Learn your self judo?

[xo-karate]

Just a thought - and I know this is difficult.

If you were to learn judo by your self - or in a small study group wtih hardly any knowledge of judo - how would you do it. What would be the curriculum?

Would you start with a book - and compine youtube videos with it?

Learn ukemis and kuzushi first?

Maybe start with grappling (katame-waza / ne-waza)?

Follow belt ranks and use it as a curriculum?

(Yes - I know that lot of you will say that you just would join a local club or find a good sensei... but what if...)

[ps1]

First off, it's a bad idea. Any martial art is dangerous and most especially one that entails throwing people to the ground.

That said, yes, I would follow the curriculum laid out in Kano's book Kodokan Judo. You would start with the drills and break falls that are laid out. Those should be practiced quite a bit.

Next would be the various drills surrounding kuzushi. Practice the basic forward throw kuzushi thousands of times. Practice the basic rear throw kuzushi thousands of times. Practice lacing them together...thousands of times.

Only once you have an excellent feel for kuzushi, grips, and breakfalls should you start throwing. Stick to 3 or 4 basic throws that work well together. For example: Ogoshi laces very well into Osotogari and visa versa. There are several examples of these in the book.

Now that you have great feeling of the moves in stagnant drilling, you can begin doing randori. Begin by doing limited randori, one person is allowed to throw while the other only defends or some resistance is given, but not 100%.

Once you've been training for several months or even a year, you could start doing full randori. Of course, in a Judo school it would be much sooner, but there's also a qualified instructor to monitor progress and ensure safety. You don't have that so patience should reign supreme.

As far as rank...none. Wear only a white belt until you are ranked by a qualified instructor. There's no way to gauge your progress against a known standard, so putting on rank would be meaningless anyway.

In the way of resources, there's no such thing as too much. Before you begin practicing new material you should research it as much as possible. Books and videos are going to be your best bet. Look at several different options and decide what method you want to try.

[xo-karate]

Thanks ps1,

Sounds a good plane: a book to study from, but a lot of pre-training like breaking a fall and kuzushi. ( And lot of kata type of training.)

For randori - a think that grappling - could be introduced earlier - maybe like kesa katame and escapes from it?

I agree about the belts - it would be too arrogant to start giving belts to your self:-)

Maybe also selection of the members of study group? Ex martial artist? JuJutsu - aikido - BJJ or some other background where you have learnd ukemis would be good.

[brickshooter]

One thing that you will find in a judo dojo and not on video nor books is a giant matt. It's about 2 feet deep and looks similar to the kind you see track and field pole-volters land on after leaping 20 feet into the air.

This extra thick matt is generally used when students go into their throwing drills, and allows the thrower to throw uke with a full force without having to worry about not hurting their partner. I think 3-4 sleeping very soft mattresses can be tied together to get the same protection.

I recommend the use of this in supplement to standard matts. You can throw uke 20 times without him/her hating you.

[ps1]

One thing that you will find in a judo dojo and not on video nor books is a giant matt. It's about 2 feet deep and looks similar to the kind you see track and field pole-volters land on after leaping 20 feet into the air.

This extra thick matt is generally used when students go into their throwing drills, and allows the thrower to throw uke with a full force without having to worry about not hurting their partner. I think 3-4 sleeping very soft mattresses can be tied together to get the same protection.

I recommend the use of this in supplement to standard matts. You can throw uke 20 times without him/her hating you.

Good advice. Crash mats are a valuable tool in that regard!

[xo-karate]

I've been training Han Moo Do and start Ju-Jutsu. Both have practises at the same place - and there is a big mat also.

Karate dojo is a at a different location - it has a "tatami" - kind of rubberish and not very soft, but there is some extra mat on the side - not the big ones but still could be used.

Thanks brickshooter - we might use them to get ukemis right - just in the beginning. (If it is nessessary ... I don't know how well students from other martial arts can do ukemis. I need some exercise even though we did a lot of take downs and sweeps in Han Moo Do - it's not he same as throws.)

[ps1]

Maybe also selection of the members of study group? Ex martial artist? JuJutsu - aikido - BJJ or some other background where you have learnd ukemis would be good.

Certainly, if you find people with grappling background that would be great. Wrestlers also know alot about takedowns. Afterall, wrestling is very much like judo with no gi.

[bushido_man96]

I agree with ps1. It will be very tough to do. I'm not saying it would be impossible, but having an instructor and a school would be so much better. As ps1 mentioned, lots of patience and keeping safety in mind.

That said, yes, I would follow the curriculum laid out in Kano's book Kodokan Judo. You would start with the drills and break falls that are laid out. Those should be practiced quite a bit.

I agree here, as well. I have the book, and it is very informative. I'm also sure there are some good instructional videos out there on YouTube you could find. You might do some research into the Judo world, find out who the big names are as far as instructors and coaches goes, and see if they have YouTube instruction videos. It can help narrow your search, and thus you can spend more time evaluating and training instead of pouring through the thousands of videos out there trying to find a good one.

[xo-karate]

http://www.youtube.com/user/LeinonenHannu#grid/user/804501FC20C2643D

I've made a playlist about different ukemi - not all are Judo.

[tallgeese]

While learning the specifics of an art is a bad idea from any sort of medium other than an instructor familiar with both the art and teaching, one thing that can be valuable by immersing yourself in texts on a given art is a fundimental understanding of what it's about, what you'll be expected to do at a given level, and a familiarity with it's history, traditions, and terminology.

I've been doing a ton of reading on iaido lately and checking out video because I'm considering picking it up. While I won't really learn any technique, at a deep level of understanding at least, it can learn the underpinnings of the art. For instance, it's far more formal than anything I've done before, and relys heavily on Japanese terms. This, I can get a grip on proior to deciding if it's for me. Further, an idea of how practioners move is important.

That you can get your head around by reading. It's an important step in researching what you're looking at doing that gets overlooked or misused often.