Increasing Throwing Strength and Explosiveness

If you view some Olympic Judo videos, one thing which will become immediately noticeable is the strength that the fighters have when performing throws. They explode into position with maximum speed which helps create the momentum needed to pulley there opponents up, and then down on there backs. So what are the core leg exercises to develop this explosiveness?

In the same way a 100 meter sprinter explodes of the starting blocks, the judo fighter explodes into his/her throwing position. Weight training exercises which are recommendable for this, are squats, calf raises and leg presses. These help in developing the strength of the leg muscles, but these alone are not enough.

For explosiveness the following exercises are recommendable.

Jump squats – Holding light dumbbells at your side, bend down and then jump as high as possible. On landing, try and land again in the bent knee position. Carry on jumping up and down in a smooth manner, concentrating on form. This can be carried out for ten, twenty or thirty seconds. Its advisable to rest after thirty seconds so as not to place to much stress on the knees.

Straight Leg Calf jumps - Using just your body weight, keep you legs straight and concentrating on not bending them, push with your legs (mainly your calves) and try to take your feet completely off the floor. By not bending your knees before pushing, you use no momentum and it becomes very hard to push off the floor. As with the jump squats, rest after thirty seconds of this movement to give your leg muscles a chance to recover.

Duck Walks – Without any weights, you simply lower you body so your thighs are no lower than 90 degrees to the floor and walk. Its simple effective and can be done anywhere. Again no more than thirty seconds of walking each set so as you do not wear your knees out.

These exercises are great because you strengthen the exact leg muscles used for nearly all throws, pickups and takedowns, but nothing should be practised more than uchi komi/nage komi. By practising the actual techniques themselves you shall expand your muscle memory. You shall get your muscles used to moving in certain ways, so you are able to explode with full power in the blink of an eye without even thinking. By practising these, along with the exercises listed above and many others that are available, you shall build the strength and explosiveness needed for fast and furious throws.

Marks

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The Best Judo Tip for Throwing

A Judo throw requires not much strength at all. Whether it’s a hip throw, a throw to the rear, a pick up, sacrifice or whatever, they all have the same basic principle. YOUR OPPONENTS BALANCE MUST BE BROKE FIRST.

When your opponents balance is broken then a slight push, pull or trip and the opponent will be thrown. Breaking the balance can be done in many ways. The basic way is to push or pull your opponent in any direction. Front, back, sideways and to the corners. When your opponent has been taken in one off these directions, and his/her balance has been broken, then he/she can be thrown. A lot of time nowadays, strength is used to throw, which also works, but when a throw is done in this manner, the thrower can lose balance and also fall to the ground. Balance can also be broken by your opponent’s natural movement. When a foot is taken off the floor (as in to step) his/her balance is naturally broken. An example is if your opponent steps forward towards you, his/her balance has been broken to the front allowing for an easy throw to the front which could include, Uchi Mata, Koshi Guruma, O Goshi or maybe a sacrifice throw like Tomo Nage etc. Again, if your opponent attempts a throw and fails, then moves back to position, as he/she is moving backwards, his balance is being broken to the rear, allowing for maybe O Soto Gari, or Morote Gari. To be able to throw someone with this type of timing requires a lot of practice, but is just an example of how two people sparring or fighting are constantly losing balance.

Kyuzo Mifine is regarded as some, to be the best Judo Fighter ever. His balance was crisp and smooth and could throw many people much taller than him by the exact method detailed above. The best part of his throws, was that he rarely fell whilst throwing, remaining standing. This is the true essence of Judo, and is what all JudoKa should be aiming to achieve.

Marks

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The Cheat Chin Up

The chin up is one of the greatest exercises ever thought of. It is seen as one of the greatest upper body exercises and can be done almost anywhere where there is something strong enough to hold above your head.

There are various grips to use when doing chin ups and are thousands of websites available that give good valuable information on this so I won’t bore you. Instead I would like to tell about a special cheat way of doing chin ups for added strength. Normally a chinning movement involves gripping a bar overhead and whilst completing repetitions going up and down, the feet are always off the floor. I have noticed that this is great for building gripping strength but a lot of energy is wasted at the end of each rep when you are hanging from the bar. This energy could be used for a few more reps which will create that little bit more strength in your upper body muscles. To tackle this problem I always do my chin ups on a bar that is high enough for me to be standing relaxed with my feet on the floor at the end of each rep. This enables me to pause and rest for a second before each rep, allowing me to focus all my strength on the pull of each chin up. Alternatively if the bar is to high, I place a box, a board or anything on the floor that will take my weight at the bottom of each rep. Grip strength is worked on other exercises like shrugs and deadlifts so I don’t worry to much about losing out on this when doing chin ups.

Marks

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A Great Takedown for all Martial Artists

When people see throws and takedowns, the majority of them tend to be double leg pickups, hip throws of some sort, wrestler type suplexes or reaping techniques (O soto gari etc) One of the most underused takedowns which is very quick and requires little energy is the back of the knee press.

It works like this. From the clinch, move to the back of your opponent quickly or pull him round so his back his facing you. Then using the sole of your foot, press through the back of your opponents knee joint whilst pulling him/her backwards (grabbing any part of his/her upper body, including shoulders, arms, upper torso, head, hair etc). As your opponent falls backwards, be sure to move your body out of the way, so he/she does not fall on top of you.

The beauty of this takedown is that it requires very little strength to pull off. The back of the knee is very weak on everyone, no matter how strong they think they are, and a small amount of force is needed to bend the leg. The pull of the upper body then brings the opponent down to the floor. Also unlike most other throws where nearly all of the times there is a strong chance that the person will also fall to the floor, this is not the case with the back of the knee press. It is quite simple to remain standing, without your opponent gaining the ability to pull you down.

The key step to learn with this throw is how to get to a position behind your opponent. This can be achieved through practice and sparring.

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