One Way to Remove Strength from Takedowns/Throws
Feb. 25, 2011 By: Filed in: Throws/Takedowns
This week I was pondering a particular technique, our neck twisting takedown. In this takedown, you take hold of your uke’s head, draw it to your shoulder (or chest depending on your height), then you turn their head as you turn your entire body, taking them to the ground. It’s a great technique, but it’s fairly technical. If done incorrectly with an overuse of strength it can strain your uke’s neck. As a result, I wanted to come up with a way to help reduce the use of strength when students execute this technique. This post is about what I came up with.
After thinking about the mechanics of takedowns and throws, I considered the fact that when people engage their hand strength into their grip, they have a greater tendency to use their arm strength to make a technique happen. That is why when we teach students a basic hip throw (o-goshi) we tell them to reach their arm to their uke’s opposite shoulder then wave with it. By waving, it reduces the amount of arm strength they can use to complete the throw.
I wanted to come up with a similar teaching devise for our nose twisting takedown. I decided that the best way to do this was to have students drum their fingers on their uke’s head. This simulates the hand wave teaching device for the hip throw. It prevents the student from taking too strong a grip on their uke’s head, forcing them to use their body structure more to complete the takedown. It worked out very well and students liked having the visual reminder to help them not rely on strength.
I think that these concepts are quite versatile and can be applied to many types of throws and takedowns. Try experimenting with it and let me know how it works out for you. 🙂
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You can also try the "two fingers" approach as a training tool. They're only allowed to use two fingers on each hand to execute any technique. Works wonders for sensitivity and finesse building.
That's a good one. I've often used it as a way of handling students who are overusing their arms when throwing.