r/judo • u/Virtual_Barnacle_555 • Jun 23 '25
Judo x MMA Questioning my decision to play Judo in a lefty stance
About me:
I'm a Go-Kyu green belt at a west coast USA Dojo. Im about 5'6", 155lbs (168cm, 70kg) and naturally right handed.
I decided to learn Judo from a left stance and practice all my throws left-handed, because I have much more experience standing that way from Boxing and Muay Thai before committing to Judo. And I figured I would want to be able to pull off Judo waza from that stance. I'm not planing on competing in MMA but ideally would like to be able to integrate all that i've learned.
I've had some success in randori hitting hiza-guruma, a ken-ken O-soto-gari. But I still find it very challenging to feel like I'm making progress during randori.
The challenges of fighting kenka-yotsu and difference in turning strength compared to my right side have me questioning if I should just switch back to a right-foot forward stance.
Also I have previously experimented with Boxing in a southpaw stance and have found that, like playing Judo lefty, it seems to make your game even more asymmetric than the 'orthodox' stance.
Would It be a bad idea to have a sort of play 'hybrid', where I have one or two well developed lefty throws, grip-fight in a left stance, but then start to develop my right handed throws instead ?
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u/IlIlllIIIlllllI shodan Jun 23 '25
I think you should fully commit to being either left hand or right hand player.
Probably most important is developing your system, but playing "hybrid" is not easy to develop a strong system.
Left handers play kenka yotsu a lot more than right handers. If you like kenka yotsu, then stay left.
Kenka yotsu, ai yotsu, they all have their own difficulties for you to figure out. It will always be "challenging". But they are very different: different gripping, different strong throws, different gameplan.
It is best to commit to one stance if you want to mature as a player
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u/Virtual_Barnacle_555 Jun 23 '25
Are there any judoka that you would recommend studying that play a lefty game but are right handed ?
Thanks for your response.
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u/IlIlllIIIlllllI shodan Jun 24 '25
Many judokas play left handed, but there's really no way to know if they are "naturally" right handed. I would say there is no difference. Physically, I don't think it matters that much, if you do enough judo your body will get better at doing judo
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u/teaqhs yonkyu Jun 23 '25
Just to clarify, are you asking if it is ok to stand lefty, and mainly throw lefty with some righty throws? Or do you mean stand lefty, have some lefty throws but mainly throw righty?
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u/Virtual_Barnacle_555 Jun 23 '25
My original thought was that I would consider returning to righty. Mainly because I find doing proper kuzushi awkward in kenka-yotsu, but thats also probably just due to inexperience.
It probably is a steeper learning curve going lefty, but my sensei is also lefty so that is kind of a rare opportunity to learn from.
In your two scenarios do you have a take on which one would be better ?
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u/Uchimatty Jun 23 '25
Add a right handed ippon seoi and sode. They’ll work well with your lefty o soto. You can swing the leg across for o soto, but just cross step instead of hooking your opponent’s leg, then swing your other leg around and turn for the sode/seoi. Your opponent’s defense will have already created the posture and pocket required for the throw.
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u/NemoNoones ikkyu Jun 23 '25
Lefty has advantages in Judo. I was the opposite of you. I strike good in Orthodox but my Judo is righty. And did fight MMA with a Judo base so I learned striking as a southpaw (judo righty) because Judo was my base.
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u/No_Cherry2477 Jun 23 '25
I am strangely your opposite. I am a lefty in everything I do. Pretty extreme, down to my computer mouse being set left-handed.
But for judo, I reset all prior training and went through the Kodokan for my Shodan, and everything was done right handed. So I committed to learning everything right-handed.
After several years of training, my right-handed techniques far surpassed my left-handed ones, which I rarely practiced because I was winning a lot and I liked being able to beat right-handers with right-handed techniques.
But my right shoulder didn't agree with me. I had massive reconstructive surgery on my right shoulder when I was 16 due to a lot of exuberant youth risks taken in highly competitive wrestling.
My right shoulder started dislocating again regularly so I decided to switch to lefty. It was strangely a huge learning curve switching to left-handed techniques. But now, it is so natural for me to grip as a left-hander and then switch into right-handed techniques when my opponent "forces" me into right-handed.
I probably win 40% of my matches even now right handed. But I fight 80% of the time left-handed because my shoulder can't handle the strain. It's in that 20% time window when I switch to right handed that opponents open up and end game for one of the two of us starts. Fortunately for me though, my opponents don't know I am actually more comfortable right handed in general, but I have to switch to lefty to finish except for ashi waza.
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u/Virtual_Barnacle_555 Jun 23 '25 edited Jun 23 '25
thank you, I found this informative.
What was your level of experience when you decided to switch to your dominant lefty side ?
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u/kleighcs Jun 23 '25
You should look up Ryan Reser. He's a lefty. I just got back from a camp where he taught a ton of left versus righty skills.
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u/aragon0510 Jun 23 '25
that's pretty much natural if you come from striking arts. When I do combat sambo, my throws are from orthodox boxing stance, but then if i do wrestling sambo or judo, it's right forward stance
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u/Virtual_Barnacle_555 Jun 23 '25
In Combat Sambo, do you just strike orthodox until you clinch and then throw with righty grips, or do you also throw left ?
I saw a Sanda training video where it seemed like striking orthodox and throwing left was what right handed fighters are taught, and was wondering how Combat Sambo does this.
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u/aragon0510 Jun 24 '25
I throw mostly left in my combat sambo sessions. But to be honest, it depends a lot of situations, for example, in a not so close clinch, legs are still far away but heads are close, it's pretty much still the same orthodox (left lead) and so it's easier and quicker to start throws from the left. If it's a tight, really tight clinch, there's not much room for a left or right anymore. Imagine this as a really close hug.
But this is all about my legs. My grips aren't strictly lefty righty as in judo, since it's very hard to get a grip, you don't get picky
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u/chupacabra5150 Jun 23 '25
I grew up with Judo and Aikido, but also JKD, escrima/kali, and boxing. So as a righty, I fight left lead and not right lead.
My judo/Aikido sensei demanded proficiency on both sides. So it was A LOT of uchikomis and drills.
So it was 10 reps right lead. 15 reps left lead. This was done for multiple sets
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u/Rich_Barracuda333 yonkyu Jun 23 '25
Whatever you find most comfortable.
Obviously work with your training partners to find things that make both work, in addition to left sided ai-yotsu, by going kenka-yotsu you’ll be helping your partners to develop their judo alongside yours as well for when you all come across someone who’s the opposite from one another.
I haven’t personally gone for kenka, but I do prefer doing some left sided throws from a right sided ai-yotsu.
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u/Dempsterbjj Jun 23 '25
Once you enter clinch from striking range you can switch to whatever stance is most beneficial for you. I box and kickbox in orthodox stance but will often switch to Southpaw if I get worked into a corner.
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u/Dependent-Frame-238 Jun 23 '25
Age old question. Pick the side you are most comfortable with. Which side doesn't matter, what really matters is becoming the best version of the side you choose. You will always have different opponents who play different stances. Play to your strengths
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u/TheSweatyNerd shodan + BJJ black Jun 23 '25
I do judo left handed as a right handed person because of previous muay thai experience. It hasn't hindered my development at all.