Catstance

[Dresden]

I studied Shotokan for many years at a sparring oriented dojo,with little emphasis placed on kata.Shotokan katas use mostly backstance as opposed to catstance.18 months ago I started studying traditional Okinawan Shorin Ryu with a HEAVY emphasis on kata.This style employs catstance exstensively and mine STINKS!!!I am 46,6ft tall and weigh 210.Ive worked construction for many years and am in real good shape.I can do sidesplits and lay my chest on the ground so I dont feel that I have flexibility issues.My problem is that in catstance I can get very little bend in my back knee while keeping my back straight.Can someone offer advice please?

[cathal]

You should lower your hips a bit while keeping shoulders over your hips. That should help.

[hawkfish]

I have found, even though I like to think I am in pretty good shape too, that strengthening my leg muscles has helped my stances a great deal.

Even though I have been lifting weights for 28 years, the way the muscles are used in stances is totally different from how they are used in when lifting. Even though I would assume you are strong from working construction, the muscles used on your job are probably much different than those used when doing stances.

One of the things that has helped me is holding the stance for a period of time. As an example, my horsestance needed a lot of work so I would hold the stance, in a position even lower than normal, for say 60 seconds and then each time I would do it, I would try to increase the time even if it was only 5 seconds more.

They key thing is to make sure that you do the stance the level you want to be at or preferably lower. This will not only make the muscle stronger in that position but also help make the muscles remember what position they should be in for that particular stance.

The other thing is, you said you can do the side splits but how is your front split? My flexibility is awful but slowly coming along but I had spent most of my time working on side splits and neglecting other areas such as the front of my hips. Keeping my back straight in stances seems to require more flexibility in the front of the hip area and since I starting paying attention to that area again, I can keep my back straighter than before.

[alsey]

practice holding the stance, and gradually make it deeper. it probably just takes practice. my cat stance sucks as well, because we never use it in shotokan. ask your sensei about it as well if you havn't already.

[Abraham_lincoln]

I hope I can help, considering that I actually practice shorin ryu. I usually focus more on the distribution of my weight between both legs, rather than focusing on how much to bend. The front leg should have only the toes and the balls of your feet touching the ground, and the back foot should be perpindicular to the front foot. So that if you were to put your front foot down, they would form a right angle.

Kata wise, I'm working on kata pasai, which uses a cat stance at two different points in the kata (Here's a video-

) First, there's a cat stance about 23 seconds in, after the punches from a scissor stance. Then, the second time is about 50 seconds in, after the blocks from a scissor stance.

[P.A.L]

I studied Shotokan for many years at a sparring oriented dojo,with little emphasis placed on kata.Shotokan katas use mostly backstance as opposed to catstance.18 months ago I started studying traditional Okinawan Shorin Ryu with a HEAVY emphasis on kata.This style employs catstance exstensively and mine STINKS!!!I am 46,6ft tall and weigh 210.Ive worked construction for many years and am in real good shape.I can do sidesplits and lay my chest on the ground so I dont feel that I have flexibility issues.My problem is that in catstance I can get very little bend in my back knee while keeping my back straight.Can someone offer advice please?

you didn't explain enough, do you feel pain? do you keep forgetting it? do you feel tired? the best thing for correcting it is to put a BO in your belt in such a way you feel it on 2 point of upper and lower back.

one more thing the back foot is in 45 degree not 90, the width of the stance is not more than the width of a fist , and the length of stance is not less than one foot plus width of a fist. this is according to shorinkan/kobayashi ryu/shobayashi ryu/Mstsumura seito , I don't know what you practice.

[bushido_man96]

Make sure to keep your shoulders over your hips, and exagerate the knee bend to get some good muscle memory in there.

[Jiffy]

as PAL said, can you please provide more info as to what happens when you try to bend your knee more.

[Brandon Fisher]

I agree with PAL on this. The way Pal described the cat stance is exactly how I practice as well and I have devoloped mine where it is very strong. However it didn't come easily and took some time. Also as already said you are using different muscles in your legs then you are probably used to and that makes a difference. Strengthen your legs more but take it slow. I have gotten to the point where last time I tried I was able to leg press 600lbs when I weighed less then 130lbs. karate stances are great to build leg strength.

[Zorbasan]

my guess is its utilising muscles that you havent used a lot over the years.

jsut practice practice practice