The subject really states the question. Curious if Judo is a good form of martial arts for self defense. Any and all comments and suggestions would be appreciated.

Took it when I was younger got to purple belt,FYI next is brown then black. Got bored and quit. Great martial art if you have a good teacher.Most of throws can help you if someone lunges at you or try's get you in a choke hold.There are some good grappling techniques on the floor too.

Well BJJ, which dominated early MMA, was based upon judo.

BJJ competition rules make it a better self defense choice, but if I couldn't do BJJ, next best is judo or wrestling.

Judo is a fine starting point for a comprehensive self defense strategy.

take-down defense and safely falling is highly practical. Grappling is outstanding for controlling a single opponent, often w/o injuring them. Body awareness, mental training, coordination, sensitivity to the opponent, and physical strength are all boons to self defense. Its often touted that most fights end on the ground, so there's that too.

In my opinion, you don't really want to be on the grappling ground if there are multiple opponents, so thats one strike against judo. Also for smaller people working against a larger opponent, it takes a lot of skill to overcome a larger person's body mass and brute strength (but it can be done).

There are other martial arts that are better for learning striking techniques.

Judo is a really good martial art for self defense. I am going on 5 years now training in judo and about 2 years for BJJ. Look for a sensi how is self defense oriented. Alot of sensi's are sport oriented. Which is geared for throws say 80% throws and 20% ground work. My Sensi does throws and ground work 50/50.

I have my judo as LEO a few times in the past few years and believe I prevailed because of it. I like the grappling martial arts because it does not look violent on video vs some of the striking arts such as karate, Kung Fu, or tang so doo. On video if I was punching or kicking someone it just looks like I am beating them up. With grappling it looks like I take them to the ground and gain control of that inmate. That being said I do alot of support side techniques due to a majority of techniques where you turn your strong hip into your opponet. Which is no good if you carry a sidearm.

What I always say about judo throws, take what ever you weigh and ask do you want (enter your #) lbs of concrete hitting you, because that's what happens when you get thrown to the ground. That's not taking into account of the force that is generated from the throw and my weight falling on top of them after the throw.

Hope that makes sense and good luck with your training.

I think Judo is a good adjunct martial and an amazing way to get in great shape. I say adjunct because in all honesty you are practicing NOT to harm anyone. If you are taking Judo for self defense, then you need to get together with others in your class that are similarly minded and practice with the focus on combat. Learn the moves for sport then figure out how to use them in the street. Some instructors will be willing to go over the self defense applications if they know them. I have not progressed past my brown belt in judo despite my having 8 years in rank, focusing instead on my black belt in a more fighting art and more recently in a weapon based art, but often find myself going back to Judo techniques when things either go to the ground, or FOR take-downs.

Judo is full of great tools for your tool box. The Japanese knew their way around Joint locks and Chokes and there is only so many ways to do them. With a strong base in them from Judo, if you transition to something else later, you will be able to focus on subtleties in techniques you know than learning them from scratch.

Just like "What's the best gun" threads, everyone has their opinion that their Kung fu is strongest, but the reality is that YOU are the most important part of a martial art. If you want to win, you will find a way. If you aren't cheating then you aren't trying hard enough.. (in a fight anyways...)

jim

I think judo is fantastic for self defense. I do BJJ also, but prefer Judo. Judo will teach you how to control another person, possibly preventing a fight from actually happening. You can't have ALL lethal techniques in your arsenal... If you do need to jack someone up, slamming them on the ground will probably do the trick.

I recommend a competition-focused school, contracting an earlier poster. Competition is the only way to find out if your techniques work "in the real world." Same thing with any other discipline. If you hear that "our art is too deadly for the ring" that person is chock full of bull pucky.

Nope, there is no weapons training. I don't see this as a deficit though. Learning how to control another person's body works with and without weapons. Wrist control is wrist control with and without a knife. In the chaos of a fight, fundamentals are what's going to be important, not some trick disarming move. (Unless you've drilled the exact scenario 1000's of times) I've rolled with people that are really into fighting with weapons, and in my experience, they are terrible fighters. They focus on training for extremely low probability fight events, like someone running at you with a knife raised over their head. I believe that it's better to train the fundamentals of unarmed combat, and improvise the low-probability events, like having to fight a midget with a chainsaw. (I'm sure some dojo out there trains for this.)

As for dirty tricks, they are good to have, but you must be careful that you aren't developing a collection of only dirty tricks, without strong fight fundamentals. Finger manipulation is cool, and possibly useful, but if you can't take a person to the ground and stay in control of them, what use is breaking a finger? Breaking necks? Would you seriously do that to somebody you got into a fight with? Realistically, I see no value in training in that. Rendering someone unconscious with a choke does the same thing, without the life-ruining legal aftermath.

The advantage of being in a competition-focused school is that you know how to apply all of your techniques to a resisting opponent. Competitions are as close to a real fight as you're going to get, it will help you control your adrenaline, breathing, thought process, etc. Those are benefits you can't get from drilling lethal moves at a self-defense focused school. A person in completion will have actually choked out people, applied joint locks, and scored takedowns, while under a high level of stress. A knife fighter cannot practice actually cutting someone, or taking a real knife from someone ACTUALLY trying to stab them. (The gun stuff you can kinda practice with gas powered airsoft or simunitions, it hurts pretty badly.) I'll put my money on the person with competition experience when if comes to a real fight.

And that's my opinion, worth every cent you paid for it.

This is why I liked Russian Systema as the instructors only used what actually worked (they had real world experience in the use of the art in military situations) and taught you to make your own system of martial arts based on how you naturally moved. It teaches efficiency and economy in motion and is very similar to Jeet Kune Do in philosophy. They used real blades without an edge and a rounded point and they tried to actually stab you. Yes, it hurt! You did learn quickly as they started slowly and sped it up so that you would understand and be able to follow it. It also...was not done with any anger or aggression. They believe that the student and teacher are both learning here. A lot of laughter too.

Kelly McCann is a joke.

I'd rather learn to actually beat another unarmed person then pretend to disarm someone with a gun.

Breaking necks. I doubt they actually break any necks in training. It might not be quit as easy as you might think.

Old school catch wrestling used neck crinks and other "dirty" techniques not practiced anymore. But they actually used them, like, for real. In competition.

I did a judo hip toss to a friend when he was trying to grab me, and i also was able to prevent being thrown using a defense underarm judo technique. I never learned judo, but i have watched a lot of mma fights. So yes learn it and then learn the other like jiu jitsu,wrestling, kickboxing, etc...