Fundamentals of Judo – Practicing combinations

**BKR** · Posted On: 9/28/2010 2:21pm

Regarding posture, head over hips, hips over feet is good advice. Beginners tend to look down, and I tell them to look up. Looking up tends to offset the tendency to watch the feet, and they end up looking level.

It is something that has to be consciously practiced, and it helps to have someone reminding you of it all the time, either by words or throwing you when you break posture.

If you practice tai sabaki solo (tandoku renshuu), and with a partner, the practice moving while maintaining either shizenhontai or migi/hidari shizentai, it helps as well in becoming aware of your posture. Most people are not aware of their posture in judo or otherwise.

It is a long process, and requires dedication to long term goals, not just winning the next match at shiai.

I sometimes set up cones in various patterns for my students to practice moving through solo and with a partner.

Gotta go pick up a load of hay and unload it, so I have to go now.

Ben

**DarkPhoenix** · Posted On: 9/28/2010 2:24pm

Does anyone ever train blind randori? We do that from time to time to keep the students from looking at their feet.

**BKR** · Posted On: 9/28/2010 11:20pm

No, I do not do blindfolded randori to correct looking down, I prefer to remind them not to do it and make them look up.

Blindfolded randori is good for learning awareness of what is going on on the tatami, from a safety point of view..

Ben

**Jim_Jude** · Posted On: 9/29/2010 1:35pm

Man! Awesome thread. I've read a little about the "Teeing Up" concept but never in this much detail. Thanks OP

**Hedgehogey** · Posted On: 9/29/2010 6:47pm

Not to distract from your work in putting this all together but what the hell was going on in that first video

**judoka_uk** · Posted On: 9/29/2010 6:57pm

Interesting that Aikido is being brought into this discussion as I have done a little Aikido, although I grew very rapidly disillusioned with it. However, this 'T-ing up' stance always reminds me of my Aikido practices.

BKR, as usual, provides some very astute points. You need to adapt the positioning of your feet to the throw you're about to attempt next and also to your uke.

I deliberately stayed away from defining hard and fast rules for this concept, because its supposed to be a fluid and adaptable tool to use for combination training.

This isn't meant as a randori or contest method, what this is supposed to do is to teach tai sabaki in such a way as it encourages good movement, control of uke by tori, good positioning for balance breaking by tori, good spacing by tori and gives tori the maximum lee way to practice good techique in a training scenario.

As I have alluded to before, this is teaching skills that assist in creating and spotting debana, moments of opportunity, and ensuring you're capable of applying kuzushi in the best possible manner during training.

Now in a randori situation or shiai it is higly unlikely you would engage with an attack, disengage, T-up and then re-engage because the realities of contest and randori make this a near suicidal strategy. However, during training its critical to teach tori good tai sabaki, how to apply kuzushi properly and provide drills that teach debana in a structured and easily accesible manner.

Debana is the true key to Judo if you understand and know debana then all of Judo opens up to you. However, the normal club method of teaching debana by trial and error through randori is limited in its applications. You have to give the student scenarios in which they can develop awareness of debana and the necessary skills of balance and control to exploit it. Hence this 'T-ing up' drill as a method of teaching tori how to attack, have good tai sabaki, control uke and think about debana before attacking appropiately with a follow up attack.

The majority of beginners practice combinations mindlessly because their coach/sensei has told them do overly simplistic systems - Ko uchi gari into Seoi nage. However, this over simplification stunts growth what you really need to do is give the student the tools to perform Ko uchi gari then analyse the situation to pick the next appropriate throw whether it be Seoi nage, O uchi gari, O soto gari, Uchi mata etc... Even more critical is giving the student the tools to be able to attack effectively with the second attack before they identify the correct second attack, that is to say be in control of themselves by being on balance and be in control of uke.

So I'm trying to give you tools that will create deep learning patterns and undeprin and increase your understanding of the the hardest lessons of Judo - debana and kuzushi.

Originally Posted by Hedgehogey

Not to distract from your work in putting this all together but what the hell was going on in that first video

God knows, some massive pile of shite. Would be interesting to know if these threads are useful to you and whether any of these concepts have ever been introduced to you before?

**wonko221** · Posted On: 9/29/2010 7:08pm

Originally Posted by BKR

Regarding posture, head over hips, hips over feet is good advice. Beginners tend to look down, and I tell them to look up. Looking up tends to offset the tendency to watch the feet, and they end up looking level.

an excellent point. I caught myself in the habit of watching feet, rather than getting a feeling for my opponent's movement. I decided to correct this, and started consciously forcing myself to look up and over the opponent's shoulder during randori.

My teacher noticed me forming this habit, and had me stand straight, shoulders over hips. He had me look up, like i had been, and i was surprised to feel my shoulders tilting back. He then had me look down at his feet, and i was surprised to feel myself tilt forward.

He then taught me to keep my head level, and to shift my eyes as i needed, but NOT to rock my shoulders back and forth. Made a huge difference in my entries.

**AAAhmed46** · Posted On: 9/29/2010 8:24pm

Will you also begin posting how to adapt some of this to no gi?

I love what you already posted. Great stuff.

**AAAhmed46** · Posted On: 9/29/2010 8:25pm

Whoops meant to post this in the other thread on judo you posted.

**judoka_uk** · Posted On: 9/29/2010 9:02pm

Originally Posted by AAAhmed46

Will you also begin posting how to adapt some of this to no gi?

I love what you already posted. Great stuff.

I assume this is directed at me, if so first of all, thank you.

I won't be posting anything no gi orientated as my experience of no gi grappling is very limited - a few months stand up MMA grappling, a few months BJJ no gi grappling a few months Thai boxing with some clinch work.

So I don't feel qualified to offer any advice on no gi grappling, I can say what worked for me, in terms of applying my Judo to a no gi situation, but thats unlikely to help many people unles they share my strength, flexibility, fitness, temprament etc...

I'm also avoiding discussing gi groundwork, because on a board on which BJJ black belts post I'm vastly outclassed and out-experienced on anything I may know about groundwork. I could explain a few techniques that are Judo specific and I have been trained quite hard on. such as this Neil Adam's Juji roll post:
No BS MMA and Martial Arts - View Single Post - Armbar from the turtle

However, in general, I will avoid posts on no gi grappling and groundwork on which I am vastly out classed in terms of knowledge by others on this board. As I'm only posting on those aspects of Judo that I know a reasonable amount about and even then I'm inviting experienced Judoka like BKR and Coacg Josh to add their perspectives to validate the things I get right and keep in check the things I get wrong.