a few organizing points...

I may or may not add to this. I'll use this list and a few others to prompt instruction and it gives me a mental construct for explaining the principles underlying the techniques. There is nothing comprehensive about this, there is overlap between various movements so the groupings are just the easiest to layout in a class format, most apparent in demonstration and I've had success with the progressions below:

full-body hinge: UE=> uki/sumi-otoshi

medial chain: shiko=> Osoto-gari, uchimata, hane-goshi

fig-8: Bolshoi leg warmup=> Ko-uchi-gari, Ouchi_gari et al

catenary curve: headstand=> Sasae-TKA, yoko-guruma

down-power: 1 handed kb squat=> deep seoi-nage, ukemi/ukimi

hip-stride: kneeling/shiko-walking=> Russian Kata-guruma, Kolga-nage, Seoi-otoshi

shin-box: lunges, Barakov-legwork=> Tani-otoshi, Hirano-Tai-otoshi/ouchi/kouchi

coiling: one-legged hops=> Ouchi-gari, Kosoto-gari

hip extension: TGU, 1/2jigotai=> Sasae TKA, De-Ashi-harai

stumble reflex: POSE startup=> Sasae, Ashi-guruma

pendulum leg: walking kicks, uchi-counter drill=> backstep uchimata, uki-otoshi

box-stepping: footwork drill=> kocuhi/kosoto-gari, single leg drills

overhand-punch: o-h punch, kb windmill=> sode-tsurikomi-goshi, yama arashi

Mandatory Katanishi viewing:

we shall sell no wine before it's time....

Well certainly Mr Wells! In the meantime, have a glass or two... Anyhow, there's been a lot of proclaimations re: basics and what basics mean, why they're so important... foundational work, baseline, and "advanced" material i.e. complexity being piggy backed onto material that ought to be kept clean, sparse.... Coach Barakov always schooled us on movement principles, especially breakfalls/ukemi and standing posture/softness/footwork/positioning. Great to have that awesome takedown or KO punch or submission or knife stab, but if you don't have even the basic ability to deliver the goods then what use is it? If you can't be in the right place@the right time or not in the "right" place at the right time then not much good that little technique you've drilled will do you.... "Moving teaches you how to move." I remember Coach telling us this and frequently he would challenge us to move constantly, deliberately, softly and stay ahead of our conscious thought/analysis; which doesn't mean move fast necessarily, just move while unencumbered by our thought process. I recall him saying, "Breathing, not thinking. As soon as your movement stops, your breathing stops, then its like death." Also, expose ourselves to errors and understand why they were errors. I always revisit the early material, it's kind of humbling in seeing how much there is to be gleaned in those simple drills.... With those good times in mind, we've been working some very simple pummel, step&uchikomi, repummel, step&uchikomi drills and it's funny how much more difficult it is to acquire than just standing in one place and going thru the rote activity of loading up uke and throwing him. The hardest thing is to get people to look to the horizon, distant mountain gaze and not down at their feet. The eyes set intent and posture. Good posture is superior for structure, breathing, leverage etc etc. I go crazy seeing people being taught-so fixatedly-a technique in absence of the most essential principles. There is so much wrong with that video that I can hardly begin to discuss it suffice to say, sometimes it's really helpful to see something done totally wrong because it can highlight what should be done.

