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
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.
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.
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.
No way!:eek: 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.
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.
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.
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
And er, yep, I’ve stood on one leg many times, usually to do my shoes up.
In wing chun I was taught to do slt on one leg. When we first started we were watched and coached and then my teacher told us to continue out of class time. And when we first started we did it with our leg on the back of a chair. I think it’s useful, esp for making sure you’re not shaking or jerking about on the beginning of the second section of slt for example.
Also I sometimes do kicking flexibility drills with one leg in the air.
[B]Golden Rooster Standing on One Leg:D Awesome training!
SLT for an hour on one leg…that would be the killer.( however you could always change back and forth) We use one leg stance for a number of things. Akin to that of ma bu or horse stand, in that it is a yang type of meditation, during slt as stated earlier, leg bent at the knee or out stretched for horse stance training( hands are tan sao / wu sao)
Like my appreciate for ma bu, I could not see wc without one leg training
when u are really good try it with your eyes closed:D
[B]Golden Rooster Standing on One Leg:D Awesome training!
SLT for an hour on one leg…that would be the killer.( however you could always change back and forth) We use one leg stance for a number of things. Akin to that of ma bu or horse stand, in that it is a yang type of meditation, during slt as stated earlier, leg bent at the knee or out stretched for horse stance training( hands are tan sao / wu sao)
Like my appreciation for ma bu, I could not see wc without one leg training
when u are really good try it with your eyes closed:D
But Are you guys using it in sparring / fighting (when u kick ) or just as a training tool ?
I do think our VT eight standard kicks are being used less frequently in sparring by many VT practitioners, and in my experience i see more and more borrowed kicks resembling more kick boxing type kicks being used.
It seems to me like a timing thing, people seem more comfortable launching kicks from greater range which warrents longer range kicking techniques ( VT or Not, as long as they work IMO ) with less close range kicks being launched.
Another question i have is -
When using VT closer range kicks , what are the basic rules you apply ?
This is why i ask (to point you in the right direction) At our School we never use the closer range kicks without hand / bridge contact, and we alwys employ the ‘opposite rule’ with regard to said kicks.
Example - i block a straight punch with wu sau and launch a kick with the oppsite leg so that in the event of my wu sau being pulled down i still can deliver power through my leg, where as if i use the same side and my wu is pulled down my kick and balance is affected resulting in loosing power and making it ineffective…
I notice other schools block with hands and kick with the same side in sparring and also within the dummy actions, i.e actions 63 64 65 ish. ( i say dummy actions also because i realise that we cannot be perfect in fighting so the fact its used in the dummy ‘form’ means to me that its a intentional action not an action of opportunity )
Im not looking for right and wrong, just opinions.
How do you guys stand on this point ?
Excuse the pun :rolleyes:
Curious
