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I broached this question to my friends in Bagua, Northern Mantis, Hung Ga, Tai Chi, and Eagle Claw:

"Which leg initiates the move when you go forward, backward, to the left, and to the right, when you are in a fighting stance?"

To a person, they all said the lead leg starts the movement (forward is the front leg, backward is the rear leg, right is the right leg, left is the left leg). I disagree. Before I give my reasons, let's discuss this...

Thanks for you participation and input guys.

Yui

... All depends on the situation.

- going forward (biu ma/jeun ma), you push-off the rear leg
- going backward (teui ma), you push off the front leg
- going right, you push-off the left leg
- going left... you got the point, right

other steps, like bik bou, a different story, but this is our standard bou faat

all the best, SifuYui!

Depends on if you load your stance first, then just release it, or if there's going to be a transfer of your weight...

The main problem with always doing something the exact same way, is that the opponent will pick up on it as well. Especially if it is an obvious "tell", such as an uncovered shift of weight...

No matter what tradition may seem to be, fighting is fighting, and nobody can tell me to do it badly, lol...

Best regards and thank you, Sifu Yui!



Best,

Michael

[quote="PM"]- going forward (biu ma/jeun ma), you push-off the rear leg
- going backward (teui ma), you push off the front leg
- going right, you push-off the left leg
- going left... you got the point, right

other steps, like bik bou, a different story, but this is our standard bou faat



Thanks Pavel. As always, your description is on the money. But if I may, I "simplify" it by calling the leg initiating the movement the "rear" leg. I'm trying to make it so that I don't have to describe "which leg - left or right, front or back" is doing the pushing. The rear leg is always initiating the movement.

Best, Yui

[quote="Daifong"]Depends on if you load your stance first, then just release it, or if there's going to be a transfer of your weight...

The main problem with always doing something the exact same way, is that the opponent will pick up on it as well. Especially if it is an obvious "tell", such as an uncovered shift of weight...

No matter what tradition may seem to be, fighting is fighting, and nobody can tell me to do it badly, lol...


Hi Michael, I agree, fighting is fighting. Also, moving is moving, unless we learn to float, anytime we move in any direction, we will always need to push off - therefore, the "rear" leg always initiates the movement. I don't see how it can work any other way...

Thanks, Yui

As info, when I inquired further of my friends from the other styles, we realized we were all on the same page, but it had never occurred to them to think of the "rear" leg as initiating the movement.

It's one of those things that are so ingrained in us, like breathing, that we don't think about it. The reason I brought it up was because some of my students had trouble with moving their feet, some would inadvertently move their back leg behind them, thereby giving their back to their opponents. So it got me to thinking, of a quick way to describe which leg to inititate first when going in a particular direction - and I came up with calling it the "rear" leg, which is always the "pushing" leg

If someone has other ideas, I'm always looking for a better way...

Thanks, Yui

SifuYui,

I like your simplified description of "rear leg" because no matter what direction you move, the leg that would be "rear" to that direction initiates if one was in a neutral stance/centered structure.

If however one moves in a way where the rear leg comes all the way up to become the front leg for instance, the "rear" foot can initiate, but the "lead" foot also can pull by "standing up" into it so to speak.

I use the analogy of an hour-glass, each foot being one end of it. Moving the sand from one foot to the other can affect the movement and which axis we are moving around.

There are two situations I can think of where initiating with the rear leg is not the only option. The first is when moving forward or backward into a switched stance, and the second is when taking a large movement in any direction (bring your rear foot behind your front foot, and move your front foot up, or visa versa).

Good points I Am and Xiaobian. I wasn't thinking about the switching guard movements, just the moving and maintaining the same guard in my scenario.

Xiaobian, your second example still requires the rear leg to initiate the movement up to the front leg I believe. But certainly not as pronounced as maintaining the same guard.

The switching guard gives me something new to dissect, thanks for your input guys!

Yui

A Gung Fu man with a wooden leg can be quite resourceful...