a couple of scary, but non scoring attacks, including dumping you on your butt after you have both left the contest area, is she making a point? You’ll notice that Tani periodically chooses to completely disengage, bounce around and then re enter kumi kata, Dumitru does not do that. Tani is bouncing about showing shes fresh, she is also making it clear who is in control of when grip fighting is going to happen… when she wants it to!

And then the referee pings you (Dumitru) for non-combativity! “Come on ref, I can’t get a grip!“. You get a bit miffed and start throwing the big over the top grip, which works! But each time you do Tani runs about and gets you out of the area for Matte. Then there is that leg grab and lift after Matte and when I stand over here after that attack she just stands up and lifts me off the floor. And now I can’t get the righthand grip over top, Tani is running all over the show! But whats this? The referee spotted her stepping out, we are even again! Kata Guruma, doesn’t work but I got the attack in….now the O Uchi, no score.  This would be easier if I could get a damn grip!

One Minute to go, scores even, matte….

40 seconds…

WHOAH!!! That Ko Uchi was close!!

30 seconds left…

BANG! Wazari OH NO!!!!

13 seconds left… okay got my grip over the top…. aarrgghhh, she just dumped me again!

Okay, the point of my little commentary is to point out that Tani dominated Dumitru both is Judo specifics and also mentally. Take another 5 minutes and watch the fight again, this time just look at the faces of the two players. Tani’s does not change and is… well a bit scary. Dumitru’s face however starts to show the strain, the grimace tells a tale of what is happening inside her mind.

The sory of this fight is to me that Tani is 100% comfortable she will win, I suspect she knew that eventually Dumitru would crack. And that is what happens, with less than a minute to go Tani scores twice and wins the fight.

Tani’s response to Dumitru’s increased workrate after the penalty is telling also. She negates the work that Dumitru des by running aorund and leaving the mat area, a couple of quick Matte calls and Dumitru’s flow is broken and Tani is back to controlling the fight again.

As a Judo athlete, you want to be Tani, not Dumitru. You need that confidence in your abilities that you never lose faith in yourself. You need to know your opponent will lose, that they will crack, that they will give you the opportunity you need to win. You also need the ability to stick to the game plan, yetbe able to quickly adapt to negate any advantages that your opponent may secure. Had Tani failed to deal with Dumitru’s surge she may well have lost the fight.

You need to be physically and mentally strong enough to be unflappable, to always look like it is “another day in the office”. You don’t want to be like Dumitru and be showing that itis hard on your face and with your body language.

But how to get mentally tough?
That is the hard bit and it starts with acknowledging that you need to be mentally tough. Then you need to devise strategies and train methods that will give you that toughness. You can start in the Dojo, during Randori or Uchi Komi. Decide to never look tired, even when you are. Do all the Randori and keep your facial expressions passive or positive, anything other than negative.

You could schedule your randori, so they get progressively harder. Start with lighter players and move onto the heavier players, give yourself a target to never lose the gripping battle.

Maybe go for a distance run once a week and then sprint the last mile? Refuse to slow or stop before you reach the end of the run.

In Randori, refuse to let any score go un answered perhaps? You get thrown for a Koka, the next throw is a Yuko to you.

Maybe you will sit in your room before bed and visualise yourself in Dumitru’s position, but you don’t lose. You get a big ol’ grip on Tani and then slam her with your trademark Uchi Mata for Ippon. Maybe visualise yourself fighting teh last person you lost to, create the scene in your head and at that point when you lost; change what happens. Picture yourself dealing with whatever it was that caused you to lose, picture yourself taking control and dominating the fight again. See, smell,hear and feel yourself throwing your opponent for Ippon after coming back from a wazari down. Hear the crowd as they clap and cheer you on as you come back from behind to win.

Create your own little Jerrry McGuire moment in your head, live it till it sticks.

An introduction to Planning your Olympic Judo career.

In this post we shall look at some basic ideas around planning your long term Judo career, looking at the ultimate of our Sport… the Olympic Games.

