Learning to fall properly

[Corvus]

The info I posted is just what I've had to sift through and try to understand in order to figure out exactly what I was looking for. If all this has been a part of your life for so long, you probably know the field better than I and hopefully know I'm not making any specific recommendation for any general interest in sport or competition.

Yes, I know, that is why I said I felt satiated, psychologically speaking and because of politics involved in sport, pathology being present like our coach being suspended as a judge(being among top 3 ranking judges in the world) and trainer because he being Serb and nationalism being strong at that time, and judges judging against us at the competitions because of that but he continued fight against windmills while others looked to profit from it and bowing down to those pathological s in power. But long story short it is like that in most of sports. When I quit I cried for an hour cleansing myself from all the suffering because I was living for it, but it was meant to be because soon I found transcripts and my life started changing for the better, but it was some 8 years ago, from then on things changed, but still funny thing when we were in riot unit one guy recognized me because he is also training it and said to instructor who then said to me that he said I was fast and why did I quit, I said I felt satiated and then there is that redneck stare of not getting it. Still any sort of training helps me to deal with depression.

In your original post to this thread, you agreed with the usefulness of the technique presented on the OP that was offered as a way of learning to fall properly. With the experience you've had, and keeping in mind a general readership that may have no martial arts experience and could use a technique that is simple enough that it requires no extensive thinking ahead of time, do you know of any other techniques? Something that could help a reader of this thread who comes to read something on learning to fall properly?

If you re thinking about falls there is no much to it, at least when it comes to falling, but I am no expert in it, maybe someone else knows more, but we did front and back roll falls, in front first from the knees and later from little jumps. When it comes to falling to back we did rolls and stretching of one leg to get a better balance after it. Now it is not for older people of course:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdr2j5oD2dU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY-68SaC6vI

I went to systema classes and it was ok, the people are ok but do not have any prior experience so it was very easy training's, we did some exercises for fluidity and with the staff, it is just slow motion for now because it is basics, I hope so, will stick around to see how it goes, because of work can attend one day a week, they have only two time a week trainings. Instructor seems nice man and is also akido black belt and now he went for a month to systema seminar in St.Petersburg.

 

[scotseeker]

Thank you Obyvatel, as I get older my balance is getting a little worse, this is very good information for me. Again, many thanks!

 

[koin]

Now that's falling with style!

 

[Corvus]

I started bjj after some time and bad luck, hurt my shoulder, probably stretched my ligaments, but still did some easier spar despite pain, now I am off for quite some time. Family said why do you do it anymore and if it is not enough with that kind of intensive trainings, why do you do it again. Maybe they are right, I am not that young anymore.

 

[Mark]

By tucking the chin (turtling up) and slapping the palm, the majority of the impact from a fall, using this side and rear falling maneuver, is absorbed by the meaty or fleshy portions of the body. The intention seems to be to limit as much bone contact with the ground as possible and in such a way that otherwise an entire arm or leg could be disabled, potentially increasing the percentage of helplessness or dependency the person might experience afterwards. The hand slap might be dangerous or cause injury if done too forcefully, but IMO, the idea of at least having the palm facing the ground during contact, even if you just cup the hand, is important for keeping the elbow safer. I believe he did mention cupping the hand for the rear fall technique.

The video looks incredibly similar to what is taught in some martial arts, for example Korean Hapkido (variant of Japanese Aikido). In that case the idea is to disperse the energy so the entire impact is not taken in a single concentrated area, or to shift the area of the majority impact if necessary. For example, slapping the hands helps reduce the impact to the body (back, side, shoulder, etc) assuming that the hands meet the ground a tad bit quicker than the torso; rolling across one's shoulder helps avoid falling flat onto the shoulder; tucking the chin helps avoid the chin striking the ground - that's the idea anyway, in so far as I know.

 

[MusicMan]

Learning to fall with judo training is one thing, and very useful, but there are other ways of maintaining your balance systems, such as ice skating, roller skating, roller blading etc.
Summer in the Northern latitudes makes it easy to go swimming. While you are at the pool, why not attempt a few dives with a roll, into the water, hey itś fun. I used to do some spring board diving in my younger days, and it certainly gives you a kind of spatial awareness. Plus the water is relatively kind on the body, much more so than the hard ground.
Another way of doing this is with the trampoline, though somewhat riskier.
Either way, you are getting some exercise, and some sunshine, and your bodies will thank you for it.