Jigoku-Jime

My physio told me I was free to return to Judo providing I took things easy, the rest of the conversation was a blur as I was, at that point, just excited to be able to get back on the tatami.


In my absence Ivan had returned from a very long injury lay off (Cruciate knee ligaments) so it was especially nice to see him return. Also one of the juniors had since received his junior green belt, which was well deserved.

I worked in a three for most of the night with Andrew and Ivan and we mainly focused on two techniques, one tachiwaza and one newaza.

The tachiwaza technique was Tai-otoshi which we warmed up for by doing plenty of uchi-komi with uki first walking towards tori and then uke walking away from tori. We also drilled a nice counter to tai-otoshi using a right handed, left sided tai-otoshi.

On to the newaza technique and we revisited a strangle that we were taught last year that Graeme calls Hell Strangle (Jigoku-jime) or chokehold from the Crucifix position for my BJJ cousins. We were shown two entries in to this, both attacking the turtle and also two ways of finishing, both of which are shown in the following video.

 

I also found this video which shows different entries in to Jigoku-jime, some of which look very nice indeed. 

We finished up with some randori and as I was keen not to breakfall with my left arm (due to my elbow injury) I was going to make getting thrown particularly difficult for everyone I sparred with.

One throw I managed to pull off a couple of times, following on from the competition I was in a few weeks back, was Osoto-gari. I mentioned then that I got thrown with this by a guy who hooked his leg in and despite being too far away to complete the throw he quickly jumped through and dumped me on my back. This guy did this to other people on the day so it’s clearly his tokuwaza but nonetheless with my long legs it should be a technique that I could be good at. I will continue to work on this in randori but it is a risky throw as quite often uke can counter it with the same throw and no one likes getting thrown with a big osoto gari.

The class finished with two long rounds of newaza randori and I decided to try and get as many subs in as possible. I think I ended up with two ude-garamis, two Juji-gatames, one kata-gatame and a nice sangaku jime.

Crash Mats for Throwing Practice



So after my recent competition experience I dragged myself to see my physio who was shocked to see the state of my shoulders and neck and also my elbow tendinitis (Golfers elbow)which was certainly not improved by the rigours of shiai. The outcome of this was being told to not do any upper body training whatsoever for a few weeks which obviously included Judo.


My neck and shoulders do feel a lot better but nothing seems to be making much difference to my golfers elbow condition.

At the moment the inside of my elbow is sore to touch so the mere thought of intentionally smashing my arm in to the tatami to break my fall fills me with dread.

Anyway I stumbled across this piece on the Judoforum today and thought I’d share it as using crash mats does seem like a very good idea, especially for those of us over a certain age.

Please feel free to comment accordingly.

Crash pad training allows everyone on the mat to do more throws safely. Here are two important points. You can do more throws on a crash pad than throwing only on the mat (tatami). After a while, landing on the mat takes its toll on anyone-even tough guys who say otherwise. By using crash pads, everyone on the mat can perform a lot more throws-and the result is that the level of technical skill improves. An increased volume of throwing practice translates to an increased development of functional skill.


Anyone who says that power is not what judo is about simply doesn't know what the word power means. Power does not mean brute strength or lack of technical skill as critics contend. The ballistic effect generate by a throwing technique is tremendous and demonstrates the skill, movement and strength inherent in a good throwing technique.

As far as safety is concerned, not only are there less injuries during practice when using crash pads, both in the short term and over the long haul of years of training, the body doesn't take as much punishment by landing on 8 inches of foam (in the crash pad) on top of the actual tatami than by landing only on the tatami. Sure, performing good breakfalls when taking a throw is important, but (as will be pointed out again later) the added level of safety in using crash pads definitely reduces injuries in practice.

Functional Skill

Anyone who uses crash pads can (and will) develop harder and more effective throws. The 8 inches of foam certainly helps cushion the fall for your partner when you drill him with that Uchi Mata, O Soto Gari or any other throw and it will provide the same cushion for you when he takes his turn to throw you. This means that you can develop more plyometric (explosive) power when throwing. I don't care what anyone says, the idea of a throw is to finish the fight. Throwing an opponent softly (in a match or real fight) is the antithesis of what the concept of Nage Waza (throwing Techniques) entails. A good analogy is boxing. Boxers use a punching bag to develop their punches in the same way judo, sambo, jujitsu and grappling athletes use a crash pad to develop their throws. Boxers don't train to hit an opponent softly, they train to hit an opponent hard. Crash pad training allows us to develop the full ballistic effect of a throwing technique.

