The Power of Horse Stance - 5 Minutes a Week Can Change How You Move!

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The horse stance, or Ma Bu, is a position from Chinese martial arts. This is a low stance that can be held for time as an isometric contraction. This builds strength and stability in the lower body, but also mobility, endurance, and control. And this is why horse stance is a secret weapon not only for martial artists, but anyone that wants to develop powerful, functional movement.
Many of us have lost the ability to seamlessly transition between levels and planes of motion. Can you drop into a deep squat, shift into a cossack squat, then stand up on one leg? All without pain and discomfort? A couple of heavy lifts entirely in the sagittal plane and with limited range of motion won't get you there.
But this, to me, is what performant legs should look like.
The horse stance is also a great tool for developing willpower and the mind muscle connection. I forgot to mention in the video that Ma Bu was also sometimes used as a form of punishment!

[@TheBioneer]

NOTE! The Vivobarefoot code has now changed to "THEBIONEER15" Thanks!

[@abel6298]

Read your bible! (KJV, preferably) ♥‎‎ ‎‎‎ ‎‎‎‎ ‎ ‎‎‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

[@rohanofelvenpower5566]

Back in school I was skinny and never worked out. I was reading a lot of martial stuff for inspiration. One morning I woke up and wanted to do some kind of sport to change my life. I started with horse stance. I remember the first day I did it for literally 5 breaths !!!!! I just couldn't do more. Every morning I woke up to go to school I did the horse stance just once, with the goal of improving from the previous day. So the 2nd day I added maybe 1 or 2 breaths. It wasn't long, like 1-2 weeks till I could use a timer for 30 seconds. Then time flew again and I was doing 2 minutes !!! Some months passed and I got to 5 minutes. By that point I started working out a little bit in my own spare time after school, in my bedroom. I was doing hindu pushups for upper body and horse stance. I remember when about 5 minutes was my max, I would have to lay down and then it takes about another 5 minutes for all the lactic acid in my muscles to go away and finally relax my muscles. Then another 5 minutes (so double your stance time) to lay down and recover so your legs aren't sore and tired when you get up. Of course your legs are still sore but you will notice only if you start working out again like sprinting, etc. I kept it up and a year or two later in high school I did 23 minutes :) After 15 minutes your intestines start to vibrate and works that part of your body. Its very healthy. If you a male that masturbates regularly, it will heal and give you a strong stomach :) So that's my story of how i went from total dork who could barely do 5 breaths in horse stance, to doing 23 minutes, everyday. PS: when you can do 15-20minutes it also starts to strengthen your back. Until that point you may notice that your posture is odd, unnatural and weak which strains your back. So you will have to do back bridges and such before and after every horse stance to avoid back pain. But when you reach the higher times your bodies muscles are actually getting stronger ! PSS: I have a few friends who are way more advanced. When you can do 30 minute get a weight vest on to save your time! When you get much stronger take the vest off and try doing it with one leg in the air (horizontal) ;). Now you are really doing MARTIAL ARTS training. I know a dude who can do all kinds of stances not just horse stance all day long. He said something like "if you can do a stance for 2 hours you can do it all day" (I don't remember exactly if its 2 hours but he definitely said no more than 6 hours. So I would bet its either 2 or 4 hours he said. If you can do a stance for 2 or 4 hours then you can probably do it all day - literally. ).

[@rohanofelvenpower5566]

I would advise you always stick to tucking your lower back in horse stance. Otherwise you are doing sitting on the toilet stance. Feet should point fixed front but obviously modern man has terrible bone aligment which can take many, many years to fix. So point them forward as much as comfortable - you will feel the strain in your knees if you over do it. ( And yes knees never heal. Knee injuries are for life so you absolutely never strain the knees no matter how little). If you tuck your ass inwards/frontwards, you will notice your bones lock and you can't go as low as you could if you let your ass jiggle like a bar club hostess. That's fine. Tucking your ass in is the healthy and ergonomic position. When you can do like 10minutes or more you will notice you naturally lower yourself while still staying in fully tucked in position. Its just the muscles relaxing under the strain of gravity. So yes, if you tuck in you will start high and magically end up lower near the end of your stance. So never strain to go lower. You can't go lower because you have no leg, hip and knee mobility. If you could really go lower without straining your knee caps in horse stance then you can probably go into actual "full lotus" stance as well, not just crossing your legs. Modern man cannot rotate his legs to go into full lotus and neither can he do very low horse stance so modern should not strain him/herself and break their knees :) Just a health warning, hope my long message serves someone.

[@getuptogetdown918]

I had a pair of vivos and I must say the quality wasn’t great ( insole slipped loads and the stitching came apart) however I noticed they have a physical store here in Hong Kong now, so I maybe pop in for another purchase and see if they have improved.

[@ReasontoLiveAdventures]

Ma Bu(horse stance)training has been a staple of my training since the eighties. It doesn’t require equipment and is a fantastic rehabilitative exercise that helped me walk again after the brain surgery in 2010 and the recent craniotomy 03/21/2023.

[@Seraphim262]

Mind to share whats your time you can hold the horse stance? Hope you recover soon!

