How I train my horse stance

[Touch Of Death]

Horse stance is there to teach you how to drop your body weight and keep your balance (back straight, bent legs, rather than the other way around). You will be in it fleetingly, it is a postion you pass through. It's not a position you get into and then fight, so I don't understand why you need to be able to stay in it for hours?

Its the knees bent thing. Your stances are just variations of that basic depth, and why not fight at that level?

 

[Touch Of Death]

When I trained Ma bu (Horse Stance) it was very similar to this

I no longer train Ma Bu

That is weird.

 

[Martial D]

Trolling internet forums is not without it's entertainment value to be sure, but I like this one because it allows me to talk shop about one of my life's great and longstanding passions.

If I want to argue with people that can't spell and have nothing to offer me I'll hit up Reddit

 

[Xue Sheng]

I think the Horse stance is crucial, and you should be able to stand in it for hours. Martial arts, for the most part, is about your personal safety, and it is safer to constantly reset, so that you are ready to defend or take advantage. The Horse stance is a good home base, and the stronger it is, the better.

I believe it is a good base, and there was a time I would have agreed with hours, although very few have that kind of time, but today I find that any stance training gives you a good base but too much dependence on a stationary stance, any stationary stance, can easily produce double weightiness and that is not good, because ultimately that posture must move, and in the case of some stances, the structure must also be maintained.

 

[Martial D]

When I trained Ma bu (Horse Stance) it was very similar to this

I no longer train Ma Bu

I tried out hung gar for a minute. This picture reminds me of sore quads. :/

 

[Xue Sheng]

I tried out hung gar for a minute. This picture reminds me of sore quads. :/

That's Tony Yang and Bajiquan training. And yes, it is painful, as is any stance training. And as long as it is not joint pain, you're ok

 

[Paul_D]

Its the knees bent thing. Your stances are just variations of that basic depth, and why not fight at that level?

Depends on the level I suppose, but why do need to be in it for hours?

 

[Touch Of Death]

Depends on the level I suppose, but why do need to be in it for hours?

I said you should be able to. It is just an exercise, that should feel natural, so, if you only can do it for a few minutes, you are skipping leg day.

 

[DanT]

Shaolin Horse Stance

In Shaolin we have 3 heights.

High: High Cat Stance
Low: Horse Stance, Bow Stance, Cat Stance
Drop: Drop Stance, Cross Stance

Our Horse stance, Bow Stance, and Cat Stance are all the same heights as in the photo above.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

Unless there is a need to lower you centre of gravity

Such as: hip throw, shoulder throw, firemen's carry, embracing throw, ...

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

IMO, this horse stance is too wide. If you use your leg to "spring" one of his legs from inside out (to make his stance even wider), he will fall.

A proper horse stance should not have this issue.

 

[Flying Crane]

Depends on the level I suppose, but why do need to be in it for hours?

You don't need it for hours. In fact, if you are doing it properly, it will be very difficult to build up to five minutes.

Stance training is not just deep, stationary stances. That is part of it, it builds useful strength in the legs.

However, you also need to understand what to do with that strength. In traditional Chinese martial arts (and others too) power for your technique originates in the feet and legs, and drives movement through the upper body. There needs to be other drills that you do to teach you how to use this strength and employ it in your technique.

People think that stance training is just getting as deep as you can and feeling the burn. It's not. There is more to it than that. The stance itself does not do much for you. Using it means transition from one stance to another. Not for the sake of the stance, but for the movement that is useful. The stance is just the beginning or end posture. It is the movement and the change in posture that matters, that is where you do the work, unleash a powerful technique.

Standing in a deep stance does not, by itself, teach you rooting. Rooting is an active action, you brace the feet deliberately into the ground, pressing with the legs. If you don't actively "root" then you are just standing on your feet like they are platforms. That is standing. It is not rooting, even if you are in a low stance.

