is judo practical in real life?

[electrorok]

just wanting to get some feed back on everyones thoughts on judo. Ive been studing tkd for 10 yrs now but ive recently had to move and the tkd schools i checked out are all competition schools and coming from a pure traditional school( non competition) i dont want to mess with what i already know. So ive been interested in seeing what judo is like for there is a school very close to us and i was hoping to do a non striking art. The questions i have is a friend of mine studies bjj and he doesnt really think much of judo. saying that its good but is just a sport, but for real life situations it isnt really up to par.
do they do any ground work? Im not looking to compete or anything like that. It is just for pure self defence. is this a good choice?

[Jeremy Lobdell]

Judo

Judo is a very effective art in that the focus is on throwing your opponent to the ground and their offbalancing techniques are very good. It can be used as a bridge between stand up and ground. In competition, the focus is from the clinch range to one person getting thrown and going to the ground, but other techniques are worked for self-defense, more or less depending on the particular school. A lot of well known bjj practitioners also cross train in judo to be more well rounded. Leika Viera {sp} is one that comes to mind, being a multiple time womens champ and cross training in Judo.

[Hikage]

Most modern judo classes are designed for sport and the self-defense techniques are secondary. They're good to learn the basic mechanics of throwing people and simple joint locks. In terms of actual street combat, I wouldn't rely on it. Understand though, I am generalizing. There are many judokas out there who focus on self-defense as well. Furthermore, the origonal judo was designed to be more like a combination of the nasty locks from jujitsu and that kicks and punches from karate. Sport has seperated the two.

-Hikage

[Jeremy Lobdell]

Judo

Good points by Hikage. When you first start out in Judo, you will learn basic breakfalls and the sport version of throws. As your experience and proficiency improves, you should learn the self-defense and combat version of the same throws. They are designed to not allow someone to breakfall out of them. The sport versions were designed to provide safety to Judoka while training and to help cut down on injuries. This is very similar to the sport side of TKD vs. the combat side, or any other ma for that matter. If you're emphasis is on self defense, make sure your school is focusing on that as well.
Mahalo, Jeremy

[Hardball]

What we all have to remember is that if you throw someone on the street; they are landing on concrete or some other hard surface and not a mat. Thus, the ground is doing the work for you.

In judo, I like the advance techniques for street. The beginning and intermediate throws are good for practice but not very practical on the street unless the enemy is the same basic size as you. However the advance techniques are greatl Things like De ashi, ko uchi,o uchi, ko soto, gake, uki goshi. In english this mean foot sweeps, takedowns and half hip throws. Also, training in tae kwon do myself for a couple of years then going to jujitsu/judo was a whole new world for me.

Judo will make you the complete fighter. If you have only trained in tae kwon do then you are not a complete fighter yet. Judo/jujitsu will make you whole. As for BJJ vs Judo..................Judo has it's own ground drills and ground work; It all boils down to outworking your opponent. IE who is practicing and training the hardest. Who is sparring, who is hitting the bags...........practice and experience is everything.

To summarize it's just like Bruce Lee said; "Take what you can use and discard the rest." I'm a big advocate of cross training.

[snaplock]

I agree with Hardball. Having done a little Judo myself, I think it has some great qualities for the street, and some less practical. Each martial art has its own engagement ritual, and very few cover what Judo does.

For self-defence, it's imperitive to have a good mix, to fill in all the gaps. Judo can fill some of these gaps, and other martial arts can help else where too.

[shuyun]

What we all have to remember is that if you throw someone on the street; they are landing on concrete or some other hard surface and not a mat. Thus, the ground is doing the work for you.

true. but some throws would make more damage if slightly modified. in the dojo you are required to graciously throw your partner which means allow him to break his fall. usually by keeping a part of his body held. but wouldn't it be nice (or painful) if you made sure he fell on his elbow (from morote seio nage) or his nape (from tomoe nage) or add an forearm/elbow to his throat (during osoto gari). or land his back on your knee (after kata guruma).

yes judo is actually quite useful. its not the art its the fighter.

[Deamonwolfmoon]

My thoughts on this thread

Hello my name is Damion.
I have read everyone’s thoughts and decided that I would add my own.
I have worked with some judo as well as aikido and tkd. I have found that the best way to do any of them is to use them in conjunction with the other forms.
As far as Judo goes I like the way that you use your opponents own speed and weight against them. I will not say that any martial art is better then any other one because it all depends on how you use your chosen art form.

[Tant01]

Is Judo practical in real life? (as opposed to...?)

The principle of "Ju" is practical in everything. While it is traditionally accepted western thinking that Ju means gentle or "giving" I think it is more about adapting to whatever force comes your way... It was Kano's intent that Judo should help people become better human beings. The ability to nullify an opponent or enemy's attack was just another "health" benifit of Judo...

