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Class Notes |
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Wing Chun Stance |
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Now from a front view there are various possibilities. There is the legs together approach, the legs spread apart as in the horse stance and then there is the goat restraining pyramid shape stance with the thighbones vertical and there is the Goat Restraining Stance with the thighbones not parallel and vertical. With side-by-side legs, lateral balance is not as good. And pivoting and mobility in general is awkward. With the legs in the horse position pivoting is very awkward and this stance is not as mobile as a narrower stance. But the strain on the knee I would say is less. The posture is like two columns supporting a heavy roof. The structure is considered to be sound solid but not as mobile as a narrower stance. The knee in approach with the feet parallel puts too much strain on the knees. So the toes are turned in to reduce this kind of tension strain. The toe in approach also seems like a good idea for entering into the opponent’s stance since the feet are kind of in the wedge shape (not much foot adjustment is needed). With the thighs vertical and the shin bones going out, it gives a structure that seems to strain the knees more that the shin bones parallel and vertical horse stance. If you were on a slippery surface then the horse stance can remain stable easier (since you are like a chair) than the Goat Restraining stance where you must apply inward forces to keep the feet from slipping sideways. By the physics of it, the Goat Stance pushes the feet outward. But on a regular surface there is enough friction that this compensation force is probably nor necessary although Leung Ting’s people have this inward springy pull idea. I think the knees in approach is probably weaker against a sidekick to the knee joint as compared to the Horse stance where people demonstrate being able to take some quite hard kicks. However we don’t want to present any strong solid structure that can withstand thousands of pounds of force. The legs play the same role as the hands and must give one great mobility to allow quick changes of position while providing a fair amount of stability and rooting. As in the holding a stone example, in Chi sau the opponent’s forces are like the stone in the example. The posture transfers this force into the legs because the pelvis is straightened or slightly tucked in. But there is a large strain on the knees (which I especially realize this week when I can’t do the stance at all because of an old recurring torn ligament injury). When I learned Wing Chun long ago we didn’t used the thighbones so close and parallel as in the Leung Sheung method. The thighbones were not parallel. I think this might be less strain on the knees but more strain on the hip muscles because the body is nor mounted on top of two parallel columns in this case. This stance also offers slightly less protection against groin attacks when in a front facing position. Now that I have a knee problem I was thinking about Leung Ting’s method of turning. He proposes to turn only one leg at a time and not both. His arguments use the idea of balance. But from an injured kneed perspective it makes even more sense to me. If the weight is 50/50 and you try to turn, then this is a large strain for an unstable knee. For the Ken approach I see it is mandatory to develop certain support muscles around the knee area or else the structure is not satisfactory. Ken often pointed out his developed muscles around the knee area but what he was pointing out at the time didn’t seem relevant to anyone. However once you strain the knee, then it is easy to see the importance of developing the muscles that support the knee. Since the snow plow position in Skiing is similar to the Wing Chun Goat Restraining Stance, I don’t see it as an inferior unstable position but certain muscles need to be trained to give the required stability. No other stance gives all the options required for the flexibility, mobility and stability that Wing Chun requires. Other stance just don’t work. But once can still do a fair amount of Wing Chun even with no stance. If I am beating up someone in a car or fighting on the ground then I am still using Wing Chun skills but in these cases rooting is provided using other mechanisms. |
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I think the Wing Chun stance is just something
practical. Consider a side view of yourself. If you stand up straight and
cradle a big stone in your crossed arms then you are not balanced. You
will tip. Also it’s a great strain on the lower back. So to get balanced
you bend your knees. To reduce the strain on the back so that the legs are
used more than the back you tuck the pelvis in. I realized the connection
between the back and stomach muscles and how they relate to forces on the
arm when I had a disk injury and tried to life a light plate off the
table. It was excruciating pain. So now I believe the statement that 10
extra pounds of weight gives 70 extra pounds of strain so some disk on the
lower back. The side view already looks like the Wing Chun stance. If you
are not holding anything in your hands then the stand up straight posture
gives the least strain on the knees because the upper and lower bones are
lined up in one column.