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I love the chemistry between these 2. It's like they actually want to teach us something.

Whether you’re team bladed or team squared, I think we can all come together to say thank heavens we’re not guard pullers.

I think it was a Jack Dempsey quote that really changed my outlook: "Your stance is not a rigid structure to be maintained, but a tool to be manipulated"

Efficiently generating power is easier to do with a stable base. The more stable, the better. That's why I get down on all fours and pounce. My most devastating technique from this stance is the donkey kick. I once used this stance to ward off an attack. A group of devious rapscallions masquerading as middle schoolers descended upon my position while I relaxed in the local park. Never one to relinquish advantage, I immediately lept from the bench and assumed my stance. I started howling in an attempt to demoralize them. They began backing away in an attempt to disengage. I thought I had been victorious, but they soon returned with reinforcements. The second group was comprised of significantly larger individuals, who began yelling about me "harassing," their "children." Backed into a corner, I knew it was time to flee. I dropped into my stance and sprinted away. They did little to pursue. I assume they realized how futile a chase would have been. It's simple math, after all. Four legs should be twice as fast as two.

The bladed stance is the best stance except for the times that it isn't.

Old school karate guy (Kenpo) for over 35 years. Been training Muay Thai for almost a year. I battle with this stance issue frequently. Trying to be a good Muay Thai student but once I start getting tagged in sparring, I revert back to more of a bladed stance. Trying not to be douchey in sparring. I want to try it their way. It’s challenging for me when the stress is on.

My dog does the back stance, I fall for the belly rub feint all the time 🐶🐶🐶

Wonderboy is the nicest UFC fighter. Great teacher.

stance is a social construct, there are infinite stances

One thing that made my understanding of stances deeper is that stances are always in relation to your opponent. If your opponent moves laterally, your stance will change. You will be more squared up, more bladed, or even switch to southpaw/orthodox if your opponent moves around you. So if you only fight bladed, there will be situations in your fight that your only move will be to get back to your preferred stance.

That last stance at 11:40 looked alot like Bas Rutten's stance. And he really made it work.

Thanks for breaking down the stance binary Mike! The part about sprinters' stance with the back heel up is very similar to our jkd stance for that exact reason...and when I get tired and lazy I revert to Muay Thai stance 🙃

I really dig this breakdown because being forced to do everything exactly how you’re told was always the thing with traditional martial arts that bothered me. I get why but it’s still annoying.

I like to see mike how hi level he has become and how many people he has helped

“Your opponent determines how you fight.” So many people do not understand this. You can have a “style” or game plan, but depending on the situation and opponent/attacker, you will have to adjust and adapt accordingly. So at least be comfortable in multiple styles, stances, etc. Great video!

Awesome stuff 🙂 I'm a HEMA student, and I know that I'm on square stance when the reach is almost equal on both hands. That when using a two handed weapon (like longsword) or two weapons combo (sword and buckler/shield). For a one handed weapons like rapier or saber, then a "bladed" stance will make you a bit smaller target! Messer is an exception for this rule (I'm not sure why, maybe just tradition). But thanks for the awesome content, as usual 😊

The best stance is a fluid stance. There is always a weakness and strength in a certain stance. Countering your opponent is the best stance, learning to be fluid to do that takes tons of time!

the greatest marshal arts one cracked me xD honestly with your non cultish attitude towards this whole thing, you could just as easily get there

Excellent high-level content from one of the world's greatest martial artists ... and hard2hurt

The "zing" stance is a very slept on stance. Especially using fast front thrust and checks.

I really appreciate the way he says in the first 30 seconds that he doesn't try to change them from what they know because I did bjj for over a year before I did wrestling and during drilling I had my left foot forward like how I normally have for my stance and he said to change it to right foot forward since that is how he is showing us to wrestle

Even before watching I know Mike is gonna say "it depends". Edit: it didn't even take a minute and they both brought it up. Thank you.

