How to Do the Basic Stance Of Kempo Karate

Video Transcript

"From here, this is one of my favorite stances, the cat stance or Nekoashi-dachi. It is where you squat down on one leg and you bring your other leg in on the ball of your foot. You have 70 percent of your weight over your supporting leg. In this case, it is my right leg. My left leg is slightly bent here. In this stance, it is good to jab out a front- kick or even a sidekick. It is very fast, but it is not very mobile. You must shift your weight before you can move. A more mobile stance is the back stance, which is just altering the cat stance. Now, you go back into almost the horse stance. Your feet should make an L-shape. If you were to draw a line between your heels, they should meet right under your centerline. Right under your center of gravity. It should be right where the knot of the belt is. So this one, instead of having a 70/30, it is more of a 60/40. You then have a little more weight on that front foot. This is a defensive stance. If someone were coming at you, then you would drop back. From here, you can as easily bring your leg up to kick. Also from here, you can easily go into a punch or a counterpunch. So, it is good to pull back and punch with."