From Suck to Seoinage

I think one of the first throws I was taught was Ippon Seoinage.

I struggled with it. A lot. “Fitting in” was wrong, rotation to complete the throw… you name it, it wasn’t working.

With Judo, common advice is to never compare yourself with others, but rather look at your own journey in the Art. What have you learned since last year, for example?

Seoinage is one of these. I can remember graduating to where I could do it in Uchikomi comfortably, then varying it with Morote Seoinage.

Now? Well, I’ve started using it a bit in Randori, even though once upon a time I was convinced it would never work. I’d use the classic excuse of it not being a good throw for the taller Judoka (technically, yes, it IS more difficult if you are taller…. but in no way impossible… that’s what knees are for!). But now I’ve had it work nicely a few times, although I tend to perform it off the lapel rather than the sleeve.

I’m sure in another couple of years I’ll look back and see how I’ve improved it even more!

So, what else is new?

As I’ve mentioned before, the weight training is helping loads with my core strength and general confidence. One thing I noticed today was when practicing an entry for Ura Nage – I can pick people up more easily now! Got to love those squats, dead lifts and cleans, people.

Competition next Sunday, so as from next week I will have to eat sensibly to ensure I make weight (should be fine… hovering at 90-92 kg). Let’s forget the pizza I had tonight, eh?

One sad thing though: There has been a plea for more entries for the competition. Low numbers so far, which put it at risk of cancellation 🙁 I have already spread the word on it (posse of three of us coming from one club!)

Bench press and wrist pain

The weight training is still going well, and I am succeeding at sticking to my three times a week routine. I’m being mostly sensible and waiting until the form is right before increasing the weight at any point.

One problem I have noticed recently is in the Bench press. I am getting pain in my right wrist, almost feeling as if it is bending the wrong way. This is to the degree where it feels like the wrist is the weakest link.

I’ve found a great post and I’ll be following the advice:

http://munfitnessblog.com/how-to-prevent-wrist-pain-from-your-weight-training/

My instincts tell me that the problem I am having is this one:

Not to roll your wrist backward when you do bench press. Once the wrist is rolled backward, the weight will hurt it. The wrist has to be aligned with the forearm.

Grading and Competing – The Future

It’s strange. After my last grading (where I went from 5th to 3rd Kyu) I decided I should really wait around a year before trying again. I’ve promoted pretty fast in my view, and as that is mostly contest oriented, it would be a good idea for my “general” Judo skills to also come up to the right level.

But it’s always the same. I get anxious after six months or so, and start to go against my original intentions.

Some of those I train with have had great successes recently. Two new Dan grades (one by line-up, always awesome). A new brown belt. A new fellow blue belt. Some new-to-Judo players starting to climb the ranks. And various others heading along to gradings to demonstrate their skills within the week.

My own Judo has developed, although in a way it has changed (Becoming left-handed is a huge shift). I have a new favourite technique or two, but still enjoy the old ones.

So… I don’t know. I really don’t. One advantage of staying Blue involves the Blue Belt And Under competitions, which are fun.

Short-term, I have a competition coming up, and the Referee Practical examination. Should I follow those up with a grading?

Another factor has now come into play: The BJA are changing the grading structure. The current rumour would indicate this would include Senior Kyu grades, making anything up to 2nd Kyu theory only. It would be nice to get up there before this so I don’t need to worry about the new system.

Worry is perhaps too strong a word: I’m not afraid of the theory, but I would like the option of the competing element, and it would seem it may not be available once the changes come in.

Time will tell…

Judo Refereeing – The Beginning

Now that I am a high enough grade to qualify for an Area Referee (3rd Kyu), I went along to Bexhill Judo Club where they were hosting an introductory refereeing course.

It was an excellent day (We’ll forget the nightmare of parts of the A27 being closed!). It was a perfect mix of theory, demonstration and practical (Everyone got to try their refereeing skills at the end, and indulge in “fake” contests to give the referees something to work with).

