Martial Art Stances and Stepping

Foundational to almost all martial arts are the use of well balanced stances. Stances differ from style to style, but can typically be divided into ritual and practical stances.

Ritual Stances

Ritual stances are used for formalities, and usually involve bowing postures. Some common ritual stances include kneeling meditation postures, kneeling and bowing (also known as the formal bow), standing and bowing, as well as attention stances, which are usually in a standing posture.

Practical Stances

Practical stances are used to keep good balance while performing various offensive or defensive techniques. Stances differ widely from one martial art to the next and terminology is equally divergent. The following descriptions are generalizations and only cover some of the more prevalent stances.

• Ready Stance

The ready stance is usually a relaxed, but focused posture with feet about shoulder width apart and the body weight distributed equally over both feet. The hands are often closed into fists.

• Fighting Stance

The fighting stance has one foot forward about half a step with the feet a little more than shoulder width apart. The weight is distributed somewhat equally over both feet and the knees are slightly bent. This stance can easily maneuver forward and backward, as well as to the sides, and is therefore popular in sparring.

• Forward Stance (Walking Stance)

In the forward stance the martial artist shifts his or her body weight more onto the front foot. The front knee is usually bend and the front foot facing forward. The back leg is usually straightened, with the back foot pointing diagonally forward. The hips are often squared. The forward stance is effective for strong linier advances, and quite stable because of the low centre of gravity. Unfortunately, the low centre of gravity tend to make kicking difficult.

• Back Stance

In the back stance the centre of gravity is shifted back towards the rear leg. Both the knees are usually bend and the hips are not fully turned. The rear leg supports about 60-70% of the weight. This stance is common when withdrawing from an attack and can be a good position from which to counter-attack.

• Cat Stance (Rear Foot Stance)

The cat stance has most of the centre of gravity brought over the rear foot, with only an approximate 10 percent remaining on the front foot. The rear leg is usually well bend. Since most of the weight is carried by the rear leg, the front foot is free for a variety of kicks.

• Horse stance (Sitting Stance)

The horse stance is a forward facing stance with the feet wide apart and bend at the knees. It is popular with wrestling martial arts, such as Sumo, and is often used to strengthen the thigh muscles.

Stepping

Footwork is very important in the martial arts and requires a multitude of stepping-motions. Some common stepping-motions include the half step, stepping over, cross-over stepping, semi-circular stepping, side-stepping, dodging and pivoting.

• Half step

A half step is when you move one foot forward and shift the rear foot after it. This shuffle ensures a quick, but focused advance, without changing your posture or guard. Half steps are often used by boxers. The half step can also be done retreating.

• Stepping over

Stepping over is when one paces forward so that one’s rear foot advances and replaces the front foot as the leading foot. A step over covers a larger distance but turns the body position. One can step forward or backward.

• Cross-over stepping (Scissors stepping)

A cross-over step is performed when one brings the rear foot forward so it crosses the front leg. The cross-over step is often followed with a kick. Different kicks require the rear leg to cross-over either the back or the front of the leading leg. The sidekick requires a back cross-over and a roundhouse kick (turning kick) requires a front cross-over.

• Side-stepping

Side-stepping is a particularly useful maneuver to avoid an oncoming attack. Usually the front leg is used to quickly do a half step to the side or diagonally forward and drawing the other leg in. On occasion the rear leg can also be moved back to initiate a side-step. After a successful side-step, one is often in an advantageous position from which to perform a counter-attack to ones opponent.

• Dodging

Dodging is a form of side-stepping or other form of swift maneuvering to avoid an oncoming attack.

• Pivoting

There are a number of ways of turning, all requiring one to pivot in ones stance. Turning motions begins from the hip and can add much momentum to strikes.

• Guard

The position of your hands relative to your stance determines your guard. A good guard requires a balanced stance and arms that can easily protect against attacks to the upper body.  

Blocking

Martial Arts are well known for their arsenal of blocking techniques. Blocking requires the interjecting of a body part of your own, to interrupt and usually deflect the attacking limb of an opponent.

Hard blocks

Hard styles tend to use blocks as intercepting weapons, to hurt the attacking limbs of their opponents. Hard blocks meet force with force, but also use rotational tactics to spread the force over a greater surface area, and so lessen the impact of the incoming attack. Hard blocks usually require much conditioning of the blocking areas. Thai boxers, for instance, use cola bottles filled with sand to harden their shins, which are used for both striking and blocking.

Soft blocks

Soft styles typically use blocks to redirect and deflect the force of an opponent’s attack. By redirecting the force of the opponent’s attack, the soft style martial artist can control the opponent’s force and use it against him. Soft style blocks often require much training, which involves one to merge with the opponent’s attacking force before one can redirect and control it. Soft style martial arts like Aikido often require little muscular strength, but warrant much dexterity and sensitivity to the movement of one’s opponent.

Counter-attacking

Blocks are customarily followed by counter attacks. Hard blocks are usually followed by strikes or kicks and soft blocks are usually followed by a grab and wrist lock or some type of throwing technique. Counter-attacks needs to follow the block immediately, before the attacker has time to assess the situation and recuperate. Many martial artists believe that the ultimate aim in their training is to complete such a block and counter-attack with such proficiency that no other retaliation would be necessary. One blow (counter-attack) should be enough to immobilize the attacker.

The Body’s Striking Weapons

Techniques rely on certain natural weapons, innate to the human body. The weapons include the hands, arms, legs, feet and other miscellaneous body parts.

