. Boxing stance [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTiVNLgwhJY"]YouTube- Basic Boxing 1 Stance[/ame] basic Karate stances Stances in my opinion are the most misunderstood aspects of the martial arts, people that are not familiar with them often say that you cannot fight with stances like that, OR from the other side of the fence in some martial arts they try to use very deep stances when sparring, both are wrong and have missed the point imo. I have not read any article written by the founders of shotokan karate that state we have to fight in deep stances, karate masters like Gichin Funakoshi and Masatoshi Nakayama both talk about maintaining elasticity and flexibility during free fighting, which is impossible from very deep stances. Stances are not fixed positions that are held when you are free fighting. They are continually changing combat postures in constant motion and in free fighting are anything but static. It could be said that anytime that the human body is being held upright it is because of the base, stance or foundation which enables it to do so, whether you are standing in a natural position or one that lowers your centre of gravity, it’s still a stance. The stance provides the body with a firm base and it enables you to maintain a combat posture with stability and balance. Practicing stances in static and dynamic environments helps to reinforce the body with the ability to control its centre of gravity and execute offensive and defensive techniques with power accuracy and smoothness that can only come from a stable base which is provided by some sort of stance. Whether you are launching into an attack or landing from one, or avoiding one or shifting the centre of gravity of another body, without a firm base your balance and stability could suffer and leave you at a disadvantage. So what are some reasons we practice stances, 1. To enhance our strength and speed. 2. To bring the core muscles of the body into play. 3. To understand balance and mobility. 4.To establish a solid foundation with the ground. 5.To practice our technique from this foundation. 6.To provide resistance to impacts and take downs 7.To generate the maximum available power that our bodies can transmit 8. Aids in sequential linking of all the body parts as one synchronised unit 9.To be able to create the stances under pressure subconsciously. 10. To control one’s own centre of gravity and your body’s inertia during acceleration, deceleration, changing direction, moving other body masses, performing athletic feats. The stances that we practice in kihon (basics) and the static positions we find ourselves in at the end of every technique that is performed to a count are actually the desired final position of the execution of that stance and technique in the dynamic environment, these desired final positions are held for less than a second in live sparring, just long enough to deliver the payload. For example let’s look at gyaka zuki from zenkustu dachi, when performed to the count we complete the technique and remain in the static position waiting for the next count, so here we are practicing the final position of the technique or the desired ending upon impact over and over. In a free fighting situation you will not be in a static zenkustu dachi, to start with you will be moving around in a free fighting stance as the situation demands lowering and lifting your centre of gravity, laterally, in and out, up and down. As an example let’s say your opponent has left an opening whether intentional or accidental and you have decided to launched a gyaka zuki with zenkustu dachi attack to that opening. The position you would like to achieve as you complete the technique upon impact for 100th of a second is the static position you have been practicing in your kihon (basics), yep that’s right no matter which position you may start from the gyaka zuki-zenkustu dachi finish will try to be as close to the basic form as can be. This ability to go from a very upright position to the final executed position as per the basic posture found in kihon and then back to the upright position in an instant is what sets apart beginners intermediates and advanced students. To sum it up I would say when you are practicing kihon (basics which include stances) it’s the final position of the technique in the live free fighting format that you are practicing and in free sparring this position (found in kihon) will only be held for 100th of a second to deliver your payload. So we spend hours practicing techniques and postures that are only held for less than a second in real combat, stances are the vehicle that deliver every single one of our techniques in a dynamic and live environment so it makes sense to devote training time to your stances.
ideally? movement and zanshin. it could also be argued that there shouldn't be any "gaps", which implies that techniques and tai sabaki are separate, but rather that all techniques and tai sabaki are simply part of your overall movement.
As a slight tangent, does anybody use a zenkutsu dachi this long for anything? It just looked awfully long to me.
Waaayyy to long for me, as strictly speaking, we don't do zenkutsu - we do junzuki dachi (which is a much more equal stance). But this “Uba long” Zenkutsu has seemed to have crept in recently though. Pesky kids!!! Gary
Spot on John, I didn't want to come over all "Shoto bashing", but I noticed that as well, it's because the front foot isn't straight. Gary
Although of course Kamae means "posture" it equates to having a "prepared position"? Doesn't necessarily imply static. Gary
re: zenkutsu length, yeah, that picture is very wrong. still not as wrong as those kyokushinkai stance pictures used in the last stances thread, though. having come back from my second seminar with yonamine sensei, 9th dan Goju-ryu, which basically consisted of 4 hours of stance and mobility work, i can now say with certainty that zenkutsu dachi length in goju and ****o ryu is measured like this: kneel on one leg, and put the heel of your front foot in front of the knee that is on the ground, so they touch, then straighten the back leg. the distance between your rear foot's toes and your front foot's heel is the aproximate length you should get used to making your zenkutsu. sensei also said that the shotokan zenkutsu should be that length, plus the width of your fist, which in that picture would be just past the green line on the ground
I use a kamae - its basically Geoff Thompson's fence. And one thing it rarely is, is static. I talk with my hands and and thus take control of a verbal confrontation before it becomes physical - but the hands are placed to best deal with the situation at the moment it becomes physical (nothing to do with this talk of stances I know). Mike
@gary: you don't "put" your center anywhere consciously, but in a correct kihon posture you should aim to keep your front knee directly above the space between your 1st and 2nd toes when you execute a technique, and your chin should be on the same point on the vertical plane as your navel during the movement (thus ensuring the correct use of the hara on movements), which gives your body approximately a 60-40 or 70-30 weight distribution between each leg. having your weight in the exact middle would mean that you are straightening the front leg.
Maybe, but I doubt a 60/40 or 70/30 zenkutsu is in an way traditional - seems way to robotic to me. To me, too much weight on the front foot is restrictive, as it inhibits movement (backward as well as forward). Also, I don't substribe to the "straight" back leg thing - as again this seems too static imo. I think the back leg should be "soft". But to each their own I suppose. Gary
I'd hazard a guess that the straight back leg and long stance are just to train the flexibility to cover a lot of ground with a lunge. You see some people who can cover quite a distance without moving their back foot, just by pushing their back leg straight and making a kizame zuki with the front hand. It's very effective.
I think the straight back leg also helps drive the back hip forward for delivering power in techniques, plus of course it acts as a solid prop. Mitch
