Throwing

[TigerAn1]

A question for the senior belts here:

We recently started throwing techniques in our yellow belt training. However, our Master does not allow us to complete the throw at this time unless he supervises directly on a double paded area. That is, no throwing on the padded floor of the dojang, unless there's a mat on top of it. Is that a fairly typical procedure in the earlier stages of training, or have most followed through with the throw? Also, when you throw, do you work on a double matted surface?

[Jointlock]

Well this might have to do with the liability of the instructor. As opposed to jointlocks you put a certain amount of confidence into your partner when being thrown. In jointlocks you have a little bit of a say in how you're going to fall down. With throws you are somewhat putting your whole body into the other persons hands.

Throws can be very dangerous for the person being thrown and the person doing the throwing. If you're not good at falling you have the danger of landing on your wrist or your head. If the person doing the throw doesn't have the proper body alignment s/he could hurt their back. Also people tend to get overzealous with throws and try to use too much muscle and toss people across the room, this could also result in the person being thrown landing on their wrist or head or causing damage to a joint.

The beginning or the set up of a throw is actually the most important part. If you can get into the right position and use your legs and hips properly then the rest of the throw should be cake.

I don't think the double mat thing is something to worry about at the moment, it is just extra saftey percautions. Eventually you'll want to do it with less and less matting, but when beginning it's safe for everyone. Also the person being thrown might have a little bit of fear of falling, if they know the mat is there it might put them a little at ease so they won't be so tense.

If their are higher belts in class maybe you should see if you can get some time with one of them. Have them throw you, and vice versa. That would probably be the most help.

[God]

yeah, also, not to mention every judo practitioner i've ever known has had mild regrets about the amount of overall falling they did. double matting at an early stage is definately a good thing.

[BSR]

Having students wait a while to actually complete throws is a good idea in my opinion.

One of the reasons I only lasted through two classes of judo is because I was throwing and being thrown on the very first night. The guy with whom I was partnered was a yellow belt and a couple of times while throwing me he slipped and landed right on top of me. Luckily I walked away with nothing more than a fat lip, but the instructor really didn't seem to care that this was happening. In the end, I decided the place didn't meet my own personal safety requirements.

[blessed_samurai]

Joint lock is exactly right. We didn't get into throwing until about a year into it. I had to do joint locks, learn to roll, learn to fall, learn to do high break falls and then he started to throw me and then I finally got to do most of the throwing.

You have to know how it feels to get thrown before you can throw.

As for my experience, the only padding I've ever really had was carpeting and a cheap fold up mat. The harder the surface, the more the thrill of falling (in my opinion) and typically we just have carpeted floor we fall on and then there's Saturdays where the majority of the falls I take are on a hard wood floor.

I'm kind of at a plateau with my break falls though. There's this standing kicking water based bag that's 5' tall that I can clear over it and land into a back fall...I guess it's more of a front flip fall but I can't seem to get an inch higher.

[TigerAn1]

An update! We just started doing the complete throw start to finish but very slowwwly.