Class #11
Gracie Barra Bristol, (Judo), Kirsty Utting, Bristol, UK - 07/02/2012
It's been a long time since I last went to a formal class of judo, back in May 2010. As my girlfriend is away on holiday, I finally had the chance to go try out Kirsty's judo class. I'm not generally a big fan of judo training, because of that injury I got back in my third ever session of judo, which took me off the mats for about seven months. Hence why I've been a bit wary of judo ever since, not helped by stories of how hard judo is on the body and old judoka with mashed up knees.
Kirsty is a judo black belt with lots of competitive experience. She's been running a short judo class at Gracie Barra Bristol for a while now, which is a great idea for anybody who wants to compete, or simply develop a more rounded grappling game (neither of which I care about personally, which is why I don't normally do any judo). I particularly like the way that when he added the class to the timetable, Geeza emphasised that you take off your BJJ rank and put on a white belt.
Kirsty started with standing grip breaks. For the first one, they've grabbed your collar. With your same side hand, grab their sleeve, your knuckles pointing to the outside. Your grip needs to be tight, so to make it really firm, reach your fingers around to the inside (keeping your thumb out), gathering the material of their sleeve. Once you've taken out the slack, bring your hand back towards the outside, inserting your thumb to secure the grip. You'll end up with making a sideways fist.
Your other hand goes on top of their wrist, using a thumbless grip. Step back with your non-grip side foot, at the same time shoving downwards with both your hands and jerking your upper body backwards. From here you can immediately grab their gi and establish your own control: maintain that grip on their sleeve, as otherwise they can just re-grab your collar.
If they grab your same side elbow, grip their grabbing-arm sleeve with your free hand. Turn forcefully towards their free hand side, twisting your torso. You can now pull with your sleeve grip and again establish your own control. E.g., after pulling them in front of you, reach around their back with the other hand. I think that's called a 'Russian grip' or something like that? Been shown it in BJJ, IIRC, or it might have been one of the other judo classes from a few years back.
From the grip break on the collar, you can go straight into a morote seoi nage, which google tells me means 'two arm shoulder throw'. Pull them towards your collar side, then pull them onto your hip. Pull their sleeve out and up, bringing the elbow of the collar-gripping arm right into the sleeve-grip side armpit. Swivel, so that they're now facing your back, making sure your feet are inside theirs. Lift them up, then turn your head away from them to drop them onto the mat.
I liked the relaxed atmosphere of Kirsty's class, and also the amount of time she spent on drilling. She went round every pair making small corrections, then later pulled out the crash mats for an extra-soft landing. Well, unless you managed to miss the crash mat. Ahem. Fortunately my partner was smaller than me, so I could reduce the impact and stop them from going off the crash mat.
We finished up with one round of randori. As I was bigger and more experienced than my partner, I could be a bit more adventurous than my usual 'wait-to-get-thrown' strategy. Pulling guard wasn't allowed, so instead I had some fun practicing my trips and double-legs, but then it isn't difficult to pull off a technique on somebody smaller who has never seen it before. ;)
Showing posts with label judo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label judo. Show all posts
07 February 2012
09 May 2010
09/05/10 - Judo
Class #10
University of Warwick Judo, (Judo), Adam Jones, Coventry, UK - 09/05/2010
It initially looked as if today's session wouldn't happen, because due to this being the exam term, hardly anyone is keen to go train. That's either because they're buried in exams, or if not, they're getting drunk celebrating that fact. I do miss being an undergraduate sometimes. :)
Fortunately, there was a fellow older student up for grappling, who has messaged me a few times before on Facebook. Mike and I were shortly joined by another guy, who hasn't been to judo for a year or two, so was a bit surprised to see two blokes rolling no-gi. We kicked off with a bit of drilling: I'm a bit lost when it comes to no-gi, so I suggested going through the basic butterfly sweep.
There was time for a five minute roll with Mike no-gi (mainly me squirming around in open guard, then occasionally looking confused when in no-gi closed guard), before it turned into the judo session proper. I had originally thought I'd just be there for the hour of rolling and drilling, so it was a pleasant surprise to get in a class too, even if was judo rather than lovely ground-based BJJ. ;p
Adam, the black belt who took the session tonight, based class around a throw. I can't remember the name (harai something), but if he's reading this, he should be able to remind me. He started by going through the footwork in a solo drill. IIRC, step forward, raise your arms and twist (but still face ahead), thrust your hips forward, while blocking an imaginary leg with your other foot.
That then progressed to a two person drill, where you step to get the rhythm, then try and use that same solo drill to enact the throw. You have a grip on their sleeve, just above the elbow, while the other hand holds the and collar. The important thing here (which I kept fucking up) is to make sure you really lift up that sleeve arm. You want your partner to go up on their toes, so it is easier to take them down when you twist and block their foot.
More stepping followed, this time in a circle, as that is closer to the kind of situation you'd find in a live spar. Adam emphasised some handy tips, like sinking as you move in, in order to facilitate raising up again to really lift them up on their toes. To finish, Adam had a transitional drill, where after you take them down, you move into knee on belly, then drop back for an armbar.
If your opponent spins to their stomach, legs straight out, arms and head tucked in (common in judo, suicidal in BJJ), Adam had another trick. Sit on them, then simply reach behind and lift up their legs to establish your hooks. If you are having trouble digging out their neck for the choke, grab their same side shoulder. Bring your other elbow across to the same side, then drag it back into their head. That should expose their neck for the submission.
Sparring began with Mike. As we both just wanted to grapple, I immediately pulled guard. I was more comfortable this time, as we were wearing gis, but I still couldn't get that spider guard grip I wanted, with the hand up past my hip. I might try just yanking on the arm with both hands next time, but there must be a more technical way of establishing that deep spider guard grip.
I also had a go at moving into deep half guard, but instead just gave up my back, which definitely wasn't the plan. That meant the rest of the spar involved me trying to wriggle out of Mike's body triangle, without a whole lot of success. I did at least keep my neck safe, with the trusty 'Shirley Temple' defence, though that reminds me I should be crossing my hands, not having them on either side.
I then went with one of the green belts, Jenny. I didn't want to pull guard this time, as that would make me a rather crappy training partner for a judoka. When she took me down, I was able to move into a sweep and come up into side control, then move to north south and a somewhat sloppy kimura. I'm not sure if the takedown would have been enough to stop the spar under judo rules, although Adam did say we should keep going until a submission, even if the takedown was an ippon.
The next time I somehow ended up on top in half guard. I used the usual shoulder pressure pass, though again I think my technique was a bit crude. Moving into mount, I was looking to get my knees up into her armpits and go for an armbar. I did eventually swivel and drop, but again, poor technique. I also let go too early, though that's certainly preferable to letting go too late.
Next up was a brown belt, Carol, who unusually is much smaller than me. She got a bunch of smoothly executed throws, but each one involved turning her back to me, so I could establish hooks and go for a choke. Again I was a bit sloppy, and also looking to switch to an equally dodgy armbar.
I wasn't sure taking the back like that was ok in judo rules, so checked with Adam. I think the consensus was that it would be stupid in a judo tournament, and even then you would normally do it when they're on one knee. So, next time I'll avoid doing that, as I want to make sure the training is useful for my partner, not just me.
Finally, I went with Adam, who is a big, powerful guy. So big, in fact, that I had trouble closing my guard, forcing me to go to open guard. I could see him leaning back so wanted the sit up sweep, but I wasn't quick enough.
Again, I tried for butterfly and spider guard, but also as before, I had trouble getting the grips. Or indeed any grip, as Adam immediately broke any hold I tried to establish on his gi. I spent the latter part of the spar under my old friend side control, which meant I squirmed a lot trying to spin back to guard.
I should be back to GB Brum tomorrow, or possibly Tuesday for my first basics class. I'll see how I feel on Monday, bringing my gi to work with me either way.
University of Warwick Judo, (Judo), Adam Jones, Coventry, UK - 09/05/2010
It initially looked as if today's session wouldn't happen, because due to this being the exam term, hardly anyone is keen to go train. That's either because they're buried in exams, or if not, they're getting drunk celebrating that fact. I do miss being an undergraduate sometimes. :)
Fortunately, there was a fellow older student up for grappling, who has messaged me a few times before on Facebook. Mike and I were shortly joined by another guy, who hasn't been to judo for a year or two, so was a bit surprised to see two blokes rolling no-gi. We kicked off with a bit of drilling: I'm a bit lost when it comes to no-gi, so I suggested going through the basic butterfly sweep.
There was time for a five minute roll with Mike no-gi (mainly me squirming around in open guard, then occasionally looking confused when in no-gi closed guard), before it turned into the judo session proper. I had originally thought I'd just be there for the hour of rolling and drilling, so it was a pleasant surprise to get in a class too, even if was judo rather than lovely ground-based BJJ. ;p
Adam, the black belt who took the session tonight, based class around a throw. I can't remember the name (harai something), but if he's reading this, he should be able to remind me. He started by going through the footwork in a solo drill. IIRC, step forward, raise your arms and twist (but still face ahead), thrust your hips forward, while blocking an imaginary leg with your other foot.
