I find when i am stepping i am tend to move faster using 'half-steps' than 'whole-steps' if that makes any sense; shorter/longer strides. I tried lowering down more, bent at knees, still slow. I'm thinking stepping within trianglar footwork. Does anyone find this? Any ideas?
The kind of answer i was looking for Hi changnam. Okay... I mixing chinese boxing, silat, kicks and panantukan. In my view they all compliment each other; trapping, blocks, knifehand, elbows, palmhand, vertical and horizontal punches. I use centreline, line theory, cutting line theory, inside, outside gates. Some energy tapping too. Right now its working well, tend to switch to centreline offense and defense, when i am in the opponents box. I sit in my hips, I keep on my toes, i swivel ball of the foot too. I am interested in other shaolin hand forms. That might give you an idea. 10 years previous korean karate club training. Any ideas on stepping???
I really not know to much about them MA u are training. But i am doing Thai boxing my self. And we step allot. Almost every technique we do. Are we using foot work and stepping. If doing a round kick or low kick. Do we step out or even jump to the side. To give the kick more power. If not doing this u will loose allot power from the kick. And when we do elbows do we also step. If not stepping in or out. There is no power in the technique. Guess i did not give u the answer u was looking fore. But thats all i know about stepping
Guys, the TOS clearly state that we don't use txtspeak here. Please take the time to write "you." It's bothersome to read otherwise. Invisi, it makes sense that the half-step feels faster. You're taking a smaller step, so you're getting out of and back into your settled position more quickly. You may not be covering as much ground as quickly, I suppose. But keeping your footwork tight makes sense to me. In silat and panantukan, you see what happens when you commit too much weight to one foot. (You see it in a lot of arts obviously. But you mentioned those two.) Extending your footwork too much leaves you open to a leg drag ("sapu" I think, yeah?) Keeping both of your feet as much under you (i.e., not fully committed) leaves you better prepared for changes in direction, sprawling, etc. Not a bad plan. Stuart
Sorry about the TOS violation. I will pay more attention to this in future. Well, that is what i find with the whole step or long step, the leg drags and your shifting more weight from one point to another, exerting more energy and extending more time in the fight time. Maybe I need more agility in the legs for that long step to work. Build more muscle in the leg, for the extra spring. It just crossed my mind.
No worries. I'm not a mod anyway. Just a busybody. Yeah, I think that's the key thing. If you feel like you're dragging or putting yourself off balance, then you should probably shorten your step. I will admit, though, that moving forward rapidly is a weak spot for me. I'm usually moving in triangles in reaction to something, rather than pushing that agenda myself. How do you envision the long step coming into play? I'm not saying it won't. I'm just curious. I'm reasonably tall, so I don't find myself doing much chasing. But you may. Stuart
Oh....a...busybody :cool Yes the short steps make sense; maybe because I am under 6ft short, lower to the ground i can only make short strides. In addition to making the wide steps, the other downside is leaving the weight behind. But... The wide step I tend to use and have problems with is stepping to the right or left (right angles), when your bridging. So if the opponent is lunging towards you, you make a wide step to the left, avoiding being inside his box and on his outside right (also your outside right), so you can make the connection. I have been working out this afternoon. I worked out a wide step improvement, i thought i might share. Its a 'Toe-Heel' movement, which the behind foot executes. The model is; stand ready and relaxed. Raise the heel of the behind foot up, gently pressing down on the ball of the foot. Lower down the heel. This should suffice as an exercise, in just strengthening those muscles required for the action. I can only think of the bridge leap in 'Bassai' in Karate; if you ever done it? The point to this is it provides a 'spring' to the wide step; just that little bit of extra power. To make the wide step, execute the 'Toe-Heel' while simutaenously bringing your weight into the direction you want to go and lunge. Well...for me it was certainly better than what i was doing before. Just recently I worked out foot swivels integrated into footwork, particularly when executing strikes with the fists. The foot swivel also sets up the foot if you do a side kick or roundhouse from an almost side position striking with the ball of the foot. It just fits so right. Good information exchange! thanks!
"Half steps" meaning shuffling steps rather than walking steps?...as in not stepping one foot in front of the other? Yeah, that feels more confortable for me too. Feels more stable and easier to make abrupt changes in direction.
My mantra to my students is 'less steps, less steps' I want to be, wherever it is that I want to be, in the shortest amount of time. So any kind of movement that gets me from where I am to where I want to be is worth testing and training. I suggest that you set yourself some tasks : Get from A to B Get from A to B with a 180 degree turn Get around somebody (something) etc... Then try all the different ways of moving that will allow you to meet your task requirements - practice as many as you possibly can until you feel reasonably comfortable with step / shuffle / cross step / jump / double back somersault / WHATEVER - then once you feel comfortable with a variety of 'solutions' start trying to find the ones that are tactically sensible and MOST IMPORTANTLY that you feel relaxed in doing and confident of.
I believe that high maneaverability is more important than high speed, in an (unarmed) fight. How far do you need to move to dodge a punch? Or execute a throw? Or an armbar? You might find that certain techniques call for large steps, but for evading, shuffling is more than adequate.
peace and blessings be with you all....Silat is ground fighting... so our stances are low which is supposed to sacrifice speed for power... but its not true.. especially if you train that way from day one... mixing martial arts... is always going to leave gaps where knowledge is missing like making a patchwork carpet... a good traditional art like silat for example will take you a lifetime to learn just that one art... faithfully and realistically you don't have time to try to incorporate too many other cooks into your recipe... the meal will be spoiled.... if you do... however until you know where you truly belong... artistically you must continue to sample... but find a tradition and stick with it for life... for they are ways of life.... and a serious teacher is a living example of his tradition... in all he does..
