5 ways to get better at Judo

There are a few things that I tell people that will help them get better at Judo.
Have a good gi:
I always encourage judoka to invest in a good gi. Don’t go with a no name brand, but buy a well known gi brand, such as Mizuno. A judo gi is like a good suit, when you wear it you feel good and it is nice to feel good. Secondly a quality gi is tailored nice so the cut and design of the gi will fit nicer than a run of the mill gi. Wearing a good judo suit will also make you look the part and it’s like the saying “fake it til you make it.” People spend hundreds of dollars in a dinner suit they wear once or twice a year but a good judo gi you wear two to three times a week.
Have a good club:
You must have a good club in order to improve your judo game. Many people believe that a good club should be a huge club with six mat areas a sauna and a gym. But many of the top judo clubs in the world are one and a half mat areas and a small weights area. The space of the club isn’t what makes a good judo club it is the people that make up the club. The judokas in the club should represent the fundamental aspects if judo, mutual welfare and benefit.”
Therefore they should understand that not everything is about them and that everyone is there to learn and enjoy the benefits of judo.

Have a good mindset:
You must have a particular mindset about judo. If you do not like to learn then judo is not a sport for you. If you do not like to lose then Judo is not for you and if you do not like to grow and develop your current skills into better skills then judo is not for you. Judo requires dedication a d a lifetime of study. Judo is not just a martial art or sport but a journey. Not just a journey from white to black belt and beyond but further. Judo is an art where you never stop learning and growing and there is always something new to learn and develop. The day you think you know it all is the day you will begin to plateau in not only your judo skills but in your enjoyment for the art of judo. So stay strong mentally and you will go far in judo.
Have a good strength and conditioning program:
You have heard me say it over and over again. You must have a good strength and conditioning program if you want to get better at judo. I don’t just mean any strength program or a power lifting program or a cross fit regime. I am talking about a program that is written specifically for judo. I have written fitness and conditioning manual called workouts for judo that answers all your questions about fitness and conditioning for judo. By having a program written for judo will help you get better at judo and quickly due to the fact that you won’t be gassing out or worried that you are going to run out of steam. You can just keep on going and keep on working your technique.
Be critical:
Be critical about your judo game. What aspects of your game do you need to improve on? Do you need to develop a better ground game? Is your ground game good but your transitions bad? Do you use enough foot sweeps or do you grip fight too much? If you are critical about your judo game and put strategies in place to rectify these holes then you will become a more complete judoka if you critically analyse your judo and adjust what needs fixing. You may need to film yourself doing uchikomi and analyse you technique to make sure you are doing everything correctly.
If you implement all of these aspects into your Judo you will slowly begin to see results.

About the Author

Matt D'Aquino is a multiple Australian and Oceania Champion and a 2008 Beijing Judo Olympian. Matt is a 3rd Degree Black belt and is passionate about teaching Judo Worldwide. 

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Creating an MMA Workout Program

By Eric Wong, BSc, CSCS

If you want to setup your own MMA workout program, then this article will definitely help you out. I’m going to take you through my thought process when it comes to creating a program if I were to meet a fighter for the first time. By answering these questions yourself, you can come up with your own program that fits your situation.

Let’s get started:

• Do I have any injuries, pain, or movement limitations to address? These things should be worked on first before trying to build.
  
• Do I have a fight coming up? If so, how many weeks do I have? If not, just pick 12 weeks as a nice amount of time to program for. Work backwards from the date, setting up 2-4 week blocks to focus on one area of improvement at a time.
  
• What areas do I need the most work - body composition, strength, power, or endurance? If you've got a fight coming up, power-endurance will be the main focus in the 4 weeks leading up to the fight, aside from that it depends on your situation.
  
• How many days a week can I commit to strength and conditioning for MMA? For most fighters, 2-3 days a week is sufficient to get good results.
  
• What aspect of my mixed-martial arts technique training do I need to focus on the most? Whatever this aspect is, you want to be fresh for it, so you don't want to do strength and conditioning on the same day.
  
• What exercises do I hate, that I should probably do more often? Most athletes stick to their favourite exercises, neglecting those that would probably give them the most improvement.
  

Now when it comes to choosing actual exercises, make sure you include ALL of the following:

• A dynamic warmup to improve your mobility before your workout
  
• The big compond exercises to build your general strength (squats, deadlifts, lunges, chinups, bench press)
  
• Unilateral exercises to develop your stabilizer muscles and maintain muscular balance (1-arm rows, 1-arm presses, 1-leg stiff-leg deadlifts)
  
• Static core stability exercises (planks)
  
• Dynamic core stability exercises (woodchops)
  
• Rotational power exercises (medicine ball throws)
  
• Injury prevention exercises for the shoulder (cuban press, external rotations)
  

When you're putting these exercises together into a workout, ensure that you're hitting the full body in your workouts, since you'll only have 2-3 sessions to do. If you do a body part split, you just won't have enough stimulus to cause adaptation.
Rep ranges, rest, and sets are beyond the scope of this article, because there is an entire science to choosing the proper schemes, depending on your situation and what you need.
So hopefully this has shed some light on the thought process going in to creating an MMA workout program for yourself.
If you want to save time and follow a program that's been proven in the ocatagon that's already done for you so you can hit the gym today, check out the Ultimate MMA workout program.
Here's what one fighter had to say about training on this program:

Best Shape Ever!

Having completed Eric's 17 week programme, I can safely say that I am in the best shape that I have ever been. In other programmes, I only ever developed one aspect of fitness, but with Eric's periodised approach I have developed a well balanced body and improved my strength, power and cardio. Furthermore, I have not needed to train more than 3-4 times a week, I have not recieved any injuries and most importantly, I have not felt too tired/sore for when I hit my technical training. The NRG complexes were my favourite part of the programme. These tough circuits are designed to  develop power endurance, which is most important attribute for a mixed martial artist. Thanks again Eric!

Subaig Singh, UK Mixed Martial Artist

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