Friction Steps Online Course
(Yiquan Basic Footwork)

Friction Steps (aka Mocabu, Mud-dragging Steps) is the name for footwork training in the Yiquan martial art system which has seven steps in total (Friction Steps is the third step).  This interesting exercise can be solely applied as a leg-strengthening exercise as it develops strong leg power and extraordinary balance and alignment for footsteps.

开字幕

English and Spanish subtitles will be added to the course soon.

To turn on subtitles: click on “CC” at the bottom right of the video player.

What You Will Get:

Yiquan martial art system consists of 7 steps of training. Zhanzhuang (standing meditation) is the first step, Shili is the second step, Friction Steps is the third step. The technical connection between them is that Shili is the spatial extension of Zhanzhuang, Friction Steps are essentially Shili of footsteps. Technically, after practicing Zhanzhuang, one can practice Shili first and then Friction Steps or Friction Steps first and then Shili. 

zhanzhuang cheng bao stance standing meditation exercise son gao demo yiquan force testing friction steps
Zhanzhuang

Zhanzhuang can be solely applied to improving a great range of health issues, especially chronic conditions.

(why does Zhanzhuang heal?)

Zhanzhuang is introduced through two courses on our website: Basic Zhanzhang Course (Parallel-step stances) and  Advanced Zhanzhuang Course(Combat-step stances). Basic Zhanzhuang Course is the prerequisite to this course for those who have no Zhanzhuang experience.

Shili

In addition to preparing basic movements for self-defense skills, Shili is a recommended exercise for health development. 

At the moment, only one Shili course is introduced (Parallel-step Shili Course); Combat-step Shili will be introduced in a course later.  

Parallel-step Shili Course is not a prerequisite to this course.

The Zhanzhuang exercise unifies our body as a whole by motionless movement or micro movement. When our body is highly unified, it can generate and release a powerful force. We call this force the unified force. 

The Shili exercise cultivates the unified force in slow structurally integrated movements, the exercise of Friction Steps develops the unified force in motion. It specifically enables us to step while maintaining the unified force. Only when the unified force is maintained in stepping can attack, defense, and counterattack be efficient and effective.

The practice of Friction Steps will also drive us back to Zhanzhuang when we find out that our body is not unified enough when stepping. Our Zhanzhuang and stepping skills will be mutually improved. 

This course will teach you how to do the interesting stepping from Friction Steps, which is enough for leg-strengthening and footstep balancing. For those who are interested in self defense, this course will provide you with the basic footwork of Chinese traditional martial arts that can be integrated into real fights. 

After learning this course, you will know how to practice Friction Steps and how to integrate it into your daily life. If you are interested, you can start to learn Parallel-step Shili Course if you haven’t.  

Characteristics of  

 

  is a special exercise. It’s aerobic, very gentle, and doesn’t require much movement. No warm-ups before the exercise or ending routines are required. What you need is just a place (either indoor or outdoor) with good air circulation.   has a large number of postures (stances are the technical term), but there is only one basic posture which can be transformed into all other postures. So, when you master the one posture, it’s only a matter of time to master all of them. From this perspective,   is not a complex skill to learn.

 

The  training time of   can be adjusted by oneself. In general, practitioners start from 5 minutes and increase progressively up to one hour. However, a 5-min   has health benefits, too. So   is quite accessible since no minimum “dose” of time is required. In fact, men, women, seniors, juniors, the weak or strong, all can practice   according to their own situation at their preferred time and place.

 

There are usually four stages of the   learning process and there are various reactions during beginning stages of  .

03

Healing aspect of  

In general,   can correct and build a stronger body. With   postures, young men with hunchbacks can be corrected. Dysfunctional feet, knees, or legs can be fixed to a great extent. The middle-aged suffering from back/shoulder/neck/muscle pain, hemorrhoids, insomnia, bad digestion, etc., can expect to get rid of those with consistent practice of   over time.

