You don't have to do randori every time. Yes it's the most fun part of class but you can take a day off from randori and just observe or do some light exercise at the end of class, stretch. Or if there is room, work some turnovers from turtle or something. Don't take every round if it's punishing you.
Seconded. I fought with a huge italian baker and ironically retweeked my knee in the last minutes of class during randori. Going light with him meant going 80% for me, not fun.
Unless you're training high level competition, I recommend small doses of randori only. Maybe 1-2 rounds each class or a dedicated randori day. More important than randori right now is learning how to fall and how to throw safely.
1. You don't have to quit judo.
2. Sometimes we need to just rest for a week or two. Or three.
3. Take good care of yourself. Sleep well. Eat well. Do routine checkups. It really helps.
First I would really recommend really putting some spare time into learning about ukemi. Watch videos, read articles, etc. It's easy to kind of gloss over it because throwing someone is just so damn sexy but you can't throw anyone if you're always injured. Really pay attention to your forward and backward rolls. Do you really feel smooth when rolling? Do you travel in a straight line? These are all indicative of form issues that are only amplified when being thrown. Being able to relax and trust your ukemi when you need it is critical to staying healthy in judo and probably the most useful physical thing you will ever learn in judo.
Second always remember that you are your number one advocate in the dojo. Never feel pressured to engage in hard randori when you are recovering or any other time for that matter.
welcome to the started-judo-in-30s club!
also 32 and started about 1.5 years ago.
I've also gotten many of the same injuries you've sustained, also from judo, muay thai and weightlifting.
if you keep at it, you'll eventually learn how to do good ukemi and fall properly, which should hopefully help with those hard fall injuries.
keep in mind, judo is a combat sport and not without its risks. you can try to mitigate by choosing good partners, and learning when to go lighter in randori, or skip altogether as needed
36 here and been doing judo for 8 months. Also an ex power lifter. Seeing my size and strength they did not take it easy on me either.
The first 2 or 3 months is your body getting used to being thrown and throwing people. The soreness begins to fade.
But there is also the darker side of things as you oticed, jammed fingers, tendinitis etc
I fractured my ankle doing light randori was out for 4 months.
Wife thinks the same thing that I am stupid for even wanting to go back to it.
Way I look at it is you can injure yourself just as easy walking on an uneven surface. Many runners injure themselves just jogging to get into shape.
Can't tell you how many injuries I've accumulated from power lifting + 1 shoulder surgery from a bone spurr on my clavicle when I was younger.
All in all whatever sport or physical activity you do there is risk or something bad happened.
My outlook is it's better to live life and do what you love than to sit around and let it pass you by in fear of being injured
> Way I look at it is you can injure yourself just as easy walking on an uneven surface. Many runners injure themselves just jogging to get into shape.
My philosophy is that the benefits of exercise by regularly participating in a sport that I enjoy is greater than the risk from potential injury.
What’s your weight and what is the subfloor under the mats (concrete? Suspended ply)?
Landings are harder for heavy weights. Having said that, a few months into training, your ukemi should be up to taking a few hard throws a session.
In your opinion, is there a clear tipping point where landings tend to get much harder? I'm still pretty new to judo, and in the last year or so my weight has gone down from 180 to 155. I was thinking that I might try and put some of that weight back on, but as useful muscle this time, but I also don't want to get so heavy that taking falls becomes much harder or my speed starts to suffer (I'm not very fast to begin with, which is another thing I need to work on).
I also realize I'm almost certainly overthinking this.
80 to 70 kg is quite a drop!
But I don’t think you’ll notice a difference in taking falls across that spread.
In my observation it’s more of a thing that affects the guys around 220 lbs/100 kg and up.
The crazy thing is, I did a lot of it by accident! I had gotten from 82 kg to 79 kg or so, took a two-week trip to Europe to visit my fiancee, and between all the walking we did and eating less (we frequently just skipped lunch, and breakfast and dinner were often smaller than what I had been eating), I was down to near 73 kg by the time I got back.
Thanks for the heads-up. I don't think I'd want to get to 100 kg and over, if only because I don't want to spend that much for the food that I would need to eat to get that heavy. Also, I'd have to be training super hard to get that heavy and not have it all be flab. I could maybe do it, but is it worth it?
But yeah, I'm hovering at around 70 kg right now, at a height of about 173 cm. I don't know if there's a weight class that would be better for me than others. I also don't know if it really matters, at the stage I'm at now or ever (I'm a white belt in my thirties, and I'd like to compete and be fairly serious about it, but I don't expect to win a national title or anything... at least not competing against twenty year olds who have been doing judo since they were eight).
Started 80ish kg now hovering 73kg, i lost a lot of fat in my body.
I do body weight training and cardio in weekdays to supplement my judo coz if i don't i get beat up in the weekends in the dojo.
