Footwork Problems

[pkt]

Look at the lunges in the 2002 WC sabre final above to the left of the fencing.net logo.

At the point in time just before the front foot lands, both legs should be fully extended - as well as the sword arm, of course - land on the front heel, then the hip goes down.

The lunge finishes with the front leg's calf and thigh forming maximum a 90-degree angle, not less. When it is less than 90-degrees that means you've overreached with your lunge. It puts additional, unnecesary strain on your knee and it's more difficult to recover from.

PK

[jBirch]

PKT,

Sorry, I musta missed something.

Over-reaching with the hand is very bad for just the reasons you gave: that's why I was wondering about what nahouw meant by "not over-reaching the lunge". Over-reaching with the foot the way you guys are describing it is bad too although I've always thought of this as underreaching, not over. The reason being that the crux of the problem is that the toe hits first and the foot stops before the knee does so you get that leaning forward problem. In my world, you really didn't reach far enough with your front foot, so it's under-reaching or "crashing".

What I was wondering was about over-extending the whole lunge so that your legs are very wide apart (still proper lunge though, front knee at 90, back leg straight and flat) and the stretch is too deep to come out of efficiently. I've found that fencers who are cribbing their toe in are generally not extending their lunge far enough. The super-extended lunge keeps them aware of their balance at it's terminus (otherwise, they fall over) and the act of really reaching forward causes them to point that toe and land with the heel. Once you get the natural motion, you can then scale it back and work on the specifics.

Does this make any sense, whatsoever?

[The0ne]

Footwork can TOTALLY be an aerobic exercise!! You just need to stregthen your legs to a stage where you can wear down your lungs.

[nahouw]

Originally posted by LightningSword
I think so. Means to not place the front foot too far out when your lunging.

Right?

No -- it means that you are continuing to reach with your arm after your front foot has fallen. This means that you are then bending from the waist, disrupting your balance (hence the reason to have stronger abdominals). If you are doing this, it also indicates that you didn't lunge fully and correctly (or, alternatively, didn't judge your distance correctly to make an attack), which is why you feel the need to overreach with your arm. It also indicates that you didn't extend fully first before commencing your lunge. In sabre, the rules dictate that the attack ends with the front fall of the foot; in foil, this rule is not explicitly stated, however, an observant referee in foil will see this activity as your first attack missed, and while you are overreaching with your arm, it is a remise, and does not have right-of-way.

[sabreur]

One of the best ways to improve your footwork in general, and to correct problems like having your front foot pointing in, is to practice in front of a mirror.

MR

[FoilyGeezer]

Originally posted by sabreur
One of the best ways to improve your footwork in general, and to correct problems like having your front foot pointing in, is to practice in front of a mirror.

MR

One of the exercises for developing proper balance during a lunge is to find a nice straight brick or block wall, and lunge along the wall in close enough proximity so that if you lose balance you fall against the wall. After going cheek to cheek with Mr. Brick a few times, you'll start to magically develop better balance.

[Millamber]

I've managed to get really lucky I suppose. The building I fence in also is used for gymnastics and has a 20-foot long balance beam about a foot or so off the ground. I do my footwork on that, and let me tell you, my balance has certainly improved and my front foot doesn't wander anymore.

Another exercise on balance is to do a lunge, but when you recover, only come back up with the back foot down, then lunge again. It looks odd, sort of like the Karate Kid doing his crane kick stance. It helps keep you balanced when you recover though.

[FoilyGeezer]

Originally posted by sabreur
One of the best ways to improve your footwork in general, and to correct problems like having your front foot pointing in, is to practice in front of a mirror.

MR

I'd do that but I hate fencing against people with extremely bad form

[LightningSword]

I've managed to get really lucky I suppose. The building I fence in also is used for gymnastics and has a 20-foot long balance beam about a foot or so off the ground. I do my footwork on that, and let me tell you, my balance has certainly improved and my front foot doesn't wander anymore.

I'd actually thought about doing something like that. Granted, I don't have any fancy gymnastics equipment at my school, but we do have several long beams in our garage. I was thinking about ways to stabalize one to practice on.

Funny the ideas you get from watching too many movies, huh?

[Fencingrocks41]

You might try on a piece of tape or so...
you also have 2 see that you dont lunge if your legs r first!!! you always have to stretch your arm first


Greetz Carlos