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Excellent training and learning opportunity for UK based players.

One of my colleagues from the University of Bath is hosting what will I expect to be an awesome training event, which may be ideal for your child and for your child depending on their stage in Judo (and assuming you are in Cambridge in the UK on June 21st, 2009).

To save energy I shall cut and paste from the flyer, here is what the day will consist of:

Training Session for Teenagers, June 21, 2009

Getting to know your opponents – Scouting Reports.

Photo by Nuno Barreto on Flickr

Sun Tzu, the famous ancient strategist once said “Know the enemy and know yourself” he also said “The general who wins the battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought“. This second quote is one that Rhadi Ferguson uses in introducing his “The Judo Scouting Reports Success System” package.

The concept of Rhadi’s product is this, you as a Judo athlete need to know your opponents. In Rhadi’s product he discusses this and even walks you through the process of doing it with a live example of him doing a couple of scouting reports on British Judo athlete Craig Fallon. It is a great introduction to the subject, in this post I want to cover some of the same areas as Rhadi and also talk about it from some different perspectives also.

Most of us have done some scouting, my first real experience of it was watching video footage of a team mates main competition at his house one day. We watched and watched and realised that he had a movement pattern that he used everytime before he did his best throw. Basically he” skipped” to the left three times before dropping in for a Seoi Nage. It was a revelation to us, and on the weekend my team mate beat this guy easily by applying this knowledge. Eveytime the guy started skipping to the left, my colleague attacked with ashi waza, stopping the movement… and the attack. So my team mate was able to do his Judo and win the match, virtually without being attacked once.

Now in other sports researching your opponents is common. Rugby, Football, Yachting, Tennis, you name it they all know their opposition backwards. The think I used to observe is that they all had good systems for doing this, in Rugby for example the coches have access to statistics on how each player on each team plays. They can easily see what number of yards a player makes per game, they know how often they pass left and how often right. They know from where on the field a kicker can get the ball between the uprights.

Yet in Judo, it’s all a bit of a hidden, small scale thing. At least in most environments. I have yet to attend a club session on or doing video analysis or strategy devising. I know elite players do it and that the top Judo nations are doing it, but it has not made it to the lower levels, where the skills could begin to be developed.

For example, the late Simon Hicks (of Fighting Films) gave a lecture on the EJU Level 4 course on notation of players for your players. He showed the work he had done with Winston Gordon, providing one line summaries of players. He spoke about having a shared vocabulary and abbeviation system to describe their gripping style, fighting style and throws. It was in ways an eye opener for many of us. It was clear and concise and brilliant… and sadly not being used at all levels in British Judo.

So here is a simple example of what sort of thing you can identify, their grip style. This is pretty easy, there is “Standard” which is what you leanrt first, sleeve and lapel. There is “Wrestler” which is common in elite lightweight Judo; all bent over and head to head etc. “Russian”, which is extreme side on.

This is a starting point, along with identifying if they are left or right handed, and what throughs they favour. If you watch Rhadi’s DVD he gets into identifying how often people attack with what throws and how they enter throws etc. Those of you with good support teams may have video analysts idetifying all the throws each player in your weight does, either with software like Sportscode, or by hand.

Having this information is the start of the process. Your scouting reports (as Rhadi calls them) are the starting point, they give you the baseline info to devise strategies and tactics from. They provide insights that you can apply in training and in competition. If we return to my first example, knowing that the person skipped left 3 times, then attacked Seoi Nage gave us the opportunity to devise a method to defeat that attack (by preventing it happening).Just identifying what someone does is not enough, it will help, but it won’t help you win, you need something that can be applied in the shiai situation.

And just like anything you use in competition, what ever you devise needs to be tested and practised in the club training environment. You’ll need to be able to get your training partners to replicate the situations you have identified. You will need to work with your coaches to devise the strategies and apply them in training.

One thing you must remember, returning to Sun Tzu, is this… you must conduct scouting on you too. Watch yourself on video, get you support team to analyze your Judo. identify you tell tale movement patterms or grip patterns. Look at your Judo and how it matches or clashes with your opponents. Find where you have advantages and of course your weaknesses. There is no point identifying that you can beat an opponent with Uchi Mata if you have a dreadful Uchi Mata!

