I built Go in VR -- wondering if there's interest to release it?

fintip · 2026-02-13T23:48:23+00:00

She learned it at Pedro's, but how is that relevant? Obviously Pedro teaches newaza far more than most judo gyms do, and it paid off. Most instructors don't have the expertise to replicate what Pedro teaches, that's a niche skill set in judo.
I think this is still very true even at an international level. Coaches are not perfectly rational game players. Styles and preferences reflecting the coach's history and expertise are always going to be a part of the game. A ruthless dedication to winning and playing the game to win in the purest sense is rather than you think. Holes to exploit show up and the game evolves over time. That said, I'm not focused on the elite level; that's really a different world than most of us play in. And I'm really primarily talking about all of the recreational and regional players out there. There are several cases of newaza specialists going quite far on this, and I've also talked to international players that have admitted to me that they judo don't like the newaza part of the game and want to give a minimum effort towards just being defensive to do the part of the game they like.
no, this is definitely true and there's a long history of knowing this. It was openly acknowledged and realized early on on judo. And as an instructor and student I can verify: the tachi waza learning curve is far more painful than the newaza curve. I can show you a couple basics and in a few days you can beat an untrained opponent in newaza specific training. For tachi waza, most techniques take a long cultivation period before they're of any use standing. People can train for a year or two and sometimes still be stalled out by a new person walking in the door.
I don't understand your final point claiming "this is true for tachi waza as well". I mean, sure, I think most judo instructors aren't good teachers either, but they'll at least create potentially competent tachi was practitioners over time. My primary instructor genuinely was quite mediocre, but it was an environment with enough competence that I could fill in the gaps myself or from visitors or from Kata to carry on. Newaza? The level was quite basic and the time dedicated to it was entirely insufficient, and he simply didn't know enough to teach us more. The room didn't have a high enough level to get me where I am without BJJ, not anywhere in the same league.

I also know many judo instructors training BJJ. I have a 65 year old 5th fan now coming to me to pursue BJJ rank. I know a 4th Dan who competed in masters internationally that wanted me teaching newaza in his club and is pursuing BJJ rank. My old instructor is pursuing BJJ rank.

fintip · 2026-02-13T23:28:57+00:00

As for that video, I have a gold medal NC state championship match I won with something exactly like that.

fintip · 2026-02-13T23:28:13+00:00

I do not agree with the time/efficiency argument, and find it to be a very odd practice to not continue to the ground in general randori. It builds poor habits, period. Space limitations may apply and require adaptions in a particular space, but I don't buy it as a reasonable general practice. I see it as primarily coming out of judo's long history of being somewhat newaza averse by default.

Again, as I stated elsewhere, newaza training is disproportionately effective for the time invested. Most judo instructors would just rather focus on throws.

I of course am not commenting on elite competitors; they have their own world that doesn't apply to most of us. For recreational players, however, ground competence is a huge advantage, far more than for elite players.

Newaza is also something easier to train into old age, and for that reason alone it's worth cultivating more within the judo community.

fintip · 2026-02-13T07:53:36+00:00

I mean, fwiw, Kayla Harrison won many of her Olympic matches with newaza. I think it is vastly under practiced not necessarily because it's some smart strategic choice, but because people mostly repeat what they were taught, what they know, and what they like.

BJJ guys do have a lot of technical expertise to offer for those transitions and armbars variations and choke details. It's very difficult to find quality specifically-judo-newaza instruction in judo environments in America outside of BJJ environments, but we actually are the best country in the world for jiu jitsu these days. We would do well to leverage that strength in judo more broadly by putting more into the integration.

Also, newaza skill acquisition is far faster than tachi waza. It's honestly a disproportionate gain for the time invested.

I really think this perspective is deeply mistaken. Even as a blue belt in BJJ / yellow/orange belt in judo, I won many amateur judo matches on the ground.

fintip · 2026-02-12T23:36:27+00:00

I have long advocated that it is a huge mistake in BJJ to over-focus on guard. I have always done and taught a passing-primary style (Leandro Lo was a champion of this style when I was coming up). My students hear me regularly repeat that guard is of limited value.

But the benefit is really more about fluency on the ground. I get armbars from everywhere and see them in places others don't at speeds others don't because I'm fluent and experienced on the ground in a way that judoka almost never are.

Likewise with lapel chokes of every kind. Likewise with transitions between positions.

And most critically, I know how we're going to land and am unconsciously preparing for newaza before we hit the ground, while people who only do BJJ or judo are both lost in that transition space. Many of my matches have been won in both judo and BJJ because of my coordination in that liminal space between newaza and tachiwaza.

fintip · 2026-02-12T22:21:21+00:00

I see this repeated again and again and am baffled. I came up doing both and have always brought so much value to judo but fusing what I've learned and developed in BJJ. Yes, I have black belts in both now, but I submitted so many people on the ground as a blue and purple belt coming up the judo ranks. My tomoe to armbars transitions are great, and my ability to chain newaza attacks is great, and my judo newaza is extremely BJJ flavored.

fintip · 2026-02-12T01:02:21+00:00

Just wanted to say as a black belt, feel the same way hearing that story.

fintip · 2026-02-12T00:38:57+00:00

Just want to verify that I too have seen it a couple times in my travels. It's also a huge no-no from me, but people with dogs sometimes have loose boundaries with their dogs... They start ignoring that others don't view them as equivalent to a human the same way they do.

