Footwork is the single most important skill in fighting

Bill Glasheen · Post by **Bill Glasheen** » Tue Sep 03, 2002 11:30 pm

Mary

Raffi may or may not be able to recommend stuff for you.

I recommend the following:

1) Watch some aikido demonstrations. Forget the hands - WATCH THE FEET.

2) Watch college football. Watch a great running back when he spins his way out of a tackle. Watch basketball. Watch a great guard meander through a crowd of defenders and towards the basket. WATCH THE FEET.

3) Get your hands on a film of a young Muhammed Ali (then Cassius Clay) fighting Sonny Liston.

Generally these are demonstrations of getting off the line of force.

Then...

Practice the final technique of kyu kumite #4 (assuming you are a Uechi practitioner) as a movement FORWARDS with arms in a closed-gate-like position and hands going to the person's face. DO NOT think of this as a block of the shuto. Think of this as owning that area in front of you. This is an application of Wing Chun "center line theory."

This is a great start.

- Bill

[This message has been edited by Bill Glasheen (edited September 03, 2002).]

Bill Glasheen · Post by **Bill Glasheen** » Tue Sep 03, 2002 11:50 pm

One more...

Watch how a torredor fights a bull. Watch the footwork. Look at the bull's line of force, how the torreador teases the bull to attack that line, and how he steps off the line. This is nothing more than the very first 45-degree tenshin step in Uechi hojoundo.

- Bill

Mary Chant · Post by **Mary Chant** » Wed Sep 04, 2002 6:42 pm

Thank you for your suggestions. I will try those. I am not presently a Uechi student; unfortunately there is no Uechi for 250-300 miles any way you turn (I live in Boise, ID). I did study Uechi in the early 80's and reached nikyu before going into adolescent self-destruct. Anyway, I study an adaptation of Shorin-Ryu now, but still remember the kyu-kumite exercises, and will work on #4.

Mary

Raffi Derderian · Post by **Raffi Derderian** » Wed Sep 04, 2002 7:15 pm

Mary,
I naturally have to suggest one of my own videos. It is the Weapons vs. Empty Hands video. It has lots of great footwork in the beginning. The rest of the tape isn't so bad either.; (sorry for the shameless plug)It sells for $29.95 plus $3.5 shipping.
You can also check out any Filipino based video that covers footwork. Beginner boxing tapes would be great also.
Hope that helped.
Regards,
Raffi Derderian

------------------
www.derderian-academy.com

Dana Sheets · Post by **Dana Sheets** » Wed Sep 04, 2002 8:50 pm

Raffi,

I was just reading something about 2 triangles and circles in FMA. I know there's a whole forum on FMA on this site - but can you give us a taste of an FMA footwork drill? I know it's hard to do in writing.

Or anyone else -
Bill - I like your suggestions of watching how others move but some folks are much more kinesthetic (sp?) than visual learners.

I'm reminded of the the karate kid scene where he drops the ball on the rope at him on the dock. An exercise in moving the center mass.

For some of you guys who have been doing it for 20, 30, 40 years this may seem obvious - but for some the basic footwork patterns are not so obvious and it would be great to have some shared.

thanks,
Dana

Tony-San · Post by **Tony-San** » Wed Sep 04, 2002 10:47 pm

Dana: Interestingly... in that same movie, Mr. Miyagi also introduced to Daniel the concept of Rythym e.g. the little twisty drum.

Bill Glasheen · Post by **Bill Glasheen** » Thu Sep 05, 2002 2:59 pm

Interesting how folks can see the same movie and draw different conclusions from a concept presented...

My personal take, Tony, (not that it is right or the only interpretation) is that the twisty drum thingy taught the student the concept of absorbing/avoiding followed by reflecting/countering through rotating the body. Actually, Dana, I recall that ball thing on the end of a rope was a rather massive hook that barely missed Daniel's body and stuck into a wooden structure on the dock. Daniel's natural response (akin to what the toreador does to the bull) is a useful lesson for the pocket-pistol female facing the Neanderthal bad guy.

Aikido people use that concept a lot in many motions. It's a great principle of movement that can be applied in several specific and even more general ways.

There's a nice plyometric aspect to that motion too, Tony. We've been doing some work in my advanced classes lately, trying to teach people how to generate a strong dynamic stretch reflex out of the hip and trunk muscles from that back-forth rotational motion. It works for both upper and lower body techniques.

Dana, your points are well taken about the learning aspect. Mary is MORE THAN welcome to visit me, but I think it might take more than an hour drive. I used to marvel at how my sisters would watch people dance, and then get right up and do what they were doing. One of them used to go from club to club in VA Beach during the disco era, and they would all let her (and buddy) in for free because they brought an admiring entourage. Some people... Sigh!!

One can learn how to learn in various ways, but some of us have higher levels of innate "intelligence" on this dimension than others. As you know, there are at least 8 different dimensions of intelligence (with IQ measuring only 2 or 3). Clearly we see examples of "genius" around us in the dojo. But...the slower ones can eventually get there.

- Bill

TSDguy · Post by **TSDguy** » Thu Sep 05, 2002 8:36 pm

"Where and when will you practice these new footwork methods? ... Will you do it on a regular basis? If not, don't bother."

So I was reading the "arm rubbing has a tactical purpose" thread in Bill Glasheen's forum and I remember this thread. Why not turn shin conditioning into footwork drills? TKD has a drill that I'm sure you've seen where the fighters move 45 to the right of each other and kick to the abs. They are learning how to circle to both attack and defend, while getting some conditioning at the same time. It seems like this could be easily modified to make this a shin conditioning drill and add a few more steps to get different movements and some spontaneity in there.

Tony-San · Post by **Tony-San** » Thu Sep 05, 2002 9:58 pm

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote

My personal take, Tony, (not that it is right or the only interpretation) is that the twisty drum thingy taught the student the concept of absorbing/avoiding followed by reflecting/countering through rotating the body.

Right. I mean, that's obvious, but what's not so obvious is "when"... so that is why a drum was used. drum=rythym

Bill Glasheen · Post by **Bill Glasheen** » Fri Sep 06, 2002 2:59 pm

Ahh... Very clever!