Stepping

[guy b]

How does your front foot contact the floor when stepping? Toe or heel first?

 

[MAfreak]

ball of the foot.


edit: sorry, now i saw its the wing chun forum.
thought on common martial arts stepping like in boxing, karate, tkd.

 

[guy b]

Please don't get into intricacies of ball, k1, mid foot and so on. Front of foot or back of foot?

 

[wckf92]

Heel

 

[geezer]

In a typical advancing step: The whole foot (flat of the foot). On a longer step or passing step, the heel touches first then the whole foot. It's what happens naturally in our lineage's back-weighted stances.

 

[Cephalopod]

As much as possible, our feet slide forward rather than stepping.
This is done to increase awareness of changes in terrain or obstacles that your feet might encounter ( so that you wont step heavily onto the edge of a curb that you didn't notice, for example).
If a large step is necessary, then the heel comes down first, like Geezer said.

 

[Danny T]

Depends on how broad a step. Sliding the whole foot, Stepping with the whole foot, or heel - toe.

 

[Eric_H]

Toe, it allows you to judge the terrain, plant better in slippery or soft surface and not get swept.

 

[geezer]

Toe, it allows you to judge the terrain, plant better in covered. Now, how much you want to bet we're about to find out from the OP that wslippery or soft surface and not get swept.

OK, some say toe, some say heel, some say whole (flat) foot, some say glide/slide, some say it depends. Seems like all the bases have been covered. So who want's to bet that we're about to find out that we're all wrong?

 

[Eric_H]

^ That quote is inaccurate

 

[guy b]

As much as possible, our feet slide forward rather than stepping.
This is done to increase awareness of changes in terrain or obstacles that your feet might encounter ( so that you wont step heavily onto the edge of a curb that you didn't notice, for example).
If a large step is necessary, then the heel comes down first, like Geezer said.

Interesting, have never seen anyone not lift the front foot at all. What do you do on uneven terrain?

 

[guy b]

How about back stepping? How do you do it? How does foot contact?

 

[guy b]

OK, some say toe, some say heel, some say whole (flat) foot, some say glide/slide, some say it depends. Seems like all the bases have been covered. So who want's to bet that we're about to find out that we're all wrong?

Impossible for everyone to be wrong so far given that all options have been covered. Think of it as a kind of survey to get to know each others wing chun.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

OK, some say toe, some say heel, some say whole (flat) foot, some say glide/slide, some say it depends. Seems like all the bases have been covered. So who want's to bet that we're about to find out that we're all wrong?

It depends on the time of the day and the distance between you and your opponent.

- If it's dark, you want to feel the ground for each and every step that you take. You want to make sure that you don't step on any sharp object. The "flat foot" will be safer.

- If you are in the kicking range, to step in with "heel" will give your opponent a chance to "sweep" or "scoop" you. Old saying says, "In MA, you should step in as if you are walking on a frozen lake surface. That is the "toe" first.

- If it's in the day time and you are outside of your opponent's kicking range, you can step in any way that you may perfer.

 

[Cephalopod]

Interesting, have never seen anyone not lift the front foot at all. What do you do on uneven terrain?

In some cases, such as wearing sneakers on carpet, or when I train in the grass and roots of my unkempt backyard, the shifting foot does lift a little. The point is, it doesn't lift more than it needs to. On hardwoods or concrete, the foot just slides.

When I train, as part of my overall awareness I try to feel the floor with my feet. That way, forward or back, my feet just do what they need to do to shuffle.

Again, we're talking about small shifts, side to side, diagonals, forward and back. If I have to lunge out the way of a defensive tackle going for the sack, all bets are off

 

[wckf92]

but...but...when I levitate...there is no need to stepping or contact with front or back of foot, etc... silly humans!!! Clearly, you all have it wrong... stepping is SOOOOO inefficient and NOT proper wc/wt/vt thinking. Silly mortals!

 

[RobertK]

Interesting topic!
When stepping we commonly use the heal to first contact the floor. But I have learnt both ways, so somethimes I would use the toes, it depens on how long the step is.
Backing up I spring of the front leg, sort of pushing yourself backwards.

 

[guy b]

What about stepping patterns? How do you approach and retreat?

 

[wckf92]

What about stepping patterns?

A lot of WC footwork pattern is based on mui fa pattern as far as I know(?)

How do you approach and retreat?

Normally blast straight in and then figure it out from there If the way forward is obstructed then angular footwork may be needed depending on the timing and distance.
If caught off guard or timing was off then a diagonal step back may be warranted.

 

[Danny T]

Seems there is another guy b.
First guy b. has a period at the end of his name. 2nd one does not.
Going to make things confusing.