[@ReasontoLiveAdventures]

I am down to under five minutes these days. Before the tumor in 2010, my best time was around eight minutes. Today, Because of the neurological damage caused by the mini-stroke I break the mabu training down to 3-4 minute blocks done throughput the day. Recovering from a 15 hour craniotomy forced me into some of the best and safest training. Because I jumped the gun a few weeks ago and went against the orders of the neurosurgeon and used just 40 pd machine weight, which caused spinal fluid to collect around the excision site. That forced me to do basically only Qi gong and Dai ji jian(tai chi chuan) training lately.

[@dylhemsley9458]

@@ReasontoLiveAdventures Hey bro, good luck with your rehab and training.

[@usaotomasonictrash7562]

@ Reason To Live Adventures you sir are a powerful person and inspiration to all you sir are The Champion Of Mortal Kombat!

[@lacanian_lifter]

I'm about a month out from having a brain tumor removed. Non-cancerous, they think, but it's right over the part of my brain that controls right-side body movement. I'm so scared. They say 4-6 weeks to full recovery, but I find that hard to believe. Can you tell a bit more of your story? Up to you of course, but I'd rather hear from someone who triumphed in their recovery than just to google "brain tumor recovery" and see what I find.

[@calebgross912]

Horse stance and holding primal squats have both improved my mobility so much and made me stronger and more confident in calisthenics movements in particular. Definitely extremely valuable!

[@ReasontoLiveAdventures]

I completely agree. Back when I started training I was bullied almost every day by rednecks. But I found a great kung fu Sifu. He was a former green beret that taught wildness survival, mountain climbing and repelling.

[@abel6298]

Read your bible! (KJV, preferably) ♥‎‎ ‎‎‎ ‎‎‎‎ ‎ ‎‎‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

[@ReasontoLiveAdventures]

I do read my bible. As a matter of fact, I only lack three credits to have a third BA in theology.

[@nategalvan3907]

​@ReasontoLiveAdventures when do you start how to stop bragging class?

[@criticalbil1]

​@@nategalvan3907He teaches that class 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@besharafereg2198]

Bro! Shenmue! Thanks for taking us down memory lane.

[@michaeltagor4238]

Don't be surprised, Adam is one of the coolest nerdiest internet fitness nerd along with lads like jaxblade himself

[@GrantNolan.]

I loved that game

[@Kboges]

Awesome video! The horse stance is one of my favorite exercises of all time. Doing this for years as a kid gave me a sort of "permanent" level of mobility that has been very useful for martial arts practice and general fitness as I've gotten older. I would also credit horse stance training for giving me the pistol squat for free. It's an all-around superb exercise that checks a ton of boxes, and for anyone interested in improving their usable mobility, focus, and leg endurance, it's a no brainer! This video is a top-tier breakdown of the movement! Well done, Bioneer. 🙏

[@mindmast3r]

yoooo its kboges!!

[@archsys307]

Training horse stance finna increase my T levels or nah

[@snehilsinghhh]

Heya! 👋

[@lowellcalavera6045]

About 45 seconds after you settle in you realize this is serious business.

[@raymondwall3788]

More like 5secs 😂

[@Mlwt3169]

Hahaha facts you in some deep shit 45 sec after then u start shaking lol

[@deanduluoz7109]

10 secs for me 😅

[@fluffyscruffy]

3 weeks ago, I started Horse Stance for 1 minute as part of Leg Day warm up. It is so, so humbling.

[@Jafmanz]

static holds before? er.... you should be warmed up already before performing static holds otherwise how does the energy flow?

[@crazyjay6331]

I keep getting theese weird coincidences with Bioneer, like I was literally practicing horse stance today for the first time in years, and then boom Bioneer uploads a video, on it, it's like what ever he is doing gets sent to my brain when he goes to edit the video lol cos this happens way too often.

[@WBlake01]

I wouldn't want my muscles to generate so much energy BEFORE the workout, if I wanted to perform...

[@salj.5459]

@@Jafmanz Wrong. Static holds are good for introducing blood flow as well

[@Jafmanz]

@@salj.5459 always do dynamic stretching first ALWAYS!

[@pranakhan]

There are many layers to Horse Stance that are generally unknown or overlooked. In baguazhang, the legs are held closer together (3 foot-lengths wide) and the depth is lessened. This opens up more mobility/plyometric options. The internal training element comes from how the legs are held. The name gives it away; one imagines holding something along the inside of the legs with more engagement than the outside of the legs. As if you are holding something between them. In Zhan Zhuang (Standing Post), this effort is mirrored in the arm position; intention to the inside of the arms, relaxation to the outside while maintaining the structure. Intention travels along these circles; energy flows throughout the body from the relaxation element (Song). Connective tissue is conditioned, supported through fascial engagement.

[@VickersVickers-rk8uk]

I feel the burn quicker when I do a narrower stance. I find a wide horse stance easier. Think I might be able to do 10 minutes on a wide horse staance.

[@mmasoomali]

I reached 1 min 10 secs in a week's time. I have been doing weight training both heavy and light for past 5 years. And this horse stance has given me the all new direction to manage and take my fitness to the whole new level. I have now started adding a few martial arts and calisthenics movements in my workout routine. And this shift is doing wonders in a very short period of time.. thanks and kudos for sharing such valuable info.