"Indulge me Mr Dekkard, I want to see a negative before I provide you with a positive!" Details can be right or wrong and the throw....even how you grip is far less important than the rougher, global movement. But we're smart with our hands so that's what we look at and that can too easily fool us and make us think we understand what we see therefore can replicate it. This is just an error and it has grown so widely thanks in part to the abundance of information out there at our fingertips, as opposed to available to our bodies, follow? Techniques learned on top of techniques will create a mish-mash that only can be overcome by a huge volume of training; assuming you don't get injured or just bored because you still "somehow" suck. Whereas, principles properly taught/absorbed/learned will open the circuit for techniques to be added correctly. You will find yourself saying "that doesn't feel right" because you've created a feedback loop. You'll have gone from lagging indicators: "that hurt, I fell over, I can't make this work, where do I grab?" to leading indicators: Position, movement cues, recognizing faults before you've committed to them It becomes more&more obvious with time and attention. ........ Not a drill we'd necessarily do but the power of Xingyi is that it has a simple, brutal efficiency to it and the solo training is some of the coolest shit I've ever seen. There's a story of a Xingyi student who would do his walking patterns all the way to/from his visits to train with his teacher. Over time, he'd created a gutter in the dirt path where he walked/stepped/stomped. Watch this badass and especially at :20 in where he's doing that clearing arms motion and then contemplate doing Osoto-gari with those motions, ignoring all that crap about what you would/wouldn't do in a cage,against your complinat partner. If you think it thru you'll realize why we start so slowly and softly in our classes, eh? I'm quite serious, we could apply all the principles right away, skip the slow drills, ukemi, posture/conditioning work and go for it but without the proper baseline preparation I believe we'd end up with separated ribs, sloppy technique and though the class turnout would be initially higher cause it'd be more aggro-cool, the dropout rate and idiot factor would be very high. The setup is everything and is so very important.. ...which gets back to the point of the Orson Wells outtakes: Orson, get the commercial done with then drink all you want not the other way round. Don't get ahead of yourself! Compare and ruminate:

I had a profound weekend seminar with Guru Stevan Plinck who is known to be one of the most talented, dedicated and intelligent masters of Indonesian Sera. You might be more familiar with Silat (a closely related style that he also trained in, I'm not too versed in the various Indonesian martial arts...) One very profound thing he talked about was how the old forms are the truest, they have the most knowledge to convey if you have the patience and dedication to them. One bit of evidence he cited was ancient depictions of warriors: relief carvings, sculptures, ceramics etc This struck a deep cord in me since I'd studied sculpture in college and found myself to be a horrid contemporary artist but very interested in the very thing that Mr Plinck was discussing: the ancients had less knowledge but they accomplished much with that knowledge, things we're still trying to discern understand even with our contemporary science and etc (no, I'm not talking about crystals pyramids flying to Mars and that stuff)....To wit, here is a Cambodian carving that depicts stable squat posture, external rotation of the arms/shoulders/upper-carriage and just a beautiful solidity.

Here's another with a Khmer warrior showing how he stays on his back leg to maintain strong drive. Notice how his driving leg is internally rotated? while his lead leg is externally rotated? Spiraling out from the hips to create a strong, mobile frame to project power in the cleanest manner possible. Down power+stride.

Any of my regular guys will be very familiar with the baseball analogies I like to make. Notice how staying heavy on the back foot, for as long as you can manage, increases the power phase? (well, I do) Also, Ken is so smooth it kind of breaks my heart that he A. played for the Mariners B. was injured so often cause he was easily one of the greatest. especially awesome is how Koga will just stay with Seoi nage, look at how :50 in he backsteps into his uke and then drives off that leg. Terrific stuff from a legend.

