I aim to start playing judo again when I return to uni, but I have 3 months until then and there are no judo clubs near where I live now. What would anyone suggest to get in optimal shape for next season?
I’ve just started WSSB (today, in fact), and I intend to add a second leg day.
For cardio, I was thinking of doing 1 skipping session and two interval ergs per week.
Will this be useful, or would my time be better spent doing other stuff?
Sounds pretty good. With the WSSB I would use the weighted chin-up as the max effort and bodyweight chin as the repetitive, as Judo is a pulling sport. If you use the chins, do the pushing in place of the upper back and do the accesory exercises for the pulling musculature instead of pushing.
I remember reading an old (maybe 80’s) book all about strength training for Judo. I really wish I had read it properly, it was two years ago in my gym “expert” devised days of 3x12 machine workouts & before I started martial arts (by the way i didn’t gain any strength or mass in 9 months!). Anyhoo the book said power cleans and one handed barbell snatches were the best exercises for a judoka. Makes sence to me.
By the way does anyone know the title of this book? I only remembered the exerceses because I had no idea what these two exercises were.
Be carful of making signifigant size gaines without seriously upping your GPP. All your new muscle as functional as it is will require oxygen, and if you don’t get used to supplying it, you will crash when you start doing judo again. It happedn to me last year, I dropped 6% body fat and gained 20lbs of lean muscle, but I was worse off than I was before, aftern about six minutes on the mat my new muscles were out of gas, becuase when I was lifting none of my muscles were under tension for that long. Don’t make my mistake and put in alot of GPP active recovery into your training.
Good Luck
Personally I would incorporate some sandbag training. That and a lot of GPP.
Thanks for the tips, guys.
I’ll try and get hold of a sandbag from somewhere and play with that a bit. I’ll search for some decent sandbag routines. Do you think it would be a good idea to do this in place of a second legs day, or is four lifting sessions a week + sandbag lifting doable?
As for active recovery, I’m not sure exactly what you mean. I’m cycling to and from work each day, and whilst this is hardly proper training, it means I get 2 10-15 minute bouts of light cardio per day… is this sufficient in terms of active recovery?
I think you wold benefit greatly from more ground based pulling. For examle the Oly. lifts and/or their veriations. One thing these lifts teach is how to apply force quickly to an object and then change body position around the object while it is still moving, like in the catch of the snatch. You explode and the bar travels up, but while it moves up you use the weight of the bar as its “suspended” to push yourself under it. This similar to what goes on while exicuting some throws.
Other great moves are dumbbell ot barbell thrusters. One arm DB sntaches. using a towel for your chins is a great way to condition the grip as is the sand bag. Both simulate grabbing a Gi very well. You can hit the core hard with turkish get ups and full contact twist.
Mike Mahler has a great DVD and although it is primarily for MMA alot the moves would be great for Judo.
Excellent advice, thanks.
As a plus, I really enjoy DB snatches!
It’s beginning to sound like WSSB isn’t really the program for me! Are there any pre-made programmes out there that are well suited to judo?
WSSB is a good routine in itself, but it may not be the best for waht you need to do. You have to remember you to explosive, you need to be strong in odd postions, and you need to be able to go for the long haul. It’s been a while since I’ve fought/played but I remember vividly being in postions and not having strength I needed because I just lift weights lik the football players did.
Ross Enamait has good books, they are geared or combat athletes and boxers. Good stuff like sand bag lifting and sledgehammers. Just hard work. Alot of the strength you need will be built on the mat. Dont neglect animal training also, like crab wlks, bear walk, lizards etc.
Mike Mahler’s DVDs are good, as well as Seve Maxwell’s (BJJ Champ) his stuff is at www.maxercise.com. Steve Maxwell also has a great joint mobility dvd available.
As for pre-made templates I dont know that any exist on this site. Give yourself an honest assesment and concertrate on bringing up your weak points.
Lastly, keep your shoulder mobility and flexabilty in good shape. I cant play anymore because an old nagging injury.
Don’t negelect strenght training, over the past year I did a powerlifters strenght training program, but keeping in mind that I am a martial artist, I made a few changes. I had a 20 minute warm and cool down with each weight trainning day, this involved alternating skipping with pushups sit ups and lunges.
I also made my workout longer in the weight room about 2hrs of weights, so instead of doing say 3 days a week of weights I would do two but I would work each muscle group the same number of times as I would with 3 days a week. This preps your body for judo by teaching it how to work at high force output levels for longer periods of time, but it will also sabatoge mass development. Basicaly you have to decide if you are powerlifter or a Judoka, but westside training can still make you a much better judoka
Hmmm… I’m going to have to rethink my training slightly!
I really enjoy lifting, and as I’m not doing any matwork at the moment I’m not too fussed about recovery, so I’ll still do 3 sessions a week lifting. However, I’ll probably make these full body sessions, keep them pretty short and focus on db snatches, power cleans, deadlifts, squats, chins, bench and rows.
One or two evil sandbag circuits and a bit of lighter stuff (tempo swimming/ergs, maybe) should make up the rest of the training.
Sound reasonable? I really have no clue with this, and can’t find any decent articles on strength training for judo.
