[KenTheWalrus]

Hey everybody. I recently started Judo (as in yesterday) and I thought I would keep track of my progress and post it here. This thread is only for fun and I'm not trying to tell anyone anything about technique in it, it's merely my way of solidifying my experience in Judo.

To give anybody who reads this a slight perspective on my experience I'll give a brief MA history of myself. I was taught Shorin Ryu from my father who is a blackbelt from the age of 4 until I was sixteen. I started wrestling in highschool but didn't last long because of my grades. I boxed for a couple years being trained by my grandfather who was a boxer in the arrmy. I started submission wrestling in my early 20's and joined a backyard wrestling league. I started pit/street fighting for cash when I was 16 but stopped when it started getting scary (don't pit fight in Detroit unless you are one tough brother). I shattered my collar bone, breaking it in over 20 places, and stopped training (with instruction) in everything when I was 23. Six years later, I'm a fat S.O.B. weighing in at a hefty 250 now and topping the height chart at 5' 8.5". (In my defense I gained 70 of those lbs after returning to school and quitting smoking). Now to my first Judo class and my impression.

I went into this class super geeked and ready to jump into the class. The most nervous part for me was how the instructor was going to be. I prepared myself to assume the sponge quality and only ask pertinent questions and not offer my opinion about anything in class. All I wanted to do was soke up the experience. Five minutes into the class my anxieties were put to rest as the instructor's first couple instructions were followed by some pretty funny jokes. I made sure to introduce myself to some of the other newbies to start a good working relationship and there are a couple (first impression) cool cats in there. I was surprised as a work acquaintence of mine showed up with his girlfriend. He's a fellow tubby and it was cool not being the only fat bastard in the class.

We spent a little time on history and proper bowing, some stretches and then into ukemi.

First fall: That was okay. no real damage.
Second fall: That was still okay, but now it's time to ask a question about momentum. I seem to be stopping short and that's adding a little pressure on my back.
One question and 20 falls later: My back is stiff and this is going to hurt tomorrow.

Next we went into chokes. I have had experience in submissions so I thought I was on familiar ground, nope not at all. We started with a rear naked with the hands clasped together (I didn't catch the official name for it, I know I'm a crappy student). I started out in uke so I could get a feel for where the pressure should be. A green belt was tori and he had me tapping in less than 2 seconds. I felt the pressure for about 10 seconds after he released the hold. That was way better than any sleeper style choke I ever did. It was my turn next and I tapped him pretty quick but I had to make a slight adjustment to my forearm position. I was in more of an airway choke than an artery choke. I made the adjustment and worked on that for a few more times.

We next worked on the americana (I didn't catch the japanese name of this one either). I have done this before and I did pretty well. One thing the green belt offered to me was not to use my forearm for more leverage. I'm not sure if that was because it gives more torque and I don't want to hurt people or if it offers less control. It kind of felt like it was both when I stopped using the forearm. The intructor then pulls another newbie, a gymnist girl who was super flexible. He bent her arm in a positioin that just looked awful. She never tapped, but I think she should have. She made too many comments about it not hurting afterward for me to think there wasn't the slightest amount of tweek in there.

We closed the class with some jokes and discussion about the local competition scene. Over all it was pretty fun.

Today, the day after the first class, I'm feeling it in a few places. My back is stiff which I fully expected. A good stretch every hour or so helps. Sitting here at my job where I just end up a potato in front of my computer isn't helping much. My shoulder started hurting last night. I thought that I was tapping quick enough to limit the after effects of the americana (someone please tell me the correct japanese term). Now it pretty sore and I think I'll start tapping sooner. I also have a slight kink in my neck from the knuckle that was jammed into it from the choke. Tapping earlier should also help that out. I think that increasing my flexibility and just the time it takes for my body to adjust to the shock of ukemi will help out. I've never started any sport or physical activity that the first two weeks didn't hurt the most.

That's about it. If anyone lasted this long I applaud you. My next class is tomorrow and I'll post my thoughts about that one when the time comes. -ken

[Frodo]

There is a training log forum. I invite you to post your logs there. We often read them and post comments in that forum.

[Thalion]

the choke was hadaka jime and the americana was ude garami

[waran_esmil]

I'm a recent Judo-convert myself (been going a month so far). I hear you about the weight thing and smoking. You blow up like a balloon when you quit. You made it a lot farther into your first class than I did (I'd came from a BJJ school that shut down a couple years ago and hadn't done even a fast walk since then). Once we made it to front-falls (oh, fifteen minutes into class), I was needing water and a breather.

Stick with it man; I know I am having a blast!

