I'm relatively new to judo so my Ukemi is rubbish and I need to practice. The problem is I don't have really anything to practice on and being summer the ground is like concrete at the moment and gym mats are pretty darn expensive. The other thing too Is I don't like rolling, sounds silly, but I'm worried that I'll end up breaking my neck. I keep forgetting where to place my hands for Mae Kaiten Ukemi and how far apart my legs are and what angle to start from. Its all very complicated (for me at least).:dunno:
Rolling in a confined space is pretty much going to be restricted to stretching slowly. Try staying close to the ground (no need to stand up each time if stretching). Does something like the following help? Provided you don't have a neck injury, some of the exercises seem to work in confined spaces and even hard ground. Just keep everything slow and steady. [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxkOHw0PKjk"]USF Ukemi Core Training - YouTube[/ame] Edit: That first exercise is hard one for me. I tend to flip over. It does work to core too.
Found an old mattress in my garage, its small but long enough to do ukemi from my knees. Hand positioning is where I keep tripping up. It would be helpful to have a guide that showed a top down perspective of hand placement, but I haven't found anything like that on the net.
Those are some tough exercises, I keep rolling on the outside of the shoulder and veering off course half way through the roll. My shoulders get a bit sore rolling like that.
What kind of ukemi are we talking about here? For judo you just need to slap the mat as hard as you can with your arm(s) roughly 45deg from your torso. There's not a huge amount to perfect.
You can practise full rolls from on the floor already, once your comfortable, and on the right surface (ukemi / breakfalls works best on mats, full rolling works better off mats but is much much harder to do, add in the ukemi ground slapping bit (the ground slap as well as softening the fall, just stops you posting your hand and breaking your collar bone, so keep it within 45 degrees off your body, if in doubt keep it closer to you) a) backwards rolls, start lying down, and roll yourself slowly over the shoulder. - Once your good with that, start with a sitting up position, - then a One knee down, one up position, - then a low squat, - then standing upright and dropping to a low squat, - and then from standing straight away. 2) forward rolls, start kneeling, reach through to your opposite foot and roll forward over the shoulder. - then a One knee down, one up position, - then a low squat or lunge - then standing upright and dropping to a low squat or lunge - and then from standing straight away. 3) then add in sidewas for fun!
I wouldn't recommend the exercises as rolling technique. I see them more as stretches and getting more comfortable on the ground. The exercises twist the spine and this is not something you want to do rolling. Keeping the neck and spine in alignment is important to protect yourself. Twisting the spine goes against this. Think of a curve or circle rather than twisting as preferred. For the other topic of hand position. Visualization can help. Visualize as you roll where the opponent is. Imagine they have a hold of your arm so as you roll you must rotate to "look at them" because they have your arm held. The closer the opponent is to the ground, the smaller your roll on the ground will become, so start with an opponent that would be on their knees throwing you. If you flatten out, this is your break fall. If you keep in a ball, this is your roll. Hope this helps.
