How to Make Your Judo Training More Effective
Oct 25, 2021
Hello and welcome to the first article in Effective Judo. The official blog of myself, Neil Adams.
Over my career as both a Judo Player which saw me become champion of the world and as a coach which lead to training many elite Judo player across the globe it would be fair to say I have learned the importance of a sound technical base and the vital role it has in progression of talent .
My passion for Judo has now lead to the development of what I feel will become my legacy- a range of educational programmes for Judoka across the world that can be accessed by everyone.
Judo Excellence is the flagship part of that programme and I know many of you have seen part one of this online training tool from Fighting Films. Yet one of the questions we get asked is where is part 2? When is it going to be released?
Well we know you have waited a long time for that second part and I can assure you that it is on its way. However from part 1 we obtained a lot of great feedback and we have taken on board that feedback and we went away to improve our product.
As a result we have made some really big changes to the way Judo Excellence is going to be delivered and I think you will really like it. For this first time Judoka across the globe will be able to access a training tool that is the premier Judo technique programme on the planet.
We have taken our time to develop a training package that will help you to drastically improve your Judo. You will learn where to grip your opponent to make a throw more effective, how to move a person so that you can apply the correct Kuzushi to your technique and we show all the Judo throws from the Gokyo in full High Definition with demonstrations from myself and shown from multiple camera angles.
And we have added a few surprises within this new Judo excellence Package that will take your Judo to the next level. I really do think this is the ultimate resource for Judo players and coaches across the world.
You may have noticed that over the last few weeks I have become more active on social media, and this is going to continue because it is my goal to provide you with the best Judo information and knowledge I can.
This blog is going to be a major part of this activity and I will be sharing with you regular articles that will both help you to improve your ability as a Judo player or coach and to entertain you with tales of Judo from my journeys over the years.
Today’s article is How to Make Your Judo Training More Effective
We all want results fast in life. Everyone wants to lose weight as fast as they can, we all want to get home as fast as we can after work and yes we all want to improve our Judo as fast as we can!
Yet this doesn’t happen if we just train more, or train for longer. We need to ‘Train Smarter’ if we want to make our Judo more effective within the shortest amount of time.
This is what we can call ‘optimisation of our training’. In true Judo spirit we are looking to gain the maximum results from the minimum expenditure of time on the mat. In essence many of us don’t have time to be on the mat everyday so we need to make every second on the Tatami effective.
One of the ways to achieve this so for you to create a 1 Hour progressive Judo Skills Programme. Sounds complicated? Trust me it isn’t once you start the process off.
How to create a 1hr progressive Judo skills programme
First of all you need to commit this programme to paper or if you prefer to use a digital method on your computer, tablet or mobile phone. I will write more about training diaries and plans in the future.
Your progressive Skills Programme needs to include the following:
· proper warmup,
· Breakdown of specific technique (whole –part- whole)
· Skills training (Tachi waza & ne waza uchi komi and nage-komi),
· transition from the tachi waza skill into the newaza skill,
· situational randori and
· cool down with flexibility training.
Under each section you need break this down and write detailed information about the activities you are going to do.
Proper Warm Up
Do you know how to warm up properly? Many people don’t however to reduce injures and to keep you on the mat each week you need a proper warm up. Whilst the scope of this post is not about how to warm up (we will discuss this in detail) I have included my vodcast below on the importance of proper warm up to assist you. Of note a proper warm up before an event is imperative to improve your performance. Many warm ups can be wasted, and not have Judo specific in there content.
In your programme look at the ways you warm up, and make notes to include a variety of methods incorporating Judo movement, balance, kuzushi and adaptability.
Skills- Tachiwaza and Newaza Uchi Komi
Depending on what your favourite techniques are you will of course choose to work on what suits you or the goals of your class. However use this part of your training to work on specific techniques. I use a whole-part-whole method of teaching which you may have seen in Judo Excellence.
Don’t worry if you feel that you don’t know enough about certain techniques that is what Judo Excellence is for, a total guide to take the guess work out of training and coaching. In your training programme you need can use drills and games if required so make a note in your plan of your favourite Judo drills.
Transition from the tachi waza skill into the newaza skill
It amazes me how few people actually work on their transitions from Tachi waza into Newaza. This is a fantastic way of making huge improvements to your Judo in a short amount of time and in randori and competition it will help you to focus on specific attacking strategies.
Situational randori
Randori is great, however you can get more from it by creating what they I call situational Randori.
In this concept you need a training partner to recreate situations you may find yourself in such as a player that grips with a high overhand, or an extreme lefty. Get your training partner to help you and vice versa. Boxers have been using this same concept for years when they bring in certain types of sparring partner when they know they are going to face a type of opponent. Rarely in Judo do we get such advanced notice so you are going to have to be helpful to your training partners. Use your imagination and watch competition footage online to get ideas. Working within the boundaries of the competition rules and regulations helps prepare us for the plays of the game. Rules dictate development and need to be part of the development programme.
Cool Down with Flexibility Training
Recovery is so much a part of the process of training that the cool down and stretching after each session is an integral part of the process. Stretching and active warm down after each session will help to prevent injury and to prepare the body and mind for the next training session..
Your goal should be to plan each session in advance to get the most of it, after a short time you will have a collection of session plans that can all build up week after week. There is no limitation to the potential of planning as you can alter your plans depending on events, class sizes and ability/ experience of the players.
The goal here though is to plan in advance to get the most from your time on the mat. Remember to make your Judo more effective you need to train smarter and not just harder. They say that for every impromptu performance there are 3 hours of preparation. Preparation is the key.
I hope you enjoyed this first article from Effective Judo and please sign up for our newsletter as there will be plenty more coming in the very near future.
Neil Adams
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