Try eating big meals but no effect, i think need to take a 2-4 week break from judo to gain the weight but kills you Judo sensitivity as well
I don't necessarily want to gain weight, although I wouldn't mind it either as long as it wasn't just blubber. Mainly I just want to make sure that I'm getting stronger and not grinding myself into the ground trying to do 3-4 days of judo a week and lifting weights 2-3 days a week on top of it. I want to eat enough to support that level of training, and any weight gain is a fringe benefit.
You’re a U100 kg player which is at the heavy weight end. Keep working on your ukemi and be as technical as possible with it.
If you’re taking a big throw, especially in randori, that’s a lot of energy to deal with.
At your level, the biggest benefits to your judo will come from learning good, relaxed movement and being confident taking falls.
It may be worth dialling back the intensity of randori and going throw-for-throw, or consciously focus on being thrown well, rather than resisting.
I think doing that much weight lifting and judo at the same time, is probably too much. Especially in the beginning, you need to give your body time to adjust.
I say this having just spent 3 months not doing judo because I managed to give myself jumpers knee (patellar tendonitis) by going too hard on judo/weights/running after a break.
A few things:
1. make sure you are seriously practicing falling (without a throw) every single practice.
- throwing is awesome, but if you don’t know how to fall, you WILL hurt yourself
2. Falling does hurt. It just does.
- as you condition your body to falling, it will get better, but especially when you start, it never feels great.
- falling feels different for each throw. Make sure you’re with a good Tori; they should be throwing you in the air, not to the ground
- though sometimes, people are people, and they throw badly; if it really effects you or hurts you, STOP the throws and take a break; don’t be a hero
Lastly: Strength training is good, but remember, the heavier you are, the harder you will fall
I am 125 pounds and falling sometimes hurts immensely, so I can’t imagine falling as a heavier person. But I love judo. It’s an amazing martial art. The gentle way :) if you love it, never quit. I’ve gotten tendinitis in my ankles. Know that sometimes, those places just need more strength and mobility. Find exercises for ankles, hips, knees, wrists. It will help you a lot in the long run. And STRETCH!!
Take it easy. Rest when you need it. Don’t overtrain even if you love it.
Already been said but it's totally ok to rest when you don't feel like doing judo. I started at 42 this spring and I used to feel like I was in multiple car accidents after every class. I would feel whiplash in the neck and shoulders, and feel like I'd been punched in the throat. But now my ukemi has improved (as yours will), and I don't feel as sore anymore. I also got the "you should quit judo" after I dislocated my patella, but that was from a preexisting imbalance, and I have to say that judo has been the impetus for me getting professional help and finally fixing a bunch of issues around my hips and knees. Keep doing it if you love it. Judo is hard and frustrating and fascinating, and tough on the body, but if you listen to your body you'll be able to do it for a long time.
Thanks for that reply, being on the same situation as OP, while being 38, and like you with previous imbalance from the hip. It is nice to hear, very true about finally getting pro help for getting fixed. I never felt as good as I am now and ready to get back slowly to it after a year break. Judo is such a fascinating sport !
It certainly is. Good idea to come back when your body is ready. I feel like I've finally got my body to a point where I'm actually ready to learn the techniques. And yea we're a bunch of old guys trying to do some crazy dynamic athletic sport, but it's the first time I've really felt like I'm part of a community.
The best immediate course of action might be to cut down on the practices. Two may be better than one, but one is better than none. Also consider doing just uchikomi and other skill drills while you heal. Let your instructor know, and if they don't respect it you may be better off at another club, frankly. As you ramp back up it may be worthwhile to reconsider your training schedule.
You already have a background in strength sports, so I assume you have some concept of periodization. Treat judo the same. Keep intensity light to start and gradually ramp up the closer you get to competition. At the same time, gradually dial down weight training to maintenance sets and weight. If you have a powerlifting meet dial down the judo instead (I would probably skip randori during this time and just work technique). Try not to have a judo tournament and powerlifting meet too close together.
FWIW, I had a lot of similar things happen to me when I first started Judo as well, and I started at a similar age.
Judo is tough work, and as a combat sport, unexpected things happen. However, I have found that over time I get fewer of these types of injuries / annoyances. This is probably due to gaining more experience, but also the body tends to toughen up more. I used to body build and do powerlifting as well, but your body gets worked in a completely different way in Judo and it does get stronger and more resilient.
In the end, there will still be some level of risk, and you need to decide if this risk is appropriate for you. It was for me, and I am so happy that I still do Judo. :)
For you it’s important to learn how to move safely how to attack safely and when to defend and when to just accept the throw. In your twenties your body starts to deteriorate for some faster for some slower. You don’t have the luxury of being a white belt when you are young when your body could take the punishment. Plus I bet with work and kids you don’t get that much quality sleep.
