training for judo

This page contains the following resources related to training for judo:
Go Kyo poster
John Buckley's Prevention and Management of Injuries
Brian Power's Circuits

Go Kyo poster

To download this poster in large format, click here: Go Kyo (PDF document, 719kB).

John Buckley's Prevention and Management of Injuries

John Buckley is one of the principal coaches of SUJC, a former state and national coach, and a former national champion and international representative. He has prepared the following document for judokas interested in the issue of injury:

"In many sports, especially full contact vigorous activities like judo, injuries are a fact of life. With care, they can be largely prevented and their effects minimised. All judoka should be aware of the principles of injury prevention and management and incorporate them in their training routines..."

Download: Prevention and Management of Injuries (PDF document, 33kB).

Brian Power's Circuits

For a number of years, Brian Power was the motivation, muscle and pain threshold of SUJC. As national champion in the U/60kg division, he represented Australia at the Atlanta Olympics. For his own purposes, and in his capacity as Yoda to the legions of young SUJC jedi judokas, he developed a number of exercise circuits as an effective complement to specific judo training, and wrote these descriptions of them for the SUJC Handbook in 2000.

Deep-Water Running Circuit
In 1993 I was diagnosed with bilateral retropatellar chondritis (bad knees), which was exacerbated by and became apparent after a stint somewhere north of Singleton carrying a silly pack around the bush and pretending to shoot enemies.

After being discharged from the infantry as ‘medically unfit’ for duty, I thought it an ideal time to get back into judo after a two-year hiatus. Part of my rehabilitation involved working with a physiotherapist at The Institute in Canberra, who gave me the number of an American company who supplied the Aqua Jogger. This may be one of the few good things that has ever come out of America. The Aqua Jogger was designed specifically as a water rehabilitation tool for injured athletes. After I began to use it, it became apparent to me that the benefits of the Jogger went beyond mere rehabilitation.

Download the complete circuit description: Deep-Water Running (PDF document, 17kB).

The Judo Circuit (a.k.a. The Skipping Circuit)
This circuit was devised in 1994 when I was national representative in the U/60kg division leading up to the Atlanta Olympics. The emphasis in my training program was on maintaining a high power-to-weight ratio. As a lightweight, the development and maintenance of high speed is an essential component of competition, so speed is emphasised in this circuit. This circuit was also substituted for a regular weights program, which seemed at the time to be the only physical training anyone else was doing outside a morning jog and judo training.

The judo circuit is set around the times involved in a judo competition – repetitive sets of five minutes each, and incorporates abdominal, leg and upper body exercises interspersed with skipping.

Download the complete circuit description: The Judo/Skipping Circuit (PDF document, 16kB).

The Pool Circuit
The Pool Circuit was born after I discovered deep-water running, and well after the Judo Circuit was formulated. It combines various upper-body exercises in the pool with lap-swimming. Its development was either a sign of my insanity as an athlete or perhaps just in anticipation of the inner delight I felt when I unleashed a crude form of it one morning upon an unsuspecting Coops (who will no doubt remember this and many subsequent occasions as his introduction to bile).

I have since regarded it as a neat cross-training activity, and you can use it as a substitute for the Judo Circuit in your program, or simply as something different for the week. It’s a good workout and great fun. You need two people to do it properly. Incidentally, I must give credit to some of these crazy exercises to some friends in Victoria in 1994, who used them as an adjunct to their training as sprinters in the national team.

Download the complete circuit description: The Pool Circuit (PDF document, 16kB).