More on Safety

Some people will say that using Ukemi is sufficient and good breakfalls negate the usefulness of crash pads. Okay, learning how to land safely is a necessity-that is a fact. But anyone who has taken a lot of falls on the tatami quickly finds out that, even with perfect breakfalling skills, taking repeated throws from partners in practice takes its toll on even the toughest guys' bodies. After a while, people get gun-shy and avoid throwing practice or simply stop coming to practice and take up something more docile, like spending too much time watching Youtube videos of judo instead of actually showing up to practice. So, my point is that using crash pads adds another level of safety in training to Ukemi (this was mentioned earlier).

Use Crash Pads Wisely

Do not limit your throwing practice to the use of crash pads only. By all means, work on throwing techniques and skills when moving freely about the mat to improve timing, spatial awareness and other important factors in throwing. In the same way boxers do not exclusively use heavy punching bags to develop their punching skills, judo, sambo, jujitsu and other grapplers should not limit themselves to exclusively doing throwing practice on crash pads. Like any training tool, use crash pads in an overall plan of training and development.

Uchikomi

I don't care what anyone says. Doing a lot of Uchikomi (fit-in practice) instead of Nagekomi (throwing practice) is not a good substitute for actually doing throws to develop technical skill. I'm not against Uchikomi-I'm just against replacing throwing practice with a lot of fit-ins. The old adage "do more Uchikomi" only works for a (short) while. That's been the advice given by people when they didn't have an answer to a question about a throw. I've been to clubs where they did lots and lots of Uchikomi and only a few actual throws. Maybe you've been to one of those clubs as well. Again, don't get me wrong. Uchikomi training has its definite place in any fighting sport, but too much Uchikomi training translates directly into athletes who do not finish their throws and (for the most part) have their throwing attacks more easily blocked by an opponent or do not follow through enough at the end of a throwing attack to get the job done. Others can do what they want, but I want my students and athletes to develop more functional skills in throwing, so we'll keep working on our crash pads

South Coast Senior Kyu & Dan Split Grade Event, Worthing.

Worthing is a place I know quite well as my Mum lives there so, seeing as the weigh in times were quite early (8.45-9.45am) I travelled down on the Saturday night and stayed with my Mum.

I was a little concerned about making the U90kg weight division, something I’ve not been able to do before, as I was bang on 90kg when I weighed myself Saturday night. However when I woke up on Sunday morning I had miraculously lost 2kg in my sleep and that was even after eating breakfast.

I got to the venue just after 9am and weighed in at 88kg. I then took my seat on the bench seats with everyone else. At around 10.00am they let everyone on to the mats to warm up. As I was alone I wasn’t able to do any uchi-komi so I just jogged around the mats and generally just loosened myself up which was nice and helped with the butterflies I had had in my stomach all morning.

Warming up



I guess it must have been around 10.30am when the fights actually started, which was great if you were the first to fight as you were nice and warm, However I had to sit on those uncomfortable bench seats with no idea when my fights were likely to start until ……………2.30pm. By this time I was starving hungry as I hadn’t eaten anything, save a couple of bananas, and very stiff. I wrote about this before when I fought at High Wycombe that there needs to be a warm up area that we can access all through the day. The warm up I did at 10am was useless four and a half hours later. It’s like me going to Judo on Tuesday and Graeme saying “ok no warm up today lets go straight in to hard randori instead.” It’s crazy and is just asking for injuries to happen. Also there needs to be better communication between the event organisers and Judoka about when they are likely to start their fights. I appreciate it isn’t an exact science as a fight can last seconds or go in to overtime and last 5 minutes. However they should be able to give the competitors a rough idea when they are likely to fight by providing a timetable telling them in what order each division is fighting in. That way, when the division before yours is called you know it’s time to start some sort of warm up.

On to my actual fights.


My first fight, I found it hard to get a grip. The guy was wearing a Fighting Films BlackLabel which was incredibly stiff. He was able to grip first and attack whereas I was just trying to survive and live off of counters to his attempts. I actually scored a wazari with a Tani-otoshi so was winning the fight. We hit the mat a couple of times and I was able to get a nice Juji turnover but he defended well against me finishing and just when I was going to turn it in to a hold down the ref called matte and stood us back up. Then with seconds left he tried an osoto and I countered again with a tani otoshi. Unfortunately I fell on my back and he fell straight in to kesa gatame where he held me down for the win.

