Translated directly as ‘reinforcement' - in Judo, ‘Hokyo’ involves repeating fundamental movements in order to commit them to your body's memory. Highly valued by Kanamaru - you can improve your Judo with or without a partner. ‘Newaza Hokyo’ reinforces important movements and postures used throug...

Here are four static movements that are important for successful Newaza. All are performed from your back with your head up, to engage your core.

Once competent, these exercises can be linked together into a sequence. You can then apply it to a Judo related situation. Here, Kanamaru demonstrates how to perform the sequence:

There is a lot of twisting in Newaza, so this is an exercise Kanamaru thinks is very important. Starting in a prone plank, you suspend your body weight on your forearms and toes, keeping your core tight and back straight.

The ‘sit through’ is an expansive yet precise movement. Starting in a prone position, with relatively straight arms, you support your weight on your hands, with your hips a little higher than your shoulders. As it is so expansive, it requires a great deal of control.

The first drill relates to Kami shio, and Yoko shio gatame. Lying on your front with your legs wide, you reach forward as far as possible - then pull yourself forwards. It’s very important that for the end posture: your hips are down and your chest is up. You must force your weight through your f...

The shrimp, or in Japanese ‘ebi’, reinforces a fundamental movement in Newaza. It is used to create distance between yourself and your opponent, allowing space to either defend or attack. This exercise imitates pushing your opponent away to create the space needed to defend or attack.

Apart from being more explosive, the main difference between the normal and reverse shrimp is that instead of pushing yourself along the tatami, you use your feet to pull. Starting on your side, you drive your top foot down into the tatami, exploding upwards with the hips and using the momentum t...

This side shuffle is another fairly simple, but a fundamental movement for Ne Waza. You start on your back, leaning your legs and hips to one side, with your arms and shoulders turned the other way. The aim of the movement is to switch your hips and shoulders, finishing in the opposite position. ...

The side jump is very similar to the side shuffle, however, in this exercise, both your upper and lower body start facing the same direction. You kick up with your legs and hips and completely leave the tatami, rotating your body mid-flight to land on the opposite side. It’s a short, explosive ex...

This drill is about maintaining control of your opponent at any given moment in Newaza. Lying on your back, core tight, holding your head off the tatami, you hook your feet in. Executing a kind of cycling motion, you move your partner’s legs back and forth. Although Uke must jump slightly, it is ...

Kanamaru says the most important thing about this drill, is to maintain complete control of your opponent. You must keep tension throughout the exercise.

Yusuke Kanamaru gives you an overview of Tandoku Renshu, or individual practice.

Yusuke Kanamaru walks you through solo drills to practice for seoi nage.

Yusuke Kanamaru shows you drills to practice on your own for osoto gari.

Yusuke Kanamaru shows you drills to practice on your own to improve your ashi waza

Yusuke Kanamaru teaches you the "Around The World" drill for improving your osaekomi transition.

In this series, Kanamaru introduces several simple games that can be employed by coaches to reinforce some of the fundamental and underlying movement principles within judo.

Where applicable, Kanamaru also demonstrates how the principles learnt from each game relate directly to Judo specific sit...

The hand balance game teaches judoka how they can benefit from an opponent's action or reaction in a competitive situation.

It develops balance, decision making and reaction speed. Both judoka adopt a natural posture with their feet shoulder width apart, back straight, and head up. It's importan...

The side-on balance game teaches Judoka to understand the directions in which an opponent may be weak due to their stance and foot positioning. Players learn how to manipulate the balance of their opponent whilst always attempting to maintain their own. It also tests their tactical guile and reac...

Here Kanamaru demonstrates two different stepping patterns; ayumi-ashi on the left and tsugi-ashi on the right. At first glance, they may not look too different, but for judo tsugi-ashi is a much more functional way to move around the tatami. It is very important that judoka know the difference b...

To develop the tsugi-ashi stepping pattern you can play the fencing game. See the previous video for a detailed explanation on tsugi-ashi versus ayumi-ashi

To set up the game players stand at a join between two tatami, which acts as a line to play the game along. They face in opposite directions...

This simple but effective game reinforces the techniques of kuzushi or breaking an opponent's balance. It focuses on using whole body movements led by the hips and utilizing body weight to initiate movement

Using a belt players position it around their hips creating an S shape, ensuring they hav...

Adapted from its popular namesake, this game is great for warming up both body and mind prior to training or competition.

The difference here is that players signal their moves with their feet. Standing with legs together represents rock. Legs apart equals paper and legs split to front and back ...