The Shintaro Higashi Show - Tips to Get Better at Judo Right Away

Episode Date: November 8, 2022

Judo can be a frustrating sport, and Judokas often become frustrated with their lack of progress, but it doesn't have to be that way! In this episode, Shintaro and Peter offer some quick tips that can help you get better at Judo right away, so you can start throwing people! Please support us on Patreon if you can: 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 just going to give a couple of tips to improve your Judo immediately. Yeah, a few tips that, you know, change your game right away. Right away. First. First. Number one tip. Number one tip is going to be learning how to train. Learning how to train. Okay. Yeah. What does that mean? Minimizing your risk and maximizing your results uh yeah let's be can

you be more specific about that what are you know everyone everyone says that everyone wants to do that right so traditional training warm-up that goes without saying right right break fall you learn some moves you try those moves that's. There's a lot of stuff missing. Right. When you're trying to throw each other, the risk is incredibly high. How many people get hurt during that time period? There's too much missing there. Right.

So learning how to train. Okay. Break falls, yes. Everyone does the same stuff. When you're learning the moves, learning how to put them together. Learning how not to go zero to 100 and start slamming each other, but trying to go 20%, 30%. So you're slowly trying to learn to read the opponent. You're trying to learn how to put the combinations together. If I'm going Ochi or Soto, inside-outside trip, and then I'm going for it and I'm flopping around and I'm taking little mini steps, you're not on balance.

Which means you have to slow it down yeah right if i'm whipping from one technique to another and then and i can't control my body's own balance how are you gonna control your opponent's own mouth right right so slowing it down to be able to do it in a way where you could do it cleanly without any added steps or added loss of balance that's the most important thing right and sticking to that kind of training until you're truly ready to do randori because randori is very dangerous right and also randori who do you go with big guy small guy fast guy black belt non-black belt who knows yeah everyone treats randori as randori it's the same thing every round should be different i see i'm going with the beginner a lot more foot just positional stuff controlling them through position they're gonna go crazy right right outgrip them pull their head down and just

defend and just counter a few things that's it let them throw me every now and then yeah safely yeah okay going with someone much lighter don't use my weight lots of movement foot sweeps and stuff like that and people say this stuff all the time they don't really know what it looks like because they don't do it themselves. Until you've done this day in and day out for years, you don't really know what it looks like. So that's why I get a good teacher and then learn to train first. That's the number one way to get better fast. Right.

You have some videos like that online, right? On KBI, Randoor. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And YouTube. Go on my YouTube. There's a lot of stuff there. Yeah, cool. All right.

So that's tip number one. Learn how to train safely. Safely. Yeah. Well, yeah. All right. What's next? Do Nagakomi.

Ton to Nagakomi. Do Nagakomi. Take Nagakomi. Gives you proprioception when you're upside down, falling over. Right? It's the most safest thing you could do. Not the safest thing, but you got the safest thing but you gotta do that before you go in

and then to do a full blown dori alright what's the second tip what's the next tip throw some feints in there yeah feints

immediately yes okay look at this fake seinagi fake seinagi go seinagi oh you don't even have to mix up

moves yet throws yet no go for seinagi I come back out I fake and then go again yeah Oh, you don't even have to mix up moves yet, throws yet. No. Go for a say and I come back out. I fake and then go again. Yeah. Right? Pros do that all the time.

Yeah. All the time. Every single sport you've ever played. Look, pass me the basketball, buddy. Get the ball. I fake the shot. And the person jumps up to block it. And then you go around

it's so intuitive in every other sport dodgeball i make it look like i'm going for it and then peter moves out of the way then i hit him in the face okay so it's like every single sport ever that you've ever played has that yeah why don't you do it in judo? Right. Nobody, when they're starting to learn judo, they're like, Ochi, Osoro, Sasai, Tayo, Tayo, Sasai, Kouchi. It's like, no, man. You got to, right? Yeah.

