Are Judo breakfalls safe in a "street" situation?

[MonkeySlap Too]

I knew a few guys that messed up thier slapping arms with Judo breakfalls on concrete - particularly uneven concrete.

Somewhere I have a medical study on falling that details how the Judo breakfall also allows concussive force to be transmitted to your organs, whereas the Shuai Chiao / Boke style does not because the organs are more compacted.

I don't know how good the science is on that.

But for the reasons NF cited, I prefer the SC method.

[DelicateSound]

If a guy's caught me with a clean throw that I can't get out of, then I'll Judo breakfall, as it's what I know. But 99.9% of the time, it won't be. It'll be a sloppy tackle or trip from an inexperienced fighter.

Watch Judo competition. Do the judoka even attempt a breakfall on these? No. They twist into the best position, the most advantageous one. The fall is not your biggest problem from the average trip or sweep, the follow up blows are.

I still stick by Judo breakfalls though - the science is right.

[SevenStar]

they'll break fall - they will try to spin around into a forward fall, then turtle up so you can't do anything to them. Eventually the ref will stand them back up because no progress can be made to to the faller turtling up. He can't just fall on his back - he'd lose the match.

That said, sure, something like hiza guruma won't hurt on a mat, but on concrete and if you don't know how to fall, it can be pretty painful I'd imagine. May not be enough to end the fight though.

[Black Belt Jones 1]

Two years ago I was walking out of the University after it had been raining(freezing rain). I slipped on the 2nd step and, instinctively(judo breakfall training) tucked my chin and slapped my arms down while fallling backward. I din't feel a thing, just got up and went to my car. A few hours later the same thing happened to another guy except he ended up with a broken elbow and bruised ribs.

[myosimka]

Not sure who taught you a PLF but if it was a sport dz, never ever go there again. (If it was the army, who knows what stupid ass **** they are teaching in jump school these days? An arm slap means one of 2 things: 1) you have released your toggles and now cannot fly your canopy or 2) you are still holding your toggles and you have just given your canopy tons of input on one side during landing. Hook turns are actually the number one cause of death amongst skydivers these days not a chute opening. (or what whuffos think of when we talk about a total mal.) If you executed one with an arm slap and never got hurt, then a) you are loved by a higher power and blessed beyond other people. or more likely, b) the canopy flight was over and the flare was timed well enough that you didn't need a PLF at all. Stand it up, baby!!!

[myosimka]

True enough but most experienced troopers will execute a rear riser flare in any case. If you don't, you won't have knees long even with a good PLF. A standing landing still gets a reprimand but I notice an awful lot of instructors who land and their canopies have already begun collapsing before they execute PLFs.
My point remains the same though: a proper PLF involves elbows in tight and hands in front of the body. Up in front of chest and kneck to protect self or down if flaring a chute. In neither case is an arm slap recommended. But we are now THREE posts off topic so I'll let it go there.

Feeling the urge>>> must go to DZ and must switch to posting on dropzone.com.

[guohuen]

He He, I agree about standing landings and I think it's funny the instructors are faking it. There's something odd about hitting the ground like a ton of crap with more gear than you weigh. I also like running down someones chute and colapsing it because their being dragged. Standup landings are much better.

[Mr Punch]

Never taken much judo.

Used aiki breakfalls very successfully (probably saving both my legs once) in two non-combat situations, and many times in sparring (completely different from when someone's trying to f*** you up).

Used one (ushiro) in a playfight that went out of hand, was smothered, and still have twinges of a lower spinal injury over two years later.

Don't recommend relying on any breakfalls when your opponent is set on keeping hold and snapping off some bit of you.

Also, the 'some kind of breakfall is better than none' is dangerous IMO. In some situations it's better to just sink your weight to the ground rather than having to twist out of an aborted breakfall when someone wants to take part of you home.

Last point, in some situations, a good breakfaller can take control and rip out of someone's grasp. Have done this a couple of times, though admittedly in sparring.

Would think that this works better for aikidoka than judoka, as aikidoka practise falling as a way of saving themselves, thus often rolling away from the point of contact, whereas judoka (in my limited experience) are shown how to stay close to the opponent and sometimes use their bodies to take themselves down. Don't know... anyone care to disagree?