Holding horse stance position

Hey everyone,

I was just wondering what befefits there are from holding your body in a specific position?

For example:
1. Holding in squat position for 30 secs more
2. Holding a press up half way down

I can understand the benifit of planks/bridges etc. to work the abs. I can also understand some exercises are just for mental descipline to get through the pain, but from a fitness point of view what benefit do these have?

I remember reading something McG wrote about him hating slow press ups. I'm wondering if this runs along the same lines.

-M.

 

Only thing I can think of is it helps you push through the sticking point in certain lifts when you're going really heavy. Like staying in a horse stance for a long time will allow enough time to get through the stick point of a heavy squat. I think it's almost all mental strength, though.

 

Static holds only work the muscle in the position it is held in. So if you practice holding a horse stance then that is pretty much all you will get out of it.

 

endurance maybe

 

if you want endurance, skip.

 

horse stances have long been used to develop functional leg strength. The deeper you get the easier it is to get into a side split according to Kurz.

 

so are we saying there is no "functional" benefit of hold position exercises?

 

consider how many arts actually use horse stance. and how many professional fighters use them (half of what makes a ring fighter is endurance.... if it helped, it would be used)

 

Horse stance does build functional leg strength as i have experianced.

 

Of course its not the only aspect of endurance training, but it still is a valid one.

 

Why not put it to the test - Work it for a month, if you didn't gain form it then give it up as a naff exercise.

I use them every now and then for a bit of variety in my training. It would be good to work on them solidly for a while though to get used to them.

I sometimes do press ups using 30 seconds to go down, hold this position for 30 seconds, go up for 30 seconds and then in the up position hold for another 30 pushing into the ground as hard as I can - I find this works well.

As for horse stance if you work at it you should be getting up to about 3 mins - but when you are in this position dont just sit there, every now and then really push it. Tense your stomach and all the muscles in your legs and really push the postion as hard as you can.

If you find it useless then like i said leave it as a bad idea

 

I've held low horse stances for upwards of 15 minutes, and I've NEVER found it any more beneficial than broad-stance squatting. In fact, a lot less beneficial.

 

To clarify what I was saying, standing in horse stance will build endurance but only in the position you old the static contraction. It is very unlikely for you to be standing in horse stance for extended periods in a fight so do you really need it? As KE said, squats would be a much better choice for the legs.

Beware of the martial arts instructors that think they are fitness gurus. Many have no fitness qualifications except for very outdated theories/opinions. Even if they do have a qualification just be careful- there are still instructors making students to bunny hops around the hall which will wreck your knees.

 

Agreed, which is why I raised the the post in the first place. I'm thinking of taking it out of my warm ups, the time-to-benefit ratio isn't worth it.
Clap press ups and burpees all the way!

-M.

 

HEHE.....thats more like it! :yeleyes:

 

Have you ever considered how many martial artists are out there who use horse riding stance for development, that could take the **** out of a lot of professional fighters? ring fighters? When your legs are caining, you dont have anything left, you have been standing in this position for what seems to be hours, all of a sudden comes the command to squat and front kick, one after another, or push kick as you would know it. Thats a full squat and a full powered kick. All you want to do is stop yet you have to burst into a flurry of squats and kicks. If that does'nt promote endurance I dont know what will
I have fought in the ring with boxing, and I have worked with Thai nationals on mines and have done some dinky die MT ****. Nothing has pushed me to the limits like this.

 

This I agree with totally

 

thats great, im sure next time I get ito a fight where I am holding a horse stance for an hour and then throwing kicks from a squat position I will be thinking "man, if only I had listened to badger"

mental development, yeah. but, I didnt think that was what the original post was asking.

 

Cheers Ikken, (just read ur philosophy thread -brilliant)

Yeah, the whole point of this thread was to get rid of the gimmicky traditional rubbish that is seen in many Dojo's and Kwoons.

Training time is precious, I'd rather do something that is useful and will benefit me as a fighter than something that will hurt and build my mental discipline.

As far as I can read, holding the squat position has no physical or muscular benefit to the practitioner at all.

Are there any fitness gurus that can provide their opinion?

 

I'm in with badger on this one. I did kickboxing, and I personally think that this is exercise, which I did not use as a kickboxer, has helped me greatly. Leg strength, stamina, endurance, and mental focus. One of the best exercises we do at my school, IMHO. My lower body is in the best shape it's been in and we only do "traditional" stuff.