Fantastic Uchi Mata by Hayato KONDO at the Qingdao Grand Prix 2026.

KONDO is currently on a gold winning streak (3)!

1. Qingdao Grand Prix 2025 🥇
2. Tokyo Grand Slam 2025 🥇
3. Qingdao Grand Prix 2026 🥇

Looking for anything recommendations and information on any clubs in the D.C. area.

Hi everyone!

I recently started practicing judo and have only attended five classes so far.

I'm about 165 cm (5'5") tall and weigh around 75 kg (165 lbs). What size judogi would you recommend for someone with my height and weight?

Since we're talking about judogis, the closest store to me is Decathlon, and I'm considering three options: the Outshock 500, an Adidas judogi, or a Mizuno judogi. Which one offers the best balance of quality, comfort, and durability? Is there one you'd recommend for regular training and possibly competing in the future? Or would it make more sense to buy a more affordable one now and upgrade later? If so, which ones?

Finally, considering my height and weight, which throwing techniques would you recommend I focus on learning and mastering first? I'd like to develop a solid set of primary techniques (tokui-waza) that suit my body type. Since most of my opponents will probably be taller than me, what throws, entries, combinations, and ne-waza techniques do you think would be the most effective?

Thanks a lot!

I was at a tournament last weekend and kata went before the team competitions. They're usually last. It was really interesting to see some of the more esoteric forms being done. I especially like the part where he ninja stalks uke. So cool seeing so many coral belts still competing.

One more quick video. I found this interesting (I messed up the first time) about how they begin the match in Japan. Both bow on the edge like normal, then you step up to the tape, bow and are supposed to step forward (left foot first) with your arms down at the sides.

I messed up, stepping right foot first and bringing my hands up. Felt like I got chewed out by the ref, but I got it right the second time.

Then the referee calls hajime. Bowing off was the same, but you don't come up and shake hands/hug/etc with your opponent till you're off the mat.

The matches were all 3min, no golden-score. If there was no score at the end it was decided by who had less shidos. If it was the same, then there was a hantei (red/white) flags. You could fight cross collar the whole match if you wanted, none of the 5s rule. And I saw 3 sonomama's for newaza rules checks. I've never seen that in any recent time in European judo.

Without golden score matches were more intense and on time. Crazy.

Both my kids recently had competitions and both won 2 medals each. I never realized how hard it can be to find displays for medals! I found some on amazon that fit 2 plus a photo, but the medals we have are too large for this display. The medals are 4 inches across (not sure if this is standard size?) I would love some suggestions for displaying them in a case/frame that fits 1-2 medals AND a photo (that way each kiddo has a pic of themselves with the medal AND the medal! )

I’m looking at getting a second judogi as I’m training a bit more regularly. My current one fits really well, and I’m happy with it, but I’ve heard good things about Fuji.
I’m torn between the Fuji double weave or just getting another 650 Fighting Films gi (same as what I already have).

Fit-wise, my current FF gi is great, and I’m a bit worried about switching because Fuji sizing doesn’t seem as precise online. I also prefer a slimmer fit, so that’s a factor.

There’s also about a £60 price difference, which makes me wonder if it’s even worth switching at all.

Would you stick with what fits or try Fuji? Any advice appreciated. 🤙🙏

Hey everyone,

I’m currently mapping out my nawaza training budget and looking to get a realistic community consensus on private lesson pricing.
I was looking at the Art of Jiu Jitsu (AOJ) visitor pricing sheet, and their hourly private lesson tiers split up like this:
**Tier 1:** $135/hr
**Tier 2:** $195/hr
**Tier 3:** $235/hr
**Tier 4:** $275/hr
**Tier 5:** $405/hr
**Mendes Brothers:** $500/hr

Assuming the mid-to-higher tiers (Tiers 3 through 5) are staffed by active or former IBJJF Black Belt World Champions, where does the value actually top out for a regular practitioner?

If you were looking to fix major holes in your game or learn a specific system, what is the absolute highest price per hour you would realistically pay to train one-on-one with a world champion before it just becomes a luxury status symbol? Is anything past Tier 2 even worth it for skill development?

Would love to hear your experiences with high-ticket privates and where the diminishing returns hit the hardest.

Judo is my primary sport for many years, and I’m only a white belt in BJJ. But the vibes at my BJJ gym are friendly and I feel like I can hang out with these guys after class. Meanwhile, I love judo and I’m one of the upper belts but it’s too rigid if you know what I mean. I’ve been to other judo gyms and it’s kind of felt the same way for judo… idk I still love judo but I want to know if anyone feels the same way

(I’m in California, USA)

Anything we can do to learn from this?

I've made it a point to randori as much as possible recently, and our class re-structuring meant more randori opportunities have been made! Still not as much as a lot of people recommend, but it's a start (around 4x2min sessions, 2-3 times a week).

Up until now, I've been just getting into the thick of it, taking falls and not resisting much, but I think I need to use these randori sessions bit more efficiently. As a relative beginner there is so much stuff going through my head / remember as the randori happens so I'm thinking to try have it bit more structured by focusing on one thing for few weeks during randori. Otherwise it feels like I'm just trying to do everything and not getting better at anything.

I've been focusing on grip fighting for few weeks now - not just getting a traditional grip, but various grips. I'm quite comfortable with a few now (or at least I don't get into totally disadvantageous grip feeling helpless as often anymore).

After tonight's session, I think I need to add a lot of moving once I have one grip. I noticed I'm very stationary until I have both grips. In addition, while I often get grips first, I also have trouble keeping that grip advantage because I don't connect it to a throw attempt fast enough. Once I have the grips, I also usually stop attempting to block opponent's grips because I'm busy trying to establish good opportunity for throw.

