Friday's Program

We will continue our work on basic principles.

This is what we will work on Friday

Stance
When doing uchikomi or even nagekomi, players often face each other in a square stance. However, in randori or shiai, this is usually not the case. Normally, players would be in a kenka-yotsu situation or occasionally in an ai-yotsu situation. Players need to understand the ramifications of facing an opponent in an kenka-yotsu or ai-yotsu situation, and understand that there are different grips, techniques and strategies involved when in each of those situations.

Gripping
Gripping is key to success in judo. Without a proper grip, you can't do your technique. And if you are able to negate your opponent's grip, you are able to prevent him from attacking effectively. There is a systematic gripping strategies and techniques that allows you to win the grip fight. We will look at all this.

Posture
Bending over double and stiff-arming is a tactic many beginners use to fend off an attack. Inexperienced judokas find this frustrating but actually when a player bends over double and stiff arms, it's actually a gift for tori. We will look at why.

Action-Reaction
A key principle of judo is to make use of your opponent's movements. You can attack uke directly but a better way would be to do an initial attack in order to provoke a reaction and to throw uke in the direction of his reaction. The principle of action-reaction applies in newaza as well.