Stances

I've been working a lot on my stances recently. Not just in a static sense, but also in how I transition into them to best support my strikes, blocks, kicks, and other techniques.

Horse stance. Cat stance. Open X. Narrow kneel.

They all seem to be slightly off, both in alignment and stability.

As I've been trying to correct them, I've found myself wondering why they suddenly all seem out of whack at the same time.

Perhaps I've advanced enough that I'm only now beginning to recognize these little idiosyncrasies. Maybe my stances were adequate for where I was before, but I've reached a point where they need further refinement to keep pace with the rest of my development.

Or perhaps my knee injury is affecting me more than I realized. Maybe I've been making small, subconscious adjustments to avoid pain, discomfort, or further injury. Over time, those adjustments may have become my new normal, even if they aren't quite right.

Either way, they need work.

If it's time to refine my technique, great. If it's time to recognize the compensations I've developed and start making deliberate decisions about what works best with my injury, that's fine too.

My goal will be the same...to develop stances that are stable and capable of supporting whatever technique I'm applying.

And an update.  I finally have a followup appointment to go see the Sports Medicine Dr about my MRI results.