Is judo too rough on the body?

[Himokiri Karate]

I know its called the gentle way but it seems like Judo is by far the toughest and roughest martial arts to learn.

I am curious to know how do you guys train in judo while staying injured free and do you notice any bad habits from others that result in avoidable injuries?

I ask because I love judo but I hate how sore and injured I get and of all the martial arts I have practiced, judo feels like the longest to take to recover!

[Spartacus Maximus]

I would suggest to keep in mind that zero risk is impossible when engaging in any contact activity. Judo is a martial art at its core and in martial arts the training involves learning and practising various types of power. It is normal and expected to experience soreness or aching after training, but it is also unavoidable in the process of skill improvement.

The best advice I have heard is common knowledge to any instructor or sport coach: beware of overtraining, know yourself and then challenge yourself but do it gradually. Injuries come from lack of concentration and thinking too much instead of doing.

[cheesefrysamurai]

Injuries happen for sure. Yes, judo is pretty rough. 2 years ago I got thrown with hiza guruma and needed knee surgery. There are many factors in my opinion. In my experience some issues are

1. Playing with inexperienced players- they move with jerky movements with way too much power. They can't yet rely on technique so it's all muscle. Using muscle to oppose joints can be disastrous. They simply lack finesse and don't feel the "JU "

2. Not warming up properly.

3. Not having a complete understanding of the technique as both the attacker and receiver.

I personally have backed off judo. Many people play a rougher Olympic style Judo. I plan to study ma for the rest of my life and judo seems a contradiction for me, and besides my knees aren't too great and I am pretty old - so I decided to choose my battles and focus on my karate do.

[sensei8]

I know its called the gentle way but it seems like Judo is by far the toughest and roughest martial arts to learn.

I am curious to know how do you guys train in judo while staying injured free and do you notice any bad habits from others that result in avoidable injuries?

I ask because I love judo but I hate how sore and injured I get and of all the martial arts I have practiced, judo feels like the longest to take to recover!

Injury free seems like an oxymoron when ones speaking about the MA in general. But I sincerely believe that injuries are lessened under the watchful eye of a qualified instructor. Even with that, potential injuries while training in Judo can occur; hence, things happen, no matter how careful one is.

Under the watchful eye of a qualified instructor bad habits are practically non-existent because students aren't allowed to develop those negative muscle memories to sink in and remain.

Students are taught the technical side of Judo, and how to properly fall and absorb any throw and the like are part of the technical aspects, as well!!

[Lupin1]

I trained Judo for a year. I loved it. But in that year I had bruises, mat burn, a black eye, fingernail gouges on my throat (those raised a lot of questions at work), a sprained shoulder, and a broken toe. I also developed bursitis in my knees during that time that still gives me problems anytime I kneel or whack them on anything (probably a combination of landing on them in Judo and kneeling a lot at work). Towards the end I started getting really nervous every time I got on the mat, especially if we did anything involving joint locks or sweeping around the knees.

Left for the summer for a job with every intention of going back in the fall, but just couldn't justify the potential for serious injury. I still would love to go back and consider it every once and awhile, but I'm legitimately scared. I can't afford a serious injury.

Edited December 28, 2014 by Lupin1

[IcemanSK]

FWIW, I have zero experience with Judo. But I have a friend who is 6th Dan TKD, BB in BJJ, a very fit former Marine. When he told me about his time in Judo he described it as pretty rough on his body. I think, like any MA, it depends on many variables, including how the instructor teaches class.

[Wastelander]

I don't know any serious judoka that don't have at least one bad knee. It's very hard on the body if you practice it with intensity. Since most clubs train for competition, that's most of what you will find. You can do it much more gently, and safely, but you won't have nearly as much success in randori or shiai.

[Himokiri Karate]

I know its called the gentle way but it seems like Judo is by far the toughest and roughest martial arts to learn.

I am curious to know how do you guys train in judo while staying injured free and do you notice any bad habits from others that result in avoidable injuries?

I ask because I love judo but I hate how sore and injured I get and of all the martial arts I have practiced, judo feels like the longest to take to recover!

Injury free seems like an oxymoron when ones speaking about the MA in general. But I sincerely believe that injuries are lessened under the watchful eye of a qualified instructor. Even with that, potential injuries while training in Judo can occur; hence, things happen, no matter how careful one is.

Under the watchful eye of a qualified instructor bad habits are practically non-existent because students aren't allowed to develop those negative muscle memories to sink in and remain.

Students are taught the technical side of Judo, and how to properly fall and absorb any throw and the like are part of the technical aspects, as well!!

the thing I have noticed from boxing is that, every ma style is like a coin.

What I mean is, when I started boxing, I was at a gym that would spar 100 percent and they specialized in in-fighting as well as brawling. This was the gym that many people had injured ribs or crooked noses.

Later on, I switched trainers and I started training with the boxing master and former world champion Tony Pep and his approach to boxing was very structured. Instead of 100 percent sparring, we would do jab sparring and we would focus on throwing jabs as well as defending jabs using various defensive methods like, head movement, shoulder rolls or using the gloves.

Under Mr. Peps guidance, our boxing skills improved a great deal and we suffered from almost no injuries while all his fighters had a solid wins on their record.

Sorry for the rant, basically what I was getting at is, it seems like every martial arts style has a safe and a dangerous way to learn and I was curious to know if judo also has that safe option or the nature of judo which is using gravity as a weapon may perhaps be too much...

[Spartacus Maximus]

The safe way to train martial arts is to use ones head. Train hard but train smart. Knowing one's limits when to slow down or stop goes a long way in avoiding injuries. There is more to training than endless full power repetition of the same thing over and over again.

[sensei8]

I'd say that every MA has a safe value built into it, including Judo. Gravity shouldn't be a factor, whereas, gravity is a constant that can't be avoided; proper technique executes the mechanism, the entire mechanism!!