Friday 23 June 2017

Micro post: What's the point of stances

Again, not an in-depth post or anything, I just found a few photos on my phone the other day stemming from an article that was never written (that happens), and thought I could use them to provide hopefully good content for you :-) Stances are often viewed to be unrealistic and many never give them much thought when looking at the postures within Poomsae. They could however, have an important part of your application if you chose to look closer. I've picked this up from both Mu Duk Kwan practisioner, a Keysi seminar, but the man who has opened up my eyes for their true potential is Samir, an incredibly knowledgeable guy who specializes in Okinawan Karate. The examples in this photo are simply a taste, but they are functional and can open up a wide range of possibilities. That being said there are countless other ways to use stances than the ones here. On the left you'll see apkoobi being used to crash into the opponent and take out his structure. On the right you'll see a stance being used to trip the opponent. Both are amplifying the hand techniques being used.


6 comments:

  1. Those leg attacks - the two scenarios where I find they work really well are when you tie up his hands or lock them still. Or when he's got his leg up. There are other times you can use it, but those two instances make the leg attacks easy for hard stylists.

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  2. i wrote about leg traps, foot hooks, and "knee wheels" in my last article on footwork in TTKD issue #100. but a few more observations.
    i believe the main issue (which i am currently writing about) is not so much the exact stances per se,but the proximity of the opponents. if we accept that the basic stances are to teach weight transfer and placement, than those things are really the goal. it then becomes a question of how and when to use them.
    Just talking about legs:
    1. when contact is made, where is pressure applied (direction and contact surface)
    2. When is proper time to "drop weight" (something i plan to discuss further at another time as it is a grossly overlooked concept)
    3. we must abide by the idea of attacking at multiple levels at once. again, an old concept that has fallen out of use with the standard k/b/p mentality.

    hope this adds to the discussion

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  3. Another thing you might consider is the footwork used to get into a stance. I don't know if you do this in kukki-taekwondo, but we were taught to semi-circle our feet forward into front stance. Although the official explanation for this is to maintain balance (and it does), I find that this semi-circle footwork is useful for hooking around or behind an opponent's leg.

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  4. Here is a video about stances. It is also a video about not having stances. And is a brilliant example of how Asians can speak in riddles! LOL

    JDK Multiple Opponent SuperLight(tm)

    :-)

    Cheers,

    Colin
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lapdoal137I

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  5. awesome post! wish you could have made it longer in more detail

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  6. I'd love to read a post about that! I am going to taekwondo. I should have been specializing taekwondo for a year now and it was a great choice for me. Taekwondo more of a kicking art. If you Combine the two Taekwondo and karate then you're a tough son of a gun.

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