Last week I received this email from someone on my newsletter
“Hi Matt, I am almost 2.0 meters tall (or 6’7) and weigh roughly 90kgs. What are the techniques I should focus on to utilise my height and is there anything I should look out for in Randori? Thanks in advance.”
Jesse

Hi Jesse, thanks for your email. As a tall person you MUST learn how to use your height to your advantage or else you will get throw all over the place.

Tip #1 From My (short person) perspective:
When fighting tall guys I hate it if they have the top grip and I also hate when they attack with long reaching osoto garis and ouchi garai’s This frustrates me as I am unable to grab the leg with my hand so I feel very very defenceless. I also hate it when tall Judoka put their leg between my legs (uchimata) and lift my leg as high as they can, this always knocks me off balance and puts them in a great position to do a follow up attack like tai otoshi, kouchi or harai goshi.
These are the things you need to be doing on shorter Judoka.

Tip #2 Grips:
First off I would get you to use the top grip opposed to lapel and sleeve because it will be an easier grip for you to perform tall guy sort of techniques. However if you use the ‘top grip’ then I urge you to look out for your opponent attacking with ogoshi and seoi nage. For more info on how to stop drop seoi nage check out my blog post called 3 ways to stop drop seoi nage.
Another great grip tall people can get away with is double lapel. If you use double lapel make sure you are always attacking to sure you don’t get a penalty.

Tip #3 Throws:
As a taller fighter I would ask you to concentrate on throws such as:
– osoto gari
– ouchi gari
– kouchi gari
– uchimata
– darai goshi
– deashi barai
– plus any throw you are naturally good at.

Tip #4 Study
I would also encourage you to watch some tall fighters on YouTube and see how they use their height. Look for fighters such as Pacek from Sweden and Valois Fortier from Canada. Both of these guys are super tall and have great tall mans Judo.