Starting Judo next week.

Hi all,

I just got in touch with the local judo club, they're starting back from their summer break next week and I'm going to go along and try my first class. The oldest member they have is 15 so that's not ideal and they only train one day a week but it's better than nothing. I'm expecting the 15 year old to get the better of me fairly easily anyway. I looked up Judo in the area a few times down the years but couldn't find anything so it's nice to finally be giving it a try.

I'm turning 40 in November (I'm only 5' 6" though and 156 lbs), I've been doing Bjj for just over 18 months, training 3 times a week and I've had a few competitions. I'm still a white belt and likely will be for another 12 months. I'm going on 12 hour shifts in November and every 2nd week I'll only get to one Bjj class, with Judo being on Thursdays it means I'll get two training sessions in those weeks instead of only one. I realise doing Judo one day every two weeks will mean progressing at a snails pace but doing it alongside Bjj, I expect they'll compliment each other. Standup is my biggest weakness in Bjj so Judo should give me more confidence there and a little advantage in competition.

Will the Bjj I've done so far give me a slight head start in Judo? Is there much ground work involved? All stand up will suit me better to be honest but if there's ground work I might at least not get completely slaughtered.

I'll have a good read through things here now and hopefully have a better idea of what I'm getting myself into.

RonanP77 wrote:Hi all,
Will the Bjj I've done so far give me a slight head start in Judo?

It should.

RonanP77 wrote:Hi all,
Is there much ground work involved?

There should be up to 50% but it can depend on the club. Chokes and joint locks are introduced later than in BJJ so don't start using them on other white belts. Use your judo ground-work (ne waza) time to master controlling the opponents body and maintain dominant position.

BJJ and Judo are generally complimentary.

Don't do that annoying thing of always trying to slap hands and fist bump after you've already bowed.
They fist bump, we bow. No need to do both.

Sound advice from Y-chromosome.

Thanks for that, I think unless someone starts with me I'll be the only white belt in the club. I have no idea what way it works for sparring or anything, if there is any I'd only be able to train with the 15 year old or the coach, the others would be way too young and small. I'll not be trying anything crazy and I'll clear things with the coach about what is and isn't allowed if there is sparring.

I'll see how it goes this evening, from what I hear there isn't a big focus on ne waza. I don't mind that, although I would like to see a little of it to see what similarities and differences there are between the two arts.
It's the takedowns I want to work on mainly. The Irish National Bjj championships are on in nine and a half weeks, I won my division last year and I'd hope to do the same again this year. If I do every Judo class possible between now and then that's still just 7 classes. If I take all grappling arts as being the same, then I'm not going to be much better after 7 classes than I am right now. Hopefully I see enough though to give me a little edge over whoever I go up against.

While we're on the subject faux-pas, we don't use the "T" word. There are no "takedowns" in Judo. Judo focuses on "throws" which are considered an end in and of themselves, not just a means to get to the mat. Under Judo rules you can't just drop to your butt. That would be considered non-combativity and would incur a penalty. Groundwork starts if a throw attempt fails to score Ippon. There is concept of "skillfull entry into ne waza" which would cover situations where the two competitors got to the mat other than by a throw attempt. These are tertiary techniques at best, since the aim is always to throw.

I was delayed a week because I was called in to work last week. I called down tonight and it was like play school. There were kids as young as 4 or 5 up to about 11, there were two small lads of around 15 and then there was me. I stayed on the sidelines for 10 minutes with the parents and then left. I can't be going in to a class with 5 year olds,especially in what's supposed to be full contact. It's back to the drawing board. I can't see any other clubs within an hour of me but I'll keep searching.

If at all possible, the best strategy would be to find an appropriate sized buddy to go to class with you.  Maybe even another BJJer who also wants to work on "takedowns" (shudder...) or a buddy from work who wants to start from zero and would be intimidated by a high-level competitive environment.
Honestly, this applies non matter where you're training.
Anyhow, good luck.

I got a message last night saying there's a new Judo club starting about 10 minutes drive from me. It's kids classes as first but they'll start adult classes soon after. They're going to get in touch when they kick off. For now I guess I'll up my cardio or do more Bjj classes.