by Mike Vassolo
originally published in 1996

I’m always amazed at how martial artists at all levels pay so little mind to mastering basic fighting stances. They’ll spend hours drilling their blocks, punches and kicks, yet they start yawning at the thought of spending a like amount of time analyzing and practicing their stances. Maybe they believe that because they can whirl through fancy combinations of techniques that they’ve already mastered the art of stance. But that’s a dangerous assumption, because your ability to effectively use stances isn’t likely to be truly tested until you’re being attacked on the street. Then it’s too late for anything but regrets.

If you think I’m exaggerating the importance of perfecting your stances, imagine trying to strike back at an attacker while your body rocks, sways and wobbles. The results would be inadequate at best, because if you don’t have a solid firing platform, you won’t have powerful weapons to use in your defense. (That’s why sweeps are so effective in disrupting an opponent’s assault. After all, you can’t fight, if you’re falling.) When you’re attacked, you must automatically assume a good martial arts stance, or you can’t even begin to counterattack effectively. That’s why stance is the first and most important technique in personal defense.

Of course, there’s much more to stance than simply how and where to place your feet. All good stances must be stable, fluid, flexible and versatile. A stable stance allows you to effectively fend off an attack, and then counterattack with powerful blocks, punches and kicks. A fluid stance lets you move with quickness, agility and balance in all directions. Flexibility permits you to change easily from one stance to another with poise and control. And a versatile stance allows you to forcefully deliver your most powerful weapons from both sides of your body without first telegraphing your intentions.

Because the best foundations, like bedrock, are simple, you need master only a handful of stances that have been proven effective under combat conditions. The two most important are the horse and the bow and arrow. For all practical purposes, you can be a powerful and highly skilled fighter if you will just take the time to master these two basic stances. Simply perfecting the movement from the horse to the bow and back again will teach you a lot about how to effectively transfer power in a way that allows your inner strength to come into play. You will then be striking with your entire body rather than just a hand, foot, elbow or knee. Of course, there are many other stances that you may want to master to help increase your combat capabilities. I’ve found that the crane, the cat, the cross step and the back stance can all be quite useful under certain circumstances.

In closing, just remember that if you don’t care enough to invest the time to master basic stances, you will never be half the fighter you could be, no matter how good you are now. That’s why stance is the first technique, not just when you’re a beginner, but when you’re an experienced martial artist, as well. So starting now, work on your stances until they overflow with the fighting spirit that you put into all of your other techniques.