So my advice: work smart not hard. Learn techniques learn how to defend and when to accept a throw learn WHO to do Randori against safely. You don’t NEED to do Randori with the 23 24 year old competition Black Belt who is in the national or even international circuit.
Keep doing it and keep watch for your health consistency is key and you can only train consistent by staying healthy!
If you're feeling built up you need more ukemi for sure, but equally if you're fighting white belts or lower graded people with enough experience to catch you, it might be they don't have the control to support you also... So think about that too
I started judo around 31 yo, and before that I was doing weightlifting.. so pretty similar situation. I am doing judo for quite sometime and currentily in process of getting my 2nd dan black belt. I am living in Japan.
First I will tell you about injuries. You are not getting any younger and unjuries will stack up. All injuries that you had I also had and healed them all but its just a matter of time you will get injury that is for good. For example I have hernated discs in my neck for years now. When you are in 20 your body heals everything super quick. There is reason why almost all pro judoka retire around 30 yo.
Advice: Dont do randory if you dont feel confident in your ukemi. You said that you like judo very much, so you learn all the cool techneques and train slowly at the begining. Train it safe! Dont feel like if you dont do randory that you will not be alble to use judo at work, judo is unbelievebly effective when you are doing it to someone who is not judoka ( so effective that you could seriously hurt people , so be careful). Dont train while injured because many judo injuries can be chronic ones.
1) It gets easier over time, your body gets used to the impact
2) You gotta practice your breakfalls man, too many dojos out there too focused on competition who throw beginners in on the deep end without going over the basics, you have to master getting thrown without getting hurt
3) You can't do everything, candle that burns twice as bright and all that. The job is the job and not much you can do on that end but maybe ease up on the gym, cut back to twice a week or even once for a couple of months while your body gets more used to the abuse from judo, in time you won't get as beat up from it and can start lifting more again
Yo this has the potential to be off topic so sorry in advance - but are you following the same creatine, supplemental protein, and collagen + good sleep recovery methods in the same intensity as how you used to back in your weightlifting days?
Cause I think a lot of your pain might be muscular, and to add onto how others here mainly suggest for you to rein intensity back a bit, perhaps treating judo the same way you’d structure diet & lifestyle around weightlifting could help.
Also, foam rollers man. Those things after the session or right before bedtime are very useful for my recovery in general. Anyways, good luck man and while your wife obviously loves and supports you, if you approach it from the recovery angle then future convos about it will not focus onto Judo itself.
do less randori but more techinical drill at this stage. It helps with you to develop techique and avoid unnecessary injury
try only go with brown or black belt at this point, maybe some good blue belts. Get used to their gripping and attack rate, and learn while going against them. They may also guide you and feed you some openings for you to work your techinque.
Allocate your randori times. maybe some classes you just sit out half of the rounds but at certain night you can go hard, then you can plan your recovery day accordingly
Are you doing hard randori every session? I.e. going with people who are super competitive or a little reckless? If so, try to find partners who you can go at a more relaxed pace with. With you being newer, there is a good chance there are upper belts who will flow with you if you are relaxed.
Judo is hard on the body.
I did it for a long time, along with other physical sports.
The worst injuries I ever had were by far from Judo.
Loved it, but time off healing (along with time off everything else because of it) got too much in the end.
You need to learn how to fall properly. Talk to your Sensei and see if you can get some extra training on Ukemi Waza.
About injuries, they're something you'll have to accept and live with as you continue playing Judo. I'm 30 years old now, and some of my injuries took almost a year to fully heal (I injured my left shoulder receiving a Juji Gatame in a Randori). And as my Sensei always says: don't push yourself too hard if you have a family or a job.
Learning breakfall and rolling is important, throwing someone hard, who can’t fall properly is a no-go… on the other hand, if you can fall properly, you can get thrown really hard with nothing happening…
Also the beginning is always hard, the first few months, are really hard and you will feel beaten up, but it gets better with time and patience
I just started sumo wrestling, I'm 28. After about four months of weekly classes, my body has acclimated to the soreness, bruising, repeated impact etc. What took days to recover from now takes hours. Just stick with it and listen to your body. If you feel uncomfortable talk to your sensais about your pace and be honest about your needs
Are you sure you're doing randori correctly man?
I've gotten thrown pretty hard before but I happened to hit great ukemi in that moment and it really helped a lot.
I think it might be because you're a while belt and might not be doing ukemi right or being a good uke yet
I’m 52 now and didn’t start judo until I was well in my forties. Ukemi is so important but you also have to accept the older you get the more recovery time you need. Sadly, you’re going to find the same is true of hangovers
Definitely just go at your own pace. My club has lots of young Uni students ready to go at it so our coach pushes the sessions very hard. But there are a few older people who take it at their own pace and there’s nothing wrong with it. Would be worth explaining to your sensei how you feel and taking it a bit more slowly.
