Foot trapping

[Brother John]

We do LOTS and LOTS of foot-trapping!!!!!!


Your Brother (with the occasional limp)
John

 

[pesilat]

I think that a lot of times pinning the foot happens by accident. If you think about pinning the foot I don't think you will pull it off. For example, you might tell yourself don't go to sleep, don't go to sleep, what happens? You go to sleep. To me, this means that if you think about doing something like pinning the foot, it will not work out like you thought.

You're partially right. If you plan to trap someone's foot - or plan for anything else - it likely won't happen. I step on people's feet *all the time*. In fact, I'm notorious for it in several schools/groups around the nation. And I can often even pull it off with full intention ... i.e.: during sparring, I think, "I'm going to move forward and trap his foot." And then I do just that.

However, plans rarely work out in sparring ... much less in fighting.

But, IMO, to say that it "happens by accident" is an exaggeration. For me, foot trapping (whether actually stepping on the foot or trapping the leg) happens regularly because I have trained it a lot. I don't have to think about it to get it. And when I do decide to think about it, it often still works because it's such a habitual thing for me.

If you train it, you'll be able to pull it off regularly and reliably ("it" being virtually any technique you want). And there's nothing accidental about it if I've trained to do it.

Mike

 

[Brother John]

You're partially right. If you plan to trap someone's foot - or plan for anything else - it likely won't happen.
However, plans rarely work out in sparring ... much less in fighting.

But, IMO, to say that it "happens by accident" is an exaggeration. For me, foot trapping (whether actually stepping on the foot or trapping the leg) happens regularly because I have trained it a lot.

If you train it, you'll be able to pull it off regularly and reliably ("it" being virtually any technique you want). And there's nothing accidental about it if I've trained to do it.

Mike

EXCELLENT POINT Mike!!!
It's like my favorite quotes from General (later, President) Eisenhower regarding "Planning"
#1: "ALL plans fail upon making contact with the enemy."
This one would support what Eric was saying. That you shouldn't go in thinking "I WILL do THIS."...because it's not fluid and responsive.
#2: "In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable."
This is the crux. In PREPARATION....planning is crucial... but in "going in", discard and respond to the way things are in each moment.
THEN: Take charge and Control the "way things are" in each moment.

Run the table.


Your Brother
John

 

[pesilat]

EXCELLENT POINT Mike!!!
It's like my favorite quotes from General (later, President) Eisenhower regarding "Planning"
#1: "ALL plans fail upon making contact with the enemy."
This one would support what Eric was saying. That you shouldn't go in thinking "I WILL do THIS."...because it's not fluid and responsive.
#2: "In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable."
This is the crux. In PREPARATION....planning is crucial... but in "going in", discard and respond to the way things are in each moment.
THEN: Take charge and Control the "way things are" in each moment.

Run the table.


Your Brother
John

Bingo! Leave it to a man like Ike to phrase the two so succinctly

Mike

 

[arnisador]

But, IMO, to say that it "happens by accident" is an exaggeration. For me, foot trapping (whether actually stepping on the foot or trapping the leg) happens regularly because I have trained it a lot.

I agree. Not every jab I throw lands, but those that do aren't doing so by accident.

Yet, I agree that the foot trap is harder, and I see why people feel this way--I often do too!--but the more I've worked on I've thought about it, the more often it's happened. I still have a ways to go with it.