Theme of the month November 2009: Fun and games

It's a busy time of year. Qualification contest, gradings and kata competition are all coming soon. So let's lighten things up with some fun and games.

In the last month I've taken my young son to a few kids' judo classes, and I've been stealing ideas for my regular class. Naturally, adults like a bit of fun too. Here are some of the activities and games that I've either tried, or plan to try soon:

• Dive rolls over increasing numbers of class mates (arranged like sardines)
• Rolls using big gym balls
• How many throws can you do in thirty second seconds (racing back and forward between two ukes)

More generally, this month I'd like to leaven competition and grading preparation by bringing a bit of playfulness and game elements to our training. For example, with qualification judo contest coming up, I'd like to try some mock bouts in which points are awarded to pairs of participants for the most breakfalls, to encourage an attacking (and safe) approach to judo competition.

How about you? What are some fun activities that both kids and grown-ups look forward to in your classes?

Hand-y hints

In judo and jiu-jitsu we generally:

• Keep our thumbs and fingers together (not splayed), so that an adversary can't snap 'em off, and for concentrated force
• Grip more tightly with the weaker fourth and fifth fingers to strengthen them, while keeping the thumb, index and middle finger more relaxed and sensitive; these guidelines apply whether taking a grip of your partner's gi, forming a fist, or a holding a sword
• Breakfall mainly with the hands (thumb and fingers together!), even though there is greater surface contact with the fleshy part of the forearms.

It's one thing to read tips like this; it's another to make them second nature. Good luck!

Some Judo hand-throws and their Jiu-jitsu relatives

Judo techniques are great training for the body (and mind); in jiu-jitsu the techniques are more directly applicable to self-defence. In judo we start from a standard grip, where both partners hold each other's collar and sleeve (symmetry); in jiu-jitsu we often respond to an attack (asymmetry).

There are similarities too: The underlying gross -- meaning broad, not 'yuck' -- body movements are the same. The jiu-jitsu techniques add more pain by way of additional locks, strikes or strangles.

In class this week we looked at and practiced several of the judo hand-throws, immediately followed by one or more of their jiu-jitsu relatives:

1. Tai otoshi (Body drop, Judo): Throat Attack & Double-strike turning throw (Jiu-jitsu)
2. Uki otoshi (Floating drop): Lapel choke takedown & Sleeve pivot throw
3. Kuki nage (Minor floating throw)
4. Hiji otoshi (Elbow drop): Defence against a straight-arm choke from the front
5. Mochiage otoshi (Lifting drop)
6. Sukui nage (Scooping throw)
7. Sumi otoshi (Corner drop): A follow-on to the Come-along armbar
8. Obi otoshi (Belt drop)
9. Kata ashi dori (Single leg drop): Pressure-point take-down to the lower leg
10. Ryo ashi dori (Double leg drop)

There are, of course, others.

Theme of the month October 2009: Handy hand-throws

Theme of the month returns, with a difference: This October we will focus on a particular area of the syllabus: Hand throws.

In class we will concentrate on the 10 hand-throws in our system, explore some of the principles that they embody, and finding connections to other techniques and especially to self-defence applications.

Hand throw #2: Uki otoshi

Note that while in the Kodokan's gokyo the shoulder and hand throws are considered a single grouping, in the Kawaishi classification the shoulder throws are split off as a separate group, leaving ten hand throws:

1. Tai otoshi (Body drop): A handy take-down method for self-defence. Adding pain compliance makes it very effective. Note: The version that we do doesn't put the leg across.
2. Uki otoshi (Floating drop): Almost like a half-sutemi, wherein tori drops to a knee rather than the back or side.
3. Kuki nage (Minor floating throw): Performed as a combination technique
4. Hiji otoshi (Elbow drop): Includes an arm-lock
5. Mochiage otoshi (Lifting drop): A very useful technique for use in groundwork
6. Sukui nage (Scooping throw)
7. Sumi otoshi (Corner drop): Another effective self-defence takedown method
8. Obi otoshi (Belt drop)
9. Kata ashi dori (Single leg drop)
10. Ryo ashi dori (Double leg drop): Similar to the double-leg takedown beloved by the BJJ-ers

Most of these throws are challenging to pull off in competition, since most offer limited connection to the partner: Feel and timing become all-important. Switch to self-defence though, add a little pain compliance, and it's a different story.

