So you've decided you want to learn judo, fantastic! You've chosen a great art to get involved in. I'm not going to try and sell you on all of judo's great points, so let's crack straight into it.
How to Get Started
The gold standard way to get introduced to judo is at your typical university club that holds a 6-8 week beginner course. They'll have lots of other beginners there, plenty of senior grades helping out and most importantly, lots of crash mats. If you don't have this as an option, obviously you want to find somewhere that caters as much to beginners as possible.
Showing up for your first lesson in the right gear is pretty important. Seriously, the amount of people that turn up wearing torn cloths, clothes that are far too lose and so on is ridiculous. Wear a well fitted t-shirt, because you'll have a judogi over the top. Down below, I'd advise track pants that aren't too loose, and that end above the ankle. Seriously, you can buy track pants for like $10, and there is nothing worse than trying to learn judo wearing regular length pants that will get caught under your feet. If you want to wear tights with shorts over the top or something, even better.
You're going to learn some pretty profound things when you start judo. See, everyone thinks they have some kind of fighting ability when they start. They think they can just use strength (and this is especially true of bigger guys) and make everything work. Here's a newsflash for you - your strength isn't going to help you, and you're more than likely going to feel like a complete gumby for the first year of your training. You'll be slow, stiff and uncoordinated. So the best way to be during your beginner course is as loose and easygoing as you can be.
What people don't understand is that judo isn't just about technique, it's very much about proprioception as well. In layman's terms, this is your body's ability to sense itself in space and provide balance and strength. See, the first couple of years in judo, you're learning how to control and move your own body correctly. This is why you're going to have so much trouble throwing anyone in randori. It's the reason the stuff the senior grades do seems like some kind of black magic to you. You can't even control your own body properly, so why would you expect to be able to throw someone easily?
Things to Keep in Mind
If you take nothing else away from this article, take away this piece of advice - AVOID TENSING UP. People do this because falling is a primal fear. If you want to do judo, you need to be conscious of it and work to get over it as soon as you can. Being tense means throws are going to hurt - and the more you tense up the more it's going to hurt, to the point that you'll never want to be thrown. You need to learn to relax and go with it. This is why I always recommend beginner courses, because you learn to fall on crash mats, which are much less scary. The other thing about tensing up is, it makes you a crappy training partner. Being a good training partner is pretty important if you want to last in this art.
When you learn your breakfalling, do it enthusiastically. Don't be timid and try to fall lightly to avoid any discomfort. Slap those arms on the mat nice and hard. Get used to the feeling. Get psyched up about it if you have to. Being aggressive in your breakfalling will help your judo immensely, because you're not going to be scared about it. The timid people, those are the ones that end up with broken arms because they try to put a hand out instead of falling properly. You'll be surprised at how quickly you get used to falling, and that it really isn't that bad.
Another important thing is to not get competitive in your beginner phase. There's plenty of time for that later. People that get competitive too early on don't learn well, because they are always trying to muscle everything so they can "win" randori. Avoid this, and avoid those people because fighting them won't help your judo. Focus on learning as much as you can, staying light on your feet and learning what it all feels like. You're better off letting yourself get thrown here and there so you learn about balance and when you're losing it. Learn to feel the flow of movement, rather than trying win anything.
Finally, avoid trying to look good while you're in your first couple of months. Don't try to do techniques quickly or explosively because you want to impress senior grades, instructors or the cute guy/girl next to you. You aren't impressing anyone because right now, you don't know 1/10 of jack, and it shows. Have you ever seen a giraffe right after it's born? Staggering about all over the place as though it's drunk? Yeah, that's what beginner judoka look like, so forget about trying to look good. Go through everything as slowly and as systematically as you need to in order to learn techniques properly.
That's as much as I want to fill your head with right now, in the next installment, we'll look beyond the first couple of months to the first couple of years.
How to Get Started
The gold standard way to get introduced to judo is at your typical university club that holds a 6-8 week beginner course. They'll have lots of other beginners there, plenty of senior grades helping out and most importantly, lots of crash mats. If you don't have this as an option, obviously you want to find somewhere that caters as much to beginners as possible.
Showing up for your first lesson in the right gear is pretty important. Seriously, the amount of people that turn up wearing torn cloths, clothes that are far too lose and so on is ridiculous. Wear a well fitted t-shirt, because you'll have a judogi over the top. Down below, I'd advise track pants that aren't too loose, and that end above the ankle. Seriously, you can buy track pants for like $10, and there is nothing worse than trying to learn judo wearing regular length pants that will get caught under your feet. If you want to wear tights with shorts over the top or something, even better.
You're going to learn some pretty profound things when you start judo. See, everyone thinks they have some kind of fighting ability when they start. They think they can just use strength (and this is especially true of bigger guys) and make everything work. Here's a newsflash for you - your strength isn't going to help you, and you're more than likely going to feel like a complete gumby for the first year of your training. You'll be slow, stiff and uncoordinated. So the best way to be during your beginner course is as loose and easygoing as you can be.
What people don't understand is that judo isn't just about technique, it's very much about proprioception as well. In layman's terms, this is your body's ability to sense itself in space and provide balance and strength. See, the first couple of years in judo, you're learning how to control and move your own body correctly. This is why you're going to have so much trouble throwing anyone in randori. It's the reason the stuff the senior grades do seems like some kind of black magic to you. You can't even control your own body properly, so why would you expect to be able to throw someone easily?
Things to Keep in Mind
If you take nothing else away from this article, take away this piece of advice - AVOID TENSING UP. People do this because falling is a primal fear. If you want to do judo, you need to be conscious of it and work to get over it as soon as you can. Being tense means throws are going to hurt - and the more you tense up the more it's going to hurt, to the point that you'll never want to be thrown. You need to learn to relax and go with it. This is why I always recommend beginner courses, because you learn to fall on crash mats, which are much less scary. The other thing about tensing up is, it makes you a crappy training partner. Being a good training partner is pretty important if you want to last in this art.
When you learn your breakfalling, do it enthusiastically. Don't be timid and try to fall lightly to avoid any discomfort. Slap those arms on the mat nice and hard. Get used to the feeling. Get psyched up about it if you have to. Being aggressive in your breakfalling will help your judo immensely, because you're not going to be scared about it. The timid people, those are the ones that end up with broken arms because they try to put a hand out instead of falling properly. You'll be surprised at how quickly you get used to falling, and that it really isn't that bad.
Another important thing is to not get competitive in your beginner phase. There's plenty of time for that later. People that get competitive too early on don't learn well, because they are always trying to muscle everything so they can "win" randori. Avoid this, and avoid those people because fighting them won't help your judo. Focus on learning as much as you can, staying light on your feet and learning what it all feels like. You're better off letting yourself get thrown here and there so you learn about balance and when you're losing it. Learn to feel the flow of movement, rather than trying win anything.
Finally, avoid trying to look good while you're in your first couple of months. Don't try to do techniques quickly or explosively because you want to impress senior grades, instructors or the cute guy/girl next to you. You aren't impressing anyone because right now, you don't know 1/10 of jack, and it shows. Have you ever seen a giraffe right after it's born? Staggering about all over the place as though it's drunk? Yeah, that's what beginner judoka look like, so forget about trying to look good. Go through everything as slowly and as systematically as you need to in order to learn techniques properly.
That's as much as I want to fill your head with right now, in the next installment, we'll look beyond the first couple of months to the first couple of years.
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