Online Judo Resources

Clearlier

I recently took up Judo and am really enjoying it. For various reasons I'm only making an average of one session every two weeks though which is a bit frustrating and I'm trying to think of ways to learn and improve during those gaps.

I'm wondering if there are any online resources that anyone can recommend or any recommendations on how I could practice on my own?

Nichololas

There are metric tons of competition and instruction videos on youtube, they're worth a look to pick up some techniques and see what's effective -- but it's not a replacement for actually doing judo, just something to remember to practice next time you can.

Maybe someone else'll have some other advice but if you want to get better at judo you need to make more time for judo. Or, you could do extra cardio work to maximize the time you can spend on the mats when actually training. Lifting weights might help too.

Clearlier

Thanks Nichololas. I'll take a look at youtube. Are there any channels/people that you can recommend or are they all good?

I'm coming from a running background and prior to that rugby so luckily at the moment I'm not being hindered by a lack of fitness or strength (although it seems that strength is if anything a disadvantage when learning technique?).

I agree about the doing more judo to get better. I've made many similar comments to people in respect of running training! Training is twice a week, one day is out because of kids although I might get them into it in a year or two and I make it down to the other day as often as I haven't got a cold which hasn't been nearly as frequently as I would like. I'd like to give it more commitment but it's not feasible right now. I have time in the evenings though so I'll look at the videos and see if I can pick up a few things to practice.

Is there anything written that's worth looking at that you know of? I'm thinking less of technique more of mindset here. I'm unconsciously defaulting to rugby techniques at times so looking to develop a different way of thinking.

cletus

In my opinion, that sort of "mind set" is developed through training. The more you train, the more the movements become ingrained, the less you have to think about them. The goal is that you "resort" to your training

Clearlier

cletus wrote: »

In my opinion, that sort of "mind set" is developed through training. The more you train, the more the movements become ingrained, the less you have to think about them. The goal is that you "resort" to your training

I don't disagree but I also think that there is a place for developing your thinking outside the actual practice of a sport. The unthinking ability to complete a technical move without thinking through every aspect of the movement undoubtedly comes only with practice however the thinking about how to approach a fight could surely be considered outside of the actual practice of judo.

As a small example (also the only thought that has occurred to me around this area) at the start of a fight do you try a move on your opponent immediately or do you try and get an idea of what they can do before trying anything? It's not necessarily that one or other approach is correct but I think that considering this kind of thing can enhance your practice of any sport.

cletus

Very true. Visualisation techniques have become very important in sports, particularly at the upper levels. It can be, and has been, used to improve both closed and open motor skills, but when you talk about resorting to a something, whether sparring, randori, rolling or fighting, as the saying goes, we don't rise to the levels of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training (or words to that effect )

Mellor

Clearlier wrote: »

I don't disagree but I also think that there is a place for developing your thinking outside the actual practice of a sport. The unthinking ability to complete a technical move without thinking through every aspect of the movement undoubtedly comes only with practice however the thinking about how to approach a fight could surely be considered outside of the actual practice of judo.

This is true. Visualisations and gameplanning are two examples. What you describe is game planning in a sense.
But that's not the reason you are defaulting to rugby techniques imo. It's not because you haven't planned, or thought about what to do. Even if you had a plan made, you likely wouldn't be able to recall and act it out in real time at this point.
The reason you are defaulting to rugby techniques, is simply because rubgy is still your "default" movement. Even with a game plan made (which is a still worthwhile exercise at this point) you'll need to drill and rep the techniques over and over to cement them in place.

Doug Cartel

Online resources for judo aren't that great to be honest. A lot of the videos I see are straight up terrible, and even with the ones that are good, there are a lot of gaps that you are going to find very frustrating as a beginner.

Another problem is that it is easy to get fixated on the big cool looking throws and lose focus on the more simple looking foot-sweeps and small throws that you are made do in a regular class.

That said, it would probably be a good idea to check out The difficult Way, especially the older posts. Also you might get some benefit from this, this, and this. I would not advise you to try and pick up any exotic throws from these lists, stick to the stuff you are covering in class. You might be tempted to try something unusual to try and catch people off guard, but trust me, the boring basics that everyone practices every day are the throws that are most likely to succeed - that's why they became so commonly practiced.

Clearlier

Doug Cartel wrote: »

Online resources for judo aren't that great to be honest. A lot of the videos I see are straight up terrible, and even with the ones that are good, there are a lot of gaps that you are going to find very frustrating as a beginner.

Another problem is that it is easy to get fixated on the big cool looking throws and lose focus on the more simple looking foot-sweeps and small throws that you are made do in a regular class.

That said, it would probably be a good idea to check out The difficult Way, especially the older posts. Also you might get some benefit from this, this, and this. I would not advise you to try and pick up any exotic throws from these lists, stick to the stuff you are covering in class. You might be tempted to try something unusual to try and catch people off guard, but trust me, the boring basics that everyone practices every day are the throws that are most likely to succeed - that's why they became so commonly practiced.

Thanks Doug. The difficulty Way looks brilliant. Exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for.

Doug Cartel

If you only read one thing on the Difficult Way, it should be the tsurikomi post. It's not going to make everything immediately fall into place, but if you keep it in mind when you are practising I think it will really help with your progress. At the very least it will lower your chances of wrecking your rotator cuffs.

The triangle post is also good and explains a very important concept that beginners often don't pick up on.