footwork Help?

[hx35543]

There are those who are naturals at sparring. From seeing nearly invisible "tells" and being able to move, to those who can see the opening in your defenses and drop a bomb right in there with seemingly no effort. And then there is me. At my school there is no working on footwork drills. We just sparr once a weak and good luck. I have realized this and am trying to work on getting out of the way. But it is not easy. And I'm not sure if I'm doing it right or wrong for that matter. Now, I have only just started and it may be too early to tell. I have looked at videos and read books to get ideas. I guess what I'm asking is for a little help from the collective minds here. Maybe some ideas for drills that may have helped you or something that may have helped someone in my situation. And yes, I do train as much as possible away from class. Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

[JusticeZero]

OK, you do TSD. You have forms.

Go through your forms. In your forms, you step a few times. Drill those stepping techniques, the ones that move from one stance to another. Chain them together in all sorts of different ways. Experiment with making them smaller, bigger, shifting your feet in the middle.

Now put a folding chair down in the middle of a flat space. That chair is your opponent; don't take your eyes off of it, don't give it your back, always stay in position to throw an attack at it. Go wandering around the chair with your footwork. Don't use any patterns, no repeating, and move around it in both directions.

Now put a second chair down, a bodylength at most from the first. move around the first chair. Now switch to the second. Move around. Switch back.

Now, start drilling techniques, again using the chair to orient yourself. Not 'kick-kick-kick-kick'; each attack or block will be alternated with a step that would be relevant to the technique you are using. Block-and-step-with. Side kick to step. Just keep chaining them together until they flow together.

Then start stitching three or four techniques intermixed with steps together. The point here is to make you confident that you are able to move in any of a number of ways at any given point.

Next, start finding the spots where your techniques can be sliced at the joint, the breakpoints. How are your techniques entering and exiting in common ways? Start stitching together the common breakpoints, instead of just limiting yourself to the ends of the full script of the techniques.

Now get a partner. They don't even need to be a martial artist of any skill. Have them "spar" with you, but don't throw any attacks. Just move around. Both of you are trying to invade each other's space without touching each other. Designate a spot on the floor that you both want to inhabit, but you can't stay still. When one moves, the other should take some space back; don't just circle each other but try to dialogue with each other competitively to keep in that center space.

Now, after you have gotten good at doing all the drills above and can do them with good form while holding a conversation with someone, look at your sparring space. You'll notice that the space has a center, and it has edges beyond which going is not advisable. In your case this is probably "other students", since most schools really don't care about space. On the next sparring match, don't worry about "winning" and getting points. Just focus on making the other guy go out of bounds, back into a wall, or trip over other people in the room as many times as you can in the time allowed, without just rushing the guy and just by stepping using your transitions in order to adjust your ranges. You want to think about controlling where you drive them into.

[bushido_man96]

That's a great post, JusticeZero. I don't understand what you mean when you talk about, "finding the spots where your techniques can be sliced at the joint, the breakpoints." I'd love to read more about how this works, and the interpretations of "breakpoints."

I'll pick up where JusticeZero stopped with moving with a partner. You can have the partner start throwing attacks you typically see in class, one at a time for now. Block the attack. Then, move off the line as you block, and see where you end up. Evaluate and make sure you are off line, but stay within range to attack. Next, work on stepping off line and attacking, not just waiting to block.

Also, moving around a heavy bag or standing bag and working attacks will help after you've put together that chair drill really well.

[DWx]

In addition to what JusticeZero said, practice in front of a mirror. See yourself and how you move. Being able to spot your own tells will not only make it easier to spot them in other people, it'll tighten up your game as you can start to eliminate them

Also get yourself some lines on the floor and practice moving along them and off of them. See how much distance you can cover going forwards and backwards, and how you can come off at an angle. As a bare minimum, you need to have a way to go forwards, backwards, left and right, as well as a way to swap lead side. I don't want to go into specifics as your TSD school probably has its own way they want you to move, but practice going along lines up and down the room to get a feel for how you want to step. Forget abut kicking or anything else. Just hold a good guard and keep practising until you're not thinking about how you're stepping.

You also need to be light on your feet. Do your footwork then chamber for a kick, then move off again and chamber. Everyone can move around and throw their fists about but being able to move and then get your balance for kicking is more difficult. You don't have to throw the kick at this stage, just pick the leg up as if you were going to.

If you have a partner you can practice with, there are some great "games" you can play to work on your distance and footwork. The easiest, which is similar to what JusticeZero said, is to face each other about an arms length away. Designate one person to be in charge and they have to move forwards, backwards, around etc. whilst the other person has to match their movement to keep the distance the same the whole time. Progress by playing tag: same game but this time you take it in turns to tag each other on the shoulder and use your footwork only to get in or out of distance.

[sensei8]

Study your opponent, study yourself, make a plan, carry it out.

Footwork, and its applicable benefits can be found within the formula above.

Solid posts from DWx, bushido_man96, and JusticeZero.

[JusticeZero]

That's a great post, JusticeZero. I don't understand what you mean when you talk about, "finding the spots where your techniques can be sliced at the joint, the breakpoints." I'd love to read more about how this works, and the interpretations of "breakpoints."

Each one of the techniques that we all do can also be thought of as a series of transitions.

When I throw a bencao - a forward heel thrust kick - I start by stepping into a side, horselike stance - which I was going to do anyways - that's the first transition.

Then I bring my knee up to chamber. but wait, that's a joelhada, a knee strike. Obviously if i'm firing a thrust kick, it's probably not going to start with hitting them with the knee, but it is still a similar transition.

Then I fire the heel out. This position is reminiscent to negativa that has been raised off the ground, so were I inclined, I could drop into that position, or even just use a movement that originates there at this point.

Then I retract the foot, and put it back down. But wait, there are any of a number of places that I can put that foot back down at.

So by becoming aware of those breakpoints and finding commonalities between my other techniques which share them, I can construct much more intricate and mobile combinations and variant movements while simultaneously reducing my tells.

I don't just say to myself, "I'm going to do X" and run through the whole chain of events, which I might have thoughtlessly put in distinctions between. I decide to do X, but it comes out as A(1), A(2), A(3), X(x), Q(3). The guy i'm in the circle with has seen A(1-2) before as part of other things and can't be totally sure that they know where i'm going with it, and Q(3) isn't where X usually ends up going.

[Kuma]

A great exercise for improving footwork that hasn't been mentioned yet is shadowboxing. Make sure you're moving all around, imagining an opponent in front of you. Practice defenses and counters, fighting combinations, and anything else to your heart's content. I always start every training session with 5-10 minutes of shadowboxing.

[hx35543]

Again, you have come across with some brilliant ideas. Some of which I kind of new but haven't done or haven't worked on in depth. Some of which I had hadn't even thought of. I am 42 and have been in this for about 6 years, which is way early for any martial artist. But I am dedicated to getting better and I am hard on myself when I feel I do poorly. And when I have to deal with injuries or aching joints, it drags me down. But I still try to remain focused. I know I will have to work and drill until what I do and how I move becomes "no mind", to quote an icon. Thank you for your collective wisdom. I will strive to be better and work harder. Again, THANK YOU.