Friday, January 05, 2007

Tossing things around

...like my husband. Tuesday was our first day back at KenPo after the holiday break. Now that we're all yellow belts, we get to do some new stuff. One of the new combinations we learned involves putting an attacker on the ground. And not gently. We practiced on the air for a while, then my husband turned and said, "Try it on me!"

So I did. Several times. Hmmm...

He wouldn't throw me, but insisted that I throw him. The next day, he hobbled up to me and said, "Maybe we should learn how to fall down before we do that again."

So tomorrow morning, we're going to learn how to fall down.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was very surprised to read that you were taught how to perform throws before you were taught about proper break fall techniques....

There are many break fall techniques that need to be taught to avoid what can be serious injuries to not just your arms or legs but your back and neck.

They should be teaching you how to fall backwards. Usually this is taught with you curled into a ball and sitting in a crouched position on the floor up on the balls of your feet. Then you roll yourself backwards and as you go you bring your arms straight and out the the sides and you slap with your entire arm and then quickly bring them back up. Remembering not to let your head bang back to the floor.
There are also the side break falls that are done with you laying on your side ..with one arm up bedside your head in a blocking pose the other on the floor to an angle to your body and flat as if it has just slapped the floor. one leg is laying slightly bent on the floor and the other is up and bent as if you were going to have to kick someone away from you. Then you would quickly roll over to your other side and as you did you would slap the floor with your entire arm and hand then bring it back up into the defensive pose of covering your face ...you should ask your sensei about these breakfalls ....before you do throws...

there are many other ones but these are the two basic ones as if you were to be attacked odds are you would be either tossed to the side and down or pushed over backwards.

It is awesome that you have learned so much..keep atit girl!! But keep safety as the main thing.

Alice in Wonderbread said...

rotfl

Sayre said...

Quinn - yeah. Sometimes my husband likes to get a head of things and this was one of those times. This morning we attended a judo class, specifically for learning to fall. We all lined up and got pushed over or thrown or pushed backwards by our instructor. We had a mat for that part, but then we had to practice on each other as well. (We did start out on the floor doing the rolling backwards and sideways exercises too). I got paired up with Z-boy and we were doing pretty well. He was throwing me. I was throwing him... but I allowed myself to get distracted at one point and he threw me - SMACK - the back of my head hit the floor. The dojo is in an old convenience store - there's carpet and padding - but it's on a concrete slab. Believe me - I felt it! Was okay though. I will need to practice. It's hard for me to relax into a fall. Actually, we all need to practice!

Alice - you'd be doing it even more if you'd been able to watch today!!!!

Janet said...

I know nothing about karate, but I do think it's quite sweet that you do it as a family activity. Then again if you all get injured, who will be in charge of the TLC?:)

Anonymous said...

My wife is a wimp. I can't toss her around, but her and my kids can beat the ever-loving crap out of me. I feel no pain ;)