Ukemi waza - Falling techniques

Mae mawari ukemi

falling forward with a role

Falling forward and roll followed, called in judo and other martial arts Mawari mae ukemi and can be classified into the group of "soft falls". Here the throwing power is redirected in a forward rolled movement, thus the hard impact to the mat will be deleted. We distinguish between "remain lying" or whether the role with "stand up", where "remain lying" the impact energy is much more higher. In judo sport this way to fall often called "judo roll". The execution is like the Yoko ukemi to the right as well as to the left side. At the right version you roll over the right arm (roll arm), while the left hand is shored (shore arm). The entire role is via a diagonal axis of the body (right version: from right shoulder to left hip).

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. The left palm shores parallel to the right foot on the ground. By tilting the head to the left side, space is created to roll over the right shoulder. For this purpose route the right roll arm between the left foot and the left support arm to the rear, it is appropriate to pay attention to muscle tension at the roll arm. The roll is carried out via a diagonal axis of the body. Now we decide between the roll with "remain lying" or whether the role with "stand up". At the roll with "remain lying" the final position is like falling sideways (Yoko ukemi), here is the impact energy decreased by lateral hitting on the mat. When we do a roll with "stand up" the fall energy will keep flowing and used to stand up directly, the hitting is only fleeting, because of the rolling movement and at last the stand up.

Medical studies have shown that the three dimensional orientation of children is developed between the age of eighth and ten. Accordingly young judoka need much longer to learn the role. They either roll over the body axis (somersault) or tip over and roll over the body transverse axis.

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.
Multiple roles in a row - for example in right-/left combination.

Common mistakes:

The fingers of the Rollarm does not show before the actual rolling process begins backwards (deviation of the rolling direction)
The wrong foot is in front (twisting of the spine)
The back of the hand of the supporting arm is located on the ground (wrist injury)
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)
At the "lie down role” 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)