Judo Class was great last night.  Really great.

We worked on going from the throw, into a knee in the stomach position, an then into a choke, failing which, we transitioned into an arm bar.

For the throw portion I worked mostly with an Ogoshi.  This is partly because we needed to work wit a throw that ended with us in a standing position, and partly because I was working with Andy, who is a solid, tough guy and I find that the Ogoshi makes it easier to throw people like that than some other throws.

From there, keep control of te arm as they land, and transition into a knee in the stomach position.  Now I know, that knee in the stomach is not a commonly used Judo position so much as it is a Jiu Jitsu position… But as I have said previously in this blog, we overlap a bit in our class.  I also found that knee in the stomach can be a really cool position.  Not only is it great for transitioning into other attacks, but if you pull up on the knee (which really eliminates their bridge), and the arm, and spin some weight into the solar plexus, you can get a lot of folks to tap (especially for us girth-gifted folks    )

From knee in the stomach we worked on leaning down and grabbing the choke.  I’ll be honest, I don’t know how excited I am about the choke from here… Partly because I am not that great at this choke, but partly because I think it really compromises your balance.

Then, we would drop into the arm bar.  Normally I have kinda sucked at the arm bar, but Mike spent a lot of time helping me out.  I think my main problem is distance between my butt and the should of the person.  When you drop down for this move, you really need to drop “in” and under the shoulder a bit.

After a god hour of that we had some really great Randori.  As I have said, Andy is one tough guy, and I don’t know if he is feeling it today or not, but I certainly am.

Finally, Mike brought out the loves and taught my son Ty some of the finer points of boxing.  Ty has already had several years of Karate, so I think his kicks are not bad (as I can attest to… he caught me with a mean kick to the body last night.)  But Mike is really make some impressive changes in his punching.

Unfortunately I will have to miss class this Thursday… which will be especially hard after such a great class.

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