[KenTheWalrus]

Frodo, I didn't see one when I was looking. Thanks for letting me know, I'll look there if a mod moves this one. I don't really want to clog up the forums with another thread.

Thalion, thanks man. That was bugging me.

waran_esmil, thanks for the support.
-ken

[Frodo]

Ukemi get better as you lose weight and practice them. You can try doing them just on the mat and lifting your hips off the mat to simulate a fall without actually doing it. You can also fall from a short distance. These help improve your technique without all the pain.

I'm surprised you didn't over any throws at all. At my judo school, it seems they are genetically programmed to favor nagewaza over any newaza. Comming from someone from a BJJ and no-gi background, this confused me at first!!! We mostly do groundwork 25-35% of the time and that was in the special newaza-intense class...

Good luck with your judo. Get Kodokan Judo by Jigoro Kano. That is a good book for beginners - at least it was for me. The Canon of Judo by Kyuzo Mifune is also a good book by the best judoka ever. However, I don't own it so I can't tell you much about it.

Here are a good judo links:

http://judoforum.com
http://judoinfo.com
http://www.kodokan.org

Good luck with the way of efficiency!

[Waxwingslain]

Originally Posted by Thalion

the choke was hadaka jime and the americana was ude garami

You got there before me. Interestingly, (or perhaps not) we use a mix of English and Japanese for techniques in my BJJ class. I never heard anyone say ude garame (arm entanglement) in class, only Americana and Kimura. Triangle choke is always sankaku though. Japanese is neat to know if you're into MMA.

Anyway good luck with your judo quest! Ganbatte kudasai! ("Do your best please")

[KenTheWalrus]

So my second class was last week and it was a little bit better than the first. I went into it with a bit of stiffness on the right side of my back. I wanted to correct my ukemi in order to avoid hurting it even more. I was pretty successful at it. The only part where I screwed up was on a forward falling ukemi. I did a little hop over my head and landed on my arched back. I instantly felt a sharp pain in my chest and I thought I might have cracked a rib. I took a few deep breaths and it hurt, but not a searing pain, more like a dull muscle pain. I decided to keep falling and it felt better after that. We went over Hadaka jime again. I partnered up with a blue belt this time and he showed me a neat variation with the thumb bent on the side of the hand for a little extra notch. We then went into the scarf hold. I tried to follow the instructions about keeping my weight in a line across the chest. I kept wanting to flatten out. It was a lot of fun trying to hold tori down and then trying to get up when it was my turn. I stayed after class to watch randori. That was a lot of fun. All in all the second class was as fun as the first. I’m itching to get to the point when I can join randori. Ah, I guess patience has its virtues.

Thanks for the info Frodo. I checked out judoinfo.com and it had some really cool videos. I’ll be sure to pick up those books too.

Waxwingslain, my class mixes both American and Japanese terms also. Thanks for the support.

-ken

[KenTheWalrus]

My second week went by and I think I made a mental breakthrough on ukemi. I was forcing it the first week which probably led to my back pain. This week I decided to let gravity and better form take the helm. It worked very well and I didn't hurt my back all week.

I'm starting to learn who to partner up with and who not to. One of the guys threw me without any control. It's funny how old things come back and I took the fall like a wrestling bump. It saved me from injury but it doesn't absorb the shock like ukemi. There's another guy who even the instructor made fun of his hygeine. Smelly bastards suck.

Something I worked on a bit and would like to know if anyone has some advice is a counter or control for the americana. I'm a big guy with big shoulders and I don't want to ever get in an americana during randori or competitions when I'm ready for them. The best thing I came up with was to take my free hand over my head and lock my hands together. The thing that bothers me about that though is that it leaves me open for an arm triangle, and in fact, starts to cut of my blood flow. Any suggests would be helpful. -ken

[Frodo]

If someone is going for an americana, there are a few options:

• Play the floppy fish:
  • Rotate your arm from americana to kimura position and back again. Or straighten your arm out then bend it again.
  • Don't leave it in any one position for long.
  • This won't work forever, so when you get your chance break his grip.
  
  
• Counter to the Americana to reversing side-control (from my log):
  1. My opponent is doing an Americana on me (oh no!).
  2. I straighten my in-danger arm, while pushing on his elbow (by my head) with the other arm. This should make it easier to straighten.
  3. Now turn to my side (about 90 degrees or more).
  4. Hook his closest arm with my non-danger arm.
  5. Roll him over my head.
  6. Now I have side-control. If he didn't let go, I have an Americana too.
  
  
• If he has a Kimura (or you change it to a Kimura), then bring your knee up and through his hold to break it.

Don't be worried about americanas in practice. Tap early and often if you must. Only worry about them in shiai.