Analyzing Bruises

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[aikiSteve]

Last night we did break falls for a solid 2 hours. It was a fantastic class, but the hard zebra mats left me with 8 nasty bruises.

The bruises are in different spots on my left and right legs. So clearly I'm not consistent with my landing.

I've heard lots of people say that if a specific point hurts when you take a fall, you're falling wrong. So my weird question.... Is it possible to figure out how to improve my ukemi from my bruises?

Steve Nelson

[aikiSteve]

btw, Sensei started the class off last night with an interesting segway into harder falls. We started by all getting into a circle on the mat. He took a foam ball in one hand, then did a forward roll. Then rolled the ball to someone else. As the ball came in, the idea was to roll as you bend down towards the ball.

It was very a effective teaching method.

Steve Nelson

[Green Machine]

Hi steve

I have not had any really bad landings yet I jarred my shoulder once landing square doing a forward roll. I find that my high falls are getting better after cracking the family jewels a few times my sensei advised on tighter pants. So I would advice you to ask your sensei if he could offer you any advice on your ukemi, I after 4 months still find my backward falls are to be blunt rubbish but my sensei is there if I need any advice. Practice is the name of the game.

Yours fallingly Andrew