Karate stances practice

[meirc]

Hi

I am beginner in Karate and i having hard time with my Sensi regarding Karate stances.

I want to practice at home on my stances but i am looking for the proper/right way to do so.

Can you help me to find the proper way or any trick that i can use to practice at home?

Our Sensi don't allow us to look on our foots and correct the stances he wants that from Yoi (preperation stance) we will go directly to the correct stances without fixing our stance.

[WireFrame]

I can understand he wants you to "feel" when the stance is right instead of having to look, but it seems harsh to never let you correct yourself.

I suggest you find some good info on the stances in your style, practice them at home (maybe with a mirror?) and get used to how the correct stance feels. I don't do Shito-ryu so I'm sorry I can't be of more help for how your stances should be.

But good luck.

[GeoGiant]

I have to agree with WireFrame that seems a bit harsh for someone learning. I think you need to identify “what” your biggest form issue is & then try to correct it. After you have the big problems corrected, you can tweak your technique.

For example, my Sensei walks behind people while we are doing our floor drills and he tries to push / pull people to see how off balance they are. I always stepped into a wide stance that appeared to have good form (I don’t move when surprised with a push or pull) but my stance was so wide that I tended to move forward with an awkward movement.

My Sensei kept telling me not to step so wide (problem identified). To try to stop stepping so wide I measured the distance from shoulder to shoulder, across my chest. Then I put two strips of masking tape, as wide as that shoulder-to-shoulder measurement, the entire length of my basement. When I practice at home I perform floor drills while concentrating on keeping my feet on the tape. It has taken some time but I’m starting to feel like I’m improving.

[WireFrame]

For example, my Sensei walks behind people while we are doing our floor drills and he tries to push / pull people to see how off balance they are.

Yeah one of my sensei's used to do that.

[sensei8]

Not looking at your feet while transitioning from one stance to another is very important because your eyes should be focused on your opponent(s). Practicing is the key to everything because practice makes perfect. Not looking at your feet while practicing is akin to someone learning how to type without looking at the keys. One of the drills used by type teachers is to cover the keys with a sheet of paper so that one can learn just where the individual keys are touch.

Hence, we've got the mirror to act as our piece of paper, we "feel by touch" where our feet should be in each particular stance. Pretty soon, one would remove that piece of paper because one would know proper foot placement in any said stance.

One of the drills that I have my beginner students do is just that---transitioning from one stance to another, and I'm not referring to kata, while that does work as well, but, to move/transition from one stance to another without looking down, making sure that their posture and balance is positive. And doing this drill while facing a mirror helps in doing just that.

Always remember the instructions of your instructor while practicing at home, and this is why it's critical for students of any level to keep a log of what the "key points" are. Just as soon as the class ends, jot down every "key point" while it's fresh in your mind.

After that, don't make a mountain out of a mole-hill because after-all, their just stances and their nothing to get worked up about. Yeah, at first it appears impossible until muscle memory kicks in, and it will kick in, but it's just a stance.

One more thing, just get into whatever stance you want to without even thinking about it at all....just assume the stance. Now, don't move, admire it and look at it, but don't look now...you went right into the stance. Now, adjust it, fix it, and analysis it. Keep doing this and before you know it, WHAM, you're getting into every stance without thought and you will just know it WITHOUT looking, that you stance is correct and solid across the board!

[tonydee]

Definitely stances can vary from school to school, so do make a point of listening to the specific instructions you've received. Do put markers on the floor for width and length and practice stepping forward, backward, and changing direction. Be aware of the direction of your hips while in the stance: should you be front facing, side facing, or somewhere in between? Is any hip movement required when stepping or settling after a step? Which legs are bent and by how much? Where is your knee relative to your heel (vertically above it, behind, ...)? Which direction should each foot face?

These things help you get started. Later, correct stances must be defined by the potentials for defence, offence and mobility that they create, with the first two being heavily influenced by the last. So, don't take all the rules of thumb about lengths and angles too seriously, but do use them as a way to get you in the right ballpark so you can begin to feel what's right, and have a basis for fine tuning things in a year or five.

Cheers,

Tony

[Blade96]

I have to agree with WireFrame that seems a bit harsh for someone learning

I agree. Harsh. I'm a yellow belt and we were working on our kokutsu dachi (thats back stance for beginners who might not know japanese yet)) for our heian nidan kata, and Sensei always lets us look down so we can correct our stance. well he does at first (we just got promoted so last night was our first yellow belt class so at first, yeah, he's gonna let us look down to correct ourselves at first.) Of course he pushes us too to see how off balance we are.

one point was funny - when we raise our arms at the beginning of this kata to block a punch and sensei told me to hit him. So I did and he was like 'Wicked!" what a powerful block!" Then he told my friend to do it. I was almost laughing cause he said to the guy, "Come on you should hit harder than that! *Blade* (ok not using my real name) can hit much harder than you and she's only a tiny little girl!" LOL.

Edited March 3, 2010 by Blade96

[sensei8]

Tony brings up some very important technical aspects of stance work that should be noted; very solid.

When I say that a stance is just a stance, it shouldn't be taken literal. A stance is critical and a solid stance is very important to the whole make up of the practitioner. Without practicing and understanding the technical aspects of every stance, then a stance is NO longer a stance.

I approached this topic in very simplistic terms while Tony hit the topic in very technical terms, both critical to one beginning to understand stances and the like.

Just relax and let the stance become natural, as natural as possible.

[Lupin1]

When I practice my stances at home I do several things. First I stand in the stance and look at it to make any corrections and then I just stand like that for awhile to get a feel for it (my instructor always tells us to watch TV in horsestance to develop a lower, stronger horsestance). Then I'll go to my ready stance and try to step to the stance I was in-- I'll look at it again and see what I'm doing wrong and then go back and try again focusing on what I was doing wrong before and I'll just keep doing it until I can get there consistantly. Finally when I'm starting to feel comfortable with a stance I'll start adding blocks and punches and kicks and stuff to practice getting in the stance while doing that other stuff too. It takes a long time (I'm still not great at most of my stances) but I've been seeing a LOT of improvement in my stances since I've been working on them like that.

[Kuma]

Lupin1 has some good advice. Set yourself up in a proper stance by allowing yourself to look down and adjust it as you see fit, then once you're set in it get a feel for it. I actually like closing my eyes once I'm in a good stance and feeling it from my feet all the way up to my head. Doing it this way lets you concentrate more IMO. Once you've done that for a while, then you can step into the stance and from there you'll be able to adjust better without looking down.