Fall Judo Plans

Dr. Dad suspects minor MCL tear.

Since I'm stuck in bed for a few days due to an embarrassing ukemi-related injury, I figured I might as well use the time to think about Judo this Fall. Not just how often I'll be practicing, but what my goals are and where Judo will fit in my life now that I'm heading back to school. Summer is when we try as hard as we can to be the person we've always wanted to be. You know, the person who diets and exercises. The person who takes walks in the park when the mood strikes. The person that keeps in touch with old friends and family. Catch my drift? Those old slogans for "how to live a better life." In my case, this amounts to making every practice, every tournament, and really being there without having a 1,000 other things on my mind. It's a challenge- not like drought or famine or anything- but a challenge nonetheless.

Being a full-time student is a full-time job. A full-time job is also a full-time job, but hear me out. I'm very aware that what I have now, as a devilishly handsome 20-year-old Ivy League student, is the best situation I'll ever have. I don't know what a soul mate or child's laughter will bring, but as far as the amount of work I have to do vs. the amount of time off I get for it, I doubt that ratio will get better with time. What's scary to me is that even though I don't have mortgage to pay, kids to feed, or white picket fences to maintain I still have trouble finding time for Judo in my life. It's definitely not enough for what I want to achieve to go hardcore over the summer and then slack the rest of the year. Definitely not, but that's basically what I've been doing since I came back from my hiatus.

You know how when New Year's is around the corner and your inner monologue starts every other sentence with "This year will be different..."? I'm having that time now, even though I'm one of those cynics that will roll his eyes and say "Why not last year or the year before? You're not going to do it." That's a fair thing to say on my part, but I really hope that this (school) year is the year I can do it. I'm scheduled to teach 2 classes per week and "learn" one class per week at the Columbia Judo Club. That's one more than I did last year, so that should be good. I'm also planning to join the BJJ club (hopefully for a discounted price because their students crash my classes indiscriminately), and find a gym buddy to motivate me to start lifting again. I've planned this so I have people I depend on and people that depend on me to improve my technique and my conditioning. I'll let you guys know if this works out! School also happens.

Here are a list of tournaments I plan on attending in the next couple of months, Senior Men's Brown Belt <66kg for all.

1. September 18th: 45th Annual East Coast Judo Championship - Newark, NJ
2. October 2nd: 2011 Garden State Judo Classic - Wayne, NJ
3. October 9th: Princeton Judo Invitation - Princeton, NJ

It's not annoying always going to NJ for tournaments or anything! Message/comment if I'll be seeing you there. I'll have photos/videos up, so look forward to some real content then.

Thanks for stopping by! You're alright.
-Ben

The Final Destination

Not a review of that awful movie series, sorry!

So here we are, at the end of my convoluted series of newaza articles. It's been a fun journey right? After all of the build up and time between posts, my solution is frustratingly predictable: cross-training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ). Practicing a groundwork-focused fighting style if your groundwork isn't good enough? Brilliant Ben! Self-deprecation aside, there is some real thought that should go into this... While I refer to the general case of "groundwork-focused fighting style," I specify Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. This is the most logical choice for a judoka seeking focused newaza practice. Why? First of it, due to the rise of Mixed Martial Arts, schools are popping all over the United States and Canada. More importantly, BJJ comes from Judo so it's principles are the most compatible with the way a judoka moves and thinks. Off-balancing, efficiency, leverage, posture, position. The fact that both judokas and BJJ players associate those words with their style points towards this unique relationship and the ease with which one side should be able to train in the others'.

Any person who has spent more than 2 weeks in a dojo has come across the guy who "did some wrestling in high school and was pretty good at it." Even those types who are able to hold their own eventually get a "Fix your posture!" from Sensei, to which they respond "Sorry, I learned not to expose my legs." He'll fix it momentarily then a few minutes later will bend over again, causing frustration for everyone else on the mat (dramatization). What's working against this student are the incongruities between Judo and Freestyle wrestling. Freestyle or folkstyle? I'm not sure what they call it in high school, but cross-training it with Judo is demonstrably more difficult than cross-training BJJ with Judo. The posture is different, there's no gi, the definition of a pin is much more narrow that what constitutes a hold-down in Judo. Doing both isn't impossible (in fact, many top American Judoka wrestled in high school/college), but why not go for the easier transition?

He'll never tap!

This all seems simple enough, but one should still approach cross-training with caution. Again, I stress the importance of congruency. "Judo" should pair well with "BJJ," but the names are brands that anybody above a certain rank can use as long as they fill out the paperwork. This isn't necessarily me discrediting the 10's of thousands of teachers out there that I haven't met, it's just that there is clearly a difference in the way some choose to interpret the "ju" (gentleness) in "judo" and "jujutsu." If a sensei teaches you to muscle your way through a poorly timed throw, he's teaching you something- just not Judo. If a BJJ teacher tells you breaking closed guard is all about arm strength, he's teaching you something- just not BJJ. I'm not advocating going up to Sensei and challenge him to mortal combat to test his legitimacy. Not only is that rude, but the typical person seeking even intermediate level instruction isn't qualified enough to make that judgement. However, it is appropriate to be wary if your BJJ and Judo instructors are teaching you completely different concepts, when the two are supposed to be closely related.

While I definitely have more to say on this topic, I think I'll get off it for a while. I want to vary the content and style a touch more, but if you have any questions feel free to message me.

Thanks for stopping by! You're alright.
-Ben