Really loving these collabs with Wonderboy

The square stance you used that was compared to a sprinter's starting position, is what I use from a karate background! The video you made on the false lead is really what put it together for me though. If I want to launch my right hand before either switching, throwing either a thrusting front kick or a low kick, or to widen out and do a combo that takes angles in the pocket Ill use that punch. I always loved that false lead video you did, I think it was really the key to me putting my Kyokushinkai background and long-movements from my shotokan background together with much more fluidity. Before that I was either using Goju Ryu or Uechi Ryu as a middleman, or relying on my wrestling and judo to close the gap. Having a less commited offensive option that has the power of my rear hand without sacrificing mobility, give up my offensive pressure, kicking, or HAVING to grapple felt REALLY good. Big thank you for that. Prior to that video I only used that stance defensively or for switching my stance and throwing a powerful kick with either leg to cover the switch. I was racking my head trying to come up with a solution, but I was over-thinking it. A dropstep and the footwork for oi-zuki really were the best solution. Felt right immediately since a Karate background is all about using stances as movement to take a constantly advantaged position. Great vid as always man.

This is the most informative video I have ever seen about stances and about their weakness. All the others just beat around the bush you sir were on point.

5:00 fighting against different stances. Important 7:05 predicting and countering 8:20 Max holloway

I have 3 stances depending on how I'm fighting. I teach bladed for kicking and long range, more square/orthodox kick boxing if they are more of a boxer, and square parallel stance if they are gonna grapple. Each stance has an advantage and disadvantage.

Thanks for confirming what my new kickboxing coach has been telling me. I've always been a real squared up fighter. But I'm learning to be able to change stances as dictated by my opponent.

100% agree. Great video. Smart, nuanced, and to the point as always. One of the things I practice/teach is "melting" from a more bladed/extended stance to a square/compact stance as you close range (and vice versa). One of the first drills we do is just circling and closing/separating without doing anything but adjusting your stance and feeling range. One of the things I teach is that you have to a "theory of victory" -- what do you think is the likeliest way that you are going to win? -- and then optimize yourself around that. Wonderboy's theory of victory begins with the sidekick in space (which of course he is phenomenal at), so he optimizes his stance for it -- that's why he's so extremely bladed. But that also has ramifications for all the other factors in stance -- hand position, toes/flag, weight forward/back, etc.

This is great, love seeing fundamental analysis of postures 👍✌️

Thank you , i loved every single thing said in this video !! you can judge from my name but i'm a muay thai guy , and ive often been told that i was to wide on my base , but people just wont understand that it allows me to be so much more mobile and fast ! im a pretty thin guy so blocking isn't my forte i often rely on parries and evading and being just a little more able to move is perfect for me to get out of the way !

Great video. The passion for the martial arts you both have really shows in this video.

It would be interesting to see Wonderboy and Izzy discuss this stuff, and also point out the Sanda stance, which is somewhat in between a lot of the time. I actually noticed that when I started training Sanda I started switching stances naturally, and I think it's because of how it's somewhat in the middle of both square and bladed

The amount of content, and golden nuggets of information being dropped within 13-14 minutes is outstanding. Excellent video.

I liked the point about sprinters. You will often find the same logic in weapons based martial arts, like Kendo, where many considerations in this video just don't mean as much as taking the first step and being the first one to reach the other guy - because you might be okay with taking a fist to the torso … a sword tip, not so much.

Nice collaboration. I enjoy watching both your channels. Would love to see more of this.

This also transfers over to pistol craft. Weaver Stance (Bladed) Vs Modified Isosceles (Square). Being a student of Kenpo, whose primary stance is the Neutral Bow (Bladed) one can transition to the pistol using the Weaver without changing stance.

Love the collaboration videos. Keep them coming.

Thanks for this video. There are a lot of teachers out there saying "my way is a lot better", "the other ways suck". It's very nice to see open mindness in martial arts and combat sports.

Man, some great stuff from one of the best Martial Artists on KZfaq. Plus Wonderboy 🤣 Great stuff - I learned a lot about the bladed stance.