The Olympic Cycle
Judo is an Olympic sport which means that the competition side of Judo is driven by the 4 year Olympic cycle. What this means for the Judo athlete is that everything is focussed on one day every 4 years. All your training is geared towards and aimed at the Olympic Judo tournament. So this is the starting point for any and all serious career plans.

In a recent post on JudoMetrics.com the average age of athletes competing in the current qualification events for London 2012 was identified as being around 25 years of age. What this means is that in planning your career you need to consider if you will be 25 (plus or minus a year or two) in an Olympic year. How old will you be in 2012? 2016? 2020? 2024? The reality is that you can be 20 – 30 or even more outside this range, but you are increasingly becoming a statistical outlier.

Of course being the right age is a minor issue compared to the more serious matters in planning your career. But these target years are vital and you need to work backwards from them. You need to consider how many years you need to spend qualifying; about 3-4. So you need to be on the Word Cup circuit from about the previous Olympic Judo tournament. In other words, if you are not competing in the World Cups now, then you really REALLY need to be doing so in the next year or the points deficit is likely to be insurmountable. If you are looking at 2016, then you don’t need to be at the World Cup level until 2012/2013.

If you need to be at the World Cup level by 2013, then you’ll need some experience at lower international levels prior to then. So expect to budget 2-3 years at least doing C and B tournaments. Then, you need to consider how much time you will spend at national level first? 2-3 years perhaps in the medals at your nationals before you are ready to do well overseas? How long till you get regular selection for the right events?

As you can see those years start adding up and suddenly we have 10 years of competing planned out before you step on the mat at the Olympics. Do you have 10 years till “your” Olympics?

If you have longer, then brilliant, you have extra time and can fit more training and competing in. Not got 10 years? Then you have more work to do, more planning, more training and more performing with less time than if you had more time. It is not the end of the road for you, but your path perhaps shall be harder than for others, you have more of a challenge.

So… I hope you are a 15 year old Judo athlete full of potential and starting to win some medals that people didn’t expect you to win. If so, look to 2016 and start working HARD!!

I welcome any questions, comments, etc.
Just email me at lw@judocoach.com

How to get started with a training Diary for Judo athletes.

Tristan wrote a good post the other day on maintaining a training diary, so I thought this would be a good time to cover this essential training tool in a Judo athlete’s kit bag.Training diaries have been used by athletes, in fact by high performers in all walks of life for a very long time. Training diaries are often quoted as being the primary motivator for athletes, yet in Judo they seem to less prevalent than in other sports. I think perhaps it can be quite overwhelming to a novice athlete, when a coach says “keep a diary”, so in this post I shall try and give some practical advice for Judo athletes on how to use a simple diary.

Basics of recording your training.

Before we begin, we need to consider the 4 basic elements that you need to consider when training:

• Nutrition (What you eat)
• Duration (How much training you do)
• Intensity (How hard you train)
• Recuperation (How you recover from training)

A training diary needs to capture these four elements as a basic starting point. You need to record everything you eat, every bit of training and also how you recover. These are the basics, you need to record how many miles you run, how fast you run, how many uchi komi you do, how much randori, how many drills, etc. You need to write down every burger you eat.
Importantly you need to record how much rest you get, including how many hours sleep and how you feel during the day.

Recording these basic elements will give you an view of what yesterday or last week looked and felt like. You may be surprised at how your memory and what you write differ. Look particularly for the relationships between your recuperation and the previous day or days training. If you feel tired today, what did you eat yesterday, what training did you do?

Use this information to adjust your training to minimise the training sessions you go to feel tired or sore. Use it to find wholes in your schedule that are dragging you down. Use it to find highpoints and work out why it was a good day/session.

Judo specific training diary requirements.

Iavor Kostadinov by MajorConfusion

Just recording the basics above will give you a good start, it may be enough for your first diary. However, we can improve on that basic recording of information and capture Judo specific information.

Weight.
Judo is fought in weight classes, most Judo athletes work hard to make sure they make it into their weight class…. just. In your diary, you can/should record your weight. Depending on where you are in your training programme you might do this weekly, or closer to events you will want to start recording your weight before you go to bed at night and when you get up in the morning. This will help you determine your “drift weight”, or how much you lose overnight naturally. This will vary depending on a whole variety of factors.
As a competition comes nearer and nearer you will want to record your weight everyday (morning and night) and possibly before and after training. This will give you information on how your body is reacting to your training. It will give you ideas on how much weight you can expect to lose and give you an idea of how long it will take to get to your desired weight.

