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Those of you familiar with martial arts probably know what I am talking about, if not:
So I know the basics like:
- Knees should never extend over the toes
- Back and upper body should be straight and relaxed
- Weight should be evenly distributed by the whole sole of each foot
My question is: How deep should you actually go? I know that your thights should be parallel to the ground so they can support a staff, but after some time I notice that I slump more and more, respectively my butt goes deeper than my knees which can't be good for them.
On the other hand I read that the deeper = the better, yet I experienced severe pain in my knees if I really go as low as possible.
Am I doing something entirely wrong or how do you prevent yourself from going too low? Besides, how long can you stay in Mabu? Right now, I can do a whopping three minutes, which compared to Chinese kids doing it for hours seems rather improvable 
  
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that looks pretty sick. sorry i dont know anything about it..
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is awesome32282 Posts
Anyone care to explain the purpose of it?
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You need a strong foundation to do martial arts IntotheWow, that is the just of it anyway.
Yes, you should aim to try and get lower and lower because the lower you are to the ground = more stability/grounded.
Make sure your butt isn't sticking out though. It's hard to stay relaxed when your legs are wobbling everywhere. ;/
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On January 07 2009 07:33 IntoTheWow wrote:
Anyone care to explain the purpose of it?
If you ever feel like riding two horses at once?
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When I used to do martial arts it was one of the first basic stances I learned. To be honest, there is no real practical value to it, but rather something to discipline yourself, and once you become comfortable with the stance it helps you move onto other stances with ease.
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On January 07 2009 07:33 IntoTheWow wrote:
Anyone care to explain the purpose of it?
to let your inner strength flow outward. on toilet that is..
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There is a lot to it than that man, rofl.
Every other stance derives from it.
If you want to move like water you have to have a strong core to do it from.
That's why you should hold it for hours on end at least once a day.
Horse Stance is POWA!
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im no martial artist but imo u should ask yourself how flexible you want to be, as it will turn into a stretch when you go deep enough. If you do go deeper make sure to focus on keep your butt pushed out.
also, it's surely not very important, but when doing most standing poses I like to put my hand into an anjali mudra position:
for various reasons hehe
but I don't know martial arts and there could be a good reason for having your hands like you do.
do you have a knee injury? maybe you should do some other stretches before trying to go deeper. tbh your form looks pretty good right now
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umm in tkd u dont usually go that far down. maybe u are going to far down?
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whats with all this talk of going farther down? When I trained in martial arts we did this stance with our thighs parallel to the ground as in that picture. Letting your body go down was considered bad form because thats what happens when you are to weak to maintain the proper form.
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On January 07 2009 08:16 Mastermind wrote:
whats with all this talk of going farther down? When I trained in martial arts we did this stance with our thighs parallel to the ground as in that picture. Letting your body go down was considered bad form because thats what happens when you are to weak to maintain the proper form.
I don't think so. I would think it means you are too weak if you can't keep proper back/butt posture and proper leg alignment
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On January 07 2009 08:26 travis wrote:Show nested quote +On January 07 2009 08:16 Mastermind wrote:
whats with all this talk of going farther down? When I trained in martial arts we did this stance with our thighs parallel to the ground as in that picture. Letting your body go down was considered bad form because thats what happens when you are to weak to maintain the proper form.
I don't think so. I would think it means you are too weak if you can't keep proper back/butt posture and proper leg alignment
isnt that essentially what I said? maybe i am misunderstanding something here. When I do it, any angles my body creates are all 90 degrees. If the angle at my knees is less than 90, it is easier.
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That's like some crouching tiger hidden dragon shit!
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It is good to train your quads and hamstrings, but it is very ineffective as a fighting stance.
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My question is: How deep should you actually go?
Am I doing something entirely wrong or how do you prevent yourself from going too low?
Besides, how long can you stay in Mabu?
Go as low as you can while still being able to keep your structure - if someone can poke you over with one finger, etc, you're too low. With practice, you will be able to hold and control your structure in lower and lower postures. Go as low as you can in practice - this is to give you more range when you do have to fight. If you go into a fight at 20% low, say, then you still have 80% range of movement with strong structural control. This is what allows you to absorb attacks while retaining the ability to redirect and return, etc.
Always try to hold the posture higher than your lowest good posture - this will let you feel your weak points more clearly - overtired (ie: overused) musles become weak first and will tremor a bit. This is normal and shows you the muscles you are favouring too much. Raise your posture a *little* bit and relax but don't stop holding the posture - you will naturally start using your deeper muscles to support the posture and strengthen them. As you get stronger, you will be able to lower the posture and keep control, but you have to do the long standing to get this. I wouldn't say that hours are necessary, but if you can do a 30-40 minute stand you're getting on well. I typically do this with a pattern of eight different upper body postures to set pace - each posture for 10 breaths, say, then increase the number of breaths to extend your standing time. Gives you time to work on breathing control as well.
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United States24809 Posts
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note: there are northern and southern styles... i think mine is southern styled. the most notable difference between north and south are how far apart you can spread your feet... i think the dude in the OP's pic is doing northern or something ... that's not how i learned it
back must be straight
head is leveled and at attention
butt cannot stick out
knees cannot extend over tip of feet
feet flat
feet are at outer width of shoulders (like, the inner side of the foot would be the outer side of the shoulders)
hands are fists, palm upward, elbows behind (this should make your chest stick out... but don't stick out too much because your back should be straight)
heel, spine also aligned
as balanced as possible
be as symmetrical as possible
i dunno, this is all just off the top of my head, some of them might even be wrong.
i had a co-worker a while ago that had such a firm horse stance that you couldn't tip him over. like, if you charged at him, or tried to grab onto him, or tackle him, or pull him down, etc. .. he could twist his body and/or wrestle himself free without having to move the position of his feet. all about body physics. moving forces ftw
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is awesome32282 Posts
On January 07 2009 07:41 AloneInDaBunker wrote:Show nested quote +On January 07 2009 07:33 IntoTheWow wrote:
Anyone care to explain the purpose of it? to let your inner strength flow outward. on toilet that is..
hahaha
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EPT![[image loading]](http://www.learn-chinese-martial-arts.com/images/ma-sec.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://z.about.com/d/yoga/1/G/m/2/anjalimudra.jpg)
