Tim, if you realize your are about to be thrown and there's no way out, should you relax your body like by going limp? or should you tense up to absorb the shock of landing?

What should you do tension wise with your body?

Some announcers on TV said in Judo they teach you to relax. But I always thought it would be better to tense. But I've never trained a grappling art.

If you are tense at moment of impact you will bounce like a ball, and it really, REALLY, hurts!
Jake

Fred,

In general, you should relax, but not be totally limp.

When you are thrown, the most important thing is to protect your head from impact. No matter how you take the fall, you need to tuck your chin in to your chest. It's also important not to reach for the ground with your arms straight. There are several methods of landing, but all try to minimize impact with a restricted area of the body and seek to spread the impact out along greater surface area to dissipate the force. It's also a good idea to land on the softer parts of the body and not the bones.

thanks, Tim.

It is so kind of you to answer all our questions so generously.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo0_2OxSmAk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oztu8i3dgtE

Pavel Tsatsouline discusses the idea of being able to control periods of tension and relaxation alternately. I think this ability is extremely important to continuously display coordinated/power movements over and over again.

next to what has already been said,
i was always told to let out a yell, since there is air inside of you that will bounce around and possibly hurt you if you hold your breath.

i always thought it was similar to taking a gut check.

usually, in judo, when the back hits the mat the arm slaps down in coordination to help absorb the impact.

you have to remember that a throw is an attack, usually with the intent to send you crashing into the ground hoping to injure you, so first of all you have to know how and where to fall, it works like a sling shot, the harder you resist, if you cannot resist it, when you finally let go , all of that pressure is going to fire off like a bow and arrow and its going to add alot to the inertia and impact when you actually hit the ground, so you have to know where the ground is and how to land without hurting yourself, which takes practice. or animal-like natural instincts.