You may also wish to regularly check you body fat percentage, this too will give you information on how realistic your goal weight is. Remember that you do not want to go much (if any) lower than 8% – 15% if you are male or 13% – 20% if female. Any lower than this and your health will be affected. I have seen athletes drop below 8% and seen their ability to train drop and the injury rate increase. If you can’t make your weight class without going below these values, then you need to change weight class!

Judo
Our sport is hard to quantify, this makes recording your Judo training difficult. Judo training however is the most important training you do, so it is vital you find ways to record your Judo training.
To start with, you will want to record the duration of every session you attend and your perception of the intensity overall. So in basic terms you might right “90 minutes, light Judo training”. But as you get more comfortable with using a diary you will need to start being more specific. You will need to break a session into it’s component parts and record duration and intensity for these. So small entries for warm-up, ne-waza, randori, uchi-komi, drills, skill work, etc.
You will also want to record what you did in the training, so write down that you did “50 left handed Uchi Mata throws into a crashmat and were exhausted at the end + 5X5 minute ne waza randori that you relaxed through and felt happy doing 5 X 5 standing Randori and felt tired but not exhausted (say a 6/10 for intensity)”.
Lastly, you will want to start writing down how you and your partners Judo worked. You need to write down that you were caught by Joe’s Left Tai Otoshi, that you caught Sally with a Tomoe Nage like the one you practised last Tuesday.

Not Just for training!
A diary is not just for training during the week, take it to competitions with you and write down what happened in your matches. Write down what you see and feel, how you perform and anything you see others doing that is of interest. Especially, what others people you will fight do.

REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!
Capturing this information is the important start of a process that will help you understand and improve your training. The Yin to this Yang is reviewing your diary. I would recommend reviewing your diary once a week with your coach(es).
You need to sit down and look at your training (and competitions) and see what comes to light as you read through what you have done. If you maintain a blog (and I personally think you should), this review can form the basis of a weekly blog post on your website. Alternatively it might form a report you send to the national coach, sponsors, mum and dad.
The process of summarising your diary will allow you to understand yourself better and if you write this summary with a coach, the conversations between the two of you will help shed light on training issues bubbling under the surface.
You should also review everything and the summaries at the end of every training macro-cycle also. Compare the reality (diary) to the goals (the training plan), how did they compare? What went well, what went poorly? This will help you modify your next macro-cycle to be even better than the last one.

Planning too.
Don’t forget your diary is a brilliant place to write down your planned training for the week. Put down the type, durations, intensities and goals of each session in advance. Re-read it before each training session and it will help you focus on what you should be doing.

Summary
There you have it, a basic introduction to the Whys and Hows of starting your Judo training diary. I suggest buying a cheap B5 hard cover diary from a stationary store, the sort with 1 or 2 pages per day. There are specific training athletic/sports training diaries you can buy, but I think that you should just start with a simple standard diary first, they are cheap and easy.

Throw that diary and (more than one) pen in you kit bag and take the diary with you everywhere. Write down as much as you can as close to when it happens as possible, while its still fresh in your mind. Scribbling stuff down during water breaks can be good.

Hopefully, this post will help you get started with a Judo training diary. If you have any questions about keeping one let me know ( lw@judocoach.com ). I am happy to receive questions from novice athletes anytime!

Lance

How to watch Judo matches and analyse the action.

If you wish to improve as a Judo athlete, then you need to be able to observe a Judo match and understand the dynamics of what you have seen. This will give you insights that will allow you to improve your own Judo and also see ways of beating your opponents Judo. In this post I will outline a framework around which you can build your own methods of understanding Judo.

Judo is a game and like any other game, it has structures, styles and events that are consistent across all the games that are played no matter the level or the players. As  Judo athlete you need to be able to identify all of this, understand it and practice the skills you need to improve your abilities in each of these areas.

