At the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, the stylish Cuban player Israel Hernandez met and defeated Kenji Maruyama (Joshiro’s father) on his way to winning his first Olympic bronze medal (Hernandez would go on to win a second Olympic bronze at the 1996 Atlanta...

The Four Elements of a Judo ThrowIn order to become proficient at a sport like judo, it’s not enough to embed the techniques into muscle memory, it’s also crucial to understand the concepts behind the throws. There are four elements to a judo...

Israel Hernandez is a multiple time Olympic Bronze medal winning judoka.  He represented his home country of Cuba at both the 1992 and 1996 Olympic games. The Uchimata is one of the premier throws within the Judo canon.  Show anyone the technique and...

  As you get more and more comfortable with Judo the more offensive options start to open up. When people first start they use one technique at a time, but as you progress you will start to combine multiple techniques into unique attacking...

As They Say....Grippin' Ain't Easy! Grip Fighting can determine whether or not you get tossed into oblivion. As a beginner in Judo you can expect to be exploited heavily if you do not start to understand grip fighting. BUT like most things being...

We are incredibly fortunate to live in an age where information is so easily, widely, and readily available. We have access not only to many current teachers around the world thanks to platforms like Judo Fanatics and BJJ Fanatics, but also through the...

When we think of Jigoro Kano establishing Kodokan Judo in the 1880’s it would be very tempting to use the phrase “old school”.  Surely we can’t get much more old school than a country that had only just opened its borders to foreign...

As the now iconic saying by Brue Lee goes “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times”. It’s really easy to forget this simple piece of wisdom from...

A massive contribution that Judo makes to the grappling arts is a strong foundation in transitioning from standing to dominant groundwork positions that establish either powerful pins or tight submissions. In these two videos Cuban Judo legend Israel Hernandez shows how to chain...