Footwork and Stances

Stance Training and its accompanying footwork is critical to a strong foundation, and is so necessary for the basic, as well and advanced techniques of Kung-Fu San Soo.  For technique, without disciplined, controlled stance work is rarely rapid, powerful or exacting.  Balance and its maintenance is the result of stance integrity and proper integration of upper and lower body movement.  With lots of practice, utilizing proper stepping and shifting, the student develops a reliable, fluid and varied technique. So the San Soo fighter is literally assembled from the ground, up. Quality control is realized by a carefully crafted and evolving curriculum, expert guidance and hard work.   

The San Soo practitioner is the product of a disciplined and focused process consisting of lessons, examples, explanations and precision workouts. These requisite procedures quite literally mold and shape the disciple.  All this, of course, is strictly, necessary for the development of a strong, but flexible foundational underpinning, which is, by continuing this same analogy, built brick by brick and piece by piece. Failing this, we build a house of cards which is destined to lean, sway and ultimately topple.

The Basic 8 Exercise
 

Note:  All rotating is done on the balls of the feet. Feet do not move at the same time.  When one foot moves, the other is at rest.  During the exercise, the hip remains level and does not bob up and down.

The exercise begins from set position, hands on hips.  The heels of the feet are touching and the feet form a "V". 

1.     Su Ping Ma  (Full or Center Horse Stance)

From set position, pick up the right foot and move it in a clockwise arc, putting it down, to your right, at a point, just past your right shoulder.  Next, move the left foot in a counter clockwise arc, placing it at a point just past your left shoulder.  The toes of the feet remain pointed at a 45 degree angle to each side.  Proper horse distance is slightly wider than the practitioners shoulder width.

2.     Ando Ma  (Half Horse Stance)

Turn the hips and right foot counter clockwise, to your left, until the right big toe points at the left big toe.  During the execution of this movement, the left foot remains stationary and does not move at all.

3.     El Ma  (Kick Stance)

Move the hips, back, over the right foot, allowing the right leg to bend at the knee. Draw your left foot back, putting the left toes down very slightly ahead of the right toes. All weight is on the rear leg.

4.     Deem Ma  (Slide Stance)

From the kick stance, move the left foot to a point about a horse and one-half ahead of the right foot. The left foot travels in a slight clockwise arc, and the left toes will be pointing about 45 degrees to the right. Now, pull the back leg up till the legs are, again, one horse distance apart. Be sure that the right big toe continues to point at the left big toe.

5.     New Do Ma  (Cross Stance)

Swing the right foot in a counter clockwise arc placing the right foot, on line, ahead of the left foot. The right toes point about 60 degree to the right. As the right foot makes contact, the left knee bends, moves forward and comes to rest, touching the top of the right calf. The left big toe points at the right big toe.

6.     Jona Ma  (Turning Horse)

Rotate the upper body 90 degrees, counter clockwise, and allow the left foot to rotate on its ball, at the same time. The hips and foot turn until the left foot is nearly parallel to the right foot. Like the plie (plee-ay) position in ballet. As you are doing this, do not allow the right foot to move. As you set the weight on the left foot, now, begin to rotate the right foot, counter clockwise on the ball, about 105 degrees, until a Su Ping Ma is formed.

7.     Bing Guy Ma   (Kneeling Stance)

Continue twisting counter clockwise until the right knee is pointing straight down. The left foot does not move!  The right foot rotates until the right big toe points at the left big toe. Then drop the knee half way down toward a point between the legs.

8.     Shum Gak Ma  (Triangle Stance)

Draw the right foot to the point, between the legs, that the right knee was hovering above. Then step forward. The right foot will come to rest, pointing about 45 degrees to the left. Rotate the hip to the right, thereby adjusting the rear foot so that the left big toe points at the right big toe.

How I Teach Shifting - The Axial Shift
(From "The Mastering of a Combat Art by Master Paul H. Borisoff)

The axial shift is the most often used shifting pattern in Kung-Fu San Soo.  It is executed in a fluid manner. 

So we start with a right half horse.  For a student of average height, the horse's gait should not exceed 26 inches.  Please note that deep, long horses are a tactical liability and make the following procedure difficult to execute.  In a proper right half horse, the right foot is pointing about 45 degrees to the left and the left foot’s big toe is pointing at the right’s big toe.  The left leg should be straight and locked. What is important, here, is that the rear knee is pointing downward, and not to the left, and that the rear leg is straight.

To begin shifting, we pull our left heel inward, to the right, pivoting on the ball of that foot.  One's hips move left and center between the two legs.  At this point, we are in a full horse with the weight of our body evenly placed between our feet.  Our stance is toed out, each foot about 45 degrees outbound.  We then rock our weight onto our left foot and roll our entire hip, right leg, and right foot, as one unit, to the left, until the right big toe is pointing at our left big toe.  The right leg is then straightened, as the heel is placed on the floor.  The leg locks at the knee; the knee is pointing downward.  At this juncture the horse is locked at the groin.  As long as the rear leg is straight, with its knee pointed downward, the hips, above, cannot be twisted any further.  Note that during these movements, the left knee will flex to a point above the left toes.  It is critical that the forward swing of the lower leg be on the same line as its foot; the ankle then works in a natural fashion.  One must not place a bias against the joint.

During the execution of the Axial Shift, it is important to insure that one foot maintains contact with the ground at all times.  When both feet twist simultaneously contact with the ground is at a minimum.  Good footing and good balance go hand-in-hand.

The Axial Shift

Unlike the batting procedure used in baseball, the rear foot must remain on the ground, straight and locked at the knee.  When we hit a baseball, which is relatively small and light, the contact usually does not have a harmful effect on our balance. However, when we contact our opponent, his mass is far larger and so his inertial forces are of a far more serious nature and affect us all the more.  Support from the rear leg "strut" is essential.

It is important to note that, as we shift, the use of the arms and their windmills is fundamentally important to the initiation of the shift and the stability of the entire movement.  In general, the arms are used in tandem with their respective hip and leg.  The Form is an excellent activity for the practice of the arm movements (windmills) and leg movements so necessary in the development of proper shifting. It is vitally important that a practitioner learn to shift properly and completely.  Incomplete shifting destroys the natural flow of Kung-Fu.  Good shifting is a prerequisite for the mastering of advanced technique and movement in the art of San Soo.

Controlling the Shift

The smooth shift, shown above, requires the forward leg to bear about 60 percent of the body weight.  This allows for proper heel to toe transfer of the weight on the forward leg.

This depiction allows the fighter to keep his foundation steady and under control throughout the movement.

Now, if one intentionally moves his weight fully onto the forward leg, this motion can be spun into a progressive pivot.  This movement has been likened to “tornado motion”.  It is really very spectacular.

Finally, one can shift keeping his weight over the rear foot for a more prolonged period. This creates a back stance where the head and upper body actually move away from the opponent.  This type of shift is very helpful in sword work.