Lets start with the basic structure of a Judo match…
A Judo match consists of a set of “segments”, a segment being the times between Hajime and Matte being called by the referee. These segments are typically around 20 seconds long and 10-15 seconds apart and there are about 8 of them per match.

Within each segment, there are several stages or events. The basic stages are:

• Kumi Kata
• Movement
• Attack
• Transition

Of course, within each stage there are many sub-stages to observe and analyse, as per our previous post for example, there are many elements of Kumi Kata that we can analyse. But lets keep it simple for now.

Kumi Kata:
You need to identify the left or right handed-ness of each player. You also want to identify the gripping style of the player(s), where do each of the hands touch their opponent and take grip. You will of course need to be aware that grip patterns change according to the left or righted-ness of the players. Also the gripping styles will affect the grip patterns and styles.
Something you want to be aware of is who has “won” the Kumi Kata section of the match. Much like a sprinter, a good start is important to winning.

Movement:
After grips have been taken, the players in the match will move. This movement will be different for each pairing of players, also different according to the tactical situation at that stage of the fight. A player will fight very differently if they are winning or losing for example.
Movement is a fundamental building block of throws, so is essential in your observation. Simplistically, A player that moves backwards and brings their opponent towards them for example is likely to do forward throws.

Attack:
At some stage after grip fighting and moving, one or possibly both players will attack with a throw attempt. It may be a single attack, it may be two or more linked attacks in combination. It may also result in the opponent executing a counter-attack.
Judo players will attack in a relatively consistent manner, players also have a limited range of tachi waza techniques they can execute in a competition. You can do worse things than write down the techniques that the opponents in your category use, build a dictionary of people you fight.

Transition:
After each attack, there is a transition, a change from standing attack to something else. This may be to another attack (and might be considered part of the attack perhaps) or to ne waza groundwork or perhaps just to another Kumi Kata session or direct to Matte.
Each player will have a selection for transitions, you need to be aware of what your opponents likely responses to an attack of yours (or their own) might be. For example, the famous Neil Adams was well known for his transition from tachi waza to ne waza using a roll into Juji Gatame.

How to start analysing Judo matches.
You can start very basically and easily, with a pen and a notebook. of course in todays day and age, you probably will start by recording a video of each match first.
Watch the fight, for each segment, try and write down a quick summary of how the player you are watching (or both if you are quick) is gripping, “right handed, high lapel” might suffice.
Then record how he/she moves, “moves back and to the right”.
Add what happens next, “attacks with right Tai Otoshi, left leg bent, scores yuko”.
Now write down the transition, “hooks right leg in to ‘mount position’, grabs right wrist of uke, Juji gatame roll turnover”.

Repeat this for each segment.
Once the match is over, summarise the match generally, based on how it looked to you and what you thought happened. try and note the strategic situations events in the fight. In the example above, the Yuko may have been the moment that the player took the lead with 1 minute to go. What changed after this? Did the other player attack differently? Did the first player move or grip differently? In our hypothetical example it might be “after the yuko was scored the player was attacked aggressively by their opponent, the player moved backwards towards the edge and did (near) false attack sumi gaeshi’s for the rest of the fight”

This summary is an opportunity to consider the less visible elements of a Judo match. Look to identify the situations, the tactics, the imbalances in the fight. try and identify too what was the decisive moment in the fight. Was it the Taio for Yuko, or was it the fact that the player was able to dominate the grips? was the fight lost because the second player had no way of stopping the first player from doing sumi gaeshi? Perhaps they had no transition to take advantage of the poor sumi gaeshi attack.

Now what?
Sit down with your coach, your fellow players and talk through the Judo matches you have observed. Read through what you have written and try and remember the fight (if you have the video of the match, even better!).
Put yourself in the position of one of the players, assess if what you do as a player would have fitted into the picture you have described of the match. Try and be honest with yourself, look for areas where you think you’d have had an advantage and of course where you would have been at a disadvantage.
Look for areas where you need to develop. Work with your coaches and training partners, put yourself in situations that mimic the situations in the fights you observe and practice ways of winning in those situations.
This can be as specific as beating a certain grip pattern, or more generic as fighting someone who drops into Sumi Gaeshi constantly.

