Your Best Ways to Train and Improve Horse Stance

[Damien]

YouTube seems to have broken my horse stance video by desyncing the audio, and I can't fix it. So it's time to remake it! I'd like to think my video presentation is a lot better these days anyway!

I don't claim to be the font of all knowledge, but I do want my videos to have the best content they can. So I thought I'd see if anyone has any bright ideas on training horse stance that I've not come across before. It could be to improve depth, stability, practice optimal alignment, increase strength, whatever.

So, let's hear it. What are your best tips for training horse stance?

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

Let your back to touch the wall.

 

[clfsean]

Listen to Nike ... and your teacher

 

[Oily Dragon]

YouTube seems to have broken my horse stance video by desyncing the audio, and I can't fix it. So it's time to remake it! I'd like to think my video presentation is a lot better these days anyway!

I don't claim to be the font of all knowledge, but I do want my videos to have the best content they can. So I thought I'd see if anyone has any bright ideas on training horse stance that I've not come across before. It could be to improve depth, stability, practice optimal alignment, increase strength, whatever.

So, let's hear it. What are your best tips for training horse stance?

Weighted rings and teacups.

Oh and don't forget, crotch warmer.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

YouTube seems to have broken my horse stance video by desyncing the audio, and I can't fix it. So it's time to remake it! I'd like to think my video presentation is a lot better these days anyway!

I don't claim to be the font of all knowledge, but I do want my videos to have the best content they can. So I thought I'd see if anyone has any bright ideas on training horse stance that I've not come across before. It could be to improve depth, stability, practice optimal alignment, increase strength, whatever.

So, let's hear it. What are your best tips for training horse stance?

Get cotton soled slippers, get a polished smooth concrete floor and wax it til it is nearly frictionless, now do your horse on that with the cotton soled slippers. You will see what that does, and what is missing or needs work. If you are stacking and folding correctly, it will show. Also make sure you pass the shirt test, so your butt isn’t out behind you. Try it out and let me know what you think.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

Let your back to touch the wall.

I don’t care much for this guy’s videos. I am totally unimpressed by his training method, his posture, and his movement. Using the wall won’t train the body the way I want.

 

[Damien]

I don’t care much for this guy’s videos. I am totally unimpressed by his training method, his posture, and his movement. Using the wall won’t train the body the way I want.

Thanks for the responses everyone!

Yeah I'm not a huge fan of Jake Mace either. Using a wall does have a few training uses, but not building strength, and not literally sitting your back against it. I often get people to use it as a guide for how leant over they are when they are training on their own. If your bum brushes the wall but you can't get the back of your head to touch it when you look up, you're leaning too far forwards

 

[Damien]

Weighted rings and teacups.

Oh and don't forget, crotch warmer.

View attachment 28175

Haha, funny you've posted that picture. I've actually ended up using this scene as part of the hook for the video.

I gave it a few trys, including some deliberately bad ones for effect. It's actually surprisingly hard to get the ones on your shoulders to fall off unless you do something really drastic!

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

What are your best tips for training horse stance?

I don't like to train horse stance just to train horse stance. I like to kill 2 birds (or 3 birds) with 1 stone.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

Thanks for the responses everyone!

Yeah I'm not a huge fan of Jake Mace either. Using a wall does have a few training uses, but not building strength, and not literally sitting your back against it. I often get people to use it as a guide for how leant over they are when they are training on their own. If your bum brushes the wall but you can't get the back of your head to touch it when you look up, you're leaning too far forwards

Using the slippery floor and slippery shoes will train the small stabilization muscles. It’s also much more difficult to contain the body when you shoot punches and kicks. Try kicking as high and as hard as you can without letting the body get disturbed. You may find this method useful in more ways than just the horse. It’s how I learned from the beginning.

 

[Oily Dragon]

Haha, funny you've posted that picture. I've actually ended up using this scene as part of the hook for the video.

