Better, improved footwork; becoming for... "floaty"

Discussion in 'General Martial Arts Discussion' started by Latikos, Aug 27, 2017.

  1. Latikos

    Latikos Valued Member

    So, another update for those who pretend to be interested ;)

    I had a rather strenuous week, mostly due to sleeping horribly.
    So I have to admit, I didn't try half as much as I liked; I actually only tried the drills from aikiMac once.

    What I noticed there, aside from legs that hurt like aching muscles :D (they did the whole week though): I have a bit of a problem to do it on a line, as I move slightly backwards with half the steps.
    I also saw, that when not stressed (due to being hit for example ;) ) I actually didn't cross my feet; that's a start I think. Now onto repetition of that often, so it doesn't happen during evading and such.
    I was surprised to notice that I didn't cross them half as often as I feared though! I did cross them a couple of times (we did evading on Monday) but not all the time.

    I also noticed that my rear foot (seriously: That's the wrong word, isn't it? "Hind leg" is more with animals, right? Back leg? The leg that's not in the front) stands most of the time on the ball of the foot, as advised here.
    Weird, that I have to pay attention on how I stand to just know, how I stand. But that's me.

    Regarding the steps themselves: I always have one foot touching the ground and drag the other after; like when moving in JJ/ Judo.
    But I think that makes sense, because we have foot sweeps included in Karate and Kickboxing.

    Funny enough we actually had a short talk about it on Friday when the second teacher gave the session.
    To show the others what foot sweeps are about he made jump and sweep the foot, so I fell - because some of the students apparently were jumping when moving (I have no idea; I was concentrated not to die, because I was really, really groggy that session :D )
    He also mentioned that day to keep the heel of the back foot (rear foot; whatever) off the floor.


    As a motivational nudge, I also learned that I could not only get tested for the next belt in Karate (I knew that for a few weeks, when my teacher came to me, mentioning that I have to start preparing), but also could go for the next grading in Kickboxing.
    So improving the footwork has a good timing, since I really didn't like that when doing my yellow belt in December.

    So the next weeks I will be full of training for several gradings (mine and, more interesting, as uke as well), so I'm sure I will learn a lot and actually be able to combine these two!
     
  2. Madao13

    Madao13 Valued Member

    It's more of a weight distribution thing imo. You have to concentrate your weight above the the ball area.
    You can't realistically ask of yourself to make your heels never touch the floor and it's also counter productive.
    For example, in boxing when you throw the right straight (left straight for southpaws) in the starting position you have your weight in the back foot
    your back heel is down and the the heel of your front feet is up and when you initiate the punching movement you drop your lead heel while
    pushing into the ground with the ball of your rear foot, lifting the rear heel off the ground.
     
  3. Knee Rider

    Knee Rider Valued Member Supporter

    Regarding the comments on the lead foot -where did you learn to throw the cross like that? It's not how I do it and I've never been taught to do that by anyone or seen it taught that way by anyone before. I'm not saying it's wrong necessarily but it seems unusual to me so I'm curious.
     
  4. Madao13

    Madao13 Valued Member

    What exactly seemed strange to you? The beginning position of the lead foot or the ending?
     
  5. Knee Rider

    Knee Rider Valued Member Supporter

    Both bits really mate.

    Wondering what the rational is for that and the context you learned it in.
     

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