In traditional martial arts, you will practice many different stances. But which stance is the most important?
HINT: It’s probably the first one you ever learned!
Whether you train in Karate, Taekwondo, or Kung Fu, here’s a tip that will put a spotlight on a crucial stance that you may be overlooking.
You can either play the video below or scroll down for the transcript. Happy training!
Transcript
Front and Back Stance, Horse and Cat Stance… if you’re a traditional martial artist, you probably train all of them. But which one is the most important?
None of them! The most important stance you can practice is your Ready Stance.
What? No way. I’m not even doing anything. The Ready Stance is just a basic, boring thing I have to do before I do the cool stuff.
It does seem pretty basic, doesn’t it? It’s easy to think that starting a form or a drill with “Yoi” or “Jun Bee”—a Ready Stance—is just tradition or a transition into something more important. But that’s a mistake!
The Ready Stance is your chance to literally get ready to perform with full focus and at full power. But flipping that switch isn’t that easy.
Imagine this—you walk into a coffee shop and someone lunges at you with a knife. You freeze. Not ready. Unprepared. Wouldn’t it be better—if someone is going to lunge at you with a knife— if they stopped and said, “Hey—before I stab you, I’ll give you a moment to get ready.”
Whew! Thanks!
Now, in that moment, how would your body shift? How would your mindset shift? That shifting of your body, mind, and spirit is exactly what should be happening before you start a form or a drill. That’s what the Ready Stance is for.
The Ready Stance gives you a moment to prepare to fight for your life. And that’s something you should practice.
Make the shift!
You’re probably thinking, “Nah. I’m good. I don’t want to practice that.”
Okay, hot shot—good luck at the coffee shop. But before you go, let me ask you this…
Have you ever noticed that you can judge someone’s kata before they do it just by observing their Ready Stance? As soon as someone steps up to demonstrate a skill, you can tell if they’re ready to give it 100% or not.
For more on the question of practicing forms, check out: Should You Practice Kata?
As a teacher, I can tell you if a student steps up with an unfocused Ready Stance, I’ll stop them right there. The way I see it, if you can’t bring your full attention and power to the very first move, there’s no point watching the second move.
Yeah, that’s right – I consider the Ready Stance a move of its own. So should you.
All right— time to practice. I’ve got a challenge for you.
The Ready Stance Challenge
I challenge you—right now—to stand in your Ready Stance for 10 minutes straight.
No wiggling, no scratching, no staring at yourself in the mirror—I’ll do all of that later—just stand tall and hold it. At first, you might think—
Pff. My Ready Stance is gold, baby. Nothing to work on here.
Of course, you’d be wrong. Keep going and you’ll figure out what I’m talking about, “baby”.
Here’s a hint—think about your body. Is it fully connected and ready to fire into the next movement? I’ll bet there’s part of you that usually gets left behind.
Another hint—think about your mindset. Are you prepared in your gut and in your heart to defend yourself? To fight… to die… to kill? Is it possible that your perception of 100% effort isn’t really 100% of your effort?
Give yourself 10 minutes to see what you find. It’s actually difficult to do…but that’s what makes it cool.
So, your turn. Get up and hold your Ready Stance for 10 minutes. Don’t do it for me. Don’t do it for tradition. Do it for YOU.
Work on your Ready Stance as much as you work on your other moves and you’ll be ready for anything. Until next time, be prepared, my friend, and keep fighting for a happy life.
