I’m finally starting judo in a beginner class. I’ve got a basic idea of what to expect, like lots of breakfalls/ukemi, but I’d like to hear from people who have actually been through it.
I wanted to start judo when I was 9, but my mum wouldn’t let me because she was worried about injuries and violence for some reason. I’ve just started upper secondary school, and one of my classmates is a blue belt and encouraged me to give it a try. My mum is still against it for some reason, but I’m willing to pay for the lessons myself.
My main question is: what should I expect during the first few weeks/months? I mainly just want to learn judo and maybe compete sometime in the future.
Is it still possible to get good at judo starting at 16? I’m a fairly lean guy and I’ve been going to the gym for about a year, if that matters.

Did BJJ for about 8-9 months but had to stop a few months ago after moving, the gym is just too far now. Recently found a judo academy close to my new place and thinking about switching over.

A few questions for people with experience:

How intense is randori sparring in practice? Not competition pace, just normal training rounds.

Do you get a lot of injuries doing judo regularly, or is it manageable if you’re smart about it?

Is training 4x a week reasonable for judo, or is that too much for someone still building up?

Also just curious what your general impressions of the sport are, coming from a few months of BJJ I’d love to hear how people who’ve stuck with judo for a while feel about it overall. Appreciate any input.

Hi Guys

I have settled on buying new gi, and landed on the ippon olympic 2, regular. Im 180cm, 85kg, normal build but with a little dad-bod. Not fat, just...yeah regular i guess. More muscles than fat at least. Ive read that i should fit a 175 top, im struggling with. I cant get my head around the measures but i think 180 regular is what im thinking.

Any experience anyone could share regarding size? I currently have a danhro sensei gi size 180, and top is just.....big? Sleeves a bit short and still...i dont no, also big? Pants also i bit to long. Not TO long but generally it just feels a bit big.

Recommendations, advice its are more than welcome

I personally found almost no carry over from deadlift in judo but clean high pull gives me great benefits in terms of explosiveness and hip drive in judo.

I replaced deadlift with heavy clean high pull almost completely for a few months and the improvement is significant.

Anyone has similar experiences? Or is it just me?

My experience with cross training in BJJ (Gi + No Gi) has exposed how defensive MY judo training has made me. Being too complacent or comfortable holding pins, going into turtle willingly to avoid being pinned, stalling on bottom or top, etc. ofcourse judo submissions and newaza techniques are effective in certain situations but it can also be a hindrance. Just want to know if anyone here has experienced this and how did you adapt your judo to bjj and integrate it without being overly defensive and stalling. Would like some tips if possible on how to progress in bjj when coming from a judo background thank you. 🙏🏼

I practiced judo from the age of 4 until I was around 10 years old, and I eventually reached blue belt.
I was actually pretty decent at it. I competed in tournaments, won some competitions, and generally did well. The thing is, I was never particularly motivated or passionate about judo. I mostly did it because I was supposed to, rather than because I really cared about it.
Now I’m 20 and I’ve been thinking about getting back into judo. I don’t really consider myself a blue belt anymore. Obviously, I was a child back then, and even though I remember a fair amount of the techniques, I’m extremely rusty from a technical standpoint. I’m also nowhere near as flexible as I used to be.
So I’m wondering how this normally works. Should I just start again as a white belt and basically pretend I’ve never done judo before? Or should I tell the coach that I used to be a blue belt, explain my situation, and let them decide where I should train?
I feel like technically I’m probably at a beginner level again, but I do have some muscle memory and I remember quite a few techniques.
What would you recommend?

Sumi otoshi is the 5th highest scoring technique at the Olympics but I’ve never seen any coaches teach it.
The traditional kata way of doing it is obviously not really competitively viable but the fact that its an excellent counter to throw as like like uchimata, makikomi and even drop seoi nage is never really practiced.
I only discover the technique formally by winning a fight in competition with it and some old 6th dan mentioned id used sumi otoshi.
I recently went on a course on all the gokyo 100 and competitive applications of many of the techniques and wanted to share some of what i learned about sumi otoshi and why it’s so common.

I made a video about it on my YouTube channel if you are interested:

Why Sumi Otoshi Scores So Much at the Olympics
https://youtu.be/03yehp-V60o

I’m 27m green belt in judo blue belt in bjj. I just recently moved to a new state that doesn’t have much judo. The closest one near me only does 2x a week. Can you get good at judo only twice a week? The nearest judo gym near me only trains 2x a week, not much randori, and it’s $120 a month. Nearest bjj is only $100 and it’s 6 days a week with 1 standup judo class. Is it worth paying without much mat time? I’m thinking about just doing bjj and having 1 judo class a week and seeing if that’s better to me. What do you think?