Much of this may sound like a big expense or effort, and it can be both. Mainly effort rather than expense. Your “support team” may be a industry expert using video footage filmed on location and analyzed using computer software. Or it could be just taking notes in a notebook while you sit at Judo competitions or training. Your analyst might be hiring someone like Rhadi or myself, or it might be asking your Dad or team mate to watch video with you on YouTube.

Personally, I would recommend starting by taking notes in your training diary… you have a training diary right? Then take a camera to your competitions and film your entire category and watch it with your coach and fellow players at a later date. Watch Rhadi’s DVDs and talk to your national coaches about it and see if you can learn what you can do.

And as always, you can also email me ( lw@judocoach.com ) and ask any questions.

Lance

Coping with Injuries as a Judo Athlete.

Photo by Trevor Haldenby

Judo is a tough sport, you are going to get hurt. You are going to get sprains, bruises, strains and often worse. The higher up the performance ladder you climb, the higher the probability that you get injured. Why? because to make it to the top of the sport of Judo you have to push yourself hard, you need to push the boundaries of your physical capabilities and eventually you will probably push too hard and get hurt. And lets not forget the injuries that you can’t control, like when a partner throws you awkwardly.

If you are going to be a Judo athlete, you will need to learn to cope with injuries.

You can probably break down injuries into two broad categories, over-use injuries and trauma injuries. Over-use injuries are when you push it too hard and something gives. You train too hard and don’t recover properly, then you pull a muscle or your knee gives out. This is an over-use injury.

Alternatively, the club heavyweight falls on the side of your leg and suddenly you are on the floor in agony. Alternatively, your partner bangs heads with you and you split your eyebrow open and start to bleed. These are trauma injuries.

With both type you need to do two things, deal with the immediate injury appropriately and also recover over the longer term.

The immediate actions or first aid is really important and can have a huge impact on your recovery. The  R.I.C.E. treatment methodolgy should be implemented as soon as possible. You should hopefully have access to a qualified medical person in your club, you should have Ice available at the dojo and the injury should be treated seriously. Judo is pretty bad at times for ignoring injuries, often to the longer term detriment of the athlete as training is impacted because they might be sore (that bruise on your shin for example) or for worse injuries you may prolong the weakness in the affected area. Get you injuries treated, get them treated right, get it done right away.

Both types of injury should be treated with R.I.C.E. and will often occur in the Dojo.

Trauma injuries are often just unavoidable accidents, sometimes they could have been avoided. So if you are serious about your Judo career you need to minimise the risks to injury that you can. Fix ripped mats, make sure there are no gaps between mats, things like that. Also make sure you are doing sensible training with sensible partners of the right size and type.

Over-use injuries are often the result of errors in your training affecting weaknesses in your body. You want to do two things, firstly know where the weaknesses in your body are. To do this you may need to consult with a doctor and/or physiotherapist and get a thorough assessment of your body. You must also do everything in your power to ensure you train within your bodies limitations using sensible training. Importantly you should ensure you are recovering properly between training. Mike & Gene on www.theJudoPodcast.com recently discussed this with Dr. Calvin Johnson, M.D.

Once you’ve gotten over the initial injury you will need to recover, if it is a minor injury you may be able to train normally. But if it is more serious it may require modification or complete cancellation of your regular training. Rest is often good, and perhaps you might need to do recoperative exercises. Dave over at the Advanced Apprenticeship Judo Blog has recently posted a video of one of his apprentices doing recovery training, you should take a look.

This covers the physical side (basically at least), what you also need to address is the emotional side and the logistical side.

Emotionally, you may find that you struggle. This might be the time when you find yourself “down in the dumps” or your confidence might take a hit. These are normal emotional responses and  things you need to be prepared for. It will happen and you need to be ready for it. If you have access to a sports psychologist, try and talk to them about this topic, preferably before it happens, but during recover also.

Logistical issues are also a big problem to overcome. If you get hurt, your training will be affected, you might not be healthy for competitions. You might have to spend your budget on physiotherapy rather than on dojo mat fees. You may have to cancel a trip in favour of getting x-rays. All your training cycles may now require alteration to ensure you peak at the right time.

Hopefully, this post will achieve one thing, it will forewarn you of what will eventually occur. You will get hurt, you will have to deal with an injury and the impact that has on your training. One of the best ways to cope with injuries and the impact on your training and life; is to be aware that they will occur and to be prepared for that eventuality.

You don’t want an injury to be something you are not prepared for, you need to have a plan for entering an injured state. It is like any other element of your training as a Judo athlete, you need to plan for it.

