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