A judo training journal is where you write down, after each session, what you worked on, what worked in randori and how your body responded. Three to five lines are enough, as long as you write them the same day. Over a season, this journal becomes a judoka's most reliable memory, more reliable than what they remember.
Why keep a judo training journal
Many judokas start a journal because their coach tells them to, and find it pointless for months. Then they reread several weeks at once and a pattern jumps out. Every randori lost against left-handers, for example. Nobody had put it into words. The journal did it for them.
That is what writing does. It makes visible the repetitions that memory smooths over. One session on its own says nothing. Twenty sessions side by side tell a story.
What to write, session by session
Keep a fixed structure. A page that changes shape every evening is hard to reread.
| Section | Example |
|---|---|
| Date, length, type of session | Tuesday, 1h30, technique + randori |
| Technique worked on | Ko-uchi-gari (minor inner reap) into seoi-nage |
| Randori: with whom, how many | 5 standing, 3 on the ground |
| What worked | Ko-uchi gets through against tall partners who step back |
| What did not work | Left-handers block my sleeve |
| Perceived intensity | 7/10 |
| Body | Left finger sore, taped |
The most valuable line is "what did not work". It sets the theme for the next session.
Three sample entries
Technique session
Uchi-komi on uchi-mata (inner thigh throw), 3 x 20. Coach corrects my standing foot, which does not pivot enough. In nage-komi, clean landing on 6 out of 10. Remember to lift the tsurite elbow.
Short and factual, with one precise correction to remember.
Randori session
6 randori. Against T. (heavier): thrown twice with o-soto. Against the cadets: cross grip worked every time. On the ground, still stuck against the turtle, could not find a turnover. Intensity 8/10.
Here you note partners and situations, not only techniques. The role of randori in progress is covered in our article on why randori is essential.
Conditioning session
30-minute circuit, core and pull-ups. Heavy legs after yesterday's randori. Average sleep. Intensity 6/10.
These sessions count too. A journal that only covers the mat misses half the load. To structure that work, see our guide to judo strength and conditioning.
Paper or app?
Both work. The deciding factor is not the tool but how long it takes to write.
Paper gives you freedom. You can sketch a grip or underline something. Some athletes like the ritual of the notebook on the changing room bench. Its weakness: you cannot total anything without copying it out, and a notebook left at a venue is gone.
An app wins on sorting and totals. Jutrack, for example, has a training journal. It records session type, randori, techniques worked on and intensity. Competition fights are stored alongside. The benefit is finding every session where you drilled the same technique in one go.
Our view: a teenager who has their phone in hand after training will stick with an app. An adult who likes writing will stick with a notebook. Pick the one you will actually use.
The mistakes that kill a journal
The first is trying to write everything. A page per session becomes a chore within two weeks. Set a maximum of five lines and stick to it.
Second trap: writing only on good days. A journal that skips the bad sessions gives a flattering and useless picture. The evenings when nothing works are the ones you most need to reread.
Last mistake: writing generalities. "Good randori" says nothing. "Got under L.'s guard twice with ko-uchi" says everything.
Reread it, or it is useless
A journal you never reread is a diary. Plan two check-ins:
- every Sunday evening, five minutes, to spot a theme that keeps coming back;
- at the end of each training block, before a competition, to choose the two or three techniques to keep.
The weekly review changes the most. It is where you notice that intensity has stayed at 8 or 9 for three weeks and needs to come down before a tournament. Managing that is covered in our article on judo recovery.
The journal and competition
The training journal and your competition record answer each other. Your competition stats show what works on the day. The journal shows whether those techniques get any work in training. When an athlete says they want to win with harai-goshi (sweeping hip throw) but the journal shows no reps in two months, the conversation is short.
To see where this work can take you, the guide to judo competition levels helps you set a target. Start tonight with three lines, and do not wait for the perfect page.