Go Osoro once. Fake Osoro, Sasai. Yeah. Fake Sasai, go Kouchi. Pull the head down. That's right. that's the third tip second tip that was the second

no we did two already no third tip pull the head down oh third tip third tip well

she'll faint okay and then like you know yeah then you can mix it up yeah faint

then you do complementary toes fake forward go back fake back go forward right okay and then like you know yeah then you can mix it up yeah feint then you do complementary throws fake forward go back fake back go forward right fake senagi

fake senagi kochi fake senagi then go senagi right that's the second tip just try it

do a whole three minute training session where you're just throwing feints in there that's it don't go for anything just feints

just feints do that that's a it. Don't go for anything. Just feints. Just feints. Do that. That's a great drill. Yeah, I've done that at KBI. Never attack ever. Holy show feints. Show feints. One of those days.

Yeah. All right. I think you got a couple more that you told me about. So what's next? Yeah. Next is understanding's next? Yeah. Next is understanding the position.

Yeah. Understanding the positional advantage. And it's hard to just gain position. Right. To understand that. Yeah.

So, let's just look at Senagi for instance. Yeah. Fake Senagi, go Senagi. Fake Senagi, improve position,

go the collar. Mm-hmm. Right? Fake Senagi, fake Senagi, cut the collar. Right? Fake Seinagi, fake Seinagi, cut the hand. Now, he doesn't have that

collar grip. Now, you're dominant. Now, you don't have to do Seinagi. You can do anything you want. Diving Ochi,

you're in such a great position. You have advantage, so the likelihood you get in the throws off is a lot easier, more higher. And then, I think

understanding position in stand- off is a lot easier more higher and then i think uh understanding position in stand-up is a little harder because it's not as obvious as like you know if you take if you go to a bjj school you learn all the positional hierarchy and it's pretty distinct and well defined and on the bottom mounting someone you have their back it's a lot easier to understand yeah i stand up it's like yeah if you're behind them obviously you're not going to get behind anyone good right that frequently so it's a micro advancement it's like better hand position two yeah versus one hand very subtle so i think it's it's good it's very good to focus on that. And it kind of, the next tip kind of goes with it, I guess.

Yep. Which is the, Oh, I'll say it. He said, uh, everyone should learn how to grip. Learn gripping.

Yeah. And I put that last because really, really boring. Right. Go here, go there, catch the hand, go over, cut the hand, move, fake the hand, go arm drag, go here go there catch the hand go over cut the hand move fake the hand go arm drag go here hang can't get this right right verse left person comes here you go here you close

you go like that it's really boring people want to learn how to throw somebody right right it's like when you're a jujitsu starting jujitsu you go in and then your first class is dealing with knee shield from a knee cut it's like what right yeah but if it's your first class like this is how you strangle someone to death that's that'll get you hooked yeah oh yeah that'll get you hooked right so it's the same idea man it's like gripping is very important it's just really boring for someone who doesn't really get the game yeah you know and it's like pawn development

or something like that if you're playing chess yeah yeah it is it's not the most exciting part of the game that's why I put it last it is

it is I think it's one of the most important things though because I at my BJJ school if someone asks me to show me

show them some judo throw I say no you're not gonna learn them now just me to show them some judo throw, I say, no, you're not going to learn them now. I'll show you some gripping, and that'll improve your game right away. Maybe I'm turning people away from judo then. You are. Should I just like...

Bro, how do you play the guitar so well? Well, let's start with some scales. I mean, I kind of did that. Yeah, you you know just practice what would be your programming oh example with that i mean like this i'm really this hey peter uh program so cool can you shut up teach me how to code i'll be like you know okay i have a horrible answer that i usually give i was like there are a lot of resources online. You can refer to them for free if you're motivated enough, or you can pay people to teach you.

That'll give you extra motivation. That's your answer? Yeah. I just like, where do I even start? There's so much thing to do, but I guess. All right, so I already did that. Let's see what's next. Hey, can you give me a tip from a coder that's getting a PhD?

Like, what is the one way I can get good at coding? Okay, I'll call him with a better one. You know this new game called Roblox? Yeah. Yeah, you should. It has some programming in it. Why don't you just start playing that? Wow, that's the most condescending thing I've ever heard in my life.

