八卦掌的運動特點是以掌為主，以走為先，身隨掌轉，步隨身行。其運動路線是沿著八卦圖線循環往複、不停走轉，以此達到練神導氣的功效。就其步法而言，裏腳(靠近圓心的腳)直邁似圓的弦線，外腳邁扣合圓弧，重心在後如坐椅，前腿虛探需自如。邁步過程中，兩腿脛骨相磨，兩腳踝骨相蹭，形成剪刀股形。腳邁出時腳麵繃直，腳底與地麵平行，前湧似趟水，落地似踩泥，平穩而有力，俗稱“趟泥步”。這種步法似走非走、似跑非跑，是在走與跑之間。走，前腿和腳麵繃直，步距盡量拉大；跑，後腿用力後蹬，將重心移至前腿。隻有在練好步法的基礎上才能開始練掌，底盤功夫練紮實了，上掌後才能協調全身。
Eight-trigram Palm (Bagua Zhang) is characterized by palm skills playing the leading role，and giving priority to walking steps，body turning being led by palm，and steps following the body.The movement route repetitively follows Eight Trigrams and keeps walking and turning to train spirit and lead breath.The step techniques are:the inner foot (the foot near to the center) walks in straight steps and the outer foot steps in a curved way.The body weight center leans backwards as if sitting in a chair，so that the front leg may freely stretch forward.During stepping，two shin bones and two ankles rub to form scissor stance.When stepping out，the foot shall be leg extended，and the sole shall be in parallel with the ground surface.Walking forwards as if walking in water，touching the ground as if stamping in mud，maintaining steady and forceful.This style of walking steps are called“Tangnibu(mud wading steps)”.This style of step is between walking and running.For walking，the front leg and its foot stretch straightly；for running，the back leg backwards stamps hard to transfer the body weight center to the front leg.Only after acquiring basic step techniques can the full body be well coordinated.