Stepping and Foot Work in Sparring

[nchang]

There's an old Chinses saying that "teach chuan (fist) without teach bu (step), teach bu the student will strike shifu (master)." Many old martial art teachers were cautious for teaching their students the art of stepping or foot work, in case the students may betray their teachers and kill them. Since the art of stepping is so important, I would like to open a discussion for the art of stepping or foot work in sparring. Experience fighters can share their ideas of how to use each steppings in sparring. Such as Taiji Stepping, Muddy Stepping, Inch Stepping, Urgent Stepping or Drill Stepping.

I'm currently reading Master Liang's Chinese Fast Wrestling for Fighting, so I learned Front Cross Stepping and Back Cross Stepping are really useful to throw people in sparring.

[nchang]

My~no one hasn't reply anything yet? Didn't quite get the question? This art is too difficult to disscuss?

[nchang]

I've learned stepping like a compass in order to execute a throw very powerful and fast. If my body is facing 45 degree to the right in 4-6 stance or fighting stance and my left foot is front and my opponent is facing me with his right foot in front, my front left foot can serve as the nail of the compass to twist my whole body about 135 degree to the left with my right foot serve as the pencil of the compass to draw closer to my opponent, then switch, my right foot becomes the nail of the compass and my left foot becomes the pencil of the compass to twist my body about 90 degree to the left to use the twisting power to throw my opponent on the floor. right?

[scramasax57]

sure.

[mookie]

Hey South Dakota, there's lots of good wrestlers up in these here parts, hook up with some and try stuff out. Some of it may work, some of it may need adjustment, some of it might be pure bull****. You're not gonna find better grapplers in the world than up here, test your stuff out.

[scramasax57]

i wouldn't have guessed there'd be ANYthing of note in south dakota. hahaha.

testing out footwork for throws against grapplers is an excellent idea.

[nchang]

Ha ha. Very funny. Say, why don't you all come down here to visit me sometimes and we'll see if who is the s**t. Afterall, we got plenty of praying-mantis students here for you to play around. A road trip would be nice

[scramasax57]

if i ever happen to be even remotely near you, i'd be happy to drop by. unfortunately that's about a one in a million chance.

going back to the original subject of footwork, i've found that the best way to practice it is to use it for non-martial art activities. this makes you adapt your footwork to the situation, until you can do it without thinking. after all, the idea is to think as little as possible in sparring. what i found especially helpful was doing this while cooking, because my kitchen is on the small side and i have to turn to get to the fridge, oven, pantry, pots, etc. after doing this type of exercise for about a year and a half, i've noticed a big improvement in the naturalness of my footwork.

[dc]

cooking, huh, hinds? suuuuuuuure.

nchang: it's great that you learned all those steps, i have no clue what "muddy stepping" or "urgent stepping" are. maybe you should elaborate on your descriptions a bit and see if you get more response. also it seems that in your description of your made up step you begin with an open door to your opponent by standing at 45 degrees to him.

i have trouble training stepping because obviously your opponent is not going to stand still. just train agility instead.

[nchang]

Ok a little bit more description on the steps I mentioned. Taiji Stepping- a type of stepping tech used in Taijichuan. Muddy Stepping- a type of stepping tech used in Baguazhang. Inch Stepping, Urgent Stepping and Drill Stepping- a type of stepping tech used in Xingyichuan.

That's as much as I know...that's right, I haven't learn any of these steps, yet. i thought some of you might know and would like to talk about it...

[scramasax57]

i'm familiar with xingyiquan footwork. if anyone wants i can explain the steps. they're very similar to each other, all moving forcefully ahead.

[nchang]

Wo, me me me! I would like to know how to use xingyiquan steps in real fighting. I don't know heck about xingyiquan, but I know it's a great internal martial art just like taijiquan and baguazhang.

