CAN YOU USE YOUR STANCES TO FIGHT?

[TAO YIN]

Southern Players,

Same question as above. I have seen people who learned kung fu for years but when confronted, they go back to basic kickboxing. And they never use any stancework to aid them. Do you guys and gals learn applications with your stances? What stances do you guys and gals feel more comfortable using?

Thanks

TAO YIN :cool:

"With great power, be still"

[joedoe]

We do. We focus on fighting in our stances and using our technique, not on kickboxing style fighting.

Guns don't kill people, I kill people

[BIU JI]

Well there's never enough hours in the day! otherwise you could train just stances all day with application before touching on hand work
We drill stances for mobility , strength and application, sifu says "you're as good as your horse". If your stance is no good your kung fu is no good, fine you may be a good fighter but you're not using kung fu the way it's designed and are limiting yourself.
Break your form down and see what your stances tell you .

How they hanging TAO YIN?

[northstar]

Stances work! But, in a fight or sparring session, you must make the active choice to use your kung fu training, including the stances. This means, at least from my wing chun perspective, that I must be ready to shift from left lead to right lead to no lead an so on. I've found that when I try to free myself up from moving like a boxer (always left lead), it gets much easier to use other techniques.

[BIU JI]

Perhaps then you need to do more stance training. No disrepect with saying so only we do a stack of stance training along with hands etc and I don't find this a problem so much . It needs to come natural and flow. Using stances for off balancing if vital for close range systems.

[xingyiman]

I have the Shaolin Tiger video by Black Belt magazine. In the video the guy demonstrates a combat application for just stepping into the Horse stance. He uses the stepping leg to invade the space between the attacker's legs causing the attacker to lose his balance and fall backwards. Have any of you guys been trained in this fighting application of just the Horse stance itself and you think that it would work in a REAL fight??

[doug maverick]

okay basic question does guys who revert back to kick boxing have poor instruction when spar in kung fu my sifu always tells us use the technques we learned but remmeber it's practice, but when i train with my friends we go all out tiger claws thai knees the whole nine yards i come out on top most of the time cause i use my forearms alot and if you train in hung gar you know what i mean. any way the best way to counter-act this is to make up your own applications then spar with one of your kung fu brothers to see if it works this way in real confrontation you'll be able to use it instead of punch, kick, grap move

[BIU JI]

Horse stance can used many ways stepping in and grinding the lead leg for eg as he steps forward sink into horse or as he kicks slide out to the side in horse taking the leg with doing so to off balance. Done quickly the person hits the ground pretty hard.
Practise more and it'll happen if you don't practise it of course you won't be familiar with it. Forearms are good!

[joedoe]

I see horse stance not so much as a fighting stance but more of a transitional stance. It is something you use very briefly while moving from one position to the next.

peacemaker: Nothing wrong with kickboxing technique. In fact it is often good to fight against someone using kickboxing to understand the way they fight. However, I believe that if you are going to train in kung fu, you should try to also fight using kung fu technique.

Guns don't kill people, I kill people

[TAO YIN]

Thanks for all of the replies!

It is amazing to see just how great of a role stances play in actual combat.

BIU JI, hows it going my brother? I agree with you that the stances must flow naturally. The southern stances definetely play a major role in closing the gap and off balancing the opponent, therefore, they should be drilled to work effectively in combat. I can't always rely on just half stepping to work, instead, I need to be able to make that half step ready to switch without hesitation. I think that the horse stance is so combat ready because it is extremely mobile. In just drilling full horse step forward, full horse step back the practitioner can obtain a ton of applications by concentrating on off balancing the opponent. And this is the same with half stepping forward and half stepping back. Off balancing the opponent is a very effective method because it allows a person to close in for the kill.

Peacemaker, how are you doing man? You asked "Does guys who revert back to kickboxing have poor instruction when spar in kung fu?" If they are constantly throwing aimless punches and kicks with no thought of technique or target, YES. I wasn't saying that kickboxing techniques are not good to use in a fight. Anything that works for the practitoner is good. All and all, it is important for me to be able to off balance and close the gap of my opponent with my stancework and also be able to use my stancework for ankle breaks, knee grinds, takedowns, and whatever else WORKS. This is important because if I can do this then I can use my elbows and Phoenix Killas! GO GO GADGET FUNG CHUI!!! :D

Do any of you use the gwa ma stance in your training? What do you all think about this stance? What are some of the applications you guys and gals have seen with gwa ma?

Thanks again

TAO YIN :D

"With great power, be still"

[This message was edited by TAO YIN on 04-10-01 at 12:19 AM.]

[Drunken Master]

Stances do work depending on how you will use them in a fight


mr_lapd@hotmail.com

[BIU JI]

I'm good bro, training hard. Great to see you're training your stances, are you? hehe

Can't train your stances enough, anyone who says otherwise just hasn't gone far enough into them by my view.
PEACE!