Sport Judo

How effective would you say sport Judo is in a street situation?,and has anyone had any success in using any Judo throwing techniques in the street?

In my opinion sport orientated arts are not always applicable in a street situation due to the lack of rules or discipline in a street environment. Sports are monitored such that the rules are adhered too whereas you'll find in street situation more or less "anything goes". Unless you're prepared for the adrenaline dump and how to react to it the training goes out of the window and you potentially become a standing target due to "sticky feet". I have tried judo throws in mock street fights with mates where they bring whatever they want towards me and found that invariably i personally ended up in a grappling struggle (oponents are all bigger and heavier than myself which could be a major factor there though)

this type of questions pops up with regularity from time to time

the answer is:
If when you use it for real, and the 'judo' throw works, then Judo works on the street
if you use it for real, and the 'judo' throw DOESNT work, the Judo DOESNT work on the street

Yeah, I agree with Dave on this one.

With the right intent, someone could make origami work on the street for real.

For me, Judo, sport or not, is a tough tough art and though it may not be designed for the street, it's still going to be pretty effective.

A friend of mine worked the doors in Hinckley, midlands. His only art was Judo, but he was an Olympic standard Judoka (trained under Neil Adams). I don't think he lost a fight, to my knowledge, and regardless of size - once he had a grip of them, they were history.

For me, grappling isn't the first port of call for the street but it is still a requirement - because nothing ever goes to plan and I for one, definitely want some kind of backup system should I end up rolling around or even just being grabbed. Judo is definitely up there as one of the core arts as far as I'm concerned.

In fact - it's on my list of new arts to train and grade in at the moment.

Cheers

Al

Hi Al,

Thanks for your reply,

I always thought you had a high qualification in Judo? (apologies if i'm wrong!),but after looking through an old copy of MAI magazine (1999) i saw it was probably Sambo wrestling i was thinking of.

Marc

As an experienced competive judoka i'd recommend Judo to anyone wanting to experience some full contact fighting without doing so much damage to yourself and partners that it hinders your training progression.

From a self-protection point of you, I (imagine) that particular throws in Judo would work well for the street. A Harai Goshi perhaps.

Jazzgoat.

Ive personly used judo in the street a few times and it has saved my skin .I think it worked for me because i trained in judo at an early age and only very briefly i might add, so i only knew a hand full of throws .I should point out though that a couple of these times i have ended up on the floor holding my oponent in a head lock which i Know is not the best place to be but luckly i got away with it.

I think for me these more sport or 'game' oriented training systems can be useful training, as when I do combatives drills I can experience adrenaline and panic response. This is good to learn to deal with, but doing more relaxed training helps me to use good body mechanics and flow without worrying about getting hurt.

Absolutely agree Mr Natural.

There's a time and a place for hard training but also a time for drilling technique in a softer and more compliant environment in order to learn the technique correctly.

You have to be able to make mistakes without being punished massively everytime, otherwise you stop experimenting and halt the learning process.
And when your partner knows what technique you're training, it's always easy for him/her to nail you everytime anyway - so there is a good justification for compliancy when learning techniques.

Good post Al
Otherwise how else could a putz like me get any ground game?
Sometimes we have to work together in order to learn how to make it work on another........and sometimes training for trainings sake is enough.....
Mick x