Good Footwork Drill

[mvbrown21]

Hey guys,

This is a footwork drill that I got from 'Chinaboxer' that I've incorporated recently with a partner of mine that has really worked wonders. I'm sure most of you have seen this example before but I've never seen it used with inside triangle footwork, always outside triangle. The advantage of practicing it with inside triangle is that you optimize your leverage point on the opponent.

First thing you do is take some scotch tape(painter's tape) and make this design on the floor with the base of the triangle's being about the width of your stance.

You and a partner then get in this basic configuration. The colors represent your feet.

Now the 'Opponent' partner steps out towards you either utilizing an inside triangle step themselves or just a step out. Practice going to the inside first with an inside triangle step yourself and apply your pressure to the opposite corner of the opponents triangle represented by the green line. You will find that you can uproot your opponent rather easily at this angle

Now do the same inside triangle but to the outside of their lead foot with pressure being applied to that outside corner again. Once again you can uproot them rather easily.

After practicing both sides pretty good have your partner switch up his lead foot randomly on you. It should not matter which way you respond, your inside triangle will always have the advantage. Just remember to follow the basic outline of the scotch tape design when you do it. You may have to adjust slightly depending but remember that the opponent's weak point will always be the base of the opposite side of the triangle.

This drill comes from the basic concept of the dummy leg and how you move around it being the most advantageous position as the example shows below

 

[Thesemindz]

That is a good drill. Thanks.


-Rob

 

[mook jong man]

When you do this exercise is your body squared up and facing the opponents centreline at all times ?

 

[mvbrown21]

When you do this exercise is your body squared up and facing the opponents centreline at all times ?

Just like on the dummy, try it out if you havn't, it's pretty cool, by following that scotch tape line to the outside triangle base with your structure into your opponent, it gives you the optimal angle

 

[mook jong man]

The wooden dummy is more about learning to transfer your bodyweight into the dummy and learning to manouver and pivot around a heavy object.
The opponent is too big and heavy for me to move , so I have to move myself and flow around the resistance.

The dummy footwork should not be taken too literally.
It's a bit like some of the applications in the Chum Kiu , in that form they are done in a pivoted side on position , but in actual application they are applied from front on
In real world application I always want to be squared up and facing my opponents centreline where ever possible so that I have equal opportunity to use all my weapons and he doesn't have a centreline advantage

I always use this analogy , when you push a broken down car you don't stand side on and push , you get your body squarely behind it and push , it is the same in Wing Chun.

If you are just using the exercise as a substitute for a wooden dummy then that is fine , you could even just have your partner stand there as you step around him in a semi circle .

But a more useful exercise would be to have one partner moving around in a highly mobile fashion circling at random , whilst the Wing Chun person in their stance pivots and adjusts position to face the opponents centreline , a bit like the turret on a tank tracking a target.

 

[cwk]

I teach a version of this but without the scotch tape on the floor after seeing this however I think I'll add the tape as I think it'll help beginners to understand angles better, thanks for that.
The version I teach also has 2 more levels. The second level is -once your leg makes contact with theirs, you use your knee to "bump" theirs, either from the outside or inside to unbalance them.This can be combined with, or followed by, hand techniques if you like.
The third level is the same as the second only that you're aiming to time it so that your knee is bumping theirs just before their foot hits the floor or before they can get their weight distribution sorted out. This needs to be trained on a soft surface though, because when you get it right, they go down pretty hard.

 

[mvbrown21]

I teach a version of this but without the scotch tape on the floor after seeing this however I think I'll add the tape as I think it'll help beginners to understand angles better, thanks for that.
The version I teach also has 2 more levels. The second level is -once your leg makes contact with theirs, you use your knee to "bump" theirs, either from the outside or inside to unbalance them.This can be combined with, or followed by, hand techniques if you like.
The third level is the same as the second only that you're aiming to time it so that your knee is bumping theirs just before their foot hits the floor or before they can get their weight distribution sorted out. This needs to be trained on a soft surface though, because when you get it right, they go down pretty hard.

Very good training points CWK, thanks. We actually just started to figure out those "bumps" today actually. We started out doing just a push with the hands at first and yeah, slowly incorporated attacks into it. Question about the bumping before their foot hits the floor though. Is it possible when they're stepping first, if you stay true to not predicting their movement?

 

[mvbrown21]

The wooden dummy is more about learning to transfer your bodyweight into the dummy and learning to manouver and pivot around a heavy object.
The opponent is too big and heavy for me to move , so I have to move myself and flow around the resistance.

The dummy footwork should not be taken too literally.
It's a bit like some of the applications in the Chum Kiu , in that form they are done in a pivoted side on position , but in actual application they are applied from front on
In real world application I always want to be squared up and facing my opponents centreline where ever possible so that I have equal opportunity to use all my weapons and he doesn't have a centreline advantage

I always use this analogy , when you push a broken down car you don't stand side on and push , you get your body squarely behind it and push , it is the same in Wing Chun.

If you are just using the exercise as a substitute for a wooden dummy then that is fine , you could even just have your partner stand there as you step around him in a semi circle .

But a more useful exercise would be to have one partner moving around in a highly mobile fashion circling at random , whilst the Wing Chun person in their stance pivots and adjusts position to face the opponents centreline , a bit like the turret on a tank tracking a target.

