Ukemi waza - Falling techniques
Ushiro ukemi |
falling backward |
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While falling backwards, in Japanese martial arts as Ushiro ukemi known, it is observe primarily that the head of the falling is protected from shocks, e.g. hit the back of the head on the ground. The head is, because of the straight fall backwards, especially vulnerable. Ushiro ukemi belongs to the group of "hard falls".
Execution:
Kneel a bit while standing and bring your bottom toward the floor, then fall straight backwards. The back is round, so a rolling motion occurs. After the first contact of the lumbar with the ground, hit the tatami with straight arms and flat hands. The arms are located at an angle of 20 ° up to 40 ° from the longitudinal body axis, to weaken the fall further, a reverse roll (Ushiro mawari ukemi) are connected to the fall.
| Especially young and/or inexperienced judoka have a natural fear of falling backwards (because of they cannot see where they fall). You can offer them e.g. a fall over a helping partner, as lower bracket, or a sports stool. They sit on it, and slide backwards down, the arms are in front of the body, in order to stop the shore reflex. The coach put his hand protectively on the cervical vertebrae, this gives the trainee an additional sense of security. Experienced judoka can perform this falling technique from a backward jump, wherein the impact energy will increase by an important factor. |
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Common mistakes:
- The angle between the hitting arms and the body axis is too high (risk of injury in the shoulder joints)
- The back of the head is hitting the ground (risk of injury to the head and neck vertebrae)
- The arms are not stretched, they hit the ground only with the forearms (risk of injury to the elbow)
- looking backwards (danger of twisting the neck vertebrae)
