The Shintaro Higashi Show - Higher-Order Thinking For Judo

Episode Date: October 23, 2023

When most people talk about their Judo game, they tend to focus on their favorite techniques and maybe favorite combinations around them. But Judo is more than that, and we need to be doing higher-order thinking. How is your natural athletic ability? What is your opponent's Judo game? What are the weaknesses of my Judo game? In this episode, Shintaro and Greg analyze Greg's Judo game in depth as an example of higher-order thinking for Judo. 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!

Alright guys, welcome back to the Shintaro Higashi Show with Peter Yu and Greg Reagan. What's up? Today's going to be a very special episode. We're just going to talk about Judo. That's kind of the most important thing. You know, and I want to talk a little bit about higher order thinking when it comes to Judo, the way you should approach it. But first and foremost, thank you to our sponsors. Thank you very much for your support.

Join us on Patreon, with Discord, and now we have memberships coming up for YouTube, correct? join us on Patreon with Discord, and now we have memberships coming up for YouTube, correct? Yeah. Thank you guys so much for whoever purchased the instructional content. The streaming and the downloading, it's kind of reaching its limit as far as serviceability for us. So we're going to add it to the YouTube under a higher tier subscription so you can watch him streaming on demand anytime.

And it'll be way cleaner. Yeah. All right. Getting into talking about Judo, okay? What we don't want to be doing is like, hey, my move is Taitoshi. Hey, my move is Senagi, right? You want to be able to talk about the nuances of Judo, right? What makes your Senagi different?

How many Senagi variations do you have? What are the timing? And you have to be able to speak the language, right? That's important. So let's talk about your Judo. What have you been working on? What are your ideas? And we'll shoot the shit. We're just talking about Judo, me and you. And this is good. I feel like if everyone can do this sort of thing, it'll make Judo better, really. Yeah. I mean, my Judo revolves a lot around speed and footwork. I think either I came in by myself with this ability or it's been developed probably over

the years, just like an advanced ashiwaza game. So getting people to step forward and kind of engaging with that has helped a lot. How fast are you though with normal sports, like sprinting? Are you like an unbelievable sprinter? I'm pretty quick. Yeah, you've always been quick because you've played a lot of other sports. Yeah, I played lacrosse. I was quick in lacrosse.

I did rugby. I was quick there. I was on the faster side. Yeah, so you're catering to your genetic abilities, right? You're a fast twitch guy. Yes. Same with like Eugene. Eugene's a very fast twitch player.

He's a sprinter. Him and I kind of have a lot of similar looks when it comes to our style. So do you think your footwork is speed dependent? I think it's more like sensory out from my body. Like being able to balance on one foot and command my foot in space. Yeah. And then the better I got with my hands,

the more I was able to put that foot where I wanted more consistently. So then I'm, now I'm attacking with commitment. Yeah. And that's really where it started. Like the feedback loop became positive. It was like, because now I know I'm not under threat. I can open my hip more committed which gets my foot there faster which

makes the sweep harder yeah so what are your some of your favorite setups for ashiwaza so it's I can hit this on a lot of people is the sticky foot or sticker foot de ashi and the kosodo now it's's just like this, like, just putting my foot there. People would inadvertently let you put their foot, your foot, like right on the side of their heel, and then picking it up and then driving my hands over them. So do you wait for them to try to step over and then stick your foot to it, or do you force an action to make them step over the foot?

I kind of, like, wait for them to casually try to pick up the foot as if like because they don't experience this a lot so they don't think my foot's going to trap. Yes that's the key. The second it's not a full force I'm not trying to sweep anything I'm just putting it there then they step up and then I crank this pressure that they have never experienced at that range and then drive the hands hands. It kind of like exponentially. And they're expecting to just step over. Yeah, just a casual move. Yeah, it's like kind of like misjudging a step

on going up the stairs. It's like, I know it's about this much, and then you catch the bottom of your foot, and you're like, oh shoot, and you fall forward. A lot of old people happens, right? That's how they fall. Yeah, it's very abrupt, and it's like yeah you can't really catch yourself and the number one action is putting that foot out and then i have it so

so this is more of like sort of an anticipation yeah right so putting that foot there anticipating what they're going to do and then reacting to it right that's nice and then you got to keep your hands and your feet coordinated like you were were saying, so there's balance. Where's the speed, bro? Well, it's got to be quick enough. It's explosive. When they do pick it up, that's the quickness. I'm kind of pushing off my foot. I'm encroaching.

The ability to raise the foot up quicker than them is an advantage. Let's give me another example of a different foot sweep that you do. They have a similar idea. So koji. Yeah. Like I, like specifically one where it's the cross collar grip. Yeah. And I like aggressively pull that, their right leg forward and then club it.

