No, not a typo for "grips"

I have a few gripes, and I was wondering if any of you felt the same way...

1. Judo is too power oriented nowadays. When I watch Olympic state, or national judo, the judoka are always pulling off ridiculous "frontflip-uchimata's" They put so much power into the throw, that it pretty much turns ippon seoinage or pretty much "any" other throw into a sacrifice throw.

2. What happened to foot techniques? I rarely see any foot techniques being done, or even attempted, when there are clear openings... Its almost as if the judoka doesnt know, or practice foot techniques anymore, they just want that outrageously impractical flying frontflip hipthrow..

3. Judo doesnt teach strikes, or weapons anymore... Why? I can understand injury prevention, and it going against the principles of judo.. But why just "cut-out" a major part of the art? Atleast teach the forms! I dont know about you guys, but I learn alot from forms, and I think .. (unless its baguazhang, then I just have no freakin clue as to most of the applications in a bgz form. lol.


3. I have met black belts in judo schools, that really shouldnt even have green belts.. They stand around the class, with their arms crossed, watching you, giving you bad advice on your throws, resisting with full force during THROW FITTING PRACTICE, and then tells you "dont resist" when its his turn, even though you arent resisting at all?!.. Having nothing to offer during lessons, and I just completely throw them around like rag dolls during rondori...

4. that guy that steps into the dojo, with NO GI ON, board shorts, and a muscle shirt so he dcan show of his bad tattoo art.. And yes, he knows better.

Shuai jiao takes advantage of all those throws you mentioned. It might have to do with the rules of competition. In sj competition any throw is rewarded 1,2, or 3 points. My friend was explaining that a 1 point Shuai jiao throw in a judo comp would equal 1/32 of a point or some crap like that. So maybe they are trying to end the round quicker.

Guys standing around acting like they know what the deal is is so a big problem in a lot of Kung fu schools I think.

Shuai jiao is different. The throws are similar, but they are more transitional.

In judo, a throw is a throw.

In shuai jiao, a throw can turn into a completely different throw. similar to combination throws in judo, but the flows, and entries are different.

I guess what Im saying is potatoes.

Robert,

It sounds like you have had some negative experiences in Judo which has formed your opinion of it. There are something's you say which have some truth, but there are many that are over generalisations.

There are a lot of people that play "power Judo" in high levels of competition, and one of the reasons is that they're up against other high level competitors that have equally strong attributes. This is something that Shuai Jiao doesn't know as much because it's not practiced nearly to the same degree as Judo is, nor to the same level of Olympic competition. There are plenty of Judoka out there with beautiful technique that embody the principles of the art.

Throws often turn into sacrifices because they are up against coompetitors of a similar level and everyone if putting 100% into throwing and defending. It would be a lot different if they were fighting people a lot less skilled then them. Many High level Judoka work their whole lives to get the opportunity to compete at a high level, so they put everything into winning the competition. It's the same for any high level competition.

There are many Judoka that do foot sweeps, but at higher levels, many Judokas are less susceptible to them because the don't give the other guy the momentum or their center are easily. But I see foot sweeps all the time.

Judo does still teach striking and weapon defence in forms... They're all in the katas. Depending on the type of club you attend, these katas may be more or less of a focus.

It's true that all black belts are not made the same. There are some that received their black belt a long time ago, but are out of practice. Some have their black belt because the have a lot of knowledge or are more into kata, but not as strong in competition. There are some that are just not that good. But there are A LOT that are very skilful and have a lot of ability. It sounds like the black belts at your club are just not that good, but they are not representative of the entire judo community.

This is the issue with your post, is that you are painting current judo and judoka with a very broad brush.

You mention that you were throwing these black belts in you club around like rag dolls... Then if you want a better gauge of what's out there, I would recommend you enter the nationals and get a feel for that level of black belt.

The main difference between Shuai Jian and Judo are the rule sets. It's difficult and too simple to say that Judo is less "transitional" because there are so many styles of Judo out there. I think you just need to experience more variation of higher level Judoka.

You make some good points craig, Thanks, that was very insightful.

I'm sorry about your experience.

It isn't all mine. I've played and visited many judo schools here in Michigan. Craig makes some excellent points.

As far as striking, it's either rare or unrealistic (like in Judo Kata)...well, most kata striking is quite unrealistic, no matter the art form.

I don't know many if any judo blackbelts that the average person could throw, without also being a judo black or brown belt or wrestler.