Each martial arts style offers something unique in their attacks, defensive methods, and stances.
Mostly they intend to create a strong base from which to defend, attack, or counter. But interestingly, each martial art can have a very different perspective on what works.
In this article, I’ll give you the details about the most common fighting stances you’ll see in the most popular martial arts so you can understand the differences.
Table of Contents
Lead foot stances
The first thing to cover is that each martial artists stance will lead with one foot further forward than the other.
This is usually referred to as orthodox or southpaw—terms that largely come from boxing.
Orthodox means having your left foot forward and is commonly used by right-handed fighters, since it allows for their powerful hand to be at the rear and offers the best loading up for power.
Southpaw means having your right foot forward and is sometimes considered as the stance for left-handed fighters.
But it’s also used a ton by right-handed southpaws who have a unique stance that’s difficult to deal with.
On the opposite, it’s also possible to have a left-handed fighter in an Orthodox stance though very rare.
Both these unorthodox stances for fighting can be very challenging to deal with.
Most fight practice and sparring trains your brain to expect the power behind the rear hand rather than the lead hand and that can be a costly mistake.
I know from my own experience that when I was faced with a right-handed southpaw for the first time in sparring, everything I thought I knew about fighting went out the window!
1. Boxing stances
Let’s look at the most common and well-known stance type which is in boxing.
While generally the boxing stance is considered either orthodox or southpaw (as explained above) there are still different fighting stances within them.
Each will have their own strengths and weaknesses. Some are more defensive in style and others more aggressive.
Let’s take a look at them and find some prime examples.
Conventional
Boxing has a simple conventional style and stance which is to have the lead foot forward with the opposite foot at the rear and the hands in a matching position.
But the hands are also usually held up close to the head, often touching glove to cheek on each side with elbows tucked into the ribs.
As boxing is largely about precision, being highly defensive is the more common and conventional stance.
The tightness of the hands and arms in a defensive position change between fighters based on their preferences.
A fighters’ lead hand is used for the jab, lead hook, parrying and managing distance—it’s the measuring tool to setup the rear hand.
Their rear hand is mostly used for a straight cross or a shot to the body to deal most of the damage.
Hands-down
The hands-down freestyle boxing stance appears as low defensively and high on the offense.
In this stance, the boxer’s hands are extremely loose and often held down at the hips.
They engage in the fight by mostly trying to use footwork, agility and prediction to avoid getting hit and countering the opponent when they are vulnerable.
It takes an extreme level of skill and confidence to pull it off reliably and shouldn’t be used by the inexperienced fighter.
The good thing about this style is that it makes it very difficult for your opponent to observe your hands.
Your opponent won’t be able to easily see your hands or react to them as they are sitting at only the periphery of vision making it more difficult to react.
It allows you to easily catch them off guard from a unique striking angle and generally makes them more defensive. They need more buffer space to get a better view.
Former professional British boxer, Prince Naseem Hamed, had one of the most egregious versions of the hands-down style where he would mock opponents during the fight.
He had 31 knockouts and only ever lost once, often exhausting his opponents by dancing around and catching them off-guard.
Peek-A-Boo
One of the most exciting boxing styles to cover is the Peek-A-Boo which was infamously popularized by Mike Tyson—one of the greatest boxers of all time.
Whether standing orthodox or southpaw, Peek-A-Boo involves holding a high and tight guard with both hands to protect from attacks and using the hips to swing side-to-side to avoid punches while swiftly advancing
Interestingly, Tyson was a left-handed orthodox fighter with his heavy left-hook positioned forward.
It suits a boxer that may not have the height advantage as the swaying back-and-forth is used to duck under defensive jabs and hooks to get on the inside.
When done well, its advantages are that it’s both defensive and aggressive simultaneously.
It focuses on dodging defensive attacks from the opponent, while closing the distance between you very fast and catching them off-guard—so there is a countering nature to it.
When your opponent throws a defensive jab or hook to try and keep you away, you’ve ducked under it while they are now open with a stray arm away from their defense.
