© National Strength and Conditioning Association Volume 27,Number 2,pages 26–31 Keywords: judo, grappling, strength, conditioning, interval training Strength and Conditioning for Judo John Amtmann,EdD,and Adam Cotton Montana Tech of the University of Montana,Butte,Montana should be aware of this, and should work have to fight in up to 6 or 7 matches in 1 summary closely with strength and conditioning tournament. The score of ippon can be coaches to develop an appropriate given to a judo competitor by one of the For elite judo athletes and recre- strength and conditioning program for following 4 ways: their athletes. ational judo athletes alike, sport- • Throwing an opponent onto his or specific strength and conditioning This article will discuss the literature her back with impetus. published on injuries most common to • Holding an opponent down on his is essential in the prevention of in- grappling athletes and will make recom- or her back for 25 seconds. mendations regarding strength and con- • Strangling an opponent into submis- juries and for enhancing perfor- ditioning approaches to prevent injury sion. mance. This article offers sugges- and improve performance. We encourage • Joint-locking an opponent into sub- the athletes and coaches to keep an active mission. tions for judo athletes and coaches mind in analyzing what works best for them. The methods described in this arti- If a match is not won by ippon by the for the development of strength and cle are what have worked for our athletes, end of regulation time, then whomever conditioning programs specific to but may not be best for others. Combin- has accumulated the most fractional ing the effects of a properly designed and points during the match is declared the the requirements of their sport. executed strength and conditioning pro- winner. gram with quality coaching on the tech- nical aspects of judo will improve perfor- Injuries udo, one of the most popular sports mance and help to prevent injury. Preventing injury in sports by training in the world, is an exciting grap- specific joints identified as frequently J pling sport similar to wrestling, but Rules of the Game injured is known as prehabilitation (4), unlike wrestling, the competitors wear Judo matches may last anywhere from 3 and identifying injuries incurred in spe- thick jackets called judogis or gis. The gi to 10 minutes depending on a variety of cific sports and developing programs to allows for different tactical approaches factors, but the regulation time for na- prevent them is a top priority of strength for the judo athlete when compared to tional and international matches is one and conditioning coaches. It is also the wrestling, and some say judo is more 5-minute period. A judo competitor can judo coach’s responsibility to be knowl- technically oriented as a result of this win a match by scoring an ippon (“full edgeable about the most common in- difference. Nonetheless, judo athletes point”). If an ippon is scored, then the juries in judo and about how the rely heavily on strength and condition- match is over. This is an important dis- strength and conditioning program will ing to ensure success. Every judo coach tinction to the judo athlete who may be of benefit to their athletes. 26 April 2005 • Strength and Conditioning Journal Common injury sites in wrestling occur reported. Approximately 70% of the in- lines for effective strength training pro- at the knee, shoulder, ankle, head, elbow juries reported occurred during practice, grams for grappling athletes (5, 7, 9, 12, and neck (2, 6). Although neck injuries and upper-limb injuries were more com- 13, 15). These programs commonly em- are most frequent in football and hockey mon in judo when compared with the ploy exercises that enhance the strength of (1), the neck injuries in grappling sports other sports. The researchers also report- all major muscle groups combined with like wrestling and judo, although rela- ed that dislocations were relatively more lifts done in a ballistic manner. These lifts tively rare, are no less catastrophic (2, frequent in karate and judo (8). include the Olympic lifts and their sup- 3). Previous studies reporting on the plements (power clean, power snatch, sport of wrestling have documented a Athletes in grappling sports may suffer hang clean, hang snatch, and high pulls) wide range of injury rates, from 10 to injuries at many locations on the body. and other lifts using an explosive phase, 70%, depending on a variety of factors There is conflicting evidence regarding such as medicine ball throws, weighted including how injury is defined, the whether the rate of injury is higher in squat jumps, and weighted split jumps. population being studied, and whether a practice or competition, but the impli- tournament or a season was evaluated cations for coaches are clear: Neck training should be a special