The Shintaro Higashi Show - Fundamentals and Progression in Judo

Episode Date: June 5, 2023

Judo is said to have a very steep learning curve, which may be quite discouraging for beginners. One way to combat this is to create smaller milestones to keep track of your progression. What are some of these fundamentals you can use to keep your progression in Judo? In this episode, Shintaro and Peter go in depth about what they use to keep track of their and their students' progression. Join our Discord server and start chatting with us and other grapplers by supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/shintaro_higashi_show. Any amount helps!

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the Shintaro Higashi Show with Peter Yu. Today, we're going to talk about progression and fundamentals. Yeah, progression and fundamentals in judo. This was a suggestion from our big sponsor, LeVon. Thanks for your support again. Thank you, LeVon. Appreciate you.

And then we're going to kind of dedicate this whole episode to a few of them. He has a lot of questions, good suggestions, but a few of them. So he basically wanted to know, like, what a lot of questions, good suggestions, but a few of them. So he basically wanted to know, like, what are some of the, you know, landmark skills or like some,

some kind of, how can you check if you're progressing in judo without looking at your belt color? Right? And the other thing was like, how to, what are some of the fundamentals

in judo, you know, for different body types or different styles, you know. It's definitely confusing. Yeah, they were all kind of related to each other. So I thought we thought it would be a good episode to combine them all and then kind of answer them all together. All right.

So what should we do first? Okay. How about just start with the progression? Like some checkpoints, I guess. Checkpoints. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So first and foremost, right?

You have to be able to do Ukemi on the very, very basic level. Right. Standing, side, back break falls. But I honestly think it's a little bit overemphasized when people are like, you only teach Ukemi for the first two months or they can't do it. Like, no. That's so boring. It's so boring.

You'll lose guys right away. And this is the thing. Like being able to do kemi by yourself doesn't necessarily mean that they're not gonna get hurt when they go down

right right it's more so important that the person throwing them gently lowers them down to the floor that's more important than anything

if you're picking them up with an ogoshi and then you're like decelerating like floating them down to the ground you know when their hands are getting put out or whatever it's like yeah no no tuck the arm and you can like decelerating, like floating them down to the ground. You know, when their hands are getting put out or whatever, it's like, yeah, no, no,

tuck the arm and you can like guide them through it. Yeah. You know what I mean? Actual, like useful ukemi. Not just like, oh, let's do one, two, slap the mat. Yeah. Yeah. So like that is overemphasized.

Doing that does not translate to being able to take good falls when you're actually getting bombed. Because a good throw, you don't see coming. Right, right. And if it's not ingrained naturally, like quick, like automatically, for your body to make these movements, it's not going to be useful.

How do you recommend people check that their okimi is useful and nice? Like they can break the fall when it's unexpected yeah so i think it's just exposure over time exposure to that specific stimulus over time taking break falls on the crash mat i think is one of the most important things somebody can do

right and in the beginning yes we put them through like basic break fall drills okay line your back side to side squatting Super easy. I blow right through it. Okay. Just, you know, and then I can kind of gauge where they are athletically. Yeah. You see what I mean? And then now when we're doing Nagakomi, throws on the crash mats, very, very important, right? When they're being exposed to that first, they're only taking low amplitude, low impact

throws like Oji. And even then, they're not dropping them. Right, right. They're literally hooking the leg, sit down, bang, and they're rolling onto their back with the guy holding them up. Okay? And I hear all the time, I didn't even throw them that hard, you know? And that makes me so angry, right?

You know what I mean? Yeah. It makes me so angry because, hey, this person has never taken these falls before, right? Which know what I mean? Yeah. Makes you so angry. Because, hey, this person has never taken these falls before. Right? Which is very unnatural. Unnatural from standing to floor. Yeah, it never happens. And if you've never wrestled, you can sit on a desk all day.

That's a big fall. A lot of impact. If your neck isn't strong to be able to, like, tuck, right? Your head's going to snap back. You're going to hit your head. There's so much risk and issues that can potentially come with just being thrown in a gentle way, right? So taking those Nagakomi falls in a very, very slow way, and then slowly, like progressive overload in the gym, you have to add a little bit more, add a little bit more, add a little

height, add a little amplitude, right? And then all of a sudden you're taking fast Ippon Senagi, Oguchi, Koshiguma, where you're kind of disoriented because it's so fast. You land, bang, and then maybe your knees hit together or maybe you land in a funny, twisting way. But because you're progressively going, it shouldn't be that fast and hard.

