Enjoy The Ride | What 6 Decades of Judo Training Can Teach You

Every beginner does the same thing the first time someone tries to throw them. They stiffen. They fight it. They plant their feet and try to make themselves impossible to move. Sensei Kenji Osugi has spent sixty years explaining why that instinct is exactly backwards, and why the person getting thrown is often the one learning the most. Osugi Sensei started judo in the '60s, ten years old, after watching a film and telling his father he wanted in. He lost every match for a full year before he won a single one. That year is where his teaching comes from. He does not train students to study their opponents and hunt for weaknesses on film. He trains them to build a technique so complete that it works no matter who is defending, or how well they see it coming. He learned it from a sensei who won national titles at 145 pounds against men twice his size, on two throws everyone knew were coming. The conversation moves outward from there. How the sport changed when the IJF started asking spectators what they wanted to see, and what got removed to keep judo from looking like wrestling. What eight hours a day in a closed Japanese training hall does to the people who survive it, and what American grapplers tend to misunderstand about the difference between fighting and learning. Why kata, the part most people skip, is the reason judo exists at all. And a quieter thread running underneath all of it: what a lifetime on the mat costs the body, and what Osugi Sensei now tells young athletes he wishes someone had told him. This one is for anyone who trains judo, BJJ, or no-gi and for anyone curious about the generation that carried the art before it was marketed. Sensei Kenji Osugi leads Sawtelle Judo in Los Angeles and continues to teach judo while they're academy searches for a new permanent home. Guest and academy: Sensei Kenji Osui - 7th dan Judo black belt https://sawtellejudoschool.com/ Chapters 00:00 Intro 07:32 Learning From Losing in Martial Arts 18:26 Judo Training: Intensity & Injury 26:26 Judo's Marketing Challenge 49:19 The Art of Falling in Judo 56:02 Preserving Judo Through Kata 01:05:21 The Future of Sawtelle Judo & Community Grappling Monthly is an independent editorial media brand covering the culture, people, and business of Brazilian jiu-jitsu and the grappling arts. Based in Los Angeles, the brand produces in-depth conversations with the coaches, gym owners, competitors, and practitioners shaping the sport. The Grappling Monthly Podcast is the flagship property. A weekly long-form interview series hosted by Sébastien Maniatopoulos, a BJJ black belt establishing roots in the Southern California grappling community. The brand's editorial focus is on the human stories behind the art: how academies are built, how practitioners evolve, how the culture of jiu-jitsu intersects with identity, business, and community. Grappling Monthly publishes across YouTube, Instagram, Substack, and major podcast platforms. Subscribe and turn on notifications. IG: @grapplingmonthly For sponsorships and collaborations: grapplingmonthly@gmail.com #judo #usajudo #grappling #grapplingarts #grapplingmonthly