This issue's quote; "Blessed is he who teaches, for he learns twice." St. Augustine
TRIP TO THE BARN
As reported in my last installment, we'll leave from Kansas City on Thursday to travel to Perrysville, Ohio for several days of training and hanging out with John Saylor and his crew. Six of us are making the 13-hour drive each way. A long drive but certainly worth it. I remember years ago when I would make the trek to Colorado Springs, Colorado on a fairly regular basis to work out at the Olympic Training Center and stay at John's house. That was when John was forming his Shingitai Jujitsu Association in the early to mid-1980s and we spent a fair amount of time working out at his jujitsu dojo in the evenings as well as the daytime workouts at the OTC. Those early workouts were a lot of fun and we had some rough-house workouts in those days. One of the times Becky went with me, we stayed at the Saylor mansion and spent the evening watching Charles Bronson movies (one of my favorite actors, and a legitimate stud). Somehow, watching Charles Bronson motivated John to want to try some groundfighting moves on his living room floor, so we cleared the furniture and proceeded to work on juji gatame drills, and then roll around a little bit to see if they actually worked. Now, here are two grown men, both rather large in stature, wrestling around on a living room floor like two kids. Becky stood by, offering cogent advice to me (since Saylor was kicking my butt in our impromptu match) and John's first wife Kathy had left the room; knowing that it was useless to continue to tell us to stop. Now, years later, John lives in a barn (in Ohio, his home state and not Colorado) that he completely re-designed as a dojo and weight room, along with a large living quarters, office and kitchen and we can still roll around on the floor (now covered in tatami mats) and act like kids. The more things change, the more they stay the same. (An additional note to this...As I remember, Bob Corwin was once at John's house with us when John and I had an impromptu grappling match on his living room floor. Bob found it quite amusing. I seriously wonder how many other poor souls were lured into taking a beating after an evening of watching Charlie Bronson movies at Saylor's house in those days...)
TOM CRONE'S JUDO DVD
My friend Tom Crone in Minneapolis just released a new DVD on judo. Tom calls it JUDO BASICS. It's close to an hour in length and a good addition to anyone's library. I
recommend it. Tom worked with me on the National Coaching Staff for juniors (under 21) in the 1980s and early 1990s and is a good coach who knows his stuff. The DVD is $19.95. To order a copy, e-mail Tom Crone at tomailto:tom@tomcrone.com and his web site is http://www.judominnesota.com/ or http://www.northstarjudo.com/om/.
recommend it. Tom worked with me on the National Coaching Staff for juniors (under 21) in the 1980s and early 1990s and is a good coach who knows his stuff. The DVD is $19.95. To order a copy, e-mail Tom Crone at tomailto:tom@tomcrone.com and his web site is http://www.judominnesota.com/ or http://www.northstarjudo.com/om/.
THE SHOULDER SITA position in groundfighting that is pretty much taken for granted and not actually taught very much is what I call the "Shoulder Sit." This is the time when the attacker may have just thrown his opponent or may have broken him down and squats on his head and shoulder as Bill West is doing to Josh Henges in this photo. Good judo and jujitsu athletes do it, as well as good submission grapplers. Basically, the top athlete parks his opponent there temporarily and works to secure another move. We drill on it a lot at Welcome Mat by doing the "spin and stretch" drill where the attacker spins his partner over and squats on him as shonw here, and then rolls back to a juji gatame. This is a strong "transition" position and one that I recommend everyone drill on in practice. I'm including this move in the upcoming book on judo that Turtle Press will publish later this year. This is one of those moves that a lot of people simply take for granted, or even don't even think about but should be worked on as much as possible.
CONDITIONING FOR COMBAT SPORTSJohn Saylor and I worked hard on this book and it's been getting some great comments from people who have purchased it. The book is 320 pages with over 1,000 photos and full of serious, hard-core training information. Order your copy from http://www.turtlepress.com/ or http://www.amazon.com/ .
THE LEG PRESSHere's another position in groundfighting that is overlooked, and for the most part, not worked on during practices. It's the "Leg press" position. This photo shows Warren Frank doing the leg press in the sambo national on some poor guy who is about to get his arm stretched. Basically, you roll your opponent onto his back as shown here and control his body with your legs as you sit beside him. Not only can you get a juji gatame from this position, you can control him for a long while in the leg press and switch to a pin or a strangle if the juji gatame doesn't work out. Like the shoulder sit, drill on this position often (we do at Welcome Mat) and you will see the many good things that open up to you and the many bad things that can (and will) happen to the bottom guy.
AAU FREESTYLE JUDO NATIONALS
Ken Brink plans on hosting the 2011 AAU Freestyle Judo Nationals in March in Kearney, Missouri. He's still working on getting a definite date for both the Freestyle Nationals and the AAU Grand Nationals in July. Norm Miller plans on hosting the AAU Nationals in Milwaukee, Wisconsin Aug. 15.
ONE GOOD THING...BLOGS HAVE PHOTOS
I liked doing the old online newsletter in the e-mail format, but this blog stuff isn't so bad after all. The part I like most is that photos can be placed on this blog. As time goes on, more technical stuff will be presented on this blog. However, I still have trouble with the word "blog." It's me...I know, but it's a weird word.
AAU INFORMATION
It's time to renew your AAU membership. The AAU membership runs from Sept. 1 to Aug.31 of the next year. Go to www.aausports.org and follow the links for membership.
TIMING YOUR UCHIKOMI
Here's an idea that will help in your foot speed for throwing, as well as overall speed and ballistic effect. Time how fast you do uchikomis. First, however, it's important to have good form in doing uchikomi drills before trying to time them. The goal is to perform one uchikomi per second. A good idea is to perform 10 static (not moving) uchikomi on your training partner and have another training partner it. If you average 1 per second, then you hit your goal. I realize some people don't like uchikomi, and that's okay with me, but I really believe this drill is a good one to teach precise and skilled movement. Doing both static (non-moving) and moving uchikomi help develop good throwing skills. One more point...there's a difference between uchikomi and butsukari. The butsukari is more suited for development of foot speed. Many people don't differentiate between the two drills, but there is a definite difference. An uchikomi is doing the full movement of the throw up to the actual throw and butsukari is the "chest touching" drill that emphasizes foot speed and pulling action with the hands.
WRAPPING IT UP
The original idea was to get out a newsletter after returning from Ohio, but the urge hit me so here it is. There's still time to get downstairs and get a workout in in the weight room. Until the next issue, train hard and train smart.