This creates that peak opportunity for a lead hook or rear cross to knock them down.
But the style also benefits traditional countering with a focus on making the opponent miss a shot and punishing them for it.
Mike Tyson was the very best at dealing that punishment!
Philly shell
Another boxing style popularized by a boxing legend is the Philly shell.
This style mostly changes from a conventional stance by having the lead hand down and wrapped across your stomach rather than protecting your chin on the same side.
It’s usually regarded as the most prolific counterattack style.
It’s a style that allows for a more restful guard, putting the responsibility of engaging onto your opponent while the Philly shell uses parrying and defensive slips, ducks and footwork to manoeuvre out of dangerous shots.
Occasionally, the lead hand will be used to outstretch and poke at the opponent to encourage them to engage and open themselves up for countering.
The Philly shell style has even been adapted and used successfully in MMA.
Floyd Mayweather uses a slightly modified version of this, named the Mayweather shell.
In Mayweather’s version, he uses his leading shoulder as a deflection and parrying tool when strikes come direct to his face.
Body shots are largely defended by both arms when they are crossed over his torso.
He evades a lead hook by predicting it and ducking (bending fully at the hips) into the direction of the hook before it gets close to him.
2. Kung Fu stance
Kung Fu shares a fighting stance that is common with many other Asian martial arts, like Wushu, and Sumo, which has a foundational stance called the horse stance. (or Ma Bu in Chinese)
It involves a wide-footed (wider than shoulders) stance and bending at the knees, close to visually sitting.
There are many other stances involved in Kung Fu, such as:
- Gong Bu
- Xu Bu—”Empty step”
- Pu Bu—”Lowered step”
- Xie Bu
- Duli Bu
- Bin Bu
And variations of them. But for now, let’s focus on the most common Ma Bu, the horse stance.
The martial arts stance of many old Chinese styles use the horse variation like Chaquan, Mizongquan, Hung Gar and several more.
It’s a stance that is also found in Japan (“kiba-dachi”) and Korea (“annun seogi”).
The Horse stance keeps you balanced, grounded, and powerful.
It’s great for strength, flexibility, and stability.
Practicing this stance can offer many physical benefits, but particularly enables you to develop your root connection to the ground for stability.
3. Karate stance
Karate is a martial art that has a foundational stance called the front stance or zenkutsu dachi. This is the basis for many strikes inside the art.
It’s close to an extended lunge with 70% of your weight distributed to your front leg allowing for speed and aggressive forward movements.
This is what allows it to be a strong stance for advancing and attacking and a basis for Karate punches.
There are many other stances inside Karate, such as:
- Shiko dachi—”sumo” or “straddle” stance, similarities to the horse stance
- Neko ashi dachi—”cat sweep stance”
- Musubi dachi—”formal attention stance”
- Heisoku dachi—”closed foot stance”
- Kokotsu dachi—”back stance”
- Bensoku dachi—”cross-over stance”
- Heiko dachi—”parallel stance”
And there are many more than this including variations between offensive attacks.
But the front stance is what Karate is most known for and what you’re likely to see using in combat.
4. Taekwondo stance
The Taekwondo stance (for fighting) is quite unique in that it is almost a completely side-on stance that prioritizes speed—sometimes called the rear foot stance.
There are several foundational stances in Taekwondo, but I’ll focus on the one mainly used for competitive fighting.
Hands are often hanging down or with the rear hand raised up to the body mostly for generating torque, the stance has almost no defense other than reactivity and counterattacks.
Taekwondo competitors are trained to bounce on their feet non-stop to be able to either throw a kick at lightning speed or counter one coming towards them.
They are masters of the head kick which their style focuses on.
Developing the strength and flexibility in their glutes, hips and legs is a key part of training giving them incredible reach and power from their kicks.
Their bouncing nature helps them to explode in a single pulse that could even be jumping attacks, catching the opponent off-guard.
5. Muay Thai stance