It was nice to have new concepts explained (the new Contest and Safety area system on the mat, for example). And I recognised most of the teaching referees present from previous gradings and competitions!

I’m happy in that I came out of it with a 95% pass in the Theory paper. I just need to do the Practical examination now, and if that goes well, I will qualify! That should be within the month.

The Practical exam is actual refereeing at a Senior event (although obviously under heavy supervision). And it is a full day as part of the team (You don’t know which matches you will be assessed on).

The Flow of Judo

A good session tonight. More things are starting to click, and Randori feels like a natural flow.

I am getting more comfortable at not just playing left-handed, but also adjusting my grip to suit the throw, Uke and so on. In other words, adapting! The Grip Like A World Champion DVD has given me a few ideas, as has watching countless Judo match videos on the likes of YouTube. Essentially, I am starting to feel loose yet in control.

In particular, my Osoto Gari is feeling nice (long legs!). For other throws, I am working on gripping higher up the sleeve. This forces me to be closer to Uke, making throws such as Hiza Guruma easier. Having long limbs is great, but trying to force throws at a distance is not always a good thing.

A key point is that I am feeling more when the appropriate time for a throw is, as opposed to just trying a throw regardless and seeing what happens.

I have been working on a lapel-side Seoi Nage for a while (from a left-handed grip, performing the right-handed throw). It feels very nice. I have always enjoyed working on shoulder throws in technique work, but never felt comfortable with trying to slot them into Randori because of my height. This is a weak excuse. Recently, I have managed to execute this throw successfully in Randori — this helps my confidence a lot and makes me realise how far I have come! It’s particularly effective if a taller Uke goes for a high collar grip.

Another new throw, after watching Winston Gordon use it with some success, is Ko Soto Gake. As it is kind of a “hug” throw, it is good at forcing me to adopt close body contact. Remember that failing to get this contact has long been a personal bugbear of mine.

In my previous post I talked about working on the “baseball choke”. I had been rotating incorrectly so it would not work. I had a chance to work on this earlier in the week (including an entry working against the turtle). Anyway, in Newaza Randori tonight I managed to get it to work a couple of times when pulling guard… remembering to swivel my whole body around really makes it come on fast and hard!

It is a bit of a “sucker” technique as it relies on Uke falling for the “trick”. Something to break out every so often. I’m not sure if I would be confident enough to try it in a competition or grading yet though!

Judo with TWO shoulders

The good news is that it looks like my AC joint injury was just a Grade 1.

I rested it over the weekend, and went along to a session on Tuesday. I strapped it up but in contrast to Thursday (where it just did not want to go in some directions at all!) it was excellent. In fact, no noticable problems whatsoever. I think there may have been a small amount of weakness but no pain.

The bruising has come through: Several inches away from the injury site!

The joint itself is still a little popped up, but the swelling may not have completely gone down yet. That said, reading around on the subject would indicate that even though the injury may completely heal, the bump may remain.

The session itself was good. Upset at myself for falling back to some “old favourites” in Randori (Hello, Hikikom Gaeshi), but at least I tried a few other things. I just need to try those other things MORE.

Made up for that in Newaza, even though if I did get pinned due to experimental chokes going a bit awry 😉 This is the one in question:

I need some advice on the correct spinning (turning?) motion once the hands are in place as that is where I am getting stuck.

Weight training continues, with the numbers going up. Unfortunately, due to stubborness I now have a slight pulled muscle in my back. I dropped a weight when doing deadlifts due to losing my grip, and should really have called it a day then, but retried it. Stupid.

Judo with one shoulder

Against perhaps my better judgement (I am rubbish at self-control when it comes to injuries), I went to Judo last night.

My left shoulder, due to the dodgy AC joint, is tender. However, what is frustrating is that it becomes painful with certain movements only. As an example, I can raise my arm to the sides, swing it in circles and so on. But having to push it outwards against resistance hurts.

This effectively makes the arm useless in Judo, and nullifies a lot of core strength. Fear of that pain reduces speed. Sometimes I found myself being attacked where normally I could post with the arm to easily block it, but I just had to let the attack happen and find another route. Really frustrating.

