I am interested in taking Judo. Does anyone know if it is effective in self defense? Is there a belt system?

I am interested in taking Judo for my first martial art, ideally for self defense and fun. Ideally one day I would like to compete. I am only 125lbs, 5%26#039;5%26quot;. Would I be big enough to be effective?|||It looks like most of the people that tried to answer don%26#039;t know what they are talking about.


Judo is meant for self defense. It is a very good martial arts. Today many dojo do enter into competitions. You will have a lot of fun. It is a grappling arts. It does includes pins, chokes and other submissions. Your size will not matter. You will learn how to use another person size and weight and momentum against them. You can be small and still defeat larger opponents. Yes there is a belt system. Actually the belt ranking system for most martial arts originated in Judo by Dr, Jigoro Kano, the founder of Judo. This belt system is used by most all of today%26#039;s Japanese influenced arts.





As far as comment as most all fight start in a clinch, that is false. There are no studies that will prove that. But if someone were to throw a punch at you you can easily take that punch and use that persons arm to throw him or choke or and arm bar. This takes time before you learn all of that.








I wish you the best. Have fun learning judo|||I would endorse Judo as a self-defense method. You spend the entire class in the clinch trying to throw the opponent to the ground, or trying to prevent yourself from being thrown. It builds good balance, which will keep you off of the ground in a real fight, and you%26#039;ll have some experience fighting in the clinch, which is where most fights start anyway. It will also give you some skills to survive on the ground if you end up there. However, if you%26#039;re interested in self-defense, I would suggest that you supplement your training with a striking system like boxing or Wing Chun, or possible a total-defense system like Krav Maga.





Yes, there is a belt system, but don%26#039;t worry about that at first. Just try to learn and perfect your technique. The rank will come when it comes. You can%26#039;t (or at least shouldn%26#039;t) get rank until your technical level shows that you deserve it.|||Judo was not designed for self defense but seems to have been designed to tone down Ju Jitsu. I dont think its an effective self defense method. Judo is based largely on throwing and take downs which are dangerous against a guy with a weapon, multiple opponents or even an opponent who is stronger then you.|||holy cow...did some one say judo was not meant for self defense...





http://uk.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoug...





Remember in judo you learn how to throw people that have learned how to counter your throws, When some one does not know how to counter your throws they go down much much more easy.





If you are interested go check it out and see if you like it.





good luck|||Judo for self defence goes like this. You throw them to the ground. That really hurts because it%26#039;s not on mats and they probably won%26#039;t know how to fall. When you take judo you%26#039;ll spend the first few weeks just learning to fall. Even when you know how to fall you%26#039;ll always be stunned for a second after taking a hard throw. If they still want to fight you kick them while they%26#039;re down until they don%26#039;t want to get up anymore.|||well its take downs are really good but you may want to learn karate to compliment it on the fighting side most people teach it as a sport but it doesnt mean you cant use it in a fight