Summary:
This post hopefully gives you a basic introduction how you can observe and analyse a Judo match. Now you have a basic framework to start with, you should absolutely discuss this with your coaches, perhaps with a performance analyst if you know one. This post is not a definitive guide to observing and analysing Judo, you would do well to find someone locally to help you develop in this area. This analytical process will help you develop as a Judo athlete and perform better in competition.
Of course, please feel free to contact me ( lw@judocoach.com ), with your experiences and any questions you might have.

Lance.

Setting useful targets for your development as a Judo player.

In this post we shall cover some basic ideas in relation to setting sensible and useful targets/goals for Judo performance. the aim will be to define the parameters that you will use to decide if you performed well at a competition.

First things first, performance is not results. There is a relationship between the two, but a good result does not mean a good performance necessarily, nor does a great performance necessarily mean you win the competition. Unfortunately, too often in Judo results are considered the be all and end all of deciding if a player performed well. The IJF is cementing this attitude with the use of a final position based world ranking system (see JudoMetrics.com for more on how the system works).

The target audience for this blog is Judo players just reaching a higher level of competition,  you are entering National or International competitions for the first time perhaps. As such, winning events is to be honest a unrealistic goal and can be detrimental to your development as a player. You need different criteria to medals to define if you had a good or bad day.

Below is a selection of targets you might use to make a measurement of your performance, unlike a medal these performance targets are based on things that for upcomingplayers can be more realistic.

Scoring: One target you might use is scoring on every person you fight.

Go the distance: You might aim to either win or at least go the full allotted time with your opponent if you can’t win.

Not get dumped for Ippon: You might aim to not get thrown or not get thrown for Ippon at least.

Attack more than they do: This might be good against a superior player, strive to attack more than they do.

Control the grip: You may not be able to to it consistently, but perhaps aim to control the grip at least 1 (or more) times.

When setting these sorts of targets, itis important to set them at the right level. They need to be challenging yet achieveable. You may want to average the target out across all your fights or be specific to who you are fighting and that match. It may mot be realistic for you to aim to score against every player, so you may aim to score against 75% of the players you fight.

Depending on your level you might have more difficult goals, such as “win at least half my fights by Ippon” or if you are really progressing you might set a target to “win this competition without using my favourite throw“.

It can be especially useful to set targets like the last two mentioned, if you are fighting in an event below your personal best level. These test/training events are an opportunity to test aspects of your development. So you may aim to fight 5 minutes, even if it means you don’t throw everyone for Ippon; this might test your endurance. Alternatively, aim to beat everyone in Ne-Waza to test if your Ne-Waza is developing as planned. Or throw everyone you fight with a the new technique you are working on; you get the idea I hope.

It is quite uncommon to see players and coaches fighting in such a structured way. You can help your development considerably if you use targets like those above to measure your success and plan to fight accordingly. It can also help with your motivation and mood. Nobody likes losing (least of athletes) but you may be able to divert some of the negative feelings by knowing that although you lost, you threw all your opponents for a score or you went 5 minutes with the #1 in your category, etc.

You should talk to your coaches about setting performance based targets for your competitions and try and ensure you have set them at the right level and in the right areas. Any questions let me know.

Lance
lw@judocoach.com

Do you know how to get selected?

As a Judo athlete not everything is under your control. One thing that fits into the “not under your control” category is the selection of players to compete in events. We are fortunate in Judo that many events are open to anyone, but especially once you hit the international level you need to be selected by your national governing body. In this article we shall explore the selection process and how you as a Judo athlete need to operate to ensure you are selected.

One of the problems you will encounter when it comes to selection is that everybody has a different system. Your club may select one way, your area another, your nation a third and of course Olympic selection involves people outside of Judo in the process.

For example within the BJA and example of selection policy can be found at http://www.britishjudo.org.uk/home/documents/WCSelectionPolicy-U232008_FINALDRAFT_.pdf This document outlines the selection criteria and process used by the British Judo Association to select athletes to compete in the 2008 Under 23 European Championships. (please not that this document has the suffix “Draft” so actual selection methods may have varied). This is very Britain specific, but the principles apply to all nations.

