Breakfalls

[nForce]

I HATE BEING THROWN i cant get my breakfalls right, and im really hurting my shouler and kneck, im landing like this;

instead of slaming my tricep down then lower arm, im slamming my lower arm so my arm is in a 90deg angle if you get me, so my upper arm is 90deg form floor, and when i land on my side my knecks hittin my shoulder

my instructor and everyone keeps showing and trying to help me, but i just cant do it, and we do alot of throwing in class and its really starting to hurt and im getting worried in case i break something, its really really really reallly really really reallly annoying me off, so much im thinkin of quitting jujitsu, anyone got any tips or any vids or anything that might help me? (btw im 6ft 2")

[Daffy]

ask people to throw you slowly so that you can get a feel for the movements, also hold thier gi (if available) to guide you threw the throw (this works well with o-goshi and o-soto-gary). Also you need to relax, if your tence you will land alot harder. Another thing you can do is practice your breakfalls (front, back, side) by yourself in order to get used to them.

[gojuman]

The old elbow bend. That's a classic mistake made by many a breakfall student.
I think what happens is the student is trying to brace themselves with their arm instead of trusting their breakfall. It's a 'fear' thing. I think once you understand what it is you may overcome the urge to reach out to stop your fall. If you don't learn you might just dislocate your elbow or shoulder. Don't worry, your fear is a commonly shared one.
One way I have helped students with this fear is to get used to going from their feet to their backs with out any breakfall what so ever. Of course you do this slowly so you wont fall hard and hurt yourself.
Try this- Stand straight with your arms folded in front of you like a mummy. Now sit down on the ground without unfloding your arms. If you have any coordination at all you probably sat down quite easily with a bit of a roll on to your back. Keep working on this untill you get more agressive. After a while try to breakfall with your arms after you have landed. This is of course not the proper break fall method, but it will break you of the habit of reaching. You will soon get comfortable doing this and you will be able to break fall (slap the ground) in the right sequence.
Doing a breakfall is all about trusting your ability to protect your self. Your subconcius mind is harder to train sometimes that's all.

[Aegis]

My advice is to go right back to the basics of falling, without even working with a partner for the moment (well, maybe someone to watch your technique and correct)> Here's my advice for perfecting your sideways breakfalling in stages:

• Kneel on the floor, one knee up, the other down (a sword drawing posture if you happen to do swordwork in your school). Your back should currently be straight.
• Before even attempting the fall, put your breakfalling hand on your opposite shoulder. Your breakfalling hand is the one on the same side as your raised knee.
• Practice falling without the actual breakfall for a while. This can be achieved by sliding your "standing" leg in fron of your own body, straightening it out as far as possible. From here you can fall gently onto your side. You should aim to fall slightly forward of an imaginary line drawn directly right and left of you when you are kneeling, as this will ensure that you are falling in the correct direction
• Once you have landed, check the following points:
  • You should be on the side of your body (sounds obvious, but it's a good place to start!)
  • You should be in contact with the ground all the way down the side of your body, including the leg on that side
  • Your bottom leg should be straight, your top leg should be bent and the knee should be pointing upwards. The bottom leg is straight to avoid knee damage, the top leg is bent to act as a shock absorber and also to stop your thight from trapping anything sensitive (not so much or a worry for girls!)
  • the foot of your straight leg should be bend inwards to slightly lift the ankle off the ground
• Since your breakfalling hand should still be on your shoulder, you can now give the mat a good smack with it, cupping the fingers and ensuring that as much of teh arm fromt he fingertips to the shoulder contacts the grouns simultaneously as yuor position allows. Do this a few times for good measure
• Repeat this process until you are comfortable getting into the position.
• Once you reach that stage, start making it one fluid motion. Start from kneeling, fall into position, wait a moment, slap the ground.
• Once comfortable with that, start trying to hit the ground AS you reach the position (NOT before, make sure you eliminate this as a habit sooner rather than later)
• Steadily increase the pace of the fall

Once you're happy with kneeling, work your way up to standing by starting with feet a shoulder width apart, stepping across your own body and lowering yourself towards the ground, requiring a minimal fall distance. This fall can be increased in height in stages as you get more confident.

There are other exercises which can help, such as having a pertner pull your arm underneath your body and flipping you over from all fours, but to be honest I've seen people learn breakfalling much quicker through a combination of what I've outlined above and training with throws (though obviously slowly and controlled at first!)

Best of luck!