 

  is the best option for the weak or elderly as   can gradually and constantly enhance their immune system – the human body’s own defense mechanisms. According to Dr. Yu’s clinical experimentation and tests, many kinds of chronic diseases such as chronic tracheitis, chronic gastroenteritis, chronic hepatitis, cardiopathy, high blood pressure(hypertension), neurasthenic, chronic rheumatoid arthritis and similar rheumatoid arthritis, adipoma, goiter, etc., may obtain unbelievable beneficial effects after   practice.

 

We only listed some of the health applications of  . There are more. Every day practitioners are discovering new benefits of this amazing exercise.

 

04

Why can   cure diseases?

 

  is not only standing still. It is not only meditation, either. The system of   training is a combination of physical and mental aspects. The physical and mental activities are not separate from each other in this exercise. Hence, both the physiological and psychological functions of the body are cumulatively strengthened. Why   heals is a huge topic. Dr. Yu had written many books about it. In this article, we are going to focus on how   is able to nourish the blood. We will talk more in our blog posts.

 

During  , the body is held relatively unchanged in correct structures and there is constant contraction and loosening between muscles and bones. This will mobilize blood vessels, which promotes blood circulation. Dr. Yu listed the following figures in the book of “  and Search of Wu” (Yu Yongnian, 2005, Shanxi Science and Technology Press).

 

After one hour of   the composition of the blood may sensibly change:

  1. up to 1520 000 additional erythrocytes (red blood cells) per cm3 of blood,
  2. up to 3650 additional hem leukocytes (white blood cells) per cm3 of blood,
  3. up to 3.2 gram of additional hemoglobin per cm3 of blood.

 

Red blood cells are able to carry oxygen so efficiently because of the hemoglobin they contain. Increase of hemoglobin can directly impact the quantity of oxygen. With this additional amount of oxygen brought to the organ systems, one will be in a special state of relaxation and wellbeing.  This is why   has particularly good results in treating neurasthenia, arthritis, angina, cirrhosis, cardiovascular diseases, etc.

 

 

 

05

Recommended for special people

The most important characteristic of   as a healing method is that there is no side-effect. From the medicine point of view, there are not so many optional exercises for people who are too weak to sit or stand and people with special diseases i.e., cardiovascular diseases.   is the best option for those people. There are lying-down postures, supported postures, sitting postures, standing postures, practitioners can choose appropriate postures and control the physical effort precisely by the time of practicing.

To conclude, with thousands of years of development and the support of Yiquan martial artists and medical professionals in the last 100 years,   has brought together the essence of Chinese well-being philosophies and western sciences as a mature, thorough and complete method of health maintenance and improvement. If you want to know more about   as a healing method, reading Dr. Yu’s books is a good start. Here are three recommendations:

< Zhan Zhuang and The Search of Wu > (Chinese, English versions)

<Zhan Zhuang: The Art of Nourishing Life> (Chinese, English, French versions)

< Zhan Zhuang and Dao De Jing> (Chinese version)

 

Course Curriculum

Characteristics of  

 

  is a special exercise. It’s aerobic, very gentle, and doesn’t require much movement. No warm-ups before the exercise or ending routines are required. What you need is just a place (either indoor or outdoor) with good air circulation.   has a large number of postures (stances are the technical term), but there is only one basic posture which can be transformed into all other postures. So, when you master the one posture, it’s only a matter of time to master all of them. From this perspective,   is not a complex skill to learn.

 

The  training time of   can be adjusted by oneself. In general, practitioners start from 5 minutes and increase progressively up to one hour. However, a 5-min   has health benefits, too. So   is quite accessible since no minimum “dose” of time is required. In fact, men, women, seniors, juniors, the weak or strong, all can practice   according to their own situation at their preferred time and place.

 

There are usually four stages of the   learning process and there are various reactions during beginning stages of  .

03

Healing aspect of  

In general,   can correct and build a stronger body. With   postures, young men with hunchbacks can be corrected. Dysfunctional feet, knees, or legs can be fixed to a great extent. The middle-aged suffering from back/shoulder/neck/muscle pain, hemorrhoids, insomnia, bad digestion, etc., can expect to get rid of those with consistent practice of   over time.

