Beginner at Judo

[RachelR]

Hullo, some of you might remember my Tae Kwon do question, but, as it turns out I decided to try Judo instead. I had my first ever lesson yesterday and was a little discouraged, being the only one there that was a first starter, I felt like I couldn't keep up and felt a bit silly that I couldn't do some of the stuff.

A guy there kinda took me to the side and started showing me stuff which was nice of him, like how to fall and slap your hand on the mat kinda thing. I'm going again Thursday, it's twice a week. The question I have is, Is there anything I can be doing at home, in terms of practice that would help me get a little better at the beginners portion of Judo? Or any web sites I can go on? I am so eager to learn, but, impatient, bad I know, but I want to be able to learn at home too. My husband is a brown belt at Judo, so I have someone to practice with.

Oh, and how did everyone elses first ever lesson go?! Is this ringing any bells for anyone regarding their first ever lesson?!

Cheers, rach:)

[Joe karate]

Try www.judoinfo.com , it has some techniques and a bunch of other cool stuff. Never did Judo myself but it seemed an informative site.

EVERYONE's first class is usually awkward and most people feel silly at some times. It's natural, but remember everyone starts as a beginner just like you are, even your teacher. It'll come in time and soon you'll be throwing people all over the place.

Good luck!

[Acekicken]

Yes U can Practise Break falls
U can get a punching Bag & practise Osae Komi
Pining on the Ground

There are also good Videos out There
From Great Judoka
Like Neil Adams,Gene Lebell & Mike Swain
Also U should Find a partner to do some home practise.

Keep Your Head up 7 Never Quit U can Do it
it Does Take Time & Practice.

[Saz]

I don't remember my first ever lesson, but I do remember my first lesson starting back after 10 years. I thought everything was clicking back OK until Sensei asked me to Kiai. Not knowing what it meant, I just shouted out the word 'Kiai', at which everyone fell about laughing. Oh yeah, and I had to train with 6 year olds because they put me in beginners.

Keep at it Rach!

[RachelR]

LOL!! I can imagine you doing that aswell!! I'm gonna keep at it. I like it and wanna beat up Nick, (husband) He is a brown belt and throws me and chokes me (isn't that counting as domestic violence?!) all in good fun though. I think! So, now I can fight back. Soon, anyways! Got my next lesson tomorrow, looking forward to it.

[Jim]

The main thing is to keep going. I tend to have student fallout on the 7th lesson. People seem very keen initially and up to the 7th time coming they are progressing and building on what they did the previous class. Then...

On the 7th lesson they turn up and are all uncoordinated and left feet, etc. and get VERY discouraged. I don't know why this happens. The only way to get over it is to keep at it and enjoy what you do.

Let us know how it works out.

[iolair]

I practice turn-ins at home (the first part of a throw, before you actually throw). I tie a belt round my punchbag at shoulder height for this.

[morphus]

For goodness sake DON'T give up - Most peoples first lesson feel awkward, this is for a few reasons, i.e meeting new people, not knowing anything, strange language coming from the tutor, seeing people do something effortlessly while it tasks you. BUT it's all part of the learning proccess, in a way it's like going to school for the first time, difficult at first but you soon get to make friends and you soon learn that writing and reading (or in this case throwing and pinning) isn't that hard once you have the basics down! It takes practice.

My first lesson was similar, you do get through it. Some people walk out and they just don't ever know what an experience they've missed.

Practice with your husband as much as poss', read as much judo & martial arts lit' as poss', take some good advice from this forum as poss'(not necessarily from me)

Good luck in your pursuit of martial arts exellence.

[pgm316]

My first Judo lesson was a scary experience, I don't remember much apart from my mum taking me and being put on the mat by other kids a lot. Although it was a lot of fun, it was back in the 80's when all my friends we're big WWF fans :p

I think Judo is a tricky art to learn solo, takes a bit more imagination to practice throws alone ;)

[RachelR]

I had my second lesson yesterday (thurs) and I really really enjoyed it. I'm not giving up, no way. I want to learn this and I'm gonna stick at it. Yesterday was much beter than the first. There were other beginners there unlike Tuesday and we went through things slowly and I really had a good time. Aching like nothing else today though!! I'm gonna learn to do stuff at home like falling and all that stuff. I'm gonna be reading books on Judo and web sites and all that.

The other thing I need to work on is throws. I can't think of what the throw is called but you kinda have to wrap your arm round the waist pull the other arm into you bend your knees and kinda get your hips down and then throw? I have to get into the habit of turning around 180, cos I keep trying to lift up and throw from the side of my body kinda. But hus can help me with that.

Cheers for the replies to my post, is much appreciated, If you have any other tips, help or anything, would gladly welcome them!!

Ta very much rach:D

[Jim]

The throw you're talking about is Uki Goshi and one of the best for a lot of reasons.

Try not to burn out either. With a lot of things you start out because you're interested, get into it big time, then get overloaded with info.

[Mark]

Uki Goshi, is the floating hip throw right? It sounds to me like it might also be O Goshi or Tsuri Goshi.

RachelR, I myself had a very difficult time imagining how to perform a throw until I memorized some of the japanese translations. Once you understand the name's meaning it gives you a better insight into how to perform the technique.

