Posture Drills – Practice

Immediate Practice

5 minutes – From a neutral position, practice snapping into the defensive posture.

• Practice stepping forward (lead-foot) and backward (rear-foot) into the defensive posture.
• Move immediately into the correct placement of arm and body. Avoid “wiggling” into place.
• Practice in sets of 10 forming the posture both right and left lead.
• Have a partner examine your position.
  • Notice errors and attempt to correct them on the next repetition. Do not correct them after forming the posture.

5 minutes – Practice moving between the defensive and offensive postures.

• Ensure you move in proper order.
  • When moving forward: hand reaches forward, arm extends, shoulders reach.
  • When moving backward: shoulders recover, arm bends and withdraws, hand is placed by the flank.
• Use a partner, camera, or mirror to examine your transition. Looking for proper order as well as proper alignment of the body in both the offensive and defensive postures.
• Practice in sets of 10 with both the right and left side leading.
  • Practice slowly and precisely at first.
  • Gradually move toward faster and sharper practice as your precision increases.

Ongoing Practice

• Practice moving crisply into posture at the start of all of your training sessions.
• Make forming the posture crisply a part of all drills.
• The proper order of movement between the defensive and offensive postures should be monitored in all drills.