The kickboxing stance is the foundation of all your techniques in kickboxing.
Landing your strikes, defending strikes with solid blocking and using movement and evasiveness all come from having a solid kickboxing stance.
In martial arts a strong stance is your foundation and is what is usually trained and taught first for a new student.
Overall the kickboxing stance can vary depending on the style, the teacher and your personal preferences.
From the more bladed and side on Karate/Taekwondo style stance to the more hips square/muay thai style stance, there are definitely slight differences within kickboxing.
But overall the fundamentals are the same and this is what will be discussed in this post.
In Chinese Kung Fu in the past, students would often be required to only train stance for up to 1-2 years before being taught any techniques.
This was also to test the students resolve and determination to learn from the Master as well as building a strong solid stance from which all other techniques would come from.
The great thing about the kickboxing stance is you can train and practice your stance anywhere and on your own to develop a strong solid stance.
Let’s look at what makes a strong kickboxing stance and how you can improve your stance to make it even stronger and the foundation for the rest of your kickboxing techniques and strategies.
Elements of a Good Kickboxing Stance
i) Grounding
A good test my muay thai teacher (Mr. Happy in Chiang Mai) used to do to check a students stance was to simply give a little push on their guard or arms.
You can see how Mr. Happy tests students grounding by pushing on their guard after each technique and right from the very beginning.
A strong grounded stance should not be moved very easily.
You should be able to ‘sit down’ and ground your energy solidly and feel your hips, legs and feet sink down to a solid grounded stance.
A grounded stance also allows for you to draw power from the ground up and into your strikes.
Wing Chun master Sifu Gary Lam discusses extensively the unique wing chun stance and and is known for saying that a good stance will allow you to draw power from the ground.
Whether you are old, sick, weak it does not matter as with a good stance you can draw power from the ground up into your strikes and into your opponent.
ii) Posture
Without a strong foundation in a solid stance – the rest of your ‘structure’ will be weak and susceptible to falling and having your posture broken.
Having a solid foundation in your kickboxing stance and keeping good strong posture is vital to attacking and especially defending as your opponent will seek to off balance you with combinations and angles.
Having good posture comes from a strong stance. Not having your posture easily broken is key to defense and this also comes from having a strong kickboxing stance.
iii) Balance
When starting out, beginners are instructed to keep most of the weight on their back leg or dominant side and keep their lead leg a bit lighter.
Somewhere between 60-70% weight on the rear and 40-30% weight on the lead leg is recommended.
This allows for power to be driven from off of the rear or power side into your strikes and forward into your punches and kicks.
As you get more advanced the weighting can be more fluid.
Flowing from more dominance on one side (either lead or rear) and into 50/50 equal weighting as well as more dominant on the lead side when sitting down on your punches and other strikes.
iv) Single Leg Strength
Being able to be stable on one leg is also absolutely crucial in kickboxing. And this comes from having a solid stance.
When throwing kicks or knees and blocking and checking kicks with your shins you will be on one leg.
Having balance and stability and remaining grounded while on one leg is crucial in kickboxing and this begins from a solid stance.
Basics of the Kickboxing Stance
1. Feet “about” shoulder width apart
It doesn’t have to be exact.
But you should feel balanced and strong in your stance.
This usually comes from having your feet about shoulder width apart – more or less. It is a little different for each person.
But “about” shoulder width is a good guideline to use.
2. Slightly on the Balls of Your Feet
You dont want to be completely flat footed and this limits mobility and your ability to launch forward and drive power into your strikes from the ground.
The trademark muay thai roundhouse kick is landed with your standing foot up on the toes. This also applies for the knees where you are up on the toes of your standing leg.
So a good stance should always have your heels slightly elevated off the floor.
3. Power side to the Rear
If you are right handed your right leg is to the rear and vice versa for lefty’s or Southpaws.
In grappling arts such as Judo or BJJ the power side is to the front to have your power up front to resist front on takedown attempts.
In striking and kickboxing, MMA, Boxing and muay thai the power is to the rear. This can be modified as you get more advanced (see advanced stance concepts below).
4. Hands Up and Chin Tucked
Having a good defensive posture is a major part of the basic stance.
This includes having your hands up for protection at all times.
Hands up protecting your chin and face at all times is crucial. This can be modified as you get more advanced (see advanced concepts below) but at the basic level hands up and chin down at all times.
Advanced Kickboxing Stance Concepts
i) Switching Stance
Switching stance is an advanced concept when it comes to kickboxing stance.
Developing a solid stance in your regular stance (whether Orthodox or Southpaw) is fundamental and should be developed first and foremost before venturing into switching stance.
Whether fighting or sparring there will most likley be moments where you will end up in opposite stance unintentionally.
And so at the very least you should feel comfortable and stable in your opposite stance so that you can be able to switch back to your regular stance seamlessly.
But having a solid regulars stance should be the focus first for a beginner.
ii) Hands Down
Having your guard down is also a more advanced concept and is contrary to what is taught from the very beginning when it comes to stance where you are taught to always keep your hands up and chin down.
However having your guard down and hands low allows for faster head movement and evasiveness overall.
Have a look at the video below where one of the greatest muay thai fighters of all time Samart Payakaroon displays ‘matrix’ style head movement with hands down and dodging a barrage of punches from his opponent.
After dodging all those punches and with his hands in a lowered position, Samart lands a KO punch.
Having your hands down also makes you more unpredictable and you can launch punches from hands down to really confuse and off balance your opponent.
Final Thoughts on the Kickboxing Stance
In this post we looked at what makes a strong solid stance in kickboxing which includes the elements of:
- Grounding
- Balance
- Posture
- Single leg strength
We have also looked at the basics of the stance and the fundamentals which guide how to get into the basic kickboxing stance.
In addition advanced concepts of the stance have also been looked at. But these should only be trained after having a solid grounding in the fundamental strong regular stance.
Have a look at former Glory Kickboxing Champion Jpseph Valtellini and his free YouTbe lessons on kickboxing that begin with Lesson 1 – Stance and Footwork.
Overall in kickboxing the stance can vary quite a bit from Karate style to Dutch style kickboxing. The stance can be more bladed or side on and more square like the muay thai stance.
It depends on your instructor and also your personal preferences in the end.
This post has aimed to give a little clarity and guidance on what makes a strong stance and how it is important to have a good grounding in this foundational technique in kickboxing.
