Despite the injuries, which stop me from going to classes from time tot time, I enjoy learning how to hurt, and like yourself, I hope I’ll never need to use it.

Something else we have in common. I’m also an English major.

Good work!

Cris

Quite right on your footnote regarding BJJ fighters vulnerability on the ground in a real fight. As I have told Steve Tozer many times while holding him in my guard: the guard is not a safe place. It’s begging my opponent to nail me in the head and especially the gonads. Get out of it as soon as possible or submit as soon as possible from it.

Tran

Kung fu isn’t very good for fighting but you have to look at the history of China and the Boxer Rebellion in particular to understand why. In short, to prevent it from being used in an uprising ever again, the government quite literally took the martial out of the art of Kung Fu which is why wushu is an official sport and kung fu is not.

That said, sanshou, wing chun and jeet kune do have preserved some of the great martial fighting aspects of kung fu. I would’ve agreed that Capoiera is useless until I saw it used in MMA on YouTube. Again, like judo itself, any art can be used martially if adapted properly.

In regards to the intertwined history of judo and jiu jitsu, Dan and David Camarillo are two excellent jiu-jitsu and judo fighters who also pay great respect to the heritage of both arts.

Tran

Your intro to wraps had me howling with laughter. I also think you’re totally biased. I love wraps. That’s because they are perfect throws for a smaller guy like me to do on bigger guys like you and if they fail well I ripped your shoulder to pieces anyway.

In all seriousness, they are more appropriate for self-defense than they are for randori fighting but I have pulled one off at the studio a couple of times.

In regards to size, you call it like it is brother: size DOES matter and the only people who say otherwise are those who have never actually been in a real fight, either competitively or for self-defense.

But here’s the catch: size matters ONLY IF YOU KNOW WHAT DO WITH YOUR GIVEN SIZE. A big fellow who has no clue how to move or deal with a judoka will always get thrown by a smaller person. A big fellow who knows judo will always be a problem for a smaller judoka though not necessarily more impossible to throw.

As for speed, it’s funny you write about this because I see the same thing in striking. The biggest mistake smaller faster fighters make is they assume that if they strike more or attempt more throws, they will land more shots on their opponent or increase their chances of a successful throw.

In other words, if we fight faster, we have a fighting chance against a big person. Wrong. Patently and absurdly wrong. Being faster often times means we also gas ourselves out faster or get thrown faster or knocked out faster if we use our speed incorrectly. We have to fight not just faster, but also SMARTER.

The key is to use speed in bursts or sprints and subtly mess up the timing of the other judoka and not let them get used to a rhythm in your fighting. A perfect example is the way both Marcus and I use combinations, particularly the ippon seoi nage/kouchi gake combo you wrote about earlier. We use our speed to rapidly launch an ippon seoi nage and then as your brain registers it, we use our speed to go into a kouchi gake before your brain can register a change.

Perfect example, my last randori with Marcus where I went guns blazing after him and he took me down. (This was intentional, as Marcus was working on something for a tournament and Tammy taught him a counter for it so I emulated the situation for him as best I could. That’s why his father thanked me afterwards. I don’t think Elmer was aware this was actually going on. ) I was just attacking, but Marcus was using combinations.

Though I was fast, his brain could register every attack because there was no strategy to them. When he did his combos, even with my speed, I fell prey to them because he outsped my mind, not my body.

It comes down to these two tenets: Speed outsmarts power. Power and size crush speed dead in its tracks. So choose your tactics wisely and appropriately for your size, regardless of whether you are big or small. And don’t assume that just because a person is bigger, they have no speed. They’ve got PROPORTIONAL SPEED and it may be enough to smash someone who’s faster than them.

Tran

With Morote Gari II, I have found that it is not always necessary to pivot as this fellow does and then run sideways. You can run sideways immediately and achieve the same result. The principle is what one of my MMA instructors called “Beat the Feet.” If you beat your opponent’s feet by stepping faster than they can restep to rebalance themselves you have them thrown. I can show you in the studio next time we see each other.

Tran

One note about the front breakfall. While I agree it is utterly useless in judo because there is no single judo throw that tosses an opponent on to their stomach (save possibly a badly or lazily done te-guruma), it is quite the lifesaver when facing off against a wrestler who does a waistlock takedown from behind. Oddly enough, most wrestlers don’t even practice the front breakfall (or any breakfall for that matter) and so they often go SPLAT! when caught with said waistlock takedown.

Tran

Tran

While it’s true that judo overly relies on the judo gi which isn’t a realistic material, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s not effective without the presence of one. It just has to be adapted.

