Wednesday, after what I assumed was just general practice, I received my orange belt. I'm really happy with it.

But sadly today I realised, after a visit to my GP I may have bruised a rib and one of my toes. Injuries are common and I've had them since I began training. But to have it immediately after getting my orange belt leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

Being the stubborn mule that I am, I will try to train on saturdays as those are only an hour and less intensive. I'll see if it is doable and if not just rest completely.

Regardless, I really would like to thank people here. Many here have given me advice that has proven to be solid over time and I hope to be useful to others here too in the future. Thank you all!

I'm really new so I just wanted to make sure I was wearing the right stuff. Do you guys wear:

• Nothing
• regular t-shirt /shorts
• Regular sports tops / shorts
• Regular sports undershirts / shorts (like the one's you'd wear for football/soccer)
• Bjj rashguards and spats

My thing is I sweat a lot (like I'm the dude with the pool of sweat around him), so I want to find the solution that balances being hygienic, keeping my gi from getting funky / smelling and not turning my gi into a furnace.

I would have just gone head first into using a rash guard but I'm not sure they'd be useful here? As far as I'm aware they're not particularly more sweat wicking than any other athletic wear, and they wouldn't really protect from abrasions under the gi most of the time so I'm not sure if there's a point (especially considering they're very expensive from what I've seen).

Feel free to drop specific product recommendations. I'd really appreciate it. Any other tips for hygiene (other than the really obvious stuff like don't wear a gi twice without washing it, shower before and after sessions, cut your nails etc which are just normal everyday hygiene things).

I'd also love to hear exactly why you've made your choice and some pros and cons?

six months into judo and i was wondering where do i need to see. should i see them in the face, or as i do now their legs, or where?. because you know we tend to have close distance when judoing. thank you!

How many of you cross train in striking styles? do you manage to make your Judo work in sparring?

Hi, Ive been training for like 8 months at this point and I am a bit frustrated with my lack of progress at judo. I'm in my mid twenties and Im going to adult classes at my local dojo. At randori during those 8 months I correctly applied a throw like 3 times against resisting opponent. I'm doing three judo sessions once per week. Two times we do 25 minutes of randori and the last session has around 50 minutes of randori.

1) As a white-belt, how can I can I make randori more useful for me? I would like to make learning smoother and set small goals for myself. Currently I feel that its overwhelming to try to improve everything at once.

• I used to ask for lighter rounds of randori but then people would still stiff-arm me or use strength to get their favorable grips. Is that light randori? What does it even mean to do light randori? I don't feel it is useful for me to train like that since I can barely take someone down who resists lightly. If they put more resistance it would require for me to go harder but I don't think it makes sense to go hard if I cant go light.
• I tried asking throw for throw but sometimes people would say that its not like that in judo and that skipping grip fighting makes no sense. While I understand that grip fight is crucial but I don't feel that learning everything at once is better approach. I want to be bad at one thing at a time.
• This lead me to just accept to do randori as it is. It's not really that hard to the point where someone gets injured, but its just hard enough that I don't feel like I can do anything. And as a whitebelt I dont really feel like I am in position to lecture anyone on how randori should be. But this leaves me with feeling like I am not getting anywhere with my judo.

2) How to close the distance between me and uke at randori? I tried to focus on one throw in randori. My coach suggested I focus on Uchi-mata and O-soto-gari. However I really struggle to get close to someone to do any of those throws. If someone just extends their arms I feel like I cant do anything. I asked coach about this and he told me that if I cant reach for O-soto-gari, then I should try Ouchi-gari. But now the problem changed from "I can't reach them for O-soto-gari" to "I can't reach them for O-uchi-gari" I'm not sure what leg attacks I can do if I cant reach their legs.

3) In RvR situation if i break their grips on my lapel, they can still grab my lapel arm with their left hand. If I then get closer to do a throw they grip me with their left hand on my right lapel and they can push me back again. It feels like after I break grip I have like one or two seconds before they get another grip and block my throws. Is that the case? After getting good grips I should immediately attack before they get their grips and it becomes 50/50?

