Plan one step ahead

Kung Fu Wang

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When you move in and make your 1st attack, if you land your foot according to your opponent's

- leading foot position, if your opponent steps back, in order to make your 2nd attack, you may have to make one more step. Most of the time, this extra step will slow you down and your opponent will have enough time to counter your 2nd attack.
- back leg position, even if your opponent steps back, you can still make your 2nd attack without having to make another step.

In your training, have you ever considered this situation?
 

Gerry Seymour

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When you move in and make your 1st attack, if you land your foot according to your opponent's

- leading foot position, if your opponent steps back, in order to make your 2nd attack, you may have to make one more step. Most of the time, this extra step will slow you down and your opponent will have enough time to counter your 2nd attack.
- back leg position, even if your opponent steps back, you can still make your 2nd attack without having to make another step.

In your training, have you ever considered this situation?
I generally pick my distance for what I want, as I'm entering to do something. That spacing is from his body, not his foot.
 

drop bear

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Yeah. That is why you distance like that in the first place. So the first move is the step.
 

Christopher Adamchek

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I many times want them were my second attack will be
89a254e62430c27a3a12f52447cc0e15.gif
 
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Kung Fu Wang

Kung Fu Wang

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I many times want them were my second attack will be
89a254e62430c27a3a12f52447cc0e15.gif

This is a good example. When he steps in his left leg, he already plans that his right leg can reach to his opponent's back leg without having to make another step with his left leg again.

Here is another example.

 
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Gweilo

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What if you plan to attack his back leg (sweep, scoop, hook, ...)?
What if your opponent is not standing still as in the 2 videos, it surely is as gp Seymour stated, it is based on distance and timing to your opponent, IMHO the stance of the receiver in the 1st video was so wide he probably would have been got by a tractor.
 

drop bear

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What if your opponent is not standing still as in the 2 videos, it surely is as gp Seymour stated, it is based on distance and timing to your opponent, IMHO the stance of the receiver in the 1st video was so wide he probably would have been got by a tractor.

That one is definitely a viable sweep though.
 

Gerry Seymour

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What if you plan to attack his back leg (sweep, scoop, hook, ...)?
I would almost always need his upper body first. I don't go for the leg, I go for the structure. Once I am connected, what's available is mine to choose from. Choosing that leg before I enter puts me on the reactive if he doesn't react the way I was planning for (moves in, rather than stepping back, or stays still, moves sideways). The upper body moves a smaller distance than a leg, and more slowly, so I work with that.
 

Gerry Seymour

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That one is definitely a viable sweep though.
Agreed. It looks similar to a variation I've worked with a couple of times. I haven't done it in a while. Maybe next time I'm down at the old school (where I have training partners), I'll give it another look. It doesn't seem like it'd come up a lot with a competent opponent, but could be devastating when you can get it. I like his use of his body momentum in it.

And a comment on the actual video...while the uke's stance is rather wide and stable, that actually requires more ground to cover when entering. I want to see what that feels like from a more likely stance.
 

Gerry Seymour

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This is a good example. When he steps in his left leg, he already plans that his right leg can reach to his opponent's back leg without having to make another step with his left leg again.

Here is another example.

In your video, you're using the knee strike to break his structure. I'd be more likely to use the grip on the body for that. If he shifts that back leg, he can avoid the knee strike, but it's harder to avoid the grip on the upper body. If I can shift him enough to step back (or around) with the front leg, I can sweep the back leg (Judo's osotogari). If not, if I can shift him enough "forward", I can sweep the front leg (something closer to uchimata, with or without the hip throw component...probably another Judo technique name for that). Actually, even with the second choice, it turns into sweeping the "back" leg, because of the shift in direction, so it's either an inside sweep or an outside sweep.
 

Danny T

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When you move in and make your 1st attack, if you land your foot according to your opponent's

- leading foot position, if your opponent steps back, in order to make your 2nd attack, you may have to make one more step. Most of the time, this extra step will slow you down and your opponent will have enough time to counter your 2nd attack.
- back leg position, even if your opponent steps back, you can still make your 2nd attack without having to make another step.

In your training, have you ever considered this situation?
Absolutely it's called Tactics some call it the set up.
 

JR 137

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I would almost always need his upper body first. I don't go for the leg, I go for the structure. Once I am connected, what's available is mine to choose from. Choosing that leg before I enter puts me on the reactive if he doesn't react the way I was planning for (moves in, rather than stepping back, or stays still, moves sideways). The upper body moves a smaller distance than a leg, and more slowly, so I work with that.
Add to that the feet and legs typically move before the body does. So feet and knees won’t be there while the torso will be for just a bit longer.

But you’ve also got to consider the concept that it’s easier to topple a bigger person by attacking the legs than it is to attack their torso.

I feel if I have something specific in mind before I initiate the attack, it rarely works during free sparring and the like. If I plan on A then B then C, I typically don’t get A to work.
 
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Kung Fu Wang

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In your video, you're using the knee strike to break his structure. I'd be more likely to use the grip on the body for that.
Many years ago (1932 ?), a famous Judo guy visited China. My teacher went to Beijing to challenge him. That combo was exactly what my teacher used to take down that Judo guy. That match made that Judo guy very mad for 2 reasons.

- The clinch has not even established yet (nobody has established any grip on the other).
- Knee strike to the inside of the upper leg is illegal move in judo.

Since neither the Judo guy nor my teacher ever agreed whether the challenge match would be used the Shuai Chiao rule (knee strike is allowed), or the Judo rule, that challenge match almost turned into a fist fight after that.

When I apply this combo, if I don't step far enough with my left leg, when my opponent steps back his right leg, my right leg won't be able to reach to his left leg. I'll either have to use the hopping footwork, or land my right foot, step in my left foot again, At that time, that small window (my opponent has all his weight on his left leg) is long gone.
 
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Gerry Seymour

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Add to that the feet and legs typically move before the body does. So feet and knees won’t be there while the torso will be for just a bit longer.

But you’ve also got to consider the concept that it’s easier to topple a bigger person by attacking the legs than it is to attack their torso.

I feel if I have something specific in mind before I initiate the attack, it rarely works during free sparring and the like. If I plan on A then B then C, I typically don’t get A to work.
Absolutely, about easier to topple via the legs. That's what sweeps are for, in my toolbox. I can't get low predictably to do single-leg/double-leg takedowns anymore, so it's leg-on-leg. In the sweep, the torso is just a control point.
 
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Kung Fu Wang

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Absolutely, about easier to topple via the legs. That's what sweeps are for, in my toolbox. I can't get low predictably to do single-leg/double-leg takedowns anymore, so it's leg-on-leg. In the sweep, the torso is just a control point.
IMO, it's always better to let your leg to do the leg job, let your hand to do the hand job. Sometime you let your leg do the 1st 1/2 of the job, let your hand to do the 2nd 1/2 of the job. This is why the wrestlers train leg skill such as knee, bite, scoop, sticky, sweep, twist, lift, spring, cut, hook, break, block, ...

Here is an example.

 

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