[scramasax57]

the first type is inch stepping (cun bu). it is very simple. pushing with your back foot, the front foot very quickly moves a short distance forward, lengthening your stance. this is used once you have already gained an advantageous position, ie close up and inside your opponent's guard since xingyi is a short range style. from this close position, inch stepping is used to keep up the pressure on your opponent and maintain your offensive initiative. a variation, commonly seen with beng quan, is to first move the back foot forward and then quickly advance with the lead foot. this allows a longer advance, but compromises by taking more time. in this variation, strikes often are combined not only with the front foot's movement but also with the back foot's movement. when doing the first variation of inch stepping, ie front foot only, it will eventually become necessary to pull the back foot forward to prevent your stance from becoming too extended.

the next is urgent stepping (ji bu). this is similar to the hop used in white crane, pushing off the back foot to leap forward. after the front foot lands, the back foot follows to maintain proper stance. as in white crane, hand techniques are always launched while using this footwork, to force your opponent to defend himself so that it is harder for him to sweep your front foot which is vulnerable while it is leaping forward, since it is not firmly rooted. this technique is for chasing an opponent who is attempting a long retreat or to close the distance if you find yourself squared off in the long range. a crucial difference between the xingyiquan urgent stepping and the white crane hop is how the front foot lands. in crane, it is usually the ball of the foot that makes first contact, which gives you more agility to quickly leap backwards after your attack. in xingyi, the heel lands first, striking down hard to break the opponent's foot and help "bounce" power up into your strike. another difference is that in crane the back foot is dragged along to the ground so that it is always in contact, which allows you to change your movement faster, whereas in xingyi it is picked up instead of dragged to make the motion faster and also to utilize the "bounce" from its landing to power hand strikes.

the third type is drill stepping (zuan bu). this is the most common xingyi footwork. it is important to realize that there is a difference between drill stepping and drill kicking, xingyi's main kicking technique. drill kicking is similar to the low heel kick of most chinese styles, but the foot is at a 45 degree angle instead of vertical. this has two purposes: it is better suited to kicking the knees (which are the primary target of drill kicking), and this angle also requires that the leg torque while launching the kick which creates a twisting or "drilling" power. drill kicking is always followed by stepping forward and down with the kicking leg, so that if you land the kick it will crush your opponent's knee and if you didn't land it it will become an advancing motion and set up hand strikes. drill kicking can be done with either the back or front leg, and also can be combined with the front foot motions of inch stepping or drill stepping (not urgent stepping). drill stepping has three variations. to simplify the explanations, assume that you are in the xingyi guard position, left foot forward and turned in slightly, right foot back with about 70% of the weight on it and at a 45 degree angle. the first and most basic variation is stepping forward with the right (rear) leg (which can execute drill kicking as it moves forward) and then following with the left leg, which has now become the rear leg. the initial step forward should be large, again landing heel first. the left foot moves up to maintain proper stance length. the second variation begins by stepping forward with the left (lead) foot, then stepping forward with the right (rear) foot, then following with the left foot which is now the rear. the third variation begins by drawing the left (lead) foot back closer to the right (rear) foot, keeping a little weight on it to maintain balance and create tension, then stepping forward with the left (lead) foot, then stepping forward with the right (rear) foot, then following with the left (rear) foot to maintain stance length. in all of these variations, you end up with the other foot in front. also in all of them, any forward motion of the foot can become drill kicking. i know it sounds complicated when i describe it, but in reality its very simple. the main point is to take a very large step forward without hopping and then pull the rear forward to maintain a proper stance. again, it should not drag.

i have mentioned "bouncing" power from the foot's contact with ground; this is done by coordinating the impact of your strikes with the impact of your feet. it will take a while to gain a good knowledge of this, but it is essential for correct xingyi practice.

there are other variations and types of footwork within xingyi, especially in the twelve animals practice which incoorporates many more agile leaping steps. however, these three types and the variations of them that i discussed comprise the core of xingyi footwork and are closer to the essense of the style than the more advanced steps.

the feeling of stepping in xingyi should be like your feet are magnets with a powerful attraction to the ground. this is not to say that they should be slow when rising, but that they should return to the ground even faster. feet should stay low to the ground, never more than 4 inches except when kicking. smoothly and powerfully, your feet pull you forward to smash through your opponent. when they land it should either be a short, forceful slide or a powerful stomp, which will bounce more power into your strikes. when stomping, be careful not to raise your foot more than 4 inches. if you do this, although it will seem to generate more power to laymen, it is an excessive waste of energy, too slow, unstable, and destroys proper xingyi posture.

while the basic descriptions of the steps are undebatable, the uses and feelings of them are not. some of this information comes from my xingyi instructors (bruce crawford, tai ngo, and master yang), some of it comes books ("xingyiquan" by masters liang shou yu and yang, "xingyiquan xue" by master sun lu tang, and "ten important theses" by martial yue fei), some of it comes from my own experience in xingyi. all of it has been confirmed in my mind by these three sources.

