[MMAMickey]

Originally Posted by BrokenFist

Whenever I move forward with a cross I always take a half step (just the front foot) to open up my stance and add a bit of range then I either bring my front foot back or back foot forward.

sounds like you're doing it right then

Originally Posted by BrokenFist

I have always been taught that you should pivot your back foot to do a proper cross and I don't see how you can do that while moving.

you don't pivot on your toe, your foot just pivots on itself as your body twists so that the heel faces outwards. if you take a half step this is unaffected. You have to set the feet for a split second as you throw the actual punch but the (half) step in is where you can put a lot of extra momentum in. what I meant when i said step, cross is exactly that. your body is moving as you step in its just the shoulder and hand that flies out when your foot comes down so you're on balance and grounded as you punch. the pushing off your back foot already engages the hip

[permahudef]

What OP describes isn't really a jab and cross...I'm not even sure what to call it.

On your "jab", I have no idea how you get into range without moving your front foot. If you're already in range, you shouldn't be.

Others have already done a good job describing your "cross", so I'll just point to those posts.

[Steve Grody]

Originally Posted by MMAMickey

Step, cross is fine.. in fact its great.

if you step you get extra momentum and the power of your legs gets involved in the punch. it makes your hips and shoulders turn faster and more explosively. after a jab its probably better not to step again before you follow up with the cross, but apat from that stepping does give you more power.

..unless you mean punching while your front foot is still in the air, which is bad.. and stupid

I agree with the first part of what you are saying, Mickey, but not the second. While everything should be considered in context (the actual distance at a given moment), in JKD it was generally considered best form to jab moving the hand first, followed slightly by the step and to time it so the strike landed an instant before the foot touches down, the thought being that the power is better transferred into the target.

[gttintin]

What the original poster said seems like what Fedor does in his book. He starts off in orthodox stance. He throws the right cross while in orthodox. Then, he steps into southpaw to throw a left cross, then he steps into orthodox and throws another right cross. Actually, I think I see lots of mma fighters do this. They throw combinations while the opponents hasn't back up to the cage/ropes yet, so they end up chasing the opponent down as they punch.

On another note, in the few boxing lessons I took a long time ago, I came up with a question about punching and stepping. The right cross gets it's power from shifting the weight from the rear leg to the front, right? So, let's say you do a 1-2. If you step with the jab, the weight would already be on the front leg. Would this take power away from the right cross? My coach told me that I should step with the left foot when throwing the left jab, right foot forward with the right cross. Would this result in the fist push that Kidspatula mentioned earlier?

[maofas]

I think I understand what the OP is saying. He's not "stepping" with the rear foot, OP correct me if I'm wrong:

Your back foot pushes off the floor in order to propel the front foot forward, then back foot slides up (riding the same momentum of the push-off, lagging behind ever so slightly) behind to maintain the same stance. You "land" in the same stance (now transplanted forward), both feet planted at roughly the same time.

Personally, I term that motion a "shift" as opposed to a "shuffle" (front foot half-steps forward, back foot moves up to adjust). To me a "step" is the rear foot moves forward, moves ahead of your front foot, and now becomes your new front foot. (like walking down the street).

Shifting is an extremely fundamental motion to my footwork. It's something that lets you cover quite a bit of distance very quickly and explosively, but it's also a very committed motion. If you don't set it up (or if you telegraph the shift) you will zoom face-first into a punch.

You could use this motion to shoot in and throw a jab, but a lot of jabs are feelers, in which case you do not want to make such a committed motion forward. It's not a substitute for other footwork, it's another tool.

I do 1-2s off this motion all the time, but one of the two punches is going to suffer slightly (you generate a lot of forward momentum this way which makes up a lot of the difference). To me, this motion is all about landing the cross/reverse (I'm not going to commit this hard just to land a jab), so I shoot, take my 75% (guesstimate) jab to make them react, and then go for broke on the cross.

Originally Posted by gttintin

What the original poster said seems like what Fedor does in his book. He starts off in orthodox stance. He throws the right cross while in orthodox. Then, he steps into southpaw to throw a left cross, then he steps into orthodox and throws another right cross.

Unless I read him wrong (it's possible, seems everyone has their own interpretation of what the OP said) that's different, but similar. That's even more committed and basically full-stepping into the motion I described above. That's basically how you do a lunge punch that actually works as opposed to the stereotypical lunge punch we see in Bujinkan demos and 1-step sparring.

[permahudef]

Originally Posted by gttintin

The right cross gets it's power from shifting the weight from the rear leg to the front, right?

That mixed with core rotation.

Originally Posted by gttintin

So, let's say you do a 1-2. If you step with the jab, the weight would already be on the front leg. Would this take power away from the right cross?

Yes, but if you have so much weight on your front leg that you can't transfer more weight to it on the cross, then you may be putting too much weight on the front leg during the jab. Also, some power from the cross is also from core rotation. Maybe it's just me regressing back to my shito-ryu reverse punch.

Originally Posted by gttintin

My coach told me that I should step with the left foot when throwing the left jab, right foot forward with the right cross. Would this result in the fist push that Kidspatula mentioned earlier?

Now I'm confused.

[gttintin]

Sorry for the confusion. My coach told me to move the foot with the punching hand. Left foot moves forward with the left jab. Right foot forward with the right cross. All this happens while staying orthodox. Kidspatula mentioned earlier that moving the rear foot as you throw the cross would degenerate the punch into a push.

[chi-conspiricy]

Originally Posted by gttintin

Sorry for the confusion. My coach told me to move the foot with the punching hand. Left foot moves forward with the left jab. Right foot forward with the right cross. All this happens while staying orthodox. Kidspatula mentioned earlier that moving the rear foot as you throw the cross would degenerate the punch into a push.

Your left foot should move forward with both. If you're not pushing off your rear foot while throwing the cross, what exactly is powering it?

[gttintin]

It shall be so. I'll anchor the rear foot down.

[KidSpatula]

Originally Posted by chi-conspiricy

Your left foot should move forward with both. If you're not pushing off your rear foot while throwing the cross, what exactly is powering it?

You aren't pushing off the rear foot, your twisting on the rear foot. Your left foot doesn't come forward except when jabbing.