Getting ready for your first competitions

Someone asked me on Instagram my advice on how to be ready for her first competition and since it is a good question, I thought I'd post my suggestions here.

Get in better physical condition

We're not talking the Olympics here and since you are just starting to compete, I'm going to assume that you could improve your conditioning a bit. In this, I find the old saying to be true:

"The best is the enemy of the good. "

People say they can't work out because they can't get to a gym, don't have a partner, blah blah blah. Here is my suggestion for anyone who wants to be a little bit better. This is IN ADDITION TO GOING TO JUDO PRACTICE AS MANY DAYS A WEEK AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN.

1.  Every morning, first thing when you get up, do 10 push-ups and 10 sit-ups. If you can't do 10, just do as many as you can. Do it EVERY DAY. It will take you 30 seconds.
2. After a week, make it 12 push-ups and sit-ups. If you didn't start at 10, just add 1 to what you were doing.
3. Add 2 more every week until you get to 50, then just keep doing 50 every day. The point is to be stronger than you were, not the world push-up champion. You will find you get faster at doing them so eventually it will take you a couple of minutes to knock out your 50 push-ups.
4. Run. Get out and run around the block. If you live in the country, run to your mailbox or wherever is about a quarter mile. Do that every day for a week. Next week, do it twice without stopping. Keep increasing until you get to a mile. Now, do that every day and just try to get faster each time. Set a stopwatch when you take off and check it when you get back.
5. If you live somewhere it is not safe to run outside, do jumping jacks or jump rope for two minutes without stopping instead. Next week, make it four minutes. Keep it up until you are going for 10 minutes straight. Do that every day.

The three reasons why I recommend this

First, a lot of people in this country can't do 15 push-ups, much less 50. Most people can't run a mile without stopping. If you have this level of conditioning, you are going to be more fit than most new, recreational players. If you lose, it won't be because your arms got tired or you were winded.

Second, there are zero excuses not to do these exercises. You don't need a gym or any equipment. You don't need a ride anywhere. Because of that, if every day you get up and do them, you are telling yourself that you are serious about winning and improving.

Third, setting a goal and accomplishing it will make you more confident. When you go out to compete, along with training in judo, which your opponent did as well, you have the added benefit of knowing that you actually went above and beyond. You'll know that you are stronger and in better condition than you were a few months ago. You'll have thought about this competition daily, when you didn't want to run or do those push-ups but you did anyway, so you'll be less freaked out when that day comes.

The way to get anywhere is to start

I'm in North Dakota right now. We drove almost 2,000 miles through several states to get here. Sure, it would have been faster if we drove and there may have been a more optimal time of year or a better route. The point is, we got here and the way we got here is that we left our house and just started driving. Eventually, we arrived.

So .... start.  Now.

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Why I Am Doing More Circuits

I've written about circuits a few times previously and the longer my career in coaching, the more of a fan of the concept I am.

In brief, in a circuit, an athlete does a set of one exercise after another, without stopping. For example, we do 20 jumping jacks, 10 sit-ups and 5 push-ups. Then, we do it again. And again. We do this for three minutes, take a two-minute break and do it for another three minutes.

We often start practice with these circuits, for a few reasons:

1. It gets everyone on the mat and doing something at the same time. That makes it an easy way to get the whole class organized and paying attention.
2. After a few weeks, it is easy for kids to see progress compared to when they started. They get in better shape and can do all of the exercises with little effort.
3. In a very short period of time, there is a difference between the kids who have been coming, say for a month or two, and brand new beginners. It is clear that the experienced kids "know what they are doing" and they can generally do the exercises better than those who just walked in the door.

Reasons #2 and #3 make the class reinforcing for students who have been attending - they see their improvement compared to themselves and others - and are helpful in recruiting new students who see that their friends who have only been coming for a few months are ahead of them.

[Subliminal advertising - buy Winning on the Ground - the matwork book by me and Jim Pedro, Sr. ]

So ... I have decided to expand on circuits we do at the beginning of practice and do a "circuits day" when I get back in town in a couple of weeks. After we go through our usual exercise circuit, I'm going to have them do 10 turnovers (5 right and 5 left), then 10 throws, then 10 chokes and 10 arm bars. We'll do that whole circuit, then take a few minutes break and do it again.

I think doing this a couple of times a month will improve their matwork just like the exercise circuits improve their conditioning.

No, I'm not concerned about the fact that this circuit has very little in the way of throwing. Blinky (the other instructor who is there when I am traveling), focuses more on standing technique, so I focus more on matwork and it all averages out.

