Single Leg Horse Stance ?

[Liddel]

My Sifu has stressed the importance of the Single Leg Horse Stance for developing power for VT kicks.

I have many different ways of trainnig my kicking power ( Kicking pads and the heavy bag are obvious ones ) but over the years ive realised that the SLHS and more recently my arrow punch horse ( Luk Dim Boon ) have been huge contributors to building power for kickiing.

My Question is
- Do you train your kicking power with the SLHS ?
- Do / did you use it at all ? and from what stage in the learning process ?

I just see this aspect of VT training becomming less used and being replaced by more conventional ( if you will ) training techniques for kicking.

Is it slowly being lost ? I see VT kicks used very infrequent in sparring clips shared by our community yet i use them in my sparring so others MUST

Set me straight -

[stonecrusher69]

We train in our school from day one single leg stance and the low horse which is where the power for the kick comes from and the root.

[Jeff Bussey]

We train single leg horse stance as well.

J

[viper]

please excuse my ignorance but what is sigle leg horse stance the otha u spoke of pics or detailed would be highly app

[Mr Punch]

Yep, guess we don't do it, because I'm with Viper!

[Sekabin]

Wild guess - standing on one leg.

[AmanuJRY]

IMO, 'single leg horse' stance is an excellent way to develop balance and strength, both important qualities for kicking.

The problem I see is that using it as a fighting stance is a fallacy. It greatly reduces mobility and produces a very akward (both to use and to learn) footwork.

I would opt for a more useful fighting stance, but it is an invaluable training tool.

[Mr Punch]

Thanks Sek!

So, wtf is it?!

[AmanuJRY]

Thanks Sek!

So, wtf is it?!

Basically, it's a fancy way of saying 'standing on one leg'.

[El Tejon]

Years ago, we used to do it while performing SLT very slooooowly. Before that we had to do that chair stance from yoga and then duck walk (sifu said it was to build our ankles, knees and hips).

We did it right after we had learned SLT. We had to do it in the dark too, that was really tough at first.

We don't do it so much as a club anymore. I still do it every now and then.

[Jeff Bussey]

Hey guys,
We do a lot of punching drills on one leg. Sometimes, someone holds a focus mitt and this can help with your balance. Like if you lean with your punch and also to make sure that you're not absorbing the punch back into you.

I think that they're worth while drills.

J

[GungFuHillbilly]

The problem I see is that using it as a fighting stance is a fallacy.

No way! Mr. Miyagi said that when done correctly their was no defense against the crane kick!

But seriously, we have to distinguish between development and application. For example, you won't see a boxer hit someone like they hit a speed bag. But does that mean that this kind of training should be discarded? No, it develops attributes that are applicable, but the technique itself is not.

I myself use the single leg stance extensively in my teaching and training.

-GFH

[Hendrik]

IMHHO,

There is standing in single leg,

There is using single leg standing to cultivate the rising of the Leg 3 yin medirians and the sinking of leg 3 yang medirians....... and train different side of the leg.....

There is a set called Cin Jiong or arrow palm in the Yik Kam WCK lineage does train the single leg's asending and descending.....

and the source of this single leg training seems to be adapted from emei 12 zhuang.

[anerlich]

When I did Xingyi/Bagua, we did a "Plum blossum kicking set" which did quite a few chained kicks on one leg.

If you think duck walking is hard on your knees, try Xinqyi dragon stepping. Do it for too long and you feel like your patellae are going to shoot through the front of your knees like bullets. There are bodyflow drills similar to duck walking which will develop rather than trash tendons and ligaments.

These days I do the four corner balance drills, basically extending one leg to the front, side, back, and other side. Good for balance. Several yoga single leg balances develop such attributes quite well also.

[Phil Redmond]

Well if you subscribe to the Crane, Snake, (and sometimes Fox) antics in WC. Standing on one leg would be a Crane antic. It's also good training for balance when kicking and punching.
Phil