In case it hasn't been all that clear, this post is gonna be all about stances. I can hear the groaning and moaning already, because like someone has said before "it's not the sexy stuff"; however, I have come to the conclusion that they are the basis of all the other things I want to improve. From what I have gathered, Stances affect the following:
1) You can't do much without a stable stance.
2) You can't have one leg in the air to kick if you have no stability with 2 feet on the ground.
3) Even if you have the perfect block, without a stable base, you'll go flying.
4) Stances are a great way leg workout while also focusing on good form.
5) Dynamic stability in motion seems rather impossible if you don't have static stability
For a while I was thinking about mobility and footwork in sparring, but after watching Sihing Robinson's sparring video on the Silent River webpage, I saw that the way he moves seems to come from starting with a stable base first. In short, unless I have good static stability, to work on dynamic stability is putting the cart before the horse.
Personally, with the new knowledge development from leading with the hips, I have been paying much more attention to my hip alignment in my stances. Such as:
1) Not sticking my bum out in my horse stance, which allows me to relax my spine, instead of arching.
2) Bow stance, I found that I can channel the weight on my shoulders through to the ground a lot better if I can straighten my back by tilting my hips slightly, and thereby not arching my back.
3) Open X stance feels much more relaxed if I tilt my hips so I'm not arching my back.
4) Crane stance. I was doing this unknowingly, but if I just tilt my hips, it naturally puts a slight bend in the bottom leg and makes if easy to bring my knee up higher, which in turn gives me all kinds of stability.
Now, with all this focus and thinking about stances, obviously I came to another conclusion. Really. This new thing is weight shifting. Which was something that happened when I started using my hips. It happened naturally. It was great. For example, when I go from the first crane stance to the sweep and bow stance clockwise rotation at the beginning of Kempo I, I place my foot and as I lock in my stance with my hips, I naturally move into the 60/40 weight distribution. Which I found provides a solid punch without much strenuous effort. But more importantly, this weight shifting happens on it's own when I lead with my hips. No longer to I have to shift my weight after the motion to get that weight distribution, provided I place my foot correctly.
Not sure if I'm headed in the right direction, but that's the way I see it ATM.
As always, comments are always appreciated!
you break things down and look at them in a way that I could never do. It's really cool to see this stuff from that perspective!
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