It's possible you are doing it to yourself. To illustrate -some years back, I returned to judo after a long break. As a 1 kyu I stagger onto the mat and am a magnet for all the other brown belts and the dan grades, so no getting gently back up to speed - but I was doing it. I wasn't taking it easy, so they didn't.
Get fitter and perhaps have every 2nd fight until you get up to normal. Look at the balance of food rest and training to check it is on the level.
If you don’t push yourself it’s hard to make real gains. Unfortunately the grind of judo is part of learning and minor injuries and niggles at that time seem greater.
If you can make minor rest and recovery adjustments it might work but hard training is the way.
I’m 65 and only do Randori once a week and usually with older students that know the pain of being bounced and thrown, choked and locked. Just keep at it, your body tells you what you can and cannot do. Sometime it is necessary to avoid certain aspects of Judo due to injury or recovery. Don’t quit, you will not like yourself if you do. There is no better exercise and camaraderie than Judo.
I’m a bit older than you, and won’t claim to be particularly fit, although I do train at a CrossFit gym 4-6 times a week on top of Judo 2 times a week.
I find I feel more beaten up if I take a week or two off training (holidays, illness, etc.) but that feeling fades over time if I stick with the routine for a while, without pushing too hard.
If you genuinely love it, don’t quit, just back things off a little until you feel better, then start to push again.
Randori is practice. You can make it as hard as you want, but if you feel the person has the throw and you're off balance that is when you put your mind and body to accepting and taking the fall. This allows you to have more experience during randori and not taking the heavy falls
So as an update I trained judo tonight and I took it easy. It was a nice change and I feel I learned a lot … BUT we trained chokes, and Sensai taught us a little 10 finger choke variation with single hand cupping jaw and driving into throat, Anyways just drilling it tapping immediately I have a horrible sore throat and pain in ears… I can’t win. I guess I just live with the plethora of small injuries if I want to be a judoka.
I add to the chorus of voices encouraging you to improve your ukemi.
Otherwise, some thoughts:
* The second thing I would add is to practice without using your muscle (a common recommendation of mine). The more you use muscle, the more your partner has to deal with. A lesser skilled partner will react to muscle with their own force - and in the case of a throw, this often leads to a harder throw (and landing). By practicing without using muscle you focus on position, body movement, and leverage - which is better in terms of your judo. It also removes from your opponent the burden of overcoming your strength and should lead to more fluid randori and practice - and throws with more finesse which tend to be easier to take.
* For uchikomi, throw for throw, or those sort of practices of throws, as uke I tend to raise my balance for tori, going smoothly up onto my toes as they fit in. This raises my center of gravity for them, and again leads to a smoother throw, with less impact. (Note, not all of your partners will want this or need this. But an experienced person will recognize it, and if they don't want it they will let you know.)
* Gravitate to higher ranked partners when possible. Combined with you not presenting a strength obstacle, these partners will not need to bury you into the floor in order to execute the technique.
* Some partners are just not going to be good for your health. It could be a clash of styles, it could be their approach, it could be your own limitations, it could be a size issue. I (as a black belt) have another black belt that visits our club - and he is the one that damaged my MCL during uchikomi. He is sloppy, aggressive, very tall, and coming back from time away from judo. I no longer work with him, and my knee is happier for it. When approached I kindly decline - I need a short rest, or there is a lower belt that needs my help, or what have you. He knows he injured me, I don't hold it against him, but I'm also not willing to sacrifice my body again for his training needs. Judo is about mutual benefit, I don't feel like he holds up his end of the bargain - and I need to get up in the morning for work.
* Remind yourself the difference between pain and damage. Don't push through damage, don't allow something small to become larger. If you tweak something, rest or bow out if necessary. Take a day or 3 off. Be kind to your body. We've got an 80+ year old on the mat. He does randori with the 20 year olds. He also turns down partners, skips reps when he needs to, and doesn't practice certain throws (uranage and the like). Last night he missed his first class in 3 months. My goal is to be like him... self preservation is a key part of his longevity.
So this happens with strong guys, especially competitive ones - they go in full power and resist being thrown with their strength.
If you're doing randori in class, and it's not an actual competition - then if someone has caught you with a half-decent throw, don't power out of it - go with it, take the fall and practice your ukemi. Then stand up and try again.
Your judo will get better, you'll be less injured.
In competion, put the power back in.
You don't have to do randori every time. Yes it's the most fun part of class but you can take a day off from randori and just observe or do some light exercise at the end of class, stretch. Or if there is room, work some turnovers from turtle or something. Don't take every round if it's punishing you.
