Kung Fu Crane Stance

Series Summary

Martial artists such as Bruce Lee and Jet Li have made Kung Fu an incredibly popular martial art. Though Kung Fu fighting is ancient it is even more widely practiced today than ever. Many martial artists appreciate Kung Fu as much for its beautiful movements as for its powerful fighting techniques. The myriad Kung Fu techniques cannot be covered in one lesson or even one series of lessons. Kung Fu skill must be built and more and more challenging techniques built upon that skill. However, basic Kung Fu fundamentals are necessary to learn the more advanced techniques requiring exceptional skill. This series of online Kung Fu lessons can help you get started learning Kung Fu techniques.

In this free video series Sifu Dan Schmidt will teach basic Kung Fu skills to help you learn Kung Fu. You will see demonstrations of Kung Fu techniques such as the Straight Punch, Reverse Punch, Side Punch, Twisting Punch, and a punch combination. Additionally, in this video series you can learn the Crane Stance, Steel Stance, Horse Stance, Sitting Stance, Drop Stance, Scissor Stance, and Bao Tui. These punches and stances will help you get acquainted with Kung Fu and help you establish some basic Kung Fu skills.

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name is Dan Schmidt from the Chinese Martial Art Center and today we're going to be showing you the Proper Crane Stance. Okay, so the Crane Stance, you can start from the feet together position, you can use either leg, you want to pick the leg straight up, okay. And if you notice, the foot, you want to point the foot going to the diagonal direction towards the opposite direction. You want the knee up at least rib level. You don't want any lower than the waist and you don't want any higher than the chest, okay. Now this kick is very good for a number of things. Okay, so someone's kicking at your leg, okay, so if I kick, you pick up the leg this way. Okay, if I kick straight on, same thing. It's also good as like a knee attack. And it's very good in building flexibility in the legs and in the waist. Okay, some common errors in the Crane Stance, okay, now the, if you notice the rear foot, you want the toe pointing completely straight forward the same direction that you're facing. You don't want to have the knee bent, you don't want to lean forward, you don't want to lean too far back, you want to be completely straight. Okay, the leg completely straight up. Okay. Don't squeeze your hips forward. You want to keep everything nice and erect and straight, just like this. Now that's the proper way to perform the Crane Stance."