I challenge you! Just for fun...

[Wanderingdragon]

Blimey how many CIMA-ists does it take to do a horse stance.....

Come on then Rob - show us how it's done!

There are 6 of us here now, if you do it right than it takes 6

[RobP2]

Blimey how many CIMA-ists does it take to do a horse stance.....

Come on then Rob - show us how it's done!

Lol - actually Ive seen a few people do this - feet parallel, back straight - Vincent Chu, Mikhail and also one of my lads - do I feel another "video challenge" coming on?

[GrahamB]

That would be the whole point of this thread, yes... but no need for video - a picture will suffice!

(Rob close your eye for a minute - thanks:

Look RSF guys, if the only guy on a CMA forum who can do my horse stance challenge is a frickin' SYSTEMA guy it's going to look really bad - limber up those legs will ya? Somebody - anybody? )



"Is there no one else?"

[dragontigerpalm]

I thought Systema guys train sidesaddle with 6 or more guys trying to push them off.

[RobP2]

Please don't force me to reveal the secret Cossack pony stance.....

[Wanderingdragon]

AAAAHHHH...The Cossack, descendant of the great Mongol warriors of the Steppe...No man is our Chief

[RobP2]

Real men dance in horse stance

[Darth Rock&Roll]

wow....

that's like a really fucked up version of west side story. lol

[johnrieber]

i don't want to be an asshole. but if your hips are lower than your knees in a horse stance, your joint mechanics aren't going to chain powerfully.

squatting is fine and useful. i like me a low springy monkey squat, personally. but the horse stance dynamics work differently.

in either the low horse or the squat, asking someone to put a hand on your shoulder and push a little bit down and back will tell you whether or not you're in a good place.

as far as the toes-in-toes-out discussion goes, you're talking about a closed horse versus an open horse. both are fine, but theoretically do different muscle/tendon/meridian things.

[lazyboxer]

Semi-open mabu:



Shi Deyang open mabu:



Deyang's knees extend slightly over his toes - he has to do this for his perineum to be above his heels and his back straight; the geometry doesn't work with thighs parallel to the ground unless one is unusually short knee-to-hip. His students in the demo both lean slightly forward, which is wrong, and produces a classic Shaolin "puffed up" chest, rather than their teacher's powerful and stable vertical alignment.

Anyone who's learned this from an expert will know how deceptively difficult is is to get right - you think you're there, when teacher gives you a minuscule but subtle 1 inch adjustment and suddenly your legs turn to water and you fall over.

Gerrit Rietveld's zig-zag chair is to comfort as the horse stance is to gongfu, and distributes force in much the same way:

[Ian]

Graham, if I may...

pay attention to the position of your taint.

In horse stance, the position of your taint is of VITAL IMPORTANCE!

wow....

that's like a really fucked up version of west side story. lol

You shut your mouth, sir. That's my morning routine.

[johnrieber]

ehh, you new generation whippersnappers...

i don't know what this 'taint' stuff is about, but it's clearly a youtube-infused concept. and i ain't going there. nosiree.

[bruce]

Shi Deyang open mabu:



Deyang's knees extend slightly over his toes - he has to do this for his perineum to be above his heels and his back straight; the geometry doesn't work with thighs parallel to the ground unless one is unusually short knee-to-hip. His students in the demo both lean slightly forward, which is wrong, and produces a classic Shaolin "puffed up" chest, rather than their teacher's powerful and stable vertical alignment.

Anyone who's learned this from an expert will know how deceptively difficult is is to get right - you think you're there, when teacher gives you a minuscule but subtle 1 inch adjustment and suddenly your legs turn to water and you fall over.

some people say it is NOT mabu unless the feet are parallel.

[johnrieber]

depends on your tradition, bruce.

there are two different schools of thought on the feet-parallel horse, even. one draws the parallel roughly along the middle of the foot, and the other draws the line on the outside of the foot, in a way that makes you feel kind of pigeon-toed when you're in the stance.

the open horse is as old or older than chen style.

so go figure.

they're all worth exploration.

there's also a lot of variation, traditionally, in the ideal width of the stance. hardcore closed rail-riding horse is, knees are no farther apart than the width of the shoulders. open horse can be twice as wide.

[Koah]

The true test of the horse is in duration anyway.

Blah! I disagree... (I mean as long as we are trying to be elitist like ego Martial Artists) The true test of horse stance is how long you can do Zhan Zhuang in it.

Think of all those Buddhist Monks standing in deep horse stance for hours long... the aim is to go for Zhan Zhuang for a long duration of time.

Anyway... having great physical ability should be always part of ones Martial Arts practice... A martial artist should always be healthy as well as physically fit. One should aim to have the fitness like the following video...


GrahamB, in your picture doesn't show how opened your hips are... Your Gua needs to be opened as well. This effects where your knees are in relation to your feet or heel is, as well as other things... You show to have pretty darn good physical machanics. I give you thumbs up...
According to your elitist like thinking... its not the best it could be... Although I am not judging how good you are by that specific picture. Just giving you my personal observations.