I enjoyed it a lot. There was lots of conditioning and drill, no forms.

Couple of questions:
1. Has anyone here ever hurt themselves while slapping a hard surface prior to falling after a throw? The instructor told us to put our elbows on the side of our heads like a pillow when falling. What's more practical for say a fall on concrete? Is one way really better than the other?

2. In your experience does shuai jiao or judo offer better classes on standing throws? I know individual schools may be better than others but I'm talking about curriculum wise. Which has better takedowns, conditioning methods, methodology.

This is my first ex perience with throwing.

Also, does shaui jiao have a randori type activity

"This is my first ex perience with throwing."

Uh oh, here it comes...lolz.

Its fun isnt it? just be very careful. It can be dangerous, especially to the novice.

In judo, the first thing you learn is how to fall.
Then you are thrown by everyone in the class.

I would say take judo if you're into throwing. Ive never taken shuai jiao, sadly there arent any shuai jiao schools around here.

Its kinda hard to find a judo school near me. I heard judo was huge for awhile and then the schools shut down.

Robert W Smith stated in his "Masters and Methods" book that shaui jiao doesn't have sweeps and judo does. I think he's full of stinky diarrhea. Every style has sweeps.

Did you ever hurt yourself slapping a non-matted surface when doing ukemi, Robert?

I have practiced SJ and a bit of Judo. Personally I have always used the Judo style of falling on mats, so I dont know how it would be if falling on a hard surface, maybe you could try it and decide what is best for you. Judo and SJ are good, one thing that SJ lacks is sacrificial throws, it does have sweeps and it does have free sparring. Where are you training at?

I live in New York. It's taught by a guy who rents space in someone else's school.

I like SJ conditioning.

I like SJ takedowns(usually doesn't depend on the jacket).

Judo is more competitive and has ground work.

Essentially, all the same throws.

I do Judo breakfalls, but I like SJ breakfalling.

Tim covers just about everything you'll ever need to know about falling (and getting up safely) in his DVD, 'Ground Proofing'. (and the principles of throwing are covered too, which apply to all types of throws)

When falling backwards- just as your back hits the floor slap your hand down toward your hip. If you try to slap outward to the side your elbow will take most of the force and that'll hurt. If you reach back and try to find the floor before your back hits, or slap too high to the side your shoulder will take the force... and that'll hurt.

Shane

Shane,
I have Ground Proofing. Where are the principles for throws covered?

I just checked my DVD and no such section on throwing principles exists.

If you can figure out how to play it backwards, all shall be revealed.

I think is in the standing grappling and counters DVD

I remember some from the standing grappling DVD about the deAd angles. That's prob what Shane meant

Who are you learning Shuai from?

oops, it was Standing Grappling that covers throwing.

Shane

"Did you ever hurt yourself slapping a non-matted surface when doing ukemi, Robert?"

Nope.

But i will say that if youre going to be throwing each other on a nonmatted surface, then you better know what you are doing. elbows and knees, hips, all of the sharp stuff, tend to suffer, and mistakes are less forgiving.

There is a Shuai Jiao class in Mission Valley and in Ramona. Both in San Diego county.
The teacher is Sean.

Wow, how did you find that? And how can i find them?

Id love to visit, i have a car now so i can travel i little bit.

Timber,

Regarding Robert Smith's comments on Shuai Jiao, he said that it was less technically advanced than its Japanese counterpart, Judo. He taught Judo a while and encountered some of the wrestling teachers in Taiwan.

If he made a comment on sweeps I don't think it's in Masters and Methods or the Asian Martial Arts book.

I read the sweep comment in Borders books right before I made the post. It's in the chapter on the championship wrestler.

Robert Smoth's books have an arrogant tone to them, especially Martial Musings. In this book he bashes everything accept the so called internal arts and judo. Yet in his stories of "fighting", which never involve him, he only talks of push hands and being pushed against the wall by the "real" masters. I own most of his books and have read them several times. My final analysis is that he basically quoted the status qou at the time and couldn't explain internal:
Internal develops intrinsic energy, external uses muscles and is stiff, I punched a fat guy in the gut who put his qi there(wong shu jin) and it had nothing to do with his huge gut or developed stomach muscles under his gut, Chinese martial arts are more advanced than Japanese ones, I learned super deadly striking areas on the body but never used them so I'll just write about how deadly they are anyway. When I was younger these stories spurned me on to practice but now I see them for the ranting they be

Sooooooo, whom are you training SC with?