TKD Fighting Stance(s)

[SBN Doug]

Well, traditional to us means thighs parallel to the floor. So, I definately modify it for fighting.

 

As far as your example; If I were in that close, I'd be grabbing hold for a lock, sweep, or throw. So, my opinion of a stance at that point probably wouldn't be what you're looking for.

[ZR440]

Delta,

 

The classroom is one thing, but do you think you should be worried about it on the street under uncontrolled conditions? Like KSN Doug said, you modify it for fighting.

[Toast]

My school trains mostly in open style, but a handful of us are expereienced in WTF style...as I went to the Jr. Olympics this past year.

 

Our stances in "poomse" (korean word for forms) are not taken over to sparring. But all a form really is, is a "sparring" or "self-defense" scenario.

 

In sport karate, using a front, or back, or horse stance would get you beat down.

[delta1]

Yep, guys, I do fight from the stance I'm comfortable with (neutral bow). But the principles taught in the traditional stances do transfer to my fighting stance, even though the traditional stances themselves I find really limmited (at least at this stage of my training). I just wondered if any of you had found some uses that I might should be on the lookout for. Proper use of principles is, to me, the main thing in any art. So I enjoy learning the "proper" way to do a move, then transfering the principles to a more practical move.

 

This sort of leads into the question "why did they originally teach the moves that way?" Did they have a use that has been lost or made obsolete over time? Some might have been designed to counter a prevalent style of fighting at a particular time, or to overcome a type of body armor. But whatever the reason, these moves were designed for seriouse combat, even if later modified for todays tournaments. So there has to be some useful basis in reality for this stuff. Just my viewpoint.

[cross]

I'll just add 1 way i use the front stance.

 

When sparring its good to move forward from your basic fighting stance into the forward stance while throwing a technique.

 

This is a great way to close distance between yourself and your opponent. And depending on when you put your front foot it can be in a position to sweep your opponent.

[ExaltedLegend]

yeah i use the combative stance or hapkido similar to mine except sometimes i raise my frontfoot so its standing barley off the ground.

[delta1]

I got a couple of books by Jhoon Rhee. His examples of hyungs, one steps and self defenses use a lot of front stances. But in the section on freestyling I noticed that everything starts and ends in a back stance. He transitions through several stances, but never once uses a front stance. He does use a stance change with strikes that transitions through a close kneel or lunge stance, which looks to use some of the principles of the front stance. So apparently the front stance is mostly a training stance to teach principles, correct?

[Guy_Mendiola]

So then the back stance ain't used that much but the front stance are?

[delta1]

Guyanson_Mendiola,

 

No, it's the other way around from what I'm seeing both in the books and on the mats. But I'm asking you guys here because I'm new to practicing TKD, and I'm in a very non traditional school. Their fighting stance resembles more a Hapkido stance, or AK's neutral bow. What do you see in your school or experience?

[Guy_Mendiola]

ok, so in my dojang we just do the traditional way of TKD but it's the ITF style but in the TKD organization that i'm in let's you do both ITF and WTF but we only do ITF style of TKD.