So you can correct yourself over time. Then, little by little, no matter how fast the guy goes to that throw, yes yes you know it's coming but you have sort of this proprioception feel right yeah you develop this sensitivity to the stimulus and then it becomes better your throw falling becomes better and better and better and now all of a sudden it becomes automated so it has to be you have to break down ukemi into various like small steps of progression

and then somewhat i don't think you have to explicitly show it that way but that's just how it is right and i'm always saying like all right guys we're gonna do ukemi we blow right through it guy can't really do it from squatting all right you just watch for now and we'll let you in the next time right and they're watching they're watching and then sometimes you need a supporter sometimes you get these guys who are really unathletic and they have really weak necks. Like, all right, guy, hey, can you spot him? You know what I mean? We go right through it.

And then when we get to Nagakomi, right, they're taking these low impact throws. Crash that. Yes. And now I could say like, hey, that guy has two strikes on his white belt. You could throw him a little bit harder. Hey, I know Carlos is a great athlete. He's a white belt, but he's not really a white belt, right? He's a great athlete. He's been doing grapple for a long time you can throw him with whatever you want

it's more yeah tailored to like personal approach you're taking yeah yeah and you know you can't scale this way i always talk about scaling yeah yeah running a dojo in the business side i think uh if there's 25 guys 30 guys in a room fine you just kind of know where everybody is yeah right based on like what you saw them do, like how they're doing the thing, right. How, whether or not they're in shape or like, they look like they're coordinated. You couldn't tell, you know what I mean? But if you have a dojo that has 300 students and you're, there's a morning class and a night class and a day, all these different people running around in it, it's very difficult to like have that sort of a

standard, right. Because you can't scale that way. You don't, you can you can't know everybody right now so there becomes a little bit of a challenge but i assume 90 of the people who are listening to this belong in small judo dojos or they belong to jujitsu dojos who are equally as small if not they're at a mega dojo that has a judo program which is going to have a very small population of people. Right? So this advice kind of fits, I think, everybody who listens to the anonymous, you know? That's just my, like, you know? So, okay. So that is the first step, the fundamental ukemi, good ukemi.

Yeah. And what's the next thing you look for in terms of progression? I think just making the shape of the throw, right? That's a very important one. You know, if you can't make the shape of the throw, it's not that good, right? Yeah.

So you have to be able to do it on a cooperative partner. Yeah. And the biggest issue is people say, yeah, they do lots of one-to-one break falls, and then people show them a technique. It's like, okay, go try it on each other. There's a huge gap between that and actually taking someone down that's also trying to take it out.

Right, right. Not only are they trying to take it down, they're trying to resist throws that you're doing. So there's a huge gap, right, from when you learn how to break fall, learn how to do a couple throws, to be able to do it in Rondori. Yeah. Yeah, that's – Big, big gap.

You know what I mean? So I think the first marker is if you're capable of making the shape of the throw on a cooperative partner, whether it's an uchikomi, naikomi, or three-person uchikomi, then you can sort of move on to chaining one or two of those techniques. Right. Now we're talking about misdirection when you're faking one way, going the other way. Right.

Fakes the saigo no soro, fake turn throw going tani otoshi. Right. That's a misdirection. Or going for a fake turn throw on Taniyatoshi, right? That's a misdirection. Or going for a fake turn throw, Taniyatoshi, he steps out, coming back for an Osoro. Right. That's a three-step movement, right? And to be able to do that without wasting stats, without falling over, right? Also with proper weight distribution, where you're not just supporting your weight, but you're putting your weight on the other person.

Yeah, yeah. Because if you're going Osoro, you're not just supporting your weight, but you're putting your weight on the other person. Yeah. Yeah. Because if you're going to soda, you're not standing upright, right? You're leaning into the other person. The other person has to support your weight, body weight. Yeah. Okay. Which requires you to keep your balance first and foremost, and keep your balance on someone else who's also resisting. Yeah. Right. So being able to do that is first and foremost. If you can't do that, I don't think you should be able to do free Rondori. You could have some, right? But it's not going to be a good indicator of like you getting better or you doing this or that. Because a lot of what you're going to be able to get is someone falling for you or you're getting lucky.

You get like two yellow belts scrapping and then you take someone down. Some of that stuff is luck. Or get hurt, I guess. Or get injured and the risk becomes really high. So I think those fundamentals are very, very important to be able to do that. And then you want to go into looking at position, recognizing good position, recognizing bad position,

recognizing when you're in trouble, right? Recognizing when you should be opening up and closing distance. Yeah. Those are some fundamentals too of positioning, right? And now you sort of have the ability to kind of enter into like a 30%, 40% speed Rundori, which will yield you good returns on that, right? Because now you're sufficiently prepared for this.

You have good fundamentals now. So you just covered a lot but let's uh let's kind of step back and go one by one so you first mentioned you're making the shape of the throw just just learning how to throw uh through which comments and not get comments i mean i think that's that's everybody understands that but now you are to make it more realistic you chain you chain them up like uh you know you know also into uh sasai or whatever right and then so in that case if you go through these things you might have this problem of taking too long to get to the fun part i guess right with andori you know because yes you know you should be these things will help in the long run but you you some people

may feel that this is like we're taking way too long like oh i want to go in i want to go in yeah so how how i guess these are landmarks but how do you keep people engaged at each landmark that's a very good question as you as you get closer to the

ultimate goal of doing full throttle randori yeah randori is fun for most people who know what they're doing

you know and they're conditioned right the guys at the top are like oh randori is the best I don't want to do anything but randori

a lot of these people who are walking in that are new they don't know what rand but Rondori. A lot of these people who are walking in that are new, they don't know what Rondori is. Right, right. So a lot of these guys are like, hey, wouldn't I get to do that? It's like, yeah, you can do that. You know, when we can trust that you can keep yourself safe

and you can keep others safe, and then you learn all these different things. And just kind of how I laid out all these fundamental progressions, I'll, you know, if I have the time and if I feel like it, I'll explain that to them. You know, but in the meantime, right, when you have the time and if I feel like it, I'll explain that to them, you know? But in the meantime, right, when you have a very, very charismatic leader like myself in photo, you can keep them engaged because it's interesting. It's interesting.

So each milestone can be interesting. I mean, like, oh, just to make the shape or like, you know, chain techniques. You can make them all interesting. And I think it's more interesting to do it that way as opposed to like, here's Osoto, here's Taiyo, here's Inside Trip, go try it. None of this shit works. Right? Yeah. So it's like, okay, why doesn't it work?

You know what I mean? 50-50, guys stiff arming, it's not going to work. Right, right. Okay, so now we're going to gain position, pull the head down fakes the side then go to soto like now they're trying to memorize these steps yeah right it's not gonna help them either yeah yeah so now it's like you got to be like all right listen this is the game right these are the fundamentals you have to make the shape of the floor you have to be athletic and fast because if you show that you're coming they're gonna see it coming like if you telegraph it right so fundamental positional

understanding and fundamental ideas of like setting it up and such and making you know we talk about misdirections and combinations you have to make the shapes of those things or you can't do them yeah you have to do it on a crash mat bang can't freaking do it right right so you make that part interesting you know and, and then like, okay, why can I not go Ochi Osoto? And then, and a lot of things like this, you know,

recognizing as a good coach, why it's not working. You see a lot of guys when they go for a solo, they rock back onto the heels and toes come up off the ground. That means your weight's going backwards. Okay. And a lot of these coaches who don't know what they're talking about, but like,

Oh, more Kazushi, more Kazushi. Oh, point your toes, point your toes. They give it a vice that has nothing to do with anything because they heard it so many times from their other coach say, say shit like this.

Yeah. Right. I hear this all the time. Like, you know, right. First left cross script, cross script. It's like, why would you tell that guy to do cross trip? It makes no sense. What do you mean by cross grip in this case?

No, I mean, this is a constant constant thing like he's having a hard time putting his right hand on the collar right versus left because they're fighting for that first lapel he can't get it so he goes cross grip but it's like sometimes yeah it's like okay but it's like and then you know that never

the person doesn't even know how to play off cross grip it doesn't really work. Yeah, but you know, like it's not, there's all the things that should be taken into account. Like I said, if you're going for senagi and you're rocking back on your heels and you see the toes come up,

it could be a kuzushi issue. But you know, most of the time, it's like your weight's shifting backwards. Could it be, yes, you pull more initially. There's a lot of stuff going on, right? So it's like giving them the right advice at that time, that's the most important thing, you know? Right.