That then progressed to a two person drill, where you step to get the rhythm, then try and use that same solo drill to enact the throw. You have a grip on their sleeve, just above the elbow, while the other hand holds the and collar. The important thing here (which I kept fucking up) is to make sure you really lift up that sleeve arm. You want your partner to go up on their toes, so it is easier to take them down when you twist and block their foot.
More stepping followed, this time in a circle, as that is closer to the kind of situation you'd find in a live spar. Adam emphasised some handy tips, like sinking as you move in, in order to facilitate raising up again to really lift them up on their toes. To finish, Adam had a transitional drill, where after you take them down, you move into knee on belly, then drop back for an armbar.
If your opponent spins to their stomach, legs straight out, arms and head tucked in (common in judo, suicidal in BJJ), Adam had another trick. Sit on them, then simply reach behind and lift up their legs to establish your hooks. If you are having trouble digging out their neck for the choke, grab their same side shoulder. Bring your other elbow across to the same side, then drag it back into their head. That should expose their neck for the submission.
Sparring began with Mike. As we both just wanted to grapple, I immediately pulled guard. I was more comfortable this time, as we were wearing gis, but I still couldn't get that spider guard grip I wanted, with the hand up past my hip. I might try just yanking on the arm with both hands next time, but there must be a more technical way of establishing that deep spider guard grip.
I also had a go at moving into deep half guard, but instead just gave up my back, which definitely wasn't the plan. That meant the rest of the spar involved me trying to wriggle out of Mike's body triangle, without a whole lot of success. I did at least keep my neck safe, with the trusty 'Shirley Temple' defence, though that reminds me I should be crossing my hands, not having them on either side.
I then went with one of the green belts, Jenny. I didn't want to pull guard this time, as that would make me a rather crappy training partner for a judoka. When she took me down, I was able to move into a sweep and come up into side control, then move to north south and a somewhat sloppy kimura. I'm not sure if the takedown would have been enough to stop the spar under judo rules, although Adam did say we should keep going until a submission, even if the takedown was an ippon.
The next time I somehow ended up on top in half guard. I used the usual shoulder pressure pass, though again I think my technique was a bit crude. Moving into mount, I was looking to get my knees up into her armpits and go for an armbar. I did eventually swivel and drop, but again, poor technique. I also let go too early, though that's certainly preferable to letting go too late.
Next up was a brown belt, Carol, who unusually is much smaller than me. She got a bunch of smoothly executed throws, but each one involved turning her back to me, so I could establish hooks and go for a choke. Again I was a bit sloppy, and also looking to switch to an equally dodgy armbar.
I wasn't sure taking the back like that was ok in judo rules, so checked with Adam. I think the consensus was that it would be stupid in a judo tournament, and even then you would normally do it when they're on one knee. So, next time I'll avoid doing that, as I want to make sure the training is useful for my partner, not just me.
Finally, I went with Adam, who is a big, powerful guy. So big, in fact, that I had trouble closing my guard, forcing me to go to open guard. I could see him leaning back so wanted the sit up sweep, but I wasn't quick enough.
Again, I tried for butterfly and spider guard, but also as before, I had trouble getting the grips. Or indeed any grip, as Adam immediately broke any hold I tried to establish on his gi. I spent the latter part of the spar under my old friend side control, which meant I squirmed a lot trying to spin back to guard.
I should be back to GB Brum tomorrow, or possibly Tuesday for my first basics class. I'll see how I feel on Monday, bringing my gi to work with me either way.
17 November 2008
17/11/2008 - Judo
Class #9
Warwick Judo (Judo), Iain Cunningham, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK - 17/11/2008
We had another meeting of the Warwick Uni BJJ group on Sunday, where I had a chance to go through the wrestler's sit out again, along with the variation where they wrap round your chest. Mads also demonstrated an option for when your partner is moving round to side control: not quite sure I understood it, but main principles seemed to be getting your body in the opposite direction.
You start from guard with them about to pass, where they have a grip on your same side leg. Grab that arm with your same side hand, then as they move around for side control, move your body away, so you sort of end up underneath north-south, but with a hold of their arm. With your other hand, grip their belt, bridge up with your legs and roll on top. I'm guessing timing is essential here, but looked interesting from what I saw (came about as Rosie has been having trouble with a specific position when she's sparring, and this was Mads' solution).
I didn't head to the judo straight after, as firstly my toe is still a bit dodgy from last week, and I also knew I was going to the Monday session the next day anyway. Session tonight was purely tachiwaza, so no groundwork whatsoever: on the one hand a shame, but on the other, throws are the reason I wanted to cross-train a bit of judo in the first place.
The initial two throws were apparently off the old dan grade syllabus, both attacking the foot. You have the usual collar and elbow grip with your hands on their jacket. Step in, twisting your palms up and raising your opponent by bringing your arms high. Unusually, your foot doesn’t make a sweeping motion, however, but more of a block. You're aiming to catch their foot as they step forward, putting the sole of your foot in the way against their instep, then pulling them over it using your jacket grips.
The second throw was similar, but slightly more complex. Again you're looking to step forward and pull up, then catch their foot with your sole, but this time it is more of a sweeping motion with the foot. As they step forward, you bring your sole onto their instep and swing your leg right over, twisting them down to the ground as you do so. Timing was more difficult on this one, and I'm not entirely sure I was doing it right: still put my partner on the ground, but a bit sloppy on my part.
I can't remember what they were called, but it was something with 'harai' in the name. Iain took the opportunity at this point to make a note on Japanese, in that anything with –arai in it means sweep. That could be harai, barai or garai, but they all mean the same thing: the first letter depends on the preceding word (if I understood Iain correctly).
Final throw was a counter to the o-goshi hip throw. They step in to pop you up on their hip. You maintain your grip on their collar, shifting the arm that was holding their elbow onto their belt. Raise up, then twist downward to plonk them on the floor. You can also use your knee, pushing it out, which will help if you find yourself with a larger partner.
In randori, I still need to relax and stop stiff-arming with a bent-over posture. I should also be more pro-active, but then that's always going to be a difficult habit to develop as I'm so used to (and happy) being passive from BJJ. What throws I did go for were sloppy, so need to make sure if I start a throw, I should follow through, committing to the technique.
Warwick Judo (Judo), Iain Cunningham, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK - 17/11/2008
We had another meeting of the Warwick Uni BJJ group on Sunday, where I had a chance to go through the wrestler's sit out again, along with the variation where they wrap round your chest. Mads also demonstrated an option for when your partner is moving round to side control: not quite sure I understood it, but main principles seemed to be getting your body in the opposite direction.
You start from guard with them about to pass, where they have a grip on your same side leg. Grab that arm with your same side hand, then as they move around for side control, move your body away, so you sort of end up underneath north-south, but with a hold of their arm. With your other hand, grip their belt, bridge up with your legs and roll on top. I'm guessing timing is essential here, but looked interesting from what I saw (came about as Rosie has been having trouble with a specific position when she's sparring, and this was Mads' solution).
I didn't head to the judo straight after, as firstly my toe is still a bit dodgy from last week, and I also knew I was going to the Monday session the next day anyway. Session tonight was purely tachiwaza, so no groundwork whatsoever: on the one hand a shame, but on the other, throws are the reason I wanted to cross-train a bit of judo in the first place.
The initial two throws were apparently off the old dan grade syllabus, both attacking the foot. You have the usual collar and elbow grip with your hands on their jacket. Step in, twisting your palms up and raising your opponent by bringing your arms high. Unusually, your foot doesn’t make a sweeping motion, however, but more of a block. You're aiming to catch their foot as they step forward, putting the sole of your foot in the way against their instep, then pulling them over it using your jacket grips.
The second throw was similar, but slightly more complex. Again you're looking to step forward and pull up, then catch their foot with your sole, but this time it is more of a sweeping motion with the foot. As they step forward, you bring your sole onto their instep and swing your leg right over, twisting them down to the ground as you do so. Timing was more difficult on this one, and I'm not entirely sure I was doing it right: still put my partner on the ground, but a bit sloppy on my part.
I can't remember what they were called, but it was something with 'harai' in the name. Iain took the opportunity at this point to make a note on Japanese, in that anything with –arai in it means sweep. That could be harai, barai or garai, but they all mean the same thing: the first letter depends on the preceding word (if I understood Iain correctly).
Final throw was a counter to the o-goshi hip throw. They step in to pop you up on their hip. You maintain your grip on their collar, shifting the arm that was holding their elbow onto their belt. Raise up, then twist downward to plonk them on the floor. You can also use your knee, pushing it out, which will help if you find yourself with a larger partner.
In randori, I still need to relax and stop stiff-arming with a bent-over posture. I should also be more pro-active, but then that's always going to be a difficult habit to develop as I'm so used to (and happy) being passive from BJJ. What throws I did go for were sloppy, so need to make sure if I start a throw, I should follow through, committing to the technique.
09 November 2008
09/11/2008 - Judo
Class #8
Warwick Judo (Judo), Chris Page, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK - 09/11/2008
Had another Warwick Uni BJJ meet-up, although it was only an hour and things stayed basic as usual. I again went through bridge and shrimp escape from side control followed by a scissor sweep, then showing the push sweep variation. Still getting a good turnout, which is cool, although tonight a lot of the judoka were there mainly to work on their grading syllabus (which is fair enough, as not only is it technically judo's booked slot anyway which they're letting me use, but the grading is coming up soon).