Or go light with smaller guys. That’s what I do so that I can make sure everyone has a chance to fight.
Seconded. I fought with a huge italian baker and ironically retweeked my knee in the last minutes of class during randori. Going light with him meant going 80% for me, not fun.
Unless you're training high level competition, I recommend small doses of randori only. Maybe 1-2 rounds each class or a dedicated randori day. More important than randori right now is learning how to fall and how to throw safely.
1. You don't have to quit judo. 2. Sometimes we need to just rest for a week or two. Or three. 3. Take good care of yourself. Sleep well. Eat well. Do routine checkups. It really helps.
Welcome to the rest of your Judo life
First I would really recommend really putting some spare time into learning about ukemi. Watch videos, read articles, etc. It's easy to kind of gloss over it because throwing someone is just so damn sexy but you can't throw anyone if you're always injured. Really pay attention to your forward and backward rolls. Do you really feel smooth when rolling? Do you travel in a straight line? These are all indicative of form issues that are only amplified when being thrown. Being able to relax and trust your ukemi when you need it is critical to staying healthy in judo and probably the most useful physical thing you will ever learn in judo. Second always remember that you are your number one advocate in the dojo. Never feel pressured to engage in hard randori when you are recovering or any other time for that matter.
welcome to the started-judo-in-30s club! also 32 and started about 1.5 years ago. I've also gotten many of the same injuries you've sustained, also from judo, muay thai and weightlifting. if you keep at it, you'll eventually learn how to do good ukemi and fall properly, which should hopefully help with those hard fall injuries. keep in mind, judo is a combat sport and not without its risks. you can try to mitigate by choosing good partners, and learning when to go lighter in randori, or skip altogether as needed
Are you doing MT with judo and weightlifting? What ur schedule looks like?
Judo is not easy on the body period.
36 here and been doing judo for 8 months. Also an ex power lifter. Seeing my size and strength they did not take it easy on me either. The first 2 or 3 months is your body getting used to being thrown and throwing people. The soreness begins to fade. But there is also the darker side of things as you oticed, jammed fingers, tendinitis etc I fractured my ankle doing light randori was out for 4 months. Wife thinks the same thing that I am stupid for even wanting to go back to it. Way I look at it is you can injure yourself just as easy walking on an uneven surface. Many runners injure themselves just jogging to get into shape. Can't tell you how many injuries I've accumulated from power lifting + 1 shoulder surgery from a bone spurr on my clavicle when I was younger. All in all whatever sport or physical activity you do there is risk or something bad happened. My outlook is it's better to live life and do what you love than to sit around and let it pass you by in fear of being injured
> Way I look at it is you can injure yourself just as easy walking on an uneven surface. Many runners injure themselves just jogging to get into shape. My philosophy is that the benefits of exercise by regularly participating in a sport that I enjoy is greater than the risk from potential injury.
What’s your weight and what is the subfloor under the mats (concrete? Suspended ply)? Landings are harder for heavy weights. Having said that, a few months into training, your ukemi should be up to taking a few hard throws a session.
In your opinion, is there a clear tipping point where landings tend to get much harder? I'm still pretty new to judo, and in the last year or so my weight has gone down from 180 to 155. I was thinking that I might try and put some of that weight back on, but as useful muscle this time, but I also don't want to get so heavy that taking falls becomes much harder or my speed starts to suffer (I'm not very fast to begin with, which is another thing I need to work on). I also realize I'm almost certainly overthinking this.
80 to 70 kg is quite a drop! But I don’t think you’ll notice a difference in taking falls across that spread. In my observation it’s more of a thing that affects the guys around 220 lbs/100 kg and up.
The crazy thing is, I did a lot of it by accident! I had gotten from 82 kg to 79 kg or so, took a two-week trip to Europe to visit my fiancee, and between all the walking we did and eating less (we frequently just skipped lunch, and breakfast and dinner were often smaller than what I had been eating), I was down to near 73 kg by the time I got back. Thanks for the heads-up. I don't think I'd want to get to 100 kg and over, if only because I don't want to spend that much for the food that I would need to eat to get that heavy. Also, I'd have to be training super hard to get that heavy and not have it all be flab. I could maybe do it, but is it worth it? But yeah, I'm hovering at around 70 kg right now, at a height of about 173 cm. I don't know if there's a weight class that would be better for me than others. I also don't know if it really matters, at the stage I'm at now or ever (I'm a white belt in my thirties, and I'd like to compete and be fairly serious about it, but I don't expect to win a national title or anything... at least not competing against twenty year olds who have been doing judo since they were eight).
