Footwork is an encyclopedic facet to discuss in the fighting arenas, but in my estimation, it has a two-main-fold application. It is used first and foremost to position the body in the right place to execute a definite purpose (i.e. elbowing, take downs, head butting, throws and etc). And secondly it acts as a weight transfer apparatus to create impact, force, cinch, tie, weave, sink, offset, and bridge one move into another move and so on.
Foot work, unlike the popular belief, is not about just dancing around. Its usage and application, carries almost the same competitive and constructive fight-dynamics as in the game of chess. It is to seek a check-mate in the final analysis. But it requires a well-thought-out moment to moment plan. One move must naturally and organically create and overlay the route to the next interchange in movement. I am using the chess game as an analogy to demonstrate that fighting, like chess is mindful, and literally an intellectual game----and that’s how fighting and training should be mentally and emotionally reflected, chewed, digested, and absorbed. It is not supposed to be a blow on blow trade- show.
In addition, footwork is not random, and certainly it is not a mindless pursuit in an attempt to look good or fancy. It must rapidly and wisely lead the other attributes (timing, power, cadence, stamina....), and help position the body in the right place, at the right time, with optimal efficiency. A person’s footwork is the surreptitious window to unlocking a fighter’s plan, motivation, level of skill, mindset, emotional stability, type of force-impact (i.e. sting, crush, ….), and so on.
Most of the quality of your movements, as well as the outcome of your fight depends on footwork. It is the master thesis of your other qualities and attributes. As a side note, keep in mind if you go to the ground, your hip-work is then the continuum of your stand-up footwork. So, your hip-work would have to take on the responsibility of the strategic plans, where your stand-up footwork leaves off. But it is NOT a different universe, so relax!!-----same laws and prerogatives still continue, but in a different orientation and allegorically speaking, in a different kind of troposphere. But the underlying principles are the same.
Let this short article suffice for now. Hopefully, it can help you, maybe see it under a little different kind of light. But as you know, nothing beats a hand on training. Writing about it only provides you with an abstract knowledge and awareness of it. But in person, you learn and get to appreciate the actual application.
If you have any questions, you can respond to my blog post, or you can call me or text me at 480-489-7202
Thanks,
SHAHRAM MOOSAVI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHAe-SaplCw
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