Unlike last week I wasn't rushing off to go see a film, so stayed to do the judo session straight after. Tonight was pretty heavy on technique, so I didn't catch all of it. I tried to keep in mind a few in order to write them down later, particularly the techniques that looked applicable to my BJJ.
Chris started with some follow-up throws from tai-otoshi (where you stick your leg in front of their's and pull them over it) if your first attempt doesn't work out. If your partner is wise to the technique and steps over your leg, you have several options.
I can't remember all the names (one of them was called something like ko-uchi, but I don't know which), but the first one was to switch the leg you've stepped in front to behind their same side leg, reap it with your heel and drive forward, landing on top of them. This is possible because they've stepped around your foot, which leaves them open to getting either foot hooked and driven onto their backs. You can also hook around the same side leg and drive forward, also using your arm to pull up on the leg.
You can also hook the other leg, driving them forward again. Finally, you could switch to an uchimata, where you switch your grip from their collar to over their shoulder, then swing back the leg you have in between theirs and bring them to the floor.
We did a bit of nagewaza after that, which as far as I can tell is throwing without your partner resisting, and then into transitional sparring. So, like normal tachiwaza randori, but continuing to ground work for a short while. In both that and nagewaza, I'm still having trouble relaxing my body in order both to let my partner throw me when its compliant and help me attack when it isn't. Something to continue working on.
Newaza involved some more turnovers from the turtle. Chris showed quite a few, so I don't think I've remembered them all, but from what I remember they all started by grabbing their near wrist with the arm you have closest to their hand, bringing your arm on the inside of their's and then twisting it to grab the wrist. Pull them arm in and towards their legs.
Next, reach through their legs and grab hold of the bottom of the gi jacket, or possibly their belt. Now drop to your side and roll them over, switching quickly to move into north-south. You can also use your knee to help bump their over, lifting their lower leg, though I found I kept leaving more space when I did that, so need to transition faster.
Finally on that, you can also go for an armbar called waki-gatami. I was bit uncertain on this one, but it starts from the same grip. You make as if to try the turnover to get your partner to resist, then instead pull out their arm, leaning into them like you would in reverse scarf hold (but they're in a turtle position with you controlling their arm). Secure their limb with your elbow, keeping your weight down, then slowly lean back to hyperextend their elbow joint to get the tap.
Class finished with some newaza, which has now got to the point where people are allowed to choke and armlock. So, that made things a bit more interesting: I was able to lock on a RNC one of the brown belts, though I think he was probably going easy on me. I didn't feel I had particularly good control, as I only had one vague hook in, but proved enough for the sub. However, was sloppy on my part either way.
With one of the black belts, I had a play around in guard, seeing if I could get a triangle. I managed to get my legs in position, but it didn't feel tight enough for a choke. So instead, I was at long last able to transition to an armbar, turning belly down for the sub. This time there was a bit of a size difference, and again possible that the other guy was going easy, seeing as I had a white belt on.
Last roll was with a green belt (Sam, possibly? Not sure), where I was mostly sitting in guard. Time ran out before I had a chance to do anything, though interestingly seems to be moving more towards the BJJ set-up in class (i.e., not back to back all the time, but starting from the knees).
Kung Fu Panda is showing at the student cinema in about an hour, so will be cool to get a chance to watch that (especially for only £2), as I missed it when it was on general release. The student cinema is really handy for situations like that, although as I'm only up here part of the week, lots of films I'd like to watch but either can't get to at all (if they're on Wednesday or Thursday) or in time (if they're on Friday, which is a pain as I wanted to see Hellboy II, but there's no way I'll make it to uni for 21:30 coming up from Marylebone at 20:00).
Warwick Judo (Judo), Chris Page, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK - 09/11/2008
Had another Warwick Uni BJJ meet-up, although it was only an hour and things stayed basic as usual. I again went through bridge and shrimp escape from side control followed by a scissor sweep, then showing the push sweep variation. Still getting a good turnout, which is cool, although tonight a lot of the judoka were there mainly to work on their grading syllabus (which is fair enough, as not only is it technically judo's booked slot anyway which they're letting me use, but the grading is coming up soon).
Unlike last week I wasn't rushing off to go see a film, so stayed to do the judo session straight after. Tonight was pretty heavy on technique, so I didn't catch all of it. I tried to keep in mind a few in order to write them down later, particularly the techniques that looked applicable to my BJJ.
Chris started with some follow-up throws from tai-otoshi (where you stick your leg in front of their's and pull them over it) if your first attempt doesn't work out. If your partner is wise to the technique and steps over your leg, you have several options.
I can't remember all the names (one of them was called something like ko-uchi, but I don't know which), but the first one was to switch the leg you've stepped in front to behind their same side leg, reap it with your heel and drive forward, landing on top of them. This is possible because they've stepped around your foot, which leaves them open to getting either foot hooked and driven onto their backs. You can also hook around the same side leg and drive forward, also using your arm to pull up on the leg.
You can also hook the other leg, driving them forward again. Finally, you could switch to an uchimata, where you switch your grip from their collar to over their shoulder, then swing back the leg you have in between theirs and bring them to the floor.
We did a bit of nagewaza after that, which as far as I can tell is throwing without your partner resisting, and then into transitional sparring. So, like normal tachiwaza randori, but continuing to ground work for a short while. In both that and nagewaza, I'm still having trouble relaxing my body in order both to let my partner throw me when its compliant and help me attack when it isn't. Something to continue working on.
Newaza involved some more turnovers from the turtle. Chris showed quite a few, so I don't think I've remembered them all, but from what I remember they all started by grabbing their near wrist with the arm you have closest to their hand, bringing your arm on the inside of their's and then twisting it to grab the wrist. Pull them arm in and towards their legs.
Next, reach through their legs and grab hold of the bottom of the gi jacket, or possibly their belt. Now drop to your side and roll them over, switching quickly to move into north-south. You can also use your knee to help bump their over, lifting their lower leg, though I found I kept leaving more space when I did that, so need to transition faster.
Finally on that, you can also go for an armbar called waki-gatami. I was bit uncertain on this one, but it starts from the same grip. You make as if to try the turnover to get your partner to resist, then instead pull out their arm, leaning into them like you would in reverse scarf hold (but they're in a turtle position with you controlling their arm). Secure their limb with your elbow, keeping your weight down, then slowly lean back to hyperextend their elbow joint to get the tap.
Class finished with some newaza, which has now got to the point where people are allowed to choke and armlock. So, that made things a bit more interesting: I was able to lock on a RNC one of the brown belts, though I think he was probably going easy on me. I didn't feel I had particularly good control, as I only had one vague hook in, but proved enough for the sub. However, was sloppy on my part either way.
With one of the black belts, I had a play around in guard, seeing if I could get a triangle. I managed to get my legs in position, but it didn't feel tight enough for a choke. So instead, I was at long last able to transition to an armbar, turning belly down for the sub. This time there was a bit of a size difference, and again possible that the other guy was going easy, seeing as I had a white belt on.
Last roll was with a green belt (Sam, possibly? Not sure), where I was mostly sitting in guard. Time ran out before I had a chance to do anything, though interestingly seems to be moving more towards the BJJ set-up in class (i.e., not back to back all the time, but starting from the knees).
Kung Fu Panda is showing at the student cinema in about an hour, so will be cool to get a chance to watch that (especially for only £2), as I missed it when it was on general release. The student cinema is really handy for situations like that, although as I'm only up here part of the week, lots of films I'd like to watch but either can't get to at all (if they're on Wednesday or Thursday) or in time (if they're on Friday, which is a pain as I wanted to see Hellboy II, but there's no way I'll make it to uni for 21:30 coming up from Marylebone at 20:00).
26 October 2008
26/10/08 - Judo
Class #7
Warwick Judo (Judo), Chris Page, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK - 26/10/2008
Heavier focus on throws today, covering off three. I think I mixed up names last time (which I'm guessing is likely to happen a lot in the course of my judo logging…), and should have said tai otoshi rather than uki goshi. We did both of those throws today, which made the difference clear.
Tai otoshi is the one Chris showed us last week (see here for JudoInfo animation), where you break their balance by pulling them up and forward, step in between their legs, move that foot across so its over both of their shins, then pull them over your leg.
Uki goshi, on the other hand, is more like the hip throw I'm used to from BJJ (o goshi). It means 'floating hip', apparently, which makes sense given the technique. Again, break their balance (the 'kuzushi' thing), pulling them down then up (if I understood Adam correctly), then step in, bring your arm under their armpit so you can grip their shoulder (though Chris mentioned some people prefer to grab the waist or the belt). You step your leg in the middle of theirs, then pop them up onto your hip, twisting to drop them in front of you (see animation on JudoInfo).
Finally, the ippon seoinage again (JudoInfo animation). This time, Adam emphasised that I should be on the balls of my feet, dip, then swivel in. Chris highlighted the importance of turning your head, which should put you in proper body alignment to best execute the throw.
