Speed

[rvergara]

how can i increase my footwork speed without loosing control over my inertia?

[wflaschka]

Originally posted by rvergara
how can i increase my footwork speed without loosing control over my inertia?

Hmmm... Sit lower in the en garde to keep your center of gravity lower. Take smaller steps (like shuffling) to keep your feet apart. There's a relationship between size-of-step and speed-of-step; if you make your steps shorter, you can do more of them.

Then do fütwork drills until you've burned the bent-knee and stepwork into your neural net. It's really just hard work, from then on. Do drills that change direction:

Double-advance, retreat (x2 all the way across the room)

Double-retreat, advance (x2 all the way across the room)

Advance, jump-advance, retreat (x2 all the way across the room)

Triple-advance, retreat (x2 all the way across the room)

Triple-retreat, advance (x2 all the way across the room)

&etc.

To remove the repetitive mechanical aspect, you can create your own katas. One such combo: Double-advance, retreat; advance jump-advance, retreat; triple-advance retreat.

[a517dogg]

You can never be lazy if you want ot do good footwork, especially in the bout. if you keep focused mentally you will automaticlaly do better footwork.

plus all the things that guy said, and
if you keep your weight and balance on the outside edges ofy our feet, you will have faster change of direction.

[neevel]

Something else to consider is that tempo changes
(that is, a relative change of speed in comparison to the previous action) are if anything even more
important than raw speed. A common example would be a compound attack initiated with a couple of slow, measured advances, but then an acceleration on the finishing motion. The slower pace of the initial steps draws the defender into making their reactions based on that tempo, which is then disrupted by the faster finish which catches the defender flat-footed. The absolute speed of the finish does not even need to be that great, as long as it is faster in relation to the previous steps.

-Dave

[muaddib]

rv,
The best training for footwork speed is doing footwork. But not racing across the room.

For 20 years I've been watching beginners and young trainers doing advances as fast as they can from one side of the gym to the next. The first 2 advances are good and the rest are garbage! The next time you see a class doing this, watch their feet and see how many advances they make before the back foot is right behind, almost touching the front foot.

Practice doesn't make perfect, it makes consistency. Doing footwork without thinking might build some muscle but it creates bad habbits.

Fencing is about timing, not speed. The best way to speed up your footwork is to start slow. Very slow. Brake down each movement and do it very slowly. Thinking about the timing of your steps and about what your arm is doing as well. For example, advancing with a feint, you should be thinking/watching what is my opponent doing, is he retreating, fine I can advance again or lunge, is he counter-attacking, then hit directly, etc.

With every step comes lots of thinking/watching. You must practice this thinking. It will be slow at first and your footwork will be slow, but as you learn to think and look, your footwork will increase in speed and then you will be unstoppable.

- Muaddib

[veeco]

Another good analogy that my coach gave me:

When you drive a car, you don't think about how the wheels are turning to propel the car, you just think about the steering.

That's the same in fencing. You should not have to think about footwork. When you have practiced your lunges, fleches, advances etc. enough that you don't have to think about them, then you will be going fast. Until then you have to think about each and every detail of the lunge until it is perfect without having to think about it.

[Craig]

Another thing you can do is try weight or resistance training with your footwork.

"Weight training" options:
- Get ankle weights and set them to about 1 pound/ea and then do the normal footwork drills. You will reach exhaustion earlier and be using more strength to get the extra mass moving. Watch out on your lunges, as the extra mass can make you lunge farther and you don't want to pull your groin.
- Get a weight vest and set it for a few pounds (5-10). Do the same thing. You don't have to worry about groin pulls since the extra mass is centered on your torso. It's just that people are more likely to have anke weights rather than a weight vest.

"resistance" training:
- Get a belt (or webbing) around your waist/hips and have a rope (or more webbing) tied to it. Have a partner stand behind you holding onto the rope to resist you as you attempt to advance.
(You can also do this with strong bungee cords, bike tire tubes, etc.)

After doing a few strips with weights or resistance, do the footwork in just your regular fencing gear and you should feel the difference. The key is to keep your footwork in good form while under resistance so that you don't end up "galloping".

Hope that helps,
Craig

[rvergara]

thanx guys, this is very helpful

[sparkie]

While all the above ideas are good and will help some, the best way to increase your speed is to understand what you mean when you say speed and then choose a method to improve it.

There is explosive power, lightning quickness, agility and coordination, and acceleration and speed that have all frequently been lumped into one category called speed. I'm sure there are more terms out there, but that's enough for now :-)

Explosive power is the result of work X time, or force X distance X time or force X velocity ( distance X time) according to Donald Chu.

Peter Twist says that lighting quickness can be thought of as the first gear of speed, although it also has much to do with visual attentiveness to situations requiring decisions to react.

Agility is the complex interelationships between many things: power, elasticity, balance, mobility stabilization, speed, strength etc.

Coordination can be defined as the working together of muscles to produce a certain movement.

Acceleration is the attempt to move to maximum speed as quickly as possible.

Speed is the max rate of an athlete where no more acceleration is possible.

Once you know what you truly wish to improve, there are many methods of doing so.

There is a great book out called "High Performance Sports Conditioning" (Editor is Bill Forman). I highly recommend this book (from which all of the above is taken) as well as one by Donald Chu "Jumping into Plyometrics". Corny name, but great info. Read these and then apply them to fencing.

To improve your footwork, I strongly recommend a solid weight routine, plyometrics to increase explosive speed (this will work better than any ankle weights or vests), speed training and finally good biomechanics.

Lots of luck.

Originally posted by rvergara
how can i increase my footwork speed without loosing control over my inertia?

[Zouave]

We started doing some plyometric drills in class, and on our own, to help increase our explosive speed (for changing directions), and also for acceleration. Most people say they feel an improvement in their ability in these areas.

One area to be concerned with, in regard to ankle weights, is the potential for added stress to the knee, since you are working with more weight on the foot when you practice lunges. A weighted vest might be the better option.

As muaddib mentioned, slow repetition to impart the correct muscle memory with a later increase in speed and power will be more beneficial in the long run than racing through footwork drills.