The Harder, The Better? - BetterJudo.comBetterJudo.com
Author: Gerald Lafon
Description: During a recent coach education course that I attended as an observer, one of the participants asked the clinician what type of mats would be best for Judo. The clinician replied that his own preference was for getting the hardest … Continue reading →
Date: 2014-01-08T21:47:03+00:00

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# The Harder, The Better?

Posted on January 8, 2014 by Gerald Lafon

During a recent coach education course that I attended as an observer, one of the participants asked the clinician what type of mats would be best for Judo. The clinician replied that his own preference was for getting the hardest mats possible. The reason? To ensure good ukemi! That response nearly knocked me off my chair. Here was yet another piece of information that in my mind was clearly a great disservice to all the coaches present, and ultimately to Judo itself. Let’s examine why this statement was not in our best interest as we try to hang on to a diminishing segment of the martial arts market.

When it comes to war plans, it’s said that the enemy also has a vote in how the plans will play out. In Judo, when it comes to ukemi, uke isn’t the only person who controls the quality of the fall: tori also has a vote in how well uke will fall. Sometimes, good ukemi is not feasible due to tori’s actions, i.e. perhaps nothing more than using a throw that uke is not familiar with. More likely, good ukemi is difficult because tori’s throw was not perfect. Hard mats increase the potential that bad Judo will cause injuries. Hard mats don’t guarantee good ukemi.

Judo is hard on the body. Do we really need to make it harder by using the hardest mats? If you’re like me, you’ve run into dozens of BJJ practitioners who have said they’d like to do Judo, but they don’t like taking falls… especially falls on crappy mats. Would it make a difference in attracting the BJJ crowd, and others who have been told that Judo falls hurt, if your club had a more resilient landing surface instead of those hard mats? I think you know the answer to that.

From a training viewpoint, a more resilient landing surface can minimize body wear and tear, thus increasing the length of stay or career in Judo. It also allows players to train harder and more efficiently. Since completion of a throw is a vital part of skill acquisition, you can complete more throws when training on a resilient surface. No more need to pretend nine times before you launch you training partner on the tenth repetition. More Judo throws can be practiced in their entirety without the fear of injury, or excessive wear and tear. High amplitude throws like Te guruma and Ura nage can be repeated dozens of times without losing half your membership.

This leads us to the biggest reason for staying away from hard mats: student retention. There are many reasons for losing students. We have little or no control over many of those reasons, but we can control complaints about injuries, hurting, and hard mats. A better landing surface is the answer. And the best landing surface for Judo is the spring-loaded mat. When you couple that with crash pads, you will have taken the sting out of Judo falls, minimized injuries, increased training efficiency, and made a whole lot of your students much happier about doing Judo in your club.

For those of you wanting more information on how to construct a spring-loaded mat, check out this article.

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## 10 thoughts on “The Harder, The Better?”

1. Without knowing for sure, I might surmise that this clinician has taken one too many falls on his head on a hard mat. The unfortunate thing about people giving that information is that many who hear it will believe it and repeat it based on the reputation of the provider of the information.

2. Norm, you’re absolutely right. Not enough skepticism in the Judo world.

3. This is a typical “tough guy” response. His students will hate his mats and eventually go elsewhere unless his instruction and classes are spectacular. Out of curiosity, how was his clinic? Maybe it’s my first impression bias, but someone who thinks like this gives me the feeling that he loves the traditional approach to judo instruction: lots of static uchikomi and randori, because “that’s how I grew up doing judo.”

4. At our club we have one tatami and one wrestling mat. The tatami is a nice and fast surface for great ashi waza. However, neither mat is ideal for a high amp throw since they are lying directly on a concrete slab. We had a family with one of their younger daughters that was very distressed by the hard falls. The fear that started to creep in was making her feel like the sport was dangerous. Her Dad was a judoka from Italy in his younger days and he never felt as if judo was dangerous and he practiced on harder surfaces. I explained that judo participation can result in serious injuries and also reminded him that young girls may have better common sense than boys of the same age (who break bones more frequently at 10-12 years old?). His daughter is now practicing only Brazilian jiu jitsu and Krav Maga at our club and looks much happier.