My second fight lasted 10 seconds. He tried an osoti-gari but he was so far away I didn’t feel threatened so was sure I could turn in for my own osoto but he was able to jump through and get the Ippon, which was quite a big throw.

My third and last fight I was thrown with o-uchi-gari and he scored a wazari but when he fell on top of me he had his forearm across my throat and drove it hard across my throat and jaw with all his weight in to it. I wasn’t choking that much but my jaw hurt as it was being crushed so I taped.

It was a good experience and I didn’t feel a million miles away from their level but these guys weren’t taking any prisoners as they were all fighting for points towards their black belts. What was slightly annoying for me was that I wasn’t able to mount any attacks of my own against any of them. In my first fight I couldn’t get a grip and the last two fights I never had time as the fights ended quickly.

I ended up getting a bronze medal because there were only 4 in my weight category. I felt like a bit of a fraud getting it and I certainly won’t be telling anyone I finished 3rd and neither will I be listing it in my medal table on the right of my blog.

What I’ll take from this is that I need to practise more shiai type randori against brown belts my own size. My fitness wasn’t too bad considering I haven’t been able to train much, what with all my injuries. If I can get 100% fit and train hard for a few months I will be fine in that respect.

What is Randori?

According to Wiki Randori (乱取り?) is a term used in Japanese martial arts to describe free-style practice. The term literally means "chaos taking" or "grasping freedom," implying a freedom from the structured practice of kata. Randori may be contrasted with kata, as two potentially complementary types of training

In Judo Randori is described by Jigoro Kano, the founder of Judo, in a speech at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympic Games: "Randori, meaning "free exercise", is practiced under conditions of actual contest. It includes throwing, choking, holding the opponent down, and bending or twisting his arms or legs. The two combatants may use whatever methods they like provided they do not hurt each other and obey the rules of Judo concerning etiquette, which are essential to its proper working."

So the way I understand it Randori is a place to try things out or to perfect your favourite technique without the fear of losing a contest by being thrown, submitted or pinned. No one wins or loses in randori, you just learn.


Having missed training on Tuesday I decided to pay a visit to Yoshin Ryu. I’ve deliberately been putting this off as I have been suffering from multiple injuries for a while and Thursday night at Yoshin Ryu is not for the faint hearted.

After we were warmed up Sensei Adam had us practise a variety of chokes and turnovers, all the while interspersing this with newaza randori so that the technique was fresh in our minds. This worked well as we were all constantly warm but just had a few minutes break between newaza randori to catch our breath and learn a new technique. In total I sparred with about 5 or 6 guys but what was really unusual was that in all of my rolls there was not one submission or pin. I was particularly pleased with my guard play as mostly I was able to keep my opponent in my guard and on the odd occasion they managed to pass I was able to quickly regain guard. However, as I said earlier I wasn’t able to pull off any submissions which was slightly frustrating although I myself was not subbed either.


When we got to tachiwaza randori I paired up with Steve a.k.a the tomoe nage kid. I felt constantly threatened by Steve as he dominated me with grips. He was easily able to turn in again and again with multiple uchi-mata attempts, which if it wasn’t for my long legs I’m sure would have been successful. I on the other hand never really felt in a position to attack him with much other than a failed Yoko-tomoe-nage, something I’ve been having some success with recently at Dorking. When Sensei Adam called out 30 seconds to go I was finally able to get a dominant grip myself and then went on the attack. A Failed sumi-gaeshi and O-uchi-gari was all I could muster though before matte was called.


Next up for me was Tim, a blue belt from Guildford Police JC. As Tim is considerably smaller than me I was able to take a dominant grip but despite being able to counter some of his attacks with successful throws I never really committed to anything myself for fear of being countered myself. This got me thinking about what I actually want to get out of Randori. Should I be bothered if Tim or anyone else throws me in Randori? Surely it would have been better to try and work on a specific throw and really commit to it and if I get countered it shouldn’t matter. Maybe my ego isn’t completely left at the door of the dojo when I practise Judo. I think, especially now I’m a brown belt, that I shouldn’t be getting “beat” or “thrown” by lower grades, which is a bit egotistical really and could hamper my development. So next time I do randori I’m gonna try things out and not care if I get countered as long as I’m learning that’s all that should matter.