Tachiwaza (stand-up) sparring went as usual, with me backing off and staying fairly stiff. I need to learn how to be more relaxed, and also how to set-up throws: as with BJJ, main mistake beginners make is that they are too tense. Being aware of the problem is a start, but doesn't solve it, so its something I'll have to focus on. I'm also very passive, again in keeping with my approach to BJJ, which doesn't really work in judo: have to be aggressive to get in those throws, so following through on a technique is something else I need to work on.
To finish, Chris went through some transitions between throwing and pinning, with combinations like the uki goshi straight into scarf hold. That did mean that we sparred with transitions in mind rather than the normal groundwork sparring, which was a shame, but better suited to judo competition rules. There is a grading and a competition coming up, so makes sense to get used to that environment. Personally, I don't care about grading or competing, but I'd assume most of the class do.
Noticed another BJJ guy at class tonight, from Denmark, who seemed interested in joining us for drilling on Sunday. I'm trying to make the Warwick Uni BJJ sessions regularly on a Sunday, as Glen suggested last week: if you've got a regular slot, people will be prepared and start making time for it, rather than the uncertainty of shifting times. Much easier for me to book it now too, as I'm both a Sports Fed member and live near to campus.
Warwick Judo (Judo), Chris Page, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK - 26/10/2008
Heavier focus on throws today, covering off three. I think I mixed up names last time (which I'm guessing is likely to happen a lot in the course of my judo logging…), and should have said tai otoshi rather than uki goshi. We did both of those throws today, which made the difference clear.
Tai otoshi is the one Chris showed us last week (see here for JudoInfo animation), where you break their balance by pulling them up and forward, step in between their legs, move that foot across so its over both of their shins, then pull them over your leg.
Uki goshi, on the other hand, is more like the hip throw I'm used to from BJJ (o goshi). It means 'floating hip', apparently, which makes sense given the technique. Again, break their balance (the 'kuzushi' thing), pulling them down then up (if I understood Adam correctly), then step in, bring your arm under their armpit so you can grip their shoulder (though Chris mentioned some people prefer to grab the waist or the belt). You step your leg in the middle of theirs, then pop them up onto your hip, twisting to drop them in front of you (see animation on JudoInfo).
Finally, the ippon seoinage again (JudoInfo animation). This time, Adam emphasised that I should be on the balls of my feet, dip, then swivel in. Chris highlighted the importance of turning your head, which should put you in proper body alignment to best execute the throw.
Tachiwaza (stand-up) sparring went as usual, with me backing off and staying fairly stiff. I need to learn how to be more relaxed, and also how to set-up throws: as with BJJ, main mistake beginners make is that they are too tense. Being aware of the problem is a start, but doesn't solve it, so its something I'll have to focus on. I'm also very passive, again in keeping with my approach to BJJ, which doesn't really work in judo: have to be aggressive to get in those throws, so following through on a technique is something else I need to work on.
To finish, Chris went through some transitions between throwing and pinning, with combinations like the uki goshi straight into scarf hold. That did mean that we sparred with transitions in mind rather than the normal groundwork sparring, which was a shame, but better suited to judo competition rules. There is a grading and a competition coming up, so makes sense to get used to that environment. Personally, I don't care about grading or competing, but I'd assume most of the class do.
Noticed another BJJ guy at class tonight, from Denmark, who seemed interested in joining us for drilling on Sunday. I'm trying to make the Warwick Uni BJJ sessions regularly on a Sunday, as Glen suggested last week: if you've got a regular slot, people will be prepared and start making time for it, rather than the uncertainty of shifting times. Much easier for me to book it now too, as I'm both a Sports Fed member and live near to campus.
19 October 2008
19/10/2008 - Judo
Class #6
Warwick Judo (Judo), Chris Page, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK - 19/10/2008
It was going to be a long day of grappling, starting off with another meeting of the Warwick Uni BJJ group. I got in a bit of further drilling on the hook and sickle sweep with Rosie, then a small amount of sparring, first with Rosie, then Josh. As ever, I stayed quite passive in sparring, though with Rosie tested out the step over triangle thing again. She was able to turn me with it so I went into guard, eventually got back into side control, triangled her arm and went for kimura. However, I think the weight difference was probably the deciding factor there, as she most likely would have been able to extricate her arm if we'd been closer in size.
The situation was reversed with Josh (a guy from Mill Hill who started at Warwick this year), who has about 20kg on me. I spent almost the whole time either in guard or half guard, moving back to half guard when under mount. I made a couple of attempts at a stack pass, but couldn't get round his legs. Each time, he was able to just scoot back and get to his knees. I need to drive with my hips, stack more, and generally apply greater downward pressure: the usual problem with weight distribution on my part.
Onto the judo: as far as I can tell from the Warwick Judo sites on the Student Union site and Facebook, there are three coaches who teach on Sunday, Monday and Wednesday (so only the first two concern me, as I train BJJ on Wednesdays). Tonight was my first chance to meet Chris, who I hadn't realised only started teaching at Warwick this term.
He's from the Coventry Judo club (which seems to have a very close connection to Warwick Judo): very approachable guy, so had a pleasant chat with him before and after training (he also mentioned he was keen to check out some BJJ, which is cool). He works as a PE and judo teacher, interestingly, as his school actively wanted somebody to train the students in judo as part of the curriculum. Also interesting is that he mentioned there are rugby clubs who basically require their juniors to learn judo before considering them. From what he said, sounds like grass roots judo has a bright future in this country.
The first throw was like the osoto gari (where you reap their leg), but this time, you plant your foot and push them over it. Osoto otoshi, I think? The next technique (uki goshi?) had some similarities, but this time, you step your foot right across the front of their feet. Dip slightly, then pull them over that outstretched leg, which should flip them onto their back. Chris started off teaching it from a kneeling position, to help up get the technique right, which was helpful.
Standing sparring was similar to last time, although it wasn't throw for throw. I was with a French guy who appeared to have done something before, as his throws were crisp and controlled (or at least they looked that way to me, but then I'm a beginner). Unfortunately, in the midst of throwing me all over the place, he suddenly dropped to the floor clutching his knee.
After getting him to a bench, he told me that he has some condition with his knee ligaments that means his kneecap is prone to suddenly slipping out of place. He's been to doctors and specialists, but nobody has been able to help him, so he just puts up with it. Poor guy: real shame, as that must put a major block on progressing his training. He wasn't the only one, as somebody else later busted their finger: both of them left, as they weren't able to continue.
That served to remind me that judo can be an injurious sport. So, when we then moved on to turnovers, I was a little apprehensive. Its an innocuous enough technique, but was how I got injured last time (which put me out of training for seven months). The basic variation is to grab their far elbow with both your hands, pulling towards you while pressing down with your chin on their back, then driving forward into side control.
We later did the specific version that messed me up the last time, which is where you grab their far elbow with one hand, then thread the other hand through their legs, grabbing either around their knee or the fabric of the gi trouser. Then as before, press down and drive through. Chris also showed us a basic hold down to follow on from that, which was to gable grip (palms together) under their arm and head from side control (though he didn't call it that, obviously, given this is judo: I'll have to work out the Japanese term)
Sparring from ground involved no armlocks or strangles again. I tried just turtling, so my partner could work technique, though as a result I tended to end up in guard anyway. Unsurprisingly, as it was all white belts, I got some confused looks: when not turtling, I was tending to hold them in either guard or half guard. However, Chris did say that an escape from side control was to step your leg over, meaning he was basically showing us how to snatch half guard. So, thought it worth doing in sparring, though I tried not to just cling on, as that's never fruitful (especially when your training partners aren't familiar with the position and therefore haven't been shown passes etc).
Of course, it was very different with Chris. He took it fairly easy, turtling to give me a chance to work the technique he'd shown earlier. I wasn't able to turn him, so he emphasised pressing down with my chin, which seemed to help.
When he moved through to scarf hold, I ended up on his back and in guard, but I got the impression he was perfectly aware of how to pass, but was in instructor mode, so easing off. After all, he was trained by Neil Adams, so certainly knows his stuff on the ground.
Not sure if I'll do the Monday session, as I'm likely to be bit sore after all that grappling. We'll see: its going to take me a while to settle into my new training pattern.
Warwick Judo (Judo), Chris Page, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK - 19/10/2008
It was going to be a long day of grappling, starting off with another meeting of the Warwick Uni BJJ group. I got in a bit of further drilling on the hook and sickle sweep with Rosie, then a small amount of sparring, first with Rosie, then Josh. As ever, I stayed quite passive in sparring, though with Rosie tested out the step over triangle thing again. She was able to turn me with it so I went into guard, eventually got back into side control, triangled her arm and went for kimura. However, I think the weight difference was probably the deciding factor there, as she most likely would have been able to extricate her arm if we'd been closer in size.
The situation was reversed with Josh (a guy from Mill Hill who started at Warwick this year), who has about 20kg on me. I spent almost the whole time either in guard or half guard, moving back to half guard when under mount. I made a couple of attempts at a stack pass, but couldn't get round his legs. Each time, he was able to just scoot back and get to his knees. I need to drive with my hips, stack more, and generally apply greater downward pressure: the usual problem with weight distribution on my part.
