Mountain stance

1992

White Belt
Joined
Nov 1, 2013
Messages
13
Reaction score
1
Location
east coast US
Hello everyone. I have searched here and elsewhere. I am looking for an illustration of what is sometimes called the 'mountain stance'. Can anyone here please help?
 
What context is this coming from?

I am familiar with single and double mountain blocks but have never heard of a mountain stance.
 
I'm not a TKD expert or anything, but I've never even heard of mountain stance. This is from my knowledge doing TKD for a few years as a kid and a few months as an adult (in 2 separate schools), and doing a lot of browsing on the internet.

Looking up "Mountain Stance Tae Kwon Do" I don't find anything on the first page of Google. Just doing "Mountain Stance", I get a lot of hits for Everquest and Dungeons+Dragons, but it looks like there might be a stance called "Mountain Climber Stance" in Kung Fu. It appears to be like a twisted TKD front stance (front foot in line with rear foot instead of offset, toes pointed sideways).
 
That would certainly be confusing. Keumgang has a number of mountain blocks (santeul makki) done from a horse stance (juchum seogi), and a number of diamond low blocks (keumgang arae makki) done from a crane stance (hakdari seogi). And of course, the name refers to Mt Keumgang. Palgwae and Taegeuk Chil Jang are both linked to the gwae Gahn, one of the meanings of which is mountain.
I've never heard of anything called a mountain stance in TKD.
 
Hello everyone. I have searched here and elsewhere. I am looking for an illustration of what is sometimes called the 'mountain stance'. Can anyone here please help?
Maybe it is from Mountain climbers, Which is a front lean and rest position with one leg tucked under your chest.
Sean
 
I'm not a TKD expert or anything, but I've never even heard of mountain stance. This is from my knowledge doing TKD for a few years as a kid and a few months as an adult (in 2 separate schools), and doing a lot of browsing on the internet.

Looking up "Mountain Stance Tae Kwon Do" I don't find anything on the first page of Google. Just doing "Mountain Stance", I get a lot of hits for Everquest and Dungeons+Dragons, but it looks like there might be a stance called "Mountain Climber Stance" in Kung Fu. It appears to be like a twisted TKD front stance (front foot in line with rear foot instead of offset, toes pointed sideways).

That one. In TKD it'd be a narrow front stance I believe.

In CMA styles that I've heard use that name, it's Dun San Ma (Canto).
 
That one. In TKD it'd be a narrow front stance I believe.

In CMA styles that I've heard use that name, it's Dun San Ma (Canto).

The narrow front stance in TKD is called "Ap Seogi" or walking stance. It's the same as ap kubi but narrow and more upright.
 
By narrow I meant laterally narrow. It is as deep as a front stance, but the feet are inline instead of offset (and the KF stance appears to open your rear to the opponent, I.e. getting ready for a spinning heel kick).
 
If you're changing stance to "get ready" for a kick, then you're telegraphing the kick. Not recommended...

Lateral IS the definition of a narrow stance. Short is ap seogi, longer is ap kubi. The width depends on the system. The Moo Duk Kwan ap kubi is considerably wider than the KKW version, for example.

A front stance with the feet "in line" would be terribly weak and unstable. If you're using something like the back stance, where the body is turned somewhat to the side, then the feet can line up in an "L". In forms, the weight in the back stance should be primarily on the rear leg (although obviously when fighting weight shifts depending on specific circumstances).

Regardless, ignoring the Chinese arts (since this is the TKD forum, and the question was specifically about TKD), I think the OP needs to ask their instructor about this, because I do not believe there is anything called a "Mountain Stance" in any of the major branches of TKD.
 
That would certainly be confusing. Keumgang has a number of mountain blocks (santeul makki) done from a horse stance (juchum seogi)

I feel like maybe I've heard someone call that particular move a mountain stance before? Anyhow, if I had to take a guess about what the OP was talking about, it would be this.
 
Whether you want to call it mountain climbing stance, bow arrow stance, or just front stance, in MA, the name is not important. In CMA, there are 3 different kind of mountain climbing stances.

1. The longfist system uses both feet parallel.
2. The Taiji system uses the front toes, front heel, and back heel on one straight lone.
3. The SC system uses the front foot and back foot in a 90 degree angle (as shown in the follow picture. It's used for body rotation).

http://imageshack.com/a/img13/5448/oldpic22.jpg
 
I feel like maybe I've heard someone call that particular move a mountain stance before? Anyhow, if I had to take a guess about what the OP was talking about, it would be this.

Profile of the OP states he is a Taekwondo redbelt (which I presume makes them either a 2nd or 3rd geup, depending on the system), so Keumgang is a bit out of his level, at this point.

Regardless, as stated, I do not think there is any major branch of taekwondo that uses the term "mountain stance". People may, of course, erroneously use the term, but that's not really pertinent.
 
Profile of the OP states he is a Taekwondo redbelt (which I presume makes them either a 2nd or 3rd geup, depending on the system), so Keumgang is a bit out of his level, at this point.

Regardless, as stated, I do not think there is any major branch of taekwondo that uses the term "mountain stance". People may, of course, erroneously use the term, but that's not really pertinent.

Soo bahk do has a mountain stance.
 
Folks, keep things friendly and polite.



Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
 
I think bringing up Mountain Stance from other martial arts is relevant. Not knowing where the OP heard "mountain stance" from, and not knowing of one in TKD, it's likely someone got their arts mixed up.
 
Well, let's see... The OP is a Tae Kwon Do student and asked in the Tae Kwon Do forum.
While not absolute proof, I think that's fairly solid circumstantial evidence that he's asking about Tae Kwon Do stances.
Or maybe I'm crazy...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk.
 
Back
Top