Mario Tobias

Practice BOTH.

I used to do a lot of top ukemi with slapping and there was one incident where ukemi saved my a$$.

I was at home and I needed to grab something from a cabinet near the ceiling. To get there, since I didn't have a ladder, I used a small table, a very dodgy table at that since I was in a rush. Once I was reaching for stuff, the table legs gave way. It happened very fast.

There was a very large thud (the one we had were wooden floors) after the table gave way.....that was my body crashing on the floor. From a vertical position, I was at the floor at my side with my arm extended. This happened like a split second. (Imagine a tree being cut, that was how it would have looked. I also know how it would have felt :-)).

I know it was a very large thud since I heard my neighbors say "WHAT WAS THAT???"

I was at lying there stunned and didn't move for a few seconds. I tried to probe if I damaged any body part but didn't feel any pain whatsoever. Was I lucky? Don't know but I think my ukemi saved me.

Moral of the story: buy a ladder :-)

Seriously, slapping or silent ukemi depends on how you fall. If it is a quick one, like a jerked technique or similar to the one I've experienced above, there's no way you can do a nice silent roll.

I cant explain it fully but the thing is it may not be the slapping but you react better no matter what situation is given to you. Good luck.

cheers,
Mario