TY for these videos. lots of insight

I loved every word of this video. A friend recommended Stephen as a UFA/MMA fighter with similar style to mine. From now on, when someone asks, this video will be the first thing I show them. Awesome stuff!

Nicely done. You guys addressed a bunch of points that I think many people including well trained professionals could use in their brain diet. I would just add that not only is stance fluid but as you and Wonder Boy sort of spoke to, for you to become truly exceptional in your stance of choice you should train to have your offensive motions flow with/into/outof your main stance into others and back rapidly while in motion and not only being able be offensive but to be defensive, evasive, or any combo of the three to any multi layered combo of the three based on your opponents action. This is how I would say an individual actually achieves a solid relationship to positioning in combat. The best 2 training methods I have are both meant to train both of these things at once in a playful and fluid way which because play and flow states are drivers and carriers of learning and are often mutual inclusive of one another. Which backed by a large body of data from the field of neuroscience and other fields of scientific understanding as well. First exercise, extremely extremely slow sparring that has an agreed upon pace and focus such as style or whatever goal each individual wants to focus on in the movement arsenal offensive, defensive, evasive, positive before timing counter, negative during timing counter, responsive after timing counter, or neutral motion for position, evaluation or progression to achieve whatever desired effect on your opponent. So say one of the two partners is using only fists and offensive motions while evading and the other is doing some offensive motions but is mainly being defensive and using kicks footwork and distance management. Both are getting a good bit of combat play that is specific to some aspect of there arsenal being highly accentuated by both their conscious choosing but also the opponent and both get different types of the same benefits both with that and the interactivity of any kind at this show pace with rules and boundaries to move in and shift and change for yourself. You can do free form free flow as well both are phenomenal and essentially do the same things one is flow focused flow base body awareness mind muscle connection second. The other exercise is almost the same thing you just either run or do footwork drills through an area with multiple targets that are able to be in motion if you contact them. Punching bags, bobs, even ropes hanging from above will all work, a forest with small tree does as well but you must actively move even more to simulate combat. All you do is slow motion shadow combat the targets as if on a battle field, all in slow motion as stated in the sentence above. You can also have up to 3 people who are well trained or just have a fairly strict level of adherence to the rules laid out. Must go slow and aim to not hurt the underdog in the fight. Both of the less training methods are really more that methodologies that can be applied to any style and any type of exercise or expertise of combat. The basis is slow focused specifically tailored repetition of action, to give greater sensitivity to every layer of the action or strategies relative to them. Then you add to that by limiting your choices down. You can pick up the pace as you get comfortable once you have had many sessions with your opponent/s. Remember Slow and methodical reduction of variables to increase and hyper state the gains in specific areas of combat I.Q and A.Q. A.Q stands for Aptitude Quotient for those who did not know. Hope that all made sense. 😌🤙🏾 many blessings, great peace much respect and love to y’all boys.

One of my favorites. Funny af and informative.

Great and informative video! As someone with a square-as-anything Uechi alma mater that poo-pooed the WTF mobility, absolutely helpful to see the pros and cons of each stance

I like what Wonderboy said at the end about having to work at it to get the stances to function properly. Traditional forms helped me immensely in that regard with using stances.

One note on having the bladed stance vs leg kicks. While your leg is closer to them which makes it easier to leg kick… your leg is closer to them. Making it easier to kick them too. A common way I deal with kicks in Muay Thai, which is known for its tall, bladed stance most fighters have, is by putting a teep in there as or before they throw that leg kick, and the teep will win if timed correctly. Not only that but when they’re balancing on one leg to throw that kick it makes that teep more effective. For all the Karate and TKD folks, as well as the boxers wanting to make use of more kicks, a side kick from that stance can very quickly be used to beat them to the (kick) punch, like using a jab to stop someone from coming in with a lead hook in boxing.

This is a great video. Wholesome, dense, lighthearted -- well done 👍

I remember an instructor I used to have used to tell me to stop switching between stances. He said I had a kicking stance and a punching stance. He said it made me easier to read. I would argue that I had a stance that favored kicking and a stance that favored punching. I just looked at it as, depending on who I was sparring and what I wanted to work on, I used different stances to work on different tools and tactics. This was great to see other people see the value in using different stances for diffrent tools and tactics.