[@physicalimprovement8384]

I've actually been experiencing some ankle and knee pain lately and in just doing some of these horse stances on the first day of seeing this vid seems to have lessened the pain just a little. Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!

[@thomasbrouwer2771]

Such a humble guy.. talking openly about his weaknesses. Lovely.

[@ludviglila1407]

Crazy, I tried the horse stance directly after watching this thinking I could do at least 2 minutes and could only do it for like 15 seconds 😅 feels so good in the hips, knees and core after doing this! Definitely something I will include in my training!

[@mreverybody1150]

Due to isometrics training with the Isochain which involved 20 second static holds of dead-lift and zercher squat, among others. It made the Horse Stance much easier.

[@kylanpierce8415]

Been watching this channel for 6 years. Dependable. Informative. Entertaining. Flawless. Upping my horse stance practice today, never realized the full extent to the benefits.

[@lamccullen]

Thank you for this helpful video. I started doing horse stance after seeing a Lee Weiland video. I came hère for more help on form. 66 year old lady. I started at thirty seconds and am up to 1 minute 20 seconds. Adding one second a day. I can feel the difference every where.

[@stelicapetre7724]

A wise lady

[@BosunM8James]

Studied Shorin Ryu every since I was a boy and this was a fundamental stance. Someone said in a previous comment this stance can be very humbling. I couldn't agree more. I think you are the first I've seen on KZbin to elaborate on the benefits of this stance incorporataed in training. I would also say the cat stance "neko ashi dachi" is also a great stance to incorporate into training since it requires you to put all your body weight and balance on your back leg.

[@CobraTheSpacePirate]

I started with Shorin Ryuu as well. Shorin Ji Kenpo also has mostly the same stuff as well.

[@infunerous666]

Hey I did too!

[@BosunM8James]

@@CobraTheSpacePirate It's always great to meet someone else who's a fellow practitioner of Okinawan karate. And I also appreciate your taste in retro anime 😉

[@BosunM8James]

@@infunerous666 Not many are familiar with Shorin Ryu or know that is was one of the very first mixed martial arts with influences from all over South Asia since Okinawa was a melting pot of culture at the time. I always love hearing from others who have trained in this ancient, but still practical, art of fighting.

[@CobraTheSpacePirate]

@@BosunM8James Actually from a few years back, I started over with Tanihata ShitoRyuu Karate here at the local Budoukan with a local friend of mine who is teaching there... It is fun doing the demos and working with the kids! Most all of the kata are exactly the same. However, the Japanese Department of Education renamed the kata from a few years ago? Pinan etc., is another name. Like Hinan...Maybe same thing as renaming Peking to Beijing.?

[@LawDescendant]

This video brought my fire for Ma Bu back. When I was in my latter teens I was doing half hour horse stances no problem. My record was 40 minutes but I wasn't super deep and because of my long femur had to turn my toes out some but still I could jump like nobody's business. Just did a 2 minute set while watching your video ahah so I'm going to make it a daily thing till I get back to at least 15 minutes with solid form. And as a practitioner of martial arts since I was a small child thanks for taking the time to get to know your stuff before you made a video about Gong Fu and our training.

[@Punster101]

Yes! Yes! Yes! I always do this, either in long 3-4 minutes holds, or many sets of 1-2 minutes! People at work first stared at me like I'm weird, but slowly they got used to it.

[@Punster101]

@@technic1285 the funny thing is, one of my coworkers does karate, so he was already used to that kind of stuff. Sometimes we would light spar, but I would always lose.

[@soulmage9]

As a Bajiquan (Eight Extremities Fist ) and Baguazhang (Eight Trigram Palm ) Hsing Yi (Mind Form Boxing ) practitioner you are right. There are so many ways to do the Horse stance and many different ways to breathe there is an incredible art to holding tension or proper alignments. I got up to 45 mins in a mid to deep horse stance holding the golden ball or hugging the tree. It is called zhangzhung which means post training in the styles I have done. My Instructor told me stories of people holding these positions for six hours two hours is considered average. It is a fundamental training that you need to incorporate every day just to do certain styles. five to ten minutes of proper standing will destroy the average person. I did 108 days of standing consecutively I felt energetic experiences during this training intense heat similar to Kundalini experiences that I have had in the past. Be careful doing this training as it is harder than most things you will ever do, There are body alignments that are of a major benefit to the practitioner. I was taught to sink in the legs but you also hold a tension through them keep the tail bone neutral in holding the ball position or slightly tucked in, you are actually slightly pushing legs outwards, depending on the width of your stance. Hollow the dan tian your stomach area and chest pull shoulders lightly back arms rounded back should be full like pressing it away from your chest every joint relaxed, lift from the top of your head like something is pulling you up from the top of the head with a string. Neck straight lifting up slightly chin in neutral position eyes looking forward. You can do all of this holding tension making it isometric. Standing is an incredible journey and there are so many ways to do it it is an art form in itself there are postures that just hurt but will become better in time. You hate this at first but once you get used to it you will look forward to doing it. Life becomes easy because there, ends up being nothing physically or mentally harder than the standing practice. I challenge anyone to simply standing in one position for 2 mins straight legged or bent standing doesn't even have to be done in a horse stance. You can simply take a small step out in front and stay in that position. I guarantee it will start to work muscles you have never worked on. Anyone one gets great at standing should try San Ti The Hsing Yi standing training it is brutal of course all of this stances have incredible health benefits.