Why is it condescending? Wow. Wow, that's the most condescending thing I've ever heard in my life. Why is it condescending? Wow. Wow. Jesus. I just recently heard about Roblox and I think it's a fantastic way to get into coding. Wow, you're a savage. You know that? Why? Why is it savage? Or should I...

I don't even know how to sell it sell it really i because they're not like programming schools or something see this is why guys this is why i'm not a teacher yeah yeah well yeah the fifth tip yeah putting it all together yeah you're gripping you're fainting you're attacking advantage position losing position if you have uh if you're gripping, you're feinting, you're attacking, advantage position, losing position. If you're being dominated in position, if you're losing position, you have some bailout moves and how to escape. You have an escape route, right? You know exactly that, right? Right. Even like going for the escape route, a lot of the time it's Tomonage to go to the ground.

You feint Tomonage and then you gain position, right? And the person breaks away and now you're back to the gripping. You're grip fighting, so now you're starting off with good hand-on, second hand-on, dominant position. Feint, feint, and then you multiply by going multiple directions. That's good judo right there. And every sport operates that way. Look at football. Ready, set, hot, hot, hot, bang.

Fake the hand-off, run this way. Pieces of blocking, everyone has to do their thing. You fake the thing, guy's hot, hot, bang. Fake the handoff, run this way. Pieces of blocking. Everyone has to do their thing. You fake the thing. Guy's open, you hit him, right? You play football? I did in high school. Nice.

Two years. My team was terrible. They put me on the line because I was the bigger guy on the team. I see. You got the balance, too, to push people off. Yeah. Yeah, but I'm not that big, though know i'm not lineman big right right yeah well so i so those are like the tips uh but i one thing i found interesting is that nothing is about like you know do more chikomis

ten thousand chikomis learn the throws you Uchikomis. Learn the throws. You know what? You should do Uchikomi. I'm not saying don't do Uchikomi. Yeah. But there's an overemphasis on doing Uchikomi and developing the independent throws. Yeah. Because people get stuck there.

They double down on that. It's like getting to a certain level. You know, you get to a black belt doing something a certain way and you're going to stick to that and you're forever going to do it. you're never going to get better than that right right the contextual stuff is where it's missing you could always go to youtube and type in tai toshi and see how to do tai toshi and a cooperating partner yeah angles like this angles like that

it's missing so much of the nuances of actual grappling right you know what i mean and no one can actually teach you this stuff in a way where it's like for every permutation of example or reaction go like this go like that and you can't even process it to where oh this person's reacting like this therefore i'm going like that and he might go like that and i transition there's no way to memorize all these combinations right right it's just it's infinite yeah so understanding some of these concepts and drilling in those concepts right showing the feints gaining passion showing the feints attacking grip fighting understanding position all that's gonna give you the best yield right right and then everyone already does uchikomi everyone already does nagakomi so it's like forget that you know like

let's cut down on that and then add some of this other stuff in, you know, which I think is better. Right. You know, I've been doing, like, you could do a two-hour judo practice, one-hour judo practice without doing any Rondori if you're drilling these things specifically. Right? Right. And you can make it a cardiovascular exercise as well while improving. People think judo training should be a certain way. No way, man.

It's like, there's a Brazilian exercise. Not Brazilian exercise. I see a lot of Brazilian way man it's like there's a brazilian exercise not brazilian so i see a lot of brazilian champions do it you know like they start with two hands and then they'll circle you society coachy step away say now you come back oh she push away left so they pull down coachy push away right and it's like very fast paced they'll do it for like two minutes it's exhausting yeah do 10 of those rounds it's a great workout and you gain good good cadence rhythm coordination with your feet keeping your balance like do that more of that you know right don't do so much randori most people shouldn't do randori if you feel like y'all my knee hurts today like most people who are listening who are hobbyists should not do randori man yeah why the risk is too high you could gain more by training in this way than doing randori itself

interesting interesting that's a hot take yeah yeah it's very hot it's like this like you go to the gym yeah right and i'm dead lifting heavy squatting heavy okay maybe if you're a power lifter yeah for sure but if you're doing for overall health and bone density and strength and well-being what's the point of deadlifting if you're not competing the risk reward is not there people get how many powerlifters you know that are injured all the time all the time you know you should if you're doing weightlifting as a supplement to your sport it shouldn't hurt you and take away from your actual sport. Right. Which I figured out this recently. Recently.