Practicing the hand throws instills effective body movements which are highly applicable to self-defence.

Theme of the month is making a comeback

Theme of the month is on its way back from next month, by popular demand. After class last week Lisa, John, and Ash said that they missed it, as had Damian on a previous occasion.

The original idea, inspired by Patrick Parker's Principle of the Month, was to use an over-arching theme each month to provide a particular focus in class, exploring how the theme applies to our regular training fare, and bringing in some supplementary material. [In practical terms it helped shape my lesson plans, and gave me oodles of fuel for this blog.]

After a furious start I let it drop in July, as the class knuckled down to preparation for gradings, a period of consolidation. Also, my themes were starting to get a bit more "advanced", and with a new influx of beginners I needed to get back to basics, but I wasn't ready to repeat my basic themes just yet -- I figured I'd wait until 2010 before starting re-runs!

Anyway, when I asked the delegation what they were interested in theme-wise, the suggestions were fairly technique-area focussed: Hand-throws, sacrifice throws etc. And that may be a good way to go this time around: Do some extra training around a particular area of our syllabus, explore connections to other techniques, uses in self-defence, etc.

Other requests and suggestions welcome. Here's my original list of ideas.

Theme of the month June 2009: Chaos and Control

Although there are a bunch of advanced themes I could choose to go onto, the nature of my class --- heavy in beginners -- is such that I want to stick with themes that work from a more basic level.  If you have more experience you are of course free to journey deeper into the same theme!

Control

With gradings coming up in early July I want to work on technical detail, reviewing the basics and chip away at improving form.  

More than being able to reproduce the appearance of a technique -- which must adapt to the practitioner, partner, and situation -- is to grasp the elements, variables and feeling.  

Some tips:

• Learn all the components: Watch your instructor closely; feel how the bits work on you; refine, refine, refine ...
• Go slow:  Speed hides deficiencies and can be easily recovered later.
• Work with lots of partners: Feel how they do it; feel how it works differently; adjust, adjust, adjust.  [If you're struggling get some time with someone of similar size and shape to yourself, and then branch out.]
• Learn the variations: Different instructors tweak things different ways.  Try them out.  Compare and contrast.  What trade-offs are they are making?
• Internalize: Techniques must become second nature before you can pull them off spontaneously and improvise to deal with an unexpected attack.  Practice, practice, practice ...

Chaos

We begin to train for chaos in two main ways: randori (sparring), and reflexive self-defence (in which an agreed attack is met with an unrehearsed response).  Without some training in control these exercises tend to be somewhat brutish and counter-productive, so we ease our way in gradually, especially by pairing beginners with more experienced partners.

Tips:

• Attempt the techniques that you're learning in class: This is where you'll learn counters and combinations
• Go soft and slow:  As above
• Learn from your partner: If something works well on you, ask them to show you how they did it (or figure it out yourself)

And

Have fun.  

There's heaps to learn in the interplay of chaos and control.  If the theory is getting too dry, you need to play more.  If you're hitting barriers in your randori formulate your issues as questions and dive back into the control aspects and start looking for answers.

And for those of you who picked up on the Get Smart reference in the title, here's a handy home hint on how to (not) deal with a suspicious package:

A scene from the 60s and 70s TV series: Get Smart

Previous posts on this theme:

• Structure and Chaos
• Cooperative Combinations

Don't just crank it on!

When someone actively resists your attempt to apply a joint-lock, most people fall into the trap of applying more and more force.  Besides being dangerous -- if it eventually works you may well hyperextend the joint -- this approach contradicts the "minimum effort" part of this month's theme.  Pretty soon you find yourself exerting maximum effort to minimum effect.

Three better alternatives:

1. Distract: A light strike or -- even the threat of a strike -- to a vulnerable will take your partner's focus away from their resistance for a moment, and that should be long enough to apply the lock.  [Other distractions: pinches, kiais, etc. can also do the same job.]
2. Change the focus of the lock: Most locks either use or have the potential for a two-way action.  Usually the resistance will arise at the point where you are applying most of the force.  Switch your emphasis to another point of contact (and maybe back again).
3. Flow into a different technique: Make use of the resistive force supplied by your partner to power the transition.  Now the resistance is working for you.

