Judo First Month: Ukemi Practice Plan & Progress Tracker

The companion to Judo for Beginners: Your First Month on the Mat. Your first month is mostly falling. This plan tells you exactly what to practice each week, how each fall works, and how to tell when you're ready to be thrown. Work it in class. Check items off as they become solid, not just familiar.

The Four Core Breakfalls

Koho Ukemi: Back Fall

Used when a throw sends you straight backward (your first osoto gari, for example).

1. Start seated or squatting. Work up to standing over the weeks.
2. Tuck your chin firmly to your chest and round your back, you roll down your spine, never slam it flat.
3. As your back reaches the mat, slap both arms down at about 45 degrees from your body, palms down, a fraction before your back lands.
4. Exhale as you land.
5. Finish with your legs raised off the mat, heels clear of the floor. Slamming your heels defeats the point.
6. Never reach an arm behind you to catch yourself. The slap replaces the post.

Yoko Ukemi: Side Fall

The fall you will use most in judo.

1. Step one foot across and sweep the other leg up as you tip to that side.
2. Land on the side of your body, buttock, thigh, and the side of your back, not on the point of your hip.
3. Slap the mat with the arm on the landing side, at about 45 degrees, palm down, at the moment of impact.
4. Keep your head off the mat: chin tucked, ear toward your far shoulder.
5. Finish with the bottom leg extended and the top leg bent, foot flat on the mat, ready to stand.
6. Exhale as you land. Practice both sides equally.

Mae Ukemi: Forward Fall

Used when you fall face-first and cannot roll.

1. Fall straight forward from kneeling. Progress to standing.
2. Land on both forearms laid flat on the mat, palms down, elbows slightly bent and held clear of your ribs.
3. Your forearms and toes take the impact. Never your wrists, never straight locked arms.
4. Turn your chin to one side so your face stays off the mat.
5. Keep your body straight and tense only at the moment of landing. Exhale as you hit.

Zempo Kaiten Ukemi: Forward Rolling Fall

The rolling breakfall, how you absorb a forward throw and come back to your feet.

1. Reach the lead arm down with the fingertips pointing back toward your own feet, forming a wheel of arm and shoulder.
2. Tuck your head down and to the side, chin to chest. Your head never touches the mat.
3. Roll diagonally across the back of the shoulder and back, never over the top of the head or the neck.
4. Slap the mat with your other arm (and the sole of the trailing foot) as you come around.
5. Finish standing, balanced, facing back the way you came. Practice both sides.