O Goshi is Major Hip and Tsuri Goshi means Lifting Hip.

I hope this helps.

[Jim]

O Goshi has the hand on the back of Uki's shoulder but under his arm.

O Tsuri Goshi has the hand on the Belt but it's a different movement where Tori is lifting Uki onto the hip rather than insinuating himself under Uki's pelvic hip line and over the arm.

Or so I've heard...

[Sambo Master]

i practice the basics at home and then try them in the dojang

[AikiSamurai]

Hi everyone, I had my first lesson in Judo today too. It felt pretty difficult and I had a hard time falling the way Judokas do. I kept on doing aikido falls rather than Judo's. I wonder if anyone else who cross train has this problem. I want to keep up with my Aikido, but I think it's pretty hard to do both art.

[Jim]

It's definately hard to cross train for that reason. Perserve and I'm sure it'll work out, they're actually complimentry arts.

[AikiSamurai]

Thanks, I guess I was a lil' insecure that I would have to quit Aikido after so long just cause I can't adapt my body to Judo. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusion after just one class.

[Freeform]

Ukemi's ukemi, theres slight differences but nothing that should have caused any problems?

Col

[WaTer]

Gotta love judo and "o soto gari' i myself take judo and gung-fu its my kinda mix. Tell me if you've heard of o soto gari.

[remus]

AikiSamurai,
I was also a practitioner of Aikido and when i tried doing Judo the first few sessions i was skidding on the mat when doing the forward roll. In Aikido we were taught to roll like a ball and use the forward momentum to stand up or kneel whereas in Judo we were taught to stop when the body lands and slap the mat simultaneoulsy so when i was doing the roll i was still applying the momentum but instead of standing up or going on a kneeling position i just continue to lay on the mat while slapping it. The combination of the forward momentum and my lying on the mat made me skid and made for one hell of a funny scene.
But during that time i was very embarassed as the six to ten year olds were able to do it better than me.

[Jim]

Tell me if you've heard of o soto gari
I've heard of Osoto Gari. Happy? ;)

[judojedi]

aikisamurai,
you are gona find it difficult to cross train between aiki and judo. i used to train in taiho jutsu (form of ju jitsu) which is alot like aiki and although the philosophies are similar and alot of the moves are used in both arts they do it in different ways. ippon seonage is used in both and when i was doing it in taiho, i performed the move in my much prefered judo style and earned 250 press ups. the taiho sensai's used to say 'judo is all UMPH!! where as taiho is all controll and power'. thats bull s**t! but i didn't tell them that as my arms were hurting.
judo shouldn't be UMPH! although alot of the time it is. the word judo means: 'the gentle way' however the founders interpretation was: 'maximum effeicency'. an ideal of aiki if i'm not mistaken.
you will find alot of freedom in judo to perform the techniques to your own comfort and probably find the training is less repetative than aiki. the repetative training was why i stopped taiho.

[Freeform]

Ah, but what by you say to this quote from Mauricio Gomes,

Repetition is the mother of skill.

you will find alot of freedom in judo to perform the techniques to your own comfort and probably find the training is less repetative than aiki. the repetative training was why i stopped taiho.


This is surely dependant on the club/instructor?

Col

[judojedi]

yea i suppose it is dependant on the club/instructor, my taiho instructors were shall we say..not the best. i know many people who do aiki in alot of different clubs and they all say it does get boring sometimes doing the same techniques over and over. personally i wouldn't mind if we had of concentrated on 1 technique a night but instead we practiced the same 8-10 techniques for over a year. thats the reason i quit. on speaking to some aikido students i know they said thats typical of aiki aswell.
repetition is the mother of skill? sure, so long as you don't fall asleep. the KODOKAN says that a judoka does not understand a throw untill he has thrown, and been thrown, a thousand times with it. the northwest area coach for the BJA says this is crap. i'm inclined to agree with him although both him and me are no-one to question the KODOKAN. i suppose in the end it comes down to personal preference, i learn fast, i don't want to have to perform kote gaish, ushiro toshi and igamae atti 70times a night, twice a week, 52 weeks a year. i mastered these techniques to 2nd dan standard after a month, so why keep up the intensive practice on them?

[TheMachine]

don't wory rach, we all have to start somewhere. once you start improving your ukemi (breakfalls) throwsing and groundwork will comein next. enjoy every lesson since judo requires a lot of motor skill learning

[saikyou]

cross training? never tried it but ithink in the first few lessons you will surely be confused.

About your problem with Ukemi, just practice and you'll get the hang of it soon. I myself had a problem with breakfalls in my first few lessons. Im a right-handed person so i have difficulty on the left-handed slap foward roll.

Download the Ukemi animations at http://www.judoinfo.com and get a mat to land on and try to do it in your free time at home. practice makes perfect.:D

by the way,

Originally posted by WaTer
Tell me if you've heard of o soto gari. yeah. The first throw that i learned and it is the throw that seriously harmed me a few months ago. Why it is so special for you? just curious.

[Chinesericeboy]

umm i learned at my dojo tat u use rubber strings and tie it to a pole...use 2 and act like they are the hands of the enemy...try your moves on tat and u may improve greatly!