 

  is the best option for the weak or elderly as   can gradually and constantly enhance their immune system – the human body’s own defense mechanisms. According to Dr. Yu’s clinical experimentation and tests, many kinds of chronic diseases such as chronic tracheitis, chronic gastroenteritis, chronic hepatitis, cardiopathy, high blood pressure(hypertension), neurasthenic, chronic rheumatoid arthritis and similar rheumatoid arthritis, adipoma, goiter, etc., may obtain unbelievable beneficial effects after   practice.

 

We only listed some of the health applications of  . There are more. Every day practitioners are discovering new benefits of this amazing exercise.

 

04

Why can   cure diseases?

 

  is not only standing still. It is not only meditation, either. The system of   training is a combination of physical and mental aspects. The physical and mental activities are not separate from each other in this exercise. Hence, both the physiological and psychological functions of the body are cumulatively strengthened. Why   heals is a huge topic. Dr. Yu had written many books about it. In this article, we are going to focus on how   is able to nourish the blood. We will talk more in our blog posts.

 

During  , the body is held relatively unchanged in correct structures and there is constant contraction and loosening between muscles and bones. This will mobilize blood vessels, which promotes blood circulation. Dr. Yu listed the following figures in the book of “  and Search of Wu” (Yu Yongnian, 2005, Shanxi Science and Technology Press).

 

After one hour of   the composition of the blood may sensibly change:

  1. up to 1520 000 additional erythrocytes (red blood cells) per cm3 of blood,
  2. up to 3650 additional hem leukocytes (white blood cells) per cm3 of blood,
  3. up to 3.2 gram of additional hemoglobin per cm3 of blood.

 

Red blood cells are able to carry oxygen so efficiently because of the hemoglobin they contain. Increase of hemoglobin can directly impact the quantity of oxygen. With this additional amount of oxygen brought to the organ systems, one will be in a special state of relaxation and wellbeing.  This is why   has particularly good results in treating neurasthenia, arthritis, angina, cirrhosis, cardiovascular diseases, etc.

 

 

 

05

Recommended for special people

The most important characteristic of   as a healing method is that there is no side-effect. From the medicine point of view, there are not so many optional exercises for people who are too weak to sit or stand and people with special diseases i.e., cardiovascular diseases.   is the best option for those people. There are lying-down postures, supported postures, sitting postures, standing postures, practitioners can choose appropriate postures and control the physical effort precisely by the time of practicing.

To conclude, with thousands of years of development and the support of Yiquan martial artists and medical professionals in the last 100 years,   has brought together the essence of Chinese well-being philosophies and western sciences as a mature, thorough and complete method of health maintenance and improvement. If you want to know more about   as a healing method, reading Dr. Yu’s books is a good start. Here are three recommendations:

< Zhan Zhuang and The Search of Wu > (Chinese, English versions)

<Zhan Zhuang: The Art of Nourishing Life> (Chinese, English, French versions)

< Zhan Zhuang and Dao De Jing> (Chinese version)

 

Lesson 1: The Starting Posture

Lesson 2: Pre-walk: “Moving foot” in Linear

Lesson 3: Pre-walk: “Moving foot” in Curve

Lesson 4: Begin to Walk in Linear

Lesson 5: Walk with Three “Pulls’ and Three “Touches”

Lesson 6: Walk on Thin Ice

Lesson 7: Walk More Freely

Lesson 8: Walk to All Directions

Lesson 9: Integrate into Life

Characteristics of  

 

  is a special exercise. It’s aerobic, very gentle, and doesn’t require much movement. No warm-ups before the exercise or ending routines are required. What you need is just a place (either indoor or outdoor) with good air circulation.   has a large number of postures (stances are the technical term), but there is only one basic posture which can be transformed into all other postures. So, when you master the one posture, it’s only a matter of time to master all of them. From this perspective,   is not a complex skill to learn.