Onto the judo: as far as I can tell from the Warwick Judo sites on the Student Union site and Facebook, there are three coaches who teach on Sunday, Monday and Wednesday (so only the first two concern me, as I train BJJ on Wednesdays). Tonight was my first chance to meet Chris, who I hadn't realised only started teaching at Warwick this term.
He's from the Coventry Judo club (which seems to have a very close connection to Warwick Judo): very approachable guy, so had a pleasant chat with him before and after training (he also mentioned he was keen to check out some BJJ, which is cool). He works as a PE and judo teacher, interestingly, as his school actively wanted somebody to train the students in judo as part of the curriculum. Also interesting is that he mentioned there are rugby clubs who basically require their juniors to learn judo before considering them. From what he said, sounds like grass roots judo has a bright future in this country.
The first throw was like the osoto gari (where you reap their leg), but this time, you plant your foot and push them over it. Osoto otoshi, I think? The next technique (uki goshi?) had some similarities, but this time, you step your foot right across the front of their feet. Dip slightly, then pull them over that outstretched leg, which should flip them onto their back. Chris started off teaching it from a kneeling position, to help up get the technique right, which was helpful.
Standing sparring was similar to last time, although it wasn't throw for throw. I was with a French guy who appeared to have done something before, as his throws were crisp and controlled (or at least they looked that way to me, but then I'm a beginner). Unfortunately, in the midst of throwing me all over the place, he suddenly dropped to the floor clutching his knee.
After getting him to a bench, he told me that he has some condition with his knee ligaments that means his kneecap is prone to suddenly slipping out of place. He's been to doctors and specialists, but nobody has been able to help him, so he just puts up with it. Poor guy: real shame, as that must put a major block on progressing his training. He wasn't the only one, as somebody else later busted their finger: both of them left, as they weren't able to continue.
That served to remind me that judo can be an injurious sport. So, when we then moved on to turnovers, I was a little apprehensive. Its an innocuous enough technique, but was how I got injured last time (which put me out of training for seven months). The basic variation is to grab their far elbow with both your hands, pulling towards you while pressing down with your chin on their back, then driving forward into side control.
We later did the specific version that messed me up the last time, which is where you grab their far elbow with one hand, then thread the other hand through their legs, grabbing either around their knee or the fabric of the gi trouser. Then as before, press down and drive through. Chris also showed us a basic hold down to follow on from that, which was to gable grip (palms together) under their arm and head from side control (though he didn't call it that, obviously, given this is judo: I'll have to work out the Japanese term)
Sparring from ground involved no armlocks or strangles again. I tried just turtling, so my partner could work technique, though as a result I tended to end up in guard anyway. Unsurprisingly, as it was all white belts, I got some confused looks: when not turtling, I was tending to hold them in either guard or half guard. However, Chris did say that an escape from side control was to step your leg over, meaning he was basically showing us how to snatch half guard. So, thought it worth doing in sparring, though I tried not to just cling on, as that's never fruitful (especially when your training partners aren't familiar with the position and therefore haven't been shown passes etc).
Of course, it was very different with Chris. He took it fairly easy, turtling to give me a chance to work the technique he'd shown earlier. I wasn't able to turn him, so he emphasised pressing down with my chin, which seemed to help.
When he moved through to scarf hold, I ended up on his back and in guard, but I got the impression he was perfectly aware of how to pass, but was in instructor mode, so easing off. After all, he was trained by Neil Adams, so certainly knows his stuff on the ground.
Not sure if I'll do the Monday session, as I'm likely to be bit sore after all that grappling. We'll see: its going to take me a while to settle into my new training pattern.
13 October 2008
13/10/2008 - Judo
Class #5
Warwick Judo (Judo), Iain Cunningham, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK - 13/10/2008
Back to the Cryfield Sports Pavilion tonight, though this time my girlfriend agreed to come along. Very cool, and hopefully she'll find she likes the sport, but will take a while to see if it appeals to her. I lent her my Blitz judo gi, which fittingly enough is the one I bought from Warwick Judo back in 2005. I've recently bought a new judo gi, from Black Eagle, which was getting its first try tonight. It seems to have shrunk down ok (though the belt is still rather too long), after a half-hour stint in the spin-drier, but I'd also managed to stain a few chunks vaguely pink, due to the red hoody I was washing at the same time. Meh.
The session this Monday was only an hour, as on the second Monday of the month, there is another group who eat up the last thirty minutes of judo's allotted time. Things started off as before, with a bit of stretching followed by a load of breakfalling, after which the class was split into two. Those who had trained for a little while went with Iain, while newcomers (there were quite a few who popped in slightly later) were gathered up the other end of the mats by Adam.
My girlfriend and I joined that group, presumably because not only were we new, but none of the newcomers were wearing a gi. That was unfortunate for my gf in one respect, as people assumed she knew what she was doing: this was her first lesson, so most definitely the wrong impression on their part!
While I had done BJJ and a teeny amount of judo before, I made sure that my own partner didn't get the wrong idea, steering him towards Adam when he had technical questions. That was useful for me too, of course: for example, on the ippon seionage (the one where you punch up under their arm), Adam explained that the reason you grip using your arm rather than drive up with your shoulder is that the latter leaves you open for a choke.
There was also some handy instruction about the three steps to any judo throw, though I can only remember the one I've heard before, kuzushi (breaking balance, like where you step to their side whilst pushing their collar towards their head and pulling their arm down). The last one was execution, but can't remember what came in the middle. Again, will have to go have a look on JudoInfo.
I also found I'm still having trouble sweeping the leg properly on the osoto gari, which is something I've messed up ever since we did something similar way back in Zhuan Shu Kuan (I think for the black tag grading, which involved throws, but I never bothered going for: however, acted as partner for Paddy when he was practicing, which is how I ended up doing the throw). I need to make sure I'm whacking my leg into their calf muscle, keeping it straight and swinging straight through. At the moment, I'm tending to hook it instead, which kills the momentum and messes up the throw.
As I was in the absolute beginner group, there wasn't any randori this time, which was probably no bad thing, as that meant my girlfriend could ease into the class. She liked learning new techniques, with the three throws we were shown (the big hip throw, o goshi, the trip, osoto gari (which I keep thinking is tai otoshi, but that's something else), and that arm throw, ippon seionage), but hated breakfalling. Hopefully its something she'll be able to get used to so it becomes instinctual: we've got mats at home, so I can help her practice here, presuming she fancies making judo a regular thing.
Salsa tomorrow, which should be fun. I'm especially looking forward to the socialising, which unfortunately has been difficult at judo so far. Their socials all appear to be on the Wednesday, which is when I'm in London at BJJ, so can't make it. Hopefully they'll do a social on Saturday some time, but salsa shouldn't be a problem: they apparently go drinking straight after the session on Tuesday night. :D
Warwick Judo (Judo), Iain Cunningham, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK - 13/10/2008
Back to the Cryfield Sports Pavilion tonight, though this time my girlfriend agreed to come along. Very cool, and hopefully she'll find she likes the sport, but will take a while to see if it appeals to her. I lent her my Blitz judo gi, which fittingly enough is the one I bought from Warwick Judo back in 2005. I've recently bought a new judo gi, from Black Eagle, which was getting its first try tonight. It seems to have shrunk down ok (though the belt is still rather too long), after a half-hour stint in the spin-drier, but I'd also managed to stain a few chunks vaguely pink, due to the red hoody I was washing at the same time. Meh.
The session this Monday was only an hour, as on the second Monday of the month, there is another group who eat up the last thirty minutes of judo's allotted time. Things started off as before, with a bit of stretching followed by a load of breakfalling, after which the class was split into two. Those who had trained for a little while went with Iain, while newcomers (there were quite a few who popped in slightly later) were gathered up the other end of the mats by Adam.
My girlfriend and I joined that group, presumably because not only were we new, but none of the newcomers were wearing a gi. That was unfortunate for my gf in one respect, as people assumed she knew what she was doing: this was her first lesson, so most definitely the wrong impression on their part!
While I had done BJJ and a teeny amount of judo before, I made sure that my own partner didn't get the wrong idea, steering him towards Adam when he had technical questions. That was useful for me too, of course: for example, on the ippon seionage (the one where you punch up under their arm), Adam explained that the reason you grip using your arm rather than drive up with your shoulder is that the latter leaves you open for a choke.
There was also some handy instruction about the three steps to any judo throw, though I can only remember the one I've heard before, kuzushi (breaking balance, like where you step to their side whilst pushing their collar towards their head and pulling their arm down). The last one was execution, but can't remember what came in the middle. Again, will have to go have a look on JudoInfo.
I also found I'm still having trouble sweeping the leg properly on the osoto gari, which is something I've messed up ever since we did something similar way back in Zhuan Shu Kuan (I think for the black tag grading, which involved throws, but I never bothered going for: however, acted as partner for Paddy when he was practicing, which is how I ended up doing the throw). I need to make sure I'm whacking my leg into their calf muscle, keeping it straight and swinging straight through. At the moment, I'm tending to hook it instead, which kills the momentum and messes up the throw.
