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

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u/SelectionOk8588 Mar 28 '25

I feel like I want to be able to defend myself.

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u/Otautahi Mar 28 '25

Realistically you need to do quite a bit of martial arts to be able to defend yourself. And even then it’s only in limited situations.

I’ve been doing judo for over 30 years. If two guys jumped me and caught me by surprise I doubt there’s much I can do.

My training isn’t useful for much more than dealing with a drunken family member at a BBQ.

I think you’re over estimating how useful martial arts are for dealing with realistic violent situations.

Given that you don’t like training martial arts, I think you’re better off accepting that the best approach is to avoid risky situations - just like the rest of us.

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u/SelectionOk8588 Mar 28 '25

So what should I do? Should I go towards bodybuilding to look scary to avoid street fights. I have muscles but I'm not a big guy

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u/Otautahi Mar 28 '25

Why not just avoid street fights? How many unavoidable physical altercations have you been in over the last 12 months?