live load vs dead load

What is the gi (judo jacket+pants or kurtka for us Sambists) actually for? It's too heavy to be a day to day outfit, especially a proper one like the Mizunos I have or if you've ever randori'd vs a dude wearing a freaking Moskito then you really know what trashed fingertips is all about. The traditional kimono is generally a lighter material (at least insofar as its preserved these days).... I think there is a hidden in plain sight aspect to the gi. The jacket grip allows a delay in the pulling that mimics the elastic action of a relaxed/working tension body transmitting power. Power being roughly defined here as from the hips down to the legs and back up to the hands. In essence, power is sourced from the ground. The jacket can be used as grip-confirmation, generally for a more muscular throw, or as a way to connect to uke while maintaining connection within yourself. Properly utilized, the jacket grips can create space to counter-move then move or for outright hara2hara connection-hence control. I hope that one (magical) day I could train with Katanishi Sensei. But in the meantime, his mastery and insight is amazing and I only have seen what videos are on internet and a few DVDs I have. This is an old video, he's gotten even better at explaining and defining Judo as a whole-body engagement and I don't hardly speak French! Notice the whip or elastic chain of movement or whatever the hell you want to call it, it's awesome: Something about this delay action gives a sense of hara (center) to hara connection. I'm still mucking thru it, ruminating on exactly why...One thing that I've noticed is that one can attack uke and break his posture and then from that point on: it's as if he's a dead-load so that a clean/snatch sort of power chain will finish the throw versus having a connection in yourself which you tie into them and throw them as a live load: a more reactive, preemptive, hara to hara control. A dead load in engineering is just that: the non-changing, permanent materials that compose the structure. A live load is trickier: it's all those fatass tourists on that bridge over the koi pond and if they all simultaneously lean over to the right for a photo will the bridge hold? Will the bridge inter-accomodate? Can the body be trained for a shifting, dynamic, elastic load? If so what is the best approach? this is the tip of the iceberg, the first tentacle breaking the surface to be followed by the rest of the mighty Cthulhu... http://www.summeroflovecraft.com/images/Cthulhu-4.jpg

Carl Paoli with a really good description of maintaining torque/posture/connection during squats: Carl was on the Spanish National Gymnastics team, so he knows WTF he's talking about. As I've put more&more time into teaching Sambo beginners, the importance of basic movement and position strategy way surpasses any of the fancy martial arts looking stuff. Watch this video with this in mind: if you cannot organize your hips+legs, you will never properly transfer power from yourself into your opponent. Especially if you're using such free and open power as good old Tokio Hirano:

A cool video from the Paris Sambo competition. I want to emphasize a few points here so watch the vid and note the time stamps here: @:42 ownage! Don't follow the dancing master... @1:50 oh F-me! This is my opponent!?! ;-) @2:25 there's the outside knee instead of the inside knee. I really want you guys to be more conditioned/developed before we try using this sort of lunging attack. What follows from the guy in red is some very half-hearted, shallow attacks. Execute! Don't waste so much energy! @2:40 there's the bad ankle pick, see how the opponent just sits right up? Not good! @3:50 try it once and almost get it? Try it again!! @4:10 don't ever do crap like this, I'll kill you if you do! @5:20 the "old guy uchimata" is very very effective, and trainable. Great throw to start from, balance, grips, posture etc and it actually works. Excellent throw. @6:00 good sportsmanship. I always like that. @6:50 why I don't like drop knee/Ippon Seoi nage @8:00 watch how blue is setting up one or two throw options. Kind of see him thinking it thru....

smooth is fast, soft is strong

Kuroda sensei here executes ukimi which has a few translations but herein its a forward tumble where you really get under yourself. Inoue executing a Seoi-nage with a deep squat posture. This is more common among Asians and though I've heard it said its because of generalized proportions of leg-length etc My feeling/suspicion is that Asians generally don't sit as much as Westerners do. Like, on chairs and such as opposed to kneeling in seiza or the third world squat where you'll see old men/women waiting at the bus stop able to squat deeply, resting their butt on heels. Old, even young Westerners cannot even manage to do this and I blame chairs! No, sitting on stability balls does not count... Anyhow, think of it like this: Kuroda's ukimi converts into Inoue's posture -as Tori-(the guy executing the throw) and the uke (guy that Inoue is throwing) is executing ukemi The tighter arc powers the looser arc. As you get more relaxed it will become easier to execute this throw. It does not require strength, only good range of motion, stability in maintaining posture and a sort of relaxed-elastic power; which is simple in idea but will take time to develop. The details matter. Also, good breakfall/Ukemi skills matter which is why we're spending so much time with them. Not just for the sake of falling correctly and safely but because its the best way to develop the specific, smooth/soft power we'll need. Consider expanding from that deep squat a bit, remaining relaxed enough -just enough- that you don't lose posture and can support the momentary addition of uke's weight. Using the correct angles and directions of push/pull etc etc you can be more upright and execute very smooth, elegant throws such as the man-himself here: Katanishi-san