The Grip: Olympic and world judo champions introduce their gripping strategies and techniques in the second book of Superstar Judo’s Guide To Throwing For Ippon

The Grip starts with an introduction to Kumi-kata and its huge significance within judo. This is followed by all technical content, with tuition from the champions, accompanied by incredible photographic sequences.

Germany’s Olympic Champion Ole Bischof and Great Britain’s World Champion Craig Fallon emphasise the importance of body position and movement in the pre-gripping phase, with both judoka revealing their highly successful approaches.

Off-the-grip judo, which is where techniques are initiated from either no grips, or with just one hand on the jacket, are presented by one of the masters of this style – France’s triple World and Olympic Champion Lucie Décosse.

Japan’s Kosei Inoue and Korea’s Ki-Young Jeon - also triple World and Olympic Champions – give a masterclass in how to dominate gripping exchanges. Inoue reveals his methods of obtaining classical grips, whilst Jeon shows the benefits of keeping one hand free.

Targeting an opponent’s favoured hand and grip breaks are brought to you by GB’s Euan Burton and Winston Gordon.

One of the most dominant of all gripping scenarios is to pin the sleeve of an opponent. An expert in this field is France’s Ugo Legrand.

Gripping strategies and tactics were one of the strongest areas of USA’s double Olympic Champion Kayla Harrison. Don’t miss the gripping patterns she used throughout her career to neutralise both right and left handed opponents.

Also included is lapel feed tuition from Inoue, Jeon, Russia’s Kirill Denisov and Germany’s double World and Olympic Champion Udo Quellmalz, plus the quick gripping tempo of France’s Darcel Yandzi, and how Bischof, Fallon and Burton all use different Kumi-kata methods to control an opponent’s head.

Finally, there is a chance to understand the highly unorthodox grip-fighting of Mongolian Judo, with three of their greatest fighters revealing the tricks and techniques that have helped give their country the reputation of being one of the most offensively minded in the world.

The Grip, and Book 1 – The Throw, are essential reading, forming the basis to all remaining books in the series. All photographs come from Fighting Films’ vast archive, with many of the images being shown for the first time.

Presented by Superstar Judo, Fighting Films’ online coaching subscription site, the techniques can also be viewed in video format by clicking on a QR code at either the start or end of each book. The author is Fighting Films partner Danny Hicks, who was IJF TV Director from 2009-2017.

This guide is an essential for all judoka. Whether you just want to learn the basics of a throw or be inspired by numerous different variations from the world’s best, Throwing for Ippon reveals the techniques that are proven to work at the very highest level.