To properly discuss judo's benefits as a martial sport as compared with other sports and martial arts, we must first define some terms.

What is the difference between a sport and an art? A sport is any physical activity undertaken primarily for the personal enjoyment gained from exercising one's body or from competing with others. An art is any activity in which the major goal is, depending on whether the art is focused on creation or performance, either self-expression or the quest to improve one's skills in that art so as to approach perfection in execution. In a performance art, the goal of perfect skills execution can almost never be achieved even by the most skilled/talented, but personal satisfaction can be gained via consistent improvement and competent (if imperfect) performance.

There is obviously therefore much overlap between sport and art. An artist seeking to improve his or her technique will usually compete in some way with his or her peers. Likewise, a sporting competitor will constantly seek to improve and refine his or her performance in order to win. Everyone who watches ballet or ice skating knows that performance artists regularly execute great feats of athletic skill, and everyone who watches sports such as football and basketball knows that athletes can perform moves of great skill and artistry.

However, it should be noted that martial arts occupy an odd niche in this scheme. The martial arts require a high degree of skill, and many martial arts maneuvers are quite graceful and beautiful. However, unlike other performing arts which focus on beautiful movement and self-expression, the martial arts are highly goal-oriented, and that goal is to destroy, not create. There is little if any goal of self-expression involved in most of the martial arts (though one could consider the act of convincing an attacker to run away to be valid self-expression). However, many martial arts styles have a heavy focus on spiritual development and enlightenment; this element is absent in other performing arts. And in the martial arts, all physical effort is put toward developing practical skills of self-defense and attack. In light of the martial arts focus on practical skills with beautiful movement as a by-product (a highly valued one in styles such as kung fu and capoeira, true, but still secondary to the practical goals of being able to hit, throw, etc. effectively), it seems that the martial arts should instead be called martial crafts (this, of course, is in line with the closer translation of martial arts as "martial ways," but in this country "art" sounds more appealing than "craft").

The martial arts can be further broken down into two categories: martial arts and martial sports. Martial arts such as kung fu and hapkido focus entirely on developing skill for the sake of self-defense, self-improvement, and spiritual enlightenment. Martial sports such as judo focus mainly on the development of skills for the sake of winning competitions (though they do focus on mental training). And some styles blur the line: karate, aikido, and taekwondo focus on self-defense to a great degree, but in many styles students are expected to test themselves in tournaments against other students.

So, how does judo compare to other martial arts? And how does it compare to other common American sports?

Because all martial arts focus on self-defense, and because there are so many styles in existence that it would be impossible to compare judo to even a fraction of them, let's compare judo to U.S. Hapkido Federation-style hapkido, a highly practical, jujitsu-like Korean art.

Both styles have roots in Japanese jujitsu of the Edo period, but since then they have diverged. Sport judo teaches throws (via unbalancing and using leverage to hurl one's opponent to the ground), leg sweeps, and ground fighting (pinning and locking). Hapkido students likewise learn throws (via a combination of unbalancing and applying joint locks that make it more pleasant to the opponent to go down than to resist), leg sweeps, and ground fighting (pinning, locking, pummeling and limb breaking). However, hapkido also teaches kicks, strikes, blocks, the aforementioned joint locks/breaks, and weapons teachniques (baton, staff, cane, nunchaku, etc.)

The focus in hapkido is on kicking, striking, and joint locking, especially at the lower ranks. Because of this, a lower belt judoka will likely be far more proficient at throwing and falling and will have a better ability to use his or her body weight and leverage to unbalance an opponent. However, while that same judoka will have attained physical abilities that will aid him or her in a self-defense situation, the hapkido student will likely be much better prepared for real physical conflict and will be able to stage a wider, more effective range of responses.

