Does anyone have any suggestions for improving footwork. I know the obvious of jumping rope, but does anyone have any other drills which can improve footwork (and overall body fluidity)? Any suggestions would be appreciated as I find that the people with the best footwork always seem to have an easier time sparring.

Thanks

I have found that checking into Western boxing footwork has made a dramatic improvement in my sparring. They are very light on their feet, and keep moving all the time.

Practice being light on your feet, and doing circles and working 45 degree angles. Watch boxing!

Usually, I included dashes in 8 directions in my training as well as dash-kicks in all those directions. I used to skip rope and did a lot of feint-kick combos too.

It's funny that boxing was mentioned. I decided to post this after watching the Floyd Mayweather / Gatti fight last night on HBO (rerun?). They are so light on their feet and quick. Thats how I want my footwork to be.

Practice sparring with nothing but blocking and dodging for a while- that should make you more aware of how to move in a sparring context. I like to think I have good footwork, and it is, as you say, a real help when sparring.

Get used to moving quickly to score points, sort of an in-out, in-out approach. That should get you good at using your footwork to score points more quickly. Also, try to be natural - if you move in a way that doesn't feel natural, then your body will be slower to move and react.

Also, remember to have a wide stance and bounce lightly. The wide stance will give you a low and wide centre of gravity, which will make changing direction easier, and bouncing lightly will just mean you're able to spring into action faster. Just don't bounce too high, or you'll find yourself slower.

Supremeor -

I agree with most of what you wrote there, with the exception of the wide stance part. Most people are going to be more mobile when they keep a somewhat more upright position.

You are correct about wide stance being better for center of gravity, but mobilty and COG are incompatible concepts to a fair degree.

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You are correct about wide stance being better for center of gravity, but mobilty and COG are incompatible concepts to a fair degree.

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I'm not sure about that. If your feet are flat and wide, then I can see mobility being a problem, but I don't think it will matter if you are bouncing. I can see that having a VERY wide stance might hamper your mobility, however one should not have one's feet together.

Perhaps my phraseology was a bit clumsy - by "wide", I mean a shoulder width - one and a half shoulder widths- not sparring in a split position!

when we spar we usually keep them around shoulder width with the knees bent. seems that you have better mobility that way and you don't feel like you are tripping over your own feet.

I think the biggest problem I have is the bouncing. I'm just not comfortable bouncing. I stay on the balls of my feet (at least one) at all times. I'm not slow by any means, but my Master always wants me to bounce. It just doesn't feel natural to me. I can't be all that bad, the past three competitions I have been in, I have taken the gold medal for my division, but I feel my footwork could be better. Does anyone else have this problem with bouncing? I often watch my opponent when he is bouncing, and time my attacks when he is just at the peak of his bounce. This seems to work really well (at least for point sparring). Most of the time this allows for more than one kick to be landed also.

I think bouncing is a bit of a red-herring, because it encourages people to bounce too high, which is why you are able to time them. When you "bounce" try to just lightly bend your legs at your knee- hardly bring your feet off the ground. The bouncing in your knee joint gives you more agility and "loads" your leg muscles, allowing you to move faster and with more power.