Lighter on my feet

Good evening all,

Has anyone got any exercises/drills etc that you have had success with in regards to making you lighter on your feet. The biggest problem for me when sparring seems to be my agility, I can throw strong quick punches/kicks but I am planted to the floor when doing so, therefore as often is tradition on thai boxing I get struck back straight away (as the the opponent wants to score back) often preventing me from landing any succession of shots. I believe being more agile would allow me to hit and move, and use lighter shots to get into a position where I can plant and dig in.

Anyone have any advice?

 

Skip rope, skip rope, skip rope, and skip some more rope.

Skipping rope to get light on your feet is like throwing a punch to get better at it, it's that essential.


Edit:

To be more informative, not "skip rope for 10 minutes." More like skipping rope for 30 minutes as a warm up, workout, cool down with 10 minutes skipping. That's for "non skipping days." You should be doing workouts where you skip for near an hour as a single exercise in your routine. You should build yourself up to where skipping for 30 minutes doesn't even phase you. You'll be amazed at how easier it is to move after being able to speed skip for 5-10 minutes (without messing up) without getting tired. It's a very noticeable difference.

 

I'd say cross-train in a taekwondo gym (Olympic style), but if you're strapped for time or money, check out TKD footwork tutorials on YouTube.

TKD fighters have possibly the best (i.e. lightest and fastest) footwork of all stand-up styles.

 

Excellent question as I have similar troubles - was never agile and now with advancing age -

Skipping accomplishes two things at once: One of them, of course, is increasing your coordination under cardiac stress; the other - an early test of how well you will do in the ring.

In my opinion there is definitely a correlation between one's ability to skip rope efficiently and being able to really master the basic footwork one needs to survive and thrive in the ring. The increase in one equating to the increase in the other.

That's probably a painfully obvious statement to most here, but its something of an eye-opener to actually experience it ( or the lack, thereof ) - the light bulb effect; you can't really reproduce it by reading about it - its a process which has to be undergone

I'm always amased at the fact that its always the simple things that everything else boil down to.

 

You have a football club in your area? Football drills can really help. Have an orienteering club nearby? Training for things such as mudruns, obstacle course runs, turkey-trots etc. - won't hurt a bit and would probably help at least some.

 

what they said, and also: RELAAAAAAAAAX

seriously, if you're not relaxed, some part of your body is going to do something you're to consciously telling it to do, and when you try to do a complex motion (such as tend to be involved in moving in an agile manner), that's going to throw a bit of a spanner into the works (usually my massively slowing down the movement and/or telegraphing it before you can do it)

 

Lots of different things can help. Other sports as mentioned also as mentioned previously.

Skipping
Sideways/backwards/knees up running

And as silly as it sounds....dancing. Get yourself on a DDR game! Lol

Those are recreational. A drill I learnt in boxing is "toe tag". You pair up, get in your stance and with your lead foot, you try to "tag" your opponent's lead foot. For every tag you get caught on its (x) amount of pushups acclimated.
You get penalised if you cross your legs/feet during movement.

Also, just hit the heavy bag but keep moving.. as a personal drill, I would jab away at the bag whilst circling round it.

Also lots of padwork mixing it up with various combos using different body bits.

 

Always looking for an opportunity to post Ali...never gets old.

The living, breathing definition of " light on your feet "

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvFix9gioDU"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvFix9gioDU[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Fr1E1c1akI&list=PL74BE98C1F7F50E8A&index=1"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Fr1E1c1akI&list=PL74BE98C1F7F50E8A&index=1[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkhpZoPOfZI"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkhpZoPOfZI[/ame]

Something from the net. Others here can comment on the validity of what is written but it does corroborate with Fish's post regarding being relaxed

 

I don't want this to sound mean if it does, but, are you overweight? I can be considered large for my height, and in being so I find that it is harder to move then a smaller guy. Though, it might be so that what you lose in mobility you make up for in being a tank. One thing to do would be to lose weight, and in so doing I strongly suggest working on your leg muscles so they have explosive power (so focus on things like running, jumping jacks, skipping rope, etc.)

Another thing to consider is your stance. If your feet are too wide apart it is harder to be mobile in every direction at any given time. Also, if you are not balanced around 50/50 on both feet, the one which you have more of your weight on has a harder time moving. So focus on your stance and if most of your weight is only positioned on one foot. Also, you want you posture to be good: if you have a broken posture, or say, you are bent far over, then you will have a harder time (or perhaps a longer time) at being mobile.

 

I think learning to carry (well ) the weight one does have is the key here - moreso than forcing an unnatural mass on a frame/constitution that isn't suited for it.

But granted - yes, by all means, if one is overweight - make the lifestyle and diet changes to reflect your optimum weight.

Here's another of Ali - I don't know about you, but I absolutely love watching the man.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qC1nmVjtpo"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qC1nmVjtpo[/ame]

I'd venture forth that this young Glasgow-born fella would of made a good boxer, LOL.

[ame="www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4gNsRjHzV4"]www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4gNsRjHzV4[/ame]

Anyroads, fair to say both are light on their feet.

 

I know this is a Thai boxing thread. But "light on your feet" is not always a good idea. Both "fire" strategy and "earth" strategy all have it's place in combat. IMO, it's better to look at MA from both the striker as well as the grappler point of views.

 

Carrying your weight well, if possible, would be helpful. But it's basic math: the more weight, the more you are weighed down.

EDIT: Actually, now that I think of it, 2000 pounds is light as a feather if it's on legs which can generate 4000 pounds of force, which is what you may have been getting at. So how well your legs are in comparison to your weight is probably the deciding factor, however it's better to get your weight down in general if you are overweight... if you can train your legs to that degree you can also probably get your weight down.

 

I became lighter on my feet when I lost 15kg of body weight

I still have another 10kg to go to my target, and 5kg till I am officially not a fatty any more.

Write out a structure to your training including your goals. You may want to become proficient and compete, but a pre-requisite of that will to be in good shape, from your other threads where you're experimenting with diet and weight loss etc.

Then do you feel you're placing too much emphasis on this stuff? Being hard on yourself, because you don't move quick is not productive to feeling positive about making a change in your life. With time, this stuff will develop, true you can do many many drills to develop it specifically, but ask yourself, should you be, beating yourself up on getting your ass handed to you sparring because your slow, or be happy with what you have done.

Get your primary target (first thread was your health etc) where you want it, then once you have achieved that, start focussing on these intracacies (sp?) of the art.

tl;dr Don't beat yourself up about being slow/inexperienced, instead be happy with what you have achieved towards your other goals.

 

Not necessarily. It's difficult for heavier people (speaking in the "muscular" sense, not obese) to maintain endurance levels for fighting. When you're strong, your nervous system activates more muscle fibers quicker, which often leads to fatigue quicker. Sure you might have more speed to start off with, but you also might get worn down in a single round.

This isn't always the case, as people with strength can dictate how much strength they use and could potentially operate at half speed/strength and be at 100% their opponents speed/strength. It's extremely difficult to maintain that level of calm to perform like that when somebody is trying to punch you in the face though!

Lean and mean is always the way to go, along with learning to relax and stay calm. I think dropping weight, learning to relax, and gaining body weight exercise strength (with added plyometrics) is the way to go until you start getting the hang of it all.

 

Skip & shadow box with a focus on staying on your toes. That's really all you need to do.

 

I like to get a tank of helium to help me.

 

You would probably be better off with a bunch of balloons. The weight of the tank is heavier than the helium it contains, which is why there aren't floating tanks of helium at balloon shops and all.

 

hmmm, yes quite, quite.