Firstly, thanks for jumping in here Dave and giving some additional background info. Particularly about the crash-up, being in the middle of healing is gonna change how things look.
On a different -- but related -- note, spent a lot of years in Tien Shan. My prof started out all motions from the ground, up. Once you learned that, he INSISTED that it was an elemental way of moving, that inherently possessed certain limitations, including a predictability your opponents could use against you. He posited the formation of a moveable center; that all basics and forms be revisited, and explored being generated from the dan tien point, out, rather than the ground, up.
Our relationship to the ground is not a constant; it changes in moments. Moving from a transitional center, rather than a predictable fixed point (the floor), allows us to generate energy into a strike from compromised postures. Not so if it always has to start at the floor. His final application of this idea was appreciated when we took to the air. Lots of training time spent on doing hand/foot combinations from jumps. In kenpo terms, a bit like executing 5 Swords while flying through the air throwing a Hwarang-Do triple chicken kick (leaping front, roundhouse, spinning back crescent), interspersing the hand strikes into the time spaces between the kicks.
regarding the bit above here, I'll say that this is not true from my own experience. Our method in white crane is all driven from the ground, but the progression of training eliminates any predictability or broadcasting of what is coming. On a very basic level, we train the foundation with an actual foot pivot to drive the full body. But that is just a foundational training tool to get us going. While it always remains fundamental to how we train, the progression is that we can throw the technique without that foot movement, but the foot movement taught us how to engage the full body. Instead of moving the foot, the foot is pressed and driven into the ground to power the technique, with torso rotation. But even that begins to disappear as one's ability increases. No matter what stance one is in, or even no stance at all, the feet can always press in, as long as you've trained properly and understand this. When my sifu throws a tech, it looks like it's just the arm. But when he demonstrates for us, we hold his feet, legs, and hips while he throws the tech, and we can feel the explosive power that he is using, still from the ground up. You cannot see it, but you can feel it when you put your hand on him. It is always driven from the foundation, from the ground.
If the movement initiates at the dan tien, then I believe the feet are left out of the picture, or only engage after it no longer matters. You still get some sort of torso engagement, but it lacks the leg power and the stance, power from the ground. I do not see it as having limitations, or broadcasting what is coming, as long as the progression in training is done properly, and it's understood that the big movements that do broadcast are only tools to teach a skill, and not how a technique would be thrown in real life.
Meanwhile, every kenpo lineage I've trained under drives home driving from the floor, up. Been a source of disagreement between myself and other guys about the footwork in Short Form 1, with others saying the footwork is concurrant with the execution of the blocks, and me asserting that the block is driven by the footwork, as the feet screw into the floor and the winding motion unleashes through the body, from the floor up, and out the hand.
regarding the next piece above, I completely agree with you here. I was taught in kenpo to make the step and block simultaneous, but it always felt like it was missing proper power. I wanted to learn what my teacher was teaching, so I worked on it that way, but ultimately I have to disagree with that method. Stepping and rooting, "screwing in" as you call it to deliver the block, I believe is the stronger way. As skill improves, the lag time between the step and the rotation and block is reduced until it essentially disappears, but the skill is established and that screwing in is still there even tho it's not visually perceptible.
See? I disagree with that interp/purpose of SF1, right off the bat. White Belt form, white belt foot maneuvers, entry level basics. Swinging is the end goal, but should be introduced during a revisitation of the White Belt material, at a later date. At first, a simple step-through to the rear. It's the opposite direction of the first real foot maneuver drilled in kenpo (the step-through, forward).
Later, in Orange, stepping rearward into a rear twist, and twisting out. Later still, swing-gate maneuver.
Now here I find disagreement. From my point of view, you've got the progression backwards, if I am understanding you correctly. The big movement should always come first, because that lays the foundation and teaches the skill. As skill improves, the big movement gradually decreases to a small movement, until it is undetectable, but the power source is still engaged and is still happening.
I understand that the big movement is somewhat more complicated compared to the small movement. But starting big will instill the concept and the skill building from the beginning. If you start small and expect to expand the movement later, then habits have been instilled that need to be broken. Ultimately, smaller movement is the goal, not big movement. Big movement, as I've stated above, is the tool to train you which enables you to get to the small movement and still have power with the small movement. Otherwise, it's just small movement limited by the raw strength of the arm and shoulder (in a puch, for example).
