I started Judo about 5-6 months back, i got my red belt and was just shy of getting my yellow belt when i came off a motorbike and banged up both of my knees. Since then i took an enforced break to let them heal up and started training again a couple of weeks ago after 3-4 months off. I was able to start running and doing some weights before i felt happy going back to Judo, so my fitness isn't that bad. But i've noticed that i have NO throws whatsoever when i do randori now. I'm still difficult to take down, and i can pull people about, but when i try a trip or throw i just feel like i'm waggling my leg at them, and even when i get it to make contact i just feel it bounce off them. I feel like i'm balancing on one leg doing nothing and they are not unbalanced at all.
Any ideas what i'm doing wrong here or how to correct it? It feels so useless feeling like i'm unable to do a thing offensively during randori.
okay. dude. relax. start over from square one and stop worrying about winning and losing. you are a noob, in fact did you know there isnt even such a thing as a red belt in Judo???? I'd seriously question what club you go to.
for adults i rarely see anything other than white, green, brown and then black. sometimes a club will have other colors for adults too, but i have never in my 25 years in Judo seen a red belt.
i take that back, the red belt does exist, for people who are 10th dan (judan) and you are certainly not that.
You need too get back to basics. Practice throws on the crash pads. Working combinatioins in light randori to figure out what setups work for you. Remember throwing is 50/50 between upper body/lower body mechanics at our level. Ucikomis to develope your speed. WAtch video of high level players to see how they setup their throws. Some might be adaptable to you. And yes never seen a red belt. Have seen white,yellow,orange,purple,green, blue, brown, black, red/white. Sometime coming back from an injury people are hesitant or favor something. Don't try and do something you don't feel you are capable of you might hurt yourself and someone else. I just saw someone like this break a bone in the foot (top)/dislocate a toe in one of our juniors(unnecessarily).
lol at red belt. I think I saw you last summer - is your name Toshiro Daigo?
It's only randori so i'm not worried about winning or losing, it's just frustrating to suddenly feel back at square one. I know the throws haven't suddenly stopped working, so it's something to do with my execution that's changed. Thanks for the tip about watching high level set ups, i'll give that a try.
We ndo uchi komis at the beginning of every lesson, i'll see if i can get the instructor over to see what i'm doing wrong as well...
For the belts, i'm guessing that's a national thing. I live in England and all the clubs over here use the same belt grades.
http://www.britishjudoeducation.org.uk/red/
Lol I also live in England. A red is the first belt a junior gets. So how old are you??? If you are a senior after White it's yellow , orange, green, blue, brown then black under the BJA . Keep training it will come back! 
I returned to Judo (BJA) at the start of this year after 20 years out. With no record / log books I started from white belt again.
I too had a red belt for a while. The BJA reps at the grading did have to make a call to verify which colour belt I was grading for.
^ do u train at the same club Hulc does lol
Maybe there's somthing I missing but Ive never seen a adult in a red belt! Red n White yes but that's 6 dan!
Or maybe they did just spoof the old dude for laughs!
Lol I stand corectted! Although still never seen one on a senoir and at our club only jouniors get them!
I'll be honest, there certainly was no Reds the first time I was involved with Judo. I was as suprised as you!
Our head instructor has a nice red n white. He only wears it when we have visitors down at the club though - usually it's the world's scraggiest black belt.
Don't stress about it. You haven't even been training a year. As others have noted on this forum, judo takes a long time to get good at.
Fox force five... awesome.
Spartan,
When did you get your license? I got mine earlier this year and part of the welcome pack was a guidebook with the requirements needed for every belt... starting with red.
Hulc, I think that is a recent thing. I applied in Jan and got the book, no-one else at my club had seen that!
I wish I had keep my record book safe but after I left the Army I was convinced I was finished with Judo and went on to other sports.
That said, starting from scratch has been good, and TBH my technique was (and still is poor) so it was the correct step.
It takes a long time and many reps to become good on your feet. I find it frustrating at the moment as I "know" a lot of the things I need to put right, but still need to re-train my body to do them.
Hulc I got it about two n a half years ago. Fox five I'm intrested in the judo u did in the army was it sport judo or did they also train sd judo? I did eight months in pwrr when 16 untill I got put back due to chest inffection which I ended up leaving over. We did start a self defence class but was more akido to judo. Boxing n rugby was the main sports.
Hulc I got it about two n a half years ago. Fox five I'm intrested in the judo u did in the army was it sport judo or did they also train sd judo? I did eight months in pwrr when 16 untill I got put back due to chest inffection which I ended up leaving over. We did start a self defence class but was more akido to judo. Boxing n rugby was the main sports.