Still it did open up a few opportunities. I got caught in an arm lock during Newaza (I would have easily avoided this with a working arm!) and did not have the strength to pull it out due to the injury. I’m not saying to always use pure grunt to work against things, but I couldn’t use the arm as a lever in an effective way due to the shoulder. I was forced instead to use my other arm to help move around the body, and then blocking the technique with the rest of my body. That worked. Even got a pin!

Another issue is that I would see an opening, but my instincts would say, “Hmm, if I do that, but then they pull against me, it will HURT” – so I don’t go for it.

Standing work was better, but again I was slow due to “the fear”. So I concentrated on gripping strategies and the like instead.

However, I am setting myself up for secondary injuries. By having such a fear of landing on the shoulder again, it would negatively impact my breakfalls… so I could do more damage.

Ronda Rousey has a recent entry on this sort of thing:

What sucks about injuries though is you really have to humble yourself. Instead of trying to twist and turn and funk your way out of attacks, you have to take a lot of falls you wouldn’t normally have to. You see openings for throws or in ne-waza that you have to for yourself not to do because it will strain the injury.

Yup, that’s it 🙁

I really need to rest it properly.

Sprained AC joint – The curse of crash mats

A good Judo session tonight. It’s a competition club so the pace is high and it really highlights my fitness. Sorry… unfitness. The local Army guys visit so it puts things a little in perspective!

Crash mats are more trouble than they are worth sometimes. In my first year of Judo, my Iliotibial Band Syndrome was as a result of taking a knee to the leg doing crash mat work. The swelling from the impact moved down the leg until it aggravated the Iliotibial Band, and it took a while to sort itself out!

Tonight I was thrown, but my head and shoulder missed the crash mat. Thus the majority of the impact was absorbed by them (as opposed to it being shared by the rest of my body on a totally flat surface).

Immediate pain in my shoulder (specifically, the Acromioclavicular joint). Thankfully in the, “Hmm, this hurts, I had better take a break and stretch it” sort, as opposed to “OMG THE PAIN GIVE ME MORPHINE” style.

It’s still tender now. I have full range of motion, but it is slightly painful when the arm is working in certain ways. The best example is if I grasp my hands together in front of me, then try and pull them apart.

Definite swelling there. At first I thought a part of bone had been dislodged, but pressing it highlights it is just swelling. And no evil crunching noises!

So, careful monitoring and sweet, sweet Ibuprofen. RICE is a way of life for me nowadays…

In terms of the Judo, some nice advice, but essentially revolving around attacking as soon as I have a grip I want.. no hanging about! This ties in nicely with movement etc… Also, I keep letting myself be crunched down, even by shorter players. It’s a stupid instinctive reaction I have when a hand comes over my shoulder!

1st Kyu! Well, in theory…

I graded up to 1st Kyu today… albeit only in the Theory components. So nothing changes until I complete the contest examination at a future grading. And I’m in no rush to do that right now, as I feel I have a long way to go. Some details on the required theory here.

Also, in order to experience life “on the other side”, I’ll be going on a Referee training course next month! With my current grade I’m eligible to become an Area Referee (provided I pass the course) which would be interesting.

Training in general was a bit “meh”. Groundwork was nice as I got some nice strangles and turnovers to work (although I need some more ideas when facing someone on the knees… aside from pulling guard and working from there, of course). Standing… not enough movement and attacking spirit on my part. Some gripping “tricks” have started to work but MUCH more practice needed there.

So…. hmm, basically 🙂

Myth Watch: Women and Weight Lifting

One of the unfortunate myths about weight training, is that if you are a girl who does it, you will turn into some sort of freak, right down to probably growing testicles.

Not true. In fact, any of the typical hot girls (Hi, Angelina Jolie!) will not have gained that figure by chewing on lettuce. Weights are a requirement. This article gives some more information.

Need more evidence? Here you go…