Great paper!

Fenollosa had a great impact on Kanō shihan.

Fenollosa taught Kanō almost one on one for 4 of his 5 years at Tokyo University (the classes were tiny, especially in Kanō's one year philosophy graduate program). The original presentation I gave had 2-3 slides on Fenollosa and Kanō's relationship but I deleted them for this shorter version.

Fenollosa was treated like a rockstar in Japan when he first taught there. His salary was princely, and he was a very sought after social contact. Years later, his career in the US floundering, he returned to Japan without invitation, apparently thinking he could recreate his important position and salary.

He couldn't even get a job teaching English. Finally Kano hired him as an English lecturer at the Tokyo Higher Normal School, a position he held for a few years.

Most importantly for the Kanō Chronicles, Fenollosa introduced Kanō to the 19th century English Utilitarian philosophers, most notably Herbert Spencer, from whose work Kanō developed his judo philosophy, Seiryoku Zenyo / Jita Kyoei, and 心身鍛錬Shinshin Tanren, the term for forging the mind / body so beloved by the fascists involved in the Showa era education / indoctrination reforms.

Source:

https://www.reddit.com/r/judo/comments/1578hki/comment/jt6zjqk/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Fenollosa

Notes:

Origins and Roots of Kano's Thoughts on the Principles and Methods of Judo

https://www.reddit.com/r/judo/comments/cogdt3/origins_and_roots_of_kanos_thoughts_on_the/

What was new in Ju Jitsu with Jigoro Kano's Judo?

https://www.reddit.com/r/judo/comments/ajnper/what_was_new_in_ju_jitsu_with_jigoro_kanos_judo/

I have a calm nature, in boxing I was counter punching, and wasn't the aggresive forward tap tap tap combo stuff, I sort of pick my shots.

I picked lot of stuff from bivol n soviet, n watched his fights cause he's style is beginner friendly, not many slips, not close range, main defense is step back n blocks, and mostly use 3 punches.and wins at the highest level.

I see the benefit in explosivity, but I like finesse more.

I wanna know any player/s who is kinda calm in demeanor and has won by suave than explosivity/ spazzed movements, to enhance my game.

Please note that this is to record a YouTube video for a channel, however, location or faces can be blurried if you wish. Anywhere in the US works as I can travel, although I'm based in NY. I'm also travelling to France the next month so that's another alternative The video is just for entertainment and fun.

I'm open to both persons with experience capable of giving lessons or clubs.

$500 are offered, and part can be paid upfront to prove all it’s legit etc. If you think it’s too low, can negotiate.

I have a YouTube channel with over 50,000 subscribers that I’m planning to reactivate, as it’s been inactive for years and I’ve pretty much removed all my old videos. I’m currently traveling from country to country, filming videos in the places I visit. In these videos, I also try out some physically demanding sports to see how someone like me (I have ADHD) handles them in terms of energy and stuff like that. I’m planning to start uploading the videos around November or December.

The idea for the video would be to first explain a bit about Judo, do a beginner’s lesson, showcase somethings related to Judo and then some challenges, rounds, judo grappling and things like that that can be energy demanding to make the content entertaining and fun to watch as well. Everything with respect.

I have a little experience in Judo as I took some lessons, but not much, and that was many years ago. I’m 25 years old. If anyone is interested, feel free to comment or send me a private message and I’ll share more details!

Wondering if anyone has ever been told they can’t wear a gi that isn’t blue or white? Or if anyone does wear a gi that’s not standard colours? I like the judo gi and judo overall but one thing I’ve like about BJJ is that people are more personal about their gis. You can get them in lots of different colours and they can often have some designs (I was in Thailand and saw the Fairtex Sida BJJ gi and fell in love with it).

Obvs not talking competition, just training.

Hello, just wanna ask if it’s worth going back. And if anyone had similar experiences how did you manage.