The easiest and most effective method of adapting is to use the dominant power hand that would normally grab a lapel or high collar and wrap it around the opponent’s hip, waist, or back lat muscle. You can also both under and overhook the opponent’s arm as well as clinch his head.

The other hand would grab the opponent’s hand, wrist, or elbow instead of a sleeve if there isn’t one. If you want to be really mean about it and you’re nimble enough, you can even grab the other person’s FINGERS instead.

Of course, there will always be some throws that are simply impossible to do without a gi and many will be a lot harder to pull off on a slick sweaty body but you’d be surprised at how many can be effectively done with a little adaptation.

In fact, the only throw I’ve not been able to accomplish is a sode tsurikomi goshi which is completely sleeve dependent but most of all the others are certainly doable.

Tran

A comment if I may on stances. The reason judokas (as well as jitsu practioners and wrestlers, for that matter) get away with leading with their dominant throwing leg/arm is that since their is no striking allowed, there is no danger (in theory) that their dominant limbs will be damaged. Since less distance to travel = less work, grapplers want their dominant limbs forward for throwing/shooting to get at the opponent with both the fastest and the strongest hold.

Strikers (boxers, karatekas, thai fighters) put their weak sides forward because they want finishing power in their strikes, which requires distance to build up. Also, they want to keep their strong sides away from their opponent’s strong side as well so that they aren’t too badly damaged in a fight. In essence, strikers are sacrificing their weak sides in order to nail their opponent with their strong side.

Oddly, jeet kune do and sanshou strikers are the only strikers that lead with their strong sides forward. They wanted less distance to travel for their stronger side, which traditional strikers weren’t used to. So all throughout the 70’s and 80’s sanshou and jeet kune do fighters would cream everyone else.

Then the Muay Thai guys wised up and started damaging their strong side limbs, especially with their thundering thigh kicks, leaving the JKD and sanshou fighters helpless as they fought with weak side limbs. So now virtually all strikers fight with weak side forward… with one very important exception.

SOUTHPAWS. A southpaw is usually a left-handed striker like me who naturally has to lead with his weaker side (the right). However, many right-dominant fighters have forced themselves to fight as a southpaw specifically to mess up the 90% of the world’s strikers that fight with their weaker left side forward.

When mixing martial arts, things get interesting. As a striker you put the weaker side forward, but you have to grapple/throw with your strong side forward. So what’s a mixed martial artist to do? Simple. Learn to fight ambidextrously with either your striking or your throwing. You can even do both if you’re amazing.

Personally, my stance changes depending on what the situation is. If i’m only throwing, I lead left (strong side). If I’m only striking, I start by leading right (weak side) to mess the other guy’s mind up but then alternate between right and left lead during the fight (often as I’m striking) to mess his head up even more.

If I’m allowed to do both strike and throw/takedown, then I start left leading and alternate between left and right lead during the fight with the specific goal in mind of tricking my opponent into thinking he’s in a boxing/kickboxing/muay thai fight only to throw him on his ass or take him down and neutralize his striking.

Tran

Also a great point about “judo bullies”. One thing I’ve learned is that people don’t really fight with or for their bodies — they do it for their ego. Either to build it up or protect it from being torn down further.

When I first joined the Burnaby judo club in BC, they kept a very close watch on me, in fact in a rather offensive manner involving subterfuge. One of the senseis asked an older more mature Orange Belt named Jake to keep an eye out on me (not for me, on me) to make sure I was safe and would not injure others.

Although he was never supposed to tell me this was happening, my dedication to training eventually won Jake over and he complimented me by telling me he realized my mindset was that of an athlete and eventually he admitted that he had been assigned to me.

At first I was offended… until he showed me the knee brace he put on his leg every day after training and that he would likely have to use for the rest of his life because a Japanese black belt he successfully threw once felt he had to “get back” his throw as he had “lost face” by getting caught by an orange belt. Then I understood where he was coming from.

However, this said, I was still offended as they seemed to have completely missed the irony that all my experience in martial arts including being a former sanshou instructor made me the safest white belt they have ever worked with and that Jake’s injury was brought on by a senior black belt.

Adding further irony and insult, they very likely contributed to my hernia. I’m not saying they were totally responsible as I do too many different activities to place the blame on them entirely but I’m sure they had something to do with it.

Very often in martial arts, I often feel I am doing the work of two people — protecting myself and protecting the person I’m working with. It’s unfair, but that’s the mark of an experienced instructor.

Both experienced judokas must tread carefully with beginners and beginner judokas must tread carefully with experienced ones. Essentially it comes down to this — YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY. Nobody else is going to take it on.