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Here is a common error that can sometimes present early on when learning the basic ready position for fighting.
For purposes of this article, the feet are in a bladed southpaw stance - the feet are roughly (+/-) shoulder width in a generic “athletic” ready position.
The right foot is in front of the left.
The Heel of the rear foot roughly lines up with the toes of the front.
The right shoulder points to two O Clock and the left shoulder points to 8 o’ clock.
Your hands are up to protect the vital areas of the torso, neck, and head.
Simply reverse this position to be in the mirror opposite “Orthodox” fighting stance.
There can be a habit for some students when learning this to have (1) the feet correctly positioned but to then square the body by turning it to face front (left shoulder to 9 O’ Clock /right to 3 O’ Clock) possibly to subconsciously try to use both hands equally for problem solving such as covering up from blows. Alternatively, they start in a correct bladed position but (2) slowly creep into a square-on position - these are early stance errors to focus on and erase for the following reasons:
In #1, you’re posture is twisted up at the waist and this will jack with your breathing, slow your movement, and impair your actions and reactions.
The correct bladed position presents less of you to the aggressor as you are somewhat side-on to them rather than facing square-on (#2) - this is the reason that it is generally taught in most systems.
There are, however, some other reasons for bladed stances being superior:
Reach
The reach of your lead hand is increased - try it from the definition of Southpaw stance I described at the beginning:
Hold your right arm out straight and notice how much less your reach is if you draw your right shoulder back to the 3 O’ Clock position!
This reach is vital for your ability to distance an aggressor from you and is handicapped if your form is wrong.
Power generation for striking
The power of your cross is increased as it is not limited in its required hip movement and drive as it is if the body is turned front on.
When the body is twisted and facing the front as described, the potential for hip- drive is reduced, and in fact, the hip is almost locked and unable to contribute at all!
When throwing the rear hand, the rear heel lifts to allow the hip torque that drives the strike, contributes to its power and thus allows the reach to be increased.
Fights are chaotic
I should mention also that stances are all very well but they are also ideals in terms of situations that you can find yourself in.
Striking must also be learned from non-traditional positions and postures to be complete and thus set stances are only part of training for survival fighting rather than a greater part of it as in disciplines such as traditional martial arts, boxing, etc.
You may well cycle through many different variations of posture and foot position depending on the variables you may find yourself faced with in the chaos of confrontation.
Stances remain, however, the skeletal framework that understanding and learning springs from and also give opportunities for insertions of structure, form, and control within this chaos and so must be learned and understood.
Further reading:
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