Sparring Stances

[gzk]

Mine is a fairly normal boxing stance. Length is about the same as a brisk walking stride, width is about hip to shoulder, facing at a 15-30 degree angle, knees bent slightly, back heel off the ground, weight on the balls of the feet.

[ninjanurse]

I would have to say I teach my students a sort of boxing style stance with the weight centered, body turned sideways, back foot up on the ball. I am more for quick response and efficiency of energy.

[danbong]

I don't use a back stance but not because my knee might be hyperextended if kicked. First of all, in a back stance your front leg should not be straight. Secondly, if your knee is kicked hard straight on with your knee bent you would still be injured. A fractured knee cap would be the likely outcome.

The stance I use looks like a boxer's stance but is actually much closer to a shotokan fighting stance (what they call a short stance), but with hands held high.

I've seen back stances used very successfully. The key is to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the stance and to use appropriate tactics. For example, since your weight is on your back leg, you should have very quick counter kicks. And you might set your opponent up by throwing a few front leg kicks (just pick your foot up and kick) that fall short of your target. Then pick up your foot and skip in while you kick.

[KarateEd]

It is interesting that the common theme running through most of the posts is that of the trailing, or back, foot with the heel off the floor. I never learned this formally in either TSD or TKD. I do, however, do this while sparring, but I picked it up from a volume of Bruce Lee's Fighting Method (it was either Vol. 2 or 3)

Ed

[marie curie]

I move around a lot from side (cover) stances to front stances, depending on how I am moving and how my opponent is moving.

[bushido_man96]

Bushido, I think use a modified front stance, I'm not sure exactly how to describe it. I'd say it's a regular two steps deep maybe. I can see how using a backstance could help. One guy I have fought used it and threw killer kicks from his front leg. I couldn't do it but he sure could.

Yeah, I know what you mean. A lot of rear-leg kickers will put more weight on their front leg, so they can fire off of the back faster. I like to use my hands as well, so I stay pretty balanced, I guess.

[wingedMonkey]

our school uses an interesting and effective sparring stance. They call it a sparring stance but its more like a default position of ur body. The knees are slightly bent, bouncing on the balls of your feet and turned at a 45 degree angle to maximize direction to the side and front all the while keeping your hands up.

[Hwa Rang Warrior]

When I was a beginer I was taught to use a back stance. The more I spared the more my stance turned into a relaxed boxing stance. I try not to really fix my feet into a stance at all.

[wingedMonkey]

When I was a beginer I was taught to use a back stance. The more I spared the more my stance turned into a relaxed boxing stance. I try not to really fix my feet into a stance at all.

hehe, that's cool, our school emphisizes the stance i was talking about but eventually you see everyone in the school form their own default stance. Of course the instructors still emphisize to keep your hands up, move around, knees bent..u know important stuff like that.

[lordtariel]

I was at a local TKD school the other day and while talking with the instructor discovered that his TKD organization taught their students to spar in a back stance (with the front foot pointing toward your opponent). I can understand using this stance within the confines of point sparing where strikes below the belt or to the knees may not be allowed, but from a street fight perspective it seems that one would not want use this stance because the knee might be a tempting target since force directed straight at it would more then likely hyper-extend it. I usually spar with my front foot at about a 45 degree angle from the centerline of my body.

I am curious about others' thoughts on sparring from a back stance.

Ed

That's really curious, I've never come across anybody sparring in a back stance. But if the leading foot is facing your opponent, is it really a back stance?