footwork drills

[Falcor]

Hi all, just curious,

What kind of footwork drills do you guys do for your particular system? Do you emphacise entering into an attack or pivoting around it, or side-stepping it? How do you maneuver your weight around so that you are both rooted and light on your feet? Thanks for any help.

...don't think you are, know you are...

[iamaloser]

Obviously, my school teaches the stationary stances first. This doesn't take too long as once all the basic stationary stances are learned, students are taught the dynamic moving stances. You know, horse to bow and arrow to scissor, etc. From this point its right onto forms. Practicing moving stances are fine but to understand its practicality, you must include hand techniques. Forms in itself are perfect for footwork drills. If you prefer, you can practice shadow boxing. In other words, using all the techniques you know, practice those techniques in various combinations imagining you're fighting against an opponent.

[BIU JI]

If you look at your forms without the hands you can see how the stances change your body position and how that alone can be used for evasion and attack.
Bumping , grinding with the stance and using shoulder barging with off balancing their stance can work . If you could defeat an opponent using just stances imagine when you added hands.

[kull]

In Bak Mei we have certain footwork patterns (not stances) Fu bo, Lep bo,etc...that allow/train us to move at any direction and any speed. And one must practice this constantly along with punching and kicking drills to train for fight.

These patterns allow us to engage the enemy quickly, when they are weak or defend against them when they are strong and overpowering. Movement is a most important ability in fight, that is why Bai mei doesn't train in horse riding stance,ie... seeing how long can you stay in that postion for.

[Falcor]

Thanks for your replies. Stationary stances to moving stances is what I do also, but I noticed that in sparring, the exact stances go out the window. Of course, I understand that the stances drills we do are idelaized positions. But when sparring/fighting, how do you maintain being rooted and being light on your feet?

...don't think you are, know you are...

[BIU JI]

I see what you mean but sitting in horse is for leg strength and internal chi, we tend to still do this type of training to help mobility along with training to move guickly in stances. Though our fighting stances are not as low as Hung ga for example, more like Pakmei's , higher and quick. i won't say quicker as that is insiting a response from our well Hung bros (haha,pun).
I often train drills and forms with leg weights add to strength building and speed, can never afford to over look the importance of your stance
Kull- where's your school?¬ :) –

[kull]

I not saying horse riding stance training doesn't build qi or strength. I know it builds strength & qi. It is that trining in horse riding stance does not teach the ability to move and shift, which is the dynamics of a combat situation.

In bak mei stance training always involve a movement element. We use different methods than horse riding trng. to develop str. in legs, that doesn't mean it is better it is just diff. Bai mei fight theories emphasize ability to move and maintain strong root at same. We have movement patterns that seem similar to western boxing foot movements.

Falcor- how to maintain root and light?
You must learn how to "fa jing"

Biu Ji- I have relocated to NYC I don't have or learn from anyone now.

[WongFeHung]

In our school, which is a Hung-Ga mo-kwoon, we have many footwork drills, from rapid stance changing, to shuffling drills,step through drills, plum flower footwork, which is similar to the fotwork done on the jong, triangle stepping, chut-sing-zig-zig stepping,running the horse, and sweep/counter sweep drill (two partners try to break each other's horse, out manuver their footwork,bisect their stance, and lock each other's legs)