Fear of getting injured in Judo

Question

A year ago, I started practicing judo almost from scratch, and although I have been enjoying learning it and have improved my physical fitness, the fear of getting injured when I am thrown, or during ground maneuvers (to a lesser extent), prevents me from practicing properly or even paralyzes me.

I have always been someone who engages in 'safe' and sedentary activities like reading, and I believe judo is something very positive in my life, but I would like to know how I could overcome this significant limitation.

Answer 1

fear is a difficult emotion to master. There is no easy way, and no one size fits all way either..

The first thing to realise is that - fear is your mind trying to keep you safe - so you need to recognise it and in instances like this, tell your mind "thanks for trying to protect me - but this is okay"

There may be things in class that you do not feel safe doing at first - that is also fine - dont do them until you are ready! - it will only (usually) make the fear worse.

Build up slowly over time - if you do that throw ten times slowly without getting hurt your mind will start to let go a bit and you can go a little bit harder - that is how we all start out. Yes the young ones (and some reckless older ones) will be going hard at it from the get-go, they are not you - you have your own journey.

Do some other activities to get used to those sensations/movements. Around here we have lots of trampoline parks - some of them have jumps and airbags - doing a big flip and landing on an airbag (or even better a gymnastics foam pit) will get you used to being in the air and rotating and the landing being fine.

Keep going and doing the bits you enjoy - you will get there!

Answer 2

Talk to your tori

I've been practising traditional jiu jitsu for 3 years. I very much know the feeling! There's never going to be a point where getting dumped hard on your back doesn't hurt a bit, and you wouldn't be human if that didn't affect you.

If you're having confidence issues, and especially if you've got an underlying lack of fitness which makes this harder for you, the most obvious step is to talk to the person who's going to be throwing you. Any reasonably able practitioner should be able to slow down the throw so that you have time to prepare yourself for the breakfall, and so that the impact is not quite so serious.

Of course there are limits to this, because some throws do need a bit of momentum behind them. In your first year or so though, you shouldn't be working on that level of techniques, because you wouldn't be ready to do it safely.

Also, don't rush for gradings. I fell into that trap with karate, years ago. I ended up quitting because I was at a higher belt but I didn't have the confidence in my abilities to go with the belt, and other people expected things of me based on my belt which I couldn't deliver. Until you're confident with all your techniques, you're better sticking with the belt you're at and reinforcing it so it feels natural. It will come, but it will take time too.

Answer 3

Let me caveat that I am a novice in judo too, so take this as the thoughts of one novice to another rather than any claim that I am expert.

A certain amount of fear is natural. I don't like being thrown. I don't think any sane person does. its natural to have a certain amount of fear about that. To a certain extent, you need to push through that.

I've been told you just get used to it. Maybe. I spent some time in the 82nd and I never did get used to jumping out of planes. I just did it because I had to. So I swallowed my fear every time and jumped. To a certain extent, you may need to do that if you want to train judo or jiu jitsu.

But note that I keep saying to a certain extent. If you are very afraid, it may be a signal that you are not ready for that yet. Work at your own pace. In particular, consider practicing your breakfalls / ukemi more in solo drills. That should both actually help you deal with throws without getting hurt and hopefully help you feel more confident. Also, when you are the uke consider asking if tori can focus on the steps of the throw short of the actual throw (kuzushi and tsukuri) and either not throw you or do it only a couple of times. My school sometimes encourages this for people in their first few classes until they become comfortable with the breakfalls.

Answer 4

If you have already been at judo a year, I assume you have learned to perform solo falling drills on your own.

For partner drills, both partner and throw selection are key. You want your partner to be both skilled and patient, so they will help control your fall to put you in a good breakfall position while dialing down intensity.

For throw selection, you can start a progression:

1. sasae tsurikomi ashi / hiza guruma while you (uke) are on your knees This reduces the height of the fall and therefore its impact. There is still some speed involved, but the experience is predictable.
2. ogoshi standing This gives tori the most control over the throw, allowing them to even stop mid-throw. The height makes this fall more difficult, however.

There is a limit to how slowly tori can throw and reduce impact. At some point, they will let you fall, and gravity takes over.

When you get more comfortable, you can add difficulty: height, unpredictability, speed, and resistance.

Answer 5

If you have fear you are not ready yet. I have practiced taekwondo for many years. I have broken my knuckles and had my nose broken.

There is a thing when you have to break a board only held by fingers on top. If you are not sure you can do it, don't or you will break your hand and shoot the board through the Gym. You have to know that you can do it.

It takes a lot of practice. You can do it. But this is martial arts. It's hard. That's the point.