How to Do Judo

Judo is a fundamental soft style martial art made popular in America by MMA competitions. Learn judo skills and moves in this martial arts video.

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Use opponent's body weight
Get hip away
Use opponent's height
Throw opponent over body
Use chokes & arm locks

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Julio Rivera is an instructor at Premier Martial Arts in New York City, which presently has three locations in Manhattan. Mr. Rivera holds multiple black belts and has extensive experience as a fitness and martial arts trainer. His articles have appeared in numerous national and international magazines.

JULIO RIVERA: Hi, my name is Julio Rivera. I'm the head instructor and manager here at Premier Martial Arts in New York City. In this clip, we're going to talk about how to do judo. Judo's a Japanese martial art consisting of grabbing, throwing, chokes and locks. It actually came from Japanese jiu-jitsu. Back in the day, the samurais used to test out their jiu-jitsu on innocent people in the street and eventually, it became a problem because people were getting hurt obviously. Then Jigoro Kano came up with a way to practice without hurting someone and called it Judo, the gentle way. So in judo, we use our opponent's body weight in leverage to do a throw. For example, come here, toss them over, and throw. Now, it took no power on my part to do that. It was simply getting my hip out of the way; using my opponent's height against him, and having him go right over my body. Get up. It's also a sport that uses chokes and arm locks. For example, from here, I wouldn't push my opponent off; I'll just go right in to an arm lock from here, okay? So with judo, it's not about how big you are or how strong you are, it's about leverage and using your opponent's power. So it's great for someone who's smaller. That's the beginner's guide to judo.

How to Do Judo Video

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