Stances

[Aces Red]

I've witnessed a dude down at the current dojo I attend use the horse stance in Jujitsu and very rarely does he ever get taken down or defeated. He's one of our best grapplers next to Roberto who uses the reverse stance. Kind'a odd but eh whatever works. I've got my horse stance down; all I need to learn now is how to use the forward fighting and my cat stances. I always seem to be easy to push in those two stances for some reason as compaired to the horse stance. Are there any tricks to wielding such a stance that you know of? Mind you I stand about 6'3-6'4, so my legs are very long. Any help would be appreciated

[The BB of C]

I suggest getting your stances as low as possible while being comfortable. This means work on your leg flexibility so you can keep getting lower while staying just as comfortable in case you have to be there for a little while. Try standing in a horse stance while facing your opponent's side.

[MMA_Jim]

A horse stance wouldnt be too practical if you're attempting to defend a takedown.

The whole premise of defending takedowns is to defend your hips. You've got 3 lines of defense. Your hands, your elbows, and finally your hips. Rather than trying to be in a deep stance, you should be in a mobile stance.

A strong rooted stance allows for good power when striking. A mobile stance where you're light on your feet is good for sprawling and defending takedowns.

[NightOwl]

Stances aren't meant to be held forever- the horse stance is good for leg training but in my opinion is horrible for mobility and not that great for takedown defense besides a guy just running into you. It does give you a root for power I guess though.

[granitemiller]

Part of any throw is to break your opponent's balance. A good solid stance, regardless of what it is, makes it that much harder to bring him down.

[Adonis]

stances are for stability, and moving the weight.

However as far as if you want a stronger stable stance. Holding drills probably work for you better.

Get a timer and get into a particular stance you have a hard time with. Ie. Cat stance. Then hold it for 1 or 2 mintues how long you can stand it. work that 2 or 3 times a day. Working on keeping it stable. Your legs will stregthen up, and your stance will be come stronger.

You can also have a partner help you out while you do the timed stance drills. Have a partner push on you a little bit while your in your stance at diffrent angles and you hold a stable postion while you get pushed on. Not hard where your thrown over, enough to test your balance and stability so you can improve that area you want to work on.

I hope that helps.

[MMA_Jim]

Part of any throw is to break your opponent's balance. A good solid stance, regardless of what it is, makes it that much harder to bring him down.

Part of throwing someone or taking them down also has to do with pentrating their base. Standing in a deep solid stance makes it very easy for your base to be offset and pentrated. A strong stance that is mobile is what is required. As such being in a deep rooted stance is very ineffective at stopping takedowns.

[pegasi]

One difficulty with stances other than horse stance is "linearity" or keeping the feet in line or too close which you do NOT want when in front stance for example. In front stance, you want the feet shoulder width (or hip width apart at the minumum). If you take an object you know very well... your shoe.. and use it as your measuring device... if your feet are one shoe length apart, or just a little more, you're at the minimum spacing for stability.

I'm not that practiced in cat stance, so I can't comment there.

[towknee]

Just a thought... This sounds in part like someone who may have excellent core strength. A karate training partner of mine mentioned a couple of years ago about doing some push-hands with someone who was almost impossible to push over. Very strong core. Very stable.

Perhaps there is a related concept? Recently I have been trying to improve core strength and found that my horse stance was a bit stronger and I could maintain it longer.

Several years ago my sensi told about seeing (or perhaps hearing about) another black belt who could hold a horse stance with a bow staff across his thights for a couple of hours. He figured 'what the heck, I bet I can do that'. Wrong. Couldn't get even close. Now, age stops both of us but I know core training has strengthened my horse stance quite a bit.

Luck.