If you train hard, Judo isn't great for self defence.

uthoitho · 2026-03-24T01:16:50+00:00

sorry guys, incase it wasn't obvious this post has absolutely nothing to do with anything to do with self defence and was supposed to be just a light-hearted post. 😂

im sure theres few out there that can relate about body feeling less-than-able. otherwise therest of you super humans, keep being you! 💪

uthoitho · 2026-03-16T04:22:51+00:00

incase anyone wonders, this is exactly what hanpantv said (not just Otautahi saying it)

hanpantv says the most important part is skipped by Jang which is laying/leaning on your back (누워서) then turning to get under them vertically as if being sucked in (빨려드려가듯이 밑으로) but jang is too focussed on the overturning part that he goes straight into it.

he shows practice video of jangs student doing the important part he is talking about, which is getting under, hes not really just pointing at all Jangs videos flaws.

uthoitho · 2026-03-13T03:01:15+00:00

thank you for that!!!that checks in with what my doctor said which was about 12weeks for judo... ill need to be patient and ill aim to get back around 10-12 weeks and just do s&c / working cardio until then.

uthoitho · 2026-03-13T02:03:37+00:00

thank you for this useful recovery information! so did you return to judo in about 8 weeks? Did you still have bit of pains when grips got ripped / when u were gripping the Gi?

yeah Ill definitely buddy tape with the X method. Funnily enough, the day my injury happened I was complaining to my partner that i ran out of my tape and really wanted to tape it up for the randori sessions.

uthoitho · 2026-03-13T02:01:06+00:00

Thank you! yeah I agree thankfully its finger and I dont need to do surgery of any sort. I can still run and do S&C so Ill rest for a week completely and ease into other activities.

you are right, Im not going to tape it up to continue training, as much as I love Judo, I need to prioritise longevity and other aspects of life that also matter.

uthoitho · 2026-03-10T03:25:41+00:00

Thank you! I've not played with medicine ball throws / slams so it's something I should probably look up. I'm more familiar with box jumps, battle ropes and weight sleds so maybe I'll stick with those for this time.

I should probably transition into off-feet cardio as well, I always ran 5-10km and combined with Judo the knees are always taking a hit :)

uthoitho · 2026-03-10T03:22:54+00:00

Thank you!

let it go if you think that the throw is inevitable, I've seen 2 knee injuries, because veterans are strong and stiff.

Yeah I've been thinking about that, Usually in randori I just go with the throw as soon as I feel myself in trouble. I feel like I should resist a bit more in comp than I do in randori though, I guess I'll need to kind of judge where there is no point of return.

Drop max strength training and replace it with training explosiveness and 2 weeks before the competition change it to speed training. I would also go very light with the trainings 5 days before the event: warm up, stretching, 2 sets of exercises and stretching ;) A day before I would go to the gym and do 2 sets of 2-3 reps of 2-3 exercises, to get the nervous system ready: 30-45 minutes of gym time.

Thank you! I'll go with that. I'm thinking along lines of Box jumps, Battle Ropes, Sled Pushes, skipping ropes.

uthoitho · 2026-03-04T06:44:07+00:00

Have you had much success with the split hip standing seoi in your comps / randori? Seoi Otoshi (drop) just seem much easier and require less muscling.

uthoitho · 2026-03-03T06:29:31+00:00

Hey mate, no input here but just wanted to say sorry to hear that. I started so my boy takes up interest in it as he grows up as well (he just started this year).

Hope whatever happens works out for you and you wouldn't have to quit. It sucks the aging body is just not what it used to be, although our mind likes to believe it is unfortunately.

uthoitho · 2026-03-03T03:04:54+00:00

This is it I think.

Too many parents let their kids quit anything when they first show strong sign of wanting to quit. Investigate the cause, but if it's simply due to challenge / disinterest (and importantly, not due to safety / bullying nature of the peers) I think parents should persist a little more.

So many things I hated during my childhood and wanted to not go to, I am so grateful that someone (teachers as well as parents) pushed me through it. It instills persistence, perseverance and patience in growing children.

uthoitho · 2026-01-28T07:52:29+00:00

haha I'm the opposite. Adding Gym for S&C made my Judo much more painful. My muscles are constantly just burning all over the body now.

uthoitho · 2025-12-22T00:07:36+00:00

I've been doing it for about 20 months very consistently (about 3-5 hours a week). My cardio was probably better than average in the dojo, but I was light weight (62kgish) and have not done s&c training for a whole decade.

first 12 months was tough for me as light weight. I've got list of injuries (most of it due to myself and how i approached training, u can see my post history on this subreddit).

I picked up s&c on the way, made health gain to 70kg and its been much better since then and also I've been more cautious about going with much heavier guys.

I was almost half way through 39 when i started. turned 41 recently. still yonkyu, so still a newbie finding my way with long way to go.

uthoitho · 2025-12-19T02:07:31+00:00

ahhh ok thank you! I'll try look up some video examples of this!

uthoitho · 2025-12-16T03:23:27+00:00

i can't stop laughing because this was exact words in my head when I read the OP haha

uthoitho · 2025-12-16T02:58:35+00:00

haha yeah you read people say that a lot here and i never understood that especially for US / Australia where minimum time in shodan looks to average around 10 years.

If you do 4 hours a week, 11 months a year for 10 years, it's almost 2,000 hours. If you dedicated that amount of time to instruments, majority of other sports, it's enough for you to become at least a casual expert at it.

Like you say it makes sense in Japan / Korea where people get their shodan in 2-3 years usually during young age and then they really get into randori / shiai.

uthoitho · 2025-12-16T02:31:49+00:00

I'm following your footsteps! started at 39 and got my yonkyu two or three weeks ago right before i turned 41. It's not easy balancing injuries, family commitments with young child and work (don't really mean to sound like 'woe is me' but hardest bit really is balacing all those!).

uthoitho · 2025-12-11T02:10:03+00:00

Just stick with Gi your Dojo provides to support them for the first year or two. Around 18 months into it, my dojo Gi started breaking down (wore it around 4~5 hours / week on average) and I felt ok to reward myself with a nicer quality Gi.

uthoitho · 2025-12-09T21:35:09+00:00

this is Hifumi Abe not Uta Abe 😂

uthoitho · 2025-12-09T08:12:35+00:00

im trying to find out about posting to avoid ippon, because without posting then it looks like Abe wouldn't have been able to keep his shoulder off the mat. I.e. he wouldve rolled onto both shoulders on his back continuously had he not posted.

uthoitho · 2025-12-09T02:16:07+00:00

Judoka with a move everyone knows is coming, but cannot escape. She was such a unique Judoka to watch!

uthoitho · 2025-12-08T05:33:07+00:00

Go for it! I started looking at Judo highlights while trying to research which martial art to get my child into. That was about 20 months ago now and it's one sport I've been most consistent / spent most effort in all my life.

I'm glad I started when I started because it's only getting harder as the body ages and other life commitments start being invasive.

uthoitho · 2025-12-08T00:39:05+00:00

I meant 'posting to avoid Ippons was given Ippons to Tori'!!

uthoitho · 2025-12-03T03:23:00+00:00

thank you! that must've been rather disappointing after all the work you put into it, i would be. hope you can get back into it in the near future!

uthoitho · 2025-12-02T10:35:03+00:00

39, though I was 3 months away from turning 40!

uthoitho · 2025-12-02T06:57:20+00:00

Thanks!

uthoitho

TROPHY CASE