con- (10). sideration for all grappling athletes. • Create a strength-training program Judo athletes are encouraged to throw Pasque and Hewett (10) performed a that is comprehensive and balanced their opponents onto their backs with prospective study to evaluate injury pat- in nature. high force. Because of the nature of terns in a large population of 458 high- • Conduct hard randori (the technical grappling and combat sports, the judo school wrestlers during one season. term used to describe freestyle prac- athletes are sometimes at risk for cervical There were 219 injuries in 418 wrestlers tice in judo) sessions in the first half injury because body positions of the ath- followed throughout the season, for an of practice, or make sure the condi- letes can become quite contorted. Some- overall injury incidence of 52 injuries tioning level of the athletes is high times athletes being thrown risk cervical per 100 wrestlers per season. The most before conducting hard randori in spine injuries to avoid landing on their common injury sites were the shoulder the second half of practice. backs and conceding the score of ippon (24%) and the knee (17%). The re- • Focus on technical mastery in the (Figures 1 and 2). searchers noted that the majority of in- areas of throwing, falling, hold- juries occurred in practice (63%), al- downs, and arm-locks. Our strength-training program includes though the injury rate was higher in a balanced combination of neck exercis- match competitions. Sixty-eight percent Strength Training es for our judo athletes that includes a 4- of practice injuries occurred during hard Fleck and Kraemer (4) recommend per- way neck machine (Nautilus, Vancou- wrestling, 23% during drills, and 9% forming a needs analysis before develop- ver, WA), manual resistance exercises, during conditioning. Sixty-seven per- ing a strength and conditioning pro- and free-weight exercises. The exercise cent of all practice injuries occurred gram for an athlete of a particular sport. movements target the cervical muscula- during the last half of practice. Similar The analysis should include a considera- ture, and include neck flexion, neck ex- findings were seen in match competi- tion of these questions: tension, and lateral flexion. Additional- tion, in which 42 and 36% of injuries ly, the upper trapezius and levator occurred in the second and third peri- • What muscle groups need to be scapulae play a role in cervical stabiliza- ods, respectively, versus only 22% in the trained? tion and are targeted with a scapular-ele- first period (10). Other researchers • What are the basic energy sources vation movement. Table 1 shows combi- noted higher injury rates during compe- that need to be trained? nations of neck exercises to improve tition (2). • What type of muscle actions should overall neck strength. The athletes be used in the sport? choose one of these cycles and can per- It is logical to think the injuries in judo • What are the primary sites of injury? form as few as 1 set of each exercise to ef- would be similar to those found in ficiently train the neck musculature. wrestling because judo is a jacketed form The primary sites of injury have already The strength and conditioning coach of wrestling. Finnish researchers (8) used been discussed and are related to the first must educate the athlete regarding the national insurance records to analyze the question; all major muscle groups should importance of strict form in and overall types of injuries sustained by athletes be included in the strength-training pro- balance of the neck exercises. If 2 sets are participating in soccer, ice hockey, vol- gram for the judo athlete because of the performed for the anterior cervical mus- leyball, basketball, judo, and karate over diverse nature of injuries in grappling culature, then 2 sets should be done for a 5-year period (1987–1991), and karate sports. A comprehensive literature review the posterior musculature. In some and judo had the highest rates of injury found numerous works offering guide- cases, where muscular imbalances have April 2005 • Strength and Conditioning Journal 27 been identified, however, athletes may be required to work a particular muscle group or plane of motion more than an- other. Another special consideration for the judo athlete is grip strength. In judo, if an athlete dominates the grip fighting, that athlete is usually in control of the match and has a higher chance of win- ning. Although there are tactical and strategic approaches to dominating the grips, overall grip strength does play a role. There are numerous exercises that focus on the grip, and the following list is only a partial list of what the judo ath- lete can use to improve grip strength and endurance: • Wrist curls. • Reverse wrist curls. • Barbell curls with pronated grip. • Pronated or supinated barbell or dumbbell curls with a “thick” bar.