Hey, I'm a whitebelt in BJJ and recently got injured because of lacking breakfalling technique. My gym is a real ronin one where newbies like my self don't get any real introduction to the art of falling. The other night I got destroyed by a judo brownbelt, and luckely I only ended up with a sore shoulder How do you guys practice falling, and how often? I've done a bit of searching, but have only found a handful of techniques. Any advice is appreciated, thanks.
We start every class by doing ukemi. We start by practicing basic ukemi from a standing position, first back break falls, and then zempo kaiten, or forward rolls. If we're looking for advanced ukemi stuff, we will have someone get on their hands and knees and practice rolls over the top of them, and we may sit on their back and do a "nestea plunge" to practice back falls. There are other exercises that are really excellent to practice ukemi, but they are hard to describe via text. For example, one person stands in the middle of the mat right his right lapel open. His right hand is gripping high on the right collar collar and his left hand is gripping low on the right collar. The person practicing falling (In this instance, left handed falls) would run up and grab his partners right collar with his right hand, in between his partners two hands, and launch his feet into the air, using the grip on his partners gi to help control his fall. The person doing the assisting helps lead uke to the ground. It's an excellent exercise and allows you to go huge without killing yourself. Gives you plenty of hangtime to work with and adjust your body. Maybe I'll see about making a video later on today.
You might try going to a judo club for a while. Even if you don't stick with Judo, training Judo for a month or two will certainly make your ukemi better. Judo clubs will likely warm up with ukemi every single practice.
My advice, ask the judo brown belt. His ukemi will probably be very good and he can show you some of the small details that make or break ukemi.
He isn't around very often, but I sure will ask. Anyone know of a good website showing ukemi techniques? I've only found a few.
You cannot learn Judo from a book or a website. You need qualified instruction or you will learn to do things incorrectly and will eventually get hurt. If you practice Ukemi 15 minutes per session, 2-3 times per week for 2 months you will have the basics down but you really need to actually get thrown with regularity to learn it since the breakfalls just teach concepts and falling usually is not exactly like Ukemi. Then for comps, you may want to learn turn-outs. Breakfalls are for safety but can cost you matches. So competitive players learn more dangerous techniques that help them win in Shiai.
Strange, since Judo books are huge and I learn a LOT of good Judo from Judoinfo.com The idea that you can't learn from a book is absurd.
I should say, you cannot learn Judo WITHOUT personal instruction. Books and websites are certainly helpful. I have lots of Judo books and use Judoinfo.com as well. I just don't think you can learn correctly by only using self study techniques.
