Ukemi

• ›Chin on your chest, eyes on your belt.
• ›Strike with the whole arm, palm down, fingers together, at about 45 degrees (Judo Canada allows 35 to 55).
• ›Round back, knees over your stomach.
• ›Legs straight and wide, never crossed.
• ›Loose while you fall, firm at the instant of impact.

• ✕Letting your head touch the mat. Fix: chin on your chest and eyes on your belt for the whole fall.
• ✕Slapping with your arm too close to your body or too wide. Fix: aim for about 45 degrees. Judo Canada warns that a smaller angle risks rolling over the arm and injuring it, and a larger one crushes your whole back.
• ✕Crossing your legs as you land. Fix: swing them straight and wide, so you do not strike your ankle or heel.
• ✕Reaching a hand out to catch yourself. Fix: let the roll and the whole-arm strike take the impact; the reflex to put a hand down can injure your fingers, wrist, elbow or shoulder.
• ✕Staying stiff from start to finish. Fix: keep your joints loose so they absorb the shock, and firm up only at the instant of impact.

• •Every time a throw, sweep or takedown puts you on the mat.
• •At the start of every class: Judo Canada says falls are practised every session, even by advanced students.
• •Whenever you are uke in throwing practice, taking the throw in repetition (uchikomi) or controlled (yakusoku) drills.
• •When you slip or trip away from the mat: the International Sambo Federation runs a safe-falling program in schools for exactly that.

• •Start lying down, to learn the landing position.
• •Move on to sitting, crouching and standing.
• •Add movement, then props: sit on a gym ball and roll back, or step backward into a stick that two partners hold at knee height.
• •Finish with a partner: a gentle o-uchi-gari for beginners, o-soto-gari for the more advanced.

• •In training, stay in the landing position for a moment before you get up.
• •String falls together: roll, stand, back fall, side fall, then roll up, as in Judo Canada's falling games.
• •Move on to throwing practice and sparring once your falls are secure.

You fall backward with a round back and your chin tucked, and strike with both arms. Judo Canada asks for extra attention here, because backward falls build the muscles that support the head.

You swing one leg out to the opposite side to tip yourself off balance, sit down beside the heel of your supporting leg, roll over your shoulder blade and flank and strike with the arm on the side you land on. Your other hand stays by your belt and your legs fold down without crossing.

You fall forward onto your hands and forearms, with your arms bent like springs, your fingers turned inward and your back leg extended. The IJF and Kodokan classification calls it unrealistic, because judoka are generally thrown powerfully onto their backs; Judo Canada still teaches it.

You roll forward over the shoulder on the side of your leading foot, along a strip from that shoulder across your back to the opposite hip, and strike with your free hand. Look back through the gap between your body and arm, and keep your back leg extended as you land. Judo Canada calls it zempo-kaiten-ukemi.

Sambo calls safe falling samostrakhovka, Russian for self-insurance. The International Sambo Federation (FIAS) calls safe falling a compulsory fundamental element of sambo, and Rudman's sambo textbook says children's schools do not let you start on techniques until you pass a self-insurance test. Its back fall has the same shape as judo's (round back, chin on chest, arms at 45 degrees, palms down), and it forbids putting out the arms or elbows, or going to a wrestling bridge. A Russian sambo coaching site adds that the thrower has a matching duty, strakhovka: in throws where the thrower stays on their feet, they soften the partner's fall by holding the clothing or guiding the partner into a roll.

Lie on your back with your chin tucked and your eyes on your belt. Strike with both arms at about 45 degrees, palms down, then let your hands bounce back to crossed on your chest. Do sets of ten.

Sit low on your heels with your free hand on your belt. Swing one leg out to the side opposite the way you will fall, to tip yourself off balance. Drop onto your side and strike with the arm on that side. Land on your side, not your back. Ten reps each way.

Your partner gets on all fours. Sit on their back, then let yourself slide backward until you have to fall. Tuck your chin and strike as you land. Ten reps, then swap.

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