How to do Pu Bu. A Great Adductor Stretch- Shaolin Kung Fu Stance Guide

Crouch stance (or pu bu) is a fundamental position in many martial arts and forms part of basic Kung Fu training. This position has shown up in a few of my home workout videos, so this this video is aimed at guiding you on how to perform this stance properly.
Pu bu is a challenging position mainly because of the flexibility required, but it is also great for building strength. It is a position that can help you build the necessary mobility for full range of motion Cossack squats. In my opinion it is also one of the best adductor stretches out there. You might be familiar with the basic position from the Cossack stretch. If you have tight adductors, I would definitely recommend this stretch.
That being said because of the amount of leg stretching required for this position, a lot of people don’t get it quite right. You will learn the proper foot position, knee position, where your centre of weight should be, and the right position for your hips and body. I will also talk you through some of the many practical applications of this stance.
Finally I will demonstrate some exercises/ training techniques to help you build the strength, mobility and flexibility required to properly perform this stance.
This position is also known as fu hu bu in Mandarin, taming the tiger stance as it was supposedly once used to kill an attacking tiger. This stance appears mostly in Chinese martial arts, though the general position is used elsewhere.
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[@KungFit]

Great to see so many people learning more about pu bu. Plenty more kung fu focussed content coming over the next few weeks, so make sure you hit subscribe and the notification bell so that you don't miss any of it.

[@StimParavane]

A professional presentation - comprehensive and useful. Thanks.

[@KungFit]

Thank you very much. I'm glad you liked it. Good luck using it in your training

[@DV-cw6et]

Thank you so much, just what I'm looking for as struggling to perform the Pu bu due to poor flexibility, Thank you for your time in demonstrating this.

[@KungFit]

No problem, happy to help. Let me know how you get on after trying out some of these exercises for a while.

[@DV-cw6et]

@@KungFit thanks again , I will let you know. 😁

[@mesfromusa]

THE best pu bu instructional video I’ve seen. (And I’ve been looking.) Thanks!

[@KungFit]

That's great! Thanks very much

[@mesfromusa]

@@KungFit I do a little every day, but at age 70, it might be beyond my reach. So what.

[@KungFit]

@@mesfromusa Wow, that's fantastic! I hope I'll still be training at 70; that's the aim, fit for life. Never too late to start, and it's the journey that matters more than the destination. Keep at it!

[@roninstrength1883]

Fantastic progressions and regressions

[@KungFit]

Thanks!

[@williampalminteri1727]

Excellent presentation, thank you !

[@KungFit]

No problem! Thanks for the kind words

[@ghosttrain42]

Thank you for making this guide.

[@KungFit]

No problem! I hope it helps you improve

[@candicemorris4064]

Thank you for your videos. You explain everything so brilliantly 😁

[@KungFit]

No problem. Thanks for the nice comment! 🙂

[@Braunbaer888]

Very well done!

[@KungFit]

Thank you

[@KungFit]

Has this helped your pu bu, or are you working on your Cossack squat? Let me know

[@petermanfredschmidt1975]

👍👍👍😉

[@Daniel_Hochmuth]

Awesome video, thanks. I feel like my main issue is with the front foot, though - I can't keep it flat on the floor. I can get fairly low doing what you show around 5:10 but only with my toes pointed up towards the ceiling. I understand this is an ankle mobility issue but I couldn't find any help on this anywhere. I've watched your ankle mobility video but that also focuses more on the Achilles tendon area. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

[@KungFit]

Great question! It is most likely flexibility in your outer calf muscle that is the limiting factor. This tends not to get stretched as much as the big calf muscle running own the back. A few things you can do are: 1) Place your foot with the outer edge up against the wall, then sit down as low as you can into Pu Bu. You will probably feel the stretch through that front leg. You won't be able to go as low, but over time you will get there. 2) To get a stretch you can hold for longer and have more control over, lay on your back with one leg up in the air, and loop a strap around the ball of your foot. A lot of people use this position as a hamstring stretch, but instead of just pulling your leg towards your head, turn your foot in towards your centre line, then keeping the leg straight really pull back on the strap. This will stretch your calf, focussing on that outer part. I hope that helps! Let me know if you have any further questions.

[@Daniel_Hochmuth]

@@KungFitWow, thanks so much for the detailed answer! I'll try your suggestions for a few weeks and see how it goes. I remember my late Sifu mentioning once that the ankle was the hardest joint in the body for him to loosen up.

[@KungFit]

@@Daniel_Hochmuth you're welcome! Yeah its pretty common, especially if you've had injuries there in the past

[@rafifgmail3511]

The stance just like cossact-squat from soft acro. It very useful for mobilty in the ground position, also as transition move it flow to the other moves. Well i know it does stance to attack and defence but can you explain more on pu bu stance application self defence ? 🙏🙏🙏.

[@KungFit]

Sure! One of the big factors is entering your opponents space, either with a gentle version of this, or after a big inwards movement. It also allows you to get your weight very close to the ground, which can be useful for various takedowns, either as a starting or finishing position. It's also an important move for developing the mobility needed for things like sweep kicks. At some point I'll make a follow up that goes into applications in more detail, now that I can film with other people.

[@rafifgmail3511]

@@KungFit wow i never know that. I know nothing about kung fu. You don't need to do it, is just request from someone who have hobbie tricking. I actually have no hope for martial art but stance are quite useful for start and end of movement like you say, sometime i am not balance if i don't use stance 😂.

[@volkerengels5298]

Ha ha ha. *This is soo good* - with so less views. If you want to learn Ma Bu as well. *Do it here!!* What's missing here is arrogance, self-conceit, ostentation, self-importance... In that sense, this video is perfect to *show the stupidity* of the YT algorithm - _perhaps even that of its users in first place_

[@KungFit]

Thank you very much! And here I was trying to be as arrogant and conceited as possible. I'll have to try harder 😂 My Ma Bu video is definitely more ostentatious though. I'd like to think it's just better production quality. At some point I'll remake this pu bu video to increase the quality and show off the applications better now that I can actually film with another person.

[@janhoneycutt4932]

This pose always kicks me in the “bu”

[@KungFit]

Haha, you'll get there Jan, don't worry! I couldn't do it very well when I first started either