I want to get stronger and bigger (I’m a stone lighter than the top end of my category, and I want to compete in powerlifting competitions eventually…plus ego always plays a factor!), but want the sport-specific power and endurance to match.
Does what I’ve suggested sound reasonable? Maybe alternating heavy and not so heavy on the weights sessions and picking 3 or 4 lifts for each weights session and doing several sets of 2-6 reps?
I’m really appreciative of all the good advice! Hopefully I’ll kick ass next (academic) year!
Edit: would these bags be likely to be strong enough for sandbag training? Loading...
[quote]Grey Area wrote:
Hmmm… I’m going to have to rethink my training slightly!
I really enjoy lifting, and as I’m not doing any matwork at the moment I’m not too fussed about recovery, so I’ll still do 3 sessions a week lifting. However, I’ll probably make these full body sessions, keep them pretty short and focus on db snatches, power cleans, deadlifts, squats, chins, bench and rows.
One or two evil sandbag circuits and a bit of lighter stuff (tempo swimming/ergs, maybe) should make up the rest of the training.
Sound reasonable? I really have no clue with this, and can’t find any decent articles on strength training for judo.
I want to get stronger and bigger (I’m a stone lighter than the top end of my category, and I want to compete in powerlifting competitions eventually…plus ego always plays a factor!), but want the sport-specific power and endurance to match.
Does what I’ve suggested sound reasonable? Maybe alternating heavy and not so heavy on the weights sessions and picking 3 or 4 lifts for each weights session and doing several sets of 2-6 reps?
I’m really appreciative of all the good advice! Hopefully I’ll kick ass next (academic) year!
Edit: would these bags be likely to be strong enough for sandbag training? www.surplusandadventure.com/ishop/800/shopscr427.html[/quote]
It is pretty much the same as wrestling, but it seems like more upper body due to the nature of the takedowns and lack of matwork. I may be wrong though.
Actually I would say Judo is less upper body than wrestling as good technique in throws is about low center and off balancing. I always think of wrestling as technique plus strength/power. Judo is this also, but more technique and position, less strength.
Anyways, any trainging for MMA or Wrestling would apply. Check out an old book by Donn Draeger that is way ahead of its time and all about Judo. Called Judo Training Methods. Its all about strength training for Judo. Amazon would have it probably. The author says 2 dumbell power clean is the best exercise for Judo. I can say its an awesome exercise for non olympic lifters.
Ideally both sports are pure technique, strength being used minimally. However, when technique is pretty much equal, strength prevails (how many weak high-level judoka do you know?)I would say Judo is more UB because there are no ‘shooting takedowns’.
I would guess that elite wrestlers are stronger than elite Judoka as a group(not saying Judoka are weak at all). When I say that Wrestling is more upper body I meant more uppper body muscle power is needed to pin and take down(like a shoot) whereas Judo is about grips and hip snap. That has been my experience. I think I may have misunderstood what you meant regarding uppper versus lower.
A personal trainer at a gym I go to sometimes with friends claims to be the guy talk to when it comes to developing unprecedented strength and power for judo. He has some young judoka training with him now and I mostly see them doing smith machine squats, bench press, curls, and seated-supported rows. There is probably some magic somewhere in that program.
Unfortunately for the judoka this guy collects money from, I never heard of these kids or their “feats” on the mat. SO to each their own.
Weight training has been invaluable for martial arts . Just get stronger , faster and better conditioned dude
Do:
-Compound moves - Judo is all compound moves so use em
-Power Moves like the power clean
-Strength Endurance like pushups chinups and free squats
-Grip Work
-Powerlifting moves
-Lots of back and pulling work since you will basically be pulling people all day
-Core Core Core Core - Abs and lower Back
I’ve had a think about weight training and come up with the following plan. Do any of you have any recommendations on things to change/think I should bin my ridiculous idea and follow a ready made plan/have any other comments?
I’m a little concerned about burning out on this program, but it’s low volume so hopefully this won’t be an issue.
3 day split: Mon/Wed/Fri with the following lifts:
Mon:
62 on Deadlifts
62 on chins
46 pistol squats
Whatever sets I feel like with DB snatches
38 side bends/1 arm deadlifts
Wed:
62 on squats or box squats
62 on rows
46 RDLs
Whatever sets I feel like with bent presses
38 turkish get ups
Fri:
62 on power cleans
62 on bench
46 pistols
Whatever sets I feel like with jerk presses
38 weighted sit ups
Is this sensible, misguided, or just utter crap?
After doing the Monday session today, I think that it may be a better idea to alternate heavy DLs and squats on Mondays and do box squats every Wednesday.
Anyone got any thoughts?
I’ve played judo off and on since the 70s. Here is the deal if ain’t fast don’t do it: hill sprints, snatch, clean and jerk, power cleans, cable pull throughs, jump, and frogs (hang from bar bring knees to elbows). Finally, nothing beats time on the matt, lots of time. Better to be on the matt than in the weight room. Good luck judo is a great Way. “Classic” judo is the Way. Sport/olympic judo is weak. That said, train classicly but compete whenever and whereever you can.