At Face Dragons we know that martial arts are a great way to teach both mental and physical fortitude but before you can become the next Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan, you need to know the kung fu stances. Fighting stances are the the most fundamental aspect of martial arts training and the first thing you practice when learning kung fu.
Luckily there is a form designed to teach you the basic kung fu stances – Wu Bu Quan. You can even learn this at home.
Wu Bu Quan ไบๆญฅๆณ (wว bรน quรกn) The Five Shaolin Kung Fu Stances
One of the first kung fu forms I ever learned as a child was Wu Bu Quan, literally “five step fist.” It was also the first form taught when I trained at the London Shaolin UK under Shi Yanzi. But I’ve also seen it practiced throughout China and at the Shaolin Temple.
The purpose of this short form is to teach the student five commonly used stances so that he or she will be ready for further study. So lace up your favorite kung fu shoes and let’s get started.
Bow Stance ๅผๆญฅ (gลng bรน)
The bow stance is long and about shoulder width wide. The front leg should be bent at about 90 degrees and the back leg should br straight with the back foot flat on the floor.
Horse Stance ้ฉฌๆญฅ (mว bรน)
Horse stance is often used as a training technique to strengthen the legs. If you can stand in horse stance for 5 minutes, you’ve got gong fu!
Horse stances are done at differring widths, however in a Northern style, like Shaolin, it’s quite wide. The ideal height of a horse stance is also debatable. If you’re just training for leg stregnth, you want your thighs to be parralel to the ground. My master would put a wooden staff on my thighs to make sure they were level.
However, when you are moving through a form or using a horse stance to perform a technique, you won’t alsway need to go that low.
Resting Stance ๆญๆญฅ (xiฤ bรน)
The name resting stance may be a little confusing, especially if you find it difficult to get down into this tight kung fu stance. FOr anyone who isn’t very flexible, this stance won’t feel like a rest!
Crouching Stance ไปๆญฅ (pรบ bรน)
Put a red sunset behind someone performing this stance and you have a kung fu picture made in Heaven. You’ll find pu bu, the crouching stance in many styles of kung fu and tai chi, so it’s a useful one to learn.
You need some flexibility to get down into this stance, so warm up and stretch your hamstrings out before you start practising. If you can get your butt to the ground, you’ll get extra “kung fu cred.”
Empty Stance ่ๆญฅ (xลซ bรน)
You may wonder about how useful this one-legged stance really is, but if you watch muay thai kickboxers fight, you’ll see they often use this exact stance. The empty front leg makes it easy to avoid the low kicks that are so common in muay thai and MMA.
Other Stances
These are some of the fundamental kung fu stances everyone should learn when they first venture into Chinese martial arts, but there are plenty more stances to learn. Many of the following stances are specialized to one specific style of kung fu.
- Post Stance ไธๆญฅ (dฤซng bรน)
- One Legged Stance ็ฌ็ซๆญฅ (dรบ lรฌ bรน)
- Walking Stance ๆฃๆญฅ (sร n bรน)
- Riding the Dragon Stance ้ช้พๆญฅ (qรญ lรณng bรน)
- Seven Star Stance ไธๆๆญฅ (qฤซ xฤซng bรน)
- Meditation Stance ๅ็ๆญฅ (zuรฒ pรกn bรน)
- Kneeling Tiger Stance ไป่ๆญฅ (pรบ hว bรน)
- Monkey Stance ็ดๆญฅ (hรณu bรน)
- Cat Stance ็ซๆญฅ (mฤo bรน)
- Snake Stance ่ๆญฅ (shรฉ bรน)
- Drunken Stance ้ๆญฅ (zuรฌ bรน)
