Ne-Waza (Groundwork)

During practice or contests, there will be many occasions when one or both judomen will fall to the mat. This may be through an unsuccessful technique by the opponent or simply overbalancing yourself when trying to throw. In either case it is essential to continue the attack on the ground.

There are three ways of scoring on the ground. These are: to hold the man down for thirty seconds, to strangle him till he submits and to apply a lock on his elbow. It is possible to do arm locks and strangles when standing up but these are specialist techniques. Most locks and strangles



are done on the ground. A word of caution before describing these techniques. Some of them can be very painful.

When the man in a lock or strangle wishes to submit he must signal by tapping sharply two or more times on the opponent or on the mat, either with his hand or foot.