What Kind Of Resistance Bands Should I Get For Judo?
Accessory work for judo is not necessary, but highly suggested, in my opinion. And when it comes to resistance bands, you can do all kinds of things with them in this beautiful sport to better your level.
But here’s the thing – how does one choose one when there are a whole bunch of options out there? Well, this is why I’m here, I guess.
Start with a light one
The biggest thing you have to remember when choosing a resistance band for your Judo training is that the one that offers the least resistance is normally the one you should get.
You see, when you get one which is hard to pull back, it’ll simply butcher your technique. You won’t be able to rep your throws in the same way as if you were doing them on a uke, and that’s a big no-no.
This video should make it more clear:
So using stuff like bicycle inner tubes, while common, isn’t suggested, as it offers way too much resistance for the stuff we’re trying to do here:
The rubber band we had at our club was the same for everyone. I remember trying my stuff, seoi nage, o soto or whatnot on it and just struggling, and at that time I thought I was doing the right thing!
I mean, everyone else was using it, and while it may have offered little resistance to the bigger guys, for me that kind of stretch to the band was just too much to do my uchikomi right.
That being said, there are still times where you could be using a stronger band. In particular, that would be when, perhaps, practicing your kuzushi or whatnot, like in the YouTube video down below:
Again, the point I am trying to get across here is that the resistance band you should be using for your judo training when doing uchikomi should be chosen wisely. That’s pretty much it.
These are the bands you should get
Now even though you could get away with just a single resistance band, I’d suggest purchasing a set.
That way you’ll be able to pick one for your liking, depending on the technique you are practicing.
There are specifically made judo resistance bands out there in the market, but in my humble opinion they can be a bit too expensive.
Matter of fact, you’ll only be getting one pair, when for the fraction of that price you could get a whole set. And even then, you’ll be able to use that range of bands for more than just working on your throws like recovery stuff, even strength training, you name it.
When it comes to actually choosing, I think you’re better of getting the tube style resistance bands.
The classic bands we all know, that is, the flat stretchy ones, just don’t seem to work that well for repping out those techniques of ours. They just offer a “different” kind of stretch, I can’t put it well into words really.
I mean, most of the videos I’ve seen seem to support my claim here, so there’s that.
You can buy these tube resistance bands just about anywhere. They often come with attachable handles, even door anchors to use at home. Just make sure to get a set, not just a single band, if possible.
This set from Amazon will do the trick (this is an affiliate link).