I see. Yeah. So it's ukemi, then learning the basics of the throws on cooperating partners. Yeah. And then you mentioned just learning how to essentially read the game in a way, like push and pull,

like managing the distance and stuff and grip fighting, I guess. Would you say that's the next landmark? Yeah, grip fighting, you know, I always thought like teach it early, but now I'm a little bit more like, okay, let's push it back a little bit. Because you don't want guys who are just coming in grip fighting. And there's more room for error, right?

Like, you poke someone in the eye. It's a lot more difficult to coordinate this stuff. But I like teaching from 50-50 now. Just, like, start locking up 50-50 and then gaining position. Because it's more understandable, right? It's a spectrum. My hand goes up. You know, my hand goes up the collar your hand slides down my collar right now i have a little bit more advantage i

could do a little bit more now if it goes all the way to the back of the car i could pull your head down you can't pull my head down and then reverse it like oh shit oh shit i'm losing i'm losing i'm losing so now like it's much easier to show the conceptual side of like winning and losing position right first right especially. So I start there as opposed to like, go like this, go like this, go like that, go like that. Because this is what you want to look at dominant position and like what? Too complicated.

Yeah. Right first right, my hand higher than your hand and the collars. And then look at our body size, more exaggerated to compensate for that. Do you not see how this is a good position for me? And they feel it. So it's like, get there. Recognize that you're losing hair, you got to get there, right?

As opposed to like, going through all these sequences and dripping, like, it's too fast to like, talk yourself, you know what I mean? Right. So then, so at this point, you are, I think,

what you were saying was that a person would reach that point where they could go 30% Randori when they're working on grip fighting and distance management and stuff. What does that mean? 30% Randori? Do you have them go

with advanced belts so that it's safer? So this is the stuff that I would recommend everybody who's on Rodorzo. You need a couple of higher belts that you could trust. Yeah.

They're not going to bomb them. It's not going to have any ego involved. They're going to let the beginners work, right? And, you know, you don't want those guys who are going to be like

coaching them during the round, like taking up all the time. Hey, yeah. No, we don't need any of that. Just shut up and let the guy work. And give concise one or two little bits. Oh, you're doing great here. All right, yeah, and then just kind of let them be.

Maybe take one or two falls. Maybe throw them once or twice gently. That's it. That's the best round for these guys. Keeping it close. That's it. Keeping it close, let them work. You know what I mean?

That's going to be tiring for them too anyway already it's tiring yeah and you know you know you outgrip them you know 60% of the time

yeah right then you can shut them down and control them you get you let them outgrip you like gain position on you so they can work a little bit

and then letting them understand like hey you remember that time when I had your head here I went for a Soto. Very easy to counter, right? Maybe you let him enter and then counter once, and that's your one takedown for the session.

So you can be like, hey, you went for a Soto from losing position. That's why you got countered there. There's reason behind that. You know what I mean? And then you have that dialogue. It's great. You have someone that knows it, that's interested, who's curious. There's two smart people.

You have a dialogue about what happened. I noticed when you were winning position, you were hesitant. You didn't attack. When you were losing position, you were also hesitant. When you're winning, you have to start unloading. You have to attack. It's okay if you get countered because you're doing the right thing. You're making the right moves.

And I think at this point, once a person reaches his milestone, it actually goes, it becomes like a two-way thing. Where I think the person now, because they see so many different, they're exposed to so many different stimuli in Randori, they start asking questions. I think at this point, they start developing their own game. Yes, yes, yes. Right? And this is the thing. Sometimes, you know, you get beginners saying, like, yes, yes. Right? And then. And this is the thing. Yeah. Sometimes, you know, you get beginners saying like, what am I doing wrong?

Yeah. It's like you're a million things. There's so many things. Yeah. Yeah. And even if I tell you, you're not going to be able to recognize some of these things because you're going to make nine other mistakes at the same time. Yeah.

So in the beginning, it's just gaining that experience of being out there. Yeah. With someone that's not going to bomb you. Because if you're constantly in fear of getting taken down, you're not going to be able to work stuff. You're not going to be able to try new things. It's like that, you know, when you're in school and there's people bullying you, like

you're not going to be able to be in a very conducive learning environment. Yeah. Because you're constantly worried about getting bullied. Yeah. It's like, hey, the X equals four is like, oh, it's fucking retard said X equals four. It's actually seven. You know, now all of a sudden

you're too afraid to like ask questions and answer the thing. Now it's not a good learning environment for you anymore, right? Right. So same in judo, man.

