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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2007 4:02:02 GMT
I need some help on this. My problem is that in a fast retreat I often trip myself up and end up off ballance. I'm ok going froward at any speed, its the retreat that screws me up.
The rule of thumb is that when you advance, the forward leg moves first and when you retreat the rear leg moves first. This created the space for the following leg to move into. Yeah... I know that... but somehow I am still not doing it right. Perhaps the distance between my steps is not proportionatly correct... not sure.
As you all know be now I am a big fan of drilling to correct errors and create muscle memory. I seem to retreat ok when I concentrate on that, but not when I am not concentrating on that. Perhaps someone my have a fresh prospectice on this.
Thanks Bill
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2007 9:37:20 GMT
Hm you are decribing a step that is called (at least in Poland) a short step(or a fencing step).There can be also a long step when the leg that is behind moves forward and becomes a leg in front The distance between legs is good when you have no problem with changing your balance from one foot to another without loosing time.Try to experiment Maybe your problem is that you use a step for a modern fencing rathe than proper to medieval combat.The difference is that in modern sport fencing your heels are in the same line-and your side side is turned to your enemy.Of course you can fight like this when you fight without armour but what I've beed tought on ARMA is that for sword fighting you should stay more fronted(is there a word fronted in english ? )Your heels not in one line(in fact when you have a plate armour it is the most natural and comfortable stand) The other thing is that you should be quite low on your legs.And try to make steps without moving your hips up and down-a pencil glued to your hip and pressed to the wall should draw a straight line not some sin and cos
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2007 20:00:29 GMT
Staying low does help maintain balance. I try to do that. It is hard to maintain that posintion with 40 lbs armor for a very long time.
I think your short step - long step is discribing cross-over retreats and advances.
I will continue to experiment. Let me know of you get any other thoughts.
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Post by rammstein on Jan 31, 2007 23:59:01 GMT
This idea may work:
You might want to try putting some object inbetween your feet to make sure that they never get closer than what the object mandates. A thick, short, dowel with string on ach end (fso you can move your legs apart, but not together) may do the trick. Try practicing this for retreats, but for sloping and traversing, it may make life a bit difficult. I got this idea from some weird innovative technique I had on my braces ;D.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2007 0:35:50 GMT
The two kinds of steps being described are commonly called(in english): The gathering step(where the feet maintain relationship to one another), and the passing step(where the feet change position in relationship to one another, i.e. one foot 'passes' the other).
In addition to those two ways of moving, there is circular movement, and there is linear movement. When advancing on a foe and pressing him, you want to encourage him to use linear movement, as it is more difficult to do when retreating - this is your problem I think. Use circular footwork when you retreat, your hips should rotate and feet should move in a good arc. This will take you off the line of the attack of your opponent, and will take pressure off of you(as your opponent now has to work to get you back on his line), and it's easier to do than 'hobbling' backwards(hobbling quickly backwards makes it VERY difficult to turn or move off line).
Properly done, this allows you to quickly switch up the roles of who's attacking more or defending more. Getting off that line will allow you to enter in while your opponent re-adjusts. This will allow you to press the attack and force him to defend.
To Elchon: I'm not sure if there's an english word for it. The word that comes to my mind that best describes it is the french 'en face'(pro. onn-foss), which more or less translates to 'facing'. In aikido, we say 'keep your center on your opponent', which means the same thing.
That's the problem with language: Certain languages describe different things better than others. For example, there's something like 4 or 5 words in greek that all mean 'love', but have different connotations, whereas in french there's only 1 word for both 'like' and 'love'. I'm personally fascinated by this, and it is why linguistics is my Minor. I'd like to learn more foreign languages, but don't have the time at present.
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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2007 4:26:30 GMT
This was originally a football excercise we were forced to do in football. Not the exact steps you need, but maybe it would help in foot coordination and endurance, if nothing else. After running the length of the field normally twice, the next trip would be "knees high" where your knees slap into your extended hands, then the return trip would be "heels high" where you try to kick yourself in the ass with every stride. These also help strengthen the extremeties of the leg muscles. The next trips would then be sideways; one way left in front of right, the return trip right in front of left. We would then do two lengths alternating, which looks bloody hilarious, because you need to swing your hips back and forth too. As most sadistic football coaches go, this would be followed by two more full-out lenghts, followed by a run around the 1/4 mile track. At the very least, these were a great cardio excercise!! ;D
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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2007 21:59:50 GMT
A good exercise requires a curb in a parking lot. Stand alongside the curb and hop up onto it. Easy. Try hopping up onto the curb while you switch the position of your feet, then hop back down, switching again.
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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2007 23:18:53 GMT
If you feel that it is your body awareness that is causing you to trip up then it might be useful to practice (slowly at first!) stepping with your eyes closed.
It can be useful to practice any technique at a lower speed to attain accuracy and then build up to the speed required while maintaining accuracy.
If it is balance specific training that you are after, try doing your cuts on one leg!
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