Recently started a family Judo class with my wife and kids. Just for a fun family activity. Problem is that I’m 39 and wondering if I’m going to get injured. I’m having fun and getting pretty beat up so far.
I don’t have any delusions of becoming a Judo sensation or anything, but I would like to continue with my kids for a while.
Any tips for a heavy (210 lbs), old guy trying to enjoy Judo without becoming permanently disabled? To clarify, I don’t mind aches and pains. I want to try to limit actual injuries.
I do not practice or teach Judo, but I do teach Hapkido and have practice other styles. One of the first things they should or will be teach you is how to fall and protect your body. You should learns falls, rolls, etc.
I am 35, and I think I can outlast pain threshold over many young kids who start. I wouldn’t worry to much, if you get hurt, like an ankle sprain, just take care and sit out the next class, Watch, observe the other students.
I think once you learn to protect your body, you will see that you can take more punishment than you originally thought.
Thanks. I’ve definitely been paying attention to all the rolling and falls.
I think part of the issue is the only guy close to my size is a high school kid and his endurance is scary. We practiced a basic throw last week and he just didn’t get tired. I hit the mat about 30 times if not more.
I can take the pain part. My left side is banged up this week but I’m still in the gym trying to beat last weeks lifting numbers. It’s gonna really suck if I get injured and I have to miss some lifting though.
Well, it’s never too late to start. The most important single thing to do when learning Judo is relax. Stay loose; when you get thrown, ukemi. Don’t try to resist or muscle your way out of things. That’s the difference between randori and shiai. Also, as you’ve been training since '05 and I assume you’re stronger than average, try to resist the temptation to stiff-arm (this goes along with relaxing).
You may want to try some soft knee pads, and have some athletic tape handy - for taping toes together, etc. You could also have a look at www.judoforum.com and judoinfo.com, both great and very informative.
Have fun.
[quote]gonugs wrote:
Thanks. I’ve definitely been paying attention to all the rolling and falls.
I think part of the issue is the only guy close to my size is a high school kid and his endurance is scary. We practiced a basic throw last week and he just didn’t get tired. I hit the mat about 30 times if not more.
I can take the pain part. My left side is banged up this week but I’m still in the gym trying to beat last weeks lifting numbers. It’s gonna really suck if I get injured and I have to miss some lifting though.
Appreciate the responses.[/quote]
Oh, and your judo endurance will improve with time. As will the aches and pains. I remember when I started I felt beat up for three or four days afterwards. This stopped after a few weeks (and believe me, I was still being thrown aplenty).
I’m definitely the strongest person in the class, but it’s mostly kids so that’s not saying much. But still, I have already had to work on not muscling through the moves. Trying to work the movement instead of the muscle. Working on balance. It’s definitely fun. I’ll check out those web sites too.
I started a few months ago and like aut-x-rs says, the aches and pains become much less of an issue as the weeks go by. The mat burns are the most painful thing now! The breakfalls come together with time too - I sucked at them to start with but last night I got thrown hard by a 2nd Dan and luckily did the best ukemi I’ve ever done without even thinking about it!
Relaxation is absolutely key - if you tense up you’re much more likely to hurt yourself and potentially the person who’s throwing you.
Hey Judo is a great sport, its very cool you are doing it with family too.
I am on the other side of your story, Im 38 but played judo and wrestled for years.
Yes you can get hurt from playing judo but don’t worry about it too much.
You can get hurt doing most things.
And Yes if pressed I will answer that I can no longer play too much judo
from getting banged up wrestling in college and beyond college.
Ill give you a few tips, if you like.
Like others said you are going to spend a good deal of time learing Ukemi
or break falls,
its what we do. We fall.
Ice , Ice Baths, epsom salt hot baths and contrast showers are your friend.
Try to use a foam roller, balls, or somthing like it to help with recovery.
I use a generic curricumen500 (tumeric) and I was suprised at how it works for
muscle and joint pain.
Lastly Id advocate some mobility work- to keep you agile and help
keep you loose.