[@MilitaryHistory2011]

Used to do these at a hung gar kung fu dojo my uncle taught in when I was 10 - 12 We'd start with two minutes per stance. Once we started to master two minutes we'd have to adopt a better posture with a bo staff behind our legs And once we perfected that we moved to 5 minutes, bo staff behind legs, arms straight out with weighted rings on our arms! Doing this twice a week made me a monster in primary school! Best part was we had to 100 bunnyhops straight after without losing balance

[@yilderim1924]

Hung Gar kung fu is legit. Great training for mind and body.

[@MilitaryHistory2011]

@@guitar-jo I believe the dojo sifu had to do it for 2 and a half hours, completely uninterrupted to get his position!

[@thorragnarok2861]

Is that where the Hung Gar Games Came From? China !?!?! 😂😅😂😅😂😅😂

[@datoolz0]

@@MilitaryHistory2011 Are you sure? Even 15 mins is murder, how can he get to an hour?

[@oscarlove4394]

​@@datoolz0 either improper form, or children being wierd. maybe its some weight/tendon strength proportion thing. Like how pullups are easier the lighter you are. I remember easily doing 100 pushups as a child, now i can't remember if i had good form (i probably didn't) but it could have been because i was tiny and weighted about as much as three feathers and a marble, so my tiny stick-like arms where plenty enough to lift my even tinier even more stick-like body.

[@luisbonnet3957]

Horse Stance (Ma Bu) is basic prerequisite training for many Kung Fu styles. I have practiced it for over 20 years. Best to do it every day and slowly build the time it is held. It can be used as an exercise but also contains a martial function. Love the comment on rooting which is really important.

[@TatooedDoc]

how many sets should u do if doing it daily?

[@rafa-lk6lf]

​@@TatooedDoc i usually do it 1 set to max time i can do, then i do rest pauses, wich is to rest 5 to 10 seconds and repeat the exercise for more 1 or 3 times. Makes it intensier and that don't consume your time

[@Lorry_Draws]

This is killer! As someone who can do 3 sets of 12 pistol squats, I’m humbled. Only managed a minute on my first go 😂

[@shaspearman8647]

Wow

[@joaotanaka3071]

Man this is exercise is fire🔥 Nothing hurts more than this. I’ve been able to reach 2 minutes, but I’m not so consitent with it. Want to be able to hold for 5 minutes now.

[@josephperkins4857]

its actually nearly as bad as a 20 rep squat

[@ithinkthereforeitalk935]

If you believe that nothing hurts more than this then you've never been really seriously hurt. Good for you.

[@JorgeMP53]

​@@josephperkins4857 It depends. If they are bodyweight squats for an advanced athlete then yeah, pretty bad. But you can't say the same about a 20 rep squats with a weight challenging enough to keep you from repping more than 20.

[@joaotanaka3071]

@@ithinkthereforeitalk935 I mean, no exercise that I’ve ever done before hurts more than this. But yeah, I can say that I’ve been really luck and never got any serious pain, or injury problems

[@josephperkins4857]

@@joaotanaka3071 take the weight you can squat for ten reps and then extend it out to 20 with it

[@CogniVision]

I used to train in stances heavily when I was self-training in my teens. Was out with my friends and there wasn't enough chairs at the table... but they didn't know that because it looked like I was sitting as I just chilled there in a low stance the entire time as if I was sitting down. With proper training the amount of endurance and leg strength you get from simply holding these traditional stances is something you can easily take for granted. Keep your body strong and conditioned.

[@kylereece1979]

Ive added this into my stretching, DDP Yoga days. I love it. Getting the Horseplay into practice, headphones on with chilled out Synthwave and Tool's "Fear Inoculum" soundtracking the trance and stance. Thanks again for videos like this.

[@paolodomingo3571]

Love your content, especially because you're a dad and your little tips here and there about how you try to incorporate training into busy family life is super. ;) Started horse stances a while ago and didn't really focus on it or do it regularly but my time that I can stay in the stance has doubled already. About 1:30

[@TKRevRay971]

OMFG I saw the title and immediately thought of shenmue. You did not disappoint!!!! you've got a sub today!

[@RickW0071]

Since I've torn my ACL in my right knee and my back has issues also, the horse stance is my primary way to train my legs. I'll do different times and sometimes I'll do sets like this: 1 min horse stance followed by 30 seconds jump rope and do 3 to 4 sets like this.

[@rpoillucci]

I tore my ACL as well in December. I'm going to be asking my pt if this is ok for me to do. I miss training karate so much this will be one step closer.

[@chriscarmack1016]

Did you have acl reconstruction? I had it Dec and was curious how long others waited to start doing these type exercises.