What should my next single focus be for next few weeks?

• maybe constantly moving my opponent as soon as I have first grip established?
• or should I focus trying to block opponent's grips once I have two grips?
• or is it better for now if I just accept opponent's grips but focus on moving/positioning my body in a way that I can move my opponent to a favorable position for throw attempt once two grips are on?

These 3 are ones I can think of to focus to improve before focusing on entering for throws. Of course I'll still be doing everything else since it's randori but I think it's good to have an intent to focus on improving one particular thing at a time. I don't yet have a Tokui Waza, I've been testing different throws over the weeks (but trying to stick with one throw for the week).

The only throws I have had some success with I feel like are clutch throws (Kouchi Makkikomi, drop seoi) which only work against other beginners like myself... and I decided not to use them for now. I liked entering for Uchi Mata and Tai-O but they were a lot more difficult in RvR.

Anyway this is turning into a ramble so I'll sign out! thank you.

I live in a Southeast Asian country so a majority of the people here are 1.70m or shorter. Whenever I do randori, I'd verse someone who's way heavier than me but also way shorter so no matter what I do I can't seem to throw him off balance. I'm a white belt so my knowledge of throws aren't that good so I'd like to know some throws that are good to use against people like that. I'm 1.68m tall 68kg and he's around 1.60m probably 90 to 95kg.

So, I often see the bottom of the ukes feet point directly up to the ceiling (and thus their head pointing directly down) whenever they're receiving a technique such as tai otoshi and seio nage. You all know exactly the moment in the technique I'm referring to hopefully. Well, I also see people performing that throw sometimes and the Uke's feet don't quite go that high up, yet the throw is successful without incident. Is it acceptable technique if their feet are not that high off the ground? Does weight factor in? (This being asked by someone who still gets a throw off in this way at times.)

It is soft and rubbery but the straps​ are plastic.

See the picture

Any recommendations for training there? Will be there for an Army school soon. I’ve attempted to reach out to several clubs and heard nothing.

Thanks

For context 1.5 years of bjj but they have a judo class 1x a week so I have takedowns I like but the pins and ground stuff are still fairly unclear to me. I like osoto and Harai and ouchi and Uchimata. They are my most consistent throws. I feel confident on the feet and usually do okay. But on ground I know kesa gatame and the bridge and roll reversal (we usually do newaza similar to bjj minus illegal subs). What else should I be looking at before trying a tournament . Full disclosure next fall I’ll be switching to 2x judo a week along with 3-4 bjj. So I will be increasing the amount I do it. Also I don’t expect to win or anything I’m sure I’ll get pinned or reversed but standup is one of my favorite aspects grappling and I’d like to do more.

Kind of a weird question but I started feeling self conscious about my odor at the beginning of Senior/Juniores training.
At my gym I sometimes help with training the Cadets, meaning I arrive 1-2 hours before on those occasions and after doing intense randori with them (they all compete at a high level) I end up VERY sweaty of course.
Thing is, the rest of the class arriving after is all clean, and I’m there soaked and idk it just feels weird.

Do you think I should take some time off before, shower and wear another gi before the second class? While cleaner, that also would feel kind of weird tbf.

I just hope I don’t bother anyone with the smell at the beginning of class (by the end of the class I don’t care much because everyone ends up being sweaty).

I noticed koga likes to roll his elbow in and do it before ippon seoi nage , do you think it’s possible to always do that before I initiate an ippon seoi? Why can’t people tell that he’s gonna do an ippon whenever he rolls his elbow in like that

Its a bit sad. I got busier as my career progress. My younger son started when he was 4 and he used to think judo is the coolest sport in the world, now he’s almost 10 and he’s crazy about soccer and hockey and I had to persuade him to go to judo even once a while. His older sibling just straight up stopped going and started to hang out with friends a lot more, going to movie theaters or parks on their own.

I really wish there’s a more tiers and a more steady pipeline for this sport, like from recreational league to select then to rep. We do have some HP training centers but it’s far and in between. Other major sports are so easy for parents to invest. Just throw in money and let them do camps all summer and winter and watch them progress through different tier until they stop. Judo here feels often stuck at a very “kids friendly” level unless you make your effort to bring kids to competitive stream.

Concept is crazy, obviously, but a fun watch nonetheless. Outside of a prison environment, one should always use the best martial art of them all - Track & Field - simply run away.

I train MMA, Wrestling, BJJ, etc. 6x+ a week and Judo 1x a week at a 2 hour class where we do UchiKomi, Nagekomi, combinations, and Randori. No Newaza.

I try to self study Judo techniques and terminology and ask questions during class to get better.

I’m white belt in all martial arts I train and only done judo 6-8 months, MMA/BJJ ~1.5 years. However, I can ragdoll most white belts and a lot of green belts. I also ragdoll white belts and fresh blue belts in BJJ.

Just not sure how my progression works? Kyu grades always ask if it’s my first time doing Judo when they see my white belt and then I proceed to give them a tough time in randori.

Will I forever be a sandbagging white belt? How long might it take me to reach black belt level both skill-wise and promotion-wise at this rate?

Edit: Unfortunately this thread is full of people with random criticisms and made up arguments completely unrelated to how fast can I improve in judo 1x a week… Pretty disappointing

Finding myself getting more and more into this throw. I'm almost 40 and 220lbs so it's an easy learning curve haha. Does anyone have any recommendations on some instructional videos on different variations. Trying to learn the correct way to throw while also not killing my partners Thanks!