Classical stances during sparring & fighting

**doktorhook** · Posted On: 7/17/2007 4:42am

You know it occured to me that a great many CMA's that use good stance work in training forms, etc. Do not use that same stance work in sparring or fighting. Now the way I understand it, Stances like Ma Bu, Ding bo, etc. are to be used to provide you a stable support from which to fight while being protective. If this is so then why aren't those stances used in actual application? I know that some of you will say it's because the stances are to slow to move in but in reality that's not the case. Some of them maybe but not all of them. Many strikes would prove to simply be ineffective as they would have a hard time reaching soft targets, Alot of grappling would fail to because your center of gravity in many instances would be low to begin with. Placing a grapplers face very easily in reach of both hands & feet.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that stance work makes you invulnerable, I was just wondering how many of you have tried to spar like that.

**Cullion** · Posted On: 7/17/2007 6:24am

Search function plz.

**isol8d** · Posted On: 7/17/2007 7:35am

http://www.bullshido.net/forums/show...ghlight=stance

**Chuan** · Posted On: 7/17/2007 9:55am

:deadhorse

**doktorhook** · Posted On: 7/17/2007 4:08pm

Hmm, interesting. Out of the three replies I recieved, no one answered my question. Chuan said I was beating a dead horse, isol8d refered me to another link which I appreciate & read that link & all of another link that was in the refered link. Cullion also suggested I use the search function.

Although I appreciate the links, they didn't & can't answer my question which was "How many of you have tried to spar in TMA stances?". To be fair the links came close in some respects but I was looking for a simple yes I have or no I haven't done this response.

Oh well no big deal I was just curious.

**Chuan** · Posted On: 7/17/2007 4:33pm

short answer.

You spar in a fighting stance. You do not spar in a horse, front, empty, drop stance etc.

**doktorhook** · Posted On: 7/17/2007 4:57pm

Originally Posted by Chuan

short answer.

You spar in a fighting stance. You do not spar in a horse, front, empty, drop stance etc.

Hmm, I'm not sure how to make the question any clearer than it is but I think I can deduce from your post that you have never sparred or fought from the classical stances. Is that correct?

**SuperGuido** · Posted On: 7/17/2007 5:08pm

Hmmm...

According to a friend of mine, Lung Ying and Pak Mei fight out of their "Training Stance".

Of course, Lung Ying's stance looks like a modified grappling stance (shoulder's hunched, head down, arms out, knees bent), so I suppose that makes sense.

**Ming Loyalist** · Posted On: 7/17/2007 6:29pm

i fought a guy in a (horrible, medium contact kung fu) tournament who tried to fight using a deep horse stance.

i kicked him in the leg so many times, MY shin hurt afterwards, although i lost the match due to my repeated punches to his face, despite that not being a legal target area (horrible rules, they took a point away for every time i did it)

although i have never used a stance as a position to fight from (as a boxer's guard, for instance) i have passed through high versions of my stances during my sparring:

cat - any front kick leads to you being in cat stance for a brief moment.
bow - after a cross, you pass briefly through a bow stance
dragon - all boxing style slipping use dragon stance, and some kick setup footwork as well
and even for very brief moments, horse.

but i don't think that's what you're talking about.

**Cullion** · Posted On: 7/17/2007 6:33pm

Originally Posted by doktorhook

Hmm, interesting. Out of the three replies I recieved, no one answered my question. Chuan said I was beating a dead horse, isol8d refered me to another link which I appreciate & read that link & all of another link that was in the refered link. Cullion also suggested I use the search function.

Although I appreciate the links, they didn't & can't answer my question which was "How many of you have tried to spar in TMA stances?". To be fair the links came close in some respects but I was looking for a simple yes I have or no I haven't done this response.

Oh well no big deal I was just curious.

I dropped into a horse-stance once whilst doing an 'arrow punch' in a bit of light sparring in a Wing Chun class. The guy I did it to made a sort of snorting laugh and started skipping around making Bruce Lee noises, so I rugby tackled him.