[@RickW0071]

@@chriscarmack1016 never had the surgery...tore it about 3 or 4 years ago

[@ruairimurray6796]

​@chriscarmack1016 I had reconstruction about 23months ago I was advised (by top surgeons and sports physios) to start doing isometric holds like glute bridges pretty much straight away - I was doing them in the hospital bed. For a horse stance hold there really shouldn't be any movement in your knee so you should be able to start pretty much as soon as you get your stitches out. I would advise that you make sure you knee mobility is up to par first though, i.e. being able to bring your heel equally as close your ass as the "good" leg and being able to extend it as much as the other leg also. You need to mobility in order to perform the movement with less pain. Good luck on your journey back brother, it's steady progress but I was back to playing rugby at my previous standard within 10months

[@bigbattenberg]

Cool! I just found rope jumping and the horse stance as two additions to calisthenics. I have found these sorts of training to give a huge improvement to my running. Always like to try something new.

[@wnohr77]

i used to do it in martial art training, i got up to 8 mins the variation i used was with my fists by my hips and elbows back. it got me from relatively fit kid to beeing able to jump twice as high as before and kicking above my head in 6 month

[@vr1902]

@Wnohr77 u got upto 8 mins? world record is 8 mns or 8-30 seconds I think

[@wnohr77]

@@vr1902 a 15 seconds google search shows the record at 3 hours

[@bellewhite3764]

Just throwing it out to the aether that I really appreciate the shot at 11:40 Adam is beautifully parallel with the rail, hedgerow and scape and it makes the artsy part of my brain happy; good work 👌🖤

[@carlandersson7870]

My legs just feel really damn good the day after I've done these. Also helps with keeping good lower body form in my boxing stance.

[@DarrenStarr]

🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation: 00:19 🤸‍♂️ Horse stance, a low and wide stance from Chinese martial arts, offers benefits beyond martial arts for better movement and mobility. 01:05 🦵 Regular horse stance practice enhances mobility, flexibility, stability, and core engagement. 02:15 💪 Holding horse stance develops strength, endurance, and flexibility in hips, glutes, hamstrings, and tendons. 03:25 🥋 Different versions of horse stance exist in various martial arts styles; choose based on your goals. 04:50 🏋️‍♀️ Five-step horse stance is a good starting point for practice; increase time gradually. 05:18 🦶 Foot position variation and facing the toes affect muscle engagement and mobility. 06:14 👟 Practicing horse stance in barefoot shoes promotes stability, mobility, and foot health. 08:44 🧘‍♀️ Maintaining a slightly rounded posture with a posterior pelvic tilt can improve stability and rooting. 10:07 🥋 Keeping arms relaxed in horse stance improves endurance and efficiency. 11:18 🧘‍♂️ Practicing horse stance can develop mental discipline, focus, and meditation skills. 12:46 🏆 Focusing on structural alignment and internal aspects enhances movement foundation and performance. Made with HARPA AI

[@DepressionShaman]

I love this channel. I'm always learning new exercises or training modalities that are fun and exciting! How does this guy not have 5 million subs???

[@geekavenger]

This is excellent. My Sifu explained to me that Sigung (his teacher) used to stand in Horse stance for 45 minutes at a time (each stance), but also standing in Bow Stance, Cat Stance, and Unicorn (Cross) Stance. The Internal Kung Fu style of Hsing I, used the San Ti posture and Wu Chi posture for 15 minutes at a time to develop the ability to root. Again, excellent. Sincerely, Sifu Hill - Hung Gar

[@lelionnoir4523]

Those stances are held much higher than shown in the video. Not to take away from the challenge ; I started with a Vietnamese style which had us doing the horse stance with our thighs parallel to the ground. Now I do Xíngyì with Byron Jacobs and I hold Sāntǐshì for up to 10 minutes, which is double of how long I hold horse stance.

[@McCarthy1776]

Impressive but kinda silly from an exercise science perspective you're mainly building power in that one position. You could instead do squats and build power in the full range of motion. 45 min in static positions is just a waste of time and energy. It may be good psychologically or spiritually but for pure physical fitness it isn't ideal.

[@chasingthewind.]

​@@McCarthy1776 I i guess for them it's more than that It's not just physical but mental too

[@jeroenmorhen]

I'll definitely add it to my routine ! I've practiced karate so sometimes for my legs I'm just doing some zenkutsu very low or kokutsu too but this one is the challenge I need right now !

[@calisthenicswBin]

i love the graphics, scenery and shots on this video pls keep it up!

[@saturationstation1446]

iso holds that make you use most of your bodies kinetic chain at a high intensity is how you make your fascia connect more/grow stronger. also helps create a better / more quickly utilized mind muscle connection because nothing else really forces us to focus on using all of our body like iso holds.

[@philloder]

Adam, Love your content. The "Old Dusty Film" look is very distracting when studying your positioning. Been working on the horse stance for 3 months and only can hold about 45 seconds. Lit the F up! This is Evil and I love it. 64 years young and getting younger practicing your moves. Thank you!