 

The  training time of   can be adjusted by oneself. In general, practitioners start from 5 minutes and increase progressively up to one hour. However, a 5-min   has health benefits, too. So   is quite accessible since no minimum “dose” of time is required. In fact, men, women, seniors, juniors, the weak or strong, all can practice   according to their own situation at their preferred time and place.

 

There are usually four stages of the   learning process and there are various reactions during beginning stages of  .

03

Healing aspect of  

In general,   can correct and build a stronger body. With   postures, young men with hunchbacks can be corrected. Dysfunctional feet, knees, or legs can be fixed to a great extent. The middle-aged suffering from back/shoulder/neck/muscle pain, hemorrhoids, insomnia, bad digestion, etc., can expect to get rid of those with consistent practice of   over time.

 

  is the best option for the weak or elderly as   can gradually and constantly enhance their immune system – the human body’s own defense mechanisms. According to Dr. Yu’s clinical experimentation and tests, many kinds of chronic diseases such as chronic tracheitis, chronic gastroenteritis, chronic hepatitis, cardiopathy, high blood pressure(hypertension), neurasthenic, chronic rheumatoid arthritis and similar rheumatoid arthritis, adipoma, goiter, etc., may obtain unbelievable beneficial effects after   practice.

 

We only listed some of the health applications of  . There are more. Every day practitioners are discovering new benefits of this amazing exercise.

 

04

Why can   cure diseases?

 

  is not only standing still. It is not only meditation, either. The system of   training is a combination of physical and mental aspects. The physical and mental activities are not separate from each other in this exercise. Hence, both the physiological and psychological functions of the body are cumulatively strengthened. Why   heals is a huge topic. Dr. Yu had written many books about it. In this article, we are going to focus on how   is able to nourish the blood. We will talk more in our blog posts.

 

During  , the body is held relatively unchanged in correct structures and there is constant contraction and loosening between muscles and bones. This will mobilize blood vessels, which promotes blood circulation. Dr. Yu listed the following figures in the book of “  and Search of Wu” (Yu Yongnian, 2005, Shanxi Science and Technology Press).

 

After one hour of   the composition of the blood may sensibly change:

  1. up to 1520 000 additional erythrocytes (red blood cells) per cm3 of blood,
  2. up to 3650 additional hem leukocytes (white blood cells) per cm3 of blood,
  3. up to 3.2 gram of additional hemoglobin per cm3 of blood.

 

Red blood cells are able to carry oxygen so efficiently because of the hemoglobin they contain. Increase of hemoglobin can directly impact the quantity of oxygen. With this additional amount of oxygen brought to the organ systems, one will be in a special state of relaxation and wellbeing.  This is why   has particularly good results in treating neurasthenia, arthritis, angina, cirrhosis, cardiovascular diseases, etc.

 

 

 

05

Recommended for special people

The most important characteristic of   as a healing method is that there is no side-effect. From the medicine point of view, there are not so many optional exercises for people who are too weak to sit or stand and people with special diseases i.e., cardiovascular diseases.   is the best option for those people. There are lying-down postures, supported postures, sitting postures, standing postures, practitioners can choose appropriate postures and control the physical effort precisely by the time of practicing.

To conclude, with thousands of years of development and the support of Yiquan martial artists and medical professionals in the last 100 years,   has brought together the essence of Chinese well-being philosophies and western sciences as a mature, thorough and complete method of health maintenance and improvement. If you want to know more about   as a healing method, reading Dr. Yu’s books is a good start. Here are three recommendations:

< Zhan Zhuang and The Search of Wu > (Chinese, English versions)

<Zhan Zhuang: The Art of Nourishing Life> (Chinese, English, French versions)

< Zhan Zhuang and Dao De Jing> (Chinese version)

 

Characteristics of  

 

  is a special exercise. It’s aerobic, very gentle, and doesn’t require much movement. No warm-ups before the exercise or ending routines are required. What you need is just a place (either indoor or outdoor) with good air circulation.   has a large number of postures (stances are the technical term), but there is only one basic posture which can be transformed into all other postures. So, when you master the one posture, it’s only a matter of time to master all of them. From this perspective,   is not a complex skill to learn.

