Break falls

[Tom Yum]

Taught in judo, hapkido, jujitsu etc. You are taught how to land if you are slammed face forward, sideways, backward. You are also taught rolls, when your momentum is outward instead of straight into the ground.

I used a roll the other day - I was getting ready to run, and I stubbed my foot into a short rail near the track. The momentum sent me flying forward, face down. I rolled straight out of it from shoulder to cheek; the only injury was a couple of scrapes on my hands. If I didn't roll, I might have landed face first into the track.

Anybody else have experiences where they used a breakfall or a roll in a spontaneous situation? Makes you appreciate your training.

[brokenelbow]

You need more awareness training.

[Jeremy Lobdell]

Way to go Tom!

Sometime our surroundings don't exactly cooperate with us> It's good to see that your training has become an automatic response. That should be the goal of any martial artist. Way to go!
On a personal and some what humbling note, A few years ago I was over at a friends house playing cards with another couple and my wife. We were sitting in those cheap outdoor plastic chairs and I leaned back to throw a bottle away and the back legs on the chair forded in. The next thing I know, I'm laying on my back looking up at the table, my chin tucked and both of my arms out at my side, having done a rear breakfall without even thinking about it. My chin was even tucked into my chest. Everyone at the table was standing up and asking if I was allright. I got up and felt fine, but all the kids that were playing in the livingroom had a clear shot and were laughing hysterically, even my 2 kids.
Mahalo, Jeremy

[medic06]

I really can't remember having to use a breakfall outside of training in a long time. Of course, I think this is because I have better balance, body awareness, etc due to all the training. I have stumbled over things but I haven't fallen in a long time.

[Hikage]

I suppose that I'm something of a klutz, so I find myself using the ukemi pretty often outside the dojo. Most of the time, it's simple things. Recently, I remember tripping over my pug while holding my 2 1/2 month old son. I stumbled, ran into the automan and was going down. I corkscrewed my feet and ended up in a sitting position. In other cirsumstances I have slipped while practicing on ice and needed various kinds of fall breaks. I typically purposely put myself into situations to see how I would react.

The one time I really needed to call on falling was when I was in college. I was a member of the university's drum line. Before and after every show, we would pack our equipment into a truck (similar to those bread trucks we see on the highways) and then stuff ourselves into the cab. Sometimes we would have 6 - 8 people standing in the cab, hanging on to whatever might hold one stable. Typically, my place to stand was by the door, which was always open. On this occaison, someone fell inside the cab, pushing the next person, who fell into the next person and so forth. When the momentum got to me, I had no one to fall into, only open space. We weren't moving at a huge speed, probably about 25 mph, but it was still pretty fast for someone not protected from the ground, save for his skin. Realizing I was going out the door no matter what, I jumped and launched myself at the moving ground headfirst. I executed a dive roll, rose to my feet, and hopped back on the truck as it returned to retrieve me, unharmed.

-Hikage

PS> Good thread Tom Yum.

[ZenZhu]

I've used breakfalls intentionally on occasion. Some of my work involves a lot of backwoods trekking to identify areas on maps and such. Much of this often requires crossing over fences (we have the property owners' permission, of course). Sometimes, the lay of the land makes it easy to just jump over the fences. In these cases, a head-first leap is sometimes required to clear some barbed wire or electrified cattle fences. I'll often jump over the fence and tuck into a forward breakfall like I learned in Aikido. It's a great way to control your fall and get the arc you need to jump the fence. It works similar to a flip in allowing you to direct your momentum in the way you need it. This can also be handy if you ever find yourself needing to jump out of the way of an oncoming car.. not that I've had to do that. But, it's nice to know what to do rather than a belly flop onto the sidewalk.

Once when I was jogging with a friend, we were going through the woods at night. I stepped in a gopher hole and was launched forward. I immediately tucked into a forward breakfall, rolling from arm to shoulder to back to cheek to my feet..... barely even broke my jogging stride.

[Broadsword2004]

Yeah last year, I walked out of my house and it was freezing outside, having snowed, and the sidewalk was a sheet of ice. But it was that black ice that is like totally invisible, where the sidewalk looks totally clear, only you step on it and slide like there is no friction.

I stepped, slipped, and fell flat on my back. My head instinctively tucked in though, so I never hit my head, and my back was okay too, so, I am glad that training helped.

The other time was when my idiot friend, who is a little slow (slow as in he gets a new car, and says, "I think it has a V6 engine..." then he says to me, and is dead serious, "How many cylinders does it have??" ); anyhow, we were wrestling, and he asked me if I knew of this "shoulder throw." I asked him if he could show me what he meant, though he interpreted this to mean yanking my arm, bending forward, and basically throwing me right over his back, only for me to land flat on my back on the ground. Thank goodness for breakfall training then too!!

[EmptyneSs]

i learned to breakfall very well from judo and aikido. it has saved my ass alot of times. i think its one of the best things ive gained from martial arts.

i fell down some stairs at school, and as i fell backward, my head tucked in and my 2 hands went back to break my fall, and i was totally fine. that slip could have seriously injured me, but it didnt.ive tripped over stuff too and was able to save myself by rolling and getting right back up. when i was sparring in muay thai one time, someone knocked me backwards and i fell back, but used my momentum to roll backwards over my shoulder and stand right back up.

[Tom Yum]

You need more awareness training.

Thanks...hehe.

They don't cut the grass that often, so it can get up to a foot high in some places covering up twigs and things that get in the way.

[osopardo]

I tripped over a sprinkler head while running and fell flat on my face. Knocked the wind right outta me. I laid there by the side of the road in the dark trying to get my wind back and hoping that no oncoming cars would veer off the road and run me over. Seemed like it took me forever to recover.

So like a dummy I tell my TKD instructor about it the following evening and he just looks at me like he just doesn't understand what I'm saying and asks, "Why didn't you just do a forward roll?"

We spent several classes after that drilling the break falls. The other students were very grateful to me for sharing...

[Tom Yum]

I tripped over a sprinkler head while running and fell flat on my face. Knocked the wind right outta me. I laid there by the side of the road in the dark trying to get my wind back and hoping that no oncoming cars would veer off the road and run me over. Seemed like it took me forever to recover.

Sure, replace the word sprinkler head with 4-foot McDonald's statue of the Hamburglar...jj.

[ZenZhu]

While it's not a breakfall, I've had another case where the "acrobatic" ability I've gained from martial arts... the combination of flexibility, quickness on my feet, and overall lightness of movement... has come in handy. Several years ago, I was out jogging. I was on the left side of the road when a car was turning. He was going fairly fast and turned the corner too tight... tight enough he went up onto the curb. If I didn't get out of the way, he was going to at least sideswipe my legs and probably run over my foot. I wound up doing a handspring/cartwheel off of the rear of his car to get out of the way. He stopped, afraid he had hit me, but I waved to him to let him know I had been unharmed. The sound he thought was me being hit was when my hands hit the trunk to do the vault.

[Tom Yum]

Now you're getting into the gym-kata zone...lol

[Thai Bri]

I am not a believer in many breakfalls. What works on a mat breaks your arm on concrete, especially if you don't hit a totally flat bit.

Look at your belt to stop your head smacking backwards into the floor and roll where you can.

other than that, just try to keep up on your friggin feet you clumsy lot.

[Broadsword2004]

Well, my former sensei was able to be slammed on his back on cement and he came out fine all the time, but he was trained very well for it too.

You just gotta make sure you don't hit your elbow, but slap properly.