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Judo Martial Arts Training - How to Do Armlocks

Author: Tony Hackerott
Date Posted: May 23, 2009

In modern judo the only locking techniques permitted are armlocks and the only joint considered to be a legitimate target is the elbow joint. In the USA strangles are sometimes described as choke-locks or choke-holds, but there is no torsion or breaking action applied to the cervical vertebrae - such actions are potentially highly injurious and are not permitted as a broken neck could result. From the perspective of combat the curious aspect is that the elbow is probably the least easily damaged joint of the body and a relatively difficult target. Wrists and shoulders are not safe joints to attack in a full-blooded way precisely because they are too easily damaged. Even with safety-inspired rules in place to protect the competitor, shoulder injuries occasionally result from incorrectly applied or over-zealous attempts at techniques like waki-gatame or ude-garami without any ensuing elbow damage.

Leg locks such as ashi-garami, where the knee joint was the target of the technique, were originally a part of judo training but were removed for safety reasons. The beginner should understand that the term leg lock means a lock applied against the ankle or knee joint, not an armlock applied using the power of one or both legs, which is permitted in techniques like hara-gatame and ashi-gatame. The Kodokan also banned a technique called doji-jime, a kind of leg-scissors applied to the waist which crushed the kidneys and liver.

The important thing to remember about armlocks is that there is no need to suffer injury. If there is no escape from a well-applied technique submit before any damage results. There are many instances in judo of fighters refusing to submit and getting injured, which while in one way admirable, as indicative of the fighting spirit or perhaps just pure stubbornness of top judo players, ultimately has to be considered foolhardy. There is no need for young athletes to suffer avoidable injuries which can return to plague them in later life. Not tapping when an armlock is applied simply shows that a player has been badly trained in modern terms.

One of the stories often used by coaches, not always judiciously, to instil fighting spirit in their pupils is of the great Japanese champion Isao Okano, who refused to submit when the relatively unknown Soviet fighter Michuchenko arm-locked him with juji-ga-tame. The emergence of the Soviets as a force in judo at the beginning of the 1960s was spectacular, arriving as they did with a range of extremely powerful techniques derived from sombo wrestling which had not been seen in judo. One of them was the rolling juji-gatame. Okano, the reigning All Japan Champion at the time, unexpectedly found himself caught in an irretrievable situation but with typical kamikaze fighting spirit refused to tap to indicate submission, resisting the pain until, inevitably, his elbow was dislocated. Unfortunately such acts of defiance, however brave, do not change the result. Michuchenko still won the contest and Okano simply had an injured elbow for his pains.

The elbow is a hinge joint and can be hyper-extended, compressed or twisted to force a submission. Although armlocks can be applied in standing judo it is very difficult to get a submission and uke will usually escape on to the ground, offering good ne-waza opportunities. It is a prohibited act to apply a standing armlock and simultaneously try to throw your opponent since elbow injury is almost inevitable in such cases, for example waki-gatame combined with an uchimata leg action. There is, however, a grey area which seems to be open to the referee's interpretation. The technique is valid if an armlock is skilfully applied while standing and uke attempts to escape onto the ground but tori is able to control him and follow into groundwork and then obtain the submission.

The most commonly occurring armlock in competition is juji-gatame, which is usually attempted when a forward throw fails and the player attempting the throw goes to his knees, offering his back to his opponent. Once a skilled exponent of juji-gatame gets into this position it becomes very difficult to defend. If uke is quick enough and strong enough he can get to his feet, and into a position from which he can lift tori from the ground, which results in a call of matte. If tori controls him properly with the legs he will not, however, be able to do his.

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Article Source: JKD Street Combat - online collection of Judo articles.

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