 

[JowGaWolf]

I see horse stance as a really good conditioning tool, I struggle to find any value as a fighting tool. Unless there is a need to lower you centre of gravity

I'm hoping I can make a short video of my horse stance and explain why I train it the way I do. There's a lot of benefits from it but I'll try to keep it short and limit the video to things that people can see vs things that they won't be able to see, such as me being aware of balance changes in my stand. Maybe I'll go over the practical application of defense, mobility, and maybe attack. Some of the attacks will be things mainly found in kung fu. For now this is about as close as I can show in terms of the horse stance. You can clearly see a horse stance in the video. The only real difference is the one that they are showing is for wrestling and it doesn't position the upper body with the necessary structure to punch or kick.

This explains the benefit of stances. One could almost think Martial Arts and all of what he says would apply to martial arts stances. At 2:41 you will see him in a similar stance that I use except that I'm not leaning forward. Leaning forward takes away my options to strike effectively while I'm that low.

 

[JowGaWolf]

You don't need it for hours. In fact, if you are doing it properly, it will be very difficult to build up to five minutes.

Stance training is not just deep, stationary stances. That is part of it, it builds useful strength in the legs.

However, you also need to understand what to do with that strength. In traditional Chinese martial arts (and others too) power for your technique originates in the feet and legs, and drives movement through the upper body. There needs to be other drills that you do to teach you how to use this strength and employ it in your technique.

People think that stance training is just getting as deep as you can and feeling the burn. It's not. There is more to it than that. The stance itself does not do much for you. Using it means transition from one stance to another. Not for the sake of the stance, but for the movement that is useful. The stance is just the beginning or end posture. It is the movement and the change in posture that matters, that is where you do the work, unleash a powerful technique.

Standing in a deep stance does not, by itself, teach you rooting. Rooting is an active action, you brace the feet deliberately into the ground, pressing with the legs. If you don't actively "root" then you are just standing on your feet like they are platforms. That is standing. It is not rooting, even if you are in a low stance.

Lately I've been blasting classmates with "one inch punch" range demonstrations (I've been training short power lately). The only difference is that they don't fly backwards they get whip lash lol. I've also have been pushing people off backwards like it's nothing, even when they are pushing into me with all their strength. I can't do any of this without my leg strength and the stance. Because none of those things are done by trying to muscle through it.

 

[Paul_D]

I said you should be able to. It is just an exercise, that should feel natural, so, if you only can do it for a few minutes, you are skipping leg day.

Fair enough

 

[Paul_D]

In traditional Chinese martial arts (and others too) power for your technique originates in the feet and legs, and drives movement through the upper body. There needs to be other drills that you do to teach you how to use this strength and employ it in your technique.

Yes, that's more in line with what I know. As opposed to being in the stance for hours.

 

[jobo]

I said you should be able to. It is just an exercise, that should feel natural, so, if you only can do it for a few minutes, you are skipping leg day.

not convinced , the science books tells us that isometric exercises are quite good a building strengh, but only close to the angle the joint is at, whist in isometric tension. So all a horse stance does for strengh is make you very good at doing horse stance. It's carry over in to general leg strengh will be limited. If you did a series of isometric holds from legs slightly bent to bum on the grass, then you would experience increased strengh through the entire range of motion or you could go with the tried and tested techneque of squatting's a bit of weight

 

[Touch Of Death]

not convinced , the science books tells us that isometric exercises are quite good a building strengh, but only close to the angle the joint is at, whist in isometric tension. So all a horse stance does for strengh is make you very good at doing horse stance. It's carry over in to general leg strengh will be limited. If you did a series of isometric holds from legs slightly bent to bum on the grass, then you would experience increased strengh through the entire range of motion or you could go with the tried and tested techneque of squatting's a bit of weight

I am not suggesting you only use the horse stance, I am suggesting you should be comfortable with your knees bent.

 

[Touch Of Death]

Power used to be important.

 

[jobo]

You don't need it for hours. In fact, if you are doing it properly, it will be very difficult to build up to five minutes.


.

AND in all honesty pointless, its only doing something when it hurts, if you can do two hours and it only hurts for the last five. Mins, then that's all the benefit you get out of it. Except you have wasted one hour fifty five mins of your life sitting on an invisible chair. If five mins is too easy, stick some weight on your back till it hurts again