Saturday, 28 July 2012

Fundamental Principles of Judo
Judo as Physical Training

It is a fundamental principle of sports to carry on exercises in proportion to the bodily strength. Judo as a game belongs to the fighting games and so often assumes all the aspects of an intensive feat of strength requiring strenuous exertions. In the practice of Judo, however, this evil can be averted by means of Kata (forms). That is, the kata enables the Judo student to adjust the amount of exercise according to his bodily strength and age, and yet is fully effectual both in respect to interest and benefit.
Judo includes the following three points in its objective on the physical side:
1.     Toughness (giving steadiness, elasticity and staying power to the muscles)
2.     Flexibility (giving mobility to the spinal column and other joints together with full elasticity of the muscles)
3.     Adroitness (quickening the function of the motor nerves and making movements both nimble and steady)
From the standpoint of athletic physiology these qualities are correlated with one another, and the bodily activities in Judo exercises are best adapted to those requirements.
Shizentai

The shizentai, or natural posture, is the posture of a person standing quietly with his head and upper body kept upright, arms hanging without constraint and legs not so firm and widely apart. This is the description of the proper posture as regards its form, but it has a deeper, wider significance. When this posture is maintained, it may be considered that 1) the body keeps stability and does not fall and 2)as the limbs are kept soft they can shift to any action at any moment.
The natural posture is explained as a standing posture. However if outward form or posture is out of consideration, and the natural posture is an attitude of the body which is capable of repelling the opponent's attack, and moreover of assuming the offensive whenever there is an opening in the opponent's guard, the natural posture may be said to be possible not only when standing, but also when sitting or lying. In fact, in a Judo contest, the contestant who has fallen is not nedessarily beaten. On the contrary, he may make an attack against his opponent while lying on the mats. In fact, the natural posture is an attitude of the body which is always capable of taking the lead.
There is an old expression, "Motion in rest." It means that rest is pregnant with motion as infinite activity, so it indicates the principle of natural posture. Functioning like this, the natural posture must necessarily be studied from a mental point of view, and from olden times the ultimate secrets of jujutsu have lain here.

Courtesy
Courtesy is the formal manifestation of the spirit of respect. With the spirit of respect we recognize the dignity of another's personality. In other words, it is the spirit of living inharmony with one another in social life. In a Judo contest the contestants should face each other in the proper posture, looking properly at each other and using moderation in their actions. Thus they are in harmony in which they never set each other at defiance, and maintain the dignity of personality. Hence it is taught that exercises in Judo should begin with courtesy and end with courtesy.

That is all about Judo for now. I sure hope that after reading all 5 posts that I have compiled, you have learned much more about this amazing form of martial art. Thank you all for your kind dedications, comments and contributions.
-Wan Qi

Muay Thai Training Facilities.

Hey guys! It's Marcus here! Since This is going to be the last post I am going to share with you all where are the different places to train for Muay Thai.

There are many different Gyms in the world to train. But since I live in Singapore, I will be sharing about the different gyms in Singapore.

First is Hilltop THE GYM.
Hilltop THE GYM is located at 20 Havelock Road Singapore 059765‎


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HillTop THE GYM consist of one Master, one Chef MuayThai Intructor and 4 other Intructors. This Gym has courses on MuayThai.

For more information please visit http://www.hilltopthegym.com/index.php/about-us

The next Gym is Fight G or Fight Generation
The Image below was taken from google images and than was enhanced by Instagram.



Fight G or Fight Generation's Gym is located at 41 N Canal Rd Singapore 059297


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Unlike HillTop THE GYM, Fight G has many different types of Martial Arts you are able to learn, there is boxing, mix martial arts, judo, brazillian jiu-jitsu and of course Muay Thai. There are 6 intructors in This Gym.

For more information please visit http://fightg.com/

Hope you like this post! Well this is the last post guys. Hope you have enjoy the journey you have spent with me! Thank you and Goodbye :)

Uniforms used in Brazilian-Jiu Jitsu

Like many other martial arts, there are also uniforms used in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. The uniform(also known as gi) used in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu was adapted from different uniforms that was previously used in other Japanese/Korea martial arts such as Taekwondo, Karate and Judo. The shirt is usually made of cotton and the pants is reinforced.. Usually, the belt of the user will be worn over the uniform as the belt shows the user's rank. The sizing is normally follows (A0 - A7) for men, but occasionally judogi sizing is used (1-7)

General Regulations 



The colours of uniforms used in international competition are only Blue, Black and White. In some gyms, they have rules such as the practitioner can only wear the colour of uniform according to their belt rank(Eg. White belt practitioner can only wear white uniforms) However, some gyms allow the members to wear any color as long as they received their blue belt.

Guidelines for BJJ uniform

Gi must be constructed using cotton. Material cannot be too thick to the extent that opponent cannot grab it.
No combined colours are allowed to be use on the uniform(Only pure colours).
The length of the jacket, sleves and other measurements must be according to the BJJ Federation rules.
The belt's width must be 4-5cm. A double knot is usually used to secure the belt to the uniform.
Athletes are not allowed to participate in the competition if the uniform is torn or the measurements are incorrect.
No modification is allowed for the Gi of a BJJ practitioner.

There will be a special gi checking tool  often used to determine acceptable measurements and fit of the gi. This tool resembles a block of wood 3.5 cm x 2.5 cm x 15 cm with a slit cut in the middle and is used to measure the following[5]:

The jacket lapel must be 5 cm wide.
There must be at least 7 cm of room from the bottom of the competitor's wrist to the bottom of the sleeve.
The jacket lapel must not be thicker than 1.3 cm.

Difference between Judogi and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gi


The Gi of BJJ is quite similar to the one in judo. However, there are still some difference which is quite important in BJJ competitions. Firstly, the cuffs are tighter on a BJJ so that the opponent will have less material to grab in a competition. A Judo Gi may be allowed to use in a BJJ competition but a BJJ Gi would not be able to meet the requirements in a Judo competition.

Source adapted from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_Jiu-Jitsu_gi

Below will be examples of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Gi:
Different colors of the BJJ Gi.

BJJ blackbelt Roberto "Cyborg" Abreu chokes his opponent using the gi at the 2009 Pan-Am Championship.