2026-03-23

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

I had another good question last night, during Heian Sandan. The second move has you standing up, from kokutsu dachi into heisoku dachi and executing a double block. The question was about the use of heisoku dachi, and was some version of “Why would I ever stand like that in a fight.” It’s a really good question … because you probably wouldn’t.

I often tell my students that stances are tools, used for particular purposes, and any time you’re not in some form of front stance you should be trying to figure out why. What’s that particular choice of stance trying to teach me? What is it better at accomplishing than the front stance that generally serves as our “default” stance? To put that another way, if I’m going to stand more “awkwardly”, there better be a pretty good reason for it.

This particular case (moves 2 & 5 of Heian Sandan), is the first time we’re introduced to the concept of generating power by lifting the hip. I think of these moves as breaking the attacking arm at the elbow by pushing down on the wrist with the arm doing the “downward block” while lifting up under the elbow with the arm doing the “inside block.” At the same time, I’m standing straight up to give additional power to the arm trying to break the elbow from beneath. Now think for a moment … if you wanted to lift your hip as high as possible without jumping, how would you do that? Yep, you’d have to to stand straight up, with your feet together, just like this particular move in Heian Sandan.

But even if it’s the best mechanical choice for this application, is it worth the tactical sacrifice of standing there with both feet together? Think about it for a moment. If you’re standing to the outside of the attacker, actively lifting and hyper-extending his elbow to the point of breaking, he can’t hit you with that arm, he can’t hit you with the other arm, and he’s probably up on his tippy-toes which makes kicking all but impossible, so you’re probably pretty safe.

I tend to call stances like this “utility stances” because they’re not the most tactically sound, but they teach a lesson about the best way to accomplish a particular effect. Another example is kosa dachi, like you see after the first kiai in Heian Yondan. Would you ever stand like that in a fight, with your feet crossed at the ankles? Probably not unless there was a really good reason and, in this case, that reason is to prepare for the 225° pivot you’re about to do. Oftentimes kosa dachi isn’t about what you’re doing now … it’s about what you’re going to do next.