rolling breakfall

Discussion in 'Judo' started by FortuneFaded, Mar 29, 2004.

  1. FortuneFaded

    FortuneFaded Feel my Squirrely wrath!

    Recently, as in my last two lessons of judo i've being practiing my rolling breakfalls and its begining to hurt my right shoulder, i'm worried i'm doingt hem wrong, as the whole point is to stop yourself from gettin hurt badly, heres what i do:

    I tuck my right arm in, tilt my head and flip over so i roll over my right shoulder. Obviosuly i do it quickly. But suddenly its hurting, other people do them straight on but when i do them i roll to the right.

    Any ideas?
     
  2. Shaolin Dragon

    Shaolin Dragon Born again martial artist

    Speak to your instructor about your concerns.
    Other than that, I find it helpful to "point" to the opposite foot with the arm of the shoulder I am rolling over - but not certain if judo uses the same type of roll.
     
  3. blackbelt_judoj

    blackbelt_judoj New Member

    how i teach it

    OK, here is how i teach rolling breakfalls:-

    1. Stand in natural posture
    2. Step off with your right foot, then left, then right.
    3. By your third step you should of brought yor right hand up in front of you with your face at arm's length.
    4. Your right hand should be turned inwards so that your elbow is slightly raised (this ensures that when your hand hits the mat your arm bends outwards, not in).
    5. Place your hand on the mat and aim to roll over the curve made by yor arm between the wrist and the shoulder.
    6. You should continue to roll down that line so that your entire right hand side of your body rolls over the mat.
    7. When your legs come over resist the urge to bend your knees. This is a bad habit that can lead to injury (used by Jujitsu so that you come up facing your opponent). Instead have your legs out almost straight with both feet turned slightly to the left. This helps you stand up again.
    8. Your left hand should of also done a breakfall when rolling over. Whe nlearning you may find it useful to use this hand to help you stand up.
    9. You should now be standing, facing the direction of travel.

    Don't worry if you find yourself rolling over the side. With practice you will get more confidence to roll better.

    Hope that helps.
     
  4. judojedi

    judojedi Officer of the Crown

    i do great rolling break falls....one the mat. if i try to do them off the mat i find the bone in my shoulder hits the ground with some force and hurts. dosent matter how i modify it.

    anyway, several of my students have over come your problem by doing breakfall over barriers (onto a crash mat first then onto normal mats). the positioning of the body to clear the barrier seems to cure this problem. might work for you. also, a thing we call the superman breakfall. this is where you need to clear a certain distance. my advanced students clear 4 chairs (goo height and distance), i can do 5 chairs and in the club i used to go to in liverpool, the guys there were doing 7chairs + :eek:
     
  5. Mordred

    Mordred New Member

    I had the same problem doing the roll on concrete. I got past it by relaxing more and making sure I exhaling as I roll. You should roll along the arm, so that the shoulder does not make such hard impact.
     
  6. Freeform

    Freeform Fully operational War-Pig Supporter

    I can do them ok on a wooden floor and on pavements :p

    Last night at Judo, my coach was showing us how he's using a swiss ball to teach kids how to do them properly, pretty cool.

    Col
     
  7. Aegis

    Aegis River Guardian Admin Supporter

    A few weeks back I was doing a bit of falling at the end of the session, having put a few mats away and deciding to use the rest as my own personal space. As usualy this didn't stop the other guys from picking them up, so in a few seconds I was down to my last mat, forward rolled down it and stood up on the wooden floor. The yellow belt (ie/ quite new student) picking up the mat said that the breakfalling was great on mats, but would be really hard to do on the wooden floor. Needless to say I did the breakfall again and explained that the same principles used on the mat carry through to harder surfaces, as long as you remember not to actually slap the harder surfaces. Then I told him (as a joke) that he'd be doing that next session to demonstrate. I thought he'd accepted it for the joke it was, but he got back to me just before the next session saying he really didn't want to breakfall on the wooden floor... Poor guy!

    Anyway, on topic:

    Correcting breakfalls is a fairly difficult thing to do online, as there are many falling methods and even more possible mistakes. Best bet is always to ask your instructor for a few things to work on at a time, rather than trying to correct the whole lot at once.
     
  8. Freeform

    Freeform Fully operational War-Pig Supporter

    Correcting breakfalls is hard to do period!
     
  9. Aegis

    Aegis River Guardian Admin Supporter

    No argument here. I easily forget how hard it is for adults to learn breakfalling, as I never had the problem. I learned when I was 11 or so and once you can do one type of rolling breakfall there's not really much difficulty learning another, at least as far as the "fear factor" goes ;)
     
  10. Freeform

    Freeform Fully operational War-Pig Supporter

    Teaching breakfalls is one of the hardests things to do, I wish I could just telepathically implant the skill in peoples heads :D
     
  11. MattKing

    MattKing New Member

    Lol, after my quick jog today i decided to give them a go (breakfall rolls) to see what they were all about (never covered them in my style) i was doing them on grass so it wasnt to bad but i think ive been doing them wrong because i havnt actually been putting my hand down?! occasionally i kind of put my forearm down but most of the time i was just throwing myself over so i rolled shoulder to hip? any suggestions on proper technique or slow-mo video clips? also whats the gen on rolling sideways? one more thing.. if you are carrying somehting would you not need to do it without the use of hands? thanks!
     
  12. Aegis

    Aegis River Guardian Admin Supporter

    Matt: pop along to a judo or jujutsu club for a few sessions and you'll have some breakfalling experience without a doubt ;)
     
  13. MattKing

    MattKing New Member

    Lol well im a karate man myself but how hard can this judu thingy be? just get on a mat and throw some bloke over right? lol ;) Unfortunately i dont think i have the time to go and embarass my self at the mo. Maybe after my exams, ill just keep rolling around my garden. :)
     
  14. FortuneFaded

    FortuneFaded Feel my Squirrely wrath!

    Mhhh intresting tips in stuff, i did more rolling breakfalls in my dojo lastweek and it didn't hurt and i really hadn't done anything different, as for using my hands, i never use my hands? is that wrong? i,e touching the mat with my hand as i roll.

    I can do a rolling breakfall on grass if that counts...
     
  15. Specter

    Specter New Member

    The way I was taught to do breakfalls was to use my hand, and when I read your post your lack of hand use is what jumped out at me as potentially damaging to your shoulder. You should keep the arm that is connected to the shoulder you are rolling over in an arc, so that less stress is placed on the shoulder at first impact. Also, don't keep your arm in an arc so that you roll over the top of your hand, you want to be rolling on the side of your hand, and arm, as they are more firm.
     

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