BJJ for Judo?

Rooneymara

Does anyone here do BJJ to improve their Judo?

If so, at what stage of your Judo training did you start practicing BJJ?

What are the pro's and con's of supplementing your training with BJJ?

cowzerp

Focusing solely on your ground game can only help your judo ground work just like a Bjj player could improve there stand up game in judo-if you have the time to do both why not do it. A couple of judo lads come to me but I think they enjoy it more than anything.

And at the end of the day that's the most important thing.

arybvtcw0eolkf

More or less what the Cowzer fella said.

But I'll put my head on the bloke and say if you're going to concentrate solely on BJJ in the Gi I'd say cross training in Judo would be more beneficial to the BJJ player ~ I'm thinking in term's of competition whereby a throw is an easy two points for the experienced judoka.

Either way cross training in the two styles (if you have the time, energy & focus) is great craic and you'll benefit from both.

Con's ~ time, energy and focus.. You'll have to be a little selfish with your time, but it'll be time well spent.

If you're going to concentrate on mostly no gi BJJ, maybe trying a little MMA and still train in judo I'd say find yourself a good coach who'll understand your grips (lack of) when you're out of the Gi.

(excuse the club plug, but its just my experience).

I was lucky in so far as when I went to Rush Fight Academy and starting training no gi and a little MMA that Cowzer was able to work with me and gave me great guidance in relation to grips, under/over hooks and got my Judo working out of the gi ~ but for awhile I was a fish out of water & getting eaten alive.

Sorry for the long winded reply, I just wanted to draw on my own personal experience.

Jonah42

Australian Judo Olympian Matt Daquino talks about the pro's and con's of training BJJ to help your Judo in this video: (Anyone want to embed this for me? I don't know how...)

arybvtcw0eolkf

Very good Jonah, more or less the same as I say to people when they ask me whats the difference between the two styles.

Just a small example which Cowzer will relate to.

When I first started in RFA I was trying to work submissions from inside someone's closed guard instead of trying to pass the guard then work for position and submission.. Judo, and competition had me conditioned to work quickly to try get something going otherwise I'd be stood up by the ref.

So thats one 'con' for the judoka (at least for this one).

The con for the BJJ player, or striker against the judoka is that they're nervous of the throw so that's exactly what they're guarding against but they don't recognoize the set up to throw ~ breaking balance with grips and footwork (sweeps & trips).. In simple term's it would like going to a boxing club and being so afraid of the big right cross than you're blind to the jap, hooks & upper cuts.

Good video, I'm going to share it.. Thanks.

RoboRat

Yeah I have to agree with Makikomi, I have done a bit of Judo and transitioning from the Judo ground game to BJJ nogi is difficult but once you work out where to hold rather than grip, it makes it a lot easier. Also, when I am sparring in MMA the lads are always aware of getting in too close as they know they are getting air miles if they do so they tend to step back which is fine by me as I have even better stand up :-)

Doug Cartel

I think it depends what you want to get out of it. If you are looking for a competitive advantage, then training BJJ is going to give you a poor immediate return on investment. You spend a lot of time learning to fight from guard in BJJ, but opportunities to use these moves are fairly limited in judo. They happen, but most of the time attacking the turtle is going to be your main objective when things hit the ground.

What BJJ is great for is giving you some things to try in newazza randori sessions, which can be quite different to the groundwork you experience in competition. There's nothing more ridiculous than watching two guys who should know better deadlocked in guard, straining away, with neither having a good idea of how to advance their position. At least if you do BJJ, you'll have a better way of dealing with this.

EDIT: Actually, at a few competitions recently I've seen some low-level guys dropping for bad tome-nages and then fighting off their backs - badly. I think if you had any ability at fighting from that position, you could pass fairly handily when they do this, or at least make them afraid of trying it again. So depending what stage you are at in your judo, this may be something to consider.