Everything I Need to Know I Learned from Doing Hip Throws
The more years I do hip throws, the more I seem to get out of it. At first it was simply the joy of slamming someone down on the ground effortlessly… Who am I kidding? I still enjoy that. But now I look at the hip throw and see how it has many parallels to life in general. Here are a few examples:
“Break the balance first and the rest is easy.” When throwing someone, you break their balance first otherwise it is much more difficult, sometimes impossible, to throw them. As a metaphor for life, I’ve learned that when trying to accomplish a goal, it’s important to do all the necessary preparations first so that things proceed smoothly.
“If you want to break someone’s balance, you have to get lower than their centre of gravity.” When it comes to hip throws, you have to bend your knees and get your hips lower than your uke’s hips. As a metaphor for life, I’ve learned that if you follow sound strategy and put your efforts on the right things you can accomplish much more with a lot less work.
“Once you’ve broken the balance, don’t wait; throw your uke immediately.” When beginners start doing hip throw, they often wait too long before throwing once the balance is broken. This leads to the person getting tired as they support their uke’s weight, particularly if uke is heavier than them. As a metaphor for life, I’ve learned that there’s no point in carrying emotional burdens. It tires you out and makes life seem heavy. Once you’ve dealt with a problem appropriately, “throw” it away and move on.
“Even the very small can throw someone much larger with proper technique.” I’ve taught women the size of a 12-year-old to throw men twice as heavy than them. Many of these women thought it would be impossible, but they were able to do it thanks to good technique. As a metaphor for life, I’ve learned that even when things seem impossible, it’s always worth it to try, armed with the right information. Life can be full of surprises.
In addition to the above, I’ve learned that I’ve been doing Jiu-jitsu for waaaaay too long. 😉
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