As always, the best approach is to discuss this with your coaches and advisors. Talk to your coach, your doctor, your physio, your psychologist, your nutritionist, etc, etc.

Hygiene for the Judo Athlete.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines Hygiene as follows:

“That department of knowledge or practice which relates to the maintenance of health; a system of principles or rules for preserving or promoting health; sanitary science.”

In a Judo context, this relates to several areas, celanliness being just part of the equation. In this post we shall look at hygiene and the importance it plays in terms of a Judo Athlete and their training.

Photo by emtboy9 on Flickr

In Judo, we are one of the few sports that has rules on Hygiene, nails are to be kept short, hair kept tidy, etc.
This is in part to preserve the aesthetics of the sport, but in part also to protect the players from infections and injuries as a result of training with unhygienic partners. A long nail can scratch an player and this can bleed. Also the scratch can easily become infected. An infected scratch can affect training and that in turn can affect your performance as a Judo athlete.

Another aspect is odour. Judoka are expected to be clean and to shower regularly and wash their Judogi regularly. Of course both washing of teh Judo suit and of the person also help prevent infections spreading and the negative consequences to athletes health that can occur. Cleaning of the Dojo is important also to prevent the spread of disease or infections. Presently in Japan their is a high profile increase in the occurance of a fungus called Trichophyton tonsurans which has highlighted how at risk Judo athletes are from infections ailments such as this form of ringworm. Athletes foot is similar and although a “minor ailment” can cause serious discomfort and affect training.

This highlights the importance of monitoring this sort of ailment as a hygiene issue that affects performance and that treatment must be part of a Judo athletes support structure.

Showering is another important hygiene factor. It serves both a cleanliness purpose and also a recuperative purpose also. Showering will help prevent odour and ailments, but will also help the player recover. It has therapeutic properties and should be considered important and factored into training timetables. Too often Judo athletes will put their shower after training as alow priority and consider driving home for a shower to save time. This may not be ideal however and needs to be considered seriously.

It may well increase the likelihood of “Overtraining”, a situation whereby a Judo athlete does not recover properly prior to their next training session, which results in less effective training and if it continues over time increases the liklihood of injury. It has recently been discussed over at http://www.thejudopodcast.com and you should go take a listen.

Another factor to consider and plan for is the number and type of Judo suits you own and use in training. You can look at this both in terms of hygiene both in terms of odour and cleanliness, but also in terms of the best equipment for the job. Is a heavy contest suit ideal if you are doing speed work? Is a lightwieght suit better. If you are training everyday, how many suits will you need? How long does getting them laundered take?

Many many Judoka I have known over the years have had second washing machines purely dedicated to washing Judogi. Normally heavyduty ones as the average household washing machine often develops faults quickly if Judo suits are being washed in them everyday. In Japan it is not unusual for Dojo to have laundry facilities with industrial strength washing machines onsite, does your dojo?

You certainly want to have a fresh suit for every session, a cold damp suit from a kit bag is both “yucky” and potentially unhealthy.

You may also want to consider the wearing of t-shirts/rash shirts under your Judogi. It is not “traditional” however it may help prevent sweat damage/staining of your expensive Judogi overtime? It may also decrease the amount of sweat being shed onto the Dojo tatami. Sweat on the mats has implications in terms of slippery mats and of course infectious ailments. You or your club may decide wearing something under Judo suits is important to ensure a safer training environment.

Along the same lines, do you take a towel along to training? Do you mop up your sweat after a ne-waza randori? If you are (or wish to be) a serious Judo athlete you need to consider if training in a unhygienic scenario is worth the risks. If not perhaps you need to be the one to encourage a discussion (out of class) about it with the club committee, else you might decide that you should train elsewhere.

Hygiene, as per the official definition at the start of this post is about maintaining your health. Any quality coach will tell you that if you are not healthy you can not train or perform at your best. Sickness is not uncommon in athletes, arguably it is more common as athletes push the boundaries of what their body can withstand. But a sick athlete can not train; and the athlete that does not train will not win. So, as a Judo athlete you need to include hygiene in your training plans.

You can not afford to get injured slipping on sweaty mats, you can’t afford to be off sick because of an infected scratch. You can’t afford to get ill from putting on a damp suit because you didn’t have a spare.

Any of the above are barriers to your training, and making it to a medal is going to be tough enough without hygiene putting up barriers.

Thanks to Marc for the idea for this post.

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.