Home Workouts To Sharpen Your Skills
Tough Times Require Tough People!
Staying away from the academy can be a major shift in many practitioner's lives. That said, although you can’t be in your normal training setting there is still PLENTY of exercises oriented towards Judo as well as other grappling sports like Wrestling and Judo. The martial arts community has rallied pretty hard to provide some content for folks stuck at home, and thankfully for us it’s all free!
Shintaro Higashi has a top-notch YouTube channel that he posts daily content to. Whether it’s combination throws, self defense, or ne-waza Shintaro has probably covered it! So definitely give his channel a sub! If you want a more in-depth look at Shintaro’s teaching style, check out Judo Basics where he covers the essential building blocks that can give you a solid foundation to your game.
Check out this video from his channel!
This circuit focuses on essential ne-waza skills like guard passing and triangle attacks. At the 0:40 second mark of the video you can check out all of the exercises performed during the circuit. With this circuit you don’t require a lot of space to get some quality, grappling based exercises.
Check out Shintaro’s latest instructional! Click Learn More!
Travis Stevens is another athlete who has been providing a steady stream of content on his YouTube Channel. He recently filmed a complete instructional dedicated to solo drills you can do from the comfort of your own living room. Once things go back to normal it will still be a great resource for some extra curricular training! Check out Judo @ Home Workout With Travis Stevens completely FREE over at JudoFanatics.com!
Here Travis gives a brief demonstration on how to stay busy while at home. This will help keep your Judo footwork fresh!
The first drill is designed to enhance your foot sweep. Travis points out that a key to doing this drill correctly is to not rotate your body. He uses a straight edge of the mat to help guide his foot in a straight line. As he does this he is also performing a slight squat with his planted leg and timing his hand pull. This simulates tugging your opponent’s weight over their misplaced foot. Why is it misplaced? BECAUSE YOU SWEPT IT! You can also increase the frequency of this drill as a great way to get your body moving and ready for more vigorous exercises.
Version 2 and 3 are much more dynamic, but they build off of the first drill. Travis still maintains his straight line of attack but this time is covering more ground by shuffling into place before simulating sweeping the leg and pulling the gi. Version 3 will be sure to torch your thighs. This time Travis emphasizes keeping a good bounce throughout, and not over squatting to the floor. This keeps the drill more closely related to actual skills you will use in Judo.
The 4th variation now starts to mix a circular dynamic to the drill. A good way to get this one down is to have landmarks to judge how far to rotate. Before sweeping the leg and pulling the lapel, Travis rotates 180 degrees by shuffling with his feet. Having something like a door or a window to mark your rotation will help you get the footwork down.
Once you have each version smooth as silk you can add another wrinkle into your practice by mixing them all together!
Judo @ Home with Travis Stevens gives you great drills like this and more! Travis goes through 5 sections giving you drills and skills to make you an even BETTER Judoka when you get back to the mats. While you're at it check out other top-tier instructionals from Travis Stevens!