Judo as a self defense system

[JusticeZero]

As far as fighting in the ring vs fighting in the street - in the ring, everyone is trained in grappling and breakfalls, and they are fighting on a relatively soft surface. In real life, noone who is likely to attack you knows how to breakfall, and you will be throwing them onto rough concrete.

I would also think Wing Chun to be a poor complement from the little I know - Judo needs the center open to draw the throwee in, and WC is obsessive about closing that space.

Watch a handful of boxing lessons so you can learn how a boxer will move, but you don't need a high level of proficiency in it for what you will be doing. If you can, take the lessons and do not allow them to teach you how to punch or to do any work involving you punching. You will not be trying to trade blows with anyone, and you do NOT want to get in the habit of squaring off and trading punches.

[JusticeZero]

Is it effective against your average street fighter whose simply looking for a bar fight?

By the way, i'd also like to add my commentary here..

A bar fight is NOT SELF-DEFENSE. If you didn't want to get in a fight you wouldn't be getting up in people's faces in a bar. People talk about the danger of bar fights all the time and always in glee - face it, people go to bars looking for a fight. That's not self defense, that's just a hazy excuse for a fight club.

[JusticeZero]

not everything goes the way you want it to in a fight. Even with effective strikers, the fight will have a tendency to go to the ground.

Most brawlers will flail at you and fall down, then get up again to flail more. Saw a page with a large collection of "street fights", in most of them they would start out punching, then one or both of them would fall on the ground, then stand back up again unhindered - there was little if any 'grappling' involved on the ground.

With training you should be quite able to enforce your preference of location, since untrained people can't control the fight, and anyone capable enough to force the action into their area of expertise over you you probably have little chance to best in their game anyways. If someone can ward off your throws and keep punching you, they can probably outbox you straight up anyhow and you need to learn how to run. The grappler tends to have the advantage here because they have to train more to change the combat range so they can throw.

[Daedalus]

Good point. I heard many people injure themselves practicing Judo. I've decided to take Judo because there aren't many martial arts where I live. There's Judo, Nick Cerio's Kenpo, TKD, Shotokan Karate, Oyama Karate, and that's about it. I thought Judo might be the most interesting street wise and the most realistic because of its heavy sparring - perhaps I was wrong. Well I'm going try it tonight for the first time since this week it's free so I'll see how it goes. More posts would be appreciated if anyone has something to say. Thanks.

Compared to those other styles Judo is BY FAR the most street effective. Just make sure they practice alot of Randori at the Judo school.

[Fu Man]

In my opinion, Judo is very effective for self-defense when taught and practiced in the proper context.

In the full syllabus of Kodokan Judo, the martial art contains throws, locks, chokes, pins and strikes; which are practiced via repetitions, randori and katas (self-defense drills). With this in mind, Judo is actually more similar to traditional Jujutsu styles, and is a fairly complete martial art.

The main problem with practicing Judo as a self-defense system is the over emphasis on the sporting aspect in most dojos. However, that is a training issue that can be resolved by finding the right dojo.

Ted

[Ryute23]

Its good against your average untrained attacker, however it is a grapppling sport and the selfdefefense was taken out for sport competition

[Kajukenbopr]

It is very effective though it has some weaknesses that need to be straightened out before using it to defend yourself well.

but it seems I'm a bit late answering this...

[Kajukenbopr]

I would also think Wing Chun to be a poor complement from the little I know - Judo needs the center open to draw the throwee in, and WC is obsessive about closing that space.

Watch a handful of boxing lessons so you can learn how a boxer will move, but you don't need a high level of proficiency in it for what you will be doing. If you can, take the lessons and do not allow them to teach you how to punch or to do any work involving you punching. You will not be trying to trade blows with anyone, and you do NOT want to get in the habit of squaring off and trading punches.

I have to disagree with you in your comment on Wing Chun.

Wing chun is a really good style for self defense; I've sparred with a friend who practices it, and even though he was in a really bad shape, he was able to defend himself well- he knew his stuff; he didnt excercise is all.

[judoguy]

Its good against your average untrained attacker, however it is a grapppling sport and the selfdefefense was taken out for sport competition

It's good for a trained attacker as well. In unarmed combat anyway.

[EndlessDave]

I'd just like to add that Nick Cerio's Kenpo is a (mostly) striking art that is heavily heavily focused on practical self defense. If that's what you're looking for, NCK will guide you to it. Also, Shihan Clement (who owns and operates the Canada location) is currently the highest ranking NCK practicioner. Just a little tidbit of info.

Good luck!