The Wing Chun Stance
Article by Dan Knight added on 2 Aug 2012.
The stance, Gee Kim Yeung Ma
Wing Chun Sil Lim Tao stance is called Gee Kim Yeung Ma and comes from the first form of Wing Chun Kung Fu.
It must be stressed that the Wing Chun training stance is not a stance in which one would fight. Wing Chun Sil Lim Tao stance is called Gee Kim Yeung Ma and comes from the first form of Wing Chun Kung Fu.The stance is used to develop the leg muscles and balance from simply standing (It's an isometric strength training exercise for those who wanted to know, that means it trains muscles to be strong without movement). The first Wing Chun form, Sil Lim Tao or "Little Idea", is performed with the practitioner remaining in the training stance throughout the form. All of the other hand forms start in this same training stance. So what is the training stance? The training stance can be seen as the practitioner standing feet shoulders width apart with feet pointing inward to form an imaginary triangle, the knees are bent, and the hips are pushed slightly forward, but not to the extent that the practitioner loses balance. This will put stress on the calf and other leg muscles, thereby strengthening them.
Getting into stance or Hoi-Ma, is done by starting with the feet together. Then the knees are bent so ones feet are only just covered i.e. cannot be seen by the practitioner when looking down. The hips are then pushed out. The feet are then twisted on the heel outward so the toes are pointing to the left and right of the body At 180 degrees. Pressure is then put on the balls of the feet before the heels are rotated out from under the body. The feet should then be shoulders width or just over shoulders width apart, pointing into a position approximately one meter from the body, forming an imaginary triangle.
A good stance means the practitioners supporting leg will be strong when kicking which will help power generation and balance. One way of thinking about the training stance is that is like training 2 back legs. ie each leg is in the position your back leg would be in when in a Wing Chun fighting stance.