Ah, at the same time. Yeah. So I kind of can time, or no, it's like I used to do the timing one, right? You start out doing the stepping motion. Yes, yeah. Then I was very focused on the sleeve hand, kind of like sticking it to the mat as I pull. And now I can do it like I don't even care what phase of a step you're in with two hands yanking down, you're going to take that step and I'll be there.

So do you try to time it or what if you miss time and then the foot goes down first and then the leg doesn't go out? So their foot goes down first and it doesn't go out? Then that's a pretty significant kind of like break for them. I can maybe move into something else. Ah, and then you angle off or something. Yeah. That's where quickness kind of matters, right?

Yeah, I can make an adjustment on the fly. And if you have a good footwork, good balance, and you're ready to move to another direction, that's an important one. That's huge. So now, how does that work with that initial cosotto d'asci thing you were talking about? Putting that together really is the masterful thing.

And the hardest thing is doing that while managing all the threats that are coming in from your opponent. What is this guy trying to do? Do I have this collarawakami control? Is he trying to go for a blast of Soto, right? But you're trying to manage these two maneuvers that are essentially automated.

Yes. So what's the switch between the two? So it's the... Tough questions. Yeah, like, for me, when it's like playing, you know, it's been said a lot, and I've heard it so many ways, it's like Judo has a bunch of directions, right?

You're trying to take them into different directions. Then you have planes. It's like I can do all my drop techniques, my sacrifice techniques in more directions. So I'm trying to kind of like build up the rolodex as fast as I can of credible threats for them as I play. So now I have these two directions. They're afraid to move laterally. Now I can start attacking forward and back because I know they're

going to be there. They're afraid to move left and right. Interesting. And I like this coachy sort of thing because you're attacking with your right leg. Yes. Because you're righty. Yes. And this is we're speaking specifically for righty situation. Yeah. See, that's also important to mention and when you're talking about stuff. Right. Right vs. left, right vs. right. A lot of times though when you're talking, the majority of the people are doing right vs. right. So it's like kind of assumed. Yeah, well, you know, it's funny like I've grown to like right vs. right way more because there's I could like the ability level kind of floats around the same plane for a lot of the game where if I go against lefties,

lefties are always fighting righties. Yes. They have just triple the amount of time gripped up and I have to spend so much time dealing with it to ever implement my game. So it's like a totally different thing and it's, however, we have such good lefties in the dojo. Yeah, we have a couple of good ones. When I encounter a mediocre lefty, it's like...

It's over. It's tea off. Let's get back. Let's go. We have Gianni, Greg, Lollos, Eugene. We've got a bunch of lefties. Yeah, good lefties in here. Yeah.

It's always nice. You know, it's kind of nice, too. When you're training, you say, hey, I want to do five rounds of lefties, five rounds with righties. That kind of stuff is important. Yeah. Because you're just kind of picking and choosing. I don't like lefties, and you to do five rounds of lefties, five rounds with righties. That kind of stuff is important. Because if you're just kind of picking and choosing, I don't like lefties and you don't work out with lefties, the moment you draw one in a tournament, you're screwed. Yeah.

So, interesting. All right, what about turn throws? Big turning, massive stuff. How does this fit into that game? It kind of generally keeps their feet unsettled because now they're not confident about basing out and getting wide. So that hip gets stuck in space and where I can, if I can, now the speed kind of comes in, I'll be faster to the spot. Oh yeah. And they can't hip check you. And they can't hip check me because And they can't hip check me. Yeah. Because their foot's, that one hesitation, because I mess with them in that space.

They don't want to get there. And I can hit the Ippon Senagi. I can hit the Ogoshi if they're going for it. So you mess with tempo. Is that what you're trying to say here? Yeah. Yeah, keep talking. Yeah, I learned a lot from doing rounds with you.

Surprising. Yeah. But, like, when people ask me all the time, you know, they can move on. The, like, how is it that you get Uchimata? And it's like, oh, you actually have, like, you need, like, five setups. You're trying to hit the hip, but the hip is constantly, it's the most dynamic part of your body in a way. And it's the most consequential. Yeah, it's the middle of part of your body in a way. And it's the most consequential. It's the middle of your base, center of your gravity.

It's everything. You're trying to hit a home run shot at the most vulnerable part for the person. So it's like, how many twitches can you stack? It's like mistiming their defense system. Cause short circuits. Yeah. And then be in the gap. I love this analogy.

You know, the dodgeball. Yeah. That's good. If you just like whip it, you know, unless you have a freaking arm. Right. I don't have an arm. Right. You're not going to get it.