It's like, you know, you have to kind of take out the risk of like getting bombed and people will say like, oh, it's part of getting thrown. It's part of doing judo. But it's not necessary

in the beginning phases that these guys are getting bombed. Yeah. They should be getting bombed yeah they should be getting bombed they should be you know having their ego stroked and be like hey you're doing great so you you keep them for longer so they get better faster yeah you know keep them for longer keep them in the sport as long as you possibly can so they're going to reap the benefits and then when they're higher belt now all of a sudden they're green belts and they've been guided by you properly now you can slam them and it's fine they'll get right back to their feet be like yeah you got me i'm coming after you now so now you have a good training partner yeah you know that's that's an

important uh point like it they you should see them as future training partner yes every higher belt needs to groom the next generation you know that sounds kind of bad but like no but there's like a sort of a grooming thing happening right yeah like that sounds really weird and bad to say like you know it's just like i was like maybe the better praising would be like uh grow the grow the yeah mentor and grow the next yeah next generation i mean it it has to sustain itself the dojo has to sustain itself by growing the next generation. Otherwise, it's going to go away. It's like everything.

Look at academia. You get the professors and then the people who are the master's degree, the PhD candidates, and you have the TAs, and you have all these people working essentially for free

underneath them. Aren't you sucking on the mother teat of a phd professor right now exactly yeah right you are right you're doing free work you're doing free work almost free work yep it's the cheapest labor you can get very highly educated yeah and you're contributing to that and then the guy that comes in next year just beneath you you're gonna make him do all the grunt work and then maybe you, you know, when you're a professor, you're going to be like stringing along these young guys who are going to be emailing

like, hey, I would love to be in your program and I'm a candidate and then maybe you throw them a bone and put their name at the back of the freaking research paper, right? Yeah. Maybe. In the middle, usually. The first author and the last author is the

the professor usually in my field and the first author is the main person and then really I didn't know that in the middle yeah

well it depends on the field but my field yeah so the first is the one that did all the work most of the work the last is the one that

funded it funded the thing usually yeah but it's like that's just how it is you know and I think there's a place for that The last is the one that funded it, funded the thing usually. Yeah. But it's like, that's just how it is, you know? And I think there's a place for that.

And there's also a place for two intermediates training. Yeah. And you could do little games, grip fighting, start 50-50 and game position, right? You could only do size and whatever, you know, you could enter, but not finish the throws, right? Go 40%, go 50%. As soon as they increase it and kind of, you know, one up each other and they start escalating. Okay, stop. You guys are no good anymore.

I can't trust you guys to do Rundori. Sorry. Yeah. We need it at this intensity to keep you guys safe. If you guys want to train each other in sort of this real life context, you can't be doing this, right? Don't bomb each other. Don't land on each other.

Make sort of like these rules for specifically for them. And that's a great way to do Randoi. I do this to Dojo, you know. Yeah. And then you also, you mentioned those black belts that you can trust. They can also, not only can they go actually do Randoi with these people, they can also watch them and make sure they don't do anything dangerous right yeah wow because you can't watch everyone you know no so that's another thing so that's another

landmark where you're like easing into randori um and then you know you can slowly increase intensity so at some at this point i guess the next would be full-on Randoi, right? Yeah, yeah. And then, you know, even when you're able to do Randoi, right? And I assume a lot of these guys are asking questions from the standpoint like, I'm already doing Randoi. How do I know I'm getting better? It's very, very difficult to know that you're getting better

because you're fighting the same guys over and over. They're getting better too. So if you're getting better, they're getting better. You know, you're kind of like the rising tide that raises up both. Everyone's getting better at the same time. It's very, very difficult to know.

That's one of the most frustrating things about judo. You know what I mean? So how can we check? Like, do you recommend going to tournaments or

another judo or another dojo? You know, because there's such a gap in skill at every level and you never know who you're going to get and they could be even more discouraging. If the guy's, on the dojo. You know? Because there's such a gap in skill at every level, and you never know who you're going to get, and they could be even more discouraging.

If the guy's like, oh, am I getting better? Am I getting better? That person's kind of worried about their progression. Yeah. And this is kind of like religion almost, right? Where you have to have faith. Yeah. In yourself.

