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Zach Zinn
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Isolating footwork

This time is really making the gears turn on new ways of training. One thing I've been doing is trying to isolate different parts of kata and work in them in many different ways in my Zoom sessions. Has anyone ever tried simply designing small drills that isolate footwork found in Kata?

As an example, Saifa has opening movements that can be a drop step and a boxing type pivot, Geki Sai has another type of stepping pivot, etc.

I've learned differents kinds of stepping in isolation, but I don't think I ever did anything like a "pivoting drill", and was thinking about coming up with one for Zoom training. Anyone have examples?

Heath White
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Not sure it's what you're looking for, but I often have students do forms with their hands behind their back, concentrating on getting feet and hips perfect.

Zach Zinn
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Heath White wrote:
Not sure it's what you're looking for, but I often have students do forms with their hands behind their back, concentrating on getting feet and hips perfect.

That's a good drill too, to just do kata footwork.

What I mean is more like having an isolated solo practice of basic pivoting, etc. movements. You find these in Boxing and other combat sports, I remember when did some of this kind of thing in Judo too, similar to this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--jqWOcRuJE

The only place I have seen anything like this in Karate is in some fomalized Tai Sabaki drills here and there, mostly in sport-centric styles like Enshin/Ashihara. I learned a variation of the footwork drill here called "tenkan" in Jujutsu:

 

It's an extremely valuable drill, if you can remove it from the ritualized Aikido performance and mvoement, it's suprisingly versatile.

I am wondering if anyone has tried making their own little drills like this drawn from movements in Kata. It seems like a good idea, and I imagine it's been done.

Heath White
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My first instructor was a kickboxer and used to give us footwork when doing line drills.  Something like "slide-up, step."  "step and lunge, slide-up."  "slide-back, slide-back."  Then those would be attached to techniques, like "slide-up front kick, stepping round kick."  "step and lunge jab, slide-up jab punch."  "slide-back, slide-back, front leg front kick."  I found this gave me a lot better control of my feet than some more traditionally trained karateka.

None of this had anything to do with kata.

It would be a little trickier to incorporate side-steps, pivots, and other non-linear footwork, just in terms of space in the dojo.  But in  principle, if  you can give it a name, you can do it in linework, and you can then attach techniques to it.

Zach Zinn
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Heath White wrote:
My first instructor was a kickboxer and used to give us footwork when doing line drills ...

... It would be a little trickier to incorporate side-steps, pivots, and other non-linear footwork, just in terms of space in the dojo.  But in  principle, if  you can give it a name, you can do it in linework, and you can then attach techniques to it.

That's is exactly what I mean, a Karate footwork drill that's just made to build attributes, rather than be a specific "part" of something.

B Bates
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Hi guys,

I don't know if this drill will be of any help. Once you run through the basic footwork as in the video you can add combinations/techniques in with the footwork. There are a couple of examples in the video but obviously you can add in your own. I've taped a cross to the floor but you could use a couple of belt laid on the floor.

 

Hope that's of some help

Brian

Zach Zinn
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Thanks Brian, yeah that's the tenkan drill drom Aikido/Jujutsu precisely, only I've never tried it on an x, good stuff.

I found this video from Ramsey Dewey:

 

While obviously geared towards combat sport these are all familiar/universal motions put into one drill, kind of a cool combination. In this drill he basically does this same movement and identifies it as "rock step pivot".

Heath White
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Possibly this is useful.

B Bates
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Zach Zinn wrote:
Thanks Brian, yeah that's the tenkan drill drom Aikido/Jujutsu precisely, only I've never tried it on an x, good stuff.

As well as Karate I have a aikido/aikijujitsu background so the footwork is familiar but as you also said it's all universal.

Also the way I drill the footwork by looking for space rather than following the lines is a little unorthadox (but thats how my brain works ;-D) the footwork is still the same though.

Brian

Zach Zinn
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Heath White wrote:
Possibly this is useful.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lL6CKloseas

That's pretty cool, I went out to my garage and tried a combination of the "plus" tape and this, really fun.

I think that might be filmed in city I grew up in too incidentally, Albuquerque, NM..made me nostalgic:)

Zach Zinn
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B Bates wrote:
As well as Karate I have a aikido/aikijujitsu background so the footwork is familiar but as you also said it's all universal.

I took a  hiatus from my time in Jujutsu a few years ago, and since that time I've reflected on what have been the most valuable parts to my Karate, I feel like two "keeper" things I learned were a good head and arm throw (funnily enough, the Judo guys didn't like this throww because it was "too easy" and somehow uncouth) and this footwork drill. It's funny because when I first learned it it was attached to lots of things I am not a big fan of, lots of small joint manipulation, complex lockflows etc. Once I removed it from that context the usefulness of it really shined.

Zach Zinn
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I experimented over the weekend and came up with this quick video for my students utlizing the resources in this thread, thanks everyone.