Another issue is the relative strenuousness of the two styles. Because hapkido focuses on joint locking/breaking, there may be many class sessions where students do not engage in strenuous cardiovascular activity. Judo is highly strenuous, and excellent for building muscle tone. Because of the physical benefits and the extra focus on throwing and ground work, judo would be an excellent cross-training activity for the hapkido student. After all, hapkido hapilly encompasses a wide range of techniques, and if the student learns a useful new maneuver in addition to improving his or her physique, so much the better. Likewise, judoka who wish to really learn practical self-defense techniques would do well to take some hapkido, as long as they can remember not to inadvertently use it during a judo match.

So, how does judo compare with other American sports? Unlike many sports (e.g., tennis, bicycling, baseball, etc.), it is an excellent all-round strength, endurance, and flexibility developer. And because so much of a judoka's early training focuses on safety techniqes, the sport is actually safer than sports such as football, basketball, hockey, and roller blading. Furthermore, as mentioned before, students do learn some level of practical self-defense skills. However, many people may find the apparent violence inherent in the sport to be off-putting. Likewise, a weak or poorly conditioned or uncoordinated student (whose physical skills would improve greatly from learning judo) may try the sport and then quit after a few sessions out of a feeling of discouragement and inadequacy (thus, the compassionate judo instructor should watch for these students and provide them with extra encouragement and technical advice).

Judo's closest analog is wrestling (both freestyle and Greco Roman). Both sports benefit players with increased strength, endurance, and flexibility, and both are Olympic competitions (judo became an Olympic sport in 1964). However, unlike wrestling, women can participate in judo (though the high level of body contact may make mixed gender matches uncomfortable to the players). And because judo is a more "stand-up" style of grappling than Western wrestling and relies more on leverage than brute strength, judo is (usually) less damaging to the back, knees and other joints. Both wrestlers and judoka attain a measurable level of practical self-defense skill. However, wrestlers are generally only given opportunities to compete in high school and college, whereas judo dojos are available to all ages. And finally, judo involves mental training, (and, depending on the dojo, even spiritual enlightenment) that may serve the player well long after he or she has stopped competing.

---

References

Burns, Donald J., An Introduction to Hapkido: A Teacher's Manual. Collegiate Copies. 1994.

Burns and Thompson, An Introduction to Judo for Student and Teacher. Kendall/Hunt, 1976.

Labels: martial arts

Posted by Lucy A. Snyder | Link For This Article

BlogThis!

Many people become interested in studying martial arts, particularly after they see various styles featured in action movies like The Matrix or Enter The Dragon.

The dojo or club at which you choose to study a martial art is as important as the style you choose. If you get into a good dojo or club, you'll learn more and probably stick with the style longer, thus gaining more benefits from your study. A bad club or dojo can discourage you from studying martial arts altogether; poor instruction can mislead students into thinking that they can handle situations that they cannot, with injury or worse the result.

How do you choose a club? The best tactic is to select a group of styles that will likely benefit you, then narrow your choices down by dojo.

The first step in this is to know what you want to gain from your martial arts study. Fitness? Competiton? Self-defense? Spirituality? Flashy moves? All these are possibilities.

The second step is to know your own physical limitations. If you're young and in good athletic condition, you can take your pick of styles. However, if you're older or out of shape or have a lingering injury, you need to investigate how the styles will affect your health. For instance, an out-of-shape 35-year-old probably shouldn't dive right into a strenuous karate class dominated by energetic 18-year-olds. Someone with a back injury should stay away from arts that focus on throwing and ground fighting like judo and jujitsu. Likewise, if you have wrist or finger problems, hapkido's focus on small joint manipulation would make it a bad choice for you.

The third step is to know your financial limitations. Arts like krav maga that have gained media attention or are otherwise experiencing a boom in popularity will often be more expensive to study than other arts. Conversely, more affordable clubs may be found at local colleges and universities. You also have to consider the indirect cost of taking a martial art, such as its effect on your health insurance. If taking karate is likely to raise your premiums, you might want to try tai chi instead (which is really kung fu slowed way down; the martial art aspects of the style become more evident at higher levels).

Every martial art (but not all sport forms) should:

• Improve your physical fitness. After a few weeks of martial arts training, you should have better flexibility, coordination, balance, strength, and cardiovascular conditioning.