The dummy is for a lot of things and you're missing some of the finer points of it. And I don't know how you do those movements around the dummy that are in this drill, but my structure is still "facing" when stepping in.

Just try this drill and you'll see what I mean. There's "two" triangles in a WC structure. A lower(feet) and and upper(hands). A guy with a good upper but bad lower can only fight a mirror of himself but a guy with a good lower can fight both even if his upper is poor....

 

[cwk]

Yeah, you've just got to drill it to death and then do some "alive" sparring drills using it until it gets natural. Try training it with your partner stepping forward from YGKYM, shuffle stepping from a forward stance, drop step jab from a boxing stance, etc,etc. You'll soon figure out the timing and spacing.
Another tip- if they manage to catch you unawares and their front leg is almost in under your centre. Do the same triangle step ( we call it circle step in Cho Gar) as the drill, avoiding the front leg of your opponent as you swing your stepping leg in towards your standing leg. Then when you swing it out to complete the step, push off hard from your standing leg and stomp on the ankle of their rear leg with your stepping leg.
Hope this makes sense, I'm crap at putting things into words over the internet.

 

[mvbrown21]

I always use this analogy , when you push a broken down car you don't stand side on and push , you get your body squarely behind it and push , it is the same in Wing Chun.

You're right you don't stand side on and I never expressed that. Look, you have to remember that an opponent doesn't have wheels either and will just go straight back for you. That's a poor analogy for forward momentum of an opponent.

So let's say instead you have a car driving at you at a high speed. What would be the most advantageous position for you to put a cylinder block in front of it. Head on or at an angle so that it hits on it's front-left/right side. You want to cause the most damage and disrupt his balance, right? Just watch a side head-on collision of a vehicle. That's the concept, you're confusing angles and/or missing them entirely by thinking about your footwork that way......seriously just try out the drill!!

 

[mvbrown21]

Yeah, you've just got to drill it to death and then do some "alive" sparring drills using it until it gets natural. Try training it with your partner stepping forward from YGKYM, shuffle stepping from a forward stance, drop step jab from a boxing stance, etc,etc. You'll soon figure out the timing and spacing.
Another tip- if they manage to catch you unawares and their front leg is almost in under your centre. Do the same triangle step ( we call it circle step in Cho Gar) as the drill, avoiding the front leg of your opponent as you swing your stepping leg in towards your standing leg. Then when you swing it out to complete the step, push off hard from your standing leg and stomp on the ankle of their rear leg with your stepping leg.
Hope this makes sense, I'm crap at putting things into words over the internet.

Thanks, some good stuff to play around with

 

[mook jong man]

You're right you don't stand side on and I never expressed that. Look, you have to remember that an opponent doesn't have wheels either and will just go straight back for you. That's a poor analogy for forward momentum of an opponent.

So let's say instead you have a car driving at you at a high speed. What would be the most advantageous position for you to put a cylinder block in front of it. Head on or at an angle so that it hits on it's front-left/right side. You want to cause the most damage and disrupt his balance, right? Just watch a side head-on collision of a vehicle. That's the concept, you're confusing angles and/or missing them entirely by thinking about your footwork that way......seriously just try out the drill!!

If the force is coming straight at me I will probably just pivot , or more than likely step 45 degrees to the side , but either way I will still end up facing his centreline.

I don't think this exercise can work with our lineages footwork , we step forward like we are on rails so that both feet are always equal distance from the opponent , it's only when an opponents leg is in the way that we will attack it with a low heel kick , leg lock it , or use Huen Bo with an elbow strike and sweep .

But other than that we pretty much move like we are on rails , each leg stepping forward alternatively.

But just for arguments sake I'll give it a go next time I teach.

 

[mvbrown21]

Maybe this pic will make a little more sense Mook Jong Man

 

[Eric_H]

Maybe this pic will make a little more sense Mook Jong Man

Now I'm confused. Is blue guy in a cat stance?

 

[chinaboxer]

make sure to use the "blue painter's tape" so that you don't ruin your floors! :jediduel:

 

[mook jong man]

Maybe this pic will make a little more sense Mook Jong Man

Yes thank's that has cleared it up , bluemans body is orientated perfectly and he has a centreline advantage over orangeman.
But surely that can't be the final foot position , it looks a bit like he's walking a tight rope.

 

[mvbrown21]

make sure to use the "blue painter's tape" so that you don't ruin your floors! :jediduel:

Yes, very important!!

Hey Jin, have you tried the drill this way before with the inside triangle instead of the outside like you do in the video? I'm hesitant to train the outside triangle this way because all it does is put you in a neutral stance(sans the angle) with the opponent. I like it with the inside because then your lead foot is at the advantage, just like on the dummy

 

[mvbrown21]

Here you guys go, and it comes from "chinaboxer's" teacher himself Hawkins Cheung. Watch Mr. Cheung's footwork closely, he does it about 5 or 6 times and he does a nice powerful one right around 1:27

 

[mook jong man]

That's just called stepping into the centre , it's a way of generating a little extra power as it brings a bit more bodyweight to bear onto the centreline
My Sifu used to do it with a double palm strike and launch people into the air.

It can produce a lot of power , the downside is you try it on someone with a good stance and a fast Huen Bo and your liable to get your leg swept out from under you.

 

[bully]

Can anyone post a video up of this drill?

Mr Brown or Jin??

I am a visual learner lol ie I need to have it shown exactly.

Cool video of Hawkins btw, very impressive.