footwork mechanics

I'm glad I found this, there is a question I need answered about footwork. Is there a way to smoothly transition from a boxers type of footwork to a Filipino triangle based style. More specifically, I'm having trouble for when I want to step diagonally forward with my back leg.

try thinking about getting your center there before your leg. by 'center' I mean center of gravity or the point just a couple inches below your navel within your core.

the way you launch is from the balls of your feet...but don't think about the balls of your feet, think of what your knees are doing. watch short distance runners take off from starting position. initially, their rear knee drives back and right at the correct moment, the other knee continues the thrust. Make sure you maintain the same height, if you are popping up, it's wasted movement. also don't lean forward, get your core there first.

try that and see if it helps.

Thanks for the tips Ed. My concerns mostly center around the amount of time it would take to make the transition, but any advice that will make the process faster and smoother is appreciated.

Ed hit it pretty much on this one. Maintaining one's center is critical to defensive and offensive movement, however some students seem to have a problem with initially moving body mass. In this regard, I often see people cant their hips instead of twisting and using the quads and legs to control body motion prior to attacking. I have seen students who hike their hips up from side to side in sort of a hula dance look when trying to rotate the hips evenly.

For instance in punching, the back leg has to push the body forward, but it is the lead leg's postional job to stop the mass of the body and have the hips rotate this forward movement (much like a car's transmission) into the punch. Motion outside this even plane of the hip will cause you to lose power in your strikes. One's center has to move forward evenly or your risk compromising your ability to translate this forward movement into the punch well. This also means looking at how a sprinter kicks off and making sure you have good and relaxed movement using the lower body to control and move the upper body. If you are connected with the ground, this has to be the starting poing for your movement and techniques.

One other point, as long as you can maintain your center, I see no reason that you can't crouch or bend the torso a bit into the movement...like a boxer.

-B

Probably the most forgotten aspect of movement is the structure of movement of the knees. Karate turns the toes inward toward the body centerline to deliver power along a straight line triangulated by the hips and shoulders, or else in line with the "punching shoulder" (depending on style). "Crescent stepping" or "triangle stepping" is practiced to keep the balance in the center of the body, and movement is precipitated by bending the knees.

Aikido and jujitsu use a different method. In hanmi, the center is again moved by bending the knees, but it is in a circular or directly linear way, depending on whether the player is stepping "off line" or making a "sword step" to draw themselves parallel to their attacker. Being an old judo player, I move almost flat-footed in most of my arts, but what's important is that you use "correct footwork" for what you are trying to accomplish.

There are a lot of aikidoka that fail to study their footwork, which in most cases, makes or breaks their techniques (along with body position), and they don't pay attention to the teacher's footwork because if they're wearing a hakama, they can't clearly see their feet. If you're doing aikido and having problems, it's probably because of one of two problems... either your footwork sucks, or you're breaking your center at the hips. Pretty simply, huh?... just not all that simple to correct on your own.

Most students that I've seen struggle with trying to do the Frankenstein walk in karate while doing kata, and with trying to lean their bodies without moving in aikido and jujitsu. Clearly, both situations can be cured or helped by proper footwork and movement, so the value of learning to move correctly is extremely valuable to martial artists of all ilks. Until you get the footwork right...

to help get students used to some easy foot work we start off as white belts with a simple drill. Everyone assumes a kumite stance and kind of bounces back and forth a bit (bouncing is bad but it actually helps in this drill) The sempai will kiai at random intervals and as soon as the students hear that, they have to rapidly switch feet as quickly as possible. The bouncing helps them mentally figure out what they need to do when it is time to move and their body isn't in the ideal spot to accomplish that. You may be in mid air, or you may have your weight on the front or back foot. The timing between kiais is random and often there will be 2 or 3 in quick succession.

Then we do a simple stepping drill where the student will drive with the back foot twice and then step through all on one kiai. the goal here is to not bounce and move as quickly as possible but not changing heights.

The poster who mentioned knees hit one of my main points. I never really thought about it but when heading in for an attack I will bring my back foot up and basically bring my knees together first. My weight is pretty evenly distributed on each foot which lets me alter my path if I need to retrack my attack. So, a majority of my attacks end with the same foot in front that started in front.