As a Judo athlete there are some key points for you to understand.

1.The BJA Board of Directors is ultimately responsible for selections. If push came to shove, they decide who gets selected. At present the BJA board is nine men (http://www.britishjudo.org.uk/executive/board.php) no women. These nine people hold in their hands the power of selection. If you are loved by one of these people your selection process is going to be easier than if one (or more) hates you!
2.The Board delegates selection to the selection panel. The selection panel is less easy to identify. It is not listed easily on the BJA website. So as a Judo athlete you will need to ask around to find out who the panel members are. These people have been given the responsibility of selecting players by the Board of directors, so again you want to know who they are and make sure you have an understanding of how they select players and if any of them have strong feelings towards you.
3.Eligibility. Not all Judo athletes are eligible for a specific event. In this example there is an age restriction, also the document outlines that you must have a full British Passport and be a current member of the BJA and of the BJA national squad. This highlights some of the issues of an international society, you may be from another country and not have a British passport (like myself). You may have let your membership lapse.
The requirement to be a squad player is an interesting one, as the squad itself will have selection criteria you must meet.
4.Selection. The BJA system uses a common method, they choose “The player with the most potential to win a medal.”. They also specify that they will look at “all the player’s competition results within the 12 months immediately prior to time of selection will be taken into consideration.” They go on to list the events they will consider and that they will factor in other variables such as the draw and injuries.
Another important selection criteria listed is “attendance record at training sessions and competitions. In considering ‘attendance’, factors such as performance, attitude and behaviour will also be taken into account.”. what this basically means is that you need to attend national training and be a good team player, you had better not just show up to get a tick in the box.

As you can see, there is a mix of subjective and objective criteria here. I would argue more subjective than objective. As a Judo athlete what this means is that people are going to make judgment calls about you, based on their opinion of you and the other athletes wanting your spot on the team. As such you need not only to perform well in competition but also ensure that the board of directors and selection panel members think you are the best darn player around.

Simply being able to (or even winning) every fight is not enough, although an undefeated streak is always going to carry a lot of weight. If, like most athletes there is genuine competition for your “spot”, then you need to ensure that you look like the athlete who has the best attitude, best training, best chance of winning medals.

The best way of achieving this is to be the best player, the hardest trainer, the nicest guy or girl. But even then, you need to ensure that the specific individuals who are involved in the selections know about how great you are. How many of the selectors (and board of directors) would recognise you walking down the street? How many would know where you train, how hard you train, etc?
How many know what the last fight you had was? How many know who the last “big name” you beat was? How many like you as a person? How many hate you? How many thing you are not the best person to choose?

If you don’t know the answer then you have a problem. If you have negative answers you have a problem. But, as a Judo athlete you will tackle these “problems” just as you would any challenge. You can plan out a strategy to ensure you know the selectors and they know you.

The single most important thing you can do is identify the people who make the decisions and speak with them about how the process works and about what they think you as a player should be doing. This is entirely ethical if you are genuinely just trying to learn from them.

Another important issue is to consider who you train with and their relationship with the selectors. If you have a friend who is not popular with selectors, is it wise for you to “hang out” with them? Is you club coach popular or unpopular with the selectors? Again, if so you have some thinking to do about how to deal with this.

Having said all the above, and got you worried, I need to point out that in the grand scheme of things, selection “should” be the least of your worries. I would hope that someone reading this is a dedicated and talented Judo athlete who would be a natural choice for any spot on a team. However, sometimes selections are difficult and often controversial as you may have a fellow athlete at the same level as you. In this situation having explored how selection works and who makes the selections and perhaps worked on ensuring that all the relevant people know you are the best choice might swing the balance in your favour. And if that does happen and you get a fellow athletes spot, you had better make good use of it and win gold!

I hope the above has given you some food for thought about selection, the BJA u23 example I think shows just how complicated it can be. The rules change based on event, personnel, policy and many other elements. As a Judo athlete you need to ensure you understand the process and stay current.

Managing your selection chances is like all things in sport, 100% your responsibility as a Judo athlete. You can’t complain you were not selected if you did not take the time to understand the selection process and do what was required to get selected.

