Ukemi waza (falling techniques) is very important. No matter what style you train you should learn to fall. Others have already pointed out that you can be injured or harmed from accidental falls as well as from being attacked. Knowing how to fall can greatly reduce your chances of major injuries.
Learning jujitsu, jujutsu and or even jiu jitsu go far beyond just learning to fall. There are many other things you should learn in a good school that can help you if you are ever attacked. This is also true of other styles of martial arts with good instructors.
Well I walked away from a motorcycle accident where I hit the pavement at 47-48 mph last summer with minimal injury and did not even have to go to the hospital. Gloves, jeans, a t-shirt and outlaw helmet along with knowing how to roll and land and willing to do that rather than slide down the road on my chest and face because I reached out is what did that for me. Only my forearms got some real road-rash and I rolled three times and came up standing.
I have had several students and fighters who because they knew how to fall were able to minimize the injury they would have maybe got otherwise. Often times people instinctively reach out with their hands and lock their elbows and end up breaking their wrists or collarbones or when falling backwards don't tuck their chins. Instead you want to spread the impact out, over fleshy, muscle areas or not just on hands and wrists but instead on hands, wrists, and forearms to minimize the impact and damage and remember to tuck your chin when falling backwards and not land directly on the back of your neck but instead rotate far enough to land instead on your shoulder, and back while distributing the force of landing across more area.
My opinion, the main reason you learn to fall is to make training easier for both yourself and for the other guy more than self defense. Now don't get me wrong, people have used it to protect themselves from cracking their heads open while slipping on ice, but I think the main reason is for training purposes. Arts like judo, where they have throws and takedowns as their curriculum, if your opponent has to be careful about how hard or how fast he throws you(either sparring or drilling), because you don't know how to take a fall, he'll be more reluctant to go hard at you. Also, in sparring, not know how to take a fall, you are far more likely to be injured, which would really hamper your training.
Yes. Falling saves people from hitting their head if they slip on ice or on something wet, like a floor or even in the shower. Little kids can fall safely because they don't tense up. We forget how to do that as adults. Like Keyboard Warrior said, people literally can fall, hit their head, and die.
I have heard of or seen falling skills save people from:
a) going head first over bicycle handle bars
b) slipping on ice
c) slipping in the shower
d) slipping on wet pavement
e) being tripped by a bully. That one was a former student of mine who did the classical front fall, jumped up and beat down a bully twice her size. Student was 13, bully was 16.
f) being thrown from a truck during an accident
g) being dropped face first by a beginner during class
h) being thrown head first by mistake by a judo black belt who got the throw wrong in a kata
i) being tripped instead of tackled during a football game
Martial arts are truly not just about fighting.
i think that you forget that in order to learn how to throw someone properly and well, someone must be willing to take a lot of falls. No one gets to do throws only and no one that wants to learn how to defend themselves is only going to be thrown. Just the training alone makes learning how to fall properly a big deal. After learning how to both throw and fall properly being thrown in the street is not as big a risk. The confidence of knowing you can take a fall is also an advantage if you end up in a fight and get thrown.
Any type of fall can result in death, especially if you land on your head. When you learn to fall, and you make it a habit, it becomes muscle memory to fall a certain way. So what if you trip? What if someone tackles or throws you to the ground? You'll know how to fall instinctively.
So yes. It could save your life. Is there a great chance it will? No probably not. But you hope in the end that you won't have to use any of your training in your daily life. The point is to be prepared regardless.
hey friend
no one can be immortal with martial arts!!!!
but yeah
full jujitsu can save your life against thieves
or someone who wants to attack you or your family
That dependents upon the fall, it might save you and might not.
Most likely.
The first things teach in jujitsu are the falls...for you are they useful in real life?
