February 2009 – extricate.org

TRACK EVERYTHING!

Typical advice in training is to make sure you are keeping track of what you are actually doing. Why? It keeps the momentum going and ensures a sense of direction. However, it is very important that you are covering all the areas.

In Judo, you might want to be keeping a look at:

JUDO: Well, duh. This isn’t so much “I went to training today”. It is making a personal note as to what was covered in the session and what you got out of it. What were your strengths? Weaknesses? How were you feeling? What do you think you need to work on next time? Anything you forgot to ask your coach but should bring up next time? What are your short-term and long-term goals? Did you rely on your tokui-waza too much? Same applies for competitions. What did you learn? Why did you lose? What would you do differently next time? Did you win but feel you won ‘cheaply’?
SUPPLEMENTARY TRAINING: What weights did you lift? How far did you run? Was it easy? Hard? Is anything a bit more sore than it should be? Think you can push harder next time? By the way, I think we can put ‘Reading’ as a supplementary here, so have you read up on a few combinations that you would like to try next time in Randori?
NUTRITION: You can lift all the weights in the world but if you are living on pizza you are not going to be getting all the benefits. Keep it logged, check you are within your limits. Are you getting enough protein? Not ODing on carbs? I recommend Gyminee for this (note you can also track your workouts!)
REST: Yes, sometimes you need to log that you’re not actually doing anything. Rest days are important. Your cardio and your muscles do not improve at the instant you are training. It happens when you are asleep. Take appropriate days off, get plenty of sleep!

Here’s my own story to illustrate some of the above points.

When I started Judo, I lost over a stone just from Judo training itself. I hadn’t really exercised in the previous 10 years since leaving school, apart from occasionally getting motivated to go to the gym, then losing that motivation again. Going to the gym for its own sake eventually lost appeal.

Judo gave me the motivation. I love Judo. Going to the gym, or out for a run, to help improve my fitness for Judo was a purpose in its own right.

However, I did nothing about my nutrition. I was still knocking back pizza and my carb levels must have been through the route. So I’ve always remained overweight. Nicely at the top end of the U90s category but hardly looking like a ‘Judo athlete’.

Then, due to various factors (Getting my Dan grade, breaking a toe, Christmas, lazyness!) I stopped going to the gym and training so much. I put on a bit of weight again.

I’m now back at it, only this time tracking my nutrition as well. This sense of direction means I have not just cut back on intake, but I am eating the right things: Lots more protein, much less carbs! Keeping everything in balance. White bread is replaced with brown. No butter. No full-fat drinks…. all sensible changes in their own right.

It’s a start and I am only three weeks in. I am losing weight and my body fat is dropping. Controlled. Still hitting the weights to minimise muscle loss (and I’m still seeing gains right now, so I must have hit the sweet spot!)

Track all the factors. Missing just one of them will stunt your Judo development.

Sasae perfection

In Syd Hoare’s A-Z of Judo, he describes Sasae Tsurikomi Ashi as Tori feeling like they are supporting Uke on their stomach.

This always seemed a little strange to me considering the literal translation of the technique (“Lifting pulling ankle block”), but this video makes it all become clear:

This is one of the best applications of the throw I have seen. Performed by Muneta Yasuyuki in the All-Japan Judo Championships. Absolutely wonderful.

Seniors and sutemi-waza // Your opponent will always be stronger

While working with a novice this week, I noticed that he kept coming in for (seemingly) Tani Otoshi, but each time I ended up straight on top of him. Although initially I was countering, this kept happening even when I went into ‘limp uke’ mode.

Finally worked it out. He was just dropping straight onto his back with his leg out, as opposed to the backwards direction that Tani Otoshi relies on! So obvious in hindsight but it was puzzling at the time.

I’ve mentioned before that I try to encourage upright judo. Sutemi-waza can be exceptionally effective but they can slow development, as I found out to my own cost. However, with seniors I feel to a certain extent you have to coach with what works for them, and it is more of an advising role. So I was happy to point out what needed to be done to fix the problem, as opposed to stating “THOU SHALT NOT DO SACRIFICE THROWS”.

I later worked with a junior squad player. I took a dominant grip, to the response of, “There’s nothing I can do, you are too strong, I can’t break your grip”. Advice here is the classic MOVE AND ATTACK. You should be able to do this from any grip as if you just stand still helplessly then in shiai it is not going to end well for you. Once she started moving, using speed and change of direction, I lost the so-called ‘unbreakable’ grip that I had.

You must always assume that your opponent in shiai is stronger. And that you may not be able to get your perfect grip. Movement is so very much the key, and I am looking forward to my toe being fully healed so I can exploit this!

Junior shiai: Difference between the sexes

I was refereeing at another junior event at the weekend and a few things struck me regarding the difference between the sexes. This is in regard to Junior shiai.

First of all, this is a generalisation. There are notable exceptions to all generalisations and this was also the case at the competition.

The best attitude and technique regarding shiai tended to come from the girls. This is how I lay it out:

It was taken as a learning experience more. Win or lose. Yes, there were some tears, but it was far more common to see happy smiles even after a loss.
There was much more reliance on standing technique rather than ‘roughing up’ the opponent. With the boys you did see a lot of wrestling grappling going on. A bit more on that later. There was a lack of kuzushi evident, but expected at the level of the competition (Classic never-ending Osoto Gari attempts from both competitors, for example).
Related to the previous point, I saw a LOT of Tani Otoshi attacks from the boys from the wrestling approach. I’m definitely not criticising here as I have always used this a lot! But ideally we are looking for more stand-up judo at this level. Sometimes Tori would be pretty much creeping right round Uke before throwing them to the ground with this technique.

I would go so far to say that Tani Otoshi is now the new drop Seoinage, as it gets round the U12 restrictions due to sutemi-waza being permitted.

There is a lot to learn from the attitude and typically more stand-up technique from the girls. But there were some stunning throws from the boys as well, I will add. This post is all about the generalisation!

Is it time that we also disallowed sutemi-waza in the U12 category, and not just U10s?

What are the best way of encouraging students (first phases of competitiveness and testosterone getting through!) to use more technique to win and not RARRRRGH grappling?

Snow! Actual proper snow!

down_the_road_snow Amazingly, we have actual proper snow at the moment. It’s pretty thick in Farnham, Surrey.

Driving home last night was somewhat interesting. In retrospect, I should have disabled the car’s traction control. We live amongst a nest of hills, and the car deciding to slowly spin round at 1 mph is a little scary. When going down one of those hills. With other cars at the bottom.

Actually, that was pretty neat.

Pictures of the snow can be found on my Flickr.