Jimmy Pedro is a person of significant importance for American Judo. Not only was he an Olympic Medalist he is also a World Champion and the coach of the first ever American to win a Olympic gold medal in Judo – Kayla Harrison.

Recently he was approached about doing an AMA on reddit. Here are the best things we’ve learned from the interview:

When asked about teaching adults, making judo more accessible to recreational adults Pedro stated:

All good points, and great question. Most judo dojos in the USA are not geared towards adults for a number of reasons; but, mostly because judo instructors in the US teach judo as a hobby and typically have a “one size fits all class” where they have a children’s class and then an adult class. And, because new students get thrown in with advanced students, there is always a randori session in each class. Therefore, the new person is always exposed to randori and encouraged to participate in randori which is very scary and dangerous for adult students. If judo dojos were more professional, then they would have a complete range of classes; such as novice adult only, intermediate adult judo, and advanced/elite adult judo. This is the way my dojo is structured and we have a thriving novice/intermediate adult judo program. The novice and intermediate adults never do randori training at my dojo unless they join the advanced class. They LEARN good judo, get FIT, have FUN, LOSE WEIGHT, and are exhausted after 45 min – 1 hour of technical judo training. If more dojos taught and were structured this way, judo for adult sin the USA would be very popular

When prompted about starting Judo Late he offered a great example – in his own father whos tarted judo at 19.

Some Judo coaches are struggling because the adult students often go for bjj instead, considering it easier on the body. To this Pedro offers an interesting rationale:

• Most of the time, the recreational adult is lost in judo becasue (1) Most dojos do not have classes specifically for recreational adults (2) There is no structured belt system or PATH to Black Belt that is clearly defined for the recreational adult. (3) Making adults take throws regularly will lead to loss of students. All recreational adults need is technical development through uchikomi, renraku waza, drills, and throws on crash pads.

When it comes to running a judo dojo, Pedro had clear plans:

” At my dojo when I started, I told all of my instructors that my mission was to run a professional judo dojo that had over 200 judoka training on a regular basis where we had programs for people of all ages (ages 4 – 75 years old), that was profitable, AND that produced champions. People told me that you could not run a dojo that made money AND that produced champions. I have proven them wrong and accomplished my mission.”

When it comes to Newaza – this is where Pedro had found a way to make American judoka victorious. Here’s how he explains finding a route to victory via newaza:

The easiest and the best way for them to win is to focus on where everybody else is weaker. And, in my opinion, that is on the ground (newaza) and with gripping skills/tactics combined with conditioning. EVERYBODY in the world in judo practices a minimum of 70% of their training in tachiwaza, and some as much as 90%. So, it only makes sense that everybody is good in tachiwaza. But, MANY are not very good at newaza. Look at Japan women’s team and how many matches they win in newaza. Obviously this is a focus point of their women’s team training.

Still Pedro has quite a few battle scars, when prompted about his victory he revealed he got quite a crippling injury at 22 – 2 bulging discs that debilitated the right side of his body:

However at age 46, Pedro’s Judo just isn’t upto par vs how it used to be:

For more insights and details from newaza expert Jimmy Pedro head on over to reddit and check out the entire AMA