When you have a horse stance facing north, if you want to turn into a left side bow-arrow stance to the west, do you turn your right foot on your toe (ball of your foot) or do you turn your right foot on your heel?
It looks to me that this longfist guy turns on his toe at 0.21, 0.34, 0.45, and 1.10.
If I am turning to strike forward (west in your description), I would turn closer to on the heel. I think the “Grape smashing” description would be pretty accurate. You don’t generate as much power coming from your toes.
this is really a style thing. jing wu long fist routines turn on the toe, whereas BSL turns on the heel.
i believe that turning on the toe is more natural and therefore it’s easier to maintain one’s balance at an early stage of training with this technique. turning on the heel allows one to maintain the same distance while throwing a strike, while rotating on the toe actually makes one lose ground (and possibly power).
[QUOTE=Scott R. Brown;1090630]It is much easier to sweep a turning foot while it is pivoting on its heel.[/QUOTE]
This is one of my concerns too. For those of you who prefer to turn on the heel,
Do you get the “spring (take off running)” feeling from it?
Can you get a smooth transation into a back leg kick?
Do you get “stuck” feeling instead of “mobility” feeling?
[QUOTE=bawang;1090652]if u like being taken down 5 seconds into fight turn on the toe[/QUOTE]
What will be the reason? In combat, your feet should feel like to walk on a layer of thin ice on the froze lake.
Know matter what you may feel, pivoting on the front ball of your foot is not good.
This is because of how the foot is engineered. Balance will be lost if you pick your heel off the ground. Your Long Quan or Bubbling Wells (The arch area of the bottom of your foot) must stay connected to the earth.
When pivoting on my heel and letting my toes turn out, my toes actually never leave the ground (they just sorta slide over) and thus when an attack is made to the foot or leg I can quickly ROOT into my stance.
Energy wise… You can not drive off off your heel if is up in the air. Chinese Kung Fu derives it’s power by driving off the heel. Granted transitional techniques use stances that touch the ball or toes. These are only temporary during curtain techniques that you are not Engaged yet.
I fought Shuai Chiao for many years and rarely was I thrown. Balance, rooting and power come from the stance.
This is one of the big problems with a lot of TCMA schools. Balance is dynamic, not static. If your weight is on your heel you are only balanced in one direction, the slightest angle and your balance is destroyed, and you can’t correct it without lifting your weight. This is why Bawang’s statement is comical, it’s pathetically easy to take down someone who’s got their weight on their heels as they’re primed to fall backwards and can’t really defend.
In CLF power is generated by moving the heel to drive the waist, so you have to pivot on the ball of the foot. However, the other fallacy is that having your weight on the balls of your feet means being on tiptoes and off balance. I always have my weight on the balls of my feet, but any heel lift is imperceptible. I can plant my foot if needed, and I can move it effortlessly.
Know matter what you may feel, pivoting on the front ball of your foot is not good.
I think that is a hilarious statement.
This is because of how the foot is engineered. Balance will be lost if you pick your heel off the ground. Your Long Quan or Bubbling Wells (The arch area of the bottom of your foot) must stay connected to the earth.
Are you serious about this? What do you suppose our ankles are for, then? Our achilles tendon?
The only time pushing off your heels makes sense is when you are doing squats(Because you are directing your energy straight up). If you want to direct any of that energy forward, you use transfer to the ball of your foot.
Sprinters don’t run on their heels because it is a waste of energy. You push forward. You don’t push up. The same with a boxer/thai boxer. If you push from your heels you are essentially fighting against gravity more.
Then, again, it may depend on what you’re trying to accomplish at the time.
In our Hung Kuen,
beginners are taught to turn on their heels to connect with the earth and root,
later, they turn on the young quan,
still later, they turn on young quan and slam the heel into the earth.