  But you shouldn't be beaten up. If you're hitting bags or practicing partner punch-and-block drills, you may be bruised up a bit -- toughening your hands and learning to take a punch is part of the conditioning process with some styles like karate, hapkido, and kung fu. Being a "uke" and practicing throwing and being thrown by your partner is par for the course in judo, jujitsu, and hapkido, and bruises come with the throws. But if you find yourself constantly injured, or if you feel you're being coerced into exceeding your body's safety limits, something's wrong.

• Provide you with useful self-defense training. Practical styles like hapkido and Krav Maga get down and dirty with a "whatever works" approach to defending oneself. You'll learn to gouge eyes and break arms. Aikido is a highly self-defense oriented form that helps you use your attacker's momentum against them. In karate and kung fu, you'll learn to hit and kick; in judo, you'll learn to use Mother Earth as a deadly weapon.

  But self defense training goes beyond learning to maim an attacker -- your instructor should cover basic safety precautions to help you stay out of bad situations in the first place.

• Teach you the appropriate use of your new skills. A lot of people are attracted to martial arts because they want to be like Bruce Lee. They want to be badasses. While that's totally understandable, a good instructor will do his or her best to dissuade students from such notions. The instructor should teach respect for the potentially deadly power they can wield -- and they should also teach them to realize that someone's always going to be a little better, a little bigger, better armed, or simply a little more vicious than they; that special someone will hand them their asses on a dented trash can lid if said students go around picking fights at bars or schoolyards. Students should have respect for their fellow humans drilled into their skulls so that they don't go around acting like thugs and get themselves pounded, stabbed, or shot -- or hurt someone else, and end up at the receiving end of a lawsuit or jail sentence.
  
  
• Give you a sense of camraderie and/or a social outlet. Socializing certainly should never come at the expense of learning your art; if people are standing around gabbing when you should be getting to work, that's time (and money) wasted. But if the people are cold or unfriendly and you yearn for a sense of belonging -- it may be time to seek a different club.

Some martial arts will:

• Contain a spiritual or philosophical aspect. Many of the Chinese styles incorporate elements of Taoism or Buddhism. Some Americanized styles have grafted Christian beliefs onto the arts.
  
  
• Involve board breaking. The point of board/brick breaking is to make sure you're striking with proper focus and force. The idea of breaking inanimate objects is appealing to some; others would rather not risk breaking their hands. This is often a dojo-dependent activity.
  
  
• Enable you to compete in tournaments against others. Sport styles like judo and taekwondo and some styles of karate are very likely to participate in tournaments. Others do not. The more a dojo focuses on tournament competition, the less it tends to focus on real-world self defense.
  
  
• Involve learning katas or other forms. In karate and kung fu, you will likely be tested on how you do certain forms, which are stylized attack and defense drills. Some find learning katas quite appealing; others dislike them. If memorizing moves frustrates you, you might seek out styles that do not emphasize katas. If beautiful movements appeal to you, try kung fu or tai chi or (if you're particularly athletic) capoeira.
  
  
• Involve weapons training. To a certain extent, this will be very dojo-dependent, since some dojos may be limited by local weapons laws. It's generally a bad sign if you find a dojo willing to teach illegal weapons.

  Different styles teach different weapons:

  • cane or stick: You can carry a cane to places where having a big stick or staff would be challenged by the authorities. All-round arts like hapkido and Krav Maga teach cane and stick techniques, but if these really appeal to you, try an art that entirely focuses on stickfighting such as escrima or silat, both Phillippine styles.
  • staff or spear: Again, hapkido will touch on this, but for in-depth instruction, try escrima or jukendo. Shaolin kung fu teaches staff at higher levels.
  • knife: many stickfighting styles also focus on knife techniques.
  • sword: Try kendo, iaido, kenjutsu, shito ryu karate, and kung fu styles like hsing I ch'uan, shaolin, and advanced tai chi. And, of course, there's always the European arts of fencing or prima spada.
  • nunchaku, sai, throwing stars: seek out jeet kune do or a karate style that focuses on the use of kobudo weapons, such as shito ryu or others with roots in Okinawan karate. Some hapkido styles may touch on these.

