Judo is a martial art bound in tradition, but it is also a modern day Olympic sport. Part of that tradition includes the idea that through maximum efficiency with minimal effort, a smaller weaker person can overcome a larger stronger opponent. This in part, is the reason many in the judo world don’t believe in weightlifting and extra strength and conditioning workouts to help improve their judo. Many people believe that weight training will hurt their technique by causing them to rely too heavily on strength or they are caught up with the mythology surrounding the fitness world that weightlifting will make them bulky and slow.

These concerns are just that, myth. A well designed program based on functional, multi-joint movements will make you more athletic and make you excel at judo. One of the original purposes of judo was as a physical education program. Maximum efficiency with minimal effort doesn’t mean that minimal effort will be easy, it means that minimal effort will be productive. The dedicated judo practitioner will invariably be strong and have good endurance compared to the general public, not to mention having improved balance, agility, and coordination. However, judo rarely challenges maximal strength the way that getting underneath a barbell can. Also, experienced players learn to be more efficient with their efforts and get less of a cardiovascular workout than they did when they were white belts.

This is what makes strength and conditioning essential for competitive judo athletes. The stronger the judoka is, the easier sub-maximal efforts will be. If an athlete can squat more than she used to, seionage will be easier to execute and the additional core strength will help make her technique better. If an athlete can clean more than she used to, uranage will be easier to execute and the improved explosive will make her more likely to score ippon. If the athlete is doing Tabata sprints off the mat, then they can focus on developing technique during practice while still building the capacity to push the tempo of a shiai when competing against someone of a similar skill level.

We don’t do judo to get in shape, we get in shape to be good at judo. By pouring out sweat in the gym, we can focus on improving our weaknesses so that they aren’t exploited on the mat. By pushing our limits of fatigue and discomfort, we better prepare ourselves mentally and physically for the golden score round in the finals of a tournament. Our additional training isn’t just in addition to judo practice, it complements our judo. If you’re here at JudoFitness.com we’ll see you in the gym and on the mat.