[BaguaMonk]

Excellent description man.

I would like to explain more about muddy stepping, but I have to eat here in a little bit (might edit later). But basically muddy stepping is the footwork used in baguazhang. Obviously it is usually done around the circumfirence of a circle. A Fu style teacher told me the way to walk was by always lightly keeping contact with the ground, even with the lead foot, so as to make the center of the foot hollow and chi to flow from the ground. Also he told me to keep the front foot even, this proved to be very hard, and even streneous on the legs, which is a good thing. My teacher says the same thing, but we lead with the toes a bit more, and since we usually wear shoes, the toe curling portion is minute, although it seems important. Some say to curl your toes slightly(like in horse stance or some chi gong excercises), and of course the internal alignment is like any other internal art (spine, wuyin, etc.). The steps should be evenly done, usually the lead foot is the only one that curves inward (at angles), while the foot in the back is along the line of the circle (straight). Of course as you step, that changes. I believe the chinese terms might be Ku and Bu, although I might be wrong (don't remember).

The steps themselves have many purposes, one is conditioning the body into a "bagua body" because of the way they ligaments are twisted and conditioned through the stepping. Another is to teach the concept of no wasted motion, being able to "move" and "walk" fast and explosively with hardly any real effort. My teacher seems to glide across the ground, with perfect steps (and BIG ones too). Another one is to teach and develop a form of balance, because your steps, besides in forms where you go into a gong bu, or pu bu, are for the most part very hard to balance in. Since your feet aren't spread apart evenly (like a sturdy stance, gong bu, ma bu) and twisted in different ways, it helps in developing a good sense of center of gravity while moving. There are the obvious health benefits, coordination, etc. In combat they are used extensively for trapping, and manuevering around an opponent, getting behind or at a advantageous leverage point for throwing or striking. In some styles of bagua, they use alot of hooking of the feet (and in taiji) for leverage and trpaping. The constant twirling, motion, and stepping also has a very fluid and adaptable quality you are supposed to develop. The momentum can build up, and every vector or mechanical motion can be used efficiently without wasting effort. When you begin to combine the principles of Taiji, Bagua, and Xingyi, you get some pretty cool results, and no one gets the same ones. That is why there have been so many Taiji styles that try to incorporate the other two, and Bagua styles that try to incorporate the other two as well.

[Mathdebator]

Way to go there. I'd just add a couple of words of caution, about a couple of specifics in these steps, for beginners who want to start practicing them.

Regarding stomping training...don't kick the ground. What actually happens in xingyi (or baji, or other internal arts employing stomps) is that the practitioner drops his/her weight from the lower body; he/she does not slam the ground from the knee. That would chew the knees to pieces in no time on most surfaces, and doesn't add anything to strikes either. Even though some people have loud stomps from dropping the weight, not everyone does all the time, so don't worry about the noise.

A good initial way to train the stomp is as follows:
Stand on one leg, with the other foot flat, just about an inch off the ground. Shift your weight from one leg to the other, by lifting your leg that is on the ground, and letting the other fall. Finally, to be sure that you are actually letting the weight drop, instead of forcing the stomp, watch in a mirror and make sure that your head does not rise or fall during the process.

Regarding the chinese names in bagua, kou bu is the step that narrows the angle between the toes of your feet, and bai bu is the step that widens that angle. Again, for beginners practicing walking the circle, be sure that your alignment is correct, because it's very easy to screw up your knees by walking the circle wrong.

[scramasax57]

excellent post on the stomping issue. i was having a hard time clarifying the difference between an efficient stomp to bounce power and the typical overzealous smash used by novices. thanks again, you articulated that really well.

[valar2006]

I agree! clonazepam prescription online
flagyl overdose discount clomiphene pharmacy
evista forum on line norco drug

[kung fu fighter]

Hi,
Does anyone know how the footwork concept of 8 directions (bagua) is applied in the southern systems such as white crane, southern mantis or wing chun?

[jellybean]

As far as I know Ba Gua has the most creative foot work
and it's core is really different from external styles