Judo advice

**Nickosaurus** · Posted On: 12/11/2012 10:16am

Before I found Judo I used to do a TMA with a lot of compliant throwing drills where it was pretty normal to be thrown 30 times in a row. I found breathing out on the way down helped, stopped me holding my breath in and tensing up.

**DaTedBear** · Posted On: 12/11/2012 11:59am

Quite a few judoka have issues with falling and tensing. Whether it is from being new, recovering from and injury or coming back after a layoff the result is the same. Like the other responses have poited out, repetition is the most reliable way to fix this issue.

**doofaloofa** · Posted On: 12/11/2012 1:19pm

Judoka -UK did a good article on learning to be a good uke

I'm sure you will find it if you look

Confident ukemie waza was the key idea

**Nickosaurus** · Posted On: 12/11/2012 4:13pm

Originally Posted by Batman Smells

Judoka -UK did a good article on learning to be a good uke

There is the blog post,

http://thedifficultway.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/uke.html

**Tetsumusha** · Posted On: 12/11/2012 5:15pm

In addition to her being thrown more often, and possibly using a crash pad to get used to it, I would see if one of the more experienced judoka can throw her slowly. It goes against everything my judo instructors ever said, but you can do o-goshi fairly slowly and it would give her the opportunity to feel herself get lifted off her feet, roll off someone's back and fall without being as scary as a normal-speed throw. Eventually she's going to have to work up to getting thrown like everyone else, though.

**Lebell** · Posted On: 12/11/2012 5:29pm

Well, I'd say: she should go practise/getting used to be thrown 10 mins each lesson with an experienced judoka.
It's just that I have no idea if that messes up the lesson.
Only thing I can think of is that she just needs to be thrown over and over again til she gets used to it and stays relaxed (on a subconcious level)
start out with legsweep, then hipthrow and then shoulderthrows etc.
Usually when people tense up its actually better to recap everything nice and slow within their own comefortzone.

**NeilG** · Posted On: 12/11/2012 7:21pm

Originally Posted by Lebell

start out with legsweep, then hipthrow and then shoulderthrows etc.

I wouldn't use sweeps, there isn't a good way to throw an awkward uke with them. Throws where tori has more control over uke's body, like seoinage or ogoshi, are better. With those you can place uke on her back, start slow and work towards more speed. As she gets more comfy being thrown, she will make it easier for less skilled tori to throw her cleanly and so the circle goes.

**Lebell** · Posted On: 12/12/2012 4:01am

Originally Posted by NeilG

I wouldn't use sweeps, there isn't a good way to throw an awkward uke with them. Throws where tori has more control over uke's body, like seoinage or ogoshi, are better. With those you can place uke on her back, start slow and work towards more speed. As she gets more comfy being thrown, she will make it easier for less skilled tori to throw her cleanly and so the circle goes.

Yeah you're right, I hadnt thouht about that.
What Neil said.

**jimbouk** · Posted On: 12/12/2012 5:24am

I'm a beginner at Judo, but they got us to do Uki-goshi and a deashibarai and the outer large sweep for our first belt as these were apparently the easiest ones to do breakfalls from. They could be the easiest ones to begin with.
But then these might have already been tried. And if the gym has crashmats, use them.

**BKR** · Posted On: 12/12/2012 4:55pm

The suggestions for being thrown by more experienced judoka is excellent. Being thrown by other noobs is not a good way to learn to relax while being thrown. Neither is doing the basic solo drills and then getting thrown (by anyone).

The fact that you train on a spring loaded gymnastics floor is a big plus. No real need for a crash pad if she trains through progressive ukemi drills.

There are whole sets of progressive ukemi drills she can use, both solo and with a partner.

Focus on one type of fall at a time, back falls or side falls. I usually start out with back falls.

Back Falls:
1.) Go through the normal solo series of koho (back) ukemi waza from flat on the mat to sitting to squatting to standing. Emphasize rolling down to the mat rather than jumping backwards into a flat fall. If she is OK at these, then you can skip up to squatting at different levels, wherever she is comfortable.
2.) Have a partner lay flat out on the tatami. She should sit on his/her hips, then slowly roll backwards off of uke, executing a koho ukemi. They can alternate back and forth for a few reps.
3.) next have uke get into turtle position, a low flat turtle. She should sit on his/her hips (not lower back), slide off backwards and do koho umemi.
4.) Have her squat comfortably. A helper offers both sleeves, she holds on, then lets go and does a koho ukemi. She can get progressively higher until standing, BUT should keep the knees bent and focus on rolling back to the tatami, NOT flat falling. You can eventually have the helper hold HER sleeves and let go without her knowing when he/she will release the grip, all from progressively higher positions.
5.) Modified Ouchi Gari/ukemi drill: She stands with feet wide apart (wider than shoulders. Helper steps into ouchi gari position, and gently pushes her (no leg reap). She should perform koho ukemi-not really being thrown. You can work this up to a GENTLE ouchi gari by the helper, no real reap. The key is to be progressive in height, speed, force, and complexity.

If she has a problem falling backwards (can't see where she is going, and a LOT of people especially adults do), then work on yoko ukemi waza (side) instead.

She can work through the standard yoko ukemi waza drills to get the correct landing position down (MUCH more important than slapping the mat, BTW), then progress to moving sideways and sliding down into a side fall. Next, she can hold onto a partner and do the same, then, move into a De Ashi Barai moving sideways where the helper gently touches her foot/ankle and SHE takes the fall voluntarily. This can progress to actually throwing each other with De Ashi Barai and so on an so forth.

There is a series of drills for throwing/ukemi that can be done from the knees as well. these work well for both uke and tori, tori gets practice with tai sabaki/tsurikomi, and controlling uke, uke practices falling. These are good for noobs who can't take big falls, you can progress to practicing transitions to ne waza, escapes, etc. The kneeling person gets gently rolled to the ground instead of thrown from height.

What usually happens, in my experience, is that once the solo drills for ukemi are down OK, it's expected that a person will just be OK with getting tossed from big throws like Seoi Nage, harai goshi, etc. Not true, it takes some time to get used to th at, how to be a decent uke, stay relaxed, etc.

Ben