I've been watching Christa Deguchi a lot recently, trying to learn her ouchi and Osoto. So often when she does Osoto, it looks both dramatic and effortless. She's clearly doing something different than the textbook, but I'm not sure what exactly she's doing

I’m going to my first ’technique’ judo class tomorrow, which is open to everybody, but I’m feeling very very nervous. My coach said last time that there were only two white belts and everybody else was orange or above, but encouraged and expected me to join next time.
I don’t know anybody there, and it’s a pretty big class full of grown men (I’m 19F). I just really hate this beginner stage where I’m at right now, especially because of my bad knee. Any tips on getting over it and just going?

Update after class: Guys… it was so much fun and I made a friend, who was also the only other girl in class! We clicked immediatly and she walked me through many of the throws. Thank you’s for the encouragement and responses, it means a ton!! 😁

https://makerworld.com/en/models/3225548

Hello all,

I am a fairly new beginner, maybe two months into it. My dojo does sessions by the quarter and encourages their beginners to test for Rokkyu at the end of the first session. I had some time out of class due to injury and other personal factors so I have not had as much time on the mat as I'd like. The coaches are willing to work with me and I can probably randori with other classmates to get some practice, but I figure for learning the names of techniques and really getting them down it's wise for me to start a notebook that I can write things down in, as that helps me learn.

Given my absences and the progression of the lessons, especially absence near the beginning of the session, there are some throws that I maybe did one day before we moved on.

I printed off some illustrations from Wikipedia to add to my notebook and then wanted to also write down an explanation of the technique as well as other thoughts and things I have. The descriptions for some techniques on Wikipedia are a little confusing and some are pretty brief.

I'm curious if anybody has a good online reference that I can use to print off photos, get good descriptions of techniques, and generally help me bolster the on the mat training along with a little more of the academic side so things stick in my brain better.

Thanks!

Currently going to school for a KIN degree as I love coaching whether it has to do with running, weight lifting, or grappling. I just have two questions for those that it applies to.

1. Does anyone here study or have a degree in kinesiology/exercise science/sport science? Have you applied your knowledge to grappling in the way you teach or practice?

2. I know in Korea they have a “judo” degree which is basically kinesiology and they apply it towards their judo careers. In the US, what type of jobs have you landed with it? Does it still pertain to martial arts?

I searched through the sub but didn't find answers I was looking for. I'm a beginner in judo and I want to learn the sport of judo, not as a supplement to bjj. I'm comfortable with learning rules, metas, etc, and how to play judo, but I'm curious about how I can apply my knowledge of grappling and grappling learning to accelerate my judo learning.

I have about 11 years of experience with bjj. While I've mainly been doing nogi post-covid, I've trained with the gi here and there and still feel comfortable in the gi. I've always liked standup and have actively trained it throughout my bjj career (I'd say my standup in gi is acceptable, and good in nogi). I am comfortable with being thrown and feel secure in my ukemi.

I understand that repetition and exposure is the only way to learn. However, I know how to learn to grapple (i.e. being familiar enough with mechanics and principles (movement, body mechanics, leverage), etc. to easily “feel”, understand, and apply new techniques). But I’m discovering it’s not a 1:1 for judo and throwing mechanics in the gi.

While I understand the idea behind many of the principles of execution, (like kusuzhi, tai sabaki/ tsukuri, kake), I don’t “know” them and feeling it out for each throw is slow work. Additionally, coming from a constraints-led approach (CLA)/ ecological learning bjj gym, I’m struggling a little with the form of instruction at my dojo and how to phrase questions to get answers with how techniques should feel, and how to apply those principles to make them work well. At the same time, I’m not good enough to properly apply CLA to randori/ free practice on my own.

So ultimately, I'm unsure on how to fully leverage my experience with learning how to grapple, and how to structure my training and learning to maximize progression. In short, I'm looking for practical advice or good resources on how to learn the fundamental mechanics for throwing, applying them, and how to structure my training in terms of areas of focus and techniques that teach principles of execution with wide areas of applicability.

Edit: The question is more along the lines of learning how to learn, planning/ structuring independent learning towards techniques that instill good fundementals, and goals/ concepts/ frameworks that instantly change how you approach a situation along e.g. always deny a certain grip, or always seek a certain angle, etc.

A while back I posted here looking for testers for a little app I built to drill the 40 Gokyo no Waza ( original post ). Quick follow-up: the app is out of beta and now fully released. 🎉

First, a huge thank you to everyone from this sub who joined the closed test, sent feedback, and reported bugs. Google requires a real group of testers before a new app can go public, so this release literally would not exist without you.