Literally the only 3 channels I watch in no particular order Hard2Hurt-Wonderboy-MmaShredded⛽🔥🔥🔥

Love your content and you see the good in all different techniques

If you watch "El guapo" he can uses the squared stance and uses counter strikes a lot. Since I got that explanation I prefer the squared stance. If your willing to take some blows sometimes it can be devastating for the opponent. Most of the times they aren't expecting a quick follow up when your taking the hit with a counter and follow through.

Wonderboy is a goddamn treasure. Loved this collab!

Wonderful explanations. I’m excited to move to the area and train there.

Would be great to see you guys do technical discussion videos like this with Gabriel Varga when he visits Wonderboy's dojo.

Bro i was straight up in the backroom at work doing footwork drills trying to figure out a good middle ground inbetwen my karate and the mma stance my coach has me us. God bless ya my mans

Great breakdown!

Great video! Interesting how you bring up that "sprinter" stance which is basically what we use during medieval German Longsword. The purpose is to be able to stay out of range until you strike forward with two hands holding the sword so the shoulders are more square.

You guys are great together! Looking at this from a Wing Chun perspective (I know, shut up), I'm wondering about our version of the semi bladed/squared stance. I think Mike touched on it at the end. When we move into a one leg forward, one leg back stance in WC we are always careful to keep our shoulders square. The idea being we are more mobile overall but our striking position still emphasis the typical WC idea of quick straight line strikes, no wind up, no telegraphing. Not sure how this in practical terms, would love to see you guys revisit this with that stance in mind.

I got to meet Wonderboy a week ago at his gym. I fanboy'd so hard on him. Got an awesome pic with him. Every bit as nice in person. Awesome guy.

Interesting conversation. From my perspective I have alway taken the bladed stance in sparring in the dojo, but have always used the square stance in the many confrontations I have had in the street. Neither has ever let me down but the square stance certainly has the more intimidating effect and has gone a long way towards preventing conflict

Love your stuff, just wondering how much should stance depend on a person's own physicality and how that works when matching up. Looking at you and wonderboy here I would assume him doing a bladed stance with long limbs would be effective at keeping you out, how do you close the distance? How does wonderboy (or other tall fighters) effectively control your from getting inside? I was wondering if perhaps you might do a video in future exploring bistanciality (screw you spellcheck this is now a word and I won't hear otherwise)? How much time is it worth training your non-dominant side when you are bistancial? What are the pros and cons of taking this approach? When in your training lifespan should you be emphasising it? Is it better when training for fitness, combat or actual self-defence? It also would be cool to have a video looking at the different stance's pro and cons more in depth, maybe including more martial artists. Having seen boxer's who really heavily on torso movement to avoid punches get absolutely nailed by kicks would be fun to see that discussion. Cheers for all the good content

Great video guys!! Thanks, and best wishes always!!!

