Hi all, new to the forum and looking for some advice.

I am trying to gain some fitness before I start martial arts classes. I have started reading Master Wong Kiew Kit's art of Shaolin book and he says one should be able to do horse stance for 5 minutes before you even start classes.

At first I struggled to do 30 seconds, after about a week of training I have increased my time to 3 minutes. However yesterday my legs felt dead, I am struggling to do 1 minute 30 seconds now. Should I rest for a day? or should I practise everyday, if i should practise everyday how should i break up my training, for example how many minutes in total a day should I be in the horse stance?

hope that made some sense. look forward to your replies. Thanks

Master_Chief,

Welcome to Martial Edge! Im sure you will get some good responses on this topic as we have some Chinese MA based practioners.

Ive actually read that book and to be honest im skeptical about some of the things (with all respect to Master Kit) he says. I think making the statement that a beginner should stand in a horse stance before a qualified instructor can demonstrate the correct technique and advise on how long you should be doing it for etc is unprofessional.

Ive also read another of Master Kits books which demonstrates how you can transmit chi through walls to knock people over - again im critical of such teachings.

Have you started at a class yet?

Hi Pete,

thanks for the reply sir. I haven't started classes yet, not really sure what martial style I should choose yet to be honest. I just wanted to get my fitness right first before I made any decisions on that. When I was a child I did Karate for 2-3 years however and a few years back at university i did jujitsu for 6 months.

with regards to knocking people over through walls, is this related to Chi Kung? something master Kit mentions in the book i`m reading.

You'll learn all about the horse-riding stance in class. No need to beat yourself up trying to learn it before you actually start training. And anyway, you might inadvertently teach yourself a bad habit(s) doing it that way.

As for Wong's books - burn them.

Who is this Master Kit or 'Wong' you are discussing?

I'd like to have a little peak at his books, with my sceptical hat on of course.

I can feel my reviewer's pen sharpening.....

Wong Kiew Kit may write some pretty dodgy stuff, BUT......


He also has some pretty good stuff down on paper as well. Chapters on goal setting, longterm and shortterm, to help you get the most out of your training, for example.
His books are really written for the absolute beginner, and if you take some of the more fanciful stuff with a pinch of salt, there are some gems in his stuff.

Re: holding horse stance - don't worry about it until you start a class.

I agree with Bailu. Maybe it makes more sense if you have practised a cma. Yes there are a few questionable things but I have read far worse. As people know ,I am generally a huge skeptic but there is some good stuff in there. He still teaches and I think he was over here doing a seminar last year/year before.

Once you start a class you will be taught properly, the depth of horse stance varies from style to style . Ie I have never seen many Lau Gar people hold their stance as low as we do, but that's because ours has more of a Shaolin twist thanks to my sifu's past. It's really important to get the stance right as if you start with bad form it's going to take forever to get it right again,things like sticking your butt out for example.
I try and practise it but I don't get much time ,I know I should as we are having to hold it longer and longer in class these days.

I would suggest getting fit while training is the best way, that way you are ding it under supervision with less likelihood of developing bad habits or injuring yourself.

IMHO style is not as important as the club itself so visit several and choose the one you feel is best.

Kit is very much of the old school, you hear stories about students being made to stand in horse stance for months before they are actually taught anything (have heard this about Hung Gar). The training used to be very strict and I'm not sure that happens much these days (we have a quite strict class which I like). I think that's why some of Kit's ideas may not seem so professional,as traditional Shaolin training was hard and not everyone was accepted into classes,it's not like now where you turn up and get welcomed.I think one has to think about cultural differences when reading his stuff.

Here are some of the basic stances that seem to permeate through various styles kung fu:
http://www.hungkuen.net/training-basicstances.htm

master_chief wrote:
Hi all, new to the forum and looking for some advice.

I am trying to gain some fitness before I start martial arts classes. I have started reading Master Wong Kiew Kit's art of Shaolin book and he says one should be able to do horse stance for 5 minutes before you even start classes.

At first I struggled to do 30 seconds, after about a week of training I have increased my time to 3 minutes. However yesterday my legs felt dead, I am struggling to do 1 minute 30 seconds now. Should I rest for a day? or should I practise everyday, if i should practise everyday how should i break up my training, for example how many minutes in total a day should I be in the horse stance?

hope that made some sense. look forward to your replies. Thanks

In Karate we use Shiko Dachi which is the horse riding stance. Over time through understanding of form and balance you will condition and exercise yourself to settle into a stance better and hold it for longer. Just trying to hold it for ages is not enough you must feel the stance & forces that apply, how you can move out and into it. Regular practise will give you the stance understanding but like I say feel the center of balance, the forces and relax. Don't push yourself to hard holding the position without the understanding of it. It's taken me a few years to develope my stance properly with understanding of it and not just doing it...

:)

thank you ALL for your advice. I will still be practicing, I`m trying very hard to perform the stance properly, my problem is keeping my back vertical rather than lean forward which is something i notice i do sometimes. There are illustrations in Master Kit/Master Wong's (not sure which is correct)book, plus I also have a shaolin warrior work out DVD for beginners which shows you how to do a variation of the horse stance. Master Wong, says hands should be in a fist on your waist , the dvd says the arms should be in a fist held out in front of you, i do the latter, as with the former i notice i have less balance. I will start a class after some extensive research as to whats available near me. i just dont want to stay idle in the mean time.