Bouncing.

Posted by: AkhilleusWeeps

Bouncing. - 09/13/05 10:38 PM

Not sure if this has been posted before, search turned up nothing, but how do you bounce? Do you move your hands? I was moving my hands yesterday and didn't realize till today how humorous it must have looked. Could have been why the girl next to me was smiling....Anyhow, do you guys bounce high? low? do you keep your arm stationary by your face? Moving them rhythmically? I've read that your supposed to keep just one foot down, one up w/out bouncing instead taking turns with which one is on the ground. Any help would be much appreciated. It's hard enough being the new guy, don't like to be laughed at much either. ^_^

Thanks =]
Posted by: NeoSaturn

Re: Bouncing. - 09/14/05 01:27 AM

personaly i rather not bounching, i twisted my ankles not to long ago so they tend to crap out on me once and a while, so they are still a bit buggered up. that and it wasts my energy. im just not hyper enough to do it (coffe is an exception )



Posted by: AkhilleusWeeps

Re: Bouncing. - 09/14/05 02:19 AM

That's rather interesting as I noticed you're WTF and the style, as I'm told, that I am being taught is mainly ITF. From my understanding WTF is big on bouncing. I could be wrong here, anyhow we bounced for a long period of time during last class. Just wondering if ya'll move your arms or keep the whole body stationary while moving up and down.
Posted by: Supremor

Re: Bouncing. - 09/14/05 03:13 AM

I do ITF, and I never bounce. Indeed IMO it will hamper your fighting skills. The reason TKD practitioners bounce is in order to put tension in the big muscles in their legs. This tension gives them a spring like action when they decide to use it, resulting in supposed increase speed and power.

The problem is that people often bounce too high, this results in making it easy for the opponent to time their bounce and use the half beats to strike on. Bouncing will condition you into a certain rythm and one of the most important points of MA sparring is to not throw techniques to a rythm.

If you want to bounce, all that is needed is a small bounce in the knee joint. You should not come off the ground at all, and the bounce should only be a couple of inches down, no more. I suggest that since you are doing ITF, you concentrate on more efficient footwork, I particularly like the ideas put forward by Bruce Lee on footwork, since it is very efficient and gives you all the balance and mobility you need in a sparring match. You may need to adapt the gurad a little so that it is easier to use kicks though, I have done this and now I almost always use a modified JKD stance when sparring- and it hasn't failed me yet!
Posted by: trevek

Re: Bouncing. - 09/14/05 03:23 AM

I once had to learn to Polka and had a lot of problems keeping time. I finally worked out that I was hopping too high and losing the beat. This was due to TKD. Now I find it easier to keep a low bounce/hop. This keeps my weight lower.
Posted by: Ufaded

Re: Bouncing. - 09/14/05 10:37 AM

I am also part of the WTF organization and it seems my school is big on bouncing. I personally am not a fan of bouncing at all. I find it to easy to time my opponents bounce to when they reach the pinnacle of their bounce, and then it is easy to attack them. I do bounce when I am told to by the Masters, but I find that when I do, I keep my bounce in a quick beat, very low, and mostly in the knees and calves. I also try not to stay stationary when bouncing (keep moving like a boxer does). Still though, I would have to say that bouncing is just not a good habit overall. Hope this helps.
Posted by: StormDOA

Re: Bouncing. - 09/14/05 06:53 PM

I used to be on an international team and later a coach and we advocated bouncing (staying sprung and on the balls of your feet), but about 3 months ago I went a team meeting ( I have long since retired from competitive TKD). But at this team workout, a friend of mine who is thew current womens coach and I believe a second or third dan talked to me about how they had observed higher end fighters no longer bouncing,. She explained that it wasted to much energy and that it alos established a bit of a rhythm. Instead we should try to stay on the balls of our feet in a neautral but ready stance. A neutral stance is somehwere between sideways and completely forward, in other words a stance that enables the fighter to throw any of their kicks. I tried the not bouncing and found it difficult to stay neutral at first, but later i learned to appreciate it and I did not feel so exausted during the drills. Really it is almost bouncing but not quite. Oh and I am also in a WTF school.

Good luck
Posted by: Circle_of_Owls

Re: Bouncing. - 09/14/05 07:29 PM

Quote:

The reason TKD practitioners bounce is in order to put tension in the big muscles in their legs.




This is true at the bottom of the motion, however at the top of the motion the muscles will be MORE relaxed than they would be in a neutral position, thus this argument doesn't work. There is no doubt, however, that you use more energy bouncing, and that you are establishing a pattern that your opponent may be able to take advantage of, I'd recommend against it.

'Owl
Posted by: AkhilleusWeeps

Re: Bouncing. - 09/15/05 01:25 AM

Thanks for all the answers fellas. =]