Stance Help

[blake]

Does anyone have any ways to form a better Pubu and mabu stance.

[Samurai Jack]

Yes, I know three excellent methods: Practice, Practice, and Practice.

[blake]

Sorry, I didn't state the question properly, Like i can't get into a pu bu stance, and i hit a certain point where i cant get any lower in a horse stance without either curving my back or allowing my knees to pass my toes. How can i improve the strength and flexibility of my stances is a better question.

[Pork Chop]

I touched on this kinda with my blog thread.

In horse, in order to hit thighs parallel you need to contract the antagonist muscles (as opposed to the protagonists which push away from the ground in a squat).

In the end this causes kind of a squeezing feeling in your hips (squeezing up on the tops of your hips, squeezing out on the sides). Eventhough many say "sitting in your horse stance"; to get close to parallel, you need a different mental image.

Other details in the horse are pushing the knees outward, opening the hips as you "squeeze", and keeping the toes angled (ever so slightly) outward to take some of the torque off your knees.

Curling your bootie under when doing your horse stance puts more of the stress on your quads, but sometimes you may need to "bootie out" when dropping down, to get the depth, and curl under to put the stress back on your quads when you "get there".

I know i've got over-posting-itis today; but i really do hope this helps.

[Pork Chop]

oops, on cat, it's a similar thing - "bootie out to sink, curl under once you get there".

those pix u see of people doing really low cat stances are 'bootie out' in almost every case; even at the bottom of the posture.

EDIT: the reason for the transition from bootie out to bootie in, is coz your hamstrings are more suited to the stress of supporting the body at that angle. Once you get there, the quads can take over; but sinking there is very difficult (to say the least) if keeping bootie curled under (using the quads).

[PangQuan]

I dont know if this will help you, but; I have alwasy found that if I make a loop sequence out of all the stances I know is excellent practice. Doing horse stance will improve horse but doing empty will help it also, actually doing any stance will help any stance. Thats a benefit of having so many stances, you can get tired of one, switch to another but at the same time the next one will in a small way train your body to be better at the previous. It is a cycle.

[Chief Fox]

One way to better your stances is to start in a high stance and then slowly over time lower it as your legs get stronger. A way to increase the strength of your legs is to do squats, deadlifts and straight leg deadlifts. You could also do wall sits. This is where you place your back against a wall and then lower yourself like you're sitting in an invisible chair.

Another thing is to have paitience. Improving your stances takes time.

[yu shan]

I`d like to chime in, all very good advice as usual. Proper alignment is very important, do not forget this. Weight training is good. There is a way you can have someone stand on you while you practice your hill climb and horse stance. You can also walk with these people standing on you. This is very effective. Good luck!