Sorry it took me so long to reply even though no one was asking for one. I've been busy here as of late.
Anyway, the point I was trying to get across about quiet breakfalls is mainly directed toward the Forward Roll and Backward Roll (and to a slight degree a Side Breakfall). The quieter those rolls/breakfalls are, the more painless the rolls become. Forward rolls and Backward rolls should be smooth, quiet, and fluid.
Now, other breakfalls on the other hand is a different story as your attacker or the enviroment effects how you fall to a degree. So they may tend to be more noiser.
Another quick note about forward rolls and backward rolls is that they are not just made for 'roll outs' from being thrown. They are also made for evasion as way to quickly evade a sudden charge. They are made as way to get back on your feet quick after tripping or being pushed by your attacker. And, as a method to recover a weapon or something of value on the ground from your attacker before he has a chance to get it.
On the point about practicing breakfalls outside, it is for me, the most important thing to get across with this whole debate. Because it gets to the core of what Hapkido is about: Self-Defense.
Since the inception of martial arts, there have more than likely been different soft surface materials that warriors have trained on for practice. But the majority of training was done outside for most warriors. Breakfalls are not a modern invention, they are several hundreds of years old. They were designed for the battlefield so as to prevent injury and promote quick recovery on ones feet to continue fighting.
Modern Dojo/Dojang conditioning creates a mental mindset where people come to train on soft cushy mats, go through the motions, say all the Dojo motto's, do all their bows, and go home. But, that is the problem. The majority of martial art students, leave the bulk of what they learned in the dojo. It is a subconcious conditioning where they brain associates a particular enviroment for one thing but not another. An example would be High School. People go to school to learn, and when they get out, they get jobs or do whatever. For most of these graduates or drop outs, that is the end of academic learning. Most people don't take it upon themselves to educate themselves further on their own accord post High School. Its like a switch has went off in their head. Now they are in worker ant mode. They are so used to people coming to them to present them with a education that their brain on a subconscious level decides that is how learning is done. Presented, not acquired.
Anyway, the point is, if people always train in the dojo that creates the same mentality for the majority of students. No one is ever thinking of how to deal with a fighting situation in the park, at Mcdonalds, at school, and at work these days when training inside the 'safety' of the dojo. They assume these life saving skills will just 'kick in' when a bad situation happens outside the dojo. But it doesn't work like that. Not for majority of people I've come across.
By training outside, we are helping people to see and connect what they are learning in different enviroments. So that what they are learning can be done anywhere and not just in the movies.
Also, people get so comfortable with the idea of 'mats' that they forget they can just as easy get a broke neck on a soft cushy mat as they would training on the ground.
And really, there is very little difference between training on the ground and on mats in the dojo when it comes to the cushioned landing ( I can say this from first hand experience). If a person learns to breakfall correctly, training on grass will be no problem, but now if they are doing breakfalls incorrectly, they will feel it! For we have to remember breakfalls were made for the battlefield (hard ground, battle ships, grassy areas, the forest, forts, castles....etc).
Without the experience of doing breakfalls/training outside, people build a unrealistic fear of the ground for no reason. Also training outside is a great way to break the montony of training indoors. Its also a good opportunity for everyone to get together after training to have a barbcue, go hiking, check out the wildlife....etc.
I am a big advocate of outdoor training as it connects mentally what your learning in the dojo with 'reality'. The outside, the rest of the world.
Because it takes martial arts from being this indoor activity to something real, something that you can take with you everywhere. Its not just something only Koreans can do.
Anyway, speaking of Koreans, here is a good video on some outdoor training as done in Korea. Some things were over sensationalized for the video, but if you notice, they apparently have no fear of ground, nor do they seem to suffer any negative effects thereof.