[Davey Bones]

Follow the advice given. Start from scratch and take it slowly and easily. You will probably need to hold your opponent's gi, and that's fine. Work it from all angles. Trust me, the effort is worth it; once it becomes second nature you'll forget you ever thought about quitting.

I will say, from experience, that Aegis' idea is solid. Work from a kneeling position, gradually go higher over time. That's how I learned. SLow and low, gradually getting higher and faster. I know starting over sounds terrible, but it's worth it to get rid of the bad habits.

[nForce]

Sound advice guys, will follow it tomorrow, its just that we throw alot in some of our lessons, and i dont want to be the awkward guy who doesnt want to be thrown, but also i dont want to break my shoulder. So i guess ill follow aegis and gojumans advice. Cheers.

[Ghost Frog]

Do what Aegis has said. I always start people off from a crouch and get them to work up higher as they get more confident. It's just a relaxation and repetition thing, really. The more you do, the happier you'll get with falling.

Here are my tips:
1) Make your breathing match the breakfall.
Half the job in breakfalls is relaxing, so inhale as they come in to throw you, then exhale as they throw you. That way, when you hit the ground, you'll be relaxed and it won't hurt even if your breakfall is a bit wonky. Drunk people often don't hurt themselves falling because they're very relaxed.

2) Practise your breakfalls on your own so you don't have the pressure of a class.
-Do them on a mat, if you can, or grass/sand/a soft surface otherwise.
-Do them from all angles and on both sides.
-Build up speed and height until you are confident throwing yourself to the ground from anywhere.

3) Practise diving rolling breakfalls.
-These are good for building confidence. Try diving over piles of cushions, people, chairs, elephants, etc.
-They get you used to landing at different angles, so make you fearless!!

Hope this helps.

[nForce]

once youve mastered breakfalls, does being thrown not hurt at all?

[Ghost Frog]

I find it doesn't hurt if you're thrown on a mat and are fully warmed up, although, you will get the odd one that hurts a bit, especially if you land a bit awkwardly while doing randori or your partner has got it in for you.

Generally, it hurts a lot when you're a beginner, mainly because you're really tense. As you get used to it it all gets easier. Also, your conditioning improves so your neck gets stronger and holds you head in place, and your back and chest muscles get used to the feeling of hitting the ground.

[Davey Bones]

Also keep in mind accidents will happen. I can't imagine a terrible injury coming from the studio, but yeah, you'll get the wind knocked out of you. It'll happen a couple of times, and you'll get over it. I hated being thrown when I first started MA, and now it's just second nature.

[kempo-kid]

Originally Posted by nForce

once youve mastered breakfalls, does being thrown not hurt at all?

All depends on the throw. I got hani makkakomied by a certain TJF 2nd dan (large is not the word to describe this fine fellow) and yep it hurt like hell



KK

[nForce]

lol im not bothered about injuries too much, i broke my toe there, and i dont mind being hit hard, just like broken arms and legs im not too keen on recieving

[Sh4d0wS0ul]

You'll be fine one you do it more, but it hurts you arms like heck on any kind of hard surface.

At a Tae Kwon Do lesson, we were doing ground work, and obviously i had already done all the stuff they werre going thru that lesson, but they didn't have proper mats and when i did a break fall one time my hand went of the mat and my palm strck the floor. My hand was numb for like 10 minutes.

[Dropbear]

I've found that being thrown by higher grade belts really helps. They have more control and can execute the throws with more precision. Nothing worse than being thrown by beginners which is more like the fumbling insecure actions of 16 year olds in the back of their daddies car

A general question though - from a Judo background, the side breakfall seems emphasised, even with throws that are generally "over the top" (ie shoulder throws, neck throws etc). Our style of JJ has the backbridge breakfall which involves falling basically flat down on your back, but with your pelvis thrust forward to make sure your bum doesn't hit. The fall is taken on the feet and the shoulders. Now personally I HATE HATE HATE this landing.. So far I've managed to bite my tongue, and come down half sideways, forgetting to arch my back and taken it straight on the bum - hurting my back for a week. We have a black belt judoka in our club who prefers to use a side break fall for these kind of throws. What do you guys do?

[Aegis]

Personally I'd use a side breakfall for most landings. Sometimes the inner reaps or the rear sacrifice throws require standard backwards breakfalls, and sometimes forward sacrifice throws need a rolling breakfall, but it's a very rare occurance where you actually need a bridge landing breakfall (for tomoe-nage if they hold on, it can be quite useful).

I use that landing sometimes, but usually when my opponent controls my landing such that I can't hit the deck with my standard sideways breakfall.