Ok so maybe not dance, but I'm learning footwork for kickboxing. Can anybody recommend boxers or kickboxers to look up on Youtube?
You wanna learn how to dance? Watch Ali vs. Cleveland YouTube - Muhammad Ali vs. Cleveland Williams 1966
but would you really wanna dance in mma? ali and leonard crossed their feet over a lot and although they were light on theur feet and difficult to hit, the lghtness took the power away from their punches.
Learning to dance might not be such a bad idea according to this nice story I heard: Ole Klemetsen who is maybe the best norwegian boxer so far(lost an UD to Reggie Jackson for a title, but had some titles of his own) apparantly used to get owned during his amateur days by another norwegian boxer who didnt go pro. This other guy was on the national team with Klemetsen, but he was also a ballet-dancer, and apparantly he had such good footwork that Klemetsen couldn get near him. Dunno if it's true but fun none-the-less.
Thanks for the replies, given that I'm not born with natural fighting talent like the great fighters. I guess I need to have solid examples of good footwork (been searching on You tube alot). I'm working on it but I feel awkward and not in rythm. I'm not sure when to bounce, bob n weave ect. This is for kickboxing btw.
do al ot of jump rope, it will help out with footowork. Start out with jogging in place, and gradually go onto just bouncing on the balls of your feer.
Well ok what can I try to say... I think this is why they call footwork dancing. You know like you go party or something, you start dancing with a girl, how do you do that? I mean you just feel her and "do it" yah? Dancing (not boxing, I mean like just plain DANCING) is cause you let go and feel something right? You ever watch some stupid kid in your old high school dances go breakdance or do some stupid hiphop shit and stupid it looks like he' s a poser? That's what happens when you force dance and the same thing will happen in boxing/kickboxing if you force footwork Just do it naturally man. Let go. Be loose. get a double end bag and slip it. Circle around in and out of range around a heavy bag or double end bag and step in to hit, step back out. When you are shadowboxing how about pretend like you're circling around an opponent? Pretend like it's that ali cleveland fight and you're running circle around him while he tries to hit you: how do you react to him trying to hit you? Move and make believe. the first time I was told to do head movement I forced myself to it and it was ineffective. As soon as I started getting hit in the face I stopped the head movement too. So don't force it, just do it. I'm telling you this because in college I also danced with a couple hiphop groups, being a guy who really doesn't have natural rhythm but wanted to learn. The only way to learn to dance is just turn on music and let yourself go. So for boxing, how about just shadowbox and let yourself go? People say "o you don't want to dance around in kickboxing/mma" but that's not the point. When we say "dance" what we really mean is "get in your zone" "get in rhythm and do your own thing" You'll find in boxing when you just get in your own rhythm and fight how you want to fight - all of a sudden you become better by leaps and bounds because you stop worrying about what the other guy is doing. You stop "freezing up" when he hits you.
perhaps any of you could recommend drills or exercises that will help to get my footwork on the right path? I know a large part is going to be going over the forms, shadowboxing, and like someone else mentioned, just finding your rhythm and letting go... but besides jumping rope...anything?
lol man. You shoulda said so. I thought you really wanted to dance. Footwork is simple. Its seemingly vast and complicated. But its not.. Dont cross your legs when moving laterally. If you want to move to your left, move your left foot and have your right follow. Want to move to your right? Move your right foot first and let your left follow. Moving forward? Push off your back foot. Moving back? Push off your front foot to go back. See, if you want to circle to your right, and you move your left foot first, Your feet get crossed and tangled, compromising your stance and balance. Also, dont be flat footed. Be on the balls of your feet when you're moving, and plant your heels when you decide to throw. Thats footwork. Now go practice.
Thats misinformation. You saw Ali crossing his feet when he would circle to his left while popping jabs in his opponents face, and when he was in position to throw his cross, you see him plant his feet and slug that shit right into his opponents face. If anything crossing his feet while circling added more power and weight into his cross. He never actually threw any power shots while his legs were crossed. He just knew when to be on the balls of his feet to dance, and when to plant his feet to throw. Hes just so good at it, that he fools people into thinking he can slug people with power shots while hes dancing around them. Like i was telling MTViper. "Be on the balls of your feet when you move, and heels when you throw." Once you get as slick as Ali, people cant differentiate. Thus the saying. Float like a butterfly. Sting like a bee. Ali while not textbook in everyway, I think was a prime example of offensive and defensive footwork.
