Side stepping

[bushido_man96]

When stepping to the right or left from a fighting stance, do you cross your feet, or choose to step with the foot of the side you are heading to?

In Bruce Lee's Tao of Gung Fu, he talks about the foot work of Wing Chun. When in a right leg forward fighting stance, he states that when side-stepping to the left, the right (lead) leg should cross over in front of the rear leg, to protect the groin. The rear leg then follows to equally to re-assume the stance. To step left, the rear leg crosses behind the right.

Would you use a cross-step like this, or would you step in the direction that you intend to go with the foot to that side?

I ask, because I think some might worry about being caught "crossed up" and off balance with the crossed-leg stepping that Lee wrote of. I usually like Lee's ideas, but I thought I would see what everyone felt about this one in particular.

[DWx]

What sort of angles are we talking about bushido_man96? Are we stepping across just to the side with no change in angle, i.e. if we were facing north we'd stay facing north? Or are we stepping to the side and turning at the same time, so we'd be facing north-east-ish?

We never side-step without turning as well so the Bruce Lee method of stepping across (like in the senario you described) would be fundamentally wrong for me. I get wanting to cover the groin but to me it makes much more sense to use an arm for that. For the way I fight there is a lot wrong with that method. Firstly I've just exposed my back. I can't really protect it like I do my front with a guard and in crossing over I've just shown my opponent my kidneys. The other big thing for me is that you are having to put weight on the front leg before you move. Presumably you'd want to move to the side either to avoid an attack or to initiate one of your own. In putting the weight onto the front leg you're going to move slightly forward, putting yourself closer to your opponent before you can move away, it'll only be slightly but its enough. You're also limited in what you can do if your opponent is/decides to rush you. You can't use the front leg to kick because your weight's on it, your back leg is at such an angle that you've got to come around to kick and you don't really have time for that (you could probably get away with a back kick though), you're back arm is probably at such an angle and distance that again you've got to come around for it. All you've got is the front arm and to me that's pretty useless, because of the crossed legs and angle I wouldn't rely on it for any stopping techniques.

Personally I have two ways of side stepping. The first is actually more of a switch to to the side. If right leg forward and I want to go left, I throw a reverse punch with the left hand to cover and switch the right leg back (about 130° to where it started) using the hip to generate the power. Works the same with throwing a roundhouse off of the left at the same time as switching. Going to the right is slightly different in that, as a rule we don't side-step into our backs but pivot off the centre-line instead. Anyway the right hand would be punching and the left leg would move counter-clockwise about 90° to where it was, again using that hip movement to get some power in behind the punch.

Other way of doing it is kinda hard to describe. Basically you just use the legs to shift across..

[tallgeese]

I try never to cross legs for the reason that it binds up the stance and you loose mobility. I shuffle which ever way I'm going starting with that leg, the other leg drags up quickly, this lets you be ready to close up or lift a leg for groin defense. It's not perfect, but I feel that it's better than crossing feet.

[sperki]

Although I haven't seen a Lee movie recently I feel like he would use the cross-over to lead directly into a kick. So I suppose if you know you're going on the offensive and you want to close the distance some, it makes sense. This requires the kicking leg to travel further and spend more time off the ground, but if you move as fast as Lee that's probably not much of a problem. The folks that I've sparred with all did a slide-shuffle, and it's what I've picked up from watching them. Like DWx said, it allows people to shift their weight quicker and more subtly, so the front leg is still available for kicking.

[Kuma]

I try never to cross legs for the reason that it binds up the stance and you loose mobility. I shuffle which ever way I'm going starting with that leg, the other leg drags up quickly, this lets you be ready to close up or lift a leg for groin defense. It's not perfect, but I feel that it's better than crossing feet.

I believe in this as well. I think crossing your legs when moving makes you too unbalanced and vulnerable, especially in this day and age where more and more people are training in arts with leg kicks and takedowns.

[Rateh]

I agree with the consensus. I think that crossing leaves you more open to attack and puts you in a position where its harder for you to attack or defend.

[ninjanurse]

While I agree with the idea of crossing seems hazardous to balance...I think it depends on your intentions, situation, position, etc. I think that I am going to explore this a bit in classes.....I'll get back to you on it.

[white owl]

I try to never cross my legs moving from angles to angles but if I am driving forward I will cross my leg to do a step through side kick.

[bushido_man96]

DWx, from reading Lee's book, it doesn't sound like the cross step/side step is very deep, and the weight shouldn't shift from one leg to the other too much. During the step, I'd bet that Lee would adjust his position to be facing the opponent at a slight angle, but I'm unsure how much.

Thanks for the replies so far.

[sensei8]

Would you use a cross-step like this, or would you step in the direction that you intend to go with the foot to that side?

I'd cross-step without worrying about getting all tangled up. Transitional movement must be fluid and in that fluidity, one must arrest the sine wave as much as possible, imho.

Stepping is taken very seriously in Karate; Tai Sabaki (whole body) is related to Ashi Sabaki (footwork) and Te Sabaki (handwork). Whether it's slide-stepping, cross-stepping, forward/back/side stepping, and/or whatever, a Karateka/Martial Artist must master stepping or go home. Good footwork is essential in all Martial Arts, and you can never train too hard on perfecting your footwork.

Mobility, in combat, is a matter of movements...footwork is light, quick and economical. Good footwork is essential to close the gap to your opponent and attack powerfully, or evade and counter an opponent's attack. A fighter will use linear, lateral, angular and circular footwork patterns, so as to put himself in the best possible range.