Judo Services

About Judo

The corporate judo workshop starts with learning to fall, and that order is not accidental. Ukemi — safe falling — protects the person being thrown; learning to fall before learning to throw is judo's first rule, and the first twenty minutes of a corporate session are given to it. No judo workshop that skips this part is safe.

Same principle as aikido, different energy

Judo and aikido share the same idea: force is not met with force, the partner's balance is used. The difference is tempo. Aikido is slow and calm; judo is dynamic, involves falling and throwing, needs fitness and makes people sweat. In a corporate programme the split works like this: a leadership group wanting calm and a behavioural focus goes to aikido, a younger team wanting energy and physical load goes to judo. The counter-attack using the opponent's strength programme uses both.

Session flow

• Warm-up and mobility (10 min). Neck, shoulders and hips; mandatory before falling.
• Ukemi — safe falling (20 min). Backward, sideways and forward falls; on mats, starting low.
• Kuzushi — balance-breaking (15 min). Feeling and shifting the partner's centre of gravity; practised without throwing, and the most instructive part of the session.
• Controlled throws (15 min). One or two basic techniques; from the knees, slowly, under instructor supervision. The partner is ready to fall every time.
• Debrief (10 min). A bridge into the business context when combined with a training programme.

Why a team does judo

In judo the thrower is responsible for the person falling — an uncontrolled throw injures the partner. That relationship of responsibility is lived in every minute of partner work and is the physical counterpart of the word "trust". For newly merged teams, departments that do not know each other and groups whose roles are being redrawn, judo is an hour in which trust is built with the body rather than with words. For an international team it also requires no shared language: the instructor demonstrates, the partner feels.

Venue and equipment

Mats are mandatory; 3–4 m² of mat per person is needed. A dojo is the natural venue; with portable mats a hotel hall or sports hall works, but mat count and setup time enter the budget. A judogi is preferred for grip work and can be supplied; otherwise adapted grips on a thick sweatshirt are used. Shoes and jewellery come off, nails must be short.

Safety

A health declaration is requested from every participant. Anyone with neck, shoulder, back or knee conditions sits out the throwing section; balance-breaking and falling technique are given at low level. A maximum of eight people work per instructor, and in the throwing section the instructor watches each pair individually. Randori (free sparring) is not done in corporate workshops. Partners rotate constantly; physical contact is stated clearly in the invitation, and any participant can work with a same-sex partner or with the instructor.

Frequently asked questions