All of these options emphasize skill, sensitivity and knowledge over brute strength.

As the Borg of Star Trek say: "Strength is irrelevant. Resistance is futile.  We wish to improve ourselves."  

And Bjorn Borg (former tennis great): "You have to find it. No one else can find it for you".

Theme of the month May 2009: Minimum effort, maximum effect

The founder of Judo, Jigoro Kano, used -- in part -- the criterion of "minimum effort, maximum efficiency" to select techniques from the older jiu-jitsu schools to include in his new syllabus, and labeled this criterion as one of the two key principles of Judo, along with the goal of practicing for "mutual welfare and benefit".

This month I will be exploring ways to reduce effort and simultaneously increase effect, together yielding higher efficiency (since efficiency = effect / effort).

The first point when learning a technique is that when it isn't working, don't just apply more force.  This is just adding extra effort (which we should be minimizing!).  Instead, assume that something is amiss and vary it until it starts to work.

Conversely, when a technique is working reasonably well, can you reduce the amount of applied effort and achieve the same effect?

Tips on learning to throw

Pushing and pulling (together with lifting and dropping) supply the power to execute throws.  Here are some tips that I find useful to learn and develop my throws:

1. Go soft and slow: By going fast all kinds of flaws are hidden.  In particular it makes it too easy to rely on brute strength rather than finding the effective levers to push and pull
2. Be sensitive: Try to sense exactly where your partner's balance is and the moment at which -- prior to throwing -- it is lost (i.e. where you are supporting them).  That's the time to apply the final push and pull.
3. Be gentle: With efficient kuzushi, positioning and leverage it should be possible to throw with little effort.  If you find that you are using a lot of force to try to make the throw work, that's a sign that something else is not right.  Find and correct!
4. Visualize: Practice with an imaginary partner too.  Include details of all the pushes and pulls.
5. Focussed awareness: Once you have a throw basically working focus your attention on one aspect of the throw at a time (e.g. foot placement, weight-shifting, hip movement, points of contact, etc., etc.) and observe what you do.  Trust our body to do the rest of throw.
6. Smooth it out: Try to eliminate stops and gaps; execute the throw with a smooth, continuous movement
7. Practice with lots of partners: Working with people of different shapes and sizes will teach you how to adapt the throw to make it work in different ways
8. Compare with other throws: While there are principles that are common across throws, there are also points of distinction that the different throws allow us to practice.
9. Add dynamics:  While I prefer to practice from a static position at first and initiate movement, incorporating an initial push or pull from my partner allows me to start to practice the throw in a reactive form.  Experiment with different directions for the initial push or pull.  What works?  What doesn't?  Try the throw while moving forward / backward / sideways / circling.
10. Be a great partner: When you are being thrown, be aware of what your partner is doing and learn from that.  Don't jump for them.  Don't sabotage.  If you have reasonable skill and they are a beginner gently nudge them into good position (this is more challenging than being able to do the throw yourself!).

Hope that helps.  Let me know how you go.

Ways to Push and Pull

There are many ways to push and to pull.  Firstly, you need a connection.

Most obviously: If you have a grip -- usually with a hand -- on your partner or your partner has a grip on you (or both have a grip on each other) you can use the connection to pull or push.  Note that if your partner has the grip they may elect to release, which is why in jiu-jitsu when grabbed, we often grab back (so that they can't get away).

In principle it is possible to grip with your toes or your teeth, but I will disregard those possibilities for now.

Use of the hands

When gripping, especially when gripping clothing, it is good practice to grip tightly with smallest two fingers (the ring finger and the pinkie), and quite gently with the thumb and the  remaining fingers.  This prevents over-tensing, increases sensitivity to your partner's movements, and over time strengthens the smaller fingers.  This is also the recommended way to grip a sword.

Usually -- there are exceptions -- the shoulders should be relaxed and lowered to allow power to be transmitted more effectively from the core of the body.  Elbows may be raised or lowered depending on the situation.