I gave it a few trys, including some deliberately bad ones for effect. It's actually surprisingly hard to get the ones on your shoulders to fall off unless you do something really drastic!

I have learned one or two horse stance Qigong tricks in my day. I'll try to find some pictures, these are found mixed in various sets.

For example, you can combine horse stance and farmer's carry. Adding 40lbs or so to each arm can bring a man to his knees. That man is me.

 

[Damien]

Using the slippery floor and slippery shoes will train the small stabilization muscles. It’s also much more difficult to contain the body when you shoot punches and kicks. Try kicking as high and as hard as you can without letting the body get disturbed. You may find this method useful in more ways than just the horse. It’s how I learned from the beginning.

I can see the use, but no matter how strong your stabilisation muscles are a properly powerful high kick generates a lot more force than they can. I can see it being useful as a beginner, they aren't likely to generate enough power for it to be a real issue, so it can help them learn the balance and control. After a while though slippery floors and shoes when kicking is a good way to end up on your ****. When your kicking leg pulls on the standing one with enough power, too little friction will cause it to slip even if you have great posture, you simply can't grip the floor if there's no friction.

I learnt this the hard way many years ago in a pair of old worn Feiyue's training in a space that hadn't been cleaned properly leaving the floor slick with dust!

 

[Damien]

I have learned one or two horse stance Qigong tricks in my day. I'll try to find some pictures, these are found mixed in various sets.

For example, you can combine horse stance and farmer's carry. Adding 40lbs or so to each arm can bring a man to his knees. That man is me.

A good way to train your hip and adductor flexibility too

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

I can see the use, but no matter how strong your stabilisation muscles are a properly powerful high kick generates a lot more force than they can. I can see it being useful as a beginner, they aren't likely to generate enough power for it to be a real issue, so it can help them learn the balance and control. After a while though slippery floors and shoes when kicking is a good way to end up on your ****. When your kicking leg pulls on the standing one with enough power, too little friction will cause it to slip even if you have great posture, you simply can't grip the floor if there's no friction.

I learnt this the hard way many years ago in a pair of old worn Feiyue's training in a space that hadn't been cleaned properly leaving the floor slick with dust!

Forgive me, but you are incorrect, I have trained this way for 25 years, my kick is quite good. I can stick to that floor like I weigh 500 lbs. not one of my students can move my foot. The floor teaches the root like nothing else can. It takes a long time, but trust me when I tell you that you will have something that very few others have. I understand if you don’t want my advice, but what I say is absolutely 100% true. I did not come up with it. It was James Wing Woo‘s teaching. It is older than him though. If you fall, it is because you lack the ability to control the kick, or you are kicking harder/higher than you are able to control. I see this a lot in beginners, it’s why I can walk through most peoples kicks with impunity. You are correct that you cannot grab concrete, the fact that you say that as a response tells me what you are or are not doing with the bottom of your foot. Please don’t take this as personal attack, it isn’t. Your response is exactly what I expect from people who haven’t trained this way. Please give it a try before you dismiss it entirely. None of this is intended as an indictment of anyone’s ability. If I have in any way offended or insulted you please forgive me, Ionly offered it up because I have gained so much from practicing my gung fu and my Tai Chi Chuan this way for so long. Good training to you!

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

I can see the use, but no matter how strong your stabilisation muscles are a properly powerful high kick generates a lot more force than they can. I can see it being useful as a beginner, they aren't likely to generate enough power for it to be a real issue, so it can help them learn the balance and control. After a while though slippery floors and shoes when kicking is a good way to end up on your ****. When your kicking leg pulls on the standing one with enough power, too little friction will cause it to slip even if you have great posture, you simply can't grip the floor if there's no friction.

I learnt this the hard way many years ago in a pair of old worn Feiyue's training in a space that hadn't been cleaned properly leaving the floor slick with dust!

One more thing, as an aside, if your kicking leg pulls your down leg enough to move you in a way that makes you fall, consider that something must be unbalanced in some way. The floor is a hard taskmaster but it will correct that.

