Can You Learn Aikido Without Breakfalls?

Break falling (or Ukemi in general) is a key component of any aikido lesson. Without this, the martial art would become a lot more dangerous in two main ways. The first of these is that people would end up getting wrist locked very often instead of rolling away. Secondly, if students do not know how to break fall correctly and execute the technique poorly, they can land on their head or shoulders, causing quite a serious injury.

There are horror stories all over the internet about Ukemi being dangerous and students getting injured from break falls. Whilst this can happen, if you’re falling correctly, the damage to your body will be extremely minimal compared to what would happen if you fell with no knowledge of how to fall properly.

Not only this but our bodies are made to endure small amounts of damage over time. Running on concrete is not exactly the best thing to do for your knees, but people still do it as it has many other benefits for other areas of life. If you are to take something as an extreme example and draw only the negative points from it, you will likely not do anything. Essentially, ukemi is a crucial part of aikido and cannot be practiced without it. It’s very advisable that you learn how to fall properly and accept the minor damage that will come from this over time.

Thankfully, you are able to train aikido in a gentle setting on soft mats. This is a very beneficial place to learn since the real world does not have tatami all over the floor. If there is a place to learn where to breakfall – it is in the gym.

What Happens If You Don’t Fall In Aikido

Aikido has just as many breakfalls as judo but there is a distinct difference between the two martial arts. In judo, you are given no choice whether you are going to be thrown onto the mat, whereas in aikido you are offered this choice.

However, like many things in life, choices can sometimes not be quite what they seem.

Aikido is a martial art that specializes in both submission holds – mostly wristlocks alongside other basic takedowns. The reason you will see uke’s throwing themselves into a forwards roll is not simply to look cool, but instead to avoid the submission. To put it bluntly, if you do not accept the throw, you will get injured instead.

In other words, if you do not fall, you will end up getting hurt. As this is aikido, you will generally end up with a sprained or broken wrist as this is the likely submission you will be escaping.

This can be compared to an example in a fighting sport such as MMA. During bouts, fighters will often aim to get a submission hold on one another. When in a submission, you must escape, tap out or get your bones broken. Any fighter escaping from an already grounded position is the equivalent of doing a breakfall from a standing position in aikido.

Other Uses Of Break Falling

Break falls are not just limited to aikido or martial arts in general but can be very useful in everyday life. They likely will never be used, but they can help you escape a serious injury in any setting – this does not have to involve a physical confrontation.

The following are incidents where a person could have broken an arm or leg. Instead, they used a break fall since they had been a student of aikido for so long it was second nature to them.

• Falling off a 5 meter wall
• Slipping on black ice
• Jumping off a skateboard to avoid a vehicle at high speed
• Falling off the back of a golf cart

There will be many other stories about how break falls have saved people from injuring themselves, so clearly it is a very useful skill. If you are accustomed to being thrown on your back, your body will naturally identify that this is a safe way to fall, rather than posting your entire body weight through a single arm.

Does Ukemi Actually Make The Body Stronger?

There is a school of thought that falling down (when done correctly) will condition your body and make it stronger. This method is practiced a lot by boxers in old school gyms who drop medicine balls on their abs in order to condition them. In a similar way throwing yourself on the floor during aikido can make your body more resistant to pain and other falls.

This is not really a theory that can be proven or disproven, but more an idea implemented by some and laughed at by others.

In short, you should figure out what works best for yourself, rather than worrying about what others say the best way to train is. If you find doing high impact break falls is best for your body, go with this, if you find the opposite, try to fall gracefully.

Want to learn more about how to breakfall safely? Check out this handy book that shows you how to avoid injury.