 

The  training time of   can be adjusted by oneself. In general, practitioners start from 5 minutes and increase progressively up to one hour. However, a 5-min   has health benefits, too. So   is quite accessible since no minimum “dose” of time is required. In fact, men, women, seniors, juniors, the weak or strong, all can practice   according to their own situation at their preferred time and place.

 

There are usually four stages of the   learning process and there are various reactions during beginning stages of  .

03

Healing aspect of  

In general,   can correct and build a stronger body. With   postures, young men with hunchbacks can be corrected. Dysfunctional feet, knees, or legs can be fixed to a great extent. The middle-aged suffering from back/shoulder/neck/muscle pain, hemorrhoids, insomnia, bad digestion, etc., can expect to get rid of those with consistent practice of   over time.

 

  is the best option for the weak or elderly as   can gradually and constantly enhance their immune system – the human body’s own defense mechanisms. According to Dr. Yu’s clinical experimentation and tests, many kinds of chronic diseases such as chronic tracheitis, chronic gastroenteritis, chronic hepatitis, cardiopathy, high blood pressure(hypertension), neurasthenic, chronic rheumatoid arthritis and similar rheumatoid arthritis, adipoma, goiter, etc., may obtain unbelievable beneficial effects after   practice.

 

We only listed some of the health applications of  . There are more. Every day practitioners are discovering new benefits of this amazing exercise.

 

04

Why can   cure diseases?

 

  is not only standing still. It is not only meditation, either. The system of   training is a combination of physical and mental aspects. The physical and mental activities are not separate from each other in this exercise. Hence, both the physiological and psychological functions of the body are cumulatively strengthened. Why   heals is a huge topic. Dr. Yu had written many books about it. In this article, we are going to focus on how   is able to nourish the blood. We will talk more in our blog posts.

 

During  , the body is held relatively unchanged in correct structures and there is constant contraction and loosening between muscles and bones. This will mobilize blood vessels, which promotes blood circulation. Dr. Yu listed the following figures in the book of “  and Search of Wu” (Yu Yongnian, 2005, Shanxi Science and Technology Press).

 

After one hour of   the composition of the blood may sensibly change:

  1. up to 1520 000 additional erythrocytes (red blood cells) per cm3 of blood,
  2. up to 3650 additional hem leukocytes (white blood cells) per cm3 of blood,
  3. up to 3.2 gram of additional hemoglobin per cm3 of blood.

 

Red blood cells are able to carry oxygen so efficiently because of the hemoglobin they contain. Increase of hemoglobin can directly impact the quantity of oxygen. With this additional amount of oxygen brought to the organ systems, one will be in a special state of relaxation and wellbeing.  This is why   has particularly good results in treating neurasthenia, arthritis, angina, cirrhosis, cardiovascular diseases, etc.

 

 

 

05

Recommended for special people

The most important characteristic of   as a healing method is that there is no side-effect. From the medicine point of view, there are not so many optional exercises for people who are too weak to sit or stand and people with special diseases i.e., cardiovascular diseases.   is the best option for those people. There are lying-down postures, supported postures, sitting postures, standing postures, practitioners can choose appropriate postures and control the physical effort precisely by the time of practicing.

To conclude, with thousands of years of development and the support of Yiquan martial artists and medical professionals in the last 100 years,   has brought together the essence of Chinese well-being philosophies and western sciences as a mature, thorough and complete method of health maintenance and improvement. If you want to know more about   as a healing method, reading Dr. Yu’s books is a good start. Here are three recommendations:

< Zhan Zhuang and The Search of Wu > (Chinese, English versions)

<Zhan Zhuang: The Art of Nourishing Life> (Chinese, English, French versions)

< Zhan Zhuang and Dao De Jing> (Chinese version)