But if you feint and then the guy goes, oh, shoot. And then you react and then you nail him in the feet. You know? Or maybe like, hey, I'm going to go for you. And then hit somebody in the head. know or maybe like hey i'm gonna go for you and then hit somebody in the head right like a misdirection like these concepts that appear everywhere in sports they're present in judo but no one really talks about it that's the issue you know and if you can in like this academic sort of educated way right then everyone's judo levels up yeah

because you start to gamify it right and i think like that that happens like it's part part judo as an arc like you know like the survivor bias that you always talk about and it's like who survives in the sport is the bigger guys generally when you if you're training as a bigger dude very rarely are you coming up to people yeah equal size stature and ability level yeah so a lot of things that are brute force tend to work Yeah, so then and they work all the time so why would you play for an idea of An equal and how do I how do I out maneuver someone exactly my height weight size speed?

When you've never encountered that. Yes, it's very true Yeah, if you outweigh someone by 50 pounds, you could literally just hook a leg and then just run them over. I mean, given that you're not a complete beginner. Right. I mean, if you're a big heavyweight black belt, you're 250, you know, and you go with someone that's 160, maybe the technically superior person is much lighter, but that 90-pound difference matters. That's the game. You know?

So, yeah, you're right. And then you get those guys who are sticking around, teaching the lessons and then all the stuff. And maybe even if it's not a weight thing, it could be a strength thing. You know? Yeah. Somebody who's dead lifting 500 pounds, is benching 315, he's like a great athlete and he's just explosive.

That person could probably get away with fighting and losing position a little bit more because he's just a superior athlete. You just make up for a lot of shortcomings with the size and strength. And that guy's going to teach, this is how you do a tile. You just fucking go like that and rip it, you know? And it's not really helpful. And it's definitely not the whole, like, judo universe, but it's a significant portion because, like,

a knee tweak from a person 50 pounds lighter than you does not hit the same as the other way around, you know? Or like an elbow tweak. So they survive. They're just surviving surviving what are your weak side throws uh i do katagaruma all the time yeah yeah that's great especially on lefties because they're always posting in on me and then i can drop and go yeah it's so popular now yeah i know new new development in international judo used to be right versus left like this right right? You would go kata guma from outside position because you could catch the sleeve here and then go right so now there's no on to base right now

Before you wouldn't go kata guma from inside position. Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah, so you can't really go But guys are underneath the other than grabbing the hand from the opposite side new development. Yeah, right So that's something like you know know i was that wasn't really around guys haven't really mastered that and then we didn't really have instagram or youtube right so that was something that i was never really exposed to so that's one thing you probably catch me with right because i'm not probably not now that i've yeah i mean but if you could do both right right yeah that's a good one it's uh you know all these like that particular shape for me is i think it's very risky, especially when someone's, like, a very high-skilled player. Yeah.

Because I'm kind of throwing my face at their knee. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then pulling the knee toward myself. So, and then my, you know, also my spine's in a very weird configuration. And just a lot of things can go wrong. Yeah. So I'm, like, I'm very, very cautious about doing it. That's how I got my first cauliflower on the right side. Oh, very nice. Yeah, because I went like tricep

kataguma and then the guy's knee smashed me into the ear and then it blew up. Oh my God. Yeah. I could see that you're there. That is the technique. Yeah, yeah. But you know, that's great that you have that. You know what you got to do after that is like once you go for it and fail, what are your next things out of it? Yeah, you know to me? I you know, I Got to develop like a left side or Soto a left side. It's just something maybe Let's see Paul say now you might be okay. Yeah, that's what was difficult. I mean you you can do it But it's such a different movement. I know it's like, you know people suck at defending left side or so from a right Oh, yeah, right verse right? So in so many ways you're more vulnerable

but it can also work because they'll never expect it. I'm just thinking like driving in that diagonal like if I get to my knees and somehow get back up can I just keep twisting keep running it but I'm sure there's some move 800 words that I don't know. Right versus right, if you're losing, and then this hand gets cut, and you're completely dominated, right? You switch to the lefty grip and then you go Kataguma. Oh, yeah. That's a good one. And then if it doesn't work, you get right back up and then you have the free arm. Or you can cut the sleeve first and then go.

Right? That's a good little sequence too, you know? Yeah. Yeah. I like that. This is like higher order judo i think this is like help i wish people would talk about judo more and there's people who i've had like friends in the career like for instance like talking judo with travis right aside from the fact that he'll berate you and be like your judo sucks right right but he had such good tidbits of information like little nuanced stuff about different entries and finishes and things like this like there's people who can do that and once you're able to do it you're going to excel so much more you know what i mean you'll like go leaps and bounds like above

and beyond your competition because tayo just by itself just shoot throw but the different entries how you mistime it how it works with other things, right, good position, losing position, how you use it to get out of stuff, that's the magic of judo. You know what I mean? You know, I was like discussing it

with someone the other day. It was like, judo's like probably one of the only sports where the practice, the uchikomi, doesn't resemble randori almost at all. At all.