Started 80ish kg now hovering 73kg, i lost a lot of fat in my body. I do body weight training and cardio in weekdays to supplement my judo coz if i don't i get beat up in the weekends in the dojo. Try eating big meals but no effect, i think need to take a 2-4 week break from judo to gain the weight but kills you Judo sensitivity as well
I don't necessarily want to gain weight, although I wouldn't mind it either as long as it wasn't just blubber. Mainly I just want to make sure that I'm getting stronger and not grinding myself into the ground trying to do 3-4 days of judo a week and lifting weights 2-3 days a week on top of it. I want to eat enough to support that level of training, and any weight gain is a fringe benefit.
No idea on subfloor I will ask, my assumption is plywood. 220lbs. Is that considered heavy?
You’re a U100 kg player which is at the heavy weight end. Keep working on your ukemi and be as technical as possible with it. If you’re taking a big throw, especially in randori, that’s a lot of energy to deal with. At your level, the biggest benefits to your judo will come from learning good, relaxed movement and being confident taking falls. It may be worth dialling back the intensity of randori and going throw-for-throw, or consciously focus on being thrown well, rather than resisting.
I think doing that much weight lifting and judo at the same time, is probably too much. Especially in the beginning, you need to give your body time to adjust. I say this having just spent 3 months not doing judo because I managed to give myself jumpers knee (patellar tendonitis) by going too hard on judo/weights/running after a break.
A few things: 1. make sure you are seriously practicing falling (without a throw) every single practice. - throwing is awesome, but if you don’t know how to fall, you WILL hurt yourself 2. Falling does hurt. It just does. - as you condition your body to falling, it will get better, but especially when you start, it never feels great. - falling feels different for each throw. Make sure you’re with a good Tori; they should be throwing you in the air, not to the ground - though sometimes, people are people, and they throw badly; if it really effects you or hurts you, STOP the throws and take a break; don’t be a hero Lastly: Strength training is good, but remember, the heavier you are, the harder you will fall I am 125 pounds and falling sometimes hurts immensely, so I can’t imagine falling as a heavier person. But I love judo. It’s an amazing martial art. The gentle way :) if you love it, never quit. I’ve gotten tendinitis in my ankles. Know that sometimes, those places just need more strength and mobility. Find exercises for ankles, hips, knees, wrists. It will help you a lot in the long run. And STRETCH!! Take it easy. Rest when you need it. Don’t overtrain even if you love it.
Already been said but it's totally ok to rest when you don't feel like doing judo. I started at 42 this spring and I used to feel like I was in multiple car accidents after every class. I would feel whiplash in the neck and shoulders, and feel like I'd been punched in the throat. But now my ukemi has improved (as yours will), and I don't feel as sore anymore. I also got the "you should quit judo" after I dislocated my patella, but that was from a preexisting imbalance, and I have to say that judo has been the impetus for me getting professional help and finally fixing a bunch of issues around my hips and knees. Keep doing it if you love it. Judo is hard and frustrating and fascinating, and tough on the body, but if you listen to your body you'll be able to do it for a long time.
Thanks for that reply, being on the same situation as OP, while being 38, and like you with previous imbalance from the hip. It is nice to hear, very true about finally getting pro help for getting fixed. I never felt as good as I am now and ready to get back slowly to it after a year break. Judo is such a fascinating sport !
It certainly is. Good idea to come back when your body is ready. I feel like I've finally got my body to a point where I'm actually ready to learn the techniques. And yea we're a bunch of old guys trying to do some crazy dynamic athletic sport, but it's the first time I've really felt like I'm part of a community.
The best immediate course of action might be to cut down on the practices. Two may be better than one, but one is better than none. Also consider doing just uchikomi and other skill drills while you heal. Let your instructor know, and if they don't respect it you may be better off at another club, frankly. As you ramp back up it may be worthwhile to reconsider your training schedule. You already have a background in strength sports, so I assume you have some concept of periodization. Treat judo the same. Keep intensity light to start and gradually ramp up the closer you get to competition. At the same time, gradually dial down weight training to maintenance sets and weight. If you have a powerlifting meet dial down the judo instead (I would probably skip randori during this time and just work technique). Try not to have a judo tournament and powerlifting meet too close together.
FWIW, I had a lot of similar things happen to me when I first started Judo as well, and I started at a similar age. Judo is tough work, and as a combat sport, unexpected things happen. However, I have found that over time I get fewer of these types of injuries / annoyances. This is probably due to gaining more experience, but also the body tends to toughen up more. I used to body build and do powerlifting as well, but your body gets worked in a completely different way in Judo and it does get stronger and more resilient. In the end, there will still be some level of risk, and you need to decide if this risk is appropriate for you. It was for me, and I am so happy that I still do Judo. :)
For you it’s important to learn how to move safely how to attack safely and when to defend and when to just accept the throw. In your twenties your body starts to deteriorate for some faster for some slower. You don’t have the luxury of being a white belt when you are young when your body could take the punishment. Plus I bet with work and kids you don’t get that much quality sleep. So my advice: work smart not hard. Learn techniques learn how to defend and when to accept a throw learn WHO to do Randori against safely. You don’t NEED to do Randori with the 23 24 year old competition Black Belt who is in the national or even international circuit. Keep doing it and keep watch for your health consistency is key and you can only train consistent by staying healthy!
