WHY GOING BACK TO YOUR CHILDHOOD MARTIAL ART IS A BAD IDEA
I practiced
judo as a child and teenager until the age of 13-14.
Lately,
carried by all the martial arts videos, the influence of the MMA
broadcasted, and all my fitness readings, came the idea of starting judo again.
In fact, it's the result of a reflection with a friend. We thought how badass
it would look if we had a black belt in judo. And totally by chance, we
realized that we both did judo when we were teenagers and that we both stopped
at the same belt: orange-green belt. After this one, there is the green, blue,
brown and the famous black belt.
The experience:
The
training started as in all combat sports: warm-up, repetition of movements and
at the end of a judo lesson, there is a little sparring. So we did it with many
others.
I wanted to
try it with the teacher so that he could give me back the taste of judo. He was
above the black belt: the red-white belt. So that means basically, this guy is
a super judo master. Physically, he is not impressive: he is not very tall,
about 1m70-75 maximum for about 90-100 kilos. He is about 45 to 50 years old, has
excess fat and a round belly.
As
expected, of course, he dominated me technically even though I am physically in
much better shape: I am taller, younger, 1m84, 86 kilos, and a good bunch of
muscles made in the gym. But on the other hand, he is a technical monster of
judo and judo is well framed by its rules, we only fight within these rules -
no percussion is allowed. I have a lot of trouble during this fight, but I
still feel like a man and that doesn't take away my sense of humor.
At one
point, he said to me, "So where is your youthful strength now?" And I
thought he had a little humor too, so I replied by being compressed under his
big belly "I can't beat 90 years of practice" and I felt that it had
irritated him and that he wanted to give me a lesson for daring to do humor in
an uncomfortable situation. Maybe I had bigger balls than him. Anyway, it was
just humor for me.
A few
seconds later, he blocked me with a technique and I thought we were going to
take a break. So I relaxed a little and let off steam. Finally, he looks at me
and surprises me with a strangulation technique by saying "Hey, you know
this technique!!", and chokes me very hard for 3 seconds. It made him
laugh a lot sadly. Then the fight stopped.
I really didn't appreciate that he did that when I thought we were
taking a break. I think he didn't really like me because I made humor. That's
the problem with people who have something to prove. But come on, man, you're a
judo master, why prove anything to me about judo, I don't need it. Instead, it
is a proof that you can be high in the hierarchy of a martial art and not be
mentally wise. These are two totally different things.
Later, I
trained with a black belt that started judo again too. I was honestly dominating him, I dropped him to the ground
and immobilized him by a strangulation technique, but I didn't hurt him. It
pissed him off a little bit, I guess. His black belt pride took a hit. Then I
wanted to do a technique and he squeezed my arms, I pulled and I heard a crack
in my shoulder.
I stopped
the fight and put ice on it. Then it was the end of the lesson and we went
home.
I ended up
going to the emergency room and taking an X-ray because I was in too much pain
to sleep. I don't have any fractures, that's something. But I actually have a joint issue to solve now. I can tell you that my shoulder hurts. The recovery is very long may necessite long cares.
In the end,
it wasn't really my opponent's fault on this one. But maybe if he had been a
real experienced black belt, it wouldn't have happened.
Outcome:
So yes, this course was not a success with this
injury. But even if I hadn't had these wounds, I wouldn't have come back to
train in this dojo and I wouldn't have gone back to judo.
Let me explain:
This may be
the case for many others. We played sports for several years of our lives and
stopped them and never came back. Why?
Because we had consciously or unconsciously found the limit of this discipline in relation to our state of mind. We found it much smaller than our vision. We already found it restrictive.
I
remembered why I had stopped judo: injuries were inevitable and the
effectiveness of the techniques learned was not very useful in a real street
fighting situation.
1. Judo is only effective in judo fights
The truth
is that judo is very effective against another judoka with the rules of judo. Outside
this context, it is very ineffective. Put a boxer or MMA fighter in front of a
judoka in the street, on whom do you bet? 80/20 on the MMA/boxer. Obviously,
reality has nothing to do with judo.
This is the
first problem I find in judo: I can't use it in case of an attack. I need to
punch in case of an attack, and judo has never helped with this.
2. Judo = injuries
The second
problem is that injuries are inherent to the practice of this sport: fingers
that bleed because of the grips on the kimono, dislocated shoulders, jumping
knees and ankles, etc. and what for? For nothing, well... for judo. I am not one
of those who give their lives to a combat sport.
Then what
fighting sport could I do that would be really useful to me? in fact, I
realized that none of them would be really useful to me. We are rarely in a
combat situation and when we are, we fight anyway, with a combat background or without.
I have a life to live: my girlfriend, my job, driving, fitness, holidays,
investments. If I have injuries all the time, my life becomes very complicated
to manage.
3. Judo does not make me grow anymore
Lastly, I
believe that the values that this sport emanates no longer correspond to what I
aspire to. I like to do things that are beyond me and fascinating. This is not
the case for judo.
I practiced
it 5 years of my life when I was younger: I took what I was interested in and
carried on. Later in my life, I did 5 years of law school, I took what I was
interested in and today if I have to study a subject, it will no longer be law.
Otherwise, if I was really a law fan, I would have achieved a PhD. I feel that
I have understood the limits of this subject, that I have a broader and more
holistic vision.
So today,
I'm trying to recommend good practices to myself. I think the best sport I can
do today is fitness training. In case of fighting, if there were to be any, I
would fight dirty (break nose, balls, eyes, strangulation, use of weapon, etc.)
Take care everyone.
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