Tell me about Judo

[Go To Sleep]

I'm pretty new to martial arts and I wanted to know about judo. I've seen some judo matches and it seems like all it is is takedowns. Is there any more to it, because it looks like the matches are over when someone gets taken down. Is there any ground fighting in judo? What kind of techniques are there? Thanks.

[ravenzoom]

For sure there is ground fighting in Judo. In my dojo it's about half and half with randori on the ground. Judo is based on throws and ground fighting with chokes, arm bars, etc.

[Kajukenbopr]

well, most judo for sport is just to take down the opponent. in reality, judo is a newer version of jujitsu- the japanese martial art of fighting people in armor(when strikes and kicks wouldnt work)

Everything you would use in groundfight is taught in judo. Its older counterpart Jujitsu used to be much harsher back in its time breaking bones and using small joints to manipulate the attacker.

Judo however is safer to practice and effective in a fight.

[TJS]

The focus of judo is on throws but there is grappling with pins and some submissions.

[White Warlock]

The base of Gracie ju-jutsu (Brazilian ju-jutsu) was judo. So both the past and the present, the foundations and forerunners, practice ground techniques and the whole spectrum of combat applications. Wherein could judo have missed the boat on all this?

Answer is, it didn't. As noted above, competitions focus on takedowns, but this is not the totality of the art. Many judoists participated in the UFC and other MMA competitions, and fared very well.

[CagedWarrior]

I like Judo (and if you read my posts, you know that I don't like much out there.) If I weren't doing BJJ I'd probably be looking for a Judo school. Some guys have come to my BJJ school from Judo already with a decent (for a white belt) knowledge of the ground game.

As for the matches, since no one has yet mentioned this- you lose a match if you allow your self to get thrown onto your back, I believe. That's probably what you saw.

[judoguy]

Judo as it is practiced today is primarily a throwing art with competition rules the way they are. Some schools vary on the ratio between ground work and throws and takedowns. Every now and then you will find a judoka who is as good on the ground as he is standing but not often. There are still some old school instructors out there who are ground wizards but not many. If you want to be great on the ground try BJJ. It will bridge the gap between the ground techniques that judo once had and the newer stuff out there now. Or you could go to Gene Lebell and learn from him as I did.