Stances are great and have their uses, unfortunately sometimes they can be used at the wrong times. Yeah. We will usually use a horse stance, or sometimes a deep forward stance, when bringing a person to the ground and securing them there. This is at a time when stability is our primary need and mobility is "further down the food chain." (i.e. vs. single opponent) Take care.
what is normaly seen in HKD classes is fighting stance, horse, and maybe front stance. but in triditional HKD there are 22 stances. i don't know if any school would teach them all. the 3 i mentioned R the ones U'll C most of the time. HKD
stances are the main actions in most kung fu. Most stances used in other arts ie. hkd, tkd, karate are derived from kung fu
Common misconception. Do not use horse stand in a real fight unless you like getting kicked in the groin. Horse is simply for strengthening your legs. Back in ancient times warriors would have to ride a horse to the battle and still be fresh to fight. Anyone who ever riden a horse knows that your legs, especially your inner thighs, get sore after riding for a while. Therefore, warriors would practice the "horse stance" to improve there leg strength so they would be able to fight once the battle was reached. High horse stances are worthless because it done by people who mistook the horse stance for a fighting stance and try to improve upon, because fighting from a true horse stance is universally stupid.
Have you ever tried some throwing techniques without it? Stances aren't meant to be perfect and rigid in a fight, they should adapt and flow from one to the other.
An idea: in ballet, dancers are often told to hold themselves in certain positions for long periods of time. This is to strengthen their muscles to use this position as an intermediary. The use of stances in eastern martial arts strikes me as being similair to this. I dunno.
Horse stance in the Kung Fu systems that I have experience in, is for Training purposes only, to strengthen the legs and build endurance and not for fighting in. I have never done a Horse Stance in Hapkido, but realise that different styles and teachers differ.
Umm who throws in a horse stance? Granted you do sperate you legs a bit and bend at the knee but it is not a horse stance. As a said before if I saw anyone in a horse stance in a fight I would kick, punch or grab their groin taking them out of the fight. Even if you want to control someone on the ground, I seen a horse stance used, but anyone w/ expirence on the ground would pivot on their hip and throw you into an open guard or strike to the groin. If you want to control someone on the ground w/o going to a grappling match perhaps a knee on stomach or knee on head is a good position. Never horse stance.
It's not a stance you stay in.. But if you watch movements it's varied in use as a transitionary stance.
these stances were part of neither Tae Kyon nor Daito Ryu Yawara, they came later and really don't stick to the rest of the system. It's karate influence. they are totally different to the stances of Tae Kyon or weapons forms, or just fighting. You cannot throw or secure anybody in horse stance, don't be funny...
tomek, maybe you should read everything I said. If you watch your body positioning, you will use a higher version when you move. Does everyone do it, no. Do I, yes, and it works.
The stances I only know of that we learn are Open stance when my oppenet has his right foot forward and I have my left foot forward, Close stance when I have my right foot forward and my oppenet has their right foot forward, and natural stance where you are just standing naturally.
http://www.selini108.com/modules/tutorials/listtutorials.php?cid=10 is all about stance work. Stancework? No good stance... No good kung fu! It's realy as simple as that, but to explain this and it's reason is another subject. Stancework concentrates at the standing positions. so these are not only your general stances but also commonly combined stances, modified stances according to style and common single forms, like striking a fist in a sidebow, striking in twisted bow ect... Chief108
Those kinds of stances are for kung Fu not for Hapkido.. You can't do any of the techniques from those types of stances.
I agree, but just tell me, how you move forward in fight? right-left-right/left, like in forms??? for sure not. stances are basic for all systems, but karate ones just don't stick to korean techniques. just look at the old days movies from Korea, from 60-s, only stance was horse one, for ki hap cha gi (I don'tknow how You call them, but I think You know what i mean), the rest was done in high positions. also old forms are in higher positions body mechanics and hips position ARE different in long stances, in forward (in HRD kong kyuk jwa sae) back hip cannot be used effectively... in fact it was Funakoshi Yoshitaka who put long, deep stances into karate in 30's, You cannot find them in Okinawa...
I don't hit low stances... I couldn't even if I wanted to because my knee won't support it. They are IMO for the most part impractical as far as reality goes. I think the best way I heard it put was a Bujinkan instructor referring to "postures" used to move from one position or technique into another, rather than a specific or static stance. I move forward generally at angles to my opponent. I've never been a large fan of linear movement (mostly again due to size and my knee).
Well My stances usually just consist of a Open stance where if my right foot is forward then the oppents left foot is forward and vice versa. Then we have the Closed stance were my right foot is forward and my oppents right foot is forward and vice versa. Then we have just the casual stance... because well we train in a casual stance because sometimes you don't know if someone is gonna just come at you and try to shank you. but yeah when I'm in open stance its not extravigant stance just shoulder with appart or so and hips turned to the enemy. Feet at a 45* angle. Yeah Our Movements are Circular.