Back Fall Break

As you fall, your goal is to absorb the impact along your palms and forearms, and along the broad muscles in your upper back, while protecting your head and lower back from injury.

Starting Position: Standing.

When first learning fall breaks, you may want to start by squatting low.

Fall backward, leading as much as possible with your upper body and pulling your hips up. Tuck your chin and keep your teeth together. This protects your head and neck, and avoids the risk of biting your tongue.

As you reach the ground, strike it hard with your palms at about a 45° angle. Do not lead with your elbows. If they strike the ground, you may seriously damage them.

Immediately recoil your hands into a fighting position.

Side Fall Break

Side fall break follows all the same principles as back fall break. The assumption is that, due to the nature of the takedown or your body position, your fall is to one side of your body and you are limited to the use of one hand. As you fall, your goal is to absorb the impact along one palm and forearm, and along the broad muscles in your upper back, while protecting your head and lower back from injury.

Starting Position: Standing.

As a training method, to fall to your right, shoot your right leg straight out and fall with your right side leading toward the floor. Lead as much as possible with your upper body and pull your hips up. Tuck your chin and keep your teeth together. This protects your head and neck.

As you reach the ground, strike it hard with your palm at about a 45° angle. Do not lead with your elbow. If it strikes the ground, you may seriously damage it.

Immediately recoil into a fighting position. Because of the nature of the fall, you may end up in a “sideways” groundfighting position (page 79).

Tips: Often when being taken down in a wrist lock (“cavalier”) or some sort of joint lock, the body will twist or spin toward the floor. As you make the fall break, allow the leg on the falling side to bend. This helps absorb more impact just after the strike.

Groundfighting Defense against Punches, Mounted (Bucking Hips)

Being on your back with someone straddling you (mounted) and throwing punches at you is the second worst position you can be in (the worst is the same position, except you’re face down). However, it is a fairly common position to be in when mistakes are made earlier in the fight. While there is no magical solution to this problem, there are tactics that can inhibit or at least reduce the number of punches thrown. This technique introduces the idea of bucking your hips, which is a fundamental principle in ground defense.

Starting Position: On the ground, face up, with an attacker straddling you,

If you are mounted, you still need to establish a good position. Keep your elbows down and your hands near your face. Jam your elbows into your opponent’s thighs or knees to prevent him from sliding up. Good grapplers will try to get their knees up under your arm pits. This inhibits your arm movement and gets the attacker away from your hips. You want the opposite: You want your elbows down and the attacker on your hips, where you can buck him off.

As punches start flying, buck your hips to throw the attacker off balance. Your hip should move upward and toward your head. Imagine that there is a tennis ball on your stomach and you want to pop it to someone standing at your head. The attacker will probably have to “base” himself out with his hands. This gives you a chance to trap and roll (see next exercise), and at the very least it stops him

from punching. Be sure your hands stay up—not every moment of bucking will inhibit a punch, and you should still try to defend against the punches with inside and outside defenses.

Tips: Some attackers will lean their weight backwards like rodeo cowboys to maintain balance. While this inhibits your ability to trap and roll, it does reduce their punching ability since they can’t punch with much power when their weight is back.

When attempting this technique or the variation, do not reach out with your arms or straighten them, which would expose you to an arm bar.

Variation: It is also possible, if the attacker is fairly close to you, to try to “hug” him tightly to your chest. This inhibits his punching ability. From there, work toward a trap and roll (page 144).