Horse stance TUTORIAL - Part #1

The horse stance (馬步 - Mǎ bù in Chinese) forms the foundation of every style of chinese Kung Fu.

In this first video of the series we will focus on one of the most common problem you may experience when doing the horse stance:

1) Knee caving in (especially when going deeper into the stance) 1:10

For understanding what is causing this problem we have to look at the body biomechanics and at the motion happening at the hip.
There are 2 root causes for the knee caving in during the horse stance:

1) Tightness in the hip adductors muscles
2) Tightness in the hip internal rotators muscles.

So, I report here a short routine you can use for correcting that, by releasing and stretching these muscles and by strengthening the antagonist muscles (the hip abductors and hip external rotators).

ROUTINE 2:11
1) Adductors foam rolling 2:25
2) Piriformis foam rolling 2:54
3) TFL and hip internal rotators foam rolling 3:08

4) Half middle split with external/internal hip rotation 3:35
5) Cross legs hip stretch 3:54
6) Lunge with hip external rotation and adduction 4:22

7) Fire hydrant 4:44
8) Clamshell with elastic band 5:02
9) Monster walk with elastic band 5:32

INTEGRATIVE EXERCISE:
Horse stance with light elastic band 5:54