Break-falls. .:.

If you've done any kind of martial art before you'll probably know what a breakfall is. But if you don't, I think it's something all bockers should spend some time learning.

A breakfall (the most commonly used form of which is a roll) is used to redistribute the energy of an impact, incurred during a fall, to prevent injury. When you fall, instead of shooting your hands out infront of you (an automatic response for most people) and hoping your wrist guards will prevent a break, you instead go into a roll or strike the ground with the whole forearm to spread the force over a greater surface area.

A good roll will eliminate almost all of the impact force by transfering the downward force of the fall into forward momentum. If you start to fall forwards (and are unable to regain your balance) put one or both arms out infront of you, but do not attempt to take the impact with your palms. Instead, as you near the ground, pull your right arm towards your left hip (or left arm to right hip), tuck your chin into your chest, and roll over the right shoulder and diagonally along your back in a tucked ball position. ...this is usually the point where I'd say tuck in one leg to roll up onto your feet. But that may prove difficult on bocks. The direction of this roll is forwards, however, it is not a forward roll, nor a roll on your side. If the ground were dirty, it would leave a diagonal mark trailing from the back of your right shoulder to your left hip (or left shoulder to right hip depending on which arm you rolled with).

This technique could save you from some very nasty injuries. Here is an example of someone using it on Bocks. It's not perfect. But definitely an example of a bad injury being avoided thanks to a breakfall.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/qjRHZql5ebw" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/qjRHZql5ebw</a>

Recap:

Practice this without bocks before you do it on them. When you progress to bocks I suggest you use a crashmat at first. You should learn to roll with both sides, but this example assumes you are using your right side.

1) As you begin to fall, put your right arm out infront of you. This arm acts as a guide and may contact the floor, but it is not intended to catch you so do not place your palm on the floor (that could break your wrist).

2) As you near the ground, pull the right arm in towards your left hip, keeping your right shoulder tucked in to prevent it from hitting the ground.

3) Tuck your chin in to your chest and begin to tuck into a ball shape.

4) First contact with the ground should either be very lightly with the right arm, or better yet with the back of the right shoulder.

5) Now stay tucked and roll diagonally along your back.

6) It is unlikey that you will be able to roll up onto your feet when on bocks, so at the point where you would usually do this, instead just be sure to keep you knees and legs out of the way, so you don't knee yourself in the face. Do not untuck from your ball shape to soon as you will hurt the bottom of your spine or left hip. Stay in your tight tucked position to achieve a smooth transition.

Performing this technique on bocks may be scary at first. But it is essential that you drill it over and over in order for it to become instinctual when you actually need it. You'll know when you have the technique correct because it won't hurt, even on concrete.

Hope this was useful. If you like, I'll make a tutorial when my camera starts working again.

Sorry to those that found it boring yet have a compulsion to read things to the end once they've started! Grin

lol.