Why are stances important

[Smokey]

I am sick of hearing "back leg straight" " dont bend the knee" over and over again.

 

Why do we need to learn these stances when we will not use them in a fight situation ?

[White Warlock]

For the same reason you wear diapers before you learn to walk. One without the other, and you have nothing to fall back on.

 

Seriously though, who cares about the foundation of a home, when it's the home that you're going to live in... and not the foundation? Well, because without a proper foundation, that home could very well collapse in on itself, with you in it.

 

Stances help to ingrain the appropriate positions you should be striving for when you get into a conflict. It is not uncommon for untrained fighters to carry their center of balance too high, or place too much emphasis on the 'wrong' leg when leading or retreating. Such critical mistakes are exploited in almost every martial art, so it is essential you understand stances.... for they are the foundation.

 

Be patient. As annoying as this may sound, eventually what they are teaching you will make sense, assuming they are teaching you correctly.

[Sasori_Te]

Stances are transitory movements and you may actually use them in a fight if you ever get to the level to understand what I mean. I'm not trying to belittle you or anything, you just seem new to the arts to me as your complaint is a fairly common one.

 

Straightening the back leg on a forward/zenkutsu dachi allows several things to happen: 1) You stabilize yourself for making contact with an opponent 2) You give your technique a fuller extension 3) If you throw the technique at the same time you lock out the back leg you put more body mass into the technique.

 

You also need to understand something else. If you are in a Japanese style ( Shotokan based ), The stances you train in, are not the stances you will fight with, or at least they shouldn't be. That's just my opinion btw. The deep stances in Japanese arts are meant to strengthen the leg muscles as well as the core muscles as you move between stances. The theory being that if you can move well between and through deep stances, then you should be like lightning if you shorten them up.

 

I personally train the shorter stances all the time as I don't want to risk putting deeper stances into muscle memory.

 

That's just my two cents worth. Good luck in your training.

[White Warlock]

Agreed, that is another reason. Leg strengthening/conditioning.

[WapCaplet]

As just another example of why stances are important; we have recently been focusing on weight transfer during kicks, which is best practiced in stance. Without a good understand of how to transfer your weight during a kick, you severly jeapordize your ability to maintain balance and accuracy.

 

But then you might say 'Well can't we practice weight transfer in a normal fighting stance?'. I suppose you could, but weight transfer is only one aspect of stance practice. Start considering all the important aspects of karate (or any martial art) and you will probably arrive at the conclusion that the best way to practice and ingrain those concepts is to perform them in stance.

 

Just my thoughts...

 

Wap

[Drunken Monkey]

.....i would say that something that isn't 'taught' is that stance isn't just about your legs.

 

correct stance is part of forming correct structure.

 

if your stances aren't good, then your entire structure is going to be off.

[SevenStar]

I am sick of hearing "back leg straight" " dont bend the knee" over and over again.

 

because you need solid basics. After you advance some, you will hear it less.

 

Why do we need to learn these stances when we will not use them in a fight situation ?

 

you use them all the time, you just don't sit in them like are doing right now. You use stances in transition. They will be more narrow and your legs may not be straight, but it's the stance nonetheless.

 

Another application of stances are throws and stance disruptions. Go to judoinfo and check out some judo throws. stances are everywhere, because without a base, you can't do anything.

 

Now, having said that, different arts train stances different ways. In judo, we don't do formal stance work, but we do do uchi komis, or fit-ins. that's where we work from for the throw, basically. In thai boxing, we don't do formal stance training, but stance is constantly checked and corrected.

[SevenStar]

Agreed, that is another reason. Leg strengthening/conditioning.

 

That's one I've always disagreed with.It does condition, but doesn't really strengthen. When yohu do something for a long period of time, it doesn't require strength - it requires endurance. In my CMA days, I had a 5 min horse stance. I squat 400 pounds. There were guys in the class wth an 8 min horse stance. They couldn't squat 200. If it were a strengthenning exercise, they'd be of greater strength, or at least able to kick harder. Different types of muscle fibers are worked when dealing with strength and endurance training.

[Master Jules]

Man who build house on sticks and sand.....eventually have no house....

[White Warlock]

Man who urinate in bushes... eventually get bitten by snake...