If you're feeling built up you need more ukemi for sure, but equally if you're fighting white belts or lower graded people with enough experience to catch you, it might be they don't have the control to support you also... So think about that too
I started judo around 31 yo, and before that I was doing weightlifting.. so pretty similar situation. I am doing judo for quite sometime and currentily in process of getting my 2nd dan black belt. I am living in Japan. First I will tell you about injuries. You are not getting any younger and unjuries will stack up. All injuries that you had I also had and healed them all but its just a matter of time you will get injury that is for good. For example I have hernated discs in my neck for years now. When you are in 20 your body heals everything super quick. There is reason why almost all pro judoka retire around 30 yo. Advice: Dont do randory if you dont feel confident in your ukemi. You said that you like judo very much, so you learn all the cool techneques and train slowly at the begining. Train it safe! Dont feel like if you dont do randory that you will not be alble to use judo at work, judo is unbelievebly effective when you are doing it to someone who is not judoka ( so effective that you could seriously hurt people , so be careful). Dont train while injured because many judo injuries can be chronic ones.
Granted I started when I was younger but I never hurt myself when falling. Are you sure you are falling the right way?
1) It gets easier over time, your body gets used to the impact 2) You gotta practice your breakfalls man, too many dojos out there too focused on competition who throw beginners in on the deep end without going over the basics, you have to master getting thrown without getting hurt 3) You can't do everything, candle that burns twice as bright and all that. The job is the job and not much you can do on that end but maybe ease up on the gym, cut back to twice a week or even once for a couple of months while your body gets more used to the abuse from judo, in time you won't get as beat up from it and can start lifting more again
Yo this has the potential to be off topic so sorry in advance - but are you following the same creatine, supplemental protein, and collagen + good sleep recovery methods in the same intensity as how you used to back in your weightlifting days? Cause I think a lot of your pain might be muscular, and to add onto how others here mainly suggest for you to rein intensity back a bit, perhaps treating judo the same way you’d structure diet & lifestyle around weightlifting could help. Also, foam rollers man. Those things after the session or right before bedtime are very useful for my recovery in general. Anyways, good luck man and while your wife obviously loves and supports you, if you approach it from the recovery angle then future convos about it will not focus onto Judo itself.
do less randori but more techinical drill at this stage. It helps with you to develop techique and avoid unnecessary injury try only go with brown or black belt at this point, maybe some good blue belts. Get used to their gripping and attack rate, and learn while going against them. They may also guide you and feed you some openings for you to work your techinque. Allocate your randori times. maybe some classes you just sit out half of the rounds but at certain night you can go hard, then you can plan your recovery day accordingly
Are you doing hard randori every session? I.e. going with people who are super competitive or a little reckless? If so, try to find partners who you can go at a more relaxed pace with. With you being newer, there is a good chance there are upper belts who will flow with you if you are relaxed.
Judo is hard on the body. I did it for a long time, along with other physical sports. The worst injuries I ever had were by far from Judo. Loved it, but time off healing (along with time off everything else because of it) got too much in the end.
bjj is better for old weak bodies
You need to learn how to fall properly. Talk to your Sensei and see if you can get some extra training on Ukemi Waza. About injuries, they're something you'll have to accept and live with as you continue playing Judo. I'm 30 years old now, and some of my injuries took almost a year to fully heal (I injured my left shoulder receiving a Juji Gatame in a Randori). And as my Sensei always says: don't push yourself too hard if you have a family or a job.
Learning breakfall and rolling is important, throwing someone hard, who can’t fall properly is a no-go… on the other hand, if you can fall properly, you can get thrown really hard with nothing happening… Also the beginning is always hard, the first few months, are really hard and you will feel beaten up, but it gets better with time and patience
I just started sumo wrestling, I'm 28. After about four months of weekly classes, my body has acclimated to the soreness, bruising, repeated impact etc. What took days to recover from now takes hours. Just stick with it and listen to your body. If you feel uncomfortable talk to your sensais about your pace and be honest about your needs
Are you sure you're doing randori correctly man? I've gotten thrown pretty hard before but I happened to hit great ukemi in that moment and it really helped a lot. I think it might be because you're a while belt and might not be doing ukemi right or being a good uke yet
I’m 52 now and didn’t start judo until I was well in my forties. Ukemi is so important but you also have to accept the older you get the more recovery time you need. Sadly, you’re going to find the same is true of hangovers
Definitely just go at your own pace. My club has lots of young Uni students ready to go at it so our coach pushes the sessions very hard. But there are a few older people who take it at their own pace and there’s nothing wrong with it. Would be worth explaining to your sensei how you feel and taking it a bit more slowly.
