Drill Post #30: More on Footwork

Interesting how much has been written and demonstrated in JKD and kali circles about footwork, but it's always very black and white as it were. In other words, the "slide and step advance" in JKD, for example, is always shown as bringing your rear foot all the way to your lead foot which then moves a step forward. However, the movement of the rear foot, and therefore the distance of the advance, could easily be any where from a few inches to anywhere up to the lead foot and indeed should be practiced with varying distances so that you are comfortable moving an appropriate distance to, for example, deliver a stop kick. Same with the "step and slide advance," where you move your lead foot a comfortable step (usually defined as half of a step distance). If you thrust forward as far as you can, it's called a "push shuffle." But again, we should practice it anywhere from moving one inch, all the way to  the full push shuffle. The slide and step has easier potential to go further than the step and slide, but beside the distance you want to move, the choice as to what footwork you use is made by where your weight is and what tool you are attacking with, hand or foot.

To develop the choice making smoothly, the trainer moves forward and back at varying distances from the stationary trainee (but without crowding him at this point), and periodically stops and says "Go!" at which point the trainee immediately advances with appropriate footwork to touch a target with a hand or foot.

Then do the same drill but with both partners moving. Developing the instinctive feel for proper attacking footwork is a crucial skill set.