2012 Summer Olympics: Ivo dos Santos Judo Blog

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Australian judo player and MMA fighter Ivo dos Santos is currently preparing to compete in the men’s 66-kilogram (145.5-pound) division at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, where he will attempt to become the first Australian male to medal in judo since 1964. Here is his latest blog entry.

So, it’s getting closer and closer to the day where I get to compete on sport’s biggest stage, the Olympic Games. I’ve now entered a final phase of speed and sharpening work. The long, hard sessions smashing my body to pieces are done (thank god!).

However, it’s the phase just before this that I want to write about. I call this part ‘in the trenches.’ This involves heavy conditioning sessions off the mat and as much randori (judo sparring) as possible. This lead-up has been fantastic because we (the Aussie team) have been able to attend some of the strongest training camps on earth. We attended both the Nymburk (Czech Republic) and Castelldefels (Spain) camps. Across these two camps, I was able to do randori with 23 out of the 32 guys I will compete against in London.

It was during one of these camps that one of my blog followers posed an interesting question to me: Is judo the only sport, especially combat sport, where athletes go out of their way to train with their rivals? I’m not an expert in elite training of other sports, but I’d say it might be.

I have also had other people ask me if I try my hardest against rivals, do different things, let them get me or other things to get inside my opponents’ heads. I would only do that if I was scared of them.

Whilst I think this could work in some cases, I definitely don’t do it. In this day and age, everyone is on YouTube -- there are no secrets!

I look at it this way: I have to give my best against them.

The main reasons why:

- If my best is better than theirs, I will beat them in training.

- If my best sees me get my butt kicked, I am able to see exactly how good they are (and adapt my game).

- I can see what they do when I impose my game on them.

- Even if they towel me up, they will know I am not a p---y and that I am slightly unhinged, and no one wants to fight that guy.

A lot of people overcomplicate the sport of judo. I am not trying to tell them they are wrong. I just see it as something much simpler.

It’s a fight with some rules.

In a fight, you want to be 100-percent confident that you have what it takes to beat the other guy, no matter what happens, because if you don’t, you will not only lose but probably get hurt. For me, it is impossible to feel that sort of confidence unless I have gone head-to-head with my adversary or someone similar. The devil you know is never as scary as the devil you don’t.

The other important point is no matter how many times you get thrown, submitted or pinned in a row, you are getting closer to catching them yourself.

Well, that’s my rambling for today done. I’m off to get in some more training. I’ll try and post one more blog before the games.

Ivo

Read more from Ivo dos Santos at IvoJudo.com and follow him on Twitter @ivo_dos_santos.