The simple answer? Because Judo is wicked cool. Enough said.

I was lucky enough to find myself at a Jiu-Jitsu seminar the other day where I got the chance to talk to the famous American Judo Olympic silver medalist Travis Stevens. The strangest part of the seminar is that Travis wasn’t teaching, he was just hanging out in the background. I was understandably star struck and I told him how much I enjoyed the little bit of Judo I had been training, and how I wished I had a time machine so I could go back and learn Judo as a kid, you know standard Jiu-Jitsu chit chat. He replied that he thought everyone should begin their Jiu-Jitsu career with training 6 months of Judo. Hard to argue with that, based on how my Judo sparring had been going lately, I needed help.

We had been training at a small new gym 6 months ago, when a 17 year old kid, an exchange student from eastern Europe walked in for a class. When I asked him if he had ever trained Jiu-Jitsu before, he replied that he trained some Judo. This was an understatement, what he meant was that he had been training Judo since he could walk, and that he was hoping on representing his country in Judo at the 2028 Olympics. Let me start by saying that although he was an amazing athlete, and he was a beast even in no-gi sparring, he was after all still human. But, let me tell you, when he put on a gi and stood Judo rules for a sparring match (no grabbing the legs for wrestling style single or double leg takedowns), he was superhuman. He was slightly smaller than me, but as soon as he got his grips on my gi, he felt like he was 300 lbs., and I instantly knew I was doomed.

For the rest of the 5 minute round he proceeded to throw me with ease, over and over again. I found myself laughing hysterically at how badly it went from there. And it wasn’t just me, everyone in class experienced the same thing. We would film the sparring rounds and watch the playback, only to proclaim that the video did not do it justice to how terrifying it was. Every move I made, he had predicted and used my momentum against me. I got thrown this way and that way, fell backwards, fell forwards, and hit the mats with thud after thud. On the bright side I found ample opportunity to work on my break falls. And if he felt like adding an exclamation point to the throw, he could land on top of you so you got slammed twice. I felt like a brand new white belt, and I felt like I should immediately quit Jiu-Jitsu and train exclusively Judo. I quickly asked him to show some Judo at the start of every class, and so began our Judo journey.

In my experience, in my area, there are lots of Jiu-Jitsu gyms and hardly any Judo gyms. So I may be stuck with my current training regimen. But if I could supplement my Jiu-Jitsu training with some specific Judo training, I would in a heartbeat. Then again, I would also love to train exclusively wrestling, and maybe Muay Thai, and then there really isn’t time in the day for all of that sadly. Make note to self to remember to quit work.

And to say Jiu-Jitsu and Judo and Wrestling are separate disciplines, is a bit untrue. It’s all the same game but played in a slightly different manner. It’s just different rules to get to the same place. It’s all balance, muscle memory, speed, timing, and explosiveness. It’s all a million reps, and a thousand break falls, and hundreds of bruised ribs and pulled muscles. It’s all joy and it’s all pain. After six months of training with the kid who became a good friend, he left to go back home and we all missed him, and we all missed the trainings, but breathed a sigh of relief knowing we wouldn’t be hitting the mats quite as hard anymore. And we will watch his journey, hoping for the chance to go cheer for him in Los Angeles at the 2028 Olympics. In the mean time am I really going to quit Jiu-Jitsu to train Judo? No, but I know what I have been missing, and I respect the hell out of Judo. And as soon as I finish my time machine I am going to go back and train just Judo for six months like Travis advised. Now let me get back to pulling guard like a boss!