Comments on: Martial Arts Fighting Stances; What is Best?

By: John W. Zimmer

John W. Zimmer — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 07:13:08 +0000

Hi Coen,

Thank you for commenting. There is a lot to be said for both.

By: Coen

Coen — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:57:04 +0000

Kuroi ryu ninjutsu is the style that i practise. My sensei is soke Arie van den Akker o sama sensei. We practise traditional stances and modernd stances as well. I think you need to know many stances it is good for structure and practise.

By: John W. Zimmer

John W. Zimmer — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:21:06 +0000

Hi Matt, Great points about Bill Wallace and Benny Uriquidez. What is awesome about Bill is he can really develop a lot of power with those front leg kicks!
.
Hi Zara, I used to really enjoy fighting people from different styles in open tournaments and dojo sparring. I even had fun once fighting a boxer – bare knuckles after leaving a club one night. We both did not think much of each other fighting style at first (I was a brown belt at the time – not yet very worldly). The fight went like this, I would bridge the gap (boxers aren’t great at this) and smacking with a jab, reverse punch and try to get out of dodge. The boxer just took the strike and counter with some hard hooks (luckily for me I covered on the way out).

I then faked a back-knuckle and pivoted into a rear kick that picked up the boxer and landed him on his butt.

We fought until the cops got there and then explained to the cop that we were just having fun! We both left thinking that there was something to each other’s fighting art.

By: Zara

Zara — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:06:24 +0000

I’ll take your word for it John, you’re far more experienced in fighting and sparring than me, it’s just that the sparring I’ve done uptill now was always kickboxing orientated and the range there is usually a little shorter than in karate. In kickboxing the sidekick is not used much and the usual way of attacking is boxing-combo’s mixed with mid-range kicks or short-range clinching with knees or JKD-trapping. I would love the opportunity to train with a good karateka on this, unfortunately I don’t know anyone with a decent skill-level (a few lower belts but not very advanced)and I don’t really have the time to join a karate-club. If that were possible I’d prefer kenpo but there isn’t a dojo in reach. I know my sensei used to attend kenpo-seminars for a while but nowadays he’s more into the filipino-MA, I’ll ask him whether he has an interest in taking it up again (he has a car, I don’t).

By: Matt Klein

Matt Klein — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:05:35 +0000

Hi John, stances and footwork are the keys to success in the martial arts so I read your article with great interest. Well done. I believe there is a place for both stances and being able to shift back and forth when needed is the mark of a great fighter. Bill Wallace was super successful in both point and full contact with the side stance, using front wheel (roundhouse), heel hooks, side kicks, backfist almost exclusively. What people didn’t realize was that he could fight really well inside too when needed. Benny Uriquidez was awesome inside by using a more forward stance because his strength was punches but he had great kicks as well. Agree with Jack above that above all you must be mobile, making you a much harder to hit.

By: John W. Zimmer

John W. Zimmer — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 04:16:14 +0000

Hi Zara, fighting a kicker from outside the distance, a more side stance is better – you are a lot less open.

It is true when you close the gap (or your opponent does) that your stance should shift to more squared off so one can cover effectively.

There are a lot of opinions on this though… Muay Thai seems to always have the squared off (forward facing) stance.

By: Zara

Zara — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:35:48 +0000

To me there’s only one true fighting-stance and that is the JKD bai-jong or on-guard position. Basically you face the opponent squarely with both feet shoulderwith apart (weight-ratio 50/50), slightly crouched with both hands near the face (elbows in to protect the ribs), the left one slightly forward and hands half open (clenched fists means less speed) with the shin down for obvious reasons. The left knee should point slightly inward to block a straight-line shot to the groin (primary target in street-fighting) and the heel of the back foot should be up to provide a springload and fast forward momentum in either direction. I’m no expert in karate or kickboxing but I do not like a side-stance: your whole side is exposed to shots (roundhouse to the ribs, kidneys or hook to the head as John pointed out), your balance is compromised (two feet in alignment) and your attacks will be highly predictable.

From that position the only practical options you have are attacks from the front foot or the front hand, so side-kicks (or possibly hook-kicks) or backfists (punching sideways does not have alot of power since your body can’t turn enough to generate true torque). Either is fairly easy to defend and you’ll have a hard time escaping if you missed. For MMA and competitions where groin-strikes are forbidden a good stance would be to the Bas Rutten-stance: basically facing the opponent squarely with feet wide apart. This allows the jab to be used as a power-punch since the shoulders can almost turn as much as with the cross, plus your balance is better in case he goes for a shoot. I wouldn’t use in on the street though since the groin is wide open (similar to the thai-stance) and the front knee can be quickly snapped with a round or side kick. The karate zenkutsu-dachi or attacking stance is not great (at least imo) since it limits your mobility (70% of the weight is on the front leg, if you want to move that leg you’ll have to shift and lift it up first) and is basically an invitation to your opponent to wreck your knee: I know it is used to quickly lunge at the opponent and this gives you great reach in the attack (in itself a good thing) but I wouldn’t employ it as my standard fighting-stance. For grappling your stance should be wider and your bodyweight more forward, depending on the style (judo, wrestling, sambo…) and the situation of course. Weapon-stances are numerous and again depend on the particulars of the style and especially the weapon: with short weapons (especially sharp ones)the weapon should always be in your strong hand with your strong side facing forward to give you the maximum reach and allow you to defend any incoming attacks with the weapon itself instead of the hand.

In any case I’d steer clear of exotic stances (like those in kung-fu or ninpo) since they’re more for show than for fighting and make you vulnerable without offering any real advantage. That’s just my take on things, nothing more and nothing less. In any case this is an interesting discussion on a very fundamental topic (maybe the most fundamental of all), good work John.