Rotational Core Strengthening Exercises

Rotational Core Strengthening Exercises Your core muscles involve not only your abdominal muscles, but also your lower back, pelvic floor and hip muscles. Your core strength needs to be included in your weekly strength and conditioning program because your core muscles are used in nearly every single aspect of Judo. Training your core is usually associated with sit ups, crunches and the plank but in order to more specific for Judo you must include only exercises that 'rotate' the trunk of the body. Whenever you attempt to throw your opponent you are never performing a movement like a crunch, you are rotating your opponent around. Therefore your core training should involve exercises that I like to call 'rotational core."


Rotational core exercises are important for Judo but so is upper body strength. Therefore you if can include rotational core and the upper body you are in for a winner when it comes to training your core for Judo.

Exercises that include your upper body and rotational core include:

Wood-choppers:

Starting with the medicine ball at your right hip bring the ball up past your head in a 'wood-chopper' motion.

Wood-chopper Tips:

- Keep your arms slightly bent through the entire movement

- This is a great exercise to warm up your arms and shoulders

- I recommend using a ball 4-6kg.

Hanging leg raises:

- Hang from a chin up bar

- You can either have your hands facing away or towards you

- Contract your abdominals and raise your straight legs up as high as you can

- Lower and repeat

- Inhale when lowering and exhale when lifting your knees

Hanging Leg raise tips:

- If you contract you abdominals before you raise your knees it will assist you in not swinging

- If you cannot hang off the bar your fitness facility may have a harness that allows you to rest on your elbows

- You may also use a roman chair to perform this exercise

- If you have had shoulder injuries I suggest you replace this exercise

Cable Twists:

- Clasp a handle with outstretched arms

- Keep a slight bend in your elbows

- Using your core muscles rotate from the right to the left

- Once you reach your limit in terms of rotation, slowly return to the starting position

- Repeat

Cable twist tips:

- Really try to use your core muscles opposed to your arms

- Don't use too much weight as this may force you to use your arms opposed to core

- You may also use a Theraband to perform this exercise

Barbell rotations:

- Place a barbell in a corner with a heavy dumbbell on top of it

- Hold the barbell at the end

- With arms slightly bent rotate your body to the left

- Be sure to turn your feet and hips as well

- Contract your abdominals and turn to the opposite side

- Repeat for desired number of reps

Barbell rotation tips:

- Concentrate on using your abdominals, not your arms, when performing this exercise.

- This exercise is rather hard and due to the fact that a barbell is already 20 kilograms you should not have to add much more weight

Push up twists:

- Assume a pushup position

- Bring your shoulder blades together

- Contact your abdominals as you slowly begin to raise one hand above your head

- Maintain balance

- Look at where your hand is travelling as you slowly reach the top of the movement

- Return the hand to the starting position and repeat on the opposite side

Push up twist tips:

- Go slow - this exercise is a slow and control exercise.

- For added difficulty you may place your supporting hand on an unstable surface such as a Dura disc or pillow

Remember in order to train your core for Judo you must be using 'rotational core' movements besides a crunch or traditional leg raise.

Author: Matt D'Aquino
http://www.workoutsforjudo.com

Matt is the founder of Beyond Grappling fitness and conditioning. He is a 2008 Beijing Judo Olympian as well as nationally ranked freestyle wrestler and National Champion in Brazilian Jujitsu. Matt has a passion for teaching all aspects of grappling especially the fitness and conditioning aspect. Recently he has been traveling the world aiming to qualify for his second Olympic Games. To learn more about Matt and his fitness and conditioning training visit http://www.workoutsforjudo.com

Solo Judo Techniques Do at Home

Solo Judo Techniques Do at Home There are times when you are just too busy and you cannot get to Judo practice. There are plenty of solo exercises you can do at home that can improve you Judo training. These exercises include:

Mental Imagery of Uchikomi:

You may be on the bus or on the couch but there is always time to do Judo with mental imagery. Simply close your eyes and practice a few Judo techniques in your mind. Try to picture yourself entering for a throw and throwing someone. Attempt to feel your whole body moving into position while you are sitting down.
Once you are in the feel of mental imagery Uchikomi begin adding in some combinations or speed Uchikomi into the mix. This will really help you not only you getting in tune with your body but also gets you to think about each and every aspect of a throw. When I had my knee reconstruction back in 2007 I had 11 months off Judo completely. Every night in bed I would do 200 Uchikomi of Ippon Seoi Nage. Then when I came back onto the mat it was like I had never left. Id didn't lose the feel of Judo at all.

Shadow Uchikomi:

If you have enough space in the lounge room or garage then move around and attack as if you had a partner with you. Concentrate on keeping your knees bent and back straight. Try to 'feel' your throws opposed to just doing them for the sake of it. Shadow Uchikomi is great because it gets you thinking and moving like a Judo player. I highly recommend my students do shadow Uchikomi as a warm up because they can never have an excuse for not having a partner. If you are good at shadow Uchikomi you sometimes don't need a partner.

Ashiwaza

If you don't have enough room to do some shadow Uchikomi then walk up and down the hallway attacking with Ashiwaza techniques such as De Ashi Barai, Okuri Ashi Harai, Harai Tsuri Komi Ashi, Ouchi gari and Ko uchi gari. Make sure when you are practicing these techniques that you are using your upper body simultaneously with your feet.

Hip escapes

Many Judoka neglect the Ne Waza aspect of training at home. There is plenty of mobility and agility exercises and drills you can do at home that will greatly increase your awareness on the ground. Practicing hip escapes over and over again will not only strengthen the legs but also make you an extremely hard person to pin. The hallway is the perfect length to practice hip escapes and the small width of the hallway will really sharpen your technique.

Gymnastics

Basic gymnastic drills will always benefit a Judoka. Forward and backward rolls, cartwheels, hand-stands and basic gymnastic movements assist in keeping you supple as well as increase your spatial awareness. If you don't have enough room in your house then head out to the local park or tennis court and do some basic movements.

Here are just a few ideas of things you can do by yourself that will improve your Judo. Now you will never have an excuse about why you haven't done Judo in a while.

Author: Matt D'Aquino
http://www.workoutsforjudo.com

Matt is the founder of Beyond Grappling fitness and conditioning. He is a 2008 Beijing Judo Olympian as well as nationally ranked freestyle wrestler and National Champion in Brazilian Jujitsu. Matt has a passion for teaching all aspects of grappling especially the fitness and conditioning aspect. Recently he has been traveling the world aiming to qualify for his second Olympic Games. To learn more about Matt and his fitness and conditioning training visit http://www.workoutsforjudo.com