As always, you should always discuss with your coaches (club, area and national) and you can always ask me ( lw@judocoach.com ) if you want some advice.

An introduction to Kumi Kata (grip fighting) for novice Judo athletes.

Kumi Kata is one of the most important elements of modern Judo, establishing a good grip and negating your opponents grip can be what wins or loses you a match. In this article we shall not teach try to teach you how to grip, rather help you understand the importance of developing your grip fighting skills.

The most important single thing I could say in relation to gripping is to have a plan. You need to know what grip works for you and how to achieve that grip when facing a variety of situations. To develop this plan and do the practice required, you will need to consult with your coaches.

You will need a target grip and methods to obtain and defend that grip. You also need to have throws that match your grip. The general advice to a Judo athlete is that you will have one grip, not many. You will not be throwing from “any grip” as some might like.

If you watch someone like Jimmy Pedro (especially in his “Grip Like A World Champion” DVD) you will soon notice that he has a definite plan of attack with his gripping. Watch the video here and you will see the pattern. He is looking to secure his opponent Rhadi Ferguson’s sleeve with his right hand. He is then looking to take a grip with his left hand over the right shoulder of his opponent.

You will notice that Jimmy does take initial “stabs” at Rhadi’s lapel, but the first grip he takes and holds is the right hand sleeve grip. Of course Jimmy is fighting left handed, so that affects his grip pattern, as do the throws he uses. You will also notice that Jimmy is an “outside” fighter, he keeps “wide” and grips around his opponent.

This second video shows Toshihiko Koga of Japan in action. His gripping is substantially different to that of Jimmy Pedro’s. Koga is right handed and is looking to secure his left hand under his opponent’s armpit or low on the jacket lapel. His grips does vary considerably, but what is constant is his desire to control his opponents’ right shoulder for his seoi nage attacks.

Koga is also an “inside” fighter, he is rotating directly in front of his opponents is a small tight turn. It is very different to Pedro’s outside more linear attacking style. Koga would be unable to execute the turn required from Jimmy’s grip and equally Jimmy could not execute his attacks from Koga’s grip.

This is important as you too need to attack from your grip.

Defining a gripping strategy for you is well beyond what is achievable in a single blog post, or even from a series of posts. However, for the novice Judo athlete, I do have a gripping pattern framework that is a good starting point. The explanation following the method describes some of the reasoning behind this grip pattern and should hopefully give an indication of the thought you need to give to your pattern of gripping.

Goal:
To obtain a standard Sleeve and Lapel grip, so as to execute many/most traditional techniques.

Method:

1. Grip opponent’s right lapel very low, towards the belt with your right hand.
2. Grip opponent’s right lapel above your right hand with your left hand.
3. Grip opponent’s right lapel above your left hand with your right hand at height/position that you are aiming for as your most comfortable/effective for your throws.
4. Bend your right arm and pull your opponent towards you.
5. Grip opponent’s right sleeve with your left hand.

Explanations:
This grip pattern is designed for a right handed Judo athlete, seeking to throw with a forward throw such as Seoi Nage or Uchi Mata. This is more in line with the traditional Japanese style of fighting than eastern European styles.

By gripping low (1.), the Judo athlete is able to obtain a initial grip more easily than if going directly for the desired grip with that hand. It is used solely to provide a starting point to “climb” the grip to the desired height.

In this pattern, the athlete is focused on having a strong lapel grip. The sleeve grip is secondary to this athlete’s pattern.

Once you have a basic pattern such as the example above, you can develop methods/tricks/tools to secure the grip or to defend the grip. In the first example video with Jimmy and Rhadi, Jimmy shows a very effective method of removing Rhadi’s grip on Jimmy’s left hand sleeve. This tool is important as it shows that Jimmy is aiming to position his left hand over the shoulder. It is clear that this is a common situation that Jimmy found himself in and that he developed a effective technique to establish his grip. You too will need to find these common situations and the solutions to them.

Again, the purpose of this article is not to teach you how to grip but rather to encourage you to work with your coaches to develop your kumi kata in a similar way as you will your throwing and ne waza techniques.

