THE “OFFSET” STANCE

By Arnie Lipson

During our combatives classes, we focus on the details of each technique to improve our performance. One very basic, yet important issue during past few months has been the value of the “offset” stance. We must remember that we will improve our balance, power, and reduce telegraphing greatly by paying closer attention to how we stand.

Stand behind a straight line on the floor, feet together with your toes on the line. Now slide your dominant foot back about six inches, and move it out to the side, so that your feet are about shoulder width apart. Be sure that your knees are slightly bent, not locked. Your hips are relatively squared. Your hand position will depend on your situation. Now you are in the offset stance.

Why is the offset stance so important? Let’s look at the benefits.

In order to move forward quickly (zero to 100) we must vault off of the back foot, as we lift the front foot off of the ground. If we attempt to do this with both of our feet “toeing the line” we will have to lean the upper body slightly forward first in order to move that front foot forward. When we do this, we telegraph our forward motion. When the front foot is already ahead of the back foot from the start, all we have to do is lift it, and the forward momentum begins without telegraphing. Add the vault at the same time, and your moving zero to 100. Try it with your feet in both positions and see the difference.

The second element is the slight bend in the knees from the get go. If the knees are locked, you must unlock them first by bending them prior to initiating any motion. When this happens, we again telegraph our movement by dipping down prior to moving forward.

Another problem that may be experienced is the “teeter-totter” effect when completing a strike. This is described as a slight unsteadiness on the feet at the abrupt finish of a strike. This occurs because the feet are toeing that line, causing instability on the forward to rear axis. If the feet are in the offset position at the finish, your base will be stable.

Finally, the hips must be relatively squared toward the front. If they are bladed to the side, you will turn your hips forward before you vault off of the rear leg. This will be the case when striking with your dominant side weapons. This will telegraph your intention to move forward. There are other important reasons to keep your hips relatively squared to the front. Not only does it prevent telegraphing the upper body; it allows you to more effectively hollow out your midsection during low edged weapon attacks. You hollow out from a bladed stance, and the first slash may miss the mark. However, on the return slash, your midsection will be struck, because you can not hollow out far enough when the midsection is in the direct line of attack.

On occasion, I thought I was in the offset stance prior to launching a strike. I would catch myself starting out right, but then I would unknowingly adjust my feet slightly, and reposition them so that they are close to toeing the line again. Each time I did this, I would experience some of the problems mentioned above. I exaggerated the offset stance during training for a while by placing my feet a little wider apart. Soon the habit would be formed without thinking about it. Then I could resume the original foot spacing later on. How do you know when it’s a habit? Each time you come to a standstill, you will find your feet offset position without trying.

The offset stance is key for the proper execution of almost everything that we do. If you are experiencing problems with leaning before launching, keeping you balance after striking, or telegraphing your strikes in other ways. Check how you are standing prior to moving. Use of the offset stance may cure many of the ills.