5. I pulled my 6 year old out of her dojo because she was taking one too many hits to the head no matter how many times I’d admonish her to “tuck her chin” at all times. That and the quality of the instruction, nobody seemed to notice when she landed awkwardly on her neck repeatedly during an almost unsupervised tumbling exercise but made a point of reprimanding me when I finally said enough is enough and pulled her off the mat. As a karateka in an old-school dojo in my youth, I have tremendous ingrained respect for dojos and senseis so you must understand that it took a lot for me to let my parental instinct take over and intervene. Plus, the timing of classes was not conducive to her school work and sleeping patterns. Kids that age need an afternoon class, not an evening class with pre-teens and teens and one wasn’t available.

   Anyhow, she misses judo and I wish I could find a good club that wouldn’t require a 45 minute drive through traffic. Any FSJ dojos near Boston, Gerald?

6. I don’t see a presence near Boston, but I’ll check further.

7. Hi Coach —
   I am wondering if the coach you were quoting meant to say “stiffest” mats possible but you were there at that clinic, I certainly wasn’t!

   Yes, Judo is a very tough pursuit but we all agree that at its best, it is wonderful. And yes, the falls are tough to take over and over again through the years! My daughters are never happy to be working out or competing at any venue where the tatami are just laid out on the usual concrete floor. Our sensei David Otani has had our mats on the styrofoam “floating system” and the difference is remarkable….and of course we really liked your spring-loaded system at your club in San Diego when we visited back in 2009.

   I find at the ripe old age of 60 that I myself much prefer not falling on hard surfaces, love playing my judo on any kind of “floating mat”, crash pads landings, etc. The more I can land on that stuff, the better chance I can keep playing till 70, God willing. Gave up playing football as a very young man, don’t miss it!

   Regarding Judo training philosophy, it has always been clear to me the more a student is “afraid” to fall, the more stiff and defensive he/she will be and the more slowly their judo will progress.

   Best wishes
   Fred Weck

8. Hi Coach —
   I am wondering if the coach you were quoting meant to say “stiffest” mats possible but you were there at that clinic, I certainly wasn’t!

   Yes, Judo is a very tough pursuit but we all agree that at its best, it is wonderful. And yes, the falls are tough to take over and over again through the years! My daughters are never happy to be working out or competing at any venue where the tatami are just laid out on the usual concrete floor. Our sensei David Otani has had our mats on the styrofoam “floating system” and the difference is remarkable….and of course we really liked your spring-loaded system at your club in San Diego when we visited back in 2009.

   I find at the ripe old age of 60 that I myself much prefer not falling on hard surfaces, love playing my judo on any kind of “floating mat”, crash pads landings, etc. The more I can land on that stuff, the better chance I can keep playing till 70, God willing. Gave up playing football as a very young man, don’t miss it!

   Regarding Judo training philosophy, it has always been clear to me the more a student is “afraid” to fall, the more stiff and defensive he/she will be and the more slowly their judo will progress.

   Best wishes
   Fred Weck

   PS — Sorry, I was mistaken, we visited your club in 2012, not 2009!

9. Stiff or hard, it’s wrong-headed if we want to retain students. 🙂

10. Apologies for the the late reply.
    I had an interesting discussion about 10-12 years ago with the MD of a British mat manufacturer (I’m in England).
    The research this company did led them to the conclusion that there is an optimum density for judo mats which is 250kg/cubic metre foam for a standard 40mm thick mat. (There is one German company who make a mat from 290kg/cubic metre foam which may be ok for competition, but for regular training, involving repetitive throwing, it’s definitely way too hard, which is why they also make 2 softer grades of mat).

    The main reason behind their findings was that most clubs in Europe don’t have permanent dojos and mats tend to get laid on solid floors with no give at all. Therefore, the foam needed to be hard enough so that if you hit the floor with your head, knee, elbow, etc, the foam would provide enough deceleration to prevent you “bottoming out” into the floor underneath. Similar to how a motorcycle helmet decelerates a force on impact. Having suffered a very painful bursitis on my elbow after falling badly on a old style, canvas covered, 1 inch thick mat which was quite soft and laid on a concrete floor, I’d agree that the theory, based on mats being laid on a solid floor, is probably correct.

    The other reason was so the judoka’s feet didn’t sink into the mat creating drag, allowing faster footwork and reducing ankle injuries.

    If you don’t train on a solid floor, such hard mats are probably unnecessary. I think an ideal training mat would be multi layer foam, with a cushioning layer in between 2 firm layers but the cost would be excessive.

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