Footwork as The Path to Action
Posted on | January 30, 2010 | by Roland Beauregard | No Comments
Scott Sonnon (The Flow Coach) has three simple rules for decision-making:
- The best thing to do is the right thing.
- The next best thing is to do something.
- The worst thing to do is nothing.
Coach Sonnon says “If you don’t know what to do, start doing something, and the right choice will appear through your self-effort.”
Coach Freedman in a recent Jujutsu class was expressing the same philosophy. Coach was saying “Some of you get upset when you make a mistake. You stop you practice and try to examine where you had a problem. I make just as many mistakes as you. The only difference is that I do not stop. If something is wrong or not working, I just keep on going to the next thing. In combat you do not have the luxury of stopping, your only choice is action. My movements seem more smooth and precise because I am not stopping, just flowing into the next thing.”
Coach demonstrates by having one of the instructors attack him. The instructor attacks with a mixture of punches, jabs, kicks and grabs. Coach flows in a continuing movement, never stopping, always moving his feet. He redirects, parries, counters and moves as if he is just taking a walk in the park, not being attacked by a competent martial artist.
His movement reminds me of O Sensei Morihei Ueshiba, Aikido founder. I watch the old videos of O Sensei and I am amazed at his ability to avoid his attackers, unbalance them and send them to the ground with what seems to be little or no effort.
Coach Sonnon says that “The worst thing to do is nothing. “. Coach Freedman says when “When you can think of nothing else, move your feet.” As I have heard so many times from so many teachers the one great technique is just getting out of the way. Coach Freedman is a great advocate of footwork. He admonishes “You are not defending a place, you are defending yourself. Move your feet and get out of the way.” That is very good advice. As I study with Coach Freedman, I have found that I now move more then what I used to and I have found it to be very effective. This works in with his advice on Repetition and how if you do something over and over, it becomes such a part of your being; that you will do it naturally in a defense situation with out even thinking of it.
Watch this short video. It is a demonstration of the application of the Freedman’s method footwork that will be a part of an upcoming DVD on footwork to be released in the near future. See how doing something with footwork can be the best thing to do.
Related posts:
- Training Through Mistakes
- Taking the Fall
- Combat Martial Arts
- Weapons Sensitivity Training Exercise
- Drills For Learning Self Defense
Tags: combat > flow > footwork > learning > philosophy > repetition > training
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