Hands

The hand is probably our most important and versitile body tool. With it we do everything from caressing to punching.

• Closed fist

The closed hand creates what is known as the fist – the most common hand weapon. Using the hardened knuckles, the fore fist can be a devastating weapon, capable of much carnage.

• Hammer fist (Side fist)

Another favorite is the hammer fist. Instead of using the knuckles of the closed fist, the hammer fist uses the side of the closed fist (on the little finger side). The technique is often used in a clubbing action and is an easy and natural way of hitting. One often sees other primates and even children using the hammer fist as an instinctive weapon.

• Back fist

Similar to the fore fist, the back fist uses the back of the knuckles. The wrist is often kept loose, and snaps at the target in a whipping action, to increase the acceleration of the strike.

• Half-open fist (Long fist)

When the fore fist is slightly unrolled so that the attacking area is not the knuckles, but the middle digits of the fingers, it is known as a half-open fist, or a long fist because of the slightly longer reach of this technique. The half-open fist is used to attack narrow openings such as the throat.

• Palm heel

When the hand is opened and stretched back so that the bottom of the palm is revealed, it is called the palm heel. Striking with the cushioned flesh at the bottom of the palm greatly reduces the risk of personal injury. In Chinese styles the fingers tend to be extended open, while in Japanese and Korean styles the fingers tend to be slightly bend.

• Knife hand

The knife hand is similar to the hammer fist, but with the hand open, focussing on the pad of flesh on the edge of the hand. The knife hand is used to strike soft areas such as the neck and since the strike is concentrated on a small surface area, the force can be quite great. The knife hand is equally as effective as a block and is sometimes followed by a grab.

• Ridge hand

The inverse of the knife hand is the ridge hand. The thumb side of the hand is used for striking. The thumb is tucked away to produce a safe surface area for striking (or blocking).

• Fingers

Many martial arts employ the fingers as effective weapons. The fingers can be poked into the eyes or at pressure points all over the body. Much effort is taken to strengthen the fingers, when they are to be used as weapons.

Arms

• Forearms

The forearms, specifically the bony area directly below the wrist and on the sides of the arm, are excellent areas for blocking. Although not generally used for striking, it is possible to use the forearm as an attacking tool, for example against the neck.

• Elbows

The elbow is one of the bodies most versatile and hardened weapons. It is especially effective at close range encounters and can be swung horizontally, vertically and diagonally and even thrust straight back.

Legs

The legs are primarily used for kicking techniques.

• Knees

Like the elbow, the knee is a powerful close range weapon. The knees can be swung upwards to the groin or diagonally at the floating ribs or solar plexus.

• Shins

When conditioned the shin is a extremely hard surface area and excellent weapons for kicking and guarding.

Feet

• Instep

The instep is often used for kicking, with the toes curled in and the foot flexed so that the instep is in line with the shin. Since the top of the foot has many vulnerable little bones, it is better not to use the instep unless wearing sparring boots or shoes.

• Ball of the Foot

The ball of the foot is an excellent weapon for kicking. It is padded with strong cushioning and doesn’t require much condition to be effective. When used, the toes must be pulled back, lest they be injured. The ball of the foot is especially effective for the front kick and roundhouse (aka turning) kick.

• Sole of the Foot

The sole of the foot is used in Chinese and Korean martial arts to thrust the opponent away. It can also be used against the knee joint.

• Edge of the Foot (Foot Sword)

The edge of the foot is used as the main weapon for the side kick and can be used to attack the instep, the shin, the knee, the ribs, the neck or the face, among others.

• Heel

Some kicks, such as the downward (aka axe kick) make use of the heel of the foot. For the downward kick the leg is swung up and over the opponent and then forcefully jerked downward, slamming the heel into the opponents head or collarbone. The heel is also used for some spinning kicks.

Miscellaneous Weapons

• Head

The head butt is an effective technique and a common surprise attack during street brawls. The hard skull makes for an effective weapon.

• Chest

Sometimes the chest can be slammed into an opponent, as in Sumo wrestling.

• Hips

Occasionally the hips can be jammed into an opponent’s side as an unorthodox attack. The hips are also effectively used in various throwing techniques and can cause crushing pressure when dropped onto a person.

• Teeth

Although not very graceful, biting is an effective attack. The teeth are hard and sharp and can cause serious injury. Fists are often cut accidentally when punched into teeth.

Other Ways of Fighting

Apart from striking and kicks, there are also other ways of fighting an opponent. The first is to use an opponent’s force against him and the second is to employ leverage and joint locks.

Using an Opponent’s Own Force Against Him

Generally, if two people should grab hold of each other, it is the person with the most muscle strength that would get the upper hand. However, many styles have learned to use the opponent’s strength against him.

Judo and Aikido, for instance, uses the attacking force of an opponent and redirect such force into a throwing technique.

Leverage and Joint Locks

Many styles focus on leverage and joint locks to manipulate an opponent. An example is the simple arm bar that hyper extends the elbow joint by pulling it across the forearm or over the shoulder. A martial art like Hapkido specializes in manipulating the joints of the opponent. Smaller joints such as the wrist joints or fingers get special attention, as they are easier to lock than larger joints such as the shoulder or knee; however, all the joints in the human body are potentially vulnerable to attack.

Using leverage a relatively smaller person is able to manipulate a much larger opponent.
Martial arts that focus on leverage and joint locks include: Judo, Jujitsu, Taiho Jutsu, Brazillian Jujitsu, Aikido and Hapkido.