 

[Damien]

One more thing, as an aside, if your kicking leg pulls your down leg enough to move you in a way that makes you fall, consider that something must be unbalanced in some way. The floor is a hard taskmaster but it will correct that.

I'd be happy to hear more on the technique.

Perhaps I should have worded my statement more carefully. If you kick to the very limit of your flexibility then there will inherently be some level of pull on the standing leg, if not you are not kicking to your limit. You wouldn't want to do this in sparring etc. but in kicking drills such as zheng ti tui, where one of the aims is working on active flexibility this might happen. It's not a lack of control, it's a deliberate act.

From a physics perspective, the reason things do not move is because of friction. Think of a rock in space, it keeps moving because friction is less than any force exerted by gravity. Or a puck on an air hockey table, it keeps a lot of its momentum due to a lack of friction. On the ground an object doesn't move because gravity is pulling it into a surface to create friction. The more mass the object has, and the rougher its surface and the surface it rests on, the more friction created by the pull of gravity. Any movement must come from a force strong enough to overcome that friction.

So, if you kick to a point where you have reached the limit of your flexibility, with sufficient power, there will be pull on the standing leg, that is anatomically unavoidable. If the force of that pull is stronger than the friction holding your foot in place, your foot will move.

Now all of that is not to say that you can't use techniques to increase the level of friction between your foot and the floor. I'd be interested in what you have to say on rooting techniques to develop this.

 

[JowGaWolf]

I have a couple of stance training exercises. This one trains power, mobility, and transition..

Selecting a weight:
1. Pick a weight that will be heavy to hold in a stationary position but won't break or degrade your stance structure. Do not use a really low stance. But also don't stand too tall in the stance. Too low or too high is no good for the knees.

In the video, I'm using 20lbs dumbbells. I want to keep the weight chambered above my hip, above the bones. Use the weights instead of a weighted vest so that you can work other muscles at the same time you are working your stance. Keep the weight close to your center on your waist, the weights should always be touching.

2. If you complete 1 cycle then keep going and do another until your legs or your arms begin to tire

3. Stop doing the exercise when your legs and arms tire and your structure feels like it's about to degrade. You want to stop before your structure actually degrades and gets sloppy.

4. Take a 1 minute break and keep going. Try to maintain what you did previously. It's fine if you don't make it. Just keep going right up to the point you think you might get sloppy and then rest.

You want to do at least 4 rounds of this. Use the first round is just a warm up. Everything after the first round is the actual workout.

Do not over do it if you have a bad hip or knee. I have a different version for those with a bad hip and knee.

 

[JowGaWolf]

Using the slippery floor and slippery shoes will train the small stabilization muscles. It’s also much more difficult to contain the body when you shoot punches and kicks. Try kicking as high and as hard as you can without letting the body get disturbed. You may find this method useful in more ways than just the horse. It’s how I learned from the beginning.

ha ha ha.. my first school had slippery floors. There was never any grip no matter what type of shoes one would wear. I think it's safer and better for the body. Now that the gym that I go to has their mats down. My son and I can no longer slide our feet on the ground, so now we have to do a lot of stepping so that we don't twist on the knee, where normally we could use the floor to help absorb the technique so that our knees wouldn't

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

So, let's hear it. What are your best tips for training horse stance?

You may try to eat your dinner in a horse stance.

My teacher told me that one day he invited his teacher to his house for dinner. When the dinner was almost over, he then realized that he didn't offer a chair to his teacher. Through the whole dinner, his teacher was sitting in a horse stance.

 

[Damien]

You may try to eat your dinner in a horse stance.

My teacher told me that one day he invited his teacher to his house for dinner. When the dinner was almost over, he then realized that he didn't offer a chair to his teacher. Through the whole dinner, his teacher was sitting in a horse stance.

That's a poor host, but a good lesson from the teacher. Hopefully he at least remembered to serve him first.