Drills to push a little harder

Every competitor, every coach, at sometimes has the dilemma of how to push a little harder than usual to step up training. Especially if you have a group that trains together regularly, there is a tendency to get too comfortable. Bob has accepted that he always gets thrown in practice by José and has just come to accept it. Meghan knows that Francesca's armbars aren't that good and she doesn't have to worry about getting armbarred. Everyone knows that Eric is the best in the dojo.

One simple way to upset that comfort zone is to have Eric tired out when everyone else is fresh. Here is a drill we did today that does just that.

1. Put the class in groups of three people approximately the same size and skill level. Just get as close as you can, it doesn't have to be perfectly equal.
2. Designate one person in each group to be out in the middle of the mat. If the groups are not equal, pick the strongest or most experienced person in the group. This person STAYS OUT THE ENTIRE TIME.
3. Start randori with the person who is out and a second member of the group.
4. After ten seconds, call "Switch", and have the third member of the group go out.
5. After ten seconds, call "Switch" again and have the second member go out again.
6. Keep doing this for five minutes.

Depending on the conditioning of your class, you may want to take a break and do it again for another five minutes, and maybe take another break and go for another five minutes after that.

I'm going to say this again - the first person stays out the ENTIRE TIME. So if you do it three times, the first person should be in the center every time.

The point is, after five minutes (or 10 or 15), that person is going to be a lot more tired than the other two. Even if he or she normally dominates in practice, it is going to be a lot harder. As for your other players, if they are the teeniest bit competitive, they are going to see their chance to get even and go harder than usual.

Coaches ask,

Shouldn't we rotate the person in the middle so everyone gets a fair chance?

The answer is,

No!

The entire purpose of this drill is that everyone DOESN'T get a fair chance so some people have to work harder than others. If you feel that the two members who were not in the center got left out, let them be in the center another day, two weeks from now. Practice shouldn't be like Groundhog Day, where you always do the same thing.

If you just can't accept that one person got more practice, at the end of this drill, do a second one where you do the exact same format with the same groups but this time do matwork. Have a second group member in the middle this time.

Seriously, though, it's okay that not everyone gets the same amount of practice every day. Sometimes the focus can be on Meghan and other times it can be on José . Everyone should get their fair share of your focus overall, but it doesn't have to be an equal share every day.

Practice shouldn't be like Groundhog Day, where you always do the same thing. I said that twice because it was important.

Circuits: Conditioning for Juniors (Another Jim Pedro, Sr. Guest Post)

(This worked out well today that I had a guest post from Jim on circuits for conditioning for juniors because that was the chapter in the book I am writing today. If you haven't been reading this blog lately, the posts from Jim are to free up my time so I can finish up a couple more chapters of the book this week. )

I like dealing with young athletes, because this is a good time to build a base for their conditioning and good habits. This base will help after they reach puberty and are able to use weights. They'll already have both the physical and emotional foundation.

 Except for out of season training where older kids are lifiting heavier weights for power and strength, I believe more in doing circuits especially for younger kids. Circuits are a good example of a routine for young children.  I used to do these myself when I was younger, even before I was doing martial arts.


What is a circuit? It is simply doing one exercise after another without stopping for 25- 30 minutes

When your young players first starting out doing these circuits, you should have them do one circuit and then rest 1 ½ times as long as it takes for them to do the first circuit then gradually cut the rest time down until they’re doing 25-30 minutes continuously.

 If you really want them to get in a lot better shape, after they’re able to do a continuous 25-30 minutes, you can have them try to beat their time. For example, if they’ve done 4 or 5 circuits in 25 minutes, the next time they try to beat the 25 minutes and so on. When they’re unable to beat their time, which will eventually happen, you can either add another circuit or add reps to each exercise and start over.

Example  of  a circuit
Jumprope
Push ups
Chin-ups
Deep knee bends
Situps
Squat thrusts
Step ups

If you’re in judo, mixed martial arts or other throwing events, you can do uchikomis with a tube (fitting in on throws) and add that to a circuit.

On opposite days, we recommend doing plyometrics. Doing plyometrics, you can either do isolated one exercise and rest or do in a circuit form. Before doing plyometrics, I recommend that you test their vertical jump, which is standing still and jumping as high as you can and mark that spot. After 2-3 months, re-test your athletes and you will be surprised at their improvement.


Example of plyometrics – box jumps, hurdles, ladder drills, twists (while standing), one-legged hops, in and outs (down the ladder), ball toss. You can see some animations of plyometric exercises on this site.

Guest post from Jim Pedro, Sr. : Out-condition them

Note: This week, to free up my time to get another chapter done on the book, I have several guest posts from co-author, Jim Pedro, Sr.

