I'm reliably told, by my coach and by the people I bout with, that I move forward way too much. And even though I try to balance things out a little better now that I've been made conscious of the problem, I'm told it persists.

To me it feels perfectly natural to keep moving forward. In sport sparring (tae kwon do), backing up is almost never a good thing to do. It's easy to step out of the ring, it gives you far, far fewer options for counterattack than a simple side-step would, and it makes you look timid, for which the judges will ping you if you do it too blatantly and consistently. Moreover, moving in on someone means it's a lot harder for them to kick you, and being kicked *hurts*, control or no control. (Not to mention your opponent gets a point when they kick you -- two points for a kick to the head.) And finally, moving in creates emotional and physical pressure on your opponent, which are both desirable things from your point of view, as it tends to make them reactive and predictable.

So imagine my frustration, to be told I move forward too much in fencing! Imagine! There's no "too much" for forward!

But apparently there is, and I'm doing it. And the people I bout with are too smart to let themselves be drawn by my stepping back. Whenever I step back, they wait. And then I wait, because I'm trying to stop moving forward so much. So we both wait.

The seconds tick by.

Finally, it all becomes too much for me. I move forward. Again.

Aaargh!