One thing I did wanna add; in square stance, your Hooks have TREMENDOUSLY greater power than hooks from a bladed stance(well, besides rear hooks from a bladed stance which have the most power of all) provided you do the technique's right and have a bit of mass on you(not that much is required though; you can weigh like 150-160lbs and still have devastating hooks from a squared stance), and hooks are my main form of dealing damage when I fight or spar - my other punches are mostly setup punches, not always, but mostly. I've dropped or stunned so many dudes with simple lead left hooks from my square stance, even stand-alone left hooks; or in 2 or 3 punch combos. When I punch someones body in my square stance, I DO actually load up(and take the proper precautions and feints so I can actually land it...and considering most of my punches are going for the guys head, thats usually not even necessary and my loaded body shots land anyway cause they just assume I'm gonna bomb on their head even with obviously loaded shots, which I dont do cause its too predictable and too easy to dodge and frankly I dont wanna hit my sparring partners THAT hard in the head with a loaded up shot that was meant for their body; my non-loaded hooks from square stance can drop them just fine already I dont wanna imagine what a loaded up hook would do to them even through headgear). Of course its different in fights. Street fights included. Last time some scumbag attacked me on the street I won the fight by, after recovering from the sucker punch from behind that the dude started the fight with, I roundhouse kicked him in the side of the gut(the dude was literally trying to copy my stance after I had recovered from his sucker punch...but he had no idea how to actually fight, how to actually USE my stance so it didnt really help him at all though honestly nothing would've helped him at that point), then knocked him out cold with a step in loaded right hook to the side of his head. He dropped so fast it was incredible, right on his butt, and just stayed there. He tried getting up, but his legs shook and wobbled and he fell back down on his butt, and just covered his face and basically gave up after that. Going back to what I said before though: as long as you have sufficient technique and sufficient weight, your hooks from square stance can be devastating, AND you can throw them fairly quickly, even ones with power behind them provided you land on them(missing a power shot puts you out of position for an immediate follow up though esp if its fully loaded up). I'm a puncher and low kicker kind of fighter so square stance is perfect for my muay thai style. I also love the versatility of kicks and kick defense(and clinching) that comes with the square stance; and I feel much more balanced, at ease, and safe while in my square stance since I know all the correct ways to block incoming blows from that stance and immediately counter. However. It GREATLY limits the range of your jab compared to a bladed stance jab; and same with your cross(and rear hook). Bladed stance you can throw those much harder. But its harder to land. Gabriel Varga, that guy's fighting style, is by far the one that's most similar to mine, so is Joseph Valtellini's style. Its cause I partially based my own stance on theirs. Well its more like I already was fighting this way and found out about them and used their videos and fight footage to fine tune my own square stance to be more like their's and I have had great success doing that. I prefer blocking over other kinds of defense too and square stance is best at this. I value stability, square stance gives this in spades. You move slower but you are firm, and you can easily march someone down while blocking or parrying their blows and landing on them. I've been using a square stance as my main style for muay thai(and boxing) for the last 7 years or so(the time I've been training muay thai), and Ive only been developing my bladed stance for the past 1 year or 1 year and 6 months or so, so there's quite a difference in my experience level between the two styles. But I do use both in all my fights and spars and matches. Even in drilling. Just not fully comfortable using my bladed stance, esp against guys that are really good. I always default to my square stance in those fights. Use both imo. But make sure that one of those stances is your "main".

Love this take on stances, I left one of the gyms I trained at because the coach was so anti bladed stance.

I started with Olympic style fencing when I was 14, then several years later my first "real" martial arts training was a Japanese style that taught a very bladed stance. Since then I've done other styles, and weapons, and done/do different stances, however I still tend to default to blading due to that fencing when younger.

This is an absolutely brilliant video..!! You will not find a more informative foot positioning trainer than this..!! You will NEVER be high level until you master stance transitioning..!! The ability to quickly change stances on demand enables so many more attack and defense options..!! This becomes especially apparent if you take something like Judo to round out your wrestling game..!! Nice to see such quality instruction passed on to those aspiring young athletes..!! I'm an old high level wrestler from the 80's (3rd Junior Olympics)..!! Back then we didn't have many cameras around for training video production..!! Fortunately, my coach was a national champ, so I was trained well..!! This video should be in everyone's library..!! Cheers..!!

i trained at AKA and they would teach you to keep your front knee always pointed at your opponent, the squared stance allows for leg checking while bladed stance leaves you vulnerable to low kicks

This is actually a GREAT video! I myself am a stocky not so tall guy and I had big problems fighting using a bladed (WKF Karate) stance. When I switched to Shukokai style karate (they fight mostly squared) I had an eye opening moment. Although I don’t think too square is good, I found my perfect stance by combining both and doing a little tilt in my square stance.

Interactive energy galore!!!

Whoaaa Wonderboy👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻

Great video and very informational! I only train bjj and what I talk to white belts about is how to create a base regardless of what stance feels natural for them. Usually they do not realize how easy it is to off balance them and how rigid their bodies are and how easy it is to take the down. Developing the muscle strength and the mind/body connection is paramount and most people have no idea how to activate the right group of muscles at the right time to do the right thing.

