Does Strength Matter In Judo?
When we think of martial arts, physical properties like strength are usually looked down upon.
I mean, it’s all about the art, the technique. And while there is a lot truth to that, it’s not all that simple, at least in judo.
It does, very much so
If you want to better your judo, strength training is a must.
And by that I mean becoming better at either randori, or competitions.
Drilling throws, doing uchikomi or nage komi is mostly just technique. The uke isn’t resisting that much, therefore you are able to really polish your favorite throws.
But when it comes to applying all that in sparring or when competing, technique is not enough.
To grip fight and force kuzushi for better positioning, you need strength. Obviously, there is a lot technique in that too, but when you have an opponent who is resisting your efforts as well as you are attacking, strength is paramount.
Let me put it this way, your skill in judo is based off of many variables, and while technique is certainly the main one, other things like cardio, conditioning, or in this case, strength matter a lot too.
But strength alone isn’t better!
What is best is technique AND strength. That is, if you have two equally good players, the one who is stronger will have a better chance of winning.
I think that’s where this whole “maximum efficiency with minimal effort” saying stems from.
Yes, a person who is trained in judo could certainly defeat, that is, take down or submit someone who is stronger than him, and has no training in judo.
The problem arises when someone is physically stronger than you AND knows a thing or two about judo. That’s where he has an upper hand.
I was always the taller one in my division, by many inches. And guess what, I used to be ragdolled all day long by guys who were shorter, and significantly stronger than me.
That was always the problem with me, I never invested any time in strength training, be it pull ups, push ups or anything of that liking.
And those guys? They could do more pull ups than I could count! Strong as hell… Me? I couldn’t muster a single pull up, let alone a couple.
The moral of the story is, you have to start thinking more about what you do outside your dojo, in terms of strength training, if you want to win.
Start with this
You can definitely go ahead and begin your strength training journey just by following a simple 5×5 workout (that’s going to be a lot better than nothing), but there are more optimal ways to train, for judo purposes.
It’s not like you only need strength anyway. It’s more about the whole strength and conditioning approach, and it doesn’t revolve only around how much you can bench. There’s more to that than that.
This YouTube video will set you off on the right foot: