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