[@leeleearts303]

When I was in 7th grade, I always like jackie chan movies, and I search in the internet how he trains, and then I saw his horse stance with small plates on his head and shoulder, of course as a kid I copy him, I last only 10 seconds at that time, but now I can last 10 mins, my goal is to reach 30 mins(idk if possible)

[@ArchingRock]

WOW 10 minutes!? If you don't mind me asking, how was the progression through the years? Cuz 10 minutes is amazing And I can see you achieving 30 in the future 😁

[@Golgiaparatus2]

About ten years ago, when i was in the middle of high school, I studied a Vietnamese kung fu called Binh Thai Dao and part of warm ups was a 10 minute horse stance. They were absolutely killer. I just tried holding one now and I couldn't even make it 30 seconds. Watching this video has inspired me to get back in form.

[@amhawk8742]

One thing I switched was a shikodachi in place of a kibadachi. With a kibadachi the feet are parallel facing the front and is a little higher while in shikodachi the legs should be nearly parallel to the ground and feet pointed to 45 degrees. By leaning backward (forcing one to engage the core) and pushing the hips forward (posterior tilt), you get a perfect abductor squeeze and a greater stretch on the adductors and higher load on the quads. I hold a karate punch position as this works on upper body posture simultaneously and I don't see the point in working on just the lower body when you can connect the entire body and save time. The only benefit of kibadachi over shikodachi is ankle stabilised mobility which can reduce major injuries from twisted ankles.

[@pomegranate8593]

I appreciate you going through the points of contentions, instead of teaching only one way! I was confused before your video as I had seen different people que the exercise differently

[@alexsoulblade]

Just started doing horse stance again (because I just remembered it existed) and then this video pops up. Honestly horse stance helped build the mass on my thighs a lot so it makes sense destiny is calling me to do it again

[@matthewhawke8902]

You saw hypertrophy from it?

[@alexsoulblade]

@@matthewhawke8902 yes theyll blow up your thighs. You’re holding the position for as long as possible so blood is pooling in the area, and therefore satellite cells and angiogenesis etc I mean I was doing heavy compounds too but I never isolated hip adduction or knee extension, yet my quads and adductors blew up

[@matthewhawke8902]

@TheSackSwordsman That's interesting to hear. I spoke with a guy who did Kung Fu throughout his early life into adulthood and never touched weights, as soon as he did though he almost instantly was able to hit a backsquat that was over twice his bodyweight...that's not something most people can just hop into. Obviously it's doing more than what some would say about long holds being "just for endurance ".

[@lavishglittergun9017]

i've been hearing about the possible benefits of this training. thanks so much for breaking it all down for us with no nonsense.

[@goodyeoman4534]

I used to do a isometric circuits three times a week but kind of got out the habit. Horse stance is probably the best one for the lower body. Plank for the abs. Holding a half press up for the upper body.

[@Muniswarannn]

Yes I tried just did progressive overload in isometric type training . Like squat I did 40 sec with light then keep adding the weights..for each body part ..I feel no soreness but able to recruit strength and less damage to joints .also improved endurance

[@Santa-ny1yp]

Not only are algorithms paychic but now creators are also. Not 2 hours ago i was doing horse stance. I haven't done it in months. Heres your video!

[@me0101001000]

There's a form called WuBuQuan, or the five stance form. I recommend learning it! It trains five stances, of course. I used to do Northern Shaolin, and there are lots of great tutorials online. But if you can, definitely find a school in your area if you can. As long as it isn't a McDojo, you'll have a great time!

[@Fitz557]

First time I read "McDojo", but it's definitely as good as Bullshido :p

[@johnbradford9235]

Great vid man 👏👏👏. Our Instructor gives out Horse Stance a lot. I find the only way through it is too truly aim to relax, breathe, and enjoy it. Otherwise it's too punishing and you fail out under tension. Really appreciated the info on different tweeks to the style though 👍👍👍. Thanks brother 🙏. 😎

[@erikschoel]

8:47: I think the best approach is to lower down with a neutral pelvis until you kind of get stuck, then apply a posterior tilt to dig a little deeper still, but but but... then tilt back to neutral and keep it there. This will get you the best of both the stretch as well as the strength applied to your body which will get you the best of both the gains respectively. IMHO. 🙏🙏🙏

[@mrmukura]

I appreciate the honesty, and thorough overview in this video. I had seen that Shaolin clip, and also,a fan of Jackie Chan, so am reinspired to do more, and more often. Your point about incidental stances was great, as is the mind training internal work aspect of things. Based on this I have subscribed, and am looking forward to seeing more.

[@MrVariant]

Oh 2:30 where it begins. Rotation helps. I think of essentrics as well. Full range of motion helps a ton, and is good for beginners or disability like old age/injury.

[@Yo-cr9ol]

so much knowledge and generosity in these comments ♥

[@OleSmokey]

Last 2 years been using it for rebuilding my shattered hip and pelvis works beyond expectations

[@JesusisourLORDandsavior77]

I have practiced kick boxing and now learning judo with juijitsu and u know what horse stance actually helped me A LOT, everyone should do it, its hard to explain but its like it made me have this leg strength and that proper posture on executing sime take downs, its simple and effective people should do it more

[@matejzorko7890]

Bro I have been waiting for this video for a long time. Thank you for making it 😊

[@pscully1969]

I use the horse stance along with the hollow body and superman as static warm ups before a training session. I am currently at about 1 minute 40 seconds, heading for 2 minutes as a short term goal, then onward to who knows. 😀

[@jbarkley4198]

What benefits have you noticed in using these movements both in your workouts and their overall benefits in and of themselves?

