Judo Journal - 4/27/2011

Today I did a lunchtime class. Sensei Keith instructed. Others in attendance were Nate, Jim, and Andrew.

We practiced a combo from Kouchi Gari to Ouchi Gari to Osoto gari. We also worked on Kesa Gatame and escapes from Kesa Gatame

I have been working on the replacement step in between Kouchi and Ouchi Gari to really close the distance and allow my big reap to go deep enough. I am also working on kazushi and feel that I am not able to ever get proper kazushi. I also discovered that Judo guys don't tend to like to take the back when I do a Drop Seoinagi and I plan on using this move in my next tournament to get it to the ground if I feel like the other guy is much better than me on the feet.

Do not attempt Osoto Gari on big guys or they will do it to you. I learned this from Andrew today during randori. Andrew is a very tall guy and I went for Osoto Gari on him and he ended up doing it to me. I landed cleanly on my back for ippon. I feel that when I am going to Kouchi and Ouchi gari I cannot close the gap but that I can with Osoto Gari but then I get thrown. I also feel like my attempts to get my opponents balance off are not really doing anything. I need to work with sensei to see what I am doing wrong. I mean I am trying to get the kazuhi but every time I try to get the "crunch" on someone I get stopped and nothing comes of it.

Sensei also opened up arm bars today. Up to this point in Judo Keith has said "NO arm bars unless he taught them to us." Today he said that I could start going for them. Whether this was just for this class or from here on out is yet to be seen. As for getting an arm bar today I did not but I did get to see just how well my arm bar defense is against Andrew. He was going for the arm bar Keith had showed him earlier and it was very easy to defend. I stacked him and took his back and we stood up after I could not sink in a choke.

I also noticed that the only reason Jim isn't throwing me all of the time is that I out weigh him by quite a bit. I am pretty sure if we were at the same weight he would give me flying lessons.

Basically, standing up in Judo I feel like a fish out of water and when it goes to the ground I feel like the shark. I am loving what I am learning even though the learning is slow. I am excited for class next Monday and tomorrow Nate and I start a daytime BJJ class at my school Mile High Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. Now Nate will get an idea of why I do so well once the match is on the ground.

My first Judo Journal Entry

So I have been doing Judo for about 2 months now and am loving it. I am learning all of the stand up and throws that seem to be missing from my Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training and my BJJ training really helps a lot when it goes to the ground in Judo. At this time I am a white belt and have already competed in my first tournament but that is a different post.

My Sensei Keith mentioned that it would be a good idea to start jotting down little notes on my Judo to help in my learning and I am going to give it a shot. This will probably pour over into BJJ as well as I have been thinking about blogging about something similar to this for some time.

So, notes from class on 4/25/11 (yesterday).

We worked on reviewing all of the throws that we (Nate and I, we started together) have learned in our short time on the mat. I will comment on a few of the throws:

Seoinagi or "shoulder Throw."

This is the first technique we were taught after learning a lot of Ukemi (breakfalls.) The animation to the left shows the movement in this move. There are many variations depending on left handed or right handed grips, one or 2 arms, dropping to the knees and so on. I only know two versions, the normal right handed grip version and the drop seoinagi which involves dropping to the knees. I tried this move in my first tournament.

Kouchi Gari or "Small inside reap."

This is a great technique and while so far I have not had a lot of success with it I can see a lot of value in it. At this point my teacher has shown how to use kouchi gari as a setup for other throws including the next throw I am going to talk about and that is Ouchi gari (Large inner reap).

Ouchi Gari or "big inside reap."

This is the first real throw I ever landed in randori. As stated above, my sensei has shown some great combos that involve moving from a Kosoto Gari into Osoto Gari that I really try and work in every class. I will go over some of the nuances of each throw and little details at a later point but for know I am really working on learning what each throw is and what they are called.

Osoto gari or "big inside reap."

This is a great throw and one that I have known for a very long time. Long story short, I have known my sensei, Keith, since my childhood. He lived next door and I was friends with his kids. I have memories of him teaching his kids Judo in the backyard and him even teaching me a little bit as well. This is the throw he showed with me and it stuck with me my entire life. Now that I am doing Judo this really is a throw that I go for and one of the few I have landed successfully on my training partners in randori.

So those are a few of the throws that I have been taught up to this point. I am still working a lot on the terminology and even more importantly, the technique. I by no means have mastered any of these throws but I have a beginners understanding of how each is supposed to work and my journey will be to perfect these and all of the other throws.

There are so many small nuances and details in each throw. From the setup to the actual technique, there is so much to be learned. I just wanted to get this journal started. It will probably be filled with pages of cryptic seemingly useless tidbits of information but as I gather this information and piece it together I hope to improve my Judo game more and more.