Studio X: Stances, Rank 1

2011-05-06: Updated title to indicate these are stances for the first belt rank.

2011-04-20: Have corrected some items below on the basis of further discussion with instructors.

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The first (of perhaps several) entries on the stances taught at Studio X.

Horse

This is a typical horse stance such as is to be found in nearly every kung fu/karate school. Formal criteria:

• 50/50 weight division
• Feet point forward
Feet are two shin-lengths apart
• Head/chest are erect
• Hands chambered at the hips (or, alternately, held in guard position)
• (Ideally) thighs are parallel to the ground¹

This is a training stance intended for improving the strength and flexibility of the legs.

The challenge of horse stance is to bend deeply while maintaining good form. The natural response to bending you thighs is to stick out your rear to maintain your center of balance. But if you do that it looks silly and (more importantly) makes it essentially impossible to keep your chest/head erect. Correct form involves shifting your center of gravity by tucking in your rear and bending more at the ankle to compensate. The strength/flexibility of the ankle is generally the limiting factor in how deep you can go. Note also that I've added a couple of joints to the spine to emphasize that the back is slightly curved in this position rather than being straight.

Bow

Bow stance is, like horse, intended primarily for training rather than practical application. It is designed to strengthen the legs and stretch the muscles/ligaments below and posterior to the knee² and to encourage the "rooting" necessary for delivery of effective punches. As such it serves the same purpose as the long, forward stances found in other arts. Formal criteria:

• 70/30 weight distribution
• Both feet point forward
• Rear foot trails leading foot by 2*(shin length+ankle length)
• ~1 foot-length horizontal distance between feet Just enough horizontal distance between feet to maintain balance.
• Back leg straight
• Front thigh parallel to ground
• Hips forward

Very few people are actually flexible enough to meet the formal criteria; the figure I've rendered above reflects the "correct" posture as it is seen in practice. In particular it is usually the case that the muscles/ligaments of the legs are too tight for the trailing foot to face completely forward, causing the following:

• Trailing foot points off-center 25° - 45°.
• Rear leg mostly, but not entirely, straight.
• Hips point off center 15° - 45°

It's important to note that you don't straighten your rear leg completely outside of the formal context. Doing locks out your knee, risking injury, and also makes it difficult to move out of bow stance. Rather, in practice the knee is kept bent both for protection of the joint and to provide the power to move out of the stance gracefully.

I've rendered the figure with an outstretched arm to remind myself of an idiosyncrasy of Studio X. In the other arts I've studied you'd never leave an arm outstretched like that; you'd chamber it or put it on guard. The Studio X short forms that I've learned so far, on the other hand, all begin from (and some end in) this position. This seems to be a function of the following factors:

• There's an implicit, unperformed "outward block, punch" at the beginning of each long form. This, in turn, seems to be related to the technique for turning 180° while in bow stance, which involves issuing the same block/punch combo.
• The hands have to go somewhere. Studio X short forms, rather than having them chambered or on guard, simply keeps them in their initial (i.e. post-turn) position.

Sparring

This is the default stance for "practical" work and is analogous to the fighting/sparring stances found in other systems. It's designed to protect the body and make it easy to move. Points to note:

• 50/50 60/40 weight distribution favoring front leg
• Rear foot lags front foot by 2*(shin length - ankle length)
• Feet ~1 foot-length apart Just enough horizontal distance between feet to maintain balance.
• Front foot points forward
• Rear foot points off-center just enough to be comfortable
• Hands are in guard position:
• Hands make fists
• Lead hand (hand on same side as leading foot) is on center line, slightly below eye level
• Other hand "tucks in" below lead hand and slightly off-center.
• Elbows on the narrow end of their natural range.

Unlike bow/horse, which are training stances designed to be uncomfortable to some degree, sparring stance should feel comfortable and natural. Disregard the implied hip geometry in the figure above; it's largely an artifact of how I rigged the figure. The hips, like the rear foot, will face just off-center enough to be comfortable.

Cat

Cat stance has a role in both formal and practical applications:

• Proper form involves sinking deeply on the supporting leg, building strength and flexibility.
• Weight rests on a single foot, making it easy to deliver kicks.
• The stance is geometrically compact around the vertical axis, making it easy to turn; cat stance is often used to assist with direction changes in forms.

The stance itself doesn't require a lot of explanation:

• 90/10 weight distribution favoring rear foot
• Rear foot and hips face forward
• Sink as low as possible on supporting foot.
• Trunk erect
• Front foot essentially "floats" slightly in front of rear foot.

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1 I've heard that in more than one place, but I'm not 100% convinced that its physically possible to get the thighs parallel while maintaining good form. In order to keep the center of mass within the box described by the feet (and thus avoid falling over) you'd need to either a) lean the torso forward quite a bit or b) extend the knees very far in front of the toes. The former is easily doable, but conflicts with the goal of keeping the torso upright, while I'm not sure its physically possible to bend the ankle enough to achieve the latter.
2 The plantaris? Gastrocnemeus?