Judo breakfall, is this right?

[Fedorgasm]

Breakfalls have always been something that has puzzled me. Back when I was Tae Kwon Do (before UFC I), my instructor taught us to slap the ground at the same time your body hits the ground.

I tried, but could never seem to get the timing right. I always ended up slapping the ground right before or right after my body hit. And the landing always hurt.

now I see a vid of this guy doing breakfalls on the street and noticed that his arm is hitting well before his body does. Is this right? And if so, doesn't that shit still hurt? I mean it looks like his body is still hitting the pavement pretty hard. Now maybe this guy's just tough as hell so he can take it, but for a noob like myself I could see being injured from doing this.

skip to 0:49

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[lechien]

actually he hits his forearm first on that throw on concrete.

Those Kiwi judokas in CHC are TUF

 

[mysticdragonbjj]

Should be done just before to take some of the impact from the body to the forearm. Also, he does a great job of staying relaxed and keeping a nice curve in his spine and neck.

 

[magick]

You want your arm to hit the ground first to absorb impact that will come onto your body otherwise.

Another important, probably most important, aspect is staying relaxed and allowing your entire body to absorb the impact, as opposed to hitting the ground hard. Your distribute the impact away from important bodyparts and onto less important parts, like your arm.

Of course doing breakfalls on concrete will hurt. But it will hurt a helluva lot loss than just falling flat on your back.

 

[Bayonet]

I think the main reason you drill yourself to slap the mat is so that you lessen the chances of sticking your arm or elbow out to catch yourself.

 

[Judo Thai Boxer]

I think the main reason you drill yourself to slap the mat is so that you lessen the chances of sticking your arm or elbow out to catch yourself.

It's also so that you spread the impact out over a longer period of time and surface area so that it does less damage to the body.

On a mat it doesn't make too much difference but I've broken someone's arm by mistake when he tried to post out of a throw, so yeah there's that too.

 

[Thai Otoshi]

I was taught that the slap was both to get out of the habit of posting your arm AND to spread out the force of the impact.

 

[Veiled Threat]

I was taught that the slap was both to get out of the habit of posting your arm AND to spread out the force of the impact.

i posted snowboarding once....once

 

[Kbits]

That looked almost like a weird combinationof an Aikido featherfall and a judo roll. Those you can do on a hard surface...they're just not very practical against judo style throws





Here's the standard judo progression



There are reasons for both slapping with the leg and not slapping with the leg that are probably outside of the realm of what you're asking about. Suffice it to say the original cited clip (on concrete) is variant of an aikido featherfall and a judo breakfall. Also, the bit at the start wherein he's rolling onto his neck is incorrect IMHO

 

[Kbits]

Judo falls are very utilitarian, designed to protect you from impact (as you're thrown downwards) on tatame. Not everyone agrees with Judo methodology, FWIW.

 

[RJ Green]

oh kbits you lovely troll. i've judo fallen off of 2 motorcycles. one for about 100 yards of asphalt, another into a tailgate at about 30mph. and off a 30 foot ladder. and a house. and i know another dude who t-boned a pickup that pulled out in front of him. at 70mph. and all the parkour guys do judo rolls when they jump off shit.

but yeah, no, that systema roll looks totally more plausible.

edit: when i laid my bike down i slapped the asphalt with my hand and had to do a few backrolls before i could get onto my hip and slap up. when i ran into the pickup i dove over the handlebars and tried to roll through the tailgate. i would've been fine there too but the bike bounced off the bumper and hit me in the nuts.

 

[Russky]

Judo falls are very utilitarian, designed to protect you from impact (as you're thrown downwards) on tatame. Not everyone agrees with Judo methodology, FWIW.

If you twist your shoulder like they are doing then you will end up with dislocated shoulder on a real fall one day.

I have never heard of Systema in Russia. Wiki page does not exist in Russian. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systema. Why is it called 'Russian Martial Art'?

To the TS:

Slapping is much less important than relaxation and proper body position.

 

[Thrawn33]

i posted snowboarding once....once

I also one time posted when given an unsolicited flying lesson in a mosh pit (pre-Judo)

I failed...

 

[TheFakeMacoy]

I also one time posted when given an unsolicited flying lesson in a mosh pit (pre-Judo)

I failed...

Don't feel bad about it, even greats have made a similar mistake.

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[Kbits]

Hey, hey hey....I did not say the systema roll was more plausible; I said some people disagree with judo methodology

The best instructional ukemi that I've seen so far is Ellis Amdur's one. It's not judo specific, though he does talk about how to take ukemi onto a hard surface, judo style

http://www.edgework.info/buy-martial-arts-dvd-UKEMI-from-the-Ground-Up.html

Donovan Waite and Bruce Bookman have DVDs on the topic but they are very aikido centric; fine against projection throws but not so great against straight down IIRC

PS: shuai jiao (sp?) people don't slap out of judo throws at all in some clips I've seen. The frame their head and fall into their side

 

[Darkslide632]

If I saw a student doing ukemi like that, I'd correct them. Everything hits at the same time. Of course everyone has their own style, I guess, and maybe it works for them... but at the schools I attend, everything hits at the same time.

 

[barnowl]

If you twist your shoulder like they are doing then you will end up with dislocated shoulder on a real fall one day.

I have never heard of Systema in Russia. Wiki page does not exist in Russian. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systema. Why is it called 'Russian Martial Art'?

To the TS:

Slapping is much less important than relaxation and proper body position.

EDIT: never mind, posted before finished viedo

 

[killakoy]

If I saw a student doing ukemi like that, I'd correct them. Everything hits at the same time. Of course everyone has their own style, I guess, and maybe it works for them... but at the schools I attend, everything hits at the same time.

Glad I'm not the only one...

I was like feeling like shit that I've been doing it wrong all these years since it does make sense to lesson the impact through an initial smaller impact.

 

[Zankou]

IMO there are different scenarios. For taking a fall on concrete when you are NOT being thrown, nobody is close to the parkour guys in their technique, since that's basically all they do all day.

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For taking a fall where you are being thrown to the ground -- and cannot roll through parkour-style because your opponent is holding you and driving you down -- judo is the best approach. But AFAIK, the arm slap is mostly to make sure you land flat and don't post, rather than trying to fight the fall and direct all the force onto one body part. So the timing is not critical to that.