Ukemi waza - Falling techniques

Jiyu ukemi

free falling

As a variant of the "judo roll" Mawari mae ukemi, exist the so called "free fall". Here occurs the situation that UKE cannot shore himself with his arm; e.g. because it is blocked by TORI, or be held. The rotational movement of the body is executed in the air, the landing is like in Mawari mae ukemi, but is usually performed without standing up. The entire role also involves a diagonal axis of the body (right version: from right shoulder to left hip). You can jump the role to both sides, the right as well as to the left side. At the right version roll over the right arm (roll arm) in the air and during landing also strongly hitting off to minimize the risk of injury by reducing the impact energy. Jiyu ukemi belongs to the group of "hard falls". In addition to the impact energy of the body, the energy of acceleration is added. In most cases, the fall height of UKE is also higher as compared at Ushiro and Yoko ukemi. These types of falling requires not only courage but also a good body control.

Execution (right):

The right foot is standing slightly forward, not like the gymnastic roll where both feet have a parallel level, this is very important because if, for example at a right roll the left foot would be in front, the spine will be twisted. By tilting the head to the left side, space is created to roll over the right shoulder in the air. The right swinging and roll arm swings with a strong out in an arc towards the left knee, like at the normal role. The body rotation is executed in the air, taking care to corresponding body tension. The role is carried out via a diagonal axis of the body. The final position is like falling sideways (Yoko ukemi), here is the impact energy also decreased by lateral knocking on the mat. The impact energy is many times higher than in other types of falling techniques out of the group of "hard falls", accordingly Jiyu ukemi should be performed only by experienced judoka and not for beginners.

The fall exercises can be varied with progressive experience of the judoka:

Diving role - The jump for the role is much more flatter to reach the appropriate length
Roll over an obstacle - the length and height of the obstacle has to be adjust to the skill of the athletes.

Common mistakes:

The wrong foot is in front (twisting of the spine)
The left hand is based on the floor, thus, the "free fall" is not present
The role is not done over a diagonal axis of the body (at the execution of throwing techniques, injury due to incorrect touching the ground)
The angle between the hitting arm and the body axis is too high (risk of injury in the shoulder joints)
The arm are not stretched, they hit the ground only with the forearms (risk of injury to the elbow)
The legs are not open, this will make knees knock against each other (knee injury or bruising of the testicles)