Search here and on google for things by Eric Cressey or Mkke Boyle.
remember to have fun, Judo is a great way to do that.
best of luck!! mobility is necessary and as others pointed out working through the range of relaxation to tension and back to relaxation is the key, controlling that range, use breathing to your benefit to help that, you will see culmination of strength, technique , endurance and concentration/alertness.
Apart from that have fun,give time to learn the movements and integrate them in a sequence plus your Gym work is only going to complement your mat work and vice versa!!
As KMc pointed out Mike boyle, Eric Cressey , Mike Robertson all their articles would help to keep you injury proof!! Also do check out Diesel Crew and Jim ‘Smitty’ Smith’s and Scott Sonnon’s work and videos.
best of luck n hav fun!!
I don’t really have anything else to add that hasn’t been covered.
I will x2 on really learning your ukemi, and learning to relax. It hurts less this way.
Keep getting on the mat and having fun.
Drop into the MMA training hub from time to time and let us all know how it’s going!
Lots of good info. As I recall, a study done several years ago in Poland (which has a very large national Judo organization and therefore reliable statistics) showed that for juniors (16 or so and under) the most common injuries were head and arm then knees. For older people, this tended to be reversed with knee injuries. In all cases the same pattern for injury was found, viz., in a competition setting, resisting the throw (to avoid losing) usually meant that uke (person being thrown) started organized falling too late. Kids have more supple knees, so the tended to upend and try to stop themselves with arms. Adults tend to blow the knee out on lift off, mostly from failed reaps (like osoto gari) or trying to resist a sacrifice throw.
Now, I’m an old fart and if it were me, I would practice rolling and breakfalls religiously and volunteer to be throwing dummy for the better guys – try to learn how they throw so you can get frostier on landing. In particular, volunteer to be their partner for (nage no) kata, since you will know ahead of time what they are doing and can really practice it. Be honest. Tell them what you are up to and make sure they grok it. If you do competition, stay ahead of the technique so you can’t get slammed. This probably will mean you lose more than otherwise, but you will also stay in one piece.
One of my earliest senseis once commented that if he had a choice between getting hit by someone who really knows what they are doing vs. getting thrown by a real pro, he’d take getting hit any day of the week. A hit can well and truly f you up (anyone remember Rudy Tomjanovich??) but you can break all sorts of things of things in a throw. Remind me to tell you about the time a buddy of mine accidentally slammed someone with an ippon seoi nage on cement. Not pretty at all…
[quote]BradyZ wrote:
I do not practice or teach Judo, but I do teach Hapkido and have practice other styles. One of the first things they should or will be teach you is how to fall and protect your body. You should learns falls, rolls, etc.
I am 35, and I think I can outlast pain threshold over many young kids who start. I wouldn’t worry to much, if you get hurt, like an ankle sprain, just take care and sit out the next class, Watch, observe the other students.
I think once you learn to protect your body, you will see that you can take more punishment than you originally thought.
Good luck with it, and have fun.[/quote]
Hapkido is a fun practice. I started in it when stationed in Korea many years ago (1980s not 1950s). I agree with your post - learn to fall and listen to what body is telling you. Pain can be fun, but the line from fun to f@#ked is something you have to aware of.
For ages my toes were always beat up, the instructors would see my mat-burnt toes and remind me to keep “live toes”, joking that the opposite is dead toes…
I’m nervous as hell at the moment, I’ve got my first grading this afternoon, and if I pass that I’ll be competing in my first comp on Sunday.
I’m pretty sure that the grading will go fine. We’ve got a few guys from another club coming along to get graded, and apparently we’ll do a little “spirited” randoori afterwards… The instructors assure us that we won’t have too much trouble handling them, and I guess it’ll be a good sort of warm-up for the comp on Sunday.
Love Judo, have done it off an on for 2 years. Mostly wtf taekwondo guy, though if I would have started in judo I feel I would have never done anything else. Great sport for self defense and fun
AS others have said – ukemi, ukemi, ukemi. Practice falls and rolls a lot. Also, as a general rule, ne waza (ground work) is a a lot easier on the body than tachi waza (standing work) and you’ll get better at it faster. Get the knee pads. Some soft shin pads aren’t a bad idea either.
