Fitness? Who? Me?

What do you call a group of judoka (judo players) ?

After our seemingly eighteen months of winter in the UK, I think a 'flurry' of judoka would be most appropriate.

Either way, perhaps a flurry of judoka will not be happy with what I'm going to say.

Sharp intake of breath...

I came to judo as a late starter in my forties and I wasn't an athlete before I started.

This is a personal experience and hopefully could be helpful to a few people. It comes with a positive and constructive spirit attached to it.

When people start judo (myself included) one of the main motivations for doing so is that it 'will help me to get and keep fit'.

I disagree.

In my limited experience, judo brings many great things but unless a session has involved randori (free practice) from start to finish, developing fitness through judo alone is going to be a tough goal to reach.

The time spent watching and trying out techniques in a regular session will be time spent not getting fit.

It's worthwhile to learn of course but having the fitness to apply techniques in randori might have to come from outside of judo.

Running and spinning (group exercise cycling) are great for getting fit and building lung / breathing capacity.

Swimming is even better as, unlike running and spinning, breathing underwater has to be controlled (otherwise things get 'uncomfortable'!)

This discipline of controlling breathing is particularly useful for groundwork.

Then that's just the cardio vascular side of the fitness coin, there's the muscle and weight bearing capacity to consider.

It might seem obvious but few things can help in gripping, pulling and throwing as strong arms.

Powerful quads / thighs can help in throwing and groundwork too.

Oops nearly forgot to mention the value of a powerful back and core in all aspects of standing and groundwork.

In short, all the above, although very useful in judo, need to be worked on before any judo session.

From all of this, I now know one thing.

I can't get fit from, with, by, or because of judo alone.

I can get fit for judo and enjoy it so much more when I'm raring to go, stepping onto the mat ;-)

Hope this helps!

Bye for now.

Mike