I wanna take a MA for High School next year and expand my arsenal. I already have 4 yrs of Kempo and want to do more. I'm wondering which to take, Judo or wrestling?

You can take Wrestling, and then wrestle on the team and kick ass. Judo will help you with that too, though.

On the news here a while ago there was this girl who had done Judo since she was a kid, and she totaly DOMINATED everybody at Wrestling. It was awesome.

So... I suggest trying both out and seeing which you like better.

PL

It depends on your goals. I've always been of the opinion that the best judo competitors usually began as wrestlers, then later gravitated to judo.

I'm sure you are aware that there are no "finishing" moves in wrestling, but nothing is better for developing "mat feel" and "mat strength". Also it seems that moving from wrestling to Judo is easier than moving from Judo to wrestling. It's also something you can do while representing your school and high school may be your only opportunity for intense wrestling training.

On the other hand, the throws, chokes and arm bars you'll learn in Judo are very effective and make Judo much more interesting to learn than wrestling. In my experience, judo is not as physically demanding as wrestling. I always felt that with Judo you could make up for a lack of conditioning with great technique, whereas with wrestling there was no way around it. You had to be in awesome condition.

Why not do both? I did. My Judo suffered a bit during wrestling season due to 2 matches a week, but I usually managed to make it to the dojo at least once a week during the season and the boxing gym usually twice a week.

Speaking with no experience what so ever in Judo and a few years in wrestling, I'll have to be alittle bit biased and say wrestling. It gave me a hell of a lot of conditioning, and some really good takedown and ground skills. If you're really on the fence between which one you want to take just do like everyone else said and try both and either continue both of them or go with whichever one you like better.

Looks like if you're already in good shape, judo is the way to go. If not, wrestling. You could also crosstrain.

Alot of wrestling is power. The stronger person is going to win. That was the day one lesson our coach told us. Do Judo, learn BJJ also if you can and you'll own any wrestler.

Hmm, I'll try for both and see what I like better, though I'm kinda leaning towards Judo because I'm not really strong. I'm a skinny guy. I can't do both because school takes a lot of my time. This year (which ends next tuesday), I barely managed to do all my work and go to Kempo practice. But next year, it'll be different cus I won't have as many HX classes anymore because the classes required are only at generals level. Phew.

Oh but umm...does Judo have any takedowns? Like shooting? >_> cus that's all I kinda wanna learn from wrestling...

I agree that wrestling depends more on strength and conditioning than judo, but wrestling is absolutely not all about strength. Technique is very important and wins matches. I broke my hand at the end of football season my sopohomore year, so I started wrestling season with a cast on my arm. Then, a few weeks before the first match I caught mono. I started that season about as week and out of shape as I've ever been, however I had worked all summer with a college wrestler learning leg techniques and some other techniques that were a little more advanced than that used by most high school wrestlers.

I stuck every opponent for the first few weeks, one of whom was state runner-up the year before. My success was based solely on my technique and the fact that I knew moves my opponents did not know. However, I do agree that in wrestling, conditioning is equally important as technique, and at the high school level, often more important, especially if your coach is just a guy who'd rather be coaching football but thought he'd pick up a little extra cash by coaching wrestling.

I still say that it's also the best foundation for Judo or BJJ. After a few years of wrestling, you will have a tendancy to expose your arms and neck, however that doesn't take too long to correct. You also won't be very comfortable in the guard after a few years of wrestling (struggling to stay off your back). I think that takes a little longer to overcome, but once you do, you'll own the ground.

Plus you get to laugh at the big tough football players when they show up for one practice, puke, and never return.

I say take wrestling while you still can. It'll give you a chance to meet more of your peers, and it'll increase your conditioning. After you're done highschool take Judo. You'll have an excellent base to begino. There are a few ex wrestlers at my Judo club, and they have great sprawling abilities. Awesome strength for their sizes too. If i had a choice, I would've done more wrestling in high school.

Yes judo has takedowns! In fact, some of your more traditional judo schools focus more on takedowns than matwork. IMHO many judo takedowns are very effective in "the street", although they will look nothing like they do in kata. That's one major difference between judo and BJJ. BJJ focuses more on matwork, so the whole goal is to get the opponent to the mat as quickly as possible and in any way possible. In judo competition, you can end a match by executing one good throw, thus never even having to go to the ground. For that reason, a great deal of emphasis is put on throws.

If time is a real issue for you, then I'd go with judo. Wrestling will most likely be 5 days a week for 2 or 3 hours a day, plus travel time for matches. I still say it's worth it though, if you can fit it in.

EEKS...it takes me normally 3 hours a day to do hw...I guess I'll just go with Judo and have my wrestling buddy show me some moves, if he has time anyways. Thanks for the replies guys.

Both are good, but in high school wrestling is free while Judo will cost you money. Moreover, wrestling will give you excellent conditioning and tons of mat work. I would add wrestling to round out your Kempo and then add Judo or BJJ after high school.

Oh, both are actually in school. So I can get both free.

Judo in school? Is it varsity or just a club sort of thing? If it's actually varsity, that's awesome!

Judo is a club and wrestling is like football. Train and compete.