Funny and informative! Will rewatch to absorb it all.

Great video, this is just what I was looking for. Would love more depth into defending Muay Thai stance attacks using other stances like boxing or karate.

Wonderboys face at the end is like hold up 👀😂😂😂

I love these videos!!!

Thanks for making this video. I've always wanted to try the "bladed stance" but my teacher so against it. He's adamant that the blade stance is only good for a quick side kick AFTER throwing a missed round kick. After throwing the side kick he insists we go back to square stance to be more mobile and protected.

This turned I to a very valuable instructional video! 👍

Can't have too much Wonderboy ♥️

Love the vid. Look into kendo stance (very square) and adapt it for hands. It is exactly what you are saying about the sprinting position.

Great info..... You 2 are an awesome comedian team..😁

Great info..... You 2 are an awesome comedy team..😁

I love wonder boy standing wide in the first shot so they can both be in the frame ~

Great video, I love both of you guys... but, 😅😅😅😅 what happen with his voice at 9:40 🤣Im dying.

Started wtih kyokyoshin now into boxing , The krata stance felt more natural but the dojo lack sparring so i started boxing and never looked back , its choas and i love it

I just love the way a super athlete carry themselves. Effortless confidence

I also think body styles, type of opponents, athletic ability and even personality traits of both the fighter and the opponent can and should dictate how someone fights. For instance I feel like Mike Tyson peek a boo is probably not an optimal style for Tyson Fury. I also feel like if you tried to make Mike Tyson primarily a defensive fighter it would not have suited his personality traits. Or someone that you know has a crazy single leg takedown maybe not standing so bladed to invite it.

Ah yes. Thank you for this video. Nice change of pace

When we are square. Heal toe alignment is to the center left and center right flank's. Attacking from angles? Layers of attack. Layers of defense? Awesome video sir!

Finally a commentary on stances that aligns with the 2022 "all stances matter" narrative

Ngl the joke at the start made me laugh so hard i hit the subscribe button 🙏😂

You can also do a hybrid, so to speak. A lot of JKA and classic WKF/WUKO fighters (mid-90s and earlier) would have the stance practically in the square position (like a half or 3/4 forward stance and back heel up), but their torso would be half-front facing. Machida was mostly like that early in his career. Dela Hoya was kind of like that, too, when he was young. Current WKF fighters are all bladed like Wonderboy.

Coming from a TKD background I was into the bladed stance. I think it's just the natural one you fall into almost by instinct. Bladed with the dominant foot forward. It wasn't until I found Bas Rutten that I square myself up a lot more. You can still pull off fancy kicks from the square stance, you just become less of a one sided, fencing style fighter.

Good video y'all, Wonderboy looking thick like he's going to middleweight😁🤙🏾

At 12:10 he showed the front foot on the ball and said something about muay thai guys standing like that. My coach taught me the front-up stance was for moving backward, back-up stance was for moving forward and that either one is good for sideways movement.

I've started doing Goju and we tend to square up VS do a blade stance, mind you we also move into a blade style stance from time to time. That stance you did toward the end with your legs long and hips forward looks like our long stance, because we try to keep our hips forward. It's more of a transitory stance though when throwing a punch

If you look at HEMA, mainly Fiore de'i Liberi, bc he uses a longsword and more he uses the stance shown in 12:20 and do longsword and hand to hand combat and I've learned to use a modified version of my karate stance with a square stance that's used in longsword.

Hey Mike, just watched the best weapon tier list you did with Seth like 2 years ago and you talked about helmets. Didn't see if you'd already made a video on that, but here's a story I commented on Seth's video and thought was relevant: I knew a girl in middle school who had a friend who was reluctant to go out to a club. She told him not to go. Dude went anyway, tried to calm down a fight. Someone hit him over the head with a helmet ONCE and he was dead before he hit the ground. So helmet is S-tier imo.

Love your all videos...:)