Cross stance applications in CLF and other CMA

[Askari Hodari]

Greetings all.

I spent the better part of last night sparring against practioners of multple styles including mantis, tiger, eagle, wah fist, boxing, grappling, and muay thai. One of the the intersted things that occured during a bout with one of them is that I shifted to a cross stance followed by a horse stance to move myself about 75 degrees around one of my opponents while I continued to attack.

I had never employed a cross stance in this manner before, however I had sparred in a person in the past who used a cross stance (dragon scissor in his style) to a maintain a partially defensive posture, thus allowing for him to attack, employ multiple weapons and angles of attack, while keeping his vital organs protected.

This made me wonder what experiences and insights others have had in terms of using the cross stance in actual/simulated combat. I'm especially curious how similar or dimimilar these applications are across styles.

Many thanks
Askari Hodari

[Sho]

There are countless ways to apply techniques in a cross-stance; your imagination being the only limit - well, almost. I personally think that it's a good stance to exert a good amount of weight and resistance on the opponent, since your torso will be tilted towards him while pushing with eg. a jit kiu (intercepting bridge). Another example would be a block against a kick, where you shift into a cross-stance and do a lok kiu or ji lau (downward blocks) to repel the attack while maintaining a solid stance pending to be opened up (hoi ma) for the next technique.

[Fu-Pow]

Stepping cross stance is great for circling your opponent while firing off a barrage of strikes.

[Askari Hodari]

Many thanks for the feedback. I wanted to see what other perspectives there were out there.

Askari

[Ben Gash]

whenever I use cross stance it's usually to facilitate the use of high and low techniques simultaneously.Personal favourites are a simple front foot sweep with a Been Choy, hooking the front leg while executing a Chuen based throw, stamping with one leg while attacking in the horizontal plane with the opposite hand, and crushing and twisting the opponent's knee while executing an armlock.

[EarthDragon]

Hello all, speaking from an 8 step praying mantis practioner, the crossing leg stance is very under estimated indeed. This stance as others have said is just as offensive as it is defensive. It is also excellent for executing power from a jing perspective.
Almost all of the throws in mantis are executed from this stance. It allows you to retreat, sidestep, circle, realign and move to a lowered center of gravity with minimal foot movement.
I will try to attatch a photo of my student in a nice crossing leg stance but I am not very computer savvy so wish me luck

[nospam]

Yeah..what Ben Gash said.

I tend to use mine to transition from one extreme to another such as high to low or for quick transition of movement. It is a very mobile stance, enabling one to step back, forward, twist through etc. I like using it monkey style! Straight up.

I've also used it with dragon's tail decending from the sky, as I like to stay mobile and at times, twisting is mucho faster.

I picke dup sum new moves from the office. The Hidden Monkey Hands work great on the elevator.


Rumsfeld Fightign Techniques

nospam.