Step onto a judo mat
A friend has invited you to do this with them.
Judo is a grappling art built on balance and timing, in which a smaller person can throw a larger one by using their momentum against them. Beginners start by learning how to fall safely, and the national governing bodies in Britain and the United States both run club finders.
ModerateUnder £100 / $130A few weeksIndoorsWith othersUK and US
How to start
- Search the British Judo club finder or USA Judo's Find a Club list for a club near you.
- Ask the club whether it runs adult beginner or taster sessions and whether you can borrow a judo suit.
- Go along to a first class and expect to spend much of it learning breakfalls.
Where to go
- British Judo: Find a Club (UK governing body) UK
- USA Judo (US national governing body), with Find a Club link US
We opened these links on 8 October 2026 and found them to be what we say. Dates, places and prices are on the official page, where they stay up to date.
Plan this
Pick a day, or a month, and we will set out how to get ready, step by step, with a date and a reason for each. Courses and classes have start dates and can fill up, so the plan begins with finding and booking one. Kit comes after the first session, once you know what you need.
Read next
No one left behind on the Expresso trail: fifteen years of Tuesday rides with Girls Outside
How a group of women in Colorado's Roaring Fork Valley turned a Tuesday mountain bike ride into a 15-year habit: the motto, the tailgate and why the group keeps them riding. How to start mountain biking on easy graded trails, or ride harder terrain with a group if you already ride.
Watching a swimmer from an exercise bike led Sola Alegbe from a lifelong fear of water to teaching it
How a Londoner who nearly drowned as a child learned to swim at 48, left her job at Transport for London and qualified as a swimming teacher. What the first lesson is really like, and how to start if water frightens you, or go further if you already swim.
More like this
Moderate
Take a Learn to Row course
Moderate
Go to a Scottish country dance class
Moderate
Learn to lift with a barbell
Moderate
Learn to sail a dinghy