Saturday 19 April 2014

Stances

A lot of the martial arts world is overly concerned with stances.  In Krav Maga as well we refer to a certain stance as a 'general outlet' stance. Who in their right mind still says this as it means nothing to anyone in English?  Clearly something was lost in translation.  It's like how most Krav Maga gyms refer to wrist locks as 'cavaliers' as Imi called them this. It means nothing, and if Krav Maga is meant to be progressive why do people not re-name things?  I don’t teach much in the way of stances.  You have a passive guard and a guard position.  One is defensive and looks like you are de-escalating and the other is for full on combat.  What people need to realise is that when you spar in Krav Maga class this has very little to actually do with an actual confrontation. It's alive - moves more, has more dynamics, multiple opponents and weapons.  You want to be able to move left and right quickly so think more about how a basketball player player moves.  Want to experiment? Then simply watch two people spar then add in another two attackers and watch how the movements of the defender totally change. Keep in mind as well, your confrontation could take place in a bar and you don’t have time for stances as you typically think about them.   


Stances are good in traditional arts as they teach you movement and weight distribution for striking. However, we are trying to get people effective quickly and then get them in a comfortable position from where they can strike and move.  Don’t be too rigid with it all.  

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