Stances are the key

[longarm25]

who needs a good base any way

[Shorin Ryuu]

all your base are belong to us

 

 

 

Sorry, I just felt the urge to put that in there.

[Ripper]

When in the dojo you train in the stances your instructor teaches. To do otherwise is disrespectful.

When you are a yellow belt you shouldn't be too obstinate, but if you are walking around with these questions you should be able to ask them to your instructor. If he can't give a satisfying answer you can do 2 things. You can think, well I'm just a yellow belt and I probably will comprehend it better when I'm a black belt. Then you train on the way he says.

 

Or you can think, the man is totally ignorant. Then you should quit and find another dojo.

 

That is not being disrespectful, just being sensible.

[cross]

Deep stances are more of an endurance training tool than anything else.

 

In my opinion, stances are an over-exaggeration of the transfer of weight and direction of movement. There are much better ways to condition your legs than using stances.

[Sasori_Te]

Actually I'm pretty sure that I read somewhere that the wide stances in Shotokan were changed that way in order to promote endurance and conditioning for the school kiddies. But you have a valid point Cross. (That'll be $2.00 for validating your point .

[NidaninNJ]

Shotokan stances picks:

Really good Zenkutsu-Dachi

http://www.shotokankarate.dabsol.co.uk/shotokan/stances/zenkutsu.htm

Excellent Kokutsu-Dachi

http://jkanewbrunswick.hostrocket.com/pykes.htm

http://www.shotokaku.com/pix_tecniche/kokutsu_dachi.jpg

Many other Shotokan Stances:

http://www.shotokaku.com/p_kihon_posizioni.htm

That front stance is good but the back foot could be turned a little more forward. Other than that it's pretty good!

The other links all don't work.

[Hobbes]

Even though I am just a yellow belt. I don't think i'll get an argument when i say that stances are the most important.

Hmmm.... stances do little good when you are on your back. Hopefully then can help you make a controlled decent.

[NidaninNJ]

Deep stances are more of an endurance training tool than anything else.

In my opinion, stances are an over-exaggeration of the transfer of weight and direction of movement. There are much better ways to condition your legs than using stances.

There are better ways to strengthen the legs if you have just 15 minutes a couple times a week and all you want to do is strengthen them. Go to the gym and pump iron for that! But by using stances we are conditioning them in the activity we are trying to make better. So it is more than just strengthening. And also we are doing karate for an hour or more which is a lot more than we can usually do the iron-pumping. I guess this means we are doing more aerobic workout but this means it is something that we can use more directly...I mean if we just strengthen by pumping iron will that transfer to strong techniques? I don't think it's as good for you as the stances. Pumping iron can definintely help with strengthening but if I have to choose I choose karate training for conditioning.

[NidaninNJ]

Deep stances are more of an endurance training tool than anything else.

In my opinion, stances are an over-exaggeration of the transfer of weight and direction of movement. There are much better ways to condition your legs than using stances.

In my last message I commented about the conditioning part of the comment above. I forgot to comment about the other part. I think Cross has a great point about transfer of weight and direction of movement. Stances aren't meant to be trained just to stand there and not always in the basic positions. We are training to move. The stances are great for that but I think we need to remember that the stances aren't meant to just be standing positions all the time.

[Hobbes]

I guess this means we are doing more aerobic workout but this means it is something that we can use more directly...I mean if we just strengthen by pumping iron will that transfer to strong techniques? I don't think it's as good for you as the stances.

If we keep the load on the muscle as a constant, then strength has a significant impact. I'm not in anyway suggesting that by using "constant" I'm satying static. what many people think of as "stances" are really snap shots in a secquence of transitions.

Now getting back to the example. If I load the biceps with a 40Kg weight and ask the person to hold that at with an elbow flexion of 90 degrees, with time they will tire and the weight will lower involuntarily. With strength conditioning, the muscle has greater capacity to do work under the same load. they will tire but it will take longer. Weight training is one of the best ways of gaining strength. If you look at someone who "just" does karate and test them and then have them weight train for 6 weeks and test them again, you will see noticeable improvements. The transfer is very significant and very real. weigth training is an excellent suppliment