TNT Academy of Judo is going to be my new Judo home for the long term (unless the dues jump significantly higher than what they are). Ever since the demise of UJC I have been in limbo as to where to train. The other school I was going to from September to January was OK but didn't really fit my needs. For four months all they did was cardio for most of the class with a little bit of Judo mixed in. Back in October I promised myself that if there wasn't a significant change in class...
more

Well, I have finally decided about two weeks ago to cut weight. Two weeks ago I was around 160lbs and at 22% body fat. I am 5' 6". I'm not fat by any means. There are a lot of people that would kill to have a physique like mine. I'm not one of those people. I want to cut weight. I want my body fat percentage to be around 8%. So, I have made the following changes in the way I eat to help achieve that goal:

-----------------------------------------

Morning: 4 hard...
more

Judo is unpopular for the same reason more students major in English or Psychology instead of Mathematics and Engineering. That reason has to do with being unwilling to do the hard work required to be successful in those fields of study. Another reason is a function of character trait common to so many younger U.S. Americans: absence of patience. Just as there is " ... royal road to mathematics ..." there is no royal road to Judo.

In Judo, we require our students to learn some...
more

Considering the demise of my club I have been thinking about doing BJJ. Since I roll with people who are good on the ground I'm guessing that my ground skills are around an entry level blue belt. I know for sure I'm better than a lot of shodan out there. I have skills on the ground but in all honesty I don't like my ground game at all. When I started Judo I used to prefer the ground because my throws were terrible. I used to always look forward to newaza randori because it was...
more

----------------Started on 9/19/2009----------------

I'm not sure why I am posting this. I feel like I have some things to vent about but I really don't want to do it in the forum. I have always enjoyed writing as in many instances throughout the years writing has been an effective way to get things off my chest without boring someone to tears. This is my first personal post in my new Judo Forum blog. I thought I had a blog already but it must have been purged. I hope this one...
more

The single most important thing to learn to develop kuzushi and timing is a good sensei. That is precisely the problem. You have to look hard to find people who properly master kuzushi. If they do, that still does not say anything about whether they can transfer that knowledge or not. You mention Parisi. But you do not know anything about Parisi's teaching skills. It is much easier for us to identify sublime technicians than sublime teachers. We have seen Parisi, Koga, Jeon all perform...
more

Mindset..........3 months judo. Twice per week with 90 minutes lessons, thats about 36 hours lessons In the dojo.

When we begin ANY activity from new the initial period of training will start to mould a mindset. Judo is first and foremost an education of the mind and body, healthy, fit, strong body AND mind. Now if we accept this then the idea of learning judo is a life long pursuit. When we start a new activity we must learn the basics and build roots for future knowledge to grow from. Strong...
more

One of the problems senior sensei have to bear in mind is that part of the ignorance we see among many youngsters is not just their own fault; there is part of their own responsibility in a sense that one decides about one's own commitment. The fact that I studied Japanese and Chinese and chose to move to Japan because from an early stage on I realized that virtually no one could answer my question of had any knowledge aside from hearsay, is a huge commitment, a commitment that most are not...
more

In judo, most things are relative, meaning that the outcome will depend on how good or bad the opponent is.

You mention Yamashita. Yamashita is barely comparable to any judoka. While we...
more