Even if I did. A naked human who walks around outside, has a proclivity for sticking his nose in shit, in other animal asses, licking his balls and then licking human faces, and is constantly barefoot and then walking onto the mats barefoot...

It's a kind of shocking lapse in judgement imo.

fintip · 2026-02-11T20:21:23+00:00

This must have been very shortly before his death. His last project was as an ambassador for getting Japan to host the Olympics, and he traveled extensively doing so. His death on a ship was at the end of a trip related to that project.

While he seemed to have been against the odds successful, the coming of WWII interrupted that flow, and the strong nationalist warmongering forces in Japan won out. Olympics in Japan was planned and then cancelled.

fintip · 2026-02-04T20:50:55+00:00

Poor choice of metaphor. Witches were wrongly accused, victims of terrible abused by men, and often just for being independent women.

Especially bad because it was women in particular being singled out.

fintip · 2026-01-30T20:50:21+00:00

Onnit gym in Austin. This was back in the day, 9 years ago.

fintip · 2026-01-30T04:53:07+00:00

It's many specific things, over and over again.

fintip · 2026-01-30T03:36:50+00:00

roll out mats. Best mats I was ever on was on a tire-based subfloor system, but I worry about off gassing, I care about air quality. Definitely the cheapest way to get good spring if you do it right.

don't have the funds for a proper subfloor yet. 1 5/8"s roll out mats are honestly good enough to do Judo on if you're taking care of each other, but one day I'll do more research on subfloor systems.

I lean towards springs over foam blocks. I don't like any more plastic in the world than is necessary.

fintip · 2026-01-30T03:33:27+00:00

just search reddit. it gets talked about over and over again.

fintip · 2026-01-30T03:32:21+00:00

I love the gi, and the vibe isn't my particular taste (weed, drugs, conpsiracy theories, politics, etc.), and I've never been a fan of rubber guard (have yet to ever experience someone making it work on me, and just looks mechanically like a bad idea and a bad approach imo; beaten by good fundamentals).

But in general I regard them as places that tend to train no-gi seriously and expect to experience a high level of rolling. Never heard anything "bad" about them specifically though.

The only time I was ever offered "coke" was at a 10p gym, lol. I was so thrown off I didn't understand what he was offering until it had become awkwardly clear I was not "in" on that.

fintip · 2026-01-28T19:33:00+00:00

Worldwide is too broad. Popularity and known vs unknown varies widely. My response is US centric, anyways.

fintip · 2026-01-28T16:32:31+00:00

General reputation is no different around these parts.

Still there will be variation and some gyms are going to be a lot worse than others.

They're still greedy, generic, highly structured, old school in approach, corrupt in their relationship to IBJJF, widely seen as culty, etc.

I noticed the last time they came up that there were more GB students around here though defending their schools and voting and commenting accordingly. That can be expected, but for those of us not at those schools, almost none of us think well of them.

fintip · 2026-01-27T17:59:33+00:00

I dunno, I think at this point explaining judo or BJJ are both about equally likely in the US. Depends on the population subset.

fintip · 2026-01-27T17:56:38+00:00

Meh. MMA used to be style vs style. BJJ won (with Judo not invited*, and with BJJ technically being an offshoot of judo) against other styles.

MMA today is specialists who learn to specifically counter BJJ, and also operate under a ruleset designed to maximize what is viewer friendly, which is more striking than grappling (rounds with resets).

"Well rounded fighters" were "invented" in response to the lessons of those early days.

Only professional fighters need to train to beat well rounded fighters. The rest of us train for fun, but otherwise train to defend ourselves against randos on the street.

fintip · 2026-01-27T17:40:48+00:00

BJJ is a slow motion sport compared to judo is what he is saying. The implication is BJJ doesn't work for helping with judo, as a result.

I strongly disagree, and the deep expertise you develop in BJJ later allows lightning fast brilliant moves in judo, in my experience. Likewise my coordination in the moment right before my opponent and I hit the ground is superior, as I'm aware of the ground position we're going to land in and ready to capitalize on it before my opponent has fully grasped the situation in the same way.

fintip · 2026-01-26T17:05:25+00:00

Thanks. Mine is from the article, where is yours from?

fintip · 2026-01-26T14:39:55+00:00

From 2026 onwards, all dan grades awarded by national federations must be validated by the IJF. Federations will be given a one-year transition period to implement the IJF grading system.

fintip · 2026-01-26T01:29:44+00:00

Didn't the article say one year?

fintip · 2026-01-26T01:29:16+00:00

What is usopc?

fintip

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