As I was in the absolute beginner group, there wasn't any randori this time, which was probably no bad thing, as that meant my girlfriend could ease into the class. She liked learning new techniques, with the three throws we were shown (the big hip throw, o goshi, the trip, osoto gari (which I keep thinking is tai otoshi, but that's something else), and that arm throw, ippon seionage), but hated breakfalling. Hopefully its something she'll be able to get used to so it becomes instinctual: we've got mats at home, so I can help her practice here, presuming she fancies making judo a regular thing.
Salsa tomorrow, which should be fun. I'm especially looking forward to the socialising, which unfortunately has been difficult at judo so far. Their socials all appear to be on the Wednesday, which is when I'm in London at BJJ, so can't make it. Hopefully they'll do a social on Saturday some time, but salsa shouldn't be a problem: they apparently go drinking straight after the session on Tuesday night. :D
06 October 2008
06/10/2008 - Judo
Class #4
Warwick Judo (Judo), Iain Cunningham, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK - 06/10/2008
Before I get onto the judo, just wanted to mention that The Grapplers Guide (which I reviewed last week) is shifting its fee structure. It began with a $47 annual fee, then moved to a $9.95 per month, and is about to go to a $127 lifetime subscription. So, if you want to give it a trial for $9.95 rather than jumping straight in with the lifetime fee, sign up before the 10th October. IIRC, if you like the site you can then upgrade to a lifetime membership for $40. Pricey stuff, but if you're interested, take a look at my review for an idea of what you get for all that cash (I'll need to update that again when the fee structure changes).
I've had a rather busy week up until now, having moved house over the course of several days, with lots of box-unpacking to look forward to. I took two days off work so I could spend the whole week helping my girlfriend with settling in after we initially got our stuff over (those extra days have proved very handy, as she has been quite ill for the last few days), which meant that I didn't get in any BJJ.
However, now that I'm nearer to University, I can finally give the Warwick Judo club another try. My last attempt three years ago was cut short, as I got injured in my third lesson and wasn't able to train for roughly seven months afterwards. This time, I'm hoping that my grappling experience from RGA will help me stay safe: I wasn't going to be taking any chances!
Monday sessions are in the Cryfield Pavilion, which I haven't been to for a good six years: last occasion was a brief stint at ballroom dancing with my girlfriend when she was still an undergrad and during my MA. Changing rooms are off the far side, and randomly separated in numbered rooms, rather than one big area for changing. The actual lesson takes place upstairs.
Had a chance to chat to some people beforehand, like Adam (who I spoke to at the Sports Fair last week), a few fellow new people (although one of them, Graham, is a brown belt, so just new to that club rather than the sport), and Sophie, the sole female judoka there tonight. She mentioned that there are about five or six girls around, so hopefully there will be several training: my girlfriend said she'd come down when she's feeling better, so would be good to have some other women to help her ease into the sport.
The warm-up was fairly brief and light, loosening up the neck, breakfalling and some cartwheels, after which the instructor, Iain, moved into the first throw. Can't remember what its called, but it starts with the usual grip, with one hand holding the same side sleeve by the elbow, while the other hand holds the same side collar. Swivel in so your back is pressed against your partner, pulling their arm and collar over the same shoulder, pressing the elbow of the collar-grabbing hand up under their armpit. Squat, lift, then drop them over your shoulder.
Iain followed up that throw by dropping into north south: basically plop onto their chest, scooping your elbows under their arms and pulling in close to restrict their movement. You can also switch to reverse scarf hold, by bringing one arm under theirs and gripping behind the neck, shifting your hips to the other side of their head, then stepping through with your rear leg. Pull up their other arm, then settle into the pin.
He also demonstrated how to hold standard scarf hold, then showed us an escape from scarf hold. This is a little similar to what I've seen in BJJ, where you try and isolate the floating rib, but with the far more straightforward approach of grabbing their belt with both hands, around the side. Move your legs in close to their body, then bridge up and back, aiming to drive their head into the floor. Roll over your own shoulders, bringing them over the top of you, ending up in scarf hold yourself.
To prevent your partner escaping your scarf hold that easily, use the variation Dan showed me a while back, where you grab your own leg. Remember to actually grip the fabric of your trousers, not just hold your leg like I was doing. Apparently this is called 'pillow scarf hold' or something like in Japanese: began with M? Meh: I can always have a good read through JudoInfo to get the terminology down.
I may be mixing up the order here, but either before or after that we went through two trips - osoto-gari, I think? Again you have that collar and sleeve grip, but this time step out with your outside leg, so that you can then swing your other leg through, reap their leg, and drive them to the floor by pulling the elbow and pushing the shoulder. Points to note are to stay close, knocking them with your shoulder, keeping your hip tight.
Iain then demonstrated the 'minor' version of that, which I think he said was kosoto-gari, but may have misheard. Instead of stepping out with your outside leg, you step in, then sweep your other leg sideways and back, knocking out their other leg. You also push on the shoulder differently: rather than holding and dragging across, push the collar right over their shoulder and drive them forward to the floor.
That meant it was now time for randori, starting with standing. It was great being a white belt again, as all the seniors were told to go lightly on us beginners. The sparring was also fairly restrained (at least with the senior belts: as usual, over-enthusiastic white belts were a different story), with the instructor telling us to stay light, going throw for throw. Again proved the maxim that its best to stick with the higher belts, as they don't go nuts, carefully placing you on the floor rather than attempting to slam you through the mats.
As ever, I stayed passive, which was even easier than normal due to the throw-for-throw thing. I think we did about four rounds of three minutes, with a line-up where you stepped one to the right in order to train with a different person each time (I prefer picking my training partners, like at RGA, as that means I can avoid people who are injury risks, but meh).
Having covered stand-up, it was time for another few rounds of randori, this time on the ground. Naturally I was a lot more comfortable there, though there were two major differences to what I'm used to from BJJ: you start back to back rather than facing each other, and no strangles or armlocks allowed against beginners.
Of course, I'm still more interested in escapes than submissions anyway, so that restriction suited me fine: it meant I spent most of the sparring holding to other person either in guard or half-guard. The seniors were taking it easy, which made for very relaxed sparring: they also didn't mind if I popped up on their back, but then given the lack of submissions, that was a bit of a pointless place to be. So, next time I'll aim to get in side control or mount, or underneath to work escapes.
I was vaguely looking to work some sweeps, as I was in guard, but didn't really get anywhere. Also found it interesting to spar with people who weren't going for the usual techniques: in BJJ, they'd be standing up and driving their hips forward, whereas the beginners here were obviously unfamiliar with the ground, so haven't yet got a clear goal when rolling.
The sparring wasn't all back to back, as the very last roll was done with one knee up, so sort of like combat base. That made it even easier for me to go straight to half-guard, by which point I was trying to work back to full guard rather than go round to my partner's back. Will definitely try to have a better plan of action next session: should be interesting to see how (if?) escapes differ when you're in a judo class.
Iain finished up with a warm-down, stretching, then a quick bit of exercise (press-ups, sit-ups and – more randomly – skipping with our belts). Having taken off our belts, it seemed that the done thing was to take off your jacket too. I couldn't help thinking when everyone was stretching and thrusting their chests out that it must have looked very silly to the lone female there, as a bunch of half-naked blokes stood around posing. ;)
Always good to warm-down though, which is a plus point for any class: especially important as you get older, though that isn't much of a concern for university classes. I could have stayed on for another hour of fitness, but wanted to get back to my girlfriend, who was lying ill in bed (seems to be improving though, so hopefully we'll be able to walk onto campus tomorrow to check out the second day of the Societies Fair).
Warwick Judo (Judo), Iain Cunningham, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK - 06/10/2008
Before I get onto the judo, just wanted to mention that The Grapplers Guide (which I reviewed last week) is shifting its fee structure. It began with a $47 annual fee, then moved to a $9.95 per month, and is about to go to a $127 lifetime subscription. So, if you want to give it a trial for $9.95 rather than jumping straight in with the lifetime fee, sign up before the 10th October. IIRC, if you like the site you can then upgrade to a lifetime membership for $40. Pricey stuff, but if you're interested, take a look at my review for an idea of what you get for all that cash (I'll need to update that again when the fee structure changes).
I've had a rather busy week up until now, having moved house over the course of several days, with lots of box-unpacking to look forward to. I took two days off work so I could spend the whole week helping my girlfriend with settling in after we initially got our stuff over (those extra days have proved very handy, as she has been quite ill for the last few days), which meant that I didn't get in any BJJ.
However, now that I'm nearer to University, I can finally give the Warwick Judo club another try. My last attempt three years ago was cut short, as I got injured in my third lesson and wasn't able to train for roughly seven months afterwards. This time, I'm hoping that my grappling experience from RGA will help me stay safe: I wasn't going to be taking any chances!
Monday sessions are in the Cryfield Pavilion, which I haven't been to for a good six years: last occasion was a brief stint at ballroom dancing with my girlfriend when she was still an undergrad and during my MA. Changing rooms are off the far side, and randomly separated in numbered rooms, rather than one big area for changing. The actual lesson takes place upstairs.
