Question 031: Stationary stance

For training practice and/or a real fight, can the Taekwondo walking stance be used to momentarily stand still while doing any basic Taekwondo block with either the left or right hand and forearm for a punch or kick that is aimed directly and squarely in front?

 Actually, any technique may be performed from any stance. However, some techniques are more suited to certain stances.

When you stand still, you become a target. When you stand still while squarely facing your opponent, you become a big, inviting target. The walking (front) stance is a good all around stance for stability and it permits maximum application of power in an attack, but, to use it, you are squarely facing your opponent which exposes a lot of targets, so it is rarely used in sparring except maybe in traditional karate style ippon sparring. When sparring, or for self-defense, the walking stance is best used with the finishing blow when the opponent is weaken or off balance.

When fighting, stances are rarely stationary; they are always in transition. Stances only exist for a instant while you are in the process of moving from one stance to another or while you are executing a technique.

 

Stationary stances are practically useless in a fight. Watch boxers fight. The sluggers stand in stationary stances square with the opponent, they plod when they move, and they try to get a knockout with every punch. They bob and weave to try to slip punches, but they are hit a lot. Their only hope is that they are able to knock the opponent out before being knocked out. Boxers who are constantly shifting (dancing) are difficult to hit, So, unless you like pain, it is better to keep moving.

If you are standing still, any movement you make will be detected by your opponent. If you are constantly moving, any new movement that might signal an imminent attack is camouflaged by your other movements.

When you execute an attack, for it to have maximum power, at the moment it makes impact, you must be in a stationary stance. Power comes from a force acting upon an object. For maximum power, that force must push against something as it is applied to the target. That something is ultimately the ground, so all power begins at the ground and moves through the body to the point of impact. If you are moving at the moment of impact, there is no firm contact with the ground so the power of the attack is lessened.

In patterns, we use stationary stances, not because we should spar that way, but because patterns are not meant to be depictions of actual fighting techniques, they are meant to display perfection of techniques. To appreciate perfection, it must be seen, so in a pattern each technique is held stationary for a brief Kodak moment. When sparring, the split second that a stance is stationary is barely noticed.