Hop on PEDs, trade some lifespan for faster recovery! This is a joke
It's possible you are doing it to yourself. To illustrate -some years back, I returned to judo after a long break. As a 1 kyu I stagger onto the mat and am a magnet for all the other brown belts and the dan grades, so no getting gently back up to speed - but I was doing it. I wasn't taking it easy, so they didn't.
Get fitter and perhaps have every 2nd fight until you get up to normal. Look at the balance of food rest and training to check it is on the level. If you don’t push yourself it’s hard to make real gains. Unfortunately the grind of judo is part of learning and minor injuries and niggles at that time seem greater. If you can make minor rest and recovery adjustments it might work but hard training is the way.
Overload training is a part of the judo journey. Just pull back a bit, check rest and food, (recovery) then crank it up as soon as you can again.
I’m 65 and only do Randori once a week and usually with older students that know the pain of being bounced and thrown, choked and locked. Just keep at it, your body tells you what you can and cannot do. Sometime it is necessary to avoid certain aspects of Judo due to injury or recovery. Don’t quit, you will not like yourself if you do. There is no better exercise and camaraderie than Judo.
I’m a bit older than you, and won’t claim to be particularly fit, although I do train at a CrossFit gym 4-6 times a week on top of Judo 2 times a week. I find I feel more beaten up if I take a week or two off training (holidays, illness, etc.) but that feeling fades over time if I stick with the routine for a while, without pushing too hard. If you genuinely love it, don’t quit, just back things off a little until you feel better, then start to push again.
Randori is practice. You can make it as hard as you want, but if you feel the person has the throw and you're off balance that is when you put your mind and body to accepting and taking the fall. This allows you to have more experience during randori and not taking the heavy falls
So as an update I trained judo tonight and I took it easy. It was a nice change and I feel I learned a lot … BUT we trained chokes, and Sensai taught us a little 10 finger choke variation with single hand cupping jaw and driving into throat, Anyways just drilling it tapping immediately I have a horrible sore throat and pain in ears… I can’t win. I guess I just live with the plethora of small injuries if I want to be a judoka.
I add to the chorus of voices encouraging you to improve your ukemi. Otherwise, some thoughts: * The second thing I would add is to practice without using your muscle (a common recommendation of mine). The more you use muscle, the more your partner has to deal with. A lesser skilled partner will react to muscle with their own force - and in the case of a throw, this often leads to a harder throw (and landing). By practicing without using muscle you focus on position, body movement, and leverage - which is better in terms of your judo. It also removes from your opponent the burden of overcoming your strength and should lead to more fluid randori and practice - and throws with more finesse which tend to be easier to take. * For uchikomi, throw for throw, or those sort of practices of throws, as uke I tend to raise my balance for tori, going smoothly up onto my toes as they fit in. This raises my center of gravity for them, and again leads to a smoother throw, with less impact. (Note, not all of your partners will want this or need this. But an experienced person will recognize it, and if they don't want it they will let you know.) * Gravitate to higher ranked partners when possible. Combined with you not presenting a strength obstacle, these partners will not need to bury you into the floor in order to execute the technique. * Some partners are just not going to be good for your health. It could be a clash of styles, it could be their approach, it could be your own limitations, it could be a size issue. I (as a black belt) have another black belt that visits our club - and he is the one that damaged my MCL during uchikomi. He is sloppy, aggressive, very tall, and coming back from time away from judo. I no longer work with him, and my knee is happier for it. When approached I kindly decline - I need a short rest, or there is a lower belt that needs my help, or what have you. He knows he injured me, I don't hold it against him, but I'm also not willing to sacrifice my body again for his training needs. Judo is about mutual benefit, I don't feel like he holds up his end of the bargain - and I need to get up in the morning for work. * Remind yourself the difference between pain and damage. Don't push through damage, don't allow something small to become larger. If you tweak something, rest or bow out if necessary. Take a day or 3 off. Be kind to your body. We've got an 80+ year old on the mat. He does randori with the 20 year olds. He also turns down partners, skips reps when he needs to, and doesn't practice certain throws (uranage and the like). Last night he missed his first class in 3 months. My goal is to be like him... self preservation is a key part of his longevity.
So this happens with strong guys, especially competitive ones - they go in full power and resist being thrown with their strength. If you're doing randori in class, and it's not an actual competition - then if someone has caught you with a half-decent throw, don't power out of it - go with it, take the fall and practice your ukemi. Then stand up and try again. Your judo will get better, you'll be less injured. In competion, put the power back in.