Other ways to push

In the absence of a grip one can push with almost any surface of the body.  Fingers, palms, wrists, forearms, elbows, shoulders, head, chin, chest, stomach, side, hips, buttocks, knees, shins and feet can all be brought into play.

A push can be used to project away or deflect. Of course many a push can be transformed into strikes, but that's another subject.

Other ways to pull

Besides gripping it is possible to pull or draw-in wherever a sufficient angle can be created at a joint.  Hooking and trapping describe many of these kinds of actions.

Pushing and pulling at the same time

By using push and pull together we can generate more complex twisting and turning actions.  These are more difficult for an opponent to interpret and neutralize than just using push or pull alone.

On a large scale these two-way actions are essential to most throws: We make large circles.  On a small scale they contribute to effective joint-locking: We make small circles.  Speaking of small circles, here's a taste of Small Circle Jiu-Jitsu founder, Professor Wally Jay (aged 70 at the time of the video):

In his method Professor Jay emphasizes a wrist action similar to how you would turn off a tap; it combines push and pull.  You can see the students doing exercises to practice this action, and Professor Jay putting it into effect in many and varied techniques.

Conclusion

There are many, many ways to push and pull.  As you can see from the video, push and pull works with sensitivity, timing and flow to produce excellent technique.  This is something that you can reasonably aspire to still be doing at age 70 (and beyond).

Theme of the month April 2009: Push and Pull

Despite a strong temptation to use April Foolishness as my theme for my class this April -- maybe next year! -- this month's theme is Push and Pull.  We shall see that push and pull has many aspects and in exploring it we will use physics, bio-mechanics, and  psychology to our advantage.  In broad outline:

• Physics: By pushing and pulling simultaneously we generate turning forces (also known as torques).  
  
• Bio-mechanics: We apply these torques to twist, turn, lock and/or throw our partners.
• Psychology: The majority of people when pushed, push back; when pulled, pull back.  If instead you respond to a push with a pull; or initiate by pushing, get the expected push-back, and switch smoothly to a pull, you can begin to co-opt your partners force and use it against them.  Etcetera.

Some thing to whet your appetite: Physicist Jearl Walker explains the physics of a few judo and aikido techniques.

Next up: Ways to push and pull.

Do breakfalls work in real life?

In the dojo we practice our throws -- and breakfalls -- on a 5 cm (2 inch) thick rubberized mat. But do they work in real life?

First, an illustration of what not to do:

Now, can we do better than that?  Will good breakfalling technique help?

Short answer

Yes

Long answer

When an untrained person tries to break their fall -- like the unfortunate young skater in the video -- (s)he often tries to extend an arm with the hand bent back.  While this is an effective strategy in low impact situations -- e.g. if you are sitting on the floor and lean too far in any direction -- it is disastrous in any significant fall.  The wrist bends back too far, and -- if you are really unlucky -- the resulting shock wave can travel up your arm and also snap your collar bone (not shown!).

I believe that most of us learn this "propping" reaction as babies first learn to sit, and they soon discover that propping is an effective method to help them keep seated.  It works, but it is not natural, and can be trained out.

Personally, I have used rolling, side, back and forward breakfalling techniques to save me while:

• inline skating -- many times (both while learning and later on)
• tripping over fences
• coming over the handlebars of a bike
• falling down stairs
• slipping over while rushing for a train 

Sure, I am accident prone, but the worst that I have suffered from any of these mishaps has been the odd graze.  My training does not make me invincible -- far from it -- but it works much better than the usual disorganized "panic" response (shown above).

Other martial artists that I know have fallen down stairs, off ladders, off motor-bikes and been thrown from cars and survived without breakages.

So, yes, they work.

Breakfalling on concrete

While we usually practice on nice thick mats, I have been asked on occasion to perform a single standing side breakfall on concrete.  My arm stings for about half an hour, but it works.  

I recall reading once about a hapkido group who practiced their breakfalls on concrete all the time, and went on to develop arthritic spines.  True or not, we practice mostly on a padded surface with good reason.  So: Don't try this stunt except under qualified supervision.