Had a chance to chat to some people beforehand, like Adam (who I spoke to at the Sports Fair last week), a few fellow new people (although one of them, Graham, is a brown belt, so just new to that club rather than the sport), and Sophie, the sole female judoka there tonight. She mentioned that there are about five or six girls around, so hopefully there will be several training: my girlfriend said she'd come down when she's feeling better, so would be good to have some other women to help her ease into the sport.
The warm-up was fairly brief and light, loosening up the neck, breakfalling and some cartwheels, after which the instructor, Iain, moved into the first throw. Can't remember what its called, but it starts with the usual grip, with one hand holding the same side sleeve by the elbow, while the other hand holds the same side collar. Swivel in so your back is pressed against your partner, pulling their arm and collar over the same shoulder, pressing the elbow of the collar-grabbing hand up under their armpit. Squat, lift, then drop them over your shoulder.
Iain followed up that throw by dropping into north south: basically plop onto their chest, scooping your elbows under their arms and pulling in close to restrict their movement. You can also switch to reverse scarf hold, by bringing one arm under theirs and gripping behind the neck, shifting your hips to the other side of their head, then stepping through with your rear leg. Pull up their other arm, then settle into the pin.
He also demonstrated how to hold standard scarf hold, then showed us an escape from scarf hold. This is a little similar to what I've seen in BJJ, where you try and isolate the floating rib, but with the far more straightforward approach of grabbing their belt with both hands, around the side. Move your legs in close to their body, then bridge up and back, aiming to drive their head into the floor. Roll over your own shoulders, bringing them over the top of you, ending up in scarf hold yourself.
To prevent your partner escaping your scarf hold that easily, use the variation Dan showed me a while back, where you grab your own leg. Remember to actually grip the fabric of your trousers, not just hold your leg like I was doing. Apparently this is called 'pillow scarf hold' or something like in Japanese: began with M? Meh: I can always have a good read through JudoInfo to get the terminology down.
I may be mixing up the order here, but either before or after that we went through two trips - osoto-gari, I think? Again you have that collar and sleeve grip, but this time step out with your outside leg, so that you can then swing your other leg through, reap their leg, and drive them to the floor by pulling the elbow and pushing the shoulder. Points to note are to stay close, knocking them with your shoulder, keeping your hip tight.
Iain then demonstrated the 'minor' version of that, which I think he said was kosoto-gari, but may have misheard. Instead of stepping out with your outside leg, you step in, then sweep your other leg sideways and back, knocking out their other leg. You also push on the shoulder differently: rather than holding and dragging across, push the collar right over their shoulder and drive them forward to the floor.
That meant it was now time for randori, starting with standing. It was great being a white belt again, as all the seniors were told to go lightly on us beginners. The sparring was also fairly restrained (at least with the senior belts: as usual, over-enthusiastic white belts were a different story), with the instructor telling us to stay light, going throw for throw. Again proved the maxim that its best to stick with the higher belts, as they don't go nuts, carefully placing you on the floor rather than attempting to slam you through the mats.
As ever, I stayed passive, which was even easier than normal due to the throw-for-throw thing. I think we did about four rounds of three minutes, with a line-up where you stepped one to the right in order to train with a different person each time (I prefer picking my training partners, like at RGA, as that means I can avoid people who are injury risks, but meh).
Having covered stand-up, it was time for another few rounds of randori, this time on the ground. Naturally I was a lot more comfortable there, though there were two major differences to what I'm used to from BJJ: you start back to back rather than facing each other, and no strangles or armlocks allowed against beginners.
Of course, I'm still more interested in escapes than submissions anyway, so that restriction suited me fine: it meant I spent most of the sparring holding to other person either in guard or half-guard. The seniors were taking it easy, which made for very relaxed sparring: they also didn't mind if I popped up on their back, but then given the lack of submissions, that was a bit of a pointless place to be. So, next time I'll aim to get in side control or mount, or underneath to work escapes.
I was vaguely looking to work some sweeps, as I was in guard, but didn't really get anywhere. Also found it interesting to spar with people who weren't going for the usual techniques: in BJJ, they'd be standing up and driving their hips forward, whereas the beginners here were obviously unfamiliar with the ground, so haven't yet got a clear goal when rolling.
The sparring wasn't all back to back, as the very last roll was done with one knee up, so sort of like combat base. That made it even easier for me to go straight to half-guard, by which point I was trying to work back to full guard rather than go round to my partner's back. Will definitely try to have a better plan of action next session: should be interesting to see how (if?) escapes differ when you're in a judo class.
Iain finished up with a warm-down, stretching, then a quick bit of exercise (press-ups, sit-ups and – more randomly – skipping with our belts). Having taken off our belts, it seemed that the done thing was to take off your jacket too. I couldn't help thinking when everyone was stretching and thrusting their chests out that it must have looked very silly to the lone female there, as a bunch of half-naked blokes stood around posing. ;)
Always good to warm-down though, which is a plus point for any class: especially important as you get older, though that isn't much of a concern for university classes. I could have stayed on for another hour of fitness, but wanted to get back to my girlfriend, who was lying ill in bed (seems to be improving though, so hopefully we'll be able to walk onto campus tomorrow to check out the second day of the Societies Fair).
26 October 2005
26/10/05 - Judo - INJURED!!
Class #3
26/10/05 – Judo, University of Warwick
I’d been looking forward to the judo, having decided that its probably where I’m going to get the most useful training, as I haven’t yet found an affordable BJJ place. I wore my ZSK gi top, which had been languishing at the bottom of a cupboard for a few years now, because I hate wearing it. However, it was better than a t-shirt for judo, so I pulled it out of retirement.
The session followed the same pattern as last time, with a quick warm-up (running round the mats then on the stop, breakfalls, stretches etc) after which we moved onto turnovers from hands and knees (commonly known as the turtle). Firstly the guy curled up grabbed the other guys arm above the elbow and pulled him across, then the other guy executed either a two hand grab on their rear arm, or took hold of their rear leg and arm, again pulling to turn them onto their back in each case. The annoying bloke I got paired with last week was looking around for a partner, and I tried to avoid him; unfortunately, there was no-one else.
So, we each went through it five times. Then the class was told to do another two, each side. Now, my partner was the sort of person who was determined to prove his incredible manliness by doing techniques as fast and hard as he could. Unfortunately for me, this meant that he did the technique wrong, leaving me on my side rather than my back, whereupon he slammed his entire bodyweight onto my right shoulder, which was now lined up with the left. Said left shoulder protested with a loud click, and the shooting pain meant I wasn’t going to be doing anything else that session.
Resisting the urge to kick my ‘training partner’ in the face, I remained civil while clutching my shoulder. If this had been a ZSK class, the instructor or one of the exec would have rushed over to check I was ok, then got a first aid kit. The instructors hadn't noticed me, but I guess they were busy teaching, which would be understandable. So, I got up and, still clutching my shoulder and in obvious pain, asked one of them if they had any ice, or indeed a first aid kit. Whereupon I was told to go to reception. Two floors down. Great.
Reception managed to get me an ice pack, but apparently were low on resources due to a hockey match. Its reassuring to know that the £30 fee that has recently been introduced for all students who want to use the sports centre is being used so well – I certainly enjoyed the fabulous health benefits, such as a physio who was only available on appointment and the marvellous first aid provision of one swiftly lukewarm ice pack.
Needless to say, I spent the next two hours (catching a bus and then two trains as normal) getting home to Birmingham feeling pretty pissed off. Just as that illness was finally abating after three weeks of grogginess, my shoulder got busted; so, that’s probably another week or two off training, maybe longer. *&^)%# over-enthusiastic noobs!!!
[Note: Took way longer than a week - I was out for around 7 months!. Exactly a year after that injury, I finally tried out BJJ. The rest is history ;D]
26/10/05 – Judo, University of Warwick
I’d been looking forward to the judo, having decided that its probably where I’m going to get the most useful training, as I haven’t yet found an affordable BJJ place. I wore my ZSK gi top, which had been languishing at the bottom of a cupboard for a few years now, because I hate wearing it. However, it was better than a t-shirt for judo, so I pulled it out of retirement.
The session followed the same pattern as last time, with a quick warm-up (running round the mats then on the stop, breakfalls, stretches etc) after which we moved onto turnovers from hands and knees (commonly known as the turtle). Firstly the guy curled up grabbed the other guys arm above the elbow and pulled him across, then the other guy executed either a two hand grab on their rear arm, or took hold of their rear leg and arm, again pulling to turn them onto their back in each case. The annoying bloke I got paired with last week was looking around for a partner, and I tried to avoid him; unfortunately, there was no-one else.
So, we each went through it five times. Then the class was told to do another two, each side. Now, my partner was the sort of person who was determined to prove his incredible manliness by doing techniques as fast and hard as he could. Unfortunately for me, this meant that he did the technique wrong, leaving me on my side rather than my back, whereupon he slammed his entire bodyweight onto my right shoulder, which was now lined up with the left. Said left shoulder protested with a loud click, and the shooting pain meant I wasn’t going to be doing anything else that session.