Is it applicable in self defense? Lets look at Pentjak Silat, Donn Draeger took Judo to S.E.Asia back in the 60's and a style known as Bhakti-Negara pentjak silat... you will find Judo has become many things today. Ever heard of a Judo stick?

[EmptyneSs]

judo is one of the dopest arts ever. the skills that are to be obtained from judo are awesome. judo in itself today is not a "street oriented" art, and is a sport, however if u train hard in judo and are able to utilize its skills efficiently, u will have no problem using it on the streets effectively.

[sojobow]

I've read that Judo was originated only because there is no way to "spar" in jujitsu. Actual sparring in jujitsu renders one or both participants hospitalized so the inventor, who was practicing jujitsu at the time, developed Judo as a way for jujitsu students to spar. I would think that most of today's jujitsu students also know Judo and would be therefore very effective on the streets.

[Atomic]

It's worthwhile. I always trained both Judo and BJJ just to make sure I could be solid with my takedowns.

Every school trains differently. As long as they are sparring a lot and open-minded (as in, they let things go if you hit the ground) then it is worth your while.

Good luck!

[bodhisattva]

elektrorok.

Dude. You are in for a journey. I too did TKD before Judo. And you are about to really learn to fight.

But you gotta check the class out. If you have a choice of judo schools, go to all of them.

Ask them if they are "competetive". Meaning, do they compete often in local and regional competitions?

You want a competetive school. You want them to fight very hard in class. It would be great if they randori EVERY class, some. And have some classes that are all randori, with no instruction. Randori is where it's at.

Look for a class that spends 50% of the training in stand up and 50% on the groundwork.

As far as these people telling you that it isn't good "for the street", you need to realize, those guys haven't probably been in a fight with a judo/wrestler.

High school wrestling is also "not good for the street" by their system of judgement.

But the truth is, wrestlers are bad-mutha-flangers.

Judo teaches the most important skills : How to control your weight and How to control his weight.

Judo throws have been used succesfully in UFC events. Judo throws have also been used succesfully in the street against resisting idiots.

Judo (like someone up there mentioned) involves a lot fighting in the CLINCH range, as well as on the ground. That's a major plus for it, as a person should have game in all ranges to be formidable.

You are really going to like the Judo. Aside from it being such an applicable art, the people are usually GREAT. One of the best things I took from the Judo dojo was this phrase: "Hey, you want to play?". That's how they ask to fight. And by god, it's a lot more exact than saying "Want to fight?". Cause we are all there to play.. play really rough, yes. But play.

And thanks, Atomic, it's always good to see the BJJ guys recognize that the Judo guys fight hard. Regards.

--
however, my one complaint about Judo is they tend to require you to train all 60 throws in the judo system, some of which I don't believe anyone will ever use in combat. I never liked that. I want to learn a few throws until I find some that jive with me. Then I want to work those few throws from every single angle and situation possible, and then work them some more.

I found learning all the throws I had to for each belt was kind of restrictive an d unnecessary. So I just never tested. I showed up to wrestle, and didn't care about the belts at all.

[GREENTHINKS]

Judo is an extremely effective martial art. It is also referred to as the basis for all other martial arts. Slam them down instant death. Crushing hold-down suffocation. Strangle or chokes especially with an attack on the carotid sinus reflex and you have complete unconciousness within 3-4 seconds.Armbar with the complete destruction of the elbow joint instantaeneously debilitating excrusheating pain. Ippon means sudden death for a reason. judo practitioners train in the most scientific form of wrestling that there is.A weight trained judo athelete will absolutly demolish anybody. they ,if trained properly, will regularly train at a fully comitted power level diving their opponents into the mat ,full bore letting the opponent absorb both impacts from the mat and the opponent crashing him in.
Judo atheletes heartrate is brought up to the 190's unheard of in most other sports. Train in the summer heat in a second floor judo school, with the heavy cotten uniform built to withstand all the pulling , and they will beat you thru conditioning easily.
Take a gymnast type and train them in judo with the tumbling skills and upper body strength how are you going to beat them. Bjj guys just don't understand how to throw so they try to dismiss it. But how many fights start off on the ground in real life anyway so which skill set really reflects more skills , judo of course. It is more ,not less. Add some hitting and kicking, a few knee/ankle/ neck locks, and you have ALL the martial arts.

[Hardball]

in the dojo you are required to graciously throw your partner which means allow him to break his fall. usually by keeping a part of his body held.

Ha, not in my Dojo. We threw hard and we threw often. Injuries were common if you did not properly warm up. It was "RUFF HOUSE". I'm not saying that is right but that's how it was. There were a few people there who did not like each other. It was not uncommon for someone to get pile drived. When You come in; it's best you know how to carry yourself and watch what you say to people. "Ruff House Dojo"