Is Breakfalling harder/Tougher than sparring?

Question

In sparing I've took a few shots but break falling tends to knock the wind out of me.

Whats the general opinion on this?

Answer 1

breakfalling is very annoying, definately would rather spar for half an hour than breakfall for half an hour, depends how you spar I guess but.  If you sparing hard and full contact then sparring is tougher

Answer 2

I cant understand your comparison sparing should be 100 times harder

Answer 3

It would depend on the sparring. How compliant are the people doing this sparring, and how much contact is there? If it's very low contact sparring then it could potentially be harder (Especially if the rounds are really short), but full contact? No. lol

Answer 4

Breakfalling is only hard work if you're doing it wrong.

If it's knocking the wind out of you, you are falling too hard.

Answer 5

Yea I have to say it is. Gravity is against you in breakfalling. Balance is against you in sparing.

Answer 6

Make sure you are exhaling as you fall.  For a backfall just keep practicing and make sure you keep you chin tucked.  Practice by squatting then falling back.  Make sure you fall on your butt then roll back.  Smack your hands around a 45 degree angle.  Tuck chin and exhale. As you get better start from a standing position.  Same as squatting, just make sure you sit back on your butt and roll back.  For a sidefall  go to squatting position again, if you are falling to the left, hold your left leg out, then fall towards your left by falling on your hip and rolling to your side, smack your hands to the ground again about a 45 degree angle, tuck chin and exhale.  Same with the right side, then after your good a t it start from a standing position.  Always make sure your exhaling and tucking your chin

Answer 7

Breakfalling when perfected is effortless and you should be able to do it pretty much all night without getting out of breath. If you're winding yourself whilst breakfalling it sounds like you're holding your breath. Exhale and relax and make your body as rounded as possible for a smoothe fall.

In short sparring requires much more effort and therefore can be seen as harder in comparison to breakfalling.

Answer 8

jjgrl and chang111112003's answers are very good advice so I will only expand on their answers by saying that full contact sparring is indeed very tough and more difficult than breakfalling.

But I can see where you are coming from ,I'm assuming your a beginner at breakfalling and it is very common for beginners to quit before they give themselves the chance to progress,my advice is to persevere and ask your instructor/coach to point out your mistakes or demonstrate the breakfall/s as it should be done :)***

Answer 9

Sparring should be much harder than falling techniques. The problem you are having is that you haven't learned how to fall properly yet. Just practice your falling as that will help you a lot in the long run.

Answer 10

It takes time to be proficient at break falling. You must practice it, but when you do it will be much easier then getting kicked during sparring. I haven't been kicked much and I have done thousands of break falls. I can imagine that getting hit and kicked is worse.

I'm not sure which break fall you are having the most problem with, but I can assume it is Yoko Ukemi (side break fall). A few things you may want to focus on are:

1. Make sure you are all the way on your side when you land.

2. Make sure you are not slapping out after you make contact with the mat.

3. Although it doesn't have anything to do with getting the wind knocked out of you. Always tuck your chin. Unless it is a forward break fall in which case you would turn your head to the side.