[NiSenNen]

I think this should be a sticky. It has some good general tips that people would want to learn about if they haven't already. I know it helped me.

[Man of Confiden]

I know its been a while since an update..sorry guys! Well added a load of battle tips for ya now that im back from my first jam! Once again i appreciate da love, and yall are doin a great job of makin this better. Props to all yall, peace!

[LX-treme]

it's your right leg

[Man of Confiden]

Yea dats pretty much it! Ur first two steps are pretty weak, so i think if u put more weight into ur right hand and really made them clear, it shuld be set. But yea make those first two steps clearer.

[LazyAss]

Let's get back to the point! Here are my things that may be useful.

================================================== ======================
There are TWO very impotant things that most people forget about while trying to perfect their footwork. It is SHOULDER and HAMSTRINGS FLEXIBILITY and SOULDER/ARM/WRIST STRENGTH. Let me explain it a bit...

1) FLEXIBILITY
When you perform a six-step for example, you're gonna EXTEND your leg in front. But how can you extend it if you have no hamstring flexibility? You'll be clumsy and tightened while doing this so you need a fair bit of flexibility to make your legs move straight in a circle - keep that in mind!

Same thing is ralated to your shoulders - how can you EXTEND if your shoulders limiting you? To keep your weight on your hands and raise your hip up at the same time you also need flexibility.

So you need FLEXIBLE SHOULDERS and HAMSTRINGS. Search for the exercises and work on this a bit to develop your flexibility to the levels you need.

2) STRENGTH
The second thing is pretty obvious. It's you STRENGTH. To have a good confident balance and speed you need a good deal of strength! It's mainly in your shoulders and triceps that you tense most but also your wrists and forearms are collaborating.

Walking on your hands in a pushup pose and inverted pushup pose helps you with this greatly. As for the flexibility part of my post I'm not gonna discuss and explain exercises to build up power of your arms and shoulders - you may search if you want to but just have to mention he keys:

- good clean footwork is IMPOSSIBLE without a definite level of strength to control the weight shifting. This is like trying to learn flares without an ability to stand on your hands - IMPOSSIBLE. All your knowledges about the techique will be useless unless you have THE PHYSICAL ABILITY to perform the correct move. Weak muscles ARE NOT ABLE to control the entire move and that's why most newbies looks so damn ugly and clumsy.

Well, I guess that I gave you some valuable info . Peace out!

P.S.:
Man of Confiden
Really good idea and really good guide. Also I wanna thank all those guys who added tips to this, thanx to all of ya!

P.P.S:
ampyun
Maybe you chose a wrong thread, man . Post our vid into separated topic and ask guys about your 6-step. No offence, mate, but I just think that this thread belongs to the complex guide which Man of Coniden wrote not to help individuals with their downrock .

[Man of Confiden]

Hey LazyAss thx for da reply!! Umm i'm kinda busy in 4th period at the moment, but i'll edit da guide as soon as i can!

And to ampyun, i really didn't mind u postin that vid in there, because to me it wuz an isolated incident. I jus don't want it a habit of ppl postin a bunch of footwork vids in here and askin for critiques. This is a thread designed to discuss various aspects of footwork, and to help all of us understand it better. If u want critiques, post the vid somewhere else, and jus pop in here and ask us to check it out ya kno?? That way u still get good responses from us, and u keep this place from turning into a vid critique thread haha. It's all good tho!! As long as we helped !

But to anyone that views this thread, even if you don't have anythang to add to the guide, feel free to discuss various aspects of footwork in here! Ask questions, and talk about anything u like pertaining to footwork! It's as much of a guide as it is a discussion forum. I'm hopin this will become a central place for us to chill out about thangs!

[ragincajunasian]

wow, very impressive guide man of confiden, big props to you!! this is gonna help me out a ton!

as for a tip:

one thing that is vital in bboyin is the finesse in which you transition moves from anything to toprock to footwork, power to footwork, ect. but the most important i think is a footwork move to a different footwork move. Bboy Miracles said the way he practiced transitioning is that he would take 3 moves that he knew well, what i mean buy this is that they are pretty clean, not 3 moves you're working on, but moves ya got down pat. anyways take those 3 moves and practice just those moves only in mini sets taking turns transitioning them in different order over and over again. for example 1.6-step 2.floats 3.cc's . practice them in mini sets in diff order, 1-2-3, 2-1-3, 3-2-1, 1-3-2, ect. and once you can do every single possible combination smoothly, replace one of them and do it again. 4.shuffles. 1-2-4, 4-2-1, ect. not only does this make your footwork look hella clean and dope, but really helps out your endurance if you practice with heart! transitions are key! also noted above, freezes! don't just work on freezes themselves, but unique ways to transition them! Ken swift said that it's not the freeze that will get you props, but the originality and creativity you use to get in to that freeze that will give you the edge! 6 step into babyfreeze?... naw.... quadruple inverted one handed airtrax to babyfreeze.....?....damn

so boys and girls, transition....

i hope that was somewhat useful, my 2 cents anyways.... once again thx fer the guide man of confiden! mad props!

[Creeper]

If you are lazy, just read what I underlined, becuase I didn't expect my message to become that long........

O.o A lot of these things seemed kind of small when I was first reading on it, but when I started just trying to 6 step a bit with them in mind... and when I looked at how my footwork was before and after, it looks better with longer extensions and higher hips.
~~

So... Yush, thanks very muches, because I don't think my friends would have ever told me much of that till after an opponent capitalized on it during a battle.

Also, something I notice about the bboys around here: Six step in some people's heads is completely different then what i've been taught. Is there a "right way" to do style moves?... Its been a debate around here for a bit.

