Taekwondo Guard Stance

Video Transcript

"Hello! My name is Sid Nelson, master instructor in Martial Arts. I'm representing expertvillage.com. The next stance we're going to show is a guard stance, a stance that all martial artist should practice. This stance will offer you the ability to move, use your offense or defense without telegraphing to your opponent your movements. We'll step back with the one leg. The legs will stay about shoulder's width wide so that you'll be able kick or strike a punch freely. We want to bring the guards up so that you have them in front of you with the elbows facing downwards. You want to slightly bend the knees so you'll have the ability to move. Lift off the heels perhaps so that you can slide a piece of paper underneath your heels This allows you to be up on the balls of the feet. Then if you move, it'll also disguise any type of offense or defense that you'll do. Next, we want to keep in mind the weight distribution. We would have about 50% of the weight on the front and 50% on the back. The elbows are faced downwards for your ability to use body blocks. If someone is punching or kicking at you, you can defend with your elbows with your arms like this. Also, you have your hands in a good position to block if necessary or strike."