Remember the best conditioning for a sport is doing that sport. Unless you’re a professional or doing college sports, you don’t get enough mat time. For instance in Japan, they do five or six hours a day of judo, very little wight lifting they build their strength and endurance by doing their sport. They do some lifting and some conditioning but not very much. When you’re working out at home, you’re probably only working out mat time five or six hours a week compared to their five or six hours a day. Not only are they training on the mat far more hours than you, they have more quality athletes to train with.

(Photo courtesy of Jerry Hays, USJF Archivist)

Looking at it logically, you would say that you don’t have a chance to catch these athletes. But if you supplement your training with lifting, running, circuit training and try to out condition everyone that you fight, you have a chance. Those things you control. I recommend you get a tape by Dan Gable that I listened to years ago where he said everyone has a breaking point and he would stay on him until he broke them and beat them.

It’s difficult to do, but not impossible, look at the results that we’ve had with some of our players.

As a coach, most of the happiest moments of coaching have been after one of my athletes beat an athlete and they’re fresh and the other athlete is totally exhausted. This all comes down to how bad do you want to win.

(I could not actually find a picture of Jim looking happy so I included a photo of Ronda doing her happy dance at practice at the West Coast Judo Training Center instead. This is the dance she does when people do whatever she's teaching just right. By the way, Ronda and Sensei Blinky are running practice on Sunday, if you want to show up. Maybe you'll get to see her do her happy dance.)

Focus on the Good & Carry a Calf

In a discussion completely unrelated to judo someone brought up today that while people who are negative are often loudly negative, people who are doing good things often do them quietly with no major effort to attract credit.

Also, I was feeling that I could never write a long enough president's letter to thank and recognize all of the people who do good things every month. So, I am asking you all if you don't mind to send me an email on the things you do. I would like to put a different post on my blog every day of people doing good things. Along with all the other random ramblings I put on here.

Here are two people I'd like to recognize today. Conveniently, both of them are in the same picture!

Saturday 30 January 2009; twenty three (23) members, of both the USJA and the USJF, participated in the Coach Certification Clinic in Campbell, CA. The Clinic, hosted by Hans Ingebretsen and conducted by Charlie Robinson, was an exemplary example of the continuing cooperation between Judo Organizations, toward the growth and strength
of Grass Roots Judo in America. Three (3) of the participants were in attendance just to participate with members of their family or Club. The other participants were there for initial and re-certification, at the Assistant Instructor and Coach levels. Charlie Rbinson is on the left in this picture.

This is from Joa Schwinn, who is the guy in the hat on the right in this picture.

"On 2/26 we will be holding our 6th North Bay judo clinic, which has been a joint USJA and USJF event for almost three years. Usually there are 4-5 schools that attend with 80 judoka attending last event (we started with 5 of us!). We pick four instructors (not always the same) and run 10-12 minute sessions with groups of similar make-up rotating through. Then there are two mats that we run randori on with 1 minute matches. Rule: you cannot randori with someone from your own school.

Camp Bushido is revving up. Shorter (4 days) and earlier (7/5-9/10) this year. We only have 1/2 the building so it will be limited soace and we will fill. Hoping to get a top level competitive judoka to be the featured guest instructor.

Finally, we will be holding our 2nd North Bay ("Developmental") Shia and Referee clinic. Kyu rank only at the shiai where the refs that took the class the day before get on the mat qualification taken care of. We had 18 new refs last year!!!

Coaches, refs, randori clinics, joint USJA/USJF efforts. Grass roots at it's best."

See an idea you like, steal it.

-------- Required Judo Tip: Milo of Croton teaches judo

I would like to take this opportunity to make a personal aside to my daughter - I told you so. When we were out today while she was running her sprints I told her that three things are very important at this stage in her training.

1. Do it every day.
2. Keep a record.
3. Increase a little each day.

For example, today was the beginning of the month. There is a hill by our house that anyone who has ever visited has nightmares about running up. It's about 45 degrees. Ronda sprints up hill, walks down and then sprints up again. I time each sprint. I told her that we would add one more sprint every other day until she was doing 25. After a point if you keep doing sprints it's not the same workout, so she will only go up to 25. After that, the focus will be on increasing the times and decreasing the rest in between.

I told her that it was like the story of the guy who carried a new born calf around. He carried it every day and by the time it was full grown he was carrying a bull on his shoulders. She said I totally made that up. The story was about a famous wrestler in ancient times. Milo of Croton. I looked it up.

Be like Milo. Start increasing a little every day. Keep a record. Start today.