You have to kind of believe in yourself. Believe in yourself, not your sensei. You've got to believe in yourself uh that you're getting better yes and then if you're putting in the time you're working really hard and you're spending time after practice thinking about it and then trying to gain knowledge knowledge gain is the most important thing because sometimes you're getting caught with stuff maybe you're just not recognizing it right yeah so being able to recognize it oh this person's looking for that based on this thing right whatever it is x y and z you make your assumptions right now little by little you are going to get better no matter what if you're spending time doing it if you're thoughtful and you're a smart intelligent human being you have a good baseline athleticism you're gonna

get better with time yeah yeah right so it's a battle with yourself really it's like you know don't get frustrated get fascinated some martin rooney used to say it to me all the time and uh you know you got to just have faith really and just kind of like keep plugging away yeah you know and uh those belt markers that people chasing the belts the they kind of have it the hardest because they assume their skill is going to catch up to their belt color you know i mean it does not they're not the same thing just because you're a certain belt doesn't mean you're very good you know yeah there's black belts and there's fucking black belts yeah i mean so but you know this right so you know the pursuit really has to be like information

knowledge skill you know ability to execute this stuff under pressure and being able to read your opponent being at the recognized, setting things up, setting traps. You know what I mean? Uchimata, Uchimata, Harai. That's an easy one. That's a thing that everyone does. Uchimata, Uchimata, Taniya, Toshi. Fighting position, Koji, cut the head, gaining, transition, Newaza, good Newaza

finishes. All this stuff. Defending counters. All this stuff. It just comes with time. It really does. And just because you're a black belt doesn't mean you can do all this stuff. I know black belts that have like two throws and they're not very good. You can ask them something and they don't know anything.

You know, that's a bad black belt right there. You know, maybe not a bad black belt, but you know, he's not a great black belt. I see. So you're coming more, so you mentioned a lot of intrinsic motivations, I guess, like, you know, expanding your, the horizon of your knowledge and stuff. But what if someone comes up to you and say, hey, I get what you're saying, Shintaro, but I just need some extrinsic motivation. Guys like to do that in the room, and it's the coach's job to recognize those guys sometimes and be like, hey, man, you're doing great. And sometimes that's all they need. You know, they don't really need to, like, you know. Go to the tournaments and stuff, no?

No, they just want the validation from the guy in the room, you know. There's a natural hierarchy in the dojo, and the guy with the highest belt generally is the leader of the room, general, right? So it's natural for any human being to want validation or what's the other word? Approval from that person. You know what I mean? You go to a bar, right? The hottest girl in the room, you want approval from that girl, right? You're trying to get that person's attention somehow, right?

Whether it's like by flexing your muscles or like, you know, making a laugh, whatever. Any field, right? In a classroom, right? There's a guy in the front who's a PhD, who's a professor. You know, you know, making a laugh, whatever. Any field, right? In a classroom, right? There's a guy in the front who's a PhD, who's a professor. You know, you're asking questions. Like you want that person's approval.

You know what I mean? And sometimes it's not really about their learning or whatever it is. Sometimes those people who need that extrinsic motivation, it's the coach recognizing them and saying, hey man, you're doing great. You're doing good. Keep it up.

Maybe that's all it takes. You really don't think competing is part of the landmark or progression or you know fundamentals it is and it isn't

you know what I mean because I'll give you an example Gianni went to nationals yeah yeah I saw the videos last year

he went 0-1 this year we've been working very close yeah he took 7 which isn't great yeah which is great because i thought he was gonna be i thought he could win it he's beating the guy who won it whatever right so but watching the content of the match and watching everyone else that division

i thought jr and he's in there he's in the game he's in the mix he could beat these guys yeah it's like how did you feel right results wise yeah he did better than last year but you know he went in thinking like hey man i should i should be winning we should we should be getting a medal here right yeah but we didn't but were we able to see significant improvement from his game last year absolutely yeah the stuff you need to work on a lot of the stuff he's already he's tightened up and now this is a little bit of a gap here, right? Where he needs to still kind of do. I don't want to out his game completely, but like, it's very, very visible.

Right. And we can have a conversation about this. And then we saw that although the results in you, but this is the thing. He could have easily gotten some freak guy. First round went all in one. Yeah. Right. And then it's like, oh shit. results in you but this is the thing he could have easily gotten some freak guy first round went all in one yeah right and then it's like oh shit you know if that was your main way of knowing you made progression a lot of guys will say man i went all in one last year i went all in one this year who cares if it was the eventual champion i freaking suck i made no progress in a year i i'm

done it's so easy to be right disastrously discouraged you know which happens to a lot of guys you know happened to me too i went to world one world championship lost first round next year i went to the world championships again lost first round you know but they were both very good guys it was like kopolik and you know huang from korea or something like that yeah so you know it's not a good indicator of like my actual skill level, you know, actual improvement in like walkers and such, you know.

