Tripping vs Throwing: A Different Way to Conceptualize Throws
Throws get very mixed reviews. Some people absolutely love throwing, and really look forward to learning how to toss people about the mats. Other people get nervous and apprehensive when it comes to learning throws.
The very word throwing carries with it a lot of connotation. Throwing implies a requirement of strength, dexterity and energy, and is generally done in the movies by big tough guys with large muscles.
When people try to throw for the first time, you can almost see the big intake of breath before they try and pick someone up and throw them, regardless of how you’ve explained the technique.
Throwing is one of reasons that the assertion made by Jiu-jitsu instructors that it can be done anyone regardless of strength and size is often met with skepticism. The punching, the kicking, that’s ok, even perhaps the locks seem attainable. But tell someone that they’re going to learn to how throw people larger then themselves, well, that’s hard to believe. (more…)
How to Throw Big When You’re Small
In the past year, I’ve picked up a few students who are smaller women. When I say small, I mean like 12-year-old small. These women are between 5’0″ and 5’2″. They are truly petite. I’ve been working with them lately to help them with their throwing. They may not have confidence in their ability to throw a 6’3″ guy who is over 200 lbs right now, but ironically, they’ll be better at throwing down the line if they stick with it. (more…)
One Way to Remove Strength from Takedowns/Throws
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.
Throwing & Being Thrown as a Workout
The following day after a recent Shorinji Kan class, I woke up with sore muscles all over my body. This surprised me because I’m in pretty good shape and I hadn’t thought the class overly intense. And yet my muscles seemed to disagree with that conclusion.
After some thought I realized that the class had done more throwing than I had done in a while. I had led classes that had throwing in them, but I hadn’t actually taken part in such a class in some time.
Throwing, and particularly being thrown, is a great all-over workout. It uses all the muscles in your body from your neck down to your legs. And if you enjoy the training of throwing and being thrown, you don’t even notice how much work you’re doing at the time. If you do a lot of it, you can build up good endurance for martial arts training.
That’s why I like to do power throwing as an exercise on occasion in my classes. Students basically do their throws with a partner repeatedly with speed and power for a set amount of time, usually around 2-3 minutes. One partner throws the other and immediately after being thrown the uke bounces up and throws his or her partner in return. Lather, rinse, repeat, until the time period is up. I usually give my students a 1-minute break after which the students do a second round.
I highly recommend this as an intensity exercise for students with enough throwing experience. Throwing and being thrown repeatedly over longer periods of time is also a good way to develop the endurance that is required for higher level belt tests that are longer in duration.
Improving Throws and Takedowns Using the Triangle of Balance
Oftentimes, students have trouble getting a throw or takedown to work. Ninety percent of the time, the problem they’re having can be worked out using a teaching tool I use called, “The Triangle of Balance.”
The triangle of balance is as follows. Your partner, stands on two corners of a equilateral triangle, whether it is pointing forwards or backwards. The third, invisible corner (marked with a red X on both triangles) indicates the direction in which your partner’s balance is weakest.
The easiest way to off-balance your partner in order to throw them is to draw them in either of these two directions. Conversely, if you try to throw someone against the direction in which the triangle is pointing, whereby the two corners on which the partner is standing are in a line, it will be much harder to throw them.
Whenever a student is having trouble throwing or taking down a partner, it is usually because they have not sufficiently taken their partner off balance. Sometimes it is because the partner has stepped in an unexpected direction. Sometimes it is because the student attempting the throw has not positioned themselves properly in order to off-balance their partner. By using the triangle of balance, students can often figure out how to alter their position in order to more efficiently off-balance their partner for a throw.
While the triangle of balance was taught to me by my Sensei, Ed Hiscoe Shihan, there is a well-written book called The Science of Takedowns, Throws, and Grappling for Self-Defense
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