Submitted By: BLueSSDate: November 27, 2010, 12:44:49 PM
Views: 9311
Written by Suko
Flat footing is just as it sounds. It's a technique where you apply the entire surface of your foot onto an arrow with each step. This does a few things:
Minimizes the chances for a "pad miss" due to one or more faulty sensors.
Makes your stepping more consistent. If your entire foot is consistently being applied to the arrow with each step, there will be less variances in "springing" back from each step as you would if you were playing on the balls of your feet.
Playing this way does take more energy, because all the kinetic force is being pushed straight into the pad and sensors and less of that energy is being used to "rebound" your foot (as is the case when you play on the balls of your feet).
Some may argue on these points, but if you are truly "flat foot" playing, then these effects are usually accurate. Flat footing has significantly increased many player's accuracy. However, it can drastically reduce stamina and the ability to clear more difficult stepcharts.
From DukAmok's guide Many people have split themselves into either "flat-footed" or "toes" styles of play. I disagree with this; I instead advocate a "whole foot" style of play. I use my toes when they are the best choice, and I use my heels as well. It is very situational, and very open to adaptation. I strongly suggest switching to this "whole foot" style, and maximizing the whole surface area of your foot, not arbitrarily confining yourself to one or two small sections.
Fine foot control is based mainly around the ankle and smaller foot muscles. You use these muscles to bend and twist your foot in such a way so that as your leg moves it towards the panel, the optimum surface of your foot is already in position. So if your right foot is approaching the Up arrow, you should naturally start to angle your foot down towards your toe, and even curve slightly if you can do so. Hitting with the "toe" part of your foot (its actually the ball) as opposed to the heel or middle, allows for a great decrease in actual foot movement, as it takes at least 6-8 inches off of your actual travel distance. Similarly, the opposite would be true for the down arrow. Bend your foot upwards, and your heel should be the main part in contact with the arrow.
I can't stress how important this is to learn how to implement effectively. Learn how to angle and curve your feet, and you will save yourself tons of energy. A good practice for learning how to control angles of your feet (as well as build muscles you probably didn't know you had) is to "heel-toe" songs, also known as "bracket-raping". This is done by your right foot across a "right" corner (typically U/R, but can also be D/R), and your left foot across the opposite corner. This should leave you with your right toe on the up arrow, right heel on the right arrow, left toe on the left arrow, and left heel on the down arrow. With a simple angle of your foot, you can trigger any panel. Of course, it takes some work to learn how to effectively control this, but it’s great for building the muscles and control needed to effectively control your feet during normal game play as well. I'm just briefly touching on it here, but there’s much more on this subject. Maybe I'll write something on it later.
