hello,
I was wondering what is the best way to improve basic stances. I train in CLF so basic stances for me would be say-ping ma, dew ma, tau/gwai ma, hun ma & deen ma.
I’m wanting to train so that i can hold my stances for longer and lower. So what would be the most effective way to achieve this?
Front Squat
Overhead Squat
Back Squat
Deep
Hello, me too??
I have been doing alot of work on the legs.
Squats like he said, also running and leg curls
The knees will feel it the lower you go!!
Keep in touch!
Originally posted by fa_jing
[B]Front Squat
Overhead Squat
Back Squat
Deep [/B]
Not really. Those exercises develop strength through the ROM, but won’t do much to increase the endurance required to hold stances.
Not to imply that you were saying that weights wouldn’t help Iron, but…
He did say “lower” and increasing the strength through the whole range of motion may allow him to go down further.
Plus, if you’re legs are stronger, wouldn’t that mean that your bodyweight was a lower percentage of your 1RM and therefor easier to hold?
I’ve known people who did a lot of a$$ to the ground stances and could nail a perfectly thighs-parallel horse first time, no problem.
I’ve also known folks who were kung fu people first and improved their stances (depth & relative ease- which helped endurance) by adding freeweighted squats.
doing deep squats and such may help with the flexibility, but stance work is typically held for a long time. doing ROM exercises won’t really increase endurance at that specific angle of knee bend, which is what stances generally work.
Yah I’m talking more of percieved effort rather than endurance.
Simply said, the best way to get stronger in stance work is to practice your stances more.
Either way I think it would be good advice to do all of the above, because it all helps…
Moving from low stance to low stance well in a form is a function of all of that plus good flexibility.
Have you all seen this routine? I’ve played around with it a bit, and like the idea.
hey abobo the stances in that pdf are exactly the same as CLF’s basic stances 
What do people think about combing weight and stance work together. Say for example the same routine as in the pdf which abobo posted except you also rest a barbell across the back of your shoulders.
Also what amount of time do you peeps think is good to hold a stance before making the transition to the next stance?
Fa_jing can you explain those exercises you mentioned as i’m not very knowledgeable when it comes to exercise. I know of the normal squat but that’s about it 
AndyC, the best way to better your stances is to do them a lot. It’s the only thing that will make them better. Squats will carry over to things like kicks and mobility, as will participation in any sport, but there’s a reason squats aren’t on most or any traditional martial arts curriculums.
If you are getting bored in your stances you can mix them up, work on transitions, make up transitions, and so forth.
Practice punches, kicks, etc, in the stances and they will improve.
Good Luck
AndyC, the normal squat is the back squat. Front squat is with the bar across your upper chest, sorta like the end of the clean in the Olympic lift clean and jerk. You would’ve seen that on TV, where they sort of pause with the bar in front across their chest and the arms supporting it. Overhead squat is with the bar vertically above your head with your arms straight holding it up, sorta like a combination military press and squat.
Go running and then do stance training afterwards. Thats what I do when I don’t want to hold a horse stance forever. It seems to have similar effects for me, as it is building leg muscles.
I missed the pdf because apparently some jerk off has loosed a virus clinging itself to attatchments and I’m kinda scared to open anything…but the bar sounds good
was doing a crazy deep mabu today and came low out of parallel but felt it hard core in magnus abductor..so held it , gripped feet/toes, pushed thighs outward, went for an isometric and feeling pretty good…what do you think…could sound like cheating, but I liked it 
Just because you can squat a large amount of weight doesn’t mean you can hold a stance for a long time.
Squatting 300lbs takes what, 2 seconds maybe? Holding a horse stance for 5 minutes takes 5 minutes. You get better at what you train for. SAID (Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands). Sprinting doesn’t make you a better marathoner and running long distances doesn’t make you better at sprinting.
If you want holding stance to feel “lighter,” then I guess practice holding those stances with weights or something 
:rolleyes: …isn’t that what i jus said
IF,
Stances holding weights had crossed my mind as well until I thought about your stabalizers which would most likely fatigue well before your prime movers. Recipe for injury if you ask me.
“I’m wanting to train so that i can hold my stances for longer and lower. So what would be the most effective way to achieve this?”
Assume the stance with good posture. Stand…That’s all~
Think weight distribution, toe point direction knee in/out balance, torso lean, head faceing, head tilt, shoulders lining-up, where the bends in your spine are, where your eyes are looking…and the like.
Originally posted by Ford Prefect
[B]IF,
Stances holding weights had crossed my mind as well until I thought about your stabalizers which would most likely fatigue well before your prime movers. Recipe for injury if you ask me. [/B]
Yeah, I wasn’t too sure about that, hence the “I guess” and “” in my reply
But I suppose it wouldn’t be too much of a problem if you used really light weight, like 5 or 10lbs total. I didn’t mean like holding a horse stance with a barbell full of weight or anything.
But then again with the stabilizers… what if you’re holding your stance against force or something in a fight? You’d want them to be able to take the extra weight, right?
I dunno.