At all. And it doesn't, like, the idea is like if you can't even make the shape here, you have no business throwing it in Rondori, but like the movement, the concepts, the setups couldn't be more foreign from the shape in a textbook sense. Yeah. I mean, I guess you can make the analogy of, like, musicians play scales. Yeah. Maybe, I don't know.

But still, the fingers move in the same way. Let's say it's a guitar, right? Yeah. You're like, I'll hit that run, and I'll play it the same way. I guess judo. Yeah. I guess you've got to be able to make the movement. But yeah, you're right.

When you're just doing uchikomi, the old thing of, like, if you do 10,000 uchikomis a day, you're going to get good at Judo? Bullshit. There's things that the champs of the world, like the very best guys, do that's so nuanced and not pronounced, but those make the biggest differences. Yeah. I'll talk about this one here.

Once you grab this collar, right? You see this all the time. It's very difficult with your collar flat on your chest for me to dig it with my thumb. Right. I've talked about this. So they reach with their finger, forefinger, pointy finger, and they fold it over, right, and then reach it, and then they grip it. You know what I mean?

Yeah. You see it all the time. No one ever talks about it. That's never drilled. Right. You know what I mean? Oh, the amount of gi nuance is just like beyond all the physicality and the technical knowledge that I've gained from doing this sport. Like if anybody were to grip up with me, I could like just, I know that they're not gripping me properly.

Like I could slip within the gi and kind of outmaneuver it. Yeah. And you know, my dad used to always say this, lock up with me. Right. And then you would lock up with him and he'd go there right yeah and he would say things like I could just feel that you suck thanks dad every now and then like it was every now and then those be like come on come here right and then I'll grip up with them and then sometimes I'm fucking squeezing shit out of this lapel or like try to like do

something weird like think with my arm. He's like, ah, you're not getting it. Right. But it's purely mechanical. Yeah. It's, it's, it's, how do you create a tension between a garment and the person? Yes. And when you grab that sleeve, when you lock up and now I get it. Right.

Because there eventually was a time when I was like, come here son, put your, lock up with me. And I lock up and I was like, oh shit. And I was like, come here, son. Lock up on me. And I'd lock up and be like, oh, shit. And I was like, what was I doing different then? You know? I could just feel it. It's energy. It's not fucking energy. He didn't say that.

He didn't say that. But a lot of people think it's energy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No. It's tension. Yeah. It's like, how much slack is there between the material and your bicep when you grab that sleeve?

Right. And then the way you're pulling the fingers down and rolling the hand outward and that difference in that wrist rotation, which is like one or two degrees, that, right? And even like you said, the collar hand and people always talk about this, right? Oh, it's your three pinky and the bottom three fingers. Yes, but how? No one knows how to explain it. No.

You know what I mean? Yeah. But it's like pulling this lapel this way like you're fishing and then pushing that wrist into the chest and levering that gi up in a way so this is like a push down and a pull up at the same time you know what i mean those little nuanced details is purely mechanical yeah not taught you know what It's purely mechanical. Yeah, that, that, that. Not taught. You know what, we made micro judo, which is you teaching it.

That's true, yeah. But it's like, I looked at the numbers, it's. No one cares about it. One person bought it. Yeah, is that right? One person, one sale, which is a great video. Jesus. One person, but it's like you said,

like it's so far from the moves. It's kind of like boring, but it's everything. But it's, like you said, it's so far from the moves. Yeah. It's kind of like boring, but it's everything. People are like, show me Taiyo. And then they say, tell me why my Taiyo doesn't work. Right. Maybe if I do 10,000 Uchikomi's a day it'll work. And it's like, not really.

You're shooting in the dark when you're doing Judo most of the time. That's why it's so hard. You know, there's a lot, like when it comes to the Uchikomi stuff, it's like, I find way more progress I've found doing like, you know, doing the Uchikomi learning move, doing Rondori, trying it. Yeah. And then doing Nagakomi, seeing it. Like, each one kind of plays back and forth. Like, it's never static.

Yes. Very good, man. Let's keep this going. Awesome. Yeah. Maybe I'll thread in some security footage clips. Yeah. See what I'm talking about. Yeah, that's right. See what I'm talking about.

Yeah, that's right. But not the ones where I get bombed. Yeah, no, yeah. Just leave all that out there. Sorry, Matthew. Yep. And I think you guys are watching as usual. Find us on social media.

Reach out to us. All that. Thank you very much. Thank you, Greg. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.