Why can't we?

[IWishToLearn]

Yah. Me no likey sack-taps either.

 

[searcher]

I teach them from time to time for training purposes, ie. conditioning and I have some students who compete that use them in forms competition. As for a use during a fighting application I only teach them for when in a fight you lose your balance it helps you re-center and not go down. I learned that from a boxing coach I had, then re-applied it to the other styles I study/teach. It can have its uses just like any other technique, whether they are limited or not.

 

[Bigshadow]

"A stance too narrow provides you speed/but leaves you imbalance which you don't need"

I totally disagree with that! If your head is centered over your shoulders, your shoulders centered over your hips, your hips centered over your heels, then you will be balanced. Often people don't keep this in mind when moving, they either lead with their head or their feet, not their hips. If you move any of these things out of alignment, you will be structurally imbalanced. If you have all these aligned, no matter whether the stance is natural or deep, you will be balanced.

 

[IWishToLearn]

There is a difference between stable and balanced. Balanced means you can move without having to realign yourself, stable means if you needed to you can take a hit without major damaged.

Head-Shoulders-Hips is a great checklist.

 

[Andrew Green]

There is a difference between stable and balanced. Balanced means you can move without having to realign yourself, stable means if you needed to you can take a hit without major damaged.

Head-Shoulders-Hips is a great checklist.

I think being stable in the sense of being hard to move is a bad idea when someone hits you. You take the whole force of the impact, which usually hurts. Leading to the phrase "Roll with the punches"

 

[JasonASmith]

I totally disagree with that! If your head is centered over your shoulders, your shoulders centered over your hips, your hips centered over your heels, then you will be balanced. Often people don't keep this in mind when moving, they either lead with their head or their feet, not their hips. If you move any of these things out of alignment, you will be structurally imbalanced. If you have all these aligned, no matter whether the stance is natural or deep, you will be balanced.

That's actually one of the reasons why I even posted this thread in the first place...From a practical standpoint, it seems to me that you would want to be as stable/balanced as possible during a confrontation...

 

[Bigshadow]

That's actually one of the reasons why I even posted this thread in the first place...From a practical standpoint, it seems to me that you would want to be as stable/balanced as possible during a confrontation...

Yes I agree. Every movement should be done balanced. Just as BigNick pointed out though, all stances have weak points. If you draw a line between the heels, the person will be weak perpendicular to that line, no matter whether they are standing naturally or in a deep stance or how the torso is turned, they will always be weak in those directions.

 

[Touch Of Death]

Mobility, mobility, mobility.

 

[Touch Of Death]

There is a difference between stable and balanced. Balanced means you can move without having to realign yourself, stable means if you needed to you can take a hit without major damaged.

Head-Shoulders-Hips is a great checklist.

Balance is an ability.

 

[Andy Moynihan]

I totally disagree with that! If your head is centered over your shoulders, your shoulders centered over your hips, your hips centered over your heels, then you will be balanced. Often people don't keep this in mind when moving, they either lead with their head or their feet, not their hips. If you move any of these things out of alignment, you will be structurally imbalanced. If you have all these aligned, no matter whether the stance is natural or deep, you will be balanced.

Good points.

Man, if that had been my original quote I'd be red faced embarrassed right now........

 

[IWishToLearn]

By the same token, if your weight is above your heels and you are pushed, you're every bit as vulnerable to the same type of attack.

 

[Bigshadow]

By the same token, if your weight is above your heels and you are pushed, you're every bit as vulnerable to the same type of attack.

Your weight is always above your heels (except in a very few, let's say stances)... Remember this isn't static. Balanced movement is very dynamic. Certainly one's resistance to force is relative to where the force is exerted on their body and the magnitude of the force. As an extreme example, it doesn't matter how deep of a stance you get, you are not going to take a hit from a speeding car and still be standing. It is all relative and dynamic.

 

[IWishToLearn]

Ok, now I see where you're going with it. I had a feeling we were approaching the same end result from different angles, now I'm sure of it.

And btw - speak for yourself with the car- I have one of them yellow and red S shields under my shirt---errrr wait I wasn't sposed to say that...

Heh.

 

[Bigshadow]

Ok, now I see where you're going with it. I had a feeling we were approaching the same end result from different angles, now I'm sure of it.

And btw - speak for yourself with the car- I have one of them yellow and red S shields under my shirt---errrr wait I wasn't sposed to say that...

Heh.

You still wear superman underoos? :rofl:

 

[IWishToLearn]

UndertheSHIIIIRRRT dernit the SHIRT!


And no - I wear those OUTSIDE my pants.


ACK!

 

[Touch Of Death]

When you center of gravity falls within your base you are stable not balanced.
Sean

 

[kingkong89]

the reason we do not use deep stances because of the matter of time, sure in a kumite match there is a time period. But the results are points, in real life the result is hospitalor grave. Sometimes we do not have time to get into a deep stance. HICH

 

[Robert Lee]

I read in 1 post That related to stance and ground type. This post was very correct. Stance in different styles deals with the type of ground you were fighting on many times. Low deep stance give good balance on uneven ground where high stance work well on more even ground. Then also stance in any fight can be ever changeing depend on the fight. You can drop to a lower stance and rise fast during a defence or offence motion. Skill trains this. Now most styles deal with several stances. You will find a key fighting postion You will primarly fight out of and the other postion/ stance are a moment in time. Then you remember that fighting leads to glapple and ground where things are agin much different. As most places here in the U S you would use a higher stance and few times a lower stance. You will find what works well for you But remember you can drop to a low stance then high stance in a blink of an eye During a fight motion. You just have to add the springing action to your movements.

 

[Em MacIntosh]

Always be a moving target. Take a 'fighting stance' that lets you move like a boxer (not that you'll necessarilly be moving like a boxer), relax but keep your center of gravity low. Your fighting stance should be able to let you take a deep stance when you need to to add power to a hand/arm strike, but your deep stance should let you resume your fighting stance easily. In sparring, I've found the deep, long stance to be intimidating to some opponents but on the street when someone is intent on hurting you, it's more likely he's got you intimidated. The softest thing cannot be broken.

 

[chinto]

you have several stances in your system i would think, and some are high and some are lower. so select the one that workes for that instant. its not as if you can not change stance in the altercation. but I agree, I personaly would tend to start in a nutral stance that looks like I may have no training or very little to begain with and move from there.