Getting hit in the head

Finally, another scenario in which you need to get to the ground safely is when you are hit.  In reading newspaper reports of fatalities and brain-injuries from getting punched in the head, it is often the case that the majority of the damage is incurred when the victim hits his head on the (hard) ground or curb.  This was more-or-less what happened to former Australian cricketer and then Victorian state coach David Hookes.

Conclusion

So, while prevention is better than cure, reliable breakfalling is great insurance!

How to acquire beautiful breakfalls

How do we acquire beautiful breakfalls?

1. System & practice

In our system we are serious about breakfall practice.  Rather than do calisthenics, running, etc. to warm-up, we do breakfalls!  We spend at least 15 minutes practicing at the start of every class.  Following the opening ceremony we almost invariably run through 12 standardized breakfalling exercises: 

• 6 from a supine position with heads up, knees bent and feet flat on the floor: Slapping the mat; some with kicking; some with rolling side-to-side; some symmetric, some asymmetric
• 3 from the haunches: Side breakfalls, back breakfalls
• 3 from standing: Side breakfalls, back breakfalls

These core exercises are often supplemented with a selection of additional exercises: e.g. front breakfalls (from knees, haunches and standing), or a few partner-assisted breakfalling exercises.

Similarly, at the end of each class we go through many different kinds of rolls as a warm-down.

This practice is technically demanding, and develops not only the ability to breakfall, but also develops other attributes that are important to Judo and Jiu-jitsu: 

• neck, abdominal and leg strength
• whole body movement and coordination
• lower body strength and flexibility
• bilateral symmetry of the musculature
• ability to withstand impact

Note: For the beginner, just learning to do the exercises properly is enough to keep interest high.  After being a thrown a few times the importance of diligent practice at the start of each class becomes apparent!  However, once you have achieved proficiency there is a danger of becoming blasé -- just going through the motions during the warm-ups -- so the challenge becomes to find new paths of development.

2. Make connections

Having internalized the movements, it is possible to visualize applications of the movements while practicing.  Two good ones:

1. Sacrifice throws
2. Movements in groundwork: Escapes, transitions, etc.

3. Awareness

As you do the exercises, what are the different parts of your body doing?  Which muscles are tensing, and which are relaxing as you move?  Where is the power coming from?  How does your breathing play into your movement?  With the asymmetric exercises, what are the differences in your execution of the left- and right-handed versions?

How does varying  angles and patterns of use affect the amount of effort required, the smoothness of execution, and the loudness of your slaps?

In a more indirect vein I occasionally teach a short version of Feldenkrais's pelvic clock lesson, following it with a repetition of two supine breakfalling exercises that involve rolling as well as slapping.  Among more experienced practitioners there is usually an immediate palpable improvement in execution.  Interestingly, Aikido teacher and Feldenkrais trainer Leslie Wilder has made a similar connection.

Conclusion

There's no shortcut: For breakfalls to work they need to become second-nature, and there is no substitute for regular and intensive practice.  By embracing breakfalling as foundational, it is possible to put this training time to additional use, and besides training beautiful and effective breakfalls, to develop many other elements besides.

 

Theme of the month March 2009: Beautiful breakfalls

Our second theme of the month -- we resumed in February -- will be beautiful breakfalls.

Anthony demonstrates the side-breakfall warm-up exercise

Breakfalls are truly the foundation of our system.  In order to practice throwing techniques we need to be able to fall safely.  While mats help, breakfalls allow us to dissipate the force of a throw by rolling and/or slapping the mat.

We practice breakfalls  as our warm-up and -- in the form of rolls -- to cool-down.  I have previously written about some of the many benefits of breakfalling.

Once practical benefit of knowing how to breakfall is that when you fall over (which happens to most of us occasionally) you are much less likely to break something.  This is self-defence against one's own clumsiness.

Beautiful breakfalls

This month we will be aiming to improve the standard of our breakfalls - make them louder, more efficient, and -- through better form -- more beautiful.

We will go through as many of the supplementary breakfalling exercises as I can remember, and also delve into some of the applications of breakfalling to offence, including some sacrifice throws.

First class back for 2009: New mat cover, kuzushi

Last night we had our first class at Monash Caulfield for 2009, and it was fun. Three regulars returned (including Ash in his new colored belt -- congratulations!), two apologies were sent, and two newcomers came, joined in, and got off to a flying ;-) start.