Resisting the urge to kick my ‘training partner’ in the face, I remained civil while clutching my shoulder. If this had been a ZSK class, the instructor or one of the exec would have rushed over to check I was ok, then got a first aid kit. The instructors hadn't noticed me, but I guess they were busy teaching, which would be understandable. So, I got up and, still clutching my shoulder and in obvious pain, asked one of them if they had any ice, or indeed a first aid kit. Whereupon I was told to go to reception. Two floors down. Great.
Reception managed to get me an ice pack, but apparently were low on resources due to a hockey match. Its reassuring to know that the £30 fee that has recently been introduced for all students who want to use the sports centre is being used so well – I certainly enjoyed the fabulous health benefits, such as a physio who was only available on appointment and the marvellous first aid provision of one swiftly lukewarm ice pack.
Needless to say, I spent the next two hours (catching a bus and then two trains as normal) getting home to Birmingham feeling pretty pissed off. Just as that illness was finally abating after three weeks of grogginess, my shoulder got busted; so, that’s probably another week or two off training, maybe longer. *&^)%# over-enthusiastic noobs!!!
[Note: Took way longer than a week - I was out for around 7 months!. Exactly a year after that injury, I finally tried out BJJ. The rest is history ;D]
19 October 2005
19/10/2005 - Judo
Class #2
19/10/05 – Judo, University of Warwick
My fortnight of flu meant I’d missed two sessions of judo, and it seems things have moved on since then rather more than with Kempo. On the plus side, judo wasn’t suffering from the continued fresher-stuffing that kempo strained under, meaning I actually had room to do the warm-up, which makes a comfortable change.
After the warm-up, things became more confusing. In the last two weeks, there has clearly been a number of throws and positions taught, but fortunately that position seemed to be a variation on the scarf hold, which I’d done several years before with the judo black belt I mentioned earlier in this thread. While I recognised the name of the north-south position, I wasn’t too hot at actually doing it, and the instructors went through the holds rather fast. Worse still, my training partner was even more clueless than I was, but we did eventually manage to get something resembling a scarf hold – the fact that the rest of the class had already moved on several steps was a minor issue…
Next up, we were supposed to sit back to back and try to get into scarf hold or north-south, and the other person was supposed to escape. I instinctually started going for guillotines and arm-bars instead, falling back into guard. This was foolish, and I duly got a telling off from one of the instructors, whilst I was in the middle of a ponderous triangle set-up, that we shouldn’t be attempting chokes and locks at this stage. So, won’t be making that schoolboy error again! Hopefully won’t be too long before the class gets into submissions and the like.
After that, we did a quick bit of breakfalling, following by throws. These were then executed up and down the room, initially without completing the throw, then doing the throw on the last go. Not having a judo gi was a definite disadvantage here, as my t-shirt really didn’t enjoy being the fulcrum of a throw. Still, I got the chance to try and work the one throw I’d done before in ZSK, which was the basic hip throw thing, and another one I hadn’t, which seemed similar but with a strange elbow-in-armpit motion. There was also a trip, which I hadn’t done in that form before, but the principle was relatively simple even for a beginner like me.
Next week, I should hopefully be getting my gi, which will make throws a lot more pleasant. I doubt I’ll bother grading, but I’ll wait and see if it makes sense; having become entirely disillusioned with the grading system in ZSK (except for black belt, which seems like the only grade you genuinely do something worthwhile for), I won’t be rushing into any other MA gradings.
Might be training again on the Saturday and Sunday, depending how much wine I get through on the Saturday night – first social of the year, which I’ve been looking forward to for a long time now!
19/10/05 – Judo, University of Warwick
My fortnight of flu meant I’d missed two sessions of judo, and it seems things have moved on since then rather more than with Kempo. On the plus side, judo wasn’t suffering from the continued fresher-stuffing that kempo strained under, meaning I actually had room to do the warm-up, which makes a comfortable change.
After the warm-up, things became more confusing. In the last two weeks, there has clearly been a number of throws and positions taught, but fortunately that position seemed to be a variation on the scarf hold, which I’d done several years before with the judo black belt I mentioned earlier in this thread. While I recognised the name of the north-south position, I wasn’t too hot at actually doing it, and the instructors went through the holds rather fast. Worse still, my training partner was even more clueless than I was, but we did eventually manage to get something resembling a scarf hold – the fact that the rest of the class had already moved on several steps was a minor issue…
Next up, we were supposed to sit back to back and try to get into scarf hold or north-south, and the other person was supposed to escape. I instinctually started going for guillotines and arm-bars instead, falling back into guard. This was foolish, and I duly got a telling off from one of the instructors, whilst I was in the middle of a ponderous triangle set-up, that we shouldn’t be attempting chokes and locks at this stage. So, won’t be making that schoolboy error again! Hopefully won’t be too long before the class gets into submissions and the like.
After that, we did a quick bit of breakfalling, following by throws. These were then executed up and down the room, initially without completing the throw, then doing the throw on the last go. Not having a judo gi was a definite disadvantage here, as my t-shirt really didn’t enjoy being the fulcrum of a throw. Still, I got the chance to try and work the one throw I’d done before in ZSK, which was the basic hip throw thing, and another one I hadn’t, which seemed similar but with a strange elbow-in-armpit motion. There was also a trip, which I hadn’t done in that form before, but the principle was relatively simple even for a beginner like me.
Next week, I should hopefully be getting my gi, which will make throws a lot more pleasant. I doubt I’ll bother grading, but I’ll wait and see if it makes sense; having become entirely disillusioned with the grading system in ZSK (except for black belt, which seems like the only grade you genuinely do something worthwhile for), I won’t be rushing into any other MA gradings.
Might be training again on the Saturday and Sunday, depending how much wine I get through on the Saturday night – first social of the year, which I’ve been looking forward to for a long time now!
28 September 2005
28/09/2005 - Judo
Class #1
28/09/05 – Judo, University of Warwick
I finally got round to trying out the University of Warwick Judo club today – as with many other MAs at Warwick, its one I’ve been meaning to try out since my second year in 2000. I had a chat to the instructor and some of the senior belts beforehand, and they seemed a friendly bunch. I’d already spoken to the instructor (who is only a brown belt, but more importantly has 12 years experience; I find the latter a rather better indicator) at the Sports Fair, trying to establish how much submission work they did in class – he claimed about 50/50 with throws. This initial class didn’t really give me a good impression of that (and some of the club members warned me that I shouldn’t take it as representative of a normal class, which is of course sensible as like the ZSK session I mentioned earlier, it was the first one crammed with freshers), as it involved things like a bit of ‘British Bulldog’ to show how to turn someone from their back, and a bunch of demonstrations by the grades (throws etc).
I waited patiently for some groundwork as we were shown the basic hip throw, and hoped that the demonstration of some locks would provide me with what I wanted. They did show some armlocks, but not what I was used to (but then, I’m only used to armbars from the guard and the mount). Chokes also cropped up, but only using the gi collar, which I guess isn’t surprising for a judo class.
The class finished up with a demonstration of randori by various grades. Again, I was hoping I might see some submissions, but only throws were in evidence. Its something I’ll have to put up with, as throws don’t massively interest me – what I want is groundwork. However, judo is probably the most I’m going to get at Warwick Uni, as there is an irritating lack of grappling styles; the only other class that claimed to do groundwork was something by the name of ‘Kempo Ju Jitsu’. Apparently, they finish up classes with 20 mins of rolling (though starting from knees, which I’m not fond of), which sounds promising. I’ll be checking it out later this week on Saturday (once I’ve fed the guinea pig back in Brum that morning!).
28/09/05 – Judo, University of Warwick
I finally got round to trying out the University of Warwick Judo club today – as with many other MAs at Warwick, its one I’ve been meaning to try out since my second year in 2000. I had a chat to the instructor and some of the senior belts beforehand, and they seemed a friendly bunch. I’d already spoken to the instructor (who is only a brown belt, but more importantly has 12 years experience; I find the latter a rather better indicator) at the Sports Fair, trying to establish how much submission work they did in class – he claimed about 50/50 with throws. This initial class didn’t really give me a good impression of that (and some of the club members warned me that I shouldn’t take it as representative of a normal class, which is of course sensible as like the ZSK session I mentioned earlier, it was the first one crammed with freshers), as it involved things like a bit of ‘British Bulldog’ to show how to turn someone from their back, and a bunch of demonstrations by the grades (throws etc).
I waited patiently for some groundwork as we were shown the basic hip throw, and hoped that the demonstration of some locks would provide me with what I wanted. They did show some armlocks, but not what I was used to (but then, I’m only used to armbars from the guard and the mount). Chokes also cropped up, but only using the gi collar, which I guess isn’t surprising for a judo class.
The class finished up with a demonstration of randori by various grades. Again, I was hoping I might see some submissions, but only throws were in evidence. Its something I’ll have to put up with, as throws don’t massively interest me – what I want is groundwork. However, judo is probably the most I’m going to get at Warwick Uni, as there is an irritating lack of grappling styles; the only other class that claimed to do groundwork was something by the name of ‘Kempo Ju Jitsu’. Apparently, they finish up classes with 20 mins of rolling (though starting from knees, which I’m not fond of), which sounds promising. I’ll be checking it out later this week on Saturday (once I’ve fed the guinea pig back in Brum that morning!).
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