foot work traning

[johngotti]

Thanks for the tips

Now should I ALWAYS be on the balls of my feet and never flat footed ?

Also ive noticed I seem to hop/bounce more than slide
When I say this I mean one foot will land before the other.
Now is this bad ?
I seem to move quicker but am guessing if am in a fight and someone catches me with a good punch I will be going down as am only on one foot for like a fraction of a second.

Or should you do both sliding and hopping

Or have I got this "sliding" wrong
When I slide (just tired it then on my carpeted floor) it seems to be more like my feet are dragging across the floor,like I can hear the friction with my feet.
But when I do more of a bounce it seems quicker but slightly less stable.

And does the balance while moving and throwing punches just come naturally or do you need to specificity work on it ?

[greynotsoold]

Typically, you should be on the ball of your rear foot, for several reasons. First, to move you will generally be pushing off that foot. Second, when you throw a punch with your rear hand, you'll need to pivot that foot sharply to get your hip turned and that is much easier on the ball of the foot. Last, when you hook with your lead hand, the weight needs to shift to your back leg and that foot needs to drop flat at that point. Your front foot should be flat.
It is much easier to slide your feet on concrete or canvas, or anything but carpet, but maybe we should use the word glide instead. It sounds better. That whole bouncing and "on your toes" thing is just wasted energy and wasted motion; you can certainly move fast enough and far enough without it. And, as you noted, it is less stable, and stability is a key to taking punches, throwing them, and defending against them.
I neglected to mention another exercise that helps with balance. It is pretty simple; just move, keeping your feet in proper position and moving as described above, but jabbing constantly. You are teaching yourself that the jab does not affect your balance; that is, there is no, NONE, weight shift when you jab. There is a weight shift when you throw the rear hand, and that is something you'll need to feel to catch on to.

[johngotti]

thanks for the tips man,will try this stuff out through out the week.