# Shifting body weight between the balls of the feet



## alphacat (Sep 26, 2009)

I see on many videos that the fighters shift their body weight between the balls of their feet when nothing occurs.​ 
What's up with that?
Is it to keep your body awake?​ 
When shifting your body weight from one foot to another, do you remove the resting foot from the ground a little bit?
Or should both feet touch the ground at all time? (Expect when kicking/moving).​ 
By the way, I also saw some sparring sessions (on videos) where the fighters have actually jumped during the fight.
My instructor corrected me when I've done that when working on pads, and told me that it&#8217;s a redundant energy loss.​


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## Wagonmancer (Sep 26, 2009)

Why would you want your weight on your front foot? Maybe if they were tired they would give their back leg a break when they can. Same reason fighters can get flat footed when they're tired. You shouldn't be on the balls of your feet unless throwing a strike. It's always a good idea have to both feet on the ground as well.


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## mariaclara (Sep 26, 2009)

> What's up with that? Is it to keep your body awake?​


you are correct. it also keeps you awake. 

 if you constantly fall asleep while training, maybe it's time for you to upgrade and capitali$e on your unique talent.. that's very, very rare talent. 

bottom-line: 
when you walk, you shift your weight accordingly or you fall flat on your face. it's to keep your balance. 

same in training.

our coach taught us "tsugi-ashi" style. 

one foot steps ahead, then the rear catches up in a dragging motion along the surface of the mat.
with the leading leg ready to block if need be. meaning 60-70% wgt on rear foot, 30-40% on front.
it's easier to instantly lift front leg (to block/teep) if it carries minimal body weight. almost on tiptoe.

I maybe wrong, so what did your Kru say when you asked him about this?


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## prokarateshop (Sep 26, 2009)

mariaclara said:


> you are correct. it also keeps you awake.
> 
> if you constantly fall asleep while training, maybe it's time for you to upgrade and capitali$e on your unique talent.. that's very, very rare talent.
> 
> ...



we use something very similar to this. its helps to keep you very nimble


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## Akira (Sep 26, 2009)

Are you talking about different stances, ie sometimes their weight is on their back leg, sometimes on their front, or are you talking about constantly shifting your weight back and forwards?

There's a couple of different stances but I'm not sure if this is what you're referring to.


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## alphacat (Sep 27, 2009)

Yeah, I meant constantly shifting the body weight between both feet's balls.

I didn&#8217;t have the opportunity to ask my instructor on that yet, I'll probably approach him about it in the next class.​


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## Jaspthecat (Sep 27, 2009)

Much of MT is about avoidance of strikes via footwork.

Shifting your weight from one foot to the other keeps you light on your feet and gives you the ability to move quickly and out of harms way if subject to a strike or combo.

As my instructor keeps saying to me as he beats me around the head with the focus mitts - footwork - footwork - footwork.

In striking, there should be a bias of weight towards the rear.  Percentage bias seems to differ from art to art, instructor to instructor but I tend to go for about 40:60.


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## alphacat (Sep 27, 2009)

Thanks comrade.

While shifting your weight from one foot to the other, do you keep your both feet on ground?


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## Jaspthecat (Sep 28, 2009)

alphacat said:


> Thanks comrade.
> 
> While shifting your weight from one foot to the other, do you keep your both feet on ground?



I might lift my front leg slightly to fein a teep or block an incoming roundhouse. but usually both feet are on the floor.

I'm still pretty heavy footed so don't hop around that much.


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## alphacat (Sep 28, 2009)

Thank you.
It makes sense not to let you rear foot off the ground.​


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