Stances Are Your Base!
Last post we began looking at our Stances and how to use them. Today we are continuing our talks on Stances at a more intermediate level.
So, in review, what is a Stance?
A Stance basically is how you place your feet on the ground in a standing position. The way you stand will determine how good your balance will be from that position at any given moment. Generally, the deeper your stance (the farther your apart your feet are) the better your balance will be and the stronger your stance will be. In Kung Fu, we use what we call "horse stances", i.e., left horse, full horse and right horse stances.
Remember, as we stated in the last issue, a Stance is something we step down into and pivot from to generate blocking or striking power and not something we start off our attack from! Starting from a deep stance limits our ability to move with agility and tells our opponent when we are initiating our attack! This is a Big NO, NO!
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The Art of Using Your Stances
Today we will be talking about stances and how and when to use them. The most important thing to remember about stances is, DO NOT START YOUR ATTACK FROM A DEEP STANCE! The main reasoning behind this is that you will give away your intentions of committing to a fight if you do.
The smarter thing to do is to stand in a normally relaxed position with your feet about shoulder with apart, in a balanced and relaxed manner. By doing this, you will not let your opponent know your intentions! Once you are ready to defend or attack, you will step into a stance to generate momentum and power.
Typically your first step will be to the outside and forward, at a 45 degree angle to your opponents attack. In this example we are stepping forward from a relaxed standing position with our right foot at a 45 degree angle into a right horse stance. This outside step allows us to evade the opponents left hand strike and puts us to his outside which minimizes his striking opportunities.
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