Please email me (lw@judocoach.com) any questions.

Lance

Developing a technical training programme for Judo athletes.

In the sport that is Judo, there is a large technical component to develop. The Judo athlete with the best technical skills has the advantage over the opponent with equal physical capabilities but lesser technical abilities; some would go further and say the more technical player can beat a player of superior physical abilities.

In this article, again aimed at the novice Judo athlete, we shall look at how to develop a training programme for your Judo technical skills.

As with your physical training, your technical training consists of a variety of different areas which must all be developed. As with physical preparation for Judo, a well designed plan for developing your technical skills will deliver the best results.

Fitts & Posner (1967), describe three stages of skill development, which BobC on the British Judo Association coaching forum described like this:

Verbal cognitive, this stage is characterised by a lot of thinking through the skill by the athlete (cognitive) and verbal instruction by the coach. This is a relatively short stage.

Motor stage, this is where the techniques has been learnt. The student may now be able to do it in several directions or from a variety of grips but there is still a need for feedback and control.

Autonomous stage – The first thing about this stage is that not all athletes achieve it. Athletes tend to be able to produce the technique (which is now a skill) on demand and may not need to focus on it as a single thing, i.e. within a tactical situation.

With these stages in mind, it becomes clear that in developing your technical training programme you must design for each stage in your own skill acquisition.

Stage 1:
In this stage you might meet with your coach and watch videos of elite players doing the skill you are wishing to develop, you might read up on the principles also. You and your coach would then start “walking through” how the technique is done; building up to a point where you are able to do nage komi in perhaps one direction consistently.

Stage 2:
Having developed a good ability to execute the technique, you need to start working towards using the technique in a variety of directions. For example when moving in different directions, from left and right grips. The technique should be reliable in Nage Komi and basic form executable regularly in Randori.

Stage 3:
Once you are able to execute the skill in a variety of directions, grips etc. You may be able to move the technique to a level where it is “available on demand”, without needing to think about it. Your training might include situational simulation. Meaning that you have your opponent play in a certain way and you execute the skill against it repeatedly. You will be simulating a number of situations that are common in competition and also in your opponents. You will be simulating not only physical characteristics but also tactical scenarios such as being behind on points with 30 seconds to go.

As you have probably guessed, each stage is likely to take exponentially longer than the previous one. So if there is a technique you decide you need to have in your arsenal then you need to start developing it months and years before it is needed. Old coaches of mine quoted the figure 10,000 uchi komi for any technique. Which rather nicely fits with the concept being popularised by Malcolm Gladwell about 10,000 hours being the magic time to master something.

Stage one may take only hours or days, stage two weeks or months. Stage three, months to years.

BALANCE
Another key issue is to ensure you are developing your technical skills is the issue of technical balance. Although elite performers display a limited set of techniques at that level ( http://judoinfo.com/weers1.htm ). They will normally have a excellent vocabulary of throws if observed in light Randori, and even at the elite level they are showing several skills capable of use at the highest level.

As a Judo athlete looking to develop, you must be careful not to become “one-sided”. If all you have is one excellent technique then you will be extremely weak in many situations. When planning your technical development you must ensure you provide enough time to each of the technical skills you are developing.

Scheduling the training
As a novice Judo athlete, one of the issues you will strike is that the Judo sessions you attend are unlikely to be working on the skills you are working on at that time. You can help negate some of this by working closely with the coaches. However, you will need to work outside of classes or independently within a class environment.

This again will mean liaising with the coaches to ensure that you are given the permission and opportunity to practice you skills, perhaps whilst the rest of the class does something else.

You will also need to ensure that when doing Randori and even when competing in training event competitions that you practice the techniques you are developing. Competition and Randori testing of your new skills should be planned into your programme.

Summary
Developing your technical skills as a Judo athlete is essential if you wish to progress to higher levels of competition. You need to plan out your training to enable you to progress through the phases of acquisition and also to develop a suitably balanced portfolio of technical skills.

This is a long and complicated process and very difficult to plan initially as you will not have a good awareness of the times required. Also each skill will have it’s own timetable. By working closely with you coaches you will find the optimal timings and methods for you.

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