[@thommccarthy1139]

Zhan Zuang and Ma Bu completely changed my life. Great vid!

[@whimsycole246]

Tried this and was really struggling in the first minute or so. Then, I started doing qi gong, and pushed through for another 2 minutes. I just decided to stop as not to strain myself, but I'm confident I could've lasted the full 5. Glad to see you mention this as a viable option, since I wasn't sure if I was somehow making it easier on myself by not keeping my upper body tense. Gonna incorporate this in with my daily planks and pushups and see how I feel in a couple weeks. Great video!

[@calvinwallis2634]

Ah the horse stance 😊 was fundamental in my early days when I started taekwondo twenty years ago. Thanks for the nostalgia 😊

[@georgekondylis6723]

Old school TKD emphasized this. I am a long time practitioner and an instructor for over 4 decades. Holding this stance and throwing step-behind sidekicks without rising is incredibly tough and beneficial.

[@fast1nakus]

this helped with my walking problems. I always had weird swings to the sides when walking straight, but It slowly faded away in like 2 months after doing this daily

[@getuptogetdown918]

Every now and again I’ll go off the path in HK and hike to some of the mountain exercise areas. If I’m lucky the old boys are there working out. We always share techniques and train together, love those days. It always goes from martial arts , fitness and movement , to what pop music they like (Beegees ,Beatles , abba and so on) one thing I love is that they tie small check mats into the trees at various heights. They are normally used to practice striking and conditioning. For those wondering one place to train would be pinapple hill and the other would be castle peak.

[@pjmove]

There's a really comfortable but challenging way to train the horse stance squat that I use. Basically you place your hands on your knees when in the horse stance, take all of the weight into your arms by pushing the knees down towards the ground‌, and then rocking your weight side to side. Like you're doing a knees over toes lunge, but side to side. As you're doing this, you will start to feel the hips dropping and opening up. It's works as a great warm up too

[@TheBioneer]

Yes! I love this! This is a lot like the liquid motion system I was talking about recently. I’ve been doing the exact same thing and it works wonders 😁

[@pjmove]

Yes any sort of joint movement or articulation helps massively with flexibility gains and generally getting blood to the joints. Looking at your current level of flexibility mate, I would say a lot of external rotation in the hips would work wonders to help you with abducting the legs wider in your horse stance and allowing you to sit deeper in your cossack squat. I've created a sequence that you can try out. Let me know how it goes for you. And keep up the amazing work :) kzbin.info/www/bejne/hou3gpZmaJ10itU@@TheBioneer

[@ArtbyPaulPetro]

another one to add to my ever growing list of movements i could and should use regularly! massive cool points for the Jackie Chan clips...that guy is simply amazing!

[@bigfool8819]

Used to do this for 3 mins, but left doing them 2 years ago. Good thing you reminded me

[@crowtunnel41]

YES THANKYOU BIONEER, I've been into the horse stance for awhile now and was wondering when you'd do a video on it

[@mikeince2929]

Thanks foe this, yes, I remember from Goju ryu doing the stance, I have continued squats but will reintroduce the horse stance..nice one. Keep the videos coming

[@bagel411]

Big dad energy! Thanks for the video and providing more options for anyone's fitness journey

[@WeBreakItAllDownRightHere]

Once again Bioneer has found the way. A lot of the most bad ass old dudes I know did martial arts in the 70s and 80s and held that shit for an hour

[@V1turbo2]

Was waiting for this

[@Trustee-of-The-Most-High]

Wall seat is one of my main exercises in my combo. Keep it up

[@orhan1149]

Man I love this filter you have on ur videos

[@GrimDarkHalfOff]

hey this is actually one I have experience with. I'm grateful I took martial arts as a kid before I got into weight lifting.

[@themoog924]

I've been doing zhan zhuang for years on and off, it's a great system and well worth a look for those interested in internal training.

[@koleszgdanska7149]

You got my motivation back for doing this exercise everyday

[@JustMe-ts8bn]

Great video. I think this will benefit my kettlebell work. At the moment i have a maintenance routine that i try to do daily. Thats mix of stick mobility and 7 ab exercises with yoga stretches in between. I am going make hirse stance one of the 7 core exercises.hirse KZbin is blanked out on my phone so i can't see what i am typing horse

[@rommelasibal8315]

In 4:52, you are doing the stance with your arms out, and the thumb, pointer finger and middle finger up and the ring and pinkie bent. Can i ask what the hand sign stands for?

[@TheBioneer]

I believe it trains the fascia - but I’m actually doing it wrong! I just feel it looks cool ala Jackie Chan. I recommend doing more research :-)

[@seekmeme483]

I do this to increase my leg endurance for wrestling and it works so well. I’ve gone to 5:30 as my max working to hit 10 minutes

[@clayton97330]

Exactly, I was going to comment on the similarity to a wrestling stance.

[@learningwithiyam731]

Awesome work. I use it for my Kung-fu training. My record time in the low version is 5:10 and 35 minutes in the high version. I, too, would love to hit 10 minutes in the low position. The benefits have been great.

