A modern approach to tachi-waza
My method of teaching tachi-waza is really very different from the traditional approach on a number of points. We are all a product of our experiences and my approach towards tachi-waza development is a function of how I learned it as well as my own evolving thoughts about technical development.
Stance and grips
I mentioned in the last posting that for newaza, I believe the correct way to teach it is to base it on scenarios. For tachi-waza, I base it on stances and grips. Those are the most fundamental things to look at when you are learning tachi-waza. What stance are we in? What grip are we dealing with?
Are we in a kenka-yotsu (opposite stance) situation or are we in an ai-yotsu (similar stance) situation? This makes a big difference. Take kouchi for instance. In a kenka-yotsu situation you can do skipping kouchi and kouchi-makikomi. But in an ai-yotsu situation, a kouchi-gake is more practical. So, what kind of kouchi you do will depend very much on the stance you and your opponent are in.
I emphasize gripping a lot because it is so crucial to the success or failure of a throw. For every technique I teach, I will highlight the grips employed. Adopting the wrong grip for a particular throw will make it difficult for the throw to succeed. Perhaps the most obvious example of this is the grip for ippon-seoi-nage. Many people try to do it off a sleeve grip because that is how it is traditionally taught. However, a sleeve grip results in a lot of looseness and space between tori's back and uke's chest. As a result, the seoi-nage is unlikely to work. For seoi-nage, you have to throw off the lapel grip not the sleeve grip. That's never taught in judo textbooks although it's the way practically every seoi-nage specialist does it in randori and competition.
Hands and legs
Very few judo throws are purely hand techniques or purely leg techniques, and it goes without saying hip techniques and sacrifice techniques require the use of hands and legs working in concert. A good example to illustrate the importance of hands and legs working together is ouchi-gari. No doubt this technique is classified as a leg technique but if you just do the leg movements with little attention paid to the hands, it won't be effective. Both hands and legs need to work in unison. So, whatever throw I'm teaching, I always make it a point to show what the hands and the legs are supposed to do.
Uchikomi and nagekomi
I'm not a big fan of uchikomi. Traditional judo senseis will tell you to do a thousand uchikomis to perfect your throw. If you do a thousand uchikomis what you will be perfecting is uchikomi not throwing. Why? Because uchikomi is not throwing. Uchikomi is loading someone up for a throw, in a static, cooperative situation. This on its own is useless for learning how to throw because what's missing is the unloading component. Secondly, in a real life situation like randori or competition, the situation is far from static and your opponent most definitely not cooperating but rather, resisting with all his might. As such, uchikomi on its own teaches you very little about throwing.
What uchikomi is good for is to teach you the mechanics and principle involved in entering into the throw. So there is some value in uchikomi but it's far from sufficient for teaching you how to throw. Doing a thousand of these is an utter waste of time. Do three sets of 10 uchikomis and quickly move on to nagekomi.
Nagekomi teaches you to unload uke after you have entered into the throw. It's important to do this with full force so a crash pad is necessary. Otherwise after a while you will find no ukes to train with because they have all had the wind knocked out of them.
There are many traditional dojos that don't use crash pads because the coach or the players think "real judokas" don't use crash pads. Actually, it's masochistic nincompoops who don't use crash pads. What those macho idiots do instead is an assisted landing where they lift uke up a bit during the fall so that the landing won't be so hard. What's the point of that?
Firstly, it doesn't teach tori to throw with full force which is what is needed in order for any throw to work. Secondly, if tori's concern is that uke doesn't land too hard there is a simple solution. Use a crash pad, dummy!
Some people say that the reason they don't like to use crash pads is that it doesn't teach uke to do proper breakfalls. But the purpose of crash pad throws is not to teach uke to breakfall. It is to teach tori how to throw! If you want to practice breakfalls, go practice breakfalls on the mat. But if you want to learn how to throw, use a crash pad so you can throw hard and uke won't have to suffer so much. At KL Judo Centre we are neither masochistic nor egotistical dumbasses, so we do use crash pads.
Randori
Of course the ultimate test and training for throws is to try them in randori. I'm always amazed at judo clubs where randori is limited to just 15 minutes or in some cases, none at all. It boggles the mind. It's like asking a swimmer to do drills but not actually swim. Or football players to do drills but not play football. You can apply this analogy to badminton or volleyball or hockey or any other sport.
Since we used a fork and spoon analogy in my post about newaza, I will continue with a food analogy here too. Judo training without randori is like going for a meal where all they serve are appetizers. The main course is missing.
At KL Judo Centre we are very randori-centric. If you like randori, this is the place for you. If you like to sit out randori, go some place else.
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