Once you've got a handle on the types of styles you think would suit you, start visiting the dojos and clubs in your area. They should at least let you observe a class or two; some might let you try a session for free. Here are some things to consider when checking out a dojo or club:

• Do the students seem enthusiastic and disciplined? Or are people sloppy or just "going through the motions"? Are there too many students for the number of instructors?
  
  
• Is the students' age and size/gender range appropriate for you? Can you see yourself working out with these people? Some adults may feel awkward in a class full of teenagers, and vice versa. Likewise, a small woman may feel uncomfortable in a class dominated by large men, and vice versa. There is a safety/learning factor at work here; a strong, overenthusiastic teen can easily (and unintentially) injure an older adult whose joints aren't as flexible. Conversely, large person in a class full of smaller people may never feel that he/she can adequately practice his or her skills in partner drills. On the other hand, having a wide range of ages and body types in a class is good, because it gives students far better practice in partner drills. One will quickly learn that self-defense techniques that work on a large, muscular man will need to be modified to deal with a speedier, more supple attacker.
  
  
• Talk to some of the students after a class. How do they like it there?
  
  
• Are the facilities adequate and in good condition? Do the practice mats seem adequate cushioning for the amount of tumbling or throwing the style involves? Are the changing areas clean and do they offer sufficient privacy for you?
  
  
• Do they have first aid kits and neck/backboards ready in case of accident? Are the instructors trained in first aid? Are their certifications up to date?
  
  
• Talk to the main instructor when he/she has time. What are their credentials? What are their philosophies? Do you get the sense that you could comfortably learn from this person?
  
  
• Does the dojo seem to focus a lot on belt tests and selling extra stuff? Too many dojos are really "belt farms" that focus more on tests (and making money off those tests) and selling cool "extras" to the students than on giving the students a solid martial arts education. If the front of the dojo seems more like a store, you might be in the wrong place.
  
  
• Get to the nitty gritty of how much the dojo/club costs. Can you sign up for a relatively inexpensive trial period, or do you have to make an expensive commitment? If the instructor's sounding more like a high-pressure salesman, you might be in the wrong place.

One final note about choosing a club or dojo: beware of places that center on a cult of personality. Lots of dojos cultivate a sense of mystique and take an "Our art is the best! Our instructor is the best!" attitude. This can go too far, particularly if you're dealing with a smaller club/dojo that is run by a skilled, charismatic master who's on a power trip.

This happened about a decade ago at Indiana University. A jujitsu club there was run by a local man who encouraged fierce, unquestioning loyalty in his students. They accepted physical abuse from him, and he encouraged student instructors to abuse newer students. It was all justified on the grounds of "toughening up" the students. He eventually beat up and forced a female member to perform oral sex on him during a private training session. She went to the police, the instructor was convicted of sexual assault and sent to jail, and the club disbanded for several years.

The dysfunction in a bad club isn't often that extreme, but that kind of thing can happen. If you see an instructor using violence to "discipline" a student, or if club member are being pressured to live, worship, or spend their money in a certain way in line with the club's "philosophies", that's not a dojo you should probably be a part of.

---

References:

Various authors. "Introduction to the Martial Arts". Collegiate Copies. 1997.

Burns, Donald J., An Introduction to Hapkido: A Teacher's Manual. Collegiate Copies. 1994.

Burns and Thompson, An Introduction to Judo for Student and Teacher. Kendall/Hunt, 1976.

Assorted experiences in hapkido, judo, and karate classes and conversations with practitioners of other styles, including the girl who was sexually abused, and with a roommate of 3 years who was a 2nd-degree black belt karate instructor.

Labels: martial arts

Posted by Lucy A. Snyder | Link For This Article

BlogThis!

Site text is copyright 2000-2009 or as noted. Questions? Comments? Want to reprint/repost something? Send Lucy an email.