How Hard Is Judo On The Body?

Judo, from an outsider’s point of view, does look rather dangerous.

Throws, chokes, armbars… That can’t be too good of a thing for longevity.

But is it really that bad? Well…

Judo is a rather injurious sport. Any combat sport will do its toll eventually on a practitioner, but if we compare something like BJJ to judo, jiu-jitsu is a great deal safer.

Judo is certainly less taxing than martial arts which revolve around striking like boxing, MMA, taekwondo, etc., but when we talk chiefly grappling, judo isn’t really that safe.


judo f 15
judo f 15” by SOPHOCO is licensed under CC BY 2.0

I think it all boils down to the throws. In judo, you get thrown a lot. And I mean, a whole bunch as that is primarily the goal of the sport.

And it’s not like takedowns don’t exist in BJJ, it’s just that it’s not its main point. The game is focused on the ground work.

And when we compare judo game, which is mainly stand up throws, to jiu-jitsu, it makes sense why judo would be more dangerous of the two.

There’s just so much more than can go wrong. Land the wrong way when being thrown and you can injure your shoulder, knees, neck, elbows, back, anything honestly.

In the 6 years of me doing judo, I had injured my right shoulder, right knee, and just started to have back problems (I started when I was 12).

The shoulder got busted up after landing a bit wrong to the side. The pain was still bothering me for about a year, but thankfully eventually it wen’t away.

My knee got banged up after embracing a certain throw (don’t remember which one exactly) way too many times. After the practice, I noticed my knee balooned up with fluid. It took some time for it to heal, but once I got back on the mats, I made sure I started to wear knee protection from there on.

And those are just my injuries. Ask anyone who has been doing this for a while and they’ll list their own “unique” set of injuries. It’s just the way it goes.

But I’m not trying to scare you

I am not here to paint the picture that judo is this “super taxing” sport, but the thing I want you to realize is that just because it is literally called the “gentle way”, doesn’t mean it’s going to be that gentle.

You are essentially wrestling, tugging and pulling, fighting for grips all the time; how can that not do damage to you in the long run?

I remember myself waking up after many days of training and feeling like I had been beat up with a baseball bat or something. And that was me in my late teens.

And it’s not like I was training hardcore – I was just going to practice three times a week, an hour and a half each. Not going crazy, following the sensei’s rules.

I think it’s sparring that really does the toll.


If you are willing to start judo even in your late twenties, you should take it slow.

The times when you should be more aware of yourself are when you are either drilling techniques, or doing randori (sparring).

As long as you follow your sensei’s guidelines, you should be good.

The moral of the story is, you don’t have to go a 100 percent. If your partner is going too hard on you, just tell him. If that doesn’t help, find another one who is on the same page as you.

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