Well, then let me ask you this. What do you, how do you keep, how do you keep up with your progression? How do you check your progression? Personally. You better go beat up

on the older guys. No, not necessarily. You know, how do I keep my progression? Yeah. It's tough to say. I'm always trying new things, right? Yeah.

So, you know, like I was into sumi for a little bit and then I was doing tomonage for a little bit and then trying to be able to hit tomonage on the green belts,

trying to hit it consistently on brown belts and then hitting on black belts but like putting different layers to it, right? Like hiding my attacks, you know, how consistent can I get it? You know, consistently on brown belts and then hitting on black belts, but like putting different layers to it, right? Like hiding my attacks, you know, how consistent can I get it?

You know, is it part of a game where it's like I'm showing things and doing this and that and then being able to hit those throws in practice? It's a good marker for me, right?

Because if I rely on my A game, I could generally just beat 95, 99% of the guy. Like who can, I don't want to say who could beat me, you know, I don't want to say that, but like a very small number of jud like who can i don't say who could beat me you know i don't say that but like a very small number of judokas can freaking beat me yeah and now people are going to be like oh what about you know everyone's gonna come and try to beat you now yeah but think about the world

judo population yeah it there's so it's it's such a popular sport in the world around the world out of hundreds of thousands of people, maybe even millions, they say they have a million judo guys in France. Okay? That's why a member of the famous video, Khabib, said, my brother, judo is different. Yeah, dude. There's a million people in France doing judo.

Okay? What percentage of those people can I beat? Probably 99% of them. The majority of them are teenagers and kids. Not Teddy Renner. He's in the 1% of people that I cannot beat from France. 1%? He's more like 1 out of

the million. But this is the thing, right? Like, okay, so, but what about my Tomonagi game? Can I beat the best guys in the world at that? No, I cannot. You know, how good is my Nwazu? It's good, but it's not great.

There's a lot of things I want to work on, a lot of moves I still want to hit. When I hit these moves, I want to be able to integrate it into my game seamlessly. And I want to be able to, like, move, and I want to be able to do this for Gianni, okay? Yeah. Oh, this guy, youni okay yeah uh oh i this guy you know i'm going against this guy he's a lefty he's a tall lefty he does this that this this is his game i

don't even think exactly replicate what this kid would do in a run dory session with him to prepare him to gianni oh yeah oh i see this guy's like a strong right-handed guy who's a drop saying like this kid he's a barefoot from uh he fights 90 at the u right-handed guy who's a drop like this kid Issei Barefoot from uh he fights 90 at the US right yeah he's a very

drop Sanagi game I want to be able to watch that kid and then the next day be like Giotti come and then you play him

yeah you know play by play every exchange like that kid right that's just as good

that's what I wanted to do. Yeah. You know, and doing that's a really cool thing, right? But that'll help my athletes. And that makes my judo more interesting. Right. Because I'm not playing my own game, but I'm playing someone else's game. Yeah.

So like, that's fun, you know, and that's how I gauge. And then, you know, cardio is a factor in it. Strength is a factor in it strength is a factor in it you know all these other things are factors in like me feeling like i'm progressing but i'm always trying to learn something new i'm always trying to figure new things out when it comes to grappling it's like this endless puzzle that just like keeps on like torturing you yeah you know it's torture really it's like i see that's a very yeah interesting perspective because when we

talk about progression we always we usually think of from the perspective of beginners going through the motion but as an

accomplished grappler like yourself it's progression may look a little different from a lot of people but put it this way man if someone's like

hey you have to be lefty now you can only fight from the outside position against righty. And the only move you can do is ouchi and two-step uchimata. Go. I'm not going to be able to throw a lot of guys like that. Right. Yeah.

Right? So, like, if I do that, I mean, there's no reason for me to do that ever. Right? But, you know, I could see the perspective of, like, a beginner, like, trying to learn this stuff. You know, it helps me understand where they're coming from. Yeah. but you know I could see the perspective of like a beginner like trying to learn the stuff you know it helps me understand where they're coming from yeah you know and I think a lot of it is just like drilling it and being comfortable being able to make the shapes of the throws you know that actually makes you a better teacher because you're you're constantly learning yourself and you know

what it's like to learn you know yeah I want to do lefty game for a little bit. I want to be able to do lefty, not mirroring the judo that I do to my right, but a specific lefty game that doesn't require like Taiyo, Shimada, because that's going to be a whole another bag of stuff for me to learn that, right? Yeah. So like Tomonage Sumi, like a very

sacrifice-heavy lefty style will be a very interesting thing for me to start learning and doing. And this is the thing I can already do this on when we yellow belts and green belts. Right. I throw my brown and black belt at that. No, they'll like counter me, put me to my back.

You know, so I have to make sure I do this on a day that there's not a lot of people watching. Cause I don't want to be put to my back going for something. And then like, it was like, oh. Shintaro exposed. Yeah, and everyone, that's what, the moment I get taken down, I got taken down by Kevin the other day. Oh, really?

Muhammad? In front of everybody. Oh, with what? Dude, he came out so hard and fasted. We bowed and I, at the moment I looked up, he was in my face running at me, dude. He grabbed the big coso or something? Dude, he threw his hand over the back so hard, right? And then he put his hand on it at the same time.

I was like, oh, shoot. And he shrugged my shoulder in, and I thought a turn throw was coming, so I tried to hip check it, and he clipped my feet. Oh, fuck. And, dude, I went straight down to my knees, and then as soon as my knees hit the ground he freaking bum rushed me and like ran me over like a truck dude and as i'm going down dude as i'm going down everyone's like oh i hear everyone like freaking clapping like in the dojo and i was like

it was brutal dude it was brutal and you did you did you get uh avenge yourself after yeah yeah no i took him down like five times after that but still yeah it was very difficult i i got scared out i was like oh man he's a strong guy he's kevin's strong you know yeah and that last time i got thrown was like gianni threw me with an ouchi probably like probably like six months ago. Nice. In the dojo I'm talking about. Oh, in the dojo.

In front of everyone. Yeah. Not so much in between. And you know, it's funny because I tell everyone, if you're not getting taken down, you're not really training. You're not taking risks. You're not going for stuff. You're not putting yourself in bad positions. And it's true, man.

I don't want to get taken down in front of everybody, you know. But I should more. I should more try new things. Do you put yourself more out there in, like, for example, BJJ? Oh, yeah, because I'm not the head guy there. I'm just a guy in the room. I'm training. And, you know, you could pick a corner.

And no one gives a shit what you're doing if you're just one of the guys yeah you know what i mean if you're the sensei you know uh everyone's watching you you know did you do something all that guy take singles so i could learn how to defend it a little bit better and if i'm on bottom i like pull guard and i try to work my delahiva series you know i'm not great at it you know if i go with like one of the good black belts they'll pass me for certain yeah you know so i'll try you know there's no great at it you know if I go with like one of the good black belts they'll pass me for certain so I'll try it you know there's no sense me just trying to stay on top the whole time and do pressure stuff because then I won't get good at the bottom

you know so I want to try yeah and you know every time I get put in a position it's a chance for me to learn a little bit more about that position right and so you know I'm a little bit more about that position. Right. And so, you know, I'm a little bit more risk averse in my own dojo in front of guys.

Right. Which I shouldn't be that way. Right. Because it should be, yeah. And you know, I guess I could kind of like, it's clear.

Right. When I give up takedown, it's clear, you know, but like, uh, yeah like now I'm just making excuses I should probably go for well you know I'm not in a position

to really say anything about this because I'm I'm very risk averse in that sense even when I go to BJJ I play that

top heavy game because you play your own game yeah that's nice about though when you go consistently and you know your dudes and then you know

hey man you know I'm freaking nasty on top pull guards I'm going to work on my bottom game and you kind of trade positions and that's always a nice training partner to have

because you could try things try new things you know and no ego involved that's kind of best kind of training really yeah I thought about like putting more time spending more time with things try new things you know and no ego involved that's kind of best kind of training really yeah i i thought about like putting more time spending more time with leg locks and stuff but i guess

it i never went consistent enough to like really work on it with you need those practice partners that you can really trust especially with things like leg locks because a lot of things could go wrong anyway cool I think good overview on fundamentals and progression like what we look for when we progress through judo I hope you liked it Levan and anything else

we missed before we close guys join our Patreon and then you guys can ask unlimited questions exactly all right yeah uh thanks for your support again levon and uh thanks thing of our things go out to other supporters and we'll see you guys in the next episode