Getting Black Belt Fit

I remember reading about one of the workouts that chuck Liddell used to do when he was still competing in the UFC. It involved him rowing 1000 metres and then immediately wrestling for 5 minutes before taking a 60 second rest and repeating another 5 times.

Unfortunately I’m not able to Wrestle or do randori in the gym at my work and rowing 1000m 5 times would probably give me a heart attack at the moment so I devised the following high intensity workout which I hope will help with my cardio and recovery especially when/if I get a line up at a dan grading event.

500 Metre Row
20 Squats
20 Press Ups

1 minute rest then repeat for 5 sets.

The rowing is done at a moderate pace and takes me around 1 min 45 to row the 500m. The squats and press-ups are purely bodyweight but after doing that rowing my legs were burning up and lungs were breathing fire. I’ll aim to reduce the rest period to 30 seconds over the coming months and maybe add another exercise as well.

Of course this isn’t the only exercise I do it’s just one specific workout but I might start doing this a couple of times a week along with my normal weight training, running and of course Judo.

I’ll report back and let you know if it’s made any difference.

Expectations and Pressure

Last night was my first class since receiving my brown belt and as I am now the highest kyu grade at the club I feel like there is an added pressure to be able to perform all the techniques better than anyone else. This pressure doesn’t come from anyone other than myself, but I would assume that lower grades might start to look to me for advice and guidance when the instructor wasn’t immediately available.

This got me thinking back to when I first started teaching Kung Fu. I felt like I had to be the fittest, strongest and best in the club and in the end I stopped enjoying my training and ultimately quit altogether. Now I’m not teaching Judo so I haven’t got that added pressure but it certainly got me thinking of how I would feel if/when I got my black belt.

In randori last night I got thrown cleanly on my back by a green belt. This green belt was bigger and heavier than me but I still felt like I should be good enough to handle someone of a lower grade despite the disparity in weight, not that I’m small by any stretch of the imagination. I then went on to throw David, a black belt, with a tani-otoshi. I wonder if he was sitting at home last night wondering how he got thrown by a brown belt. Maybe he was. Maybe this feeling never goes away. So for those of you who are black belts, how do you deal with the added pressure of everyone expecting you to be an “expert”?

Brown Belt 1st Kyu

So after studying the Nage-no-kata video all week I was able to pull it off to a reasonable enough standard to finish off my grading and be awarded with my brown belt last night. Although I’ve always looked at my Judo journey as a marathon and not a sprint and collecting belts was secondary to improving and enjoying what I was doing, I do now feel that I want to progress to black belt as soon as possible as I know that, at 41, it’s not going to get any easier for me. With that in mind I will likely enter my first point scoring competition at the end of February where I will have to compete against other brown belts for the first time. This will be a good litmus test of my actual level as a brown belt but having just received it I will probably struggle at first.

I wore an elbow strap all through the class yesterday which seems to have made a difference to the way my elbow is or isn’t aching the day after. What I need to do between now and the end of February is to improve my fitness levels and stay injury free. Assuming I don’t have any setbacks with my leg I plan to start running next week. Then I’ll do some circuits which will include 1000m rows supersetted with press ups. I figure that will take me about 5 minutes, which is the length of a Judo match in shiai. If I then repeat this 3 times with only a small rest it should hopefully replicate what getting a line up in a dan grading will feel like.

Other than Kata we did plenty of randori in yesterday’s class and I managed to stay on continuously and spar with 6 of the guys. I managed to pull of yoko tomoe nage on 3 different people so this is fast becoming one of my favourite throws. I think I favour the yoko version over the more traditional version as I don’t have to get between ukes legs to pull it off. One of the young orange belts I spared with last night really stood out amongst the class. Even though he is considerably smaller than me he was actually out gripping me and, with his speed and movement, he almost had me a couple of times. I don’t think it will be too long until he is giving me a real problem in randori so I hope he keeps himself motivated to keep training hard.

At the end of the class I was duly presented with my Brown belt by Graeme so I took the opportunity to snap a couple of photos.

 

I've also added one of Andrew as he recently received his yellow belt (see I told you i'd make you famous Andrew :))