Shou Shu Slide

This is a lot more sophisticated footwork. Don't get discouraged if you feel a little ackward at first. It has a lot of benefits though. It'll really tone the legs, especially the calves. And it'll do it without any stress on the knees or back.

This footwork is really only switching between two different stances, the cat stance and the heel-toe horse. You can find a description of the heel-toe horse in the snap kick section but we'll cover it again here.

Start with a square horse, now let's turn it sideways so that your left leg is closest to your imaginary opponent. Now imagine a line that runs across your toes and to the center of your opponent. Adjust your back foot so that your heel is on the line instead of your toes. This is called your heel-toe line. The back heel, the front toe, and the center of the imaginary opponent all lie on the same line.

Now, make sure that your heels are pushed out a bit and your knees are bent, pushing out. You should feel pressure towards the outside of your feet. Push the feet down so that pressure is exerted over the whole foot. This is your heel-toe horse.

Now to get to the cat stance square your hips to the opponent pushing off of the ground with the front foot to spring it back. Turn your front foot towards the opponent and make sure that your hips are squared with the opponent. Your weight distribution should be about 70% on the back foot and 30% on the front. Legs should be bent and the back knee still pushing out. Do not allow the back knee to collapse inward. Keep your hips underneath you, do not allow your rear to stick out. There should be a great deal of pressure on the back leg, especially the thigh and calf muscles, don't neglect the gluts.

Your footwork will consist of stepping back and forth between these stances. We can step forward to a horse and then draw the back foot up to form the horse and vice versa. We can go forward or back always alternating horse to cat and cat to horse.

With each step we will punch. Sidefists or ramsheads are both ok. When going forward, the body will follow the punch reinforcing it. When going backward, imagine using the punch to push you back. Always keeping your centerline.

Have fun