By Henry Sieczkos
As printed in the August 2001 FMK
School newsletter "KIAI"
You can learn a lot about your opponent by analyzing his fighting stance. The kind of stance he is in can tell you what kind of techniques you can expect from him. This stance analyzing should be done when you first square off with the opponent. When you spar, you don’t just start throwing random kicks and punches without any plan in mind. This will make you lose and in a real fight get you hurt. You may want to determine what you can expect from him. His feet position and weight distribution on the feet can tell you a lot about what he is capable of doing. For instance, a left foot forward side stance (where the feet are directly in line to you with the left foot forward) tells you a few things about his attack possibilities. (1) If he kicks, he will more than likely attack with the left foot sidekick, roundhouse kick or hook kick. (2) If he punches, he will more than likely do a front hand back fist. (3) If he shifts his weight on his front foot, he will probably do a right foot spinning hook kick or a jumping left foot sidekick. This type of analysis can be done for any fighting stance. The way you can determine what techniques can be executed from each stance is to assume the stance and see what techniques you can easily perform from that stance. Shift your weight from foot to foot and see how this affects the techniques you can do with either foot or hand. This type of analysis lets you, in a sense, read your opponents mind and with practice know what he will do before he does. This will make your sparring more proficient and enjoyable.