[@antonydrossos5719]

I've a practitioner of Southern styles since 1989. My first school taught 5-Animal Shaolin, my 2nd school taught 5-Ancestors Fist. Obviously, the Ma-Bo is a fundamental part of both. I've noticed that the Northern version of the Horse Stance is lower & wider.

[@grndragon7777777]

Awesome, thank you. I've been wanting to get into this. It is the foundation of marshal arts

[@dwight00001]

It's good seeing you again hope you and your family okay and I'm glad you started the series on horse stance training

[@lanceuppercut7436]

I’ve seen that video Jessie put out. When you start incorporating the ‘round’ principle to such things as pinching, kicking and even defending the squeeze I’d a rear naked choke, it’s astounding how powerful it is, and I feel I’m only scratching the surface. Give it a go and see for yourself. Next time you punch, just think”round” and see if the punch is stronger and more effortless. Same foe when y out re being choked. Concentrate on round and see if you survive longer before taping out. 👍🏻

[@MrLogic204]

Takes me back to my youth karate days. Really helped when I played football in high school.

[@danielvillarreal6610]

Greetings from an American expatriate in Taipei, Taiwan! I’m reviving my dormant Kenpo skills and part of my self-directed refresher training is getting back into the horse stance (and other stance training). I’ve watched your video and one by Matt Furey and picked up some great tips from both. Thanks! BTW, do you have any videos on stance training in general? Especially doing the cat stance, forward leaning stance, etc., very low for training purposes?

[@kennethbedwell4183]

I love Kiba Datchi (Horse stance) been doing them for years as you can see from my icon picture I do them any where.

[@AllanGildea]

Your one legged squat /dip was phenomenal! Good video, thank you.

[@icysamurai1485]

Did some barbell squats in horse stance: great exercise to add in for some variation, thank you very much

[@stefanljungberg6313]

This is so good! And i was so surprised to see Shenmue at the beginning!

[@BreatheChristian]

i love how you dont let your previous ankle injury stop you from doing the awesome movement.

[@1mphamvu]

When I was doing lots of martial arts I found chi gung (like the stance 'holding the ball') really improved the way I used my body mechanically.. good balance, good rooting (connection to ground and being able to sink down), and being able to apply power while keeping elbows and shoulders low (often if you tense your shoulders it makes it easier for others to throw you cos your weight rises up). I've started doing it again now, mainly to help strengthen tendons in legs.

[@townsendstephen]

I loved this. Yes I will give this a go. I already do a ton of air squats each morning to wake up why not add 30seconds horse stance.

[@yvnglvffy]

Very good explanations and examples. I'm a horse expert and yours is looking great. Gonna want to straighten your back a bit more. Lastly with wimg chun base house stance the knees slightly face inward.

[@waaagh3203]

I used to be a kickboxer, now I train in BJJ and Okinawan Karate (Shorin ryu). The thing is this: we use higher horse stances, which I get the idea for practicality. But I still incorporate a session of deep Chinese martial arts style ma bu everyday. I try to go wider and deeper. It's really good for your conditioning, flexibility, etc.

[@ADAM_COLLECTS]

from a karate (shinkyokushin) perspective, i noticed better lateral engagement of my trunk muscles when i punch to the body in shiko dachi. keeping my trunk stable but allowing better power production on the punch. When in kumite dachi (fighting stance) i flex my lateral trunk wall MUCH better and with more rotational force, the power production is increased again.

[@hariman7727]

Naihanchi Dachi (horse stance) in Karate is intense. You probably haven't used the muscles involved in it enough. (EDIT: Jigatai Dachi (spelling?) is the toes out version) There's reasons it's one of the basics, as it's great core/leg strength buildup for harder stances.

[@MrFmccarty]

Back when I was young I didn’t like this stance but I did it. Thanks for the challenge!

[@jc3drums916]

Back when I did tai chi and qigong, from day 1 my sifu wanted me to do horse stance for 90 minutes. Not nearly as deep or as wide as you're demonstrating it - more like knees at ~120˚, shoulder-width apart, arms bent at the elbows - but still, it was brutal. I somehow endured it for around 40 or 45 minutes before I made the mistake of trying to shake out the pain, and my legs buckled. The pain comes and goes in waves.

[@eric-x3p]

Thank you for this video. Because of you I have started my journey to become strong enough to avenge my father.

[@cuffss7455]

Im inspired! Defently implimenting this into my training I love running and calistenics but always lacked flexibility and mobility with my legs

[@junyun6447]

I practice the Taichi 3-circle stance. Feet straight forward. Knee slightly bent over the toes. Arms and fingers form circles. It’s a high stance. There is some load on the hamstrings and glutes, but it is mainly to improve Qi or circulation. I feel quite warm through my body after about half an hour. The longest practice I had was about 2 hours, and at point my palms started to sweat a bit.

[@harrisonschwartz565]

Yea!!!!! I’m at 2:02 max now practicing almost daily but it’s generally closer to 1:40. Started at 1:15 to 1:20 some weeks ago before practicing once daily

[@truestorey3158]

Thanks man, much love to all 💙💜❤