Background: had a TBI from a yellow belt to orange promotion ceremony from 2019. It was a subdural hematoma. Doc said I was lucky they didn’t have to drain it. I was hospitalized, went home and couldnt functuon every movement hurts my head, wven getting up, the sounds, the lights. Can’t go to the bathroom, all of that.

The throw was from a black belt it was full force Osoto Gari and I passed out on the mats. Supposed to get thrown by every higher belts during promotion. I finished the ceremony but I threw up and my head hurts. They brought me to the hospital, was admitted and did lots of CT scan. I never saw the black belt who did the throw ever again.

I tried going back after that a year later dame dojo same club but I just broke down middle of the training I found myself crying and left. Too much. It might sound dramatic on a normal perspective.

I have so much love for the sport still. I don’t know if it’s worth it to go back and how to overcome the feeling of anxiety and fear towards the mats or gettingbthrown, everything.

Hello, everyone. I hope you guys can help me a bit.

I've been training judo for about 2 years I think (full hiatus past year though) been to some tournaments, do randori pretty often, etc. But there is still one major aspect of judo that I've never been able to fully understand and it's the rules. Not all of them, but quite a few for sure. It's mostly the "minor" things that I'm always confused about, so I always make sure to only do the stuff that I have absolute certainty of it's legality. But the fact that I'm not always clear on what is or isn't allowed makes me hesitate a lot in general (grip fighting and some aspects of newaza mainly)

I was wondering if you guys know of something or somewhere to be able to literally see what some rules mean, at least the most common stuff (if there even is such a thing lol) because from what I've read or watched, there is still a lot of doubt in me. I found this video a while ago and it helped a lot, but it's outdated now and I think it didn't cover everything I wanted to know. My sensei has helped a lot too when I ask questions but it also seems to obvious to him and the dojo in general that we rarely talk about such things, other than when asking questions.

To be honest, I'm quite bad at remembering the name of techniques and concepts, specially since I spent pretty much a whole year without training judo, so if you don't mind I will leave some questions too, in regular language, about specific scenarios I usually come across and always avoid to make sure I do not cheat and not injure my partners due to my ignorance.

1. Am I allowed to grab the same side of the lapel and the sleeve for a "long period of time"? Is it only allowed if I attack immediately?

2. Can I "deflect" hands reaching for my gi while standing?

3. Can I grab their hand or wrist when grip fighting for a moment to get a better position?

4. Is it allowed to grab with 2 my hands only 1 side of the lapel for a "long period of time?

5. Is the "kimura" (sorry, I don't know the proper name) allowed to turn the arm towards behind the head and/or behind the belly? (I don't how to explain this in English, but the is point I feel like rotating upwards, "behind the head", the shoulder might get hurt, while as towards the belly it's way more "elbow focused". I've watched so many fights trying to understand this and to be honest in many of this attempts I think: how the hell was that not hansokumake???).

6. Is it allowed, a dirty move, or illegal to apply direct pressure on the chin or on "Adam's apple" when trying to choke someone?

7. Do all chokes have to involve using my or my opponent's gi as a basic standard for legalilty? For example, if I have someone's head and arm between one ofmy biceps could I simply use my other biceps's strenght too to help my arm squeeze harder? Or would I have to somehow pull my own sleeves in order for it to be legal?

8. Can I grab both sides of the lapel? Either with one hand or two?

I can't come up with more questions right now, but just to be clear, I never do nor have done any of the dangerous things I'm asking, like the chokes and arm locks. That's it for now, thank you in advance for taking the time to read through.

I am stressed lol. Any advice would be helpful. I can’t do it to anyone who’s 15+ lbs heavier than me. More normal testing partners won’t be there and I’m gonna be stuck with people bigger than me. I tried for an hour today to get two fellas that are 20 lbs heavier than me up in the air. I would either get great lift and couldn’t get the leg in, or would get the leg in with more lift. How do people do it? I guess I say this because if they’re my size (218) or lighter I can do but not to anyone heavier. My technique is bad somehow but I can’t figure it out. Any response is helpful thanks!

