Uchikomi is where you enter into a throw and load uke up for the throw but you don’t actually execute the throw. You stop short of actually throwing. Nagekomi is when you go through the entire motion, and finish the throw. Both are important for skills development.

Uchikomi is especially useful when you are first learning a new throw. You don’t yet have the feel for the throw, so you need to do uchikomi to get a sense of how to enter into the throw. But uchikomi doesn’t actually give you the experience of doing a full throw. That’s where nagekomi comes in.

There are several best practices for doing optimal uchikomi and nagekomi.

1. Make sure your partner has the right grip and stance. If you have an awkward partner who is standing with the wrong leg forward, or taking a grip that is not suitable for the throw you want to practice, you have to correct them. Don’t just let them be. You need your partner to be standing the right way and gripping the right way in order for you to learn how to do that throw properly.

2. Visualize. When doing uchikomi and nagekomi, visualization is super important. Always imagine that you are doing this throw against your fiercest rival. Imagine them trying to frustrate you. Your job is to find a way to overcome their resistance. Use your imagination and come up with many different scenarios and solutions. Later, you can test them out in actual randori. But it starts with visualization.

3. Load them up. When doing uchikomi, it’s not enough to enter into the throw. You should load uke up for the throw as well. You can get the best entry in the world but if you can’t load uke up, you won’t be able to throw uke. So, don’t be lazy.

4. Follow through. When doing nagekomi, make sure you follow uke to the ground. This doesn’t mean landing right on top of them. But it does mean committing to the throw and throwing them hard. Land partially on them or roll over them. If you are using a crash pad, it should be fine.

5. Do Power Uchikomi. A three-person uchikomi, where uke is held back by the belt by another partner, is a good way to develop your strength and power in throwing. If you get used to pulling and loading up uke when there is another player helping to restrain uke, you will find it so much easier to pull and load up your opponent in randori or shiai. In fact, you should imagine there is someone restraining your opponent. That would force you to pull with all your strength. And that, will make for a good throw.