How difficult is Judo to learn?

Judo looks like the Martial Art for me. It seems practical and cogent. How long would it take to have basic understanding of Judo and be relatively effective in its application?





Also, is Judo trained predominately as a sport or self-defence?





I am 25, athletic, in good shape and will put aside a few hours twice weekly for class|||Judo is a great art for self defense and sport.





Why well it focuses on training against resisting opponents and stems from Japanese jiu-jitsu as does Aikido.





The most difficult thing that they all share is accepting and adapting to break falling if you can endure and accept them you are in my mind half way there.





Just my humble opinion.





Best wishes :)***|||The answer to this question really depends on the instruction you are receiving. I have been athletic my whole life doing sports that are difficult to learn and excel at like skateboarding, skiing, surfing and it took me about 14 months to be able to start doing Judo the right way consistently using technique and timing. However, that didn%26#039;t start happening for me until I switched clubs and started receiving better training.





There are a lot of Judo clubs out there that will show you how to do Judo but not so many will actually teach it to you. There is a tremendous difference! I can show anyone how to do ippon seoi nage but to effectively teach it there are key principles involved that can be drilled in order to perform the throw successfully in practice.





Generally speaking, of all the sports I have done Judo has been the most challenging and the most rewarding.





Edit: By the way, JimboJones gave an excellent answer.|||Think of it like this: Do you want to be effective in its application against people who have never done it before, like on the street? Or do you want to be effective in its application against quality opponents? The first will come rather quickly, but the latter, as you%26#039;ll find out, takes years and years. Judo, like any martial art is not something you simply learn and then say I know it now. Its a system of development and constant improving. Even Olympic Gold Medalists in Judo look to constantly improve, or they would never make it to that level. But, if you reach a point where you are competitive with good judokas, well, you%26#039;ll be surprised how easy it is to dominate an untrained attacker.|||Alot of people have said things like %26quot;against an untrained attacker quite quickly%26quot;


judo is effective but every body is different, my friend is a brown belt in judo has been studying for 4-5 years but he wouldn%26#039;t beat me in a fight, i know no judo. why because i weigh 7 stone more than him and box.


The martial arts effectiveness differs depending on who you are using it against and in what context you are fighting in|||Judo is a wonderful martial art. It is trained as both and actually, the method of training is what was different about it%26#039;s development and difference from other martial arts..





As with any martial art, it does take some time to master, but basic proficiency comes within a few months and improvement is immediately noticeable.





Here is my sensei%26#039;s site... www.gokor.com





Good luck to you. You are about to embark on a great journey.|||Judo is good for self defense. http://uk.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoug...





It is also like every thing in life. You get out of it what you put in to it. If you work hard at it you will get better. Yes, Judo is a hard art to learn, so are all martial arts when trained properly. How ever Judo is very much full contact and can be harder to learn because of that. but that also lets you know that you can do what you train to do.|||you better like getting thrown alot.