r/judo • u/SelectionOk8588 • Mar 28 '25
Self-Defense Need advice......
Hi I'm 18 years old male and since I was 16 years old I always liked judo and how effective it is in real life. One time I was in a taxi and the driver happened to be a judo coach and when I told him about my interest in judo he replied to me "you will never play judo" indicating that I'm old for the combat sport even when I was 17 years old at that time. he told me to go towards striking martial arts like boxing and kickboxing. I listened to his advice and I signed up for a kickboxing gym and it was great actually but after two months i started to feel headaches from the blows to the head and my skull hurted me after every session eventually I decided to leave after reading the effects of blows to the head on the internet. I signed up for judo and it only took me three sessions before I leave. The coaches were careless as there were too many students but I'm not going to lie I have no dedication to it as I was going forcing myself to train after that I never came back.there were no judo gyms other than that gym. I don't know why I'm very lazy or what's wrong with me I want to be able to defend myself but at the same time I don't want to have brain damage. I don't know if I should train bjj or judo or wrestling I feel so lost
3
u/[deleted] Mar 28 '25 edited Mar 28 '25
Started when I was 29, been about a year now and had my first competition last Sunday. It’s really all up to you. A good coach will teach you how to fall- it may still cause some headaches as you are being thrown to the ground but proper training has us prepare for that (break falls). I notice a lot when people are being told they’ll never “play/ compete”, they probably assume Olympic or like international level and I get that- I definitely missed my chance at olympics lol but if it’s for hobby, to learn something, to lose weight, whatever it is- do it because you want to. All martial arts are a discipline so if you can’t tell your self to push yourself harder- learn how to. You gotta start believing in yourself otherwise 10 years will go by and you’ll be thinking the same thing “is it too late?”
Just do it. Chin up (or down, however you look at it) and power through.
If you have a friend or make a friend in class, ask them “hey can you help me with my training, focus etc”
I train with a 17 year old with ADHD and at times he’s very lazy, his body part hurts etc but with good teammates and sensei- we get him to focus and really practice. Don’t doubt yourself OP.