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Ground mobility: the elongated sideways rolling

While our body is completely lying on the ground, one of the simplest and fastest ways to move (escape) is the elongated sideways rolling.

Note – This article has been asked by one of our Core Course practitioners on Patreon (see how to attend our home study classes here Learn Kung Fu online: a beginner-to-expert course).

This is not a dangerous technique but before starting we have to know what we are doing and how to train safely, let’s read:

How to execute the technique

A note by Master Kongling – For the Core Course practitioners: this is the ground mobility technique 1.

The preparation:

Let’s imagine we have just been thrown by an opponent (read The 3 phases of a throw) and that we want to recover space / time of action
Let’s lie on the ground in a supine position (belly up)
The head when we are in these situations must always be lifted, as to design a unique curve with the upper part of our vertebral column (the idea is to do not force our neck muscles)
Let’s sketch a guard with the arms to protect us from eventual dangers (read How to rapidly learn Kung Fu: guard stance)

The technique:

To start the movement, let’s choose where we want to go and let’s look in that direction (in this tutorial, to our right)
Let’s lift the left foot, let’s point the heel to the ground and let’s use its downward push to let our body start to rotate sideways
When the rotation starts the right arm starts to move, it gradually stretches to arrive (elongated) perpendicular to our body (before touching the ground)
The rotation continues and just before the right elbow touches the ground, the left arm must start to move (as if it were pulled by the right arm)
The left arm must stretch to the right as to catch something in front of us (we have to imagine the 2 arms’ motion as 2 consequential blades of a helicopter)
The arms’ motion must follow a curvilinear trajectory that supports and increases the inertia of the initial thrust
The arms’ motion continues and when the body is prone, they arrive almost “stretched” below our head (parallels to us)
At this point, the arms simply continue the sequential circular motion cyclically

Execution details:

The idea is to harmoniously draw with our arms circles (as much as possible parallel to the ground) that loads like a wheel our advancement
Let’s do not forget that the hips and the entire legs must help the movement
During all the phases, the lower part of the body must not be passive, it should follow the motion with a spiral muscle chain (read The Spiral Muscle Chain: twists and screws of the body)
Let’s focus on harmony, on maintaining the direction and when the movement becomes good, let’s add the speed
The less vibration there are, the faster we go; we have to channel all the forces involved in a spiral motion
Let’s avoid movement too open that lift the body from the soil
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The key points:

The harmony of the movement is the goal to aim at
This technique should become second nature to be useful and effective (this means that it must be trained regularly)
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The most common errors and problems

To do not follow a straight line due to the leak of coordination; let’s try to work on precision and coordination before than speed and let’s always maintain our line of sight on the target we want to reach
To bend the body (losing speed and direction); we must remain straight
To violently beat the tip of our knees or elbows on the ground; they should never touch the soil
Dizziness; it is not an error but a lack of training, we have simply to practice regularly and with the time, it will disappear (in the meantime let’s alternate left and right directions with the same number of revolutions)
Small body pains (hips, ankles, etc.); this is normal for a novice, if they do not become acute, let’s do not worry, they pass very quickly and after the first few times they will disappear completely (with the automatic strengthening of the body, read also Conditioning check for the impact)
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Variants and evolutions

At the end of the rotation, we can execute the stand-up technique 6 of 6 Dragons Kung Fu (more about this later, it is in the Core Course)
During the rotation, the arms’ motion can naturally be altered to fit our eventual defensive needs (caused by obstacles, opponent’s action, etc.)
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Possible applications contexts

Self-defense:

While on the soil, it can be used in various ways, to get away enough to get up (eg. to avoid ground fighting), to reach an escape way, etc.
It has not forcibly to be executed on the ground, it can also work on an inclined or on an intermediate height surface (eg. a table)
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Sport fighting:

It could be used to gain space to fight or time to recover after a bad throw
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Daily life:

As for the breakfalls (read Everything you should know about breakfalls), this technique can be useful to rapidly avoid dangers in a position from which a normal person moves with a certain slowness / difficulty
It can also be used to move our body while wounded in a way that (partially) prevents the use of limbs
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Training:

This is a perfect practice for the beginners to develop coordination; for the intermediate / advanced practitioners, it is good to understand and develop the spiral muscle chain
This could also be a good warm-up exercise (read also How to correctly perform warm-up)
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In-depth video courses

Basic 6 Dragons Kung Fu Exercises – The path toward the fundamental practices to acquire real martial skills
Basic free hand fighting techniques – All the core combat techniques of 6 Dragons Kung Fu

In-depth articles

Ground fighting – Ground fighting why and when
Physical conditioning: how it works – The base of a serious martial preparation

Questions

Reply in the comments and share your experience:

Can you roll without suffering dizziness?

Author: Master Kongling

Founder of 6 Dragons Kung Fu.

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