Our new mat-cover
The first notable thing that has changed is that we have a new mat cover -- at last! This is an enormous (and valuable) canvas sheet that we use to keep all our judo mats together during training. It's an important piece of safety equipment because it prevents toes from getting caught between the mats, and stops the mats from slipping apart.

Spreading out the new cover for the first time

The previous cover -- manufactured out of painters' drop-sheets by myself and my-beloved -- had been lost by the university while reorganizing storage areas at the beginning of last year. While making do with a borrowed replacement that was too small, I spent a ridiculous amount of time last year negotiating compensation, navigating bureaucracy and arranging a new cover to be specially made. Even so the club had to make a significant co-payment. What a hassle!

Tucking it in

It was worth it! The new cover is great: Heavy-duty and soft at the same time -- kind of like jiu-jitsu! It looks good, feels nice, and works well (no readjustments needed during class). And, importantly, it is safely locked away.

Theme of the month
We started off with kuzushi as the theme of the month (our first), and it worked well. Having a "point of focus" is helpful for me because besides having planned some material to emphasize the theme, I just seeing the theme pop-up everywhere in our regular techniques (I hope my students do too!). These observations can lend themselves to some improvised segments in my teaching.

For example, when first learning the come-along arm-bar to beginners they often have difficulty in getting their partner to tap. The technique has lots of bits and it easy to subtly resist it if hand- and arm-positioning is even slightly out.

A come-along armbar featuring excellent technique (including kuzushi)

I would normally focus on the technical points needed to make the lock work actively: Correcting positioning, two-way action, etc. Last night it seemed natural to instead work on ways to increase kuzushi to kill off resistance; in this way the technique can work despite imperfect positioning etc.

It seems to me that kuzushi can be thought of as part of a tactical two-way action:

1. Positive: Correct technique and positioning, good timing, use of force, etc.
   
2. Negative: Kuzushi (in all forms) lessens the opponent's ability to resist

Another nice example of this was when Chris, one of the newcomers, did something only vaguely related to the demonstrated throw, but successfully threw his partner (me!) anyway by dint of having applied effective kuzushi.

* * *

The only downside I can see with the theme-of-the-month is getting too carried away. Just a few morsels each class should be plenty for us all to chew over.

Theme of the month February 2009: Juicy Kuzushi

This year my first theme of the month is "Juicy kuzushi".   Kuzushi is the art of disrupting your opponent's balance.  Even if (s)he is stronger,  faster, and/or swifter, once balance is broken these advantages evaporate, and resistance becomes negligible. The "juicy"-ness refers to my ambition to squeeze a lot out of the kuzushi concept.  Plus: It rhymes.

I have written about the broader concept of kuzushi before, and intend to explore all of the aspects of  kuzushi that I listed in that post:

Looking more broadly at the problem of "leveling" an aggressor, any or all of the following means can contribute to the cause:

• Unbalancing: Bringing the aggressor's center of gravity beyond his or her base of support
  
• Mis-alignment: Moving parts of the aggressor into an awkward configuration
  
• Distraction
  
• Pain (which can also be a distraction)
  

All of these measures help to reduce the aggressor's ability to resist the remainder of the technique. However, for subtle kuzushi, it is best when there is neither too much nor too little of the contributing components. Too little, and there is no effect. Too much, and your intentions are telegraphed.

These seem like a fine four points to look at over each of the next four weeks.

Some more specific ideas:

• The kuzushi exercise: Use of the hands, role of the elbows, weight distribution
• Same throw / multiple kuzushi
• The base of support; the dead angle
• Misaligning the hips and shoulders
• Twisting in restraint and control
• Combining unbalancing and misaligning
• Examples of distractions: kiai, feints,  strikes, annoyances
• The effects of pain; a few pressure points

* * *

The next time we revisit kuzushi as a monthly theme, I might use another decomposition.  For example:  The role of kuzushi in:

1. Throwing techniques
2. Groundwork
3. Restraint and control
4. Striking techniques
5. Day-to-day life

Also: The flip-side of applying kuzushi is establishing, maintaining and recovering balance and alignment.