Also I think it is important not to have too low of a center of gravity. Footwork is much faster and less noticeable when you dont have transfer a ton of weight from one foot to the next.

good comments.
ok, now what about tension in the legs when stepping? not an excessive amount of tension of course, but heres what I mean: If you were to practice stepping as everyone has described nonstop and at full speed, for lets say, 1 full hour or more, no doubt our legs would tire (or at least mine would). what leg muscles would most likely be a little sore the next day? (assuming ideal technique was practiced).

for me, my inner thighs are most sore (don't know muscle group names, sorry). Assuming I'm doing things right (bad assumption, but humor me), this appears to indicate I have as much tension between each leg as well as the 'push/pull' of the top and bottom muscles of the legs.

so in addition to the push/pull effect of the legs, like described, there is also a sort of invisible connection (ie tension) between each leg. The feeling of it you can imagine both of your legs are opposite polarity magnets, the rear leg zipping toward the front... then at just the right time, the polarity is switched and the stepping leg is repelled forward. this naturally creates a slight arc in the step.
This is what (I think) makes the difference between 'frankenstein stepping' as was mentioned, and really dynamic stepping.

focus on that for a sec and lets hear your thoughts...

I think your polarity analogy is a good one (and it appeals to my physics side =). there are a few students in our class who exhibit what I would call bad footwork and it looks very similar to a crab skittering. There seems to always be tension between their legs and never the attraction phase that quickly pulls their knees together. The smooth arcing motion never occurs.

I think probably the most simple way for me to describe good footwork is to say that good footwork is a stepping pattern that allows you to change direction or speed at any given point as seamlessley as possible. Bad footwork requires stopping the pattern and starting a new one when confronted with a new stimulus.

So I think good footwork will differ from student to student, but there are certains ways of stepping that are always bad.

Nishiyama Sensei told us in a seminar that "the ankles control body movement", and if you watch Shotokan players, they don't "bounce up and down", but raise and lower their ankles while using their knees as a sort of a spring to dart in and out. That kind of footwork and "deep angle" of the center is necessary for a "full body contraction" that should accompany every punch. Remember that the attack, if fully committed will only occur once, and if you practice with the Ikken Hisatsu philosophy (to kill with one stroke), that makes perfect sense.

Some of these clowns bounce up and down like they got free passes on a trampoline, which is usually why they're no good in fighting. You can move your entire body the full length of your step, from front foot to back foot without ever moving your feet, so "up and down" gets you nothing... using the ankles to spring forward, however, gets you an entry into your target.

The ankles do provide for direction of the movement...but it's not where power is generated. In my opinion. here's proof: lock your back knee and then step forward. that isolates your ankle/calf to generate the power. now try it with your rear knee bent. now you are using all of the leg to generate power.

bouncing up and down slightly is a sport sparring tactic of misdirection. It's effective if you make the slight bounces erratic and unpredictable. but thats not really on-topic.

do you think there is any sort of dynamic tension between each leg when stepping?

For years & years, I was taught (& taught) the crescent step-through (Rear foot movement curving toward the forward foot & then back out again). I was told that this prevented the up-down motion (which is wasted motion) thus allowing you to go forward on a level plane.

Well, it does accomplish this BUT I learned that there is a waste of true forward power. For kata (competition, testing, seminars etc.) I'll continue to use & teach the crescent-step. However, to generate & utilize full-body power, I'll use a strait-in step (as if you were on a train track w/o going up & down). The key is to drive w/ your forward-facing hip propelled by the entire leg (as Ed indicated). It's simply impossible to move the entire body mass efficiently w/ bouncy, tournament-style movement & expect efficient, power-producing techniques.

This applies to all foot-work: Step-in, Slide-in or Tsugi-ashi/"shuffle-step" (rear leg moves forward then forward leg moves forward).

Done correctly, your hara (center) will remain in its optimum power/balance position that will, in turn, promote speed whether advancing, retreating or utilizing Tai-sabaki.