Toes outward stance

[Roy Stewart]

Over the past couple of years I've tried to do triangular footwork and passing steps etc as required but it has felt vague and unsatisfactory. Recently we noticed a lot of the old illustrations showing a low and extremely 'toes outward' stance . I tried it and it made everything seem to click, the footwork appears to make sense and more importantly it feels distinctive and aggressive, and naturally easy for the body to remember without having to manually adjust and remind oneself all the time. It also feels more powerful for leaping.

Is that how it is supposed to be ?





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[Corey Roberts]

Let's just say, without being too direct, that you are very much on to something...

[Roy Stewart]

Thankyou Corey.

[Randall Pleasant]

Over the past couple of years I've tried to do triangular footwork and passing steps etc as required but it has felt vague and unsatisfactory. Recently we noticed a lot of the old illustrations showing a low and extremely 'toes outward' stance . I tried it and it made everything seem to click, the footwork appears to make sense and more importantly it feels distinctive and aggressive, and naturally easy for the body to remember without having to manually adjust and remind oneself all the time. It also feels more powerful for leaping.

Is that how it is supposed to be ?

What you are seeing is the Vaage footwork that John Clements discovered serveral years ago and is now a major part of the ARMA curricula. The Vaage footwork is currently used by all ARMA scholars in practice and sparring. John Clements recently gave a major paper on the Vaage footwork at a conference in Europea and will soon be presenting a major article on the subject here on the ARMA site. In John Clements's interpretation, the Vaage is much more than just a stance, it is highly intergrated with all of his new ground breaking RMA interpretations.

[Jonathan Newhall]

Well, can't wait to find out more personally.

Maybe even before my application gets read, who knows. Free stuff, yay!

[CalebChow]

What you are seeing is the Vaage footwork that John Clements discovered serveral years ago and is now a major part of the ARMA curricula. The Vaage footwork is currently used by all ARMA scholars in practice and sparring. John Clements recently gave a major paper on the Vaage footwork at a conference in Europea and will soon be presenting a major article on the subject here on the ARMA site. In John Clements's interpretation, the Vaage is much more than just a stance, it is highly intergrated with all of his new ground breaking RMA interpretations.

Why is this the first time I've even heard of Vaage footwork...

[John_Clements]

ARMA we'll have a major feature article & research paper on this very thing next week. Stay tuned.

John C.

[CalebChow]

ARMA we'll have a major feature article & research paper on this very thing next week. Stay tuned.

John C.

Ooo, looking forward to it.

Thanks!

[Matt Bryant]

If you look closely you can see I'm doing this in my profile pic. I have been trying this for a while and it really seems to work well.

I tried it and it made everything seem to click, the footwork appears to make sense and more importantly it feels distinctive and aggressive, and naturally easy for the body to remember without having to manually adjust and remind oneself all the time. It also feels more powerful for leaping.

[Roy Stewart]

Ah yes I see now it's slightly hidden by the deceptive ARMA sockwear.

What happened in our camp was that I was complaining as usual about having to attempt 'correct' footwork when my wife said that according to the illustrations we were looking at I should adopt a toes outward stance.

Previously I'd assumed that the toes outward stance in the illustrations was some kind of quaint medieval way of drawing people, and I brushed the suggestion aside. Anyway I soon tried it at Emma's insistence and 5 minutes later found myself leaping and stepping around happily with toes out. . . . once I started it I couldn't stop !

As far as the passing steps go ( I know I should wait for John's article but. . . ) I found that a snapping the heels together action at the end of the step kept the toes out. . . . not actually bringing the heels together but snapping the rear heel in to keep the toes out is that correct ?

We noticed that the mechanics of the posture are different , for example putting weight on the toes effectively widens the stance and doesn't change the horizontal position of the centre of gravity unlike when the feet are ponting in a similar direction to each other. It also allows the weight to be shifted back and forth over a bigger range of positions with more stability? It's a hard leg workout but feels good for the hips, quite a tonic.. . . and it's had an interesting and beneficial effect on my surfing stance. For the first time in my life I found myself (yesterday)surfing 'switchfoot' without even thinking about it, I'm sure it's new the stance making new brain pathways.

I do have an application for membership in the ARMA inbox somewhere, just hoping. . . .

[Matt Bryant]

lol, "deceptive ARMA sockwear."

John's article will say this better than I could, but I figured I would comment a little bit on my own experiences with it.

I like how you discovered it. You're experiences reflect my own when John first showed us Der Waage (toes out stance) a few years ago. For something so simple, it really is awesome. I immediately notice an increase in my range and the shifting of weight is really great. A lot of what the masters say to do makes much better sense now. And wait 'till you grapple with it!

I'll try your 'heels snapping together' thing and see how it works out for me. Usually when I take multiple steps, I alternate between Der Waage and my old stance. This works well, but I would like to see about using Der Waage even more so thanks for that idea.

[Stacy Clifford]

Keep in mind that both stances with the rear foot pointing forward and back are in the manuals and are valid, and we still use both. I find that pointing the foot forward works better in a narrower, more upright stance, and pointing the foot out happens almost automatically when I deepen and widen my stance because it keeps my ankle from binding at low angles with my shinbone. As usual, it all depends on what you're trying to accomplish in the moment to determine which stance is more appropriate.

[Jonathan Newhall]

Sounds a lot like the different Vom Tags, Stacy. Each one has a use in a certain environment, such as armor that may not allow the over-the-head version, or such things. A lot of different interpretations between the masters all seem to have applications at different times.

[lee reeves]

I am new here and this is my first post. I want to say thanks for the advice of the new footwork. I read your posts and tried and saw an immediate improvement, I am glad I found this group.

Lee

[Roy Stewart]

I'm interested in the grappling aspect of the toes out stance mentioned by Matt.