From: mary@Cayman.COM (Mary Malmros)
Newsgroups: rec.martial-arts
Subject: Re: Moving during kicking
Date: 2 Sep 92 21:40:33 GMT
	<3561@unisql.UUCP> <MARY.92Sep1123818@martinique.Cayman.COM>
	<3581@unisql.UUCP>
Organization: Cayman Systems Inc., Cambridge, MA
In-reply-to: wrat@unisql.UUCP's message of 2 Sep 92 13:39:09 GMT


In article <3581@unisql.UUCP> wrat@unisql.UUCP (wharfie) writes:

   In article <MARY.92Sep1123818@martinique.Cayman.COM> mary@Cayman.COM (Mary Malmros) writes:
   >   >A good martial artist will not be unbalanced when executing a kick.
   >	   Yes, but unless she's a *great* martial artist she'll sure as hell
   >   be immobile until that foot gets back down to the mat.
   >Disagree.  Many times I've seen someone with the front foot up to block
   >(or chambered for a kick) scoot forward by pushing off with the standing
   >leg.  It's not a hop, it's a sort of slide, and it looks really weird...

	   I'm probably demonstrating my ignorance of the finer points of kicking,
   but here goes :-) 

	   If you move your body in any way but towards the target of your
   kick, don't you lose the power of your kick?  

This move is used when you're moving toward the target...I've never seen it
done moving away.

	   If you hop on one foot, how can you possibly remain anywhere near
   truly mobile?  Since you can't step with one foot, at some point in the 
   movement _both_ your feet are off the ground and you lose any possibility
   of altering your course.  Unless you have prehensile toes, I guess...

Aaagh...this is why I almost didn't mention it, because it's hard to 
describe.  It isn't really a hop, it's more like a slide.  You push off 
with the standing leg, and as your body goes forward you sort of drag the
supporting leg across the ground.  It doesn't really break contact with
the ground.  And it is, as you point out, a "committed" sort of motion...
once you start the slide, you're going forward.   You could abort it
more successfully than you could a hop...but you are definitely not as
mobile as you are on two legs.

	   I'm sure there are some people who are as mobile on one foot as
   the rest of us are on two (which is why I added the "great" qualifier before)

That's a good point, and one that I think we miss a lot in the debates about
which techniques are "better".    
Take the "faster techniques are better" debate
as an example.  It's true that there are some techniques that seem to be 
faster to execute...like, for instance, most people can execute a jab 
faster than they can a side thrust kick.  And all other things being 
equal, you'd choose to go with the technique that you can execute fastest.  
But that overlooks two important points.

First, all other things are seldom equal.  Sometimes other considerations
overwhelm speed.  Your fastest technique might not have the necessary 
strength to deal with the situation, or it might require you to get 
very very close to someone who's 6' 10" with arms like a gorilla.  So 
it's not always the prime consideration in deciding what technique to
use.  

Second, in practice, it doesn't matter whether Joe Shodan (thanks, 
Wharfie ;-) ) can kick faster than he can punch.  It matters whether
Joe Shodan can kick faster than Fang the Mugger can punch.  So, 
to use Wharfie's example, if someone's more mobile on one foot than
you are on two, it's kinda silly to call them "immobile".  

   but I have trouble with the idea that Joe Shodan doesn't need both feet on
   the ground most of the time...

Probably he does...I don't know anyone, personally, who doesn't spend
most time with both feet on the ground.  I have seen a lot of silly 
behavior at open styles point tournaments, where if you touch the 
opponent first you "win", with people zipping around the ring on one
leg with the other leg up in the air.  That "works" fine in a point
tournament, but I don't know of any other circumstance in which it will.
--
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 Mary Malmros     | Cayman Systems Inc, 26 Landsdowne St, Cambridge, MA 02139
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Newsgroups: rec.martial-arts