How good are YOUR ukemi skills?

[Bill Glasheen]

Some athletes just have it all...

It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's Coco Crisp
robbing David Wright of extra bases.
AP

- SI.com


Just yesterday my students were moaning when I had them doing rolls and "knee walking" on the hardwood floor. I realize mats are nice and we should be careful but... Some degree of comfort with the wooden floor needs to be established, or we create fighters terrified of going to the ground when the poop hits the propeller.

And then you see the possibilities... I like to show my students feats like this. If he can do this and walk away from it, we can take a little roll on a floor.

- Bill

[Stryke]

Hey Bill I agree , having said that the dirt is often more forgiving than even mats if it`s the right stuff . Pity it`s so hard on pretty uniforms .

Ukemi is important , the best way IMHO to learn to stay on your feet is to conquer your fear of falling .

it`s a good picture , athleticisim , now theres a seisan jumpback candidate

How come so many grappling clubs start with rolling , not many roll ala Aikido when there fighting ..... It`s all about comfort , sensation and relaxation IMHO . Oh and the co-ordination and timing developed ... lots of things in a simple move ... must be karate

[AAAhmed46]

How good are YOUR ukemi skills?

Not very....

[benzocaine]

How many Uechi schools TEACH Ukemi?

I never learned until taking some Aikido.

[Stryke]

not even on takedowns etc ?

[benzocaine]

Only a side fall. 1st in yakasuka kumite, and then Dan kumite.

[RACastanet]

This thread inspired me to roll out the mats today. Good workout!

Rich

[jorvik]

Well I've done traditional aiki which tends to show you how to do the big "Flip".............sport aikido tends to do back breakfalls more often, I am good .buuuut I don't think I could do concrete ( and some can )...wood is pretty forgiving, but it is a bit of a con..one trick is to bend your left leg when you get thrown, do it then forget it.it takes a lot of the force out the throw.also only idiots whack their arms when thrown.the arm is like a conduit to dissipate the force .I've known some guys who could take really hard throws.but nobody can take a "killer" throw.and our society has created them with the use of concrete.,sport aiki it is shomen ate, traditional it is Irimi nage...when you do that then yer man can sue you for a bright shiny wheelchair and a packet of diapers...coz he will need them irespective of how good his breakfalls are

[Sal Jaber]

Hey Bill,

Great thread. Its good to see a discussion on Ukemi. Ukemi, in my opinion, has been neglected by Most karateka. Even in the birh place of karate, Okinawa. There seems to be very little interest in this ART. Knowing you Bill, and knowing you martial history. Its does not surprise me that you emphasis ukemi. Please remember that ukemi, although important, has little use when a nage(throw) is done PROPERLY!!! Nages were ment to be fight stoppers. In short they were used to kill or seriouly injure your opponent. Most nages in Japanese Jujutsu when executed have the opponent landing on their heads. No slap out possible. It wasn't until the advent of Judo, Aikido, Shorinji Kempo and nippon kempo That Ukemi became what we know I as today. Also Bill, do not forget that Ukemi has a martial element to it. There are only a few modern and old schools that teach it. Do you remember my Jujutsu seminar in Germany. What I showed to you about what you can do with breakfalls and rollouts. Remember I always take something with me. When you are comfortable with your students progress in Ukemi. Try showing them some of the martial aspects of ukemi. It will open new horizons in their training, and maybe then they will not moan and groan when its time to tumble and fall.

Train often, and then more often,

Sal Jaber

[Bill Glasheen]

Sal

It's great to see you online.

For the rest of you, Sal is quite the experienced instructor in both Japanese and Brazilian jiujitsu. He's part of the Uechi Atlanta dojo these days. Sal traveled to Germany with Bruce, George and I, and we had quite a marvelous time.

If you have any questions on the subjects, he's the man.

- Bill

[Stryke]

Excellent stuff

Sal welcome onboard hope you can stick around and answer a few questions .

how would you go about introducing karateka to Ukemi ? , Bill where do you start ?

to slap or not to slap ?

It`s a usefull life skill , I tripped in the dark at work a few weeks ago, on a concrete slab , and survived comfortably to the surprise of some co-workers

[Bill Glasheen]

In my dojo we just teach it as a pure skill just like weight training is a part of your own repertoire. In our beginner's group I've turned much of that over to Rich, who also does virtually the exact same stuff with his Marine's in the MCMAP. In my advanced group, I try to wean people off the mats (which unfortunately we don't have much of in Richmond) and into doing light basics on the wooden dojo floor.

The skills we teach are the following.

1) A basic front roll

2) A front roll break fall

3) A back roll

4) A forward (break) fall

5) A backwards (break) fall

6) A side fall

7) My own exercise that I like to call the Pete Rose Slide. Basically that's what Coco Crisp will be doing above once he hits the ground. It's what you do - albeit one-armed - when someone does a shomen ikkyo on you.

8. The "knee walk", which is found in both aikido and iaido. I find this useful as transition between standing and on the ground.

When the mats are available, we can have a bit of fun.

9) I like having people pushing a person back and forth in forward and backwards falls. That exercise is good both for the pusher (plyometric) and pushee (learning quick, spontaneous rolls).

10) Having a dojo contest at the end of ukemi where you see who can dive over the most people crouched in a row. Those who won't jump must crouch. Ten pushups if you touch any of the people crouching down.

I've picked up a few games for kids from the aikido folks.

11) One is to take the big exercise balls and have the kids plaster themselves on them. You can then teach them a forward and backwards rolls by rolling the ball with them on it. The kids love it.

12) Another is to have the kids hold their feet flat-to-flat in a seated position, and then roll their bodies in circles. The circles should be done both clockwise and counterclockwise. This is a great one to teach them how to be round, and how to be comfortable moving and rolling on the floor.

Yes, I teach slapping. But everything gets modified a bit when you go from mats to wooden floor.

- Bill

[Willy]

I tripped in the dark at work a few weeks ago, on a concrete slab , and survived comfortably to the surprise of some co-workers

Glad you came out of it okay!



Better to get pies @ lunch and leave the steingernades alone.

[Sal Jaber]

Ukemi really has no set way of teaching. I USALLY start my students on their knees. When they are comfortable I 'll start them from the standing position. However, all students are not a like. Therefore, tailor your teaching to that student's particular body type. Here are a few pointers that might help:

1. When rolling forward or backward keep your body as tight as possible. (Meaning spherical) The more your body resembles a sphere the easier your roll will be.

2.The body should descend before performing the roll out.(espeacially from the standing position) The closer you are to the ground the smoother the roll.

3. Where the head goes so does the body. So point your head in the direction you want to roll.

4. The hand/palm/arm should slap the mat/floor/ground. The secret is to wait a split second before the body makes contact .(BEFORE THE BODY MAKE CONTACT) The hand/ palm/arm should strike the landing surface with enough impact to absorb the initial shock of the body. Hence, saving the body from the most serious damage. Ideally, the hand should make contact first. (IDEALLY)

I hope this will help.

[jorvik]

Ukemi waza especially in aiki styles, is what makes a demonstration look good.
check out
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 5&q=aikido

a lot is down to Ukemi here