Hard Landings

Observe the above.  After I posted this on FB a week or so ago I got a lot of feedback on it.  You can see that in most of the cases, as soon as one guy gets slammed the fight is over.  In some, they are out on contact, in others they are out of position to a degree that the thrower can follow up however they want.

This is the kind of clip that I like to show to anyone who doubts Judo as a legitimate fighting art.  The throws in this video are done by AMATEURS.  Imagine what would happen if a well-trained Judoka did that.  The result would be critical injury or potentially death.

Some Take Aways:

1) Throwing Arts are extremely practical and worth some deep study
2) Strength training, especially deadlifts and squats, are keys to developing good throwing power
3) Breakfalls - better to know them than to get slammed and injured
4) Greater effectiveness is had from slamming to the ground vertically rather than projecting laterally
5) Many styles underestimate grabs as part of an attack, but these slams were all set up from initial grabs followed by closing distance.
6) Fights can get very serious very quickly.  In some of the above, I can imagine prison time (and lengthy hospital time for the victim) are involved.  Use with caution, especially off the mats.

Human beings are an enigma.  We are at once very strong (break bricks with strikes) and very weak (die just from falling to the ground).  I don't want to hurt anyone ever again, but I have serious respect for the effectiveness of throws/slams in real-life fighting situations.