Refinement: Iron Horse StancePosted by Chief Instructor Joseph Dearman Learn More About The Sanchin-Ryu Dojo> or Join Today! Shout out! Share your thoughts and questions with fellow students and Chief Instructor Dearman will answer and comment accordingly!
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Iron Horse is a stance loaded with explosive power and deep roots. This installment is a must-see for anyone who seeks some of the amazing benefits Iron Horse has to offer. Topics include: Width of footing, proper positioning, simple conditioning and a word about personal mastery.
Chief Instructor Master Dearman, would you apply the ideal iron horse stance (toes straight out) in a kumite situation? Although I don’t have a problem getting my feet into that stance and holding it, I feel that unless my toes are brought slightly inward, I could be fairly easily knocked off balance from behind. Any suggestions? BTW, another great video! : )
LOL (sorry had to laugh…do you have some secret sanchin spy thing we don’t know about??) I was just working on this starting three weeks ago in Ortonville when we stumbled on iron horse questions! Mine has started to feel better since, but now on this post of yours I have more questions…well one in particular. I always felt wobbly in iron horse until it was pointed out that even though my feet were mostly toes out, my knees weren’t the same direction but more forward. I moved my toes forward more so not almost straight out and it was SOOOO much better, like night and day. Working with it that way I have actually started to feel better about iron horse. It sounds though that our toes should be straight out to the side? If so, any ideas for getting my knees to follow suite because they don’t want to! Hard to explain…my thighs don’t go straight out, they want to cave forward and I can’t get them to go out, so my knees are forward, more forward than my feet so it ends up from my heel to knee is about a 60 degree angle forward. I hope that makes sense….help!
Hello Master Joe,
Perhaps the best “back to basics” type video to date….thanks!
and ouch! too low too soon! I see exactly what Marge is talking about, I’ll need to get with her tomorrow at Mater Beti’s for some stretching excersises for the hips. This type of basic refinement you are sharing in these videos recently is setting the tone for the home workouts perfectly. Marge, if I can share one point, something that Master Roman pointed out to myself and another Sanchinka at Camp-Out this year concerning balance in iron horse, (I guess it would hold true always)we tend to lower our head or look down when things get a bit out of whack or strange to us, concentrate on keeping your head up and balance returns on it’s own….why? I dont know exactly but it does! Perhaps that will help, I’ll trade you that for a good hip stretch!,
See Ya tomorrow,
Bob
(Kirry’s at Rachel Fogertys tonight, but she will be at Master Beti’s in the am)
Thanks a ton Master Joe!
Bob,
Thanks for the hint on balance, when you said keep looking up I realized I do tend to look down more! I am thinking that it helps with balance because if you look down your spine would bent (at least mine is slightly) and also your eyes help with balance I think (I feel more wobbly if I practice with my eyes closed, in the dark, or not looking out, etc). Also there is fluid in your ears that play a role in balance so it makes sense that looking down doesn’t help things. It is a part of the vestibular system in the inner ear. It has three canals, each which lie in a different plane so you have up/down, left/right, and sideways. There are sensory hairs that are receptive to movement of the fluid in these canals (the fluid is called endolymph) and so as your head moves the fluid moving moves the hairs which then relay the impulse to the brain by the VIII cranial nerve which are then processed in the brain stem and cerebellum. So if you look down, you do throw off your sense of balance. (sorry science nerd here, I couldn’t help but jump in lol especially because it’s related to neurobiology…my favorite field)
Chief Instructor Master Dearman, yes I do feel the burn. It is getting better though with repetition, however I also am interested in how this applies in a kumite situation. Great video, thank you.
Hi all,
I have a great story for all Sanchinkas. I was practicing an Iron horse stance while standing in front of the photocopier at school on Friday due to what I saw on Sanchin-Ryu Dojo from Cheif Instructor Master Joe. Another teacher (Physical education) walked in and said “what are you doing”. I told him I was doing a karate stance that worked the quads and streched the groin. He asked me how to do the stance and started to do the same. Another teacher walked in and said “what are you two doing” and the gym teacher said “we’re working the groin muscles and streching”. I wonder if he had his kids use it for a warm-up.
How cool is that!
Maybe I can get them to start doin Sanchin-Ryu.
Cheif Instructor Master Ben said at the black belt class to practice every day and that we owed it to CGM. I think we owe it not only to CGM, but to our students and to everyone who doesn’t know about Sanchin-Ryu and its benefits. It made me work harder for them and CGM.
I hope this inpires us all to work harder towards perfection in our art.
Scott Jansen
Scott that is really cool! It’s neat that you work in a place that you can share about Sanchin-Ryu.
I have a general etiquette-type question, nowhere else to post and so hopefully Master Joe you’ll see it here, it sorta fits as you were talking about wanting people to post more
Are only the “Masters of the Dojo” (as listed on the side, or whoever posted the video) supposed to help out with questions or can we help each other?
Thanks,
Amy Lynn
Chief Instructor Master Dearman, great video, thanks! Now I have a question about my Basic Stance and pulling the X. I have purposely been creating some amount of outward tension in my Basic Stance to prevent a “knock-kneed” stance where my ankles, knees and thighs almost buckle inward. Recently, however, I got the feeling that that tension shouldn’t be there - that there shouldn’t be an outward pull. How do I accomplish bringing all my energy into center, to the intersection of the X, and yet avoid a cave-in of rolled ankles and knock-knees? Or is there some isometric pulling to the outside, balanced with the inward pull - maybe I’m just more aware of the outward pull? Thanks for your help.
Hi MaryLou (is this Master MaryLou?)
I have the same problem with those wonderful “knock-knees.” I have to put quite a bit of torque on my knees to keep them straight, esp. in basic stance, and it’s something I’m always working on. Thanks for asking this question
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