Lets insert an example:
B-boy Arsenal does his sixstep with a little bit of "latin vibe", as he likes to call it. The steps are all quick, and blend together instead of being defined and exact like another of my mates, B-boy Hamster. So, in this case, we have a rudimentary sixstep against a "modded" version. Both their styles fit their personality, but what we are worried about is that other breakers won't see his moves as legitimate, and would try on capitalize on something that Arsenal believes is perfectly fine...

>_> Yes, long example. What I am trying to ask is this, "Do we all have to do sixstep the same way?" Because I'd like to put stuff into my sixstep that I am not sure will count as footwork, but I want to add them because -I- feel like it would help solidify my battle persona. But, i'm being told not to.
~~

Now for my two-cents on footwork.

Ok, power and freezes are great. I love freezes, but what i've noticed is that it is impossible for a B-boy/B-girl to battle or have nice sets unless they have clean, fluid tops and footwork! I'm currently teaching someone else most my freezes and moves, and they choose to completely ignore trying to toprock and footwork because, "I [He] Feel[s] stupid trying to toprock. It looks so easy, but I[He] can't do it." Hrmph. So. Planning on busting out a flare at the beginning of your set to enter into a battle D;< ???? [Back on topic now:] So. Footwork and Toprocking should be the number one thing, because without that you are pretty much just a scrub walking around that knows how to do a few cool things, but can't be considered a B-boy because the way you put things together makes it appear like you just want to impress the nearby crowd [Or gain one.] So.

All in all, Style is quiet possibly the most important thing any Breaker should have.

[Man of Confiden]

Wow looks like i got a lot of work tonight haha...dats hella tight guys!! Now to answer your question creeper (yes i read the whole post haha)!

There isn't a right or wrong to footwork...not really. A six step is simply walkin six steps around yourself. Nobody with any sense really gives a damn about how u do it, unless it looks completely wack haha. But there is what many culd consider a universal and very basic way of doin it, which is what you see around here most times. But really the ultimate goal is to expand on it and make it your own...so dats hella props to ya friend for puttin some vibe into it.

I gotta warn ya tho, not everybody is gonna feel dat style. Some prefer more clear cut steps rather than all blended together. Does it make his wrong? Naw...its jus his style...some will feel it and some wont, ya dig? If anyone tells u its wrong, they dont' kno wut they're sayin! Dat answer ya question?

Once again thx a lot guys, i'll try to have this fully updated by tmrw!

EDIT: Its really important for everyone to remember that bboyin is an art form!! There is no right or wrong in art. Ppl seem to be forgettin that these days. It's not a science where u have one set way to do things. The most important things in bboyin are creativity and expression, so don't let anybody step on that!

[Man of Confiden]

Yea more updates!! Added in some extra tip and whatnot that ppl suggested! Anyway i decided to start gettin the discussion part goin on!

Which comes first, Style or Technique?

Well for me, personally, it wuz style! In my opinion thats the first egg that hatches for jus about anybody! Think about it....if your learnin a six step, ur gonna try to copy the steps from a dvd or whoever is teachin u right? Well since u are only human, ur gonna tweak it to make it more comfy to u. That right there, is ur style in its infancy. Ya see ur style is always there, and has always been there. Its been there from before u even took up bboyin! It influences every single movement you make! Its so important to recognize this as your learnin ur steps. If u tweak sumthin, don't think its automatically wrong. Too many ppl spend so much time beatin down their own style becuz it doesn't look exactly like someone else's (ex: Teacher, tutorial, etc). Let ur style flourish and influence ur movements. If it looks different dats dope! At first everythang will probably look wack cuz ur technique aint polished. But technique comes in time. Let ur style rule u, and over time you will clean it up until it looks crisp and fresh! Any other thoughts on this? Discuss!!

[ampyun]

heheh thats funny thats the same route i took when i started. i started with style and really didnt care about form. but now ive been working on my form a lot and have my 6 step close to where i want it so im bringin back the style!

[ragincajunasian]

i was told to nail technique first, and then branch out to style once you're comfortable. because if you're practicing with without technique, your 'style' could be sloppy, and you could be stuck with that and it would be hard to undo, whereas once you get your solid foundations, you know what to base your style off of and you'll be clean!

[muffinturtle]

IMO technique definitely comes first. It's futile to try to express style without knowing how to do the steps properly, and I think beating down on one's own style to imitate a six step in a tutorial or a person you feel has the proper form is definitely a good thing. That may sound wack, but too many people start out without enough emphasis on proper form, and end up having a wackass six step and develop bad habits that become hard to overcome after they realize they can't transition cleanly and use a lot of unnecessary energy because of a shitty "stylish" six step.

Personal experience.

[ampyun]

yeah haha. i started off wrong cause i didnt know about this site! heheh, thats what happens when all you have is youtube.

[Man of Confiden]

I'm diggin da responses! Well before this discussion thang gets too underway...i need to remind everyone that this is after all, a discussion! I will not have flamin, and useless spam in this thread. Chances are that there isn't goin to be a right or wrong per se...its jus ur preference. So discuss reasonably please, and don't be assholes. Its great so far, but most things are gonna be controversial so keep ya heads cool !

Yea i feel the tech before style thang. It makes perfect sense to me. But to me its jus one of two ways to get to the same place. Either u find ur style first, and then clean up ur tech, or u clean ur tech first, and then find ur style. No matter the way u'll in theory get to the same place. I prefer the former, becuz thats how i started...so thats the only way i know. But really both ways have their dangers.

Anyway jus discuss random topics as they come to u! Jus keep the convo heated, but clean. Maybe i shuld put up a "current discussion topics" section...in case anyone wants to jump in? Wut do u guys think of that? Oh and as always, if u have a tip or suggestion, throw it up and i'll give it a look-see! Peace and thanks to all yall!