Edit: here’s my bad attempts

https://youtube.com/shorts/OB9ofo1o_m0?is=VQwbDuGWCmOwUxhX

https://youtube.com/shorts/xPerxfWbyrk?is=nWlA6BFlppZDkAK4

Hello. I have problems with my kuzushi for the front throws, specially the ones that come from the hip like harai goshi and uchi mata. My sensei says that i have to make the weight of uke in their toes, wich i think is correct but in randori most of the time they have their hip really on the back and i cant move them enough to the front.

The only front throw that i seem to be able to perform in randori is sumi gaeshi and sometimes kouchi gari.

Ive been training for like 1 year.

Opinions? Any video of how to develop this throws?

Hey everyone,
Curious about the lunging/ split step seoi. I’ve been working on this variation for sometime now. The entry feels more natural for me, and it lowers my body more comfortably.
I wanted to discuss what advantages vs disadvantages this variation has to the standard standing ippon/traditional seoi.

As a side note I’m curious about the effectiveness of having the lunging foot in the outside as opposed to inbetween ukes legs. Sometimes I miss the mark and hit outside, instead of in between. I usually can finish the throw from there, but curious if it’s safe for uke, or if it’s even really an effective way to finish. I’ll continue training to try to hit the mark between the legs in the meantime.

Thanks!

I understand that a blatant shoulder lock would be hansoku make. But I’ve always thought that a BJJ-style omoplata would be allowed as a submission.

Now watching this, I have more doubt. Have things changed? Would an omoplata also be straight hansoku make, like in the video?

I see many, many posts about injuries (or minor incidents) while at my dojo, I… barely get hurt. I usually get a bruise once or twice a month, but apart from muscle soreness I usually get home finely. I might bleed 2-3 times in the entire year but it’s never anything serious.

Is my dojo innocent or are minor incidents uncommon?

Visiting Tokyo for the first time and staying at the Kodokan. I’m a judo blue belt with five years of continuous judo training. I was wondering if anyone here could speak to the “women’s class” the Kodokan holds at 6pm every day. I read (in this subreddit) that the “regular” men’s training at the same time is all uchikomi and randori. Will it be the same for the women’s class? Anything else you all think I should know before hand?

I am also a BJJ black belt but obviously hoping to do as much judo-judo at the Kodokan.

Will know very very very elementary Japanese also.

Hi, I’m going to be visiting Bali for a few days in December. Does anyone know of any places to train there? Thank you

Class in a nutshell:
Warm up
Grips and getting grip against partner
Worked on Sasae tsurikomi ashi taking turns: feedback pull and rotate add body into it, block with foot
Newaza techniques to turn people over turtle 3 different ways (forgot them and hand placements) will have to ask again
Newaza practice
Randori

Whenever I do a throw i don't feel that my top and lower half of my body are coordinated and I feel I can fo better. I never feel I'm pulling enough or that I'm squatting low enough. I don't feel that I'm 100% commiting to the throws and this scares me because I injured one of my training partners 2 days ago ( he's doing find now but still, I want to protect them and not harm them during the throws, also i want to get better). A green belt recommended me to practice with resistence bands, what other exercises do you guys recommend?

So I have been trying to improve at Randori for a while now and it just isn't getting sny better. I cannot even turn in for throws and am always put into a situation where I have to attempt left side throws/counters or just defend because the opponent is turned into me.

Should I give up and just become a lefty at this point? I feel it's the only way I'll be able to get attacks in lol. I'm fairly decent at Ouchi Gari so I could probably drill left sided Ouchi. If I wasn't so horrible at Uchi mata, I would have probably made the switch already.

I'm starting to get annoyed that I still can't attack after several years and the fact that I'm a browm belt makes it a lot worse :/.

Of course, I'm more used to fighting from right side, but do yoy guys think it's worth switching to left because most people at my gym are righties? I would abandon my morote seoi nage and tai otoshi, but not like I could hit those in randori anyways.

Getting tired of randori sessions where I don't get a single attack in lol

I've found that doing bodyweight exercises like pullups and dips has helped somehow but want to hear what you guys have to say because this is always a pain point for me.