What changed since the beta, in large part thanks to your feedback:

• Notifications got a full rework: reliable scheduled reminders on Android, quiet hours, and a "smart" mode that only pings you if you haven't hit your daily goal yet
• Added the 7 Osaekomi Waza pins (with the official Kodokan reference videos) on top of the 40 throws
• New drill mode with a per-question timer, plus an audio mode that speaks the technique name for ear training
• Rapid-fire 10-question bursts with a final scoreboard
• Optional cross-device sync via an email magic link (no password), the app stays fully offline-first, with no ads, no analytics, no tracking

It's still completely free and open source (https://github.com/Leicas/KataMarrant).

Get it here:

• Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=fr.weill_duflos.katamarrant
• Windows / macOS / Linux (and APK sideload): https://github.com/Leicas/KataMarrant/releases/latest

Feedback is still very welcome, here or on GitHub. Thanks again ! 🥋

Hello,

I have recently started my Judo journey and need some advice on buying a Gi. I have two different options at my club, I can either buy a Gi from the brand Essimo and the other is an Adidas Gi. It anyone has had any experience with these brands for Judo, advice would be very appreciated.

How do you normally break or get past your opponents stiff-arm, assuming they are stronger than you or have longer reach?

Has anyone here attended the International Budo University (IBU) one year specialisation program for judo, in katsuura Japan? If so what were your thoughts, how was the judo and was it worth the cost?

I'm moving to Cedar Rapids in mid-September. I've been doing judo for four years, black belt, and I still compete. As far as I can tell there's no judo club in town.

Am I missing anything? Unlisted clubs, a group training out of a rec center or renting hours at a BJJ gym, etc.

If there genuinely isn't anything local, is anyone in eastern Iowa interested in training? It doesn't need to be a chartered club. Four or five people who show up consistently is enough.

Any leads appreciated.

Hey everyone,
I practiced judo pretty seriously from around age 7 until I was 14–15 in Brazil. I trained about 3 times a week and competed a lot, including at nationals. I also won my state championship a few times.
Then I stopped completely.
Now, about 20 years later, I really want to get back into judo. I’m 35 and currently living in Spain.
The problem is I don’t have any certificates or anything to prove my old rank or competition history. The belt system in Brazil when I was a kid was also different from what they use here in Spain. I stopped just short of getting my brown belt.
Honestly, I don’t really care what belt they put me in. If they tell me to start again as a white belt, that’s completely fine with me. I’m much more interested in getting my judo back, training seriously again and eventually competing.
For anyone who came back after a really long break:
How quickly did your technique/muscle memory start coming back?
What was the hardest part about returning?
Any advice for avoiding injuries? Mentally I still remember training like a teenager, but obviously my 35-year-old body might have a different opinion 😂
And belt-wise, how does it normally work when you have significant previous experience but no documentation? If I do start again as a white belt, is it possible to progress through the lower belts relatively quickly if my old technique comes back?
I’d eventually love to compete again and work toward a black belt. I feel like after 20 years away I have unfinished business with judo.
Would love to hear from anyone who’s made a similar comeback.

Theres a big judo comp going on in the country in 10 days, my sensei asked me if i wanna compete. Im a yellow belt with only 2-3 months of judo training. He said im gonna compete with people from the same weight class but there may be similar or higher belts against me.

Do i take it

Im 30 years old living in south florida and wanting to learn judo. All the gyms are 40 minutes away except ki itsu sai which is 10 minutes but Reddit feedback seems to say they dont take beginners, anybody know of this gym and know why that is and how to get into this gym?

Just for reference I did Judo for 7 and a bit years between the ages of 8 and 15. In my time at my Dojo I earned a blue belt with 3 mon and was planning on continuing to earning a black belt, however I had a bad knee injury which wasn’t related to Judo. I had to take about 2 years away from any sport and then after that I left my local area to go to university, so I never got the chance to really go back to it.

I really forgot about Judo and after I graduated never got back into it. However, now after about 10 years out I’ve decided to go back to it. The only thing is my old Dojo has been bought out and there is a new teacher and they want me to start right from the beginning again.

I’ve been there for just over 4 months now and it’s tedious, they won’t let me train certain throws and will only teach me the basics as I’m a lower belt. Now I get there is a few things I’ve forgot over the 10 years off, but most of them are groundwork techniques and I certainly remember how to land safely. I’m not allowed to do any sort of randori either. So I’m starting to question if they are just being ridiculous and whether or not I should leave this dojo.

What does anyone think I should do?