How often have I got hurt in the gym? I'm trying to deadlift 565 pounds. I've only gone to deadlift 600. That was my goal. I see. Stupid goal because it's like, what do I get out of that? I'm not competing in that kind of thing. It's just for me to say that I did.

Yeah. That's it. And I'm not like telling my guys. It's just really for me but it was like and i've hurt my back numerous times doing it putting so much time and stress a lot of weight on my body yeah a lot of mileage on my body look at me now i'm banged up you know what i mean but what for did that help me do judo no not at all yeah why not do 315 for 20 you know like that's much better right wow that's a lot of lifting that's there yeah i can't do that now i can't do any of those now i mean i

haven't lifted like that in a long time but same thing in judo man do you really need to do randori that hard that often even like the power lifting like dead lifting champion i i remember seeing a video from a clip from a podcast episode saying if you're not competing in dead lifting don't deadlift like yeah benefit risk ratio is just out of whack he says it's way way too dangerous yeah yeah then anyway uh lebron dory most people want to go why are you doing judo in the first place yeah get in shape defend yourself okay how are you gonna defend yourself you tear your acl on randori can't defend yourself and now you're out for six months now you're gonna get out of shape even more yeah that's even worse you're worse off when you

started you're supposed to make your life better yeah right it's making your life worse man what do you what do you why are you doing this you know because the black belt in the room says no you gotta do it because that guy has survivor bias he survived he did it he got lucky he got lucky and you know he doesn't know about the people every tough guy black belt in the room that's being a tough guy yeah right was at one point a white belt and could have been you know had his knee severed by peter you love to throw that at any point as a white belt peter could have savagely destroyed him demoralized him made him run home to mommy and quit. No, seriously, right? Yeah. It's only because he got lucky enough

that he was coddled long enough not to have those things, right? And everyone attributes it to because I'm just a genetic monster and I'm the toughest and the baddest guy. I'm the most unbelievable. It's luck, man. You were a white belt

and there wasn't a dick in the room that was just going to relentlessly beat on you every day until you quit, right? No, not me. I'm the toughest guy in the world. Okay. Yeah. Remember when you were a white belt when you knew nothing?

What if Peter tore your ACL? Guys, I don't do that. I don't do that. I would not tear your ACL. Yeah, dude, I'm 230 pounds and I'm a great athlete and I benched, you know, four or five, whatever it is, and Peter comes in with his glasses and his pocket protector, wearing a white belt in jiu-jitsu, and he just throws you on your head.

Gives you a concussion. Oh, my God. That could happen, I guess. That could happen. That could happen. Guess what? You're not sticking around. Yeah.

So the people who made it, right, they got coddled long enough. Yeah, to be good enough. To get good enough to where they were able to dish out the beatings right right so they have survivorship bias yeah and maybe they learned it in a way where they're just doing randori non-stop day in and day out day in and day out maybe they got there but that's not you majority of us are not 6'2 240 majority of us are not going in as super athletes majority of us aren't doing judo since we were three years old like i have okay so to put yourself in that shoe right and you have to

understand where you're coming from and it's okay to speak up be like yeah i'm not gonna throw down hard with these guys hey can i drill this hey can i do that that's okay and the teachers should allow that right first of all from a business standpoint people get hurt less yeah kind of retention yeah right the more you do on dory the more people get hurt the less money you're gonna have less students you're gonna have yeah it's a community that feeds on each other any shred of like not safe danger right pushed a lot of people away because you have to think most people aren't cut out for that yeah yep that's uh what i mean that's the uh that's the biggest tip i guess the most important tip none of us get better yeah all right i think uh that that does it uh yep nice and quick

um yep thanks for listening guys and uh i'll stay tuned for the next episode