Stances are a foundation to all
our techniques. Without strong stances
the technique does not have the foundation to be as effective as possible.
I discussed the importance of
stances and the fact you should evolve to always be in a stance in my June 2009
blog “The Importance of Stances” (http://hanmookwan-svl-chiefinstructor.blogspot.com/2009/06/).
I also discussed the importance
of alignment and various aspects of alignment in previous blogs, so I will not
reiterate those points here as it pertains to stances, but if you missed those
blogs, you can find them here:
- April 2012
blog: “The Importance of Alignment and Breathing”
(http://hanmookwan-svl-chiefinstructor.blogspot.com/2012/04/)
- January 2017 blog: “Alignment: Critical to Protecting the Muscular Skeletal Body” (http://hanmookwan-svl-chiefinstructor.blogspot.com/2017/01/)
In this blog, I plan to discuss
how to improve your stances from a muscular perspective.
From a muscular perspective,
stances start with the feet (yes, your feet have muscles). Your feet start the foundation so physically
they must be an active part of the stance.
You should be consciously using your feet such that at a minimum, four points
on the feet are in contact with the ground (two at the edges toward the front
of the foot and two at the edges of the heel).
Eventually you want to use all edges of your feet. Mr. Kim actively used his feet so much even
in everyday walking that he used to wear out the edges of his shoes in a matter
of months.
The muscles in the arches should
be active. If you are wondering of you
are using your feet as actively as possible, lift the toes and pull up your
arches. If this feels very different, then
most likely you are not using your feet actively in your stances.
Next your leg muscles should be
engaged and not just the large muscles. Have
you noticed your quadriceps tire quickly if holding stances? If you are not being conscious, then it could
be you are just dumping your weight and allowing the quadriceps to take on the
load of the stance without consciously engaging other muscles, especially the
smaller muscles. This is true statically
as well as when you are moving dynamically.
It is slightly different from
stance to stance, but in general your calves, hamstrings, adductors, and groin
muscles should all be active in our stances.
In addition to your leg muscles, the gluteus maximus and abdominals are
also very important muscles to engage, both statically and dynamically in
creating a strong, stable stance.
So, I highly suggest you spend time
both statically and dynamically analyzing how well you are using all your
muscles in each of your stances. Determine
how well you are using your feet, legs, glutes and abs and if not engaging all,
or over using others, work to balance it out.
This will result in stronger, more stable stances.
Regards,
Kelly
“All kata use the
so-called postures (kamae). In fact, there are many kinds of postures and many
kinds of kata. While learning these postures should not be totally ignored, we
must be careful not to overlook that they are just forms or templates of sort;
it is the function of their application which needs to be mastered.” ~ Choki
Motobu (1871–1944), Founder of Okinawan Tomari-te Karate
References
1.
The Anatomy of
Martial Arts by Dr. Norman Link and Lily Chou
