[Res Judicata]

Any advice on how to become an unnatural lefty judoka?

I'm right handed but I need to become left handed for standing judo. I have bum left leg (plate, screws, slight limp, etc. ) that makes it very difficult for me to do most forward throws right handed particularly those that involve being on one leg. Balancing on my left is difficult and anything ken-ken is impossible. A right stance also leaves me vulnerable to attacks to the right leg.

Practice a lot is the obvious answer. But I was wondering about any more specific strategies. Has anyone done this successfully?

[paulmn]

I don't know man, maybe buy dvds from igor yamikov, a natural left handed judo/sambo guy and try to mimic him?

[Coach Josh]

I switched to lefty its not a big deal. Practice, practice, practice. To learn your tokui waza lefty I would do it as a righty and then reverse my stance and do it again and again. Being that you have a knee injury you may want to look into koshi waza and seoi nage.

Really work on your kuzushi and over emphasize it when you uchikomi. The good thing about this is that you will be more aware of your body and know how a good throw feels because you have been doing it.

[Res Judicata]

Thanks Josh. There's never any substitution for practice, is there?

Actually its mostly my ankle/shin, not knee, but the point is the same. Fortunately, I'm stocky and built for koshi waza and seoi nage -- which I'm working on as my tokui waza. I'll work on overemphasizing the kuzushi as you've suggested.

[Aaron_]

I usually do sets of uchikomi's, ten to the right, ten to the left, repeat several times for each throw you're working on. The repetition should build some good muscle memory :)

The overemphasizing the kuzushi is a good idea too.. i might have to steal that :)

[Coach Josh]

I might make a little instructional video of the "new" way I am teaching seoinage and how I like my uchikomis