DISCUSSION

Various Steps Explained

Stutter steps – this meaning repeating the front leg’s action of stepping as front. It is often used when you want to add more body weight to your push or strike at close range without changing the lead foot.

Gallop steps – Gallop steps conserve energy and can be performed high (with legs relatively straight) or low (close to a low stance). Their main advantage is that they allow you to cover long distances without the exposure that comes from switching your lead leg.

Angling tuck steps – this step is to most often used in conjunction with the upper body’s avoidance action of a hit to the head when your upper body instinctively ducks or moves off the line of fire. The leg moves in the same direction to amplify that evasive action. The movement is fast because it is a tuck powered by your core plus gravity. Since your support leg leaves the ground, gravity helps pull you in the direction your body is already moving.

Go with the flow, do NOT RESET

Striving for perfection is a good mindset, but it can also become a handicap. Imagine a writer trying to create the perfect novel—very often they freeze, second-guess themselves, and tear up draft after draft. Or imagine trying to teach a baby to walk perfectly on the very first day; it would be frustrating for both you and the baby.
To succeed, you must stay focused on the end goal, not the bumps and struggles along the way. In a fight—or in any challenge—you must be ready to take hits and keep going. Do not stop because of small setbacks or small successes. Continue until the job is done.

A better approach is to continuously get them to try continuously, keep trying and keep it safe.

Train to Be a Warrior

• Heart (Passion) – You must care about something: yourself, your quality of life, your principles, or the people who care about you. That passion drives you to do whatever it takes to protect what matters.
• Accountability – Wishing is not enough. You must take ownership of the work required to make things happen. You do not blame others; you focus on what you can do to improve the odds. You avoid procrastination and keep yourself ready—even if the opportunity appears for only a split second.
• Toughness – Training is sometimes painful. Change is difficult. Survival is hard. Face challenges now so that you are ready to be tough when it truly counts.

SCENARIOS

Push is a very useful maneuver when you don’t really want to injure the opposing party. Care must be taken that even a push without any intention-to-harm might accidental cause significant damage. For example, if on the street, the person falling hit the back of their head on concrete; or someone fell backward and landed on their tailbone.

Some common mistakes with this push partner drill:

• Start pushing at maximum
• Stand square facing your partner
• Body not working as ONE
• Arms over bent into an acute angle or too extended during the push

EXERCISES

As we have seen many times, the right mindset can transform the mechanics and delivery of a movement. Apply this to the push exercise by focusing on maintaining the integrity of your whole body rather than extending the arm or creating unnecessary tension in your arms or abs.

While keeping the pressure constant, see if you can reduce the tension in your arms and body without decreasing the force you deliver. Do you notice that when you slightly relax your back into a gentle slouch, you can actually deliver more power without adding muscle tension?

Can you try to do the plank now and play with varying tensions on different parts of your body?