First off i find it extremely difficult to properly get into the low stance and maintain it for any period of time and be able to functionally rise from it. I am certain this will become easier with time as my body adapts to the new position and grows stronger where it needs to and flexibility increases. I would ask how difficult this is/was for everyone else and how long it took everyone to overcome and be comfortable with.

More importantly though, I would like to ask about the position of my right foot/leg in this stance. Should my toes be facing out to my left with my foot perpendicular to my leg and as flat on the ground as possible or should my foot rest on its heel and keep the foot as straight as possible in line with my leg?

I would also like to ask that no one post an answer like “ask your instructor”. Because I have had 2 instructors tell me 2 different things or perhaps 3 instructors if I can remember so far back and I would like to get a more general consensus to see which way is most widely used.

Thank you for any insight and help in advance
-George

1. I enjoyed ssangsoo gumbup shilbun the most. I thought it was a great because the stances seem really exagerated, hence it's harder.

2. The text-book answer is this: For proper sodose, you right knee must not bend any more than 90 degrees and your shin shouldn't go past being perpendicular to the floor. If it moves towards the front more than that, it can create joint problems later on in life. You'll know it's too far if your knee goes past your toes. You'll also want to keep your knee tucked in a little bit, as if you were using your outter leg to shield your lower body. As far as the foot is concerned, you'll want to point your big toe to the left (Assuming your right foot is forward.), at 45 degrees. This is mostly for stability and to protect vulnerable veins and arteries in your inner thigh for being slit. A good way to know if it's being done right, is to ask your teacher to take a look. Just do like you think it's supposed to be done, and ask him/her to come take a look and comment on your stance.

This is how my teacher explained it to me. It's great to know how, but it's better to know why. Anyone else willing to comment on this?

(Oh, and ask your teacher. Every teacher has different points they stress. My old teacher hammered it into me that my stance had to be lower, whereas my most recent teacher protested and said that I was too low for my tall height. In the end, it's better to ask your teacher, and make your own decision.)

I suspect that George is actually asking about pokho-sae, not sodo-sae. SSGB chilbon is the first instance of using this stance in our forms.

George, as you move through your training you will encounter details like this where there are differences from instructor to instructor. Some of them are important and some of them aren't. Some are cosmetic and some go deeper and affect how the form is presented tactically. I think this one just comes from some people being more flexible in the hips than others - nothing major.

My advice to you is to learn to be able to do both methods. I'm sure over time one of them will appeal to you more, but for now remember and practice both.

I was taught to have my right foot perpendicular to my right leg, keep the right knee flexed a little and pointed forward. This facilitates stepping into the rising cut which follows and also protects the knee from attacks from above. Regardless of the advantages of this, the end result of trying to get it right was that I could not enter and exit this posture correctly or comfortably for most of my time in HDGD.

When I saw a different instructor entering this stance with his leg straight and foot pointed upward, I was surprised. He is flexible enough to lay the right leg flat on the ground and so again the knee is protected. Trying the stance this way did nothing to help my self-image as it highlighted my short-comings with flexibility, but it did allow me to focus on building strength in my hip joints to allow me to properly lower and raise myself into and out of this position. In addition, using this method let me get closer to feeling what was going on in this part of the form. That gave me a much better understanding of what it is trying to pass on.

One thing leads to another. I practiced with the second version until my hips felt different. I switched back to the first version and found I could get closer to it. Working at it for a few months got me even closer and with much less discomfort than before. If I had just disgarded the way the second instructor did things, I would never have been able to really learn the first version I'd seen. If I hadn't been true to what my master is teaching, I wouldn't have had motivation to push myself to do the technique as he wants me to.

Thank you both, Anthony actually hit the nail on the head with what i was looking for, but I did by no means disregard your information Charles. My Sodo-sae is far from perfect and i'm always taking help and information from everywhere i possibly can to help improve my technique. Thank you both and i really appreciate such detailed information. I think that for now i will do the stanced with my foot perpendicular because it is somewhat easier for me, and by easier i mean it is the only way i am able to do it without falling over. Once my strength and balance increases i will look to expand my technique and become more versitile. Thank you both again.

Bokho se is the reason I hated #7. I don't expect I'll ever be able to pop down and up like my instructor (who weighed about 100 lbs soaking wet). Over time, however, it has become easier. Yukhap Dangong helped. Doing it both ways also helped. As Anthony stated, the variations represent different tactics and techniques (Is that redundant?). Always good to expand the grab bag of technical skills.

I really like working on sodose and gimasase. I find every other positions to be easy to rest in. Even pohkose can be comfortable when we settle into it and place most of our weight on the extended leg.

When I first arrived in Jeju, the floors were freezing. I quickly learned that gimasase was a great way to heat up the dojang.

A note on stances; I've always thought that stances were mostly used as a transition into chayon gyeonjukse, or which ever position you're most comfortable with. It really wouldn't make much sense to start fighting in pohkose as a base stance. It's still a great way to deek an attack and still remain fairly stable, so pohkose will always have a place in my heart.

Don't forget that many of the stances serve more important rolls than combat. Gimasase esspecially serves to strengthen the body, as I remember it is intended to hurt and that hurt causes more blood to flow to that part of the body in turn strengthening it in time. Every stance helps build different muscles in different ways, some by strengthening normally used muscles and other by awakening muscles that aren't so often used.

A general rule of thumb we use is that if it is comfortable you are doing it poorly.

Or you're doing it just right, since a stance shouldn't be hard to maintain.

Well, I've not yet personally met someone that was able to do gimasase for more than a few minutes without some discomfort.

Heh, there is a line that hard to put into words there. I mean, it should hurt but it shouldn't be the work of contortionist.

It's kind of like talking about pain. We all know what 'good' and 'bad' pain are (one you get stronger from, the other can cause permanent damage), but we just talk about it in the terms of 'ouch' and 'hurt'.

Our static postures are intended to be difficult to maintain. Holding them anyway, despite the burn and the increasing muscle fatigue is just one of the means to build character and show us that we have no idea what we really can and can't do.

In forms or in sparring, the stances last only fractions of a second and have a specific purpose to accomplish in regard to magnifying or directing the force of our offense and defense. Their very brevity makes discomfort something of a non-issue, unless we cannot form the posture properly.

Thought you were going to say 'show us that we have no idea what we are doing'

I second that notion. When I said it shouldn't be hard to maintain, I meant in a sparring/battle enviroment.

I have been finding that I am facing the wrong direction after finishing with SSGB #7. I am trying to figure out what I am doing wrong. I think I have figured out where the